Some of the most type-A members of the Strategist team gathered to share the tools they use to tame their inboxes, schedules, to-do lists, and more.
Okay, does anyone here still use a paper calendar?
Ashley Wolfgang, newsletter editor: For about nine years, I used a weekly Passion Planner, which has a lot of cheesy extras like inspirational quotes and monthly reflections. But this year, I just wanted a practical planner. After careful research, I decided on the Hobonichi Techo Weeks, and I absolutely love it. I’ve already gone deep into Hobonichi TikTok.
Lauren Ro, writer: I’m a Hobonichi fan too. I also have a Google Calendar, but I like to write important things for every family member in my paper planner and color-code it. It helps me organize on a big-picture level.
Rachael Griffiths, writer: I have a wall calendar. The first week of January, I go on Facebook and spend an hour handwriting everyone’s birthdays that I don’t want to miss. For the rest of the year, I’m set.
For those who use a digital calendar, is it worth buying a display?
Winnie Yang, senior editor: If you keep separate calendars for all the people in your household and need an easy way to share that with your partner or your child’s caregiver, touchscreen wall calendars are very cool. They can incorporate feeds from all differ- ent applications: Google, Apple, Yahoo, Microsoft Outlook. I have the Hearth Display. It’s over two feet tall, so it’s easy to see a lot at once. Otherwise, it works pretty much the same as the Skylight ( from $160), which I’ve also used.
Jen Trolio, senior editor: I use the Skylight. It’s great if you have kids who are very bound to a schedule or get anxious about changes.
Let’s chat about email. Is anyone at inbox zero?
Erin Schwartz, writer: Right now, I’m at one unread email and I have just a few emails in my inbox. I move every- thing into folders. If I’m getting spammed, I’ll create a filter to have that thing skip the inbox and go straight to the archive. I also made a filter so all promotions show up as already read.
Before I did that, even if I was at inbox zero, there would be this giant number of unread promotions showing up as unread emails on my phone. My inbox functions like a dashboard of emails I might need in the next few days along with those I still have to respond to.
L.R.: On my phone, I use a separate app called Spark for my work email. That way, it doesn’t look like I have a hundred unread work emails. It’s also just good to have separate inboxes.
How do you track your to-do lists?
Liza Corsillo, senior writer: I just started using the paper Productivity Planner by Intelligent Change. It gives you little time buckets that are a half-hour each. It helps you with the Pomodoro Technique—chunking tasks into intervals.
E.S.: My to-do list is on the Notion app. Each task is a check mark, and you can drag it to another day. So if I was supposed to vacuum and I didn’t get to it, I just drag it to the next day. I also have a little tank of tasks that I can’t commit to scheduling. I’ll drag those onto a day if I have an opening.
Jordan McMahon, tech writer: I use an app called Things. It’s a to-do-list app that you can break down by spaces—work, personal life, home—and by project. And you can use tags. I tag each task based on where I need to be for that task and how much time it will take. Then I go into the app and say, Okay, I have an hour of free time. What am I going to do?
Where do you keep your grocery lists?
J.M.: In Apple Reminders, just because I like to talk to Siri for that.
J.T.: I have a shared note in the Notes app so my husband and I can both add to it. It’s organized by store
Bella Druckman, junior writer: I use an app called Microsoft To Do.
W.Y: We have a household Slack channel. For the grocery list, I’ll just Slack my husband.
L.C.: I can’t use apps to communicate with my husband because he’s a teacher, so he’s not looking at his phone. Instead, I use a long, skinny notepad for shopping lists.
The Strategist is designed to surface useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Every product is independently selected by our team of editors, whom you can read about here. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.
