Top 5 Organisation Apps

If I'm honest, I pride myself on being a chaotic mess. My bullet journal is a prime example of who I am: messy, colourful and just a little bit tacky. As much as I try to change up my aesthetic, I always end up veering back to the same style. I enjoy being a chaotic little mess, but it's not particularly helpful when it comes to my professional life or planning anything of significance.

Being chaotic rarely looks good in the professional world. So many employers like to know their staff can manage time and meet deadlines and I'd be surprised if it were any other way. As my industry becomes increasingly streamlined, paperless and hassle-free, I've felt it necessary to look for ways to organise myself and be a little bit less mayhem. 

My bullet journal may be soaked in watercolour paint, but damn it is organised. I plan out everything to the absolute dot. For someone who spent three years writing news articles and press releases, it is slightly unusual to plan so visually. But I find mind-maps and brain dumps handy for when I'm struggling to find my voice or narrative.

Way back before bullet journals became popular; I bought this lovely (but overpriced) planning notebook to help me sort out stories for Uni. Planning out my writing and breaking it down into minute chunks makes the whole thing easier to process, and the overall writing seems just to read smoother. 

In a broader context than just my writing, I'm still attempting to be a planning maniac. More recently, I've got into organisation apps which create a variety of visuals. All of them are free or offer an easy to use the free version, and they fit a wide range of requirements. 

Since I've been going through these like wildfire, I thought I'd list a few of my favourites for you!

Trello 

I think Trello is one of the most obvious choices for people searching for organisational apps. The fact it ranks first for the keyword "organise" on the Apple App Store says a lot.

Trello is a collaboration tool that organises your projects into boards. In one glance, Trello tells you what's being worked on, who's working on what.

It 'sIt's a digital corkboard that allows you to attach documents and monitor group projects in a way that's easy on the eye. But people also use the app for weekly planning, monitoring their projects, and I've seen a few parents use it as a family planner! I like the fact that it's versatile and straightforward. So many people preach by Trello, but I use it as a weekly planner or to-do list in most cases.

Mindly 

I bloody love Mindly. It's so pleasing to look at and can be used for more than just productivity. Mindly is like a futuristic version of the mind maps we used to do in school.

"Mindly helps to organise your inner universe. Give a structure to your thoughts, capture ideas, plan a speech, take notes. It is up to you. ... Mindly eliminates all unnecessary clutter and helps you to focus on your ideas, thoughts and concepts."

I've slowly been gravitating towards Mindly for more in-depth blog posts (like this one), and it helps me break up the job into multiple sections and subsections. But I could also imagine using this app for revision and a whole bunch of other things.

MeisterTask

Meister Task is a bit more to the point compared to a few of the other blogs I've listed here. Mainly because it only champions teamwork and collaboration on the software.

"MeisterTask is a flexible project management app that scales from personal project tracking to a full-blown project management tool for a large team. It's based on the Kanban task management system, but it can be adapted and customised based on the needs of your project or company".

Out of all the teamwork apps I have worked with, I must say this is the easiest on the eye. Slack comes upon a close second and Facebooks Workplace app is a pile of rubbish which purely encourages procrastination in my opinion.

Habit-bull

If the self-help king Tim Ferris decided to release a book with more up to date recommendations, I feel like Habit-Bull would feature. This app is fantastic if you sweat the small stuff, like sex and dating, self-improvement and emailing your clients. It's a micromanaging companion, and I think I need that.

"Habits are no more than routines which you perform subconsciously. To build a new habit - train yourself. To break one, find another one which is similar, yet different and more beautiful, and repeat it until it sticks.

To assist you with this HabitBull lets you set reminders for each habit and displays them on days when you need to be successful. This is especially useful if you have a to-do list with repeating tasks or if you want to be reminded to do the same thing every day. It can also be used as a calendar planning tool or checklist, but also as a handy repeating reminder (e.g. to drink water every 2 hours).

HabitBull does feel a little like a game in which you compete with yourself. The task is to get a long streak for the habit you are working on by covering your goals. The longer, the better. It takes a couple of months to build a new routine fully, so don't give up - it takes time, and if you are consistent it will work; even if it takes a few attempts."

Hour Blocks

Hour blocks is an excellent time management tool for people looking to streamline their workflow or their day to day life. Effortlessly take control of your day with Hour Blocks, a day planner app that's both simple and beautiful. Whether you're a student, a small business owner, or even a full-time parent, Hour Blocks is the organisational tool that's missing from your day-to-day life. Hour Blocks presents a chronological timeline of your next 24 hours, allowing you to focus on what's genuinely next, rather than crowding you with anything and everything you have coming up in your life.

Tap on an Hour Block, type in what you have planned, and you're done- with a beautiful icon automatically generated for you. Over time you'll also start seeing suggested hour blocks based on your previous activity, making the experience even more effortless. You don't have to abandon using the Calendar app either, as Hour Blocks automatically pulls in events from your calendar.

Every part of the Hour Blocks experience has been developed to make it as satisfying as possible for you to use. From the playful language to the laid back colour scheme, organising your day doesn't feel like a chore.