You’ve tried Things; you’ve tried Remember the Milk; you’ve tried Omnifocus; you’ve tried your Moleskine with plain pen and paper. You’ve tried a dozen other apps, especially iOS ones on GTD. I’ve tried them too. But my opinion is they are all shit. Except maybe the Moleskine part because my Moleskine is the notebook I like the most. Or at least to say it better, they didn’t work out for me.

All of these apps seem so different, yet they share some core things (of failure):

• complicated UIs (yet, they’re advertised as the most easy-to-learn UIs)
• too much clutter when adding an event, note, to-do
• too much hassle to add one (lot’s of clicks, plus the previous point)
• can’t sync correctly (only OTA between the same app at best)
• proprietary support of devices & connectivity

What you need from a to-do / GTD app?

• add things on the fly
• sync between the whole universe
• overall KISS-ness

After long philosophical thoughts I figured out that the only solution that satisfies these three core needs is an app that every computer whether it’s Mac, Linux or Windows (meh) has. *Drumroll* yeah, it’s the plain —fucking— .txt editor. (I know, goose bumps all over your body now, lol).

.Txt enhanced

In a so “meta” world we live in i.e. you can sync content simultaneously in between all your machines, plain ol’ .txt is not enough. But hold on! There’s an app for that. (I’m so meta using these cliches.) I can describe this, my current to-do / GTD setup, and recommend it to people as “.txt on steroids”.

The app that transforms .txt into “.txt 2.0″ is called PlainText. And it’s free—fuck yeah. However it’s not only the app that makes it awesome, it’s the whole setup.

The Setup

If you don’t already use DropBox (seriously, WTF if you don’t), start by clicking here. Download and install the client.

Download PlainText from your local AppStore on your iOS device. Link PlainText with your DropBox account, create a folder “PlainText” in your DropBox folder and delete the 2 default files of PlainText if you want (all these from within the PlainText app).

Create a new file with PlainText and name it “todo”—the .txt will be appended automatically. Go to your computer and see that the todo.txt appears instantly in your /Dropbox/PlainText folder.

Mac tip: pin the todo.txt file on your dock like this (you can do that with a kind of “hack” in Windows 7 too, I think).

Now, every time you type and click save (from your computer) or stop typing (it autosaves) from PlainText the todo.txt is automatically synced via DropBox. DropBox even holds file revisions and backups automatically for you through its system, in case you do BS sometime.

If-you-don’t-have-an-iOS-device tip: you can sync the todo.txt between your computers by simply installing DropBox to your other machines. By itself, DropBox will download all of your files in the /DropBox folder to every new computer. Don’t forget to pin the file!

Final words

I don’t know if you’re excited with this, but I am. This setup worked perfectly for me since —not even day one— but second one. It’s like magic, it’s like what you ever wanted. If you give it a try you’ll remember me for the rest of your life. Word.

Well, first of all, time. I’m in a much more complex, demanding and difficult schedule than in summer or even last year. Mainly because I’m Senior in High School and I have to study a little bit (read a ton) more. RSS consumes (a lot) of my time, an amount that I cannot afford anymore. Despite this, RSS is not dead as Dave Winer correctly points out.

Secondly, I’m over with the “read-them-all-as-soon-as-their-posted” era. I’ve grown up since that time—it was like a couple years ago. The frenzy of getting everything read, I think it’s a bit tiring for one’s self. Mentally, bodily and psychologically. Now, I don’t want all the content, I want the best content.

Let me restate it: now I don’t want all the content, I want the best content.

That’s why lately I’ve been on a hunt for a tool, web service, desktop reader—you name it, that would be social (for to share the most interesting and insightful content/posts), easy to use (with a good UX & design) and why not, to had the ability of syncing across multiple devices.

And this service is Instapaper. I have to tell you, I’ve been using Instapaper for a long time now but never thought of this possibility. See, it’s very easy to start. Just ask from your friends and in general, the persons you think they’ve got good content to share, their Instapaper account name or email (that differs based on when the other person created his/her account). And boom—you’re good to go. Just star the item you want to share. You can have it synced with your Instapaper iPhone app, too.

