The word productivity has always sounded very intimidating to me. I've admired watching
productivity gurus showing various methods and techniques without realizing, however,
that each of us actually has a productivity system of our own. With that being said and
not proclaiming myself as a productivity expert, here's my system of keeping my work and life
on track. I am going to start with Notion, which I still
consider myself relatively new to. I use Notion for everything YouTube-related, aka my work.
Although I find it cumbersome in many situations, especially the interface on the iPad, I still
can't find a better alternative or a legitimate reason to move to something else. My Notion
is divided into main 2 sections - personal and work-related. My personal aspect is not
as developed as in my Apple Notes app. However, I still find reasons to use Notion for personal
elements when it comes to more complex data or list organization stuff like my travel
checklist, for example. Every time I travel, I'd like to make sure that I am not forgetting
something. With 2 kids, 2 cats, and a dog, I shouldn't forget my simple procedures because
someone might end up starving if I am gone for a few days. My Notion travel list was
duplicated from somewhere (I can't remember where exactly), and I've tweaked it to serve
my own purposes, and I'm pretty happy with it. When it comes to the This is E channel
(shout out to me, and if you end up enjoying this video, subscribe, because why not), I
am delighted with my organizational structure. Each video, just like the one that you are
watching right now, starts with an idea script that is tightly integrated with the partners
that I am working with it, like Brilliant, who is kind enough to sponsor this video btw.
Once a script is completed, it is broken down into a b-roll shots template that guides me
to what I need to record or showcase on top of my talking head portion. Each video usually
contains more than 50 b-roll shots, so making a good plan ahead of shooting is definitely
worthwhile. Also, planning for each video shoot saves time. It gives more space for
creativity, like building sets and nice decors or working on a sophisticated intro segment.
The default Apple Notes app is also a default for me because it's native and always there.
Before, it was a channel organization tool. Still, now I use it for more personal information,
like vehicle data, real estate, memories, and documents. I shouldn't forget the quick
note update, which I briefly mentioned in my last Mac OS Monterey video. I'll put a
link to it below. If you are not aware, the Quick Note is exactly what you imagine, a
handy, hidden in the corner note that I can summon on-demand and throw stuff in as I work.
This is precisely like grabbing the Apple Pencil and jotting a quick note on the turned-off
screen of the iPad, but with a twist. When summoning a quick note, it doesn't always
create a new scrap note but instead uses the same one each time. This is great because
I can't get lost in my scrap notes as I've done in the past. Quick Note is clever too
because I can dump links and even highlight stuff in Safari, ideas that I can get back
to later in time for which Quick Note will remind me of upon later encounter. Very handy.
Besides Notion and Notes, I also use an app called a physical notebook. I've recently
come back to analog, and I carry with me a real pen and paper to jot down things that
come to mind. For the most part, however, I use this little notebook to write down the
3, 5, or 7 things I want to work on or take care of on a given day. Whatever goes in that
notebook is not deadline-related but goal-oriented. In a nutshell, what are the 5 things I want
to do today or tomorrow that will make me happy and help me consider that day a productive
one? Of course, completing each line and goal is 10 times more satisfying than ticking any
digital checkbox you can think of. Although it is not deadline-related, I also have this
stubborn internal feeling to make sure everything is scratched off at the end of the day to
not consider myself a failure. So if it goes in the notebook, I'll most likely kill myself
doing it. Uncompromising item to hold in my hand.
When something is deadline-related, it goes in the default Apple Reminders App. Although
I am a huge fan of third-party solutions like Microsoft To-do (RIP Wunderlist), I accepted
that I have chained to the default reminders app because of Siri. When I commute and drive,
I tend to use Siri to create reminders for things that come to my mind, so if it's time
or date-specific, it lives in reminders. Note that I am not using a Calendar app at all
because I find any calendar app either too ugly or too friction-packed to use daily.
However, I plan to experiment with timeboxing, which might force me to use a Calendar later
on. Nevertheless, the Reminders app works great and keeps all my essential to-do's,
including annual, quarterly, and monthly stuff, in check.
