I’ve tried every productivity app. Most were a waste of time. Here’s what actually stuck.

The Keepers

Obsidian

Not because it’s the best note-taking app—it’s not. But because it taught me that my notes are mine. Plain markdown files on my machine. No lock-in. No subscription anxiety.

The plugin ecosystem is wild. I’ve built workflows I couldn’t have imagined with any other tool.

Linear

Finally, someone made issue tracking that doesn’t feel like punishment. Fast, keyboard-driven, opinionated in all the right ways.

The thing that hooked me: issues auto-close when PRs merge. Such a small thing. Such a massive quality-of-life improvement.

Raycast

Replaced Spotlight and a dozen other apps. Quick calculations, clipboard history, window management, snippets—all behind one hotkey.

The community extensions are excellent. Someone built exactly the workflow you need.

The Distractions

Notion

Beautiful. Flexible. Slow. I spent more time building systems than using them.

Great for teams that need a wiki. Overkill for personal productivity.

Every AI Writing Tool

They’re all the same. They all produce the same generic slop. Writing is thinking—you can’t outsource that.

(Yes, I see the irony of saying this on a blog.)

Complex Task Managers

OmniFocus. Things 3. Todoist with 47 integrations.

My actual system now: a single markdown file called todo.md. That’s it.

The Meta Lesson

The best tool is the one you actually use. Sounds obvious. Takes years to internalize.

I wasted so much time migrating between apps, looking for the perfect setup. The perfect setup doesn’t exist. Pick something good enough and get back to work.