Stephen Yu

Lately, I've gone back to basics in terms of how I keep organised. I go through different phases with how I keep myself accountable and manage what I actually need to do, both professionally and personally. I've tried heaps of different technical solutions over the years, but honestly, I've realised that I just love lists and crossing things out. It's simple and incredibly gratifying. There's something brilliant about seeing your progress visually and recognising how fast you've moved through tasks. Moving Away from the Cloud I've become increasingly interested in keeping local storage and local files, moving away from cloud services. Whilst they're convenient, they're not great for privacy concerns, and they make it harder to hack together personal optimisations that actually work for how you think.

Obsidian

Today, my note-taking tool of choice is Obsidian. I love that I can script exactly how I work, and I'm using daily notes mode to take meeting notes and have them tied to my day. It's genuinely changed how I capture information. I structure everything using the PARA system:

• Projects — short-term things I'm working on right now
• Areas — long-term projects I'm currently managing
• Resources — topics or interests that may be useful in the future
• Archive — inactive items from the other three categories

I have this storing and syncing to my iCloud Drive, which means it's accessible on my work laptop, my iPad, my iPhone, and my personal laptop. Everything stays in sync without needing to rely on third-party cloud services.

My Kanban Setup

I use the Kanban plugin to create two separate lists: Personal and Work, each with their own To Do, Doing, and Done columns. The real game-changer came when I discovered this great process online from someone who had set up shortcuts on his laptop and iPhone. His logic was brilliant: the sooner you get ideas from your head into the lists, the sooner you can think about something else. That resonated with me immediately. I created two shortcuts on my iPhone which, with just a swipe, allow me to get my ideas and tasks into the current list in seconds. No friction, no overthinking, just capture and move on.

Why This Works for Me

The combination of local files, the PARA structure, and frictionless capture has genuinely transformed how I work. I'm not constantly worried about forgetting things, and I can see exactly what I've accomplished. Plus, crossing things off never gets old. If you're struggling with organisation systems that feel too complex or don't quite fit how you think, I'd recommend going back to basics. Sometimes the simplest solution—lists, local files, and a system you can customise exactly how you want—is the one that actually sticks.