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October

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'How far am I from the target?' said Michael to his Comlink watch, his voice full of urgency. As a kid, I would play outside, dictating random instructions into my laundry-detergent-gift-watch (yes, that was a thing in 90s Europe) and imagining I was Michael, saving the world with K.I.T.T. one day at a time.

Back then, the idea of talking to a watch felt like pure science fiction. Little did I know it would become my secret productivity weapon in my adult life.

Fast-forward some 20 years, and Mojca gets her first Apple Watch. She immediately falls in love with it because she can stay in the loop without being near her phone. She also tries to convince me to buy one, but I'm reluctant.

Now I'm older, used to technology, and slightly anxious. I'm already imagining notifications disrupting my workflow 24/7, causing even more anxiety.

Luckily, Mojca is as stubborn as they get, and after a while, I succumbed to the pressure and got myself one as well. It wasn't love at first sight, mainly because my fears started manifesting.

I practically developed a reflex where my wrist would shoot up at every vibration, like Pavlov's dog responding to a bell. Slowly, I started tweaking my notification settings and weeding out those that weren't important, which are almost all of them. I started falling in love primarily because of one seemingly unimpressive feature.

If you're anything like me, juggling a hundred things at once, anxiety is probably more of a constant companion than a distant memory. From the minute you wake up, you're trying to remember all the calls you must make and the follow-up emails you must write before EOD.

I know because I was the same. When brewing my morning coffee, I noticed I needed to message my coffee guy that I was running out. I'm in the kitchen, the water is boiling, and I'm still grinding my favorite single-origin Colombian beans. My phone is in the living room, too far away to drop everything and go create a reminder.

Three days later, I opened the coffee pouch, and to my surprise, the only thing left in it was the fruity smell of the beans that once were. Of course, after I brewed my coffee the other day, I got interrupted by a call from Mother Nature, and after I was done, my mind was elsewhere. It was a frustrating moment, but it also marked the beginning of a solution that would cure my forgetfulness.

It finally hit me that the answer had been right on my wrist the entire time, waiting for me to notice it. After Mojca's recommendation, I started using Siri to schedule reminders whenever a thought popped into my mind, and it turned out to be a total game-changer. It's such a simple feature, yet powerful if you use it with intention.

Since I've started using it as my daily to-do list, my rate of 'Oh damn, I forgot to do this, AGAIN' thoughts went down to almost 0. I still use more advanced tools like Asana for project management, but nothing beats a system that works and is at your disposal anytime for those quick to-dos.

An unexpected bonus I noticed was how quickly your mind shifts to more critical tasks once it's freed from keeping track of your daily to-do list. I was much less anxious that I'd forget something important, and that absence of anxiety did wonders for how my mind operated throughout the day.

In short, using Siri for reminders was the most straightforward yet powerful productivity hack I've tried. It doesn't just help me stay on top of tasks effortlessly—it clears my mind for the more meaningful stuff.

Mastering reminders and staying disciplined takes effort, but that's a topic for another day. Meanwhile, I'd love to hear about the productivity hacks that have worked wonders for you!

Stay committed,

Mojca & Jure

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