Now, let's talk about storage. I use iCloud Drive for absolutely all my files, except
for temp stuff that I keep in my Downloads folder and, of course, my video assets which
I'll talk about in a sec. The rest lives on my iCloud Drive. I can refer to it no matter
the computer that I am working on. My favorite part is that I don't have to worry about backups
when switching to another Mac. I use the complete 2TB storage plan that Apple has to offer,
and since iCloud is deeply integrated into MacOS, I don't have to worry about offloading
files or downloading things on demand since the operating system is clever enough to handle
everything based on my behavior. Also, that 2TB of iCloud storage is shared with my family
as well. My wife, mother, and in-laws all share the same space with me, without, of
course, any of us being able to look at each other's files. Also, a huge bonus is a fact
that their iPhone backups are over the air and are automatically uploaded to that same
2TB iCloud drive, so really one monthly fee for a single service that serves a purpose
for 5 people while providing storage, backup, and protection for everyone.
I can work off iCloud even on the smallest size 128GB MacBook, firstly because, as I
said, MacOS is intelligent enough to only keep files locally based on my work habits,
and second because I do all my video editing on an external 2TB SSD. All my channel video
assets are on another external SSD, which means that I can sit and work on any Mac with
Final Cut and Affinity Software installed. To keep everything clean for every project,
I recently invested in a NAS or Network Attached Storage, which I keep at home. Honestly, I
am still learning how to use and optimize it, but here's what I have managed to achieve
so far. When I am ready with a project, for example, the video you are watching, I consider
many of the files expendable. Still, I insist on keeping a backup of b-roll footage because
I often have to refer to something I shot in the past. Also, if you ask me, deleting
absolutely everything is blasphemy because each shot involves planning, decorating, and
a significant amount of time, so why not keep it for future use. So when the time comes,
I delete everything that I won't be using, and the rest I run through an app called Compressor
which basically compresses or reduces the size of the video files significantly and
automatically exports everything in a temp folder which I called Synology. Synology is
the brand of the NAS. With the help of the NAS software, I have pointed that this very
Synology folder has to be considered a Synchronized folder, which, as the name implies, is synched
and uploaded to my NAS at home. So basically, a single drag and drop of many video files
into Compressor and one press of a button to start a sequence results in terabytes of
data being drastically optimized and auto-uploaded into a redundant physical storage solution
at home. Pretty clever if you ask me. Sometimes, while I'm waiting for the Compressor
to archive all my footage, I don't feel like immediately jumping to something else, so
I hop on Brilliant's platform to keep my mind engaged and in shape. Currently, I am taking
a course called the "Joy of problem-solving". As you most likely know, problem-solving requires
creativity, intuition, knowledge, and skill, but it also requires practice. This specific
course dives deep into four mathematical explorations, challenging to investigate patterns and create
proofs. Think of it as a mental workout that strengthens your problem-solving abilities,
especially in logic. Like this course, Brilliant provides other courses with storytelling,
code-writing, interactive challenges, and problems to solve, helping you master technical
subjects making you a much stronger mathematical thinker. To support the channel and sign up
for free, go to brilliant.org/ThisIsE/, and BTW, the first 200 people to upgrade with
this link will also get 20% off the annual Premium subscription, which I use. Thank you,
Brilliant, for sponsoring this video. Finally, we get to password management, which
consists of 2 services -iCloud keychain and an app called 1Password. I consider the Apple
keychain the most secure solution, and I use it to manage and store my most important passwords
and credit card information. Still, I also use 1Password for 2 reasons. First of all,
I've been using 1Password for probably 10 years as I have come to build a lot of trust
in it. I think it is one of the few password manager solutions that hasn't had a significant
security leak or flow. Second, I use it because I prefer to have a second password manager
when operating on another platform like Windows or Android. Interestingly, the latest Keychain
update also has Windows integration and even 2-factor authentication, so keep that in mind.
If you are interested, I have a dedicated iCloud video that you might find helpful,
which I'll link up here and also, if you have any questions, please, don't hesitate to list
them in the comments below or ping me on Twitter. As always, it's been an absolute pleasure,
This is E Over and Out!