Why do I like Instapaper, why does it beat Google Reader anyway? Let me clarify first, Instapaper is not an RSS reader. Instapaper is a tool that saves webpages for you to read later. Back to why it wins. Reason number one is that I get to see a curation of trending news and posts, not just raw new posts in reverse timeline format. Reason number too is that his curation is fully customizable and with great quality because I select the people I want to read items from. Reason number three is that I can read all this stuff from wherever I feel like I want to read it. Be it iPhone or every other computer that has access to the internet and Instapaper.

If you have an Instapaper account feel free to add my shared posts, or how Instapaper itself puts it: “Another user’s Starred items”. Just add this link in your Folders.

—kudos to @ik_ for this awesome idea.

Enjoy!

That’s how my desktop looks now. I call it Desktop 2.0, a social, live and active interface for the web. Streaming all of my friends’ activity over Friendfeed and communicating with them over Twitter.

Productivity

Since I didn’t had any previous experience with live activity streaming I was expecting that all my productivity would go to hell, as I wrote on a previous post. But this didn’t happen.  I was able to engage conversation in Twitter while working for the blog and do some Friendfeed comments and likes.

Usability

Twhirl works just fine with Twitter, but in Frienfeed it seems to get a bit lost. My opinion is that the slow and laggy scrolling make a bit difficult to keep up with Frienfeed over Twhirl. Also it’s a bit slow when you’re about active and fast conversations in comments of a Friendfeed item. On the other hand, it’s great for browsing and liking your friend’s activity and for the task of the live streamer. But it’s not for the heavy use, like Scoble’s one. Heh.

Desktop integration

Twhirl can integrate with your desktop realy well. First of all it’s an Adobe Air application, which means it’s cross platform and can work on your Linux, Mac and Windows system just fine. It’s also highly customizable not only visually such as opacity -which it’s great- (each Window -Twitter, Friendfeed- it’s a separated and has different options) but also how it works i.e. how it handles updates, notifies etc.

Personal thoughts

After the last buzz with the new Twitter client from Loic’s team and the Tweetdeck vs. Seesmic desktop battle, I think that if you want a not only Twitter desktop experience, Twhirl will be the perfect solution for you. Your desktop will also become a Desktop 2.0 by streaming Friendfeed and Twitter content live. In the future though, we might see Tweetdeck, Seesmic Desktop and maybe other apps too, providing Frienfeed support.

[Update: I've just started using Seesmic Desktop for my Twitter desktop client replacing the Twhirl one's. Kinda fail? But the Friendfeed Twhirl will stay here.]

Have a clean and minimalistic desktop

First things first. Have a clean and minimalistic desktop is a key factor. Having to do with less “noise” around you helps you get focused and not distracted.  It helps you beeing calm too -minimalism does. This is for your virtual and real desktop. Here’s mine.

Disable real time feeds like Friendfeed and IMs

Disabling these kinds of real time information overflow and friend chats helps you be focused on what you work. It’s really difficult when working and having to deal with Twitter, Friendfeed and Gtalk in the same time. You lose important time.

Use big monitors

Considering yourself geek or not, you should use big monitors since you work with computers. Considering current low prices -like this 22″ widescreen Acer model. First of all, they make you living easier. Everything has space no need of minimazing and maximizing windows. Secondly, it’s more helpful for your eyes. Btw, here’s the Amazon page of LCD Monitors. Defenitely you should check it out. I currently work with a 19″ Samsung Syncmaster 940NW which is connected to my netbook. 

Use GTD apps

Since you have too many To-Do’s not only for your work but also for your life, managing them with GTD apps is a useful idea. Remember the Milk is a great GTD Web app (and a desktop one via Google Gears) build upon AJAX. It will help you get organized and getting things done easily. Give it a try!

Work with clean mind, make often breaks

That’s one great tip. You shouldn’t work too many hours continiously. That’s bad for your focus and your health. Try to make often small breaks of 10 to 15 minutes to help relax and unstress your mind. It works -you’ll see and helps you beeing more productive.

and the +1,

Be focused

Ok, you have a tidy desktop, disabled the feeds and IMs, started using the big monitor, you get yourself organized with RTM and make small breaks. But you forget one important factor. Your will power. Without it, no matter how many tips you apply you won’t  come off with anything. You should always try to get and be focused on whatever you do.