Habit Stacking Tools

March 18, 2021 | 4 minutes | Productivity

Some of my friends asked me to detail out the tools/platforms that I use to form and stick to my daily habits. Listing some of them down here :

A. Note - Taking

Evernote : Everything new that I come across goes into Evernote. I use 7 - 10 different accounts with each account having a different purpose such as writing, online learning, book summaries, designing.
Notion : While some of the notebooks are same as that on Evernote, I use Notion when I’m using Desktop or on web. Notion is a place where all my notes are structured so that I can pull info. on any topic anytime.
Notability : One of the best apps for taking notes. The experience of writing on a paper using a pen/pencil is unbeatable. I use Notability on iPad and iPhone along with Apple Pencil and compile all of my notes on Notion at the end of each week.
Google Keep : Everything high level/strategic goals here
Whatsapp : The best note - taking app out there. I have 15 - 20 different groups where I share notes to myself and subsequently, put it all on Notion at the end of each week.

B. Reading

Outread : This is one of the best apps that can help you read at 500 wpm with quality retention. Highly recommend this one.
Speechify : I use Speechify to read articles that I find online at 400wpm - 500wpm. Not the best product out there as it does not help one to bucketize the articles.
Kindle : I use Kindle on rare occasions as it does not have speed reading tracker built into it.
GoodReads : I summarise all my books on Goodreads so that others can go through my summaries if they do not have enough time to read the book. In addition to this, Goodreads is one of my go - to book discovery platforms.

C. Focus and Time Tracking

Forest : The best app out there to implement the Pomodoro technique. Unfortunately, it is not available for Mac
Flow : Use this to implement Pomodoro while working on the Mac
Freedom : One of the best investments I’ve ever made this year. Freedom disconnects you from the internet for as long as you want.
Google Calendar : I put everything on Google calendar and ensure that I review it every week. The objective is to know where you are spending your time and maximise productivity. You’d be surprised to know how conveniently you end up wasting your time on things that you despise.

D. Habit Tracking

Habitify : List down all the habits that you want to implement. Habitify will make sure that you get atleast one notification stating “0/10 habits completed today”. That notification is a game changer.
Mometum : Momentum is a Google Chrome extension that replaces new tab page with a personal dashboard featuring to-do, weather, and inspiration.

E. Health and Fitness

Step Set Go : I review the number of steps walked on SSG everyday
Fibit Versa 2 : Getting a Fitbit health tracker today. I hope it does justice to its hype
Waking Up : In terms of content, Waking Up »» Headspace. Peace! The coolest part is that you get access to all its premium features without paying. How? Just write an email to their team.

F. Design

Procreate : I’m still a noob at Procreate; the objective is to be great by the end of this year.
Figma : Still early in my journey to master Figma. Figma is one of the most used and talked about tools within the design community.
Tool for writing a Comic book : Still in the exploration mode. Any suggestion will be appreciated.

More than anything else, this blog is a reminder to myself. A reminder to re-read my notes and share my learnings with others over the internet.