If you're building anything on the side — a business, a habit, a version of your life that looks different from the one you have now — you already know the real problem isn't motivation. It's that everything lives in a different app, a different notebook, a different tab you swore you'd get back to.
The apps below aren't about adding more tracking to your day. They're about picking the right few, so you stop being the one holding it all together in your head.
5 apps worth actually setting up
- Notion, for one place to put everything. If you're currently splitting your life across a notes app, a spreadsheet, and a physical planner, Notion lets you build one connected system instead — goals, habits, business numbers, ideas you don't want to lose. The learning curve is real for the first hour. After that, it's the thing you open instead of five other apps.
- Base44, if you've ever thought "I wish there was an app for this." Most of us have a specific little tracking problem that doesn't quite fit any app in the store — a weird combination of habit + budget + project tracker, or something built around exactly how you work. Base44 lets you describe what you want in plain language and get a working app back, no coding required. It's the closest thing to "just build the tool yourself" without actually needing to be a developer.
- Google Calendar, if tracking your life means tracking someone else's too. Whether it's a partner, a co-founder, or family you're coordinating with, half of feeling "on top of things" is just not double-booking yourself. It's not glamorous, but a shared calendar both people actually check beats any fancier app neither of you opens.
- Zapier, so the boring stuff runs without you. It quietly connects the apps you already use — so a new client inquiry logs itself, a receipt gets filed, a weekly report builds itself before you sit down. The upfront setup takes an afternoon; after that, it's work you never have to remember to do again.
- YNAB (You Need A Budget), for the "business" half of your life and business. You don't need anything complicated here — just something that shows you, at a glance, what's actually coming in and going out. YNAB's whole approach is built around giving every dollar a job before it disappears, which is a genuinely different way to see your own numbers. The goal isn't a perfect financial system. It's not being surprised by them.
If you want something to read while you build this out: Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte — a genuinely useful framework for deciding what deserves a system and what doesn't. Building a Second Brain, Tiago Forte
The reminder
You don't need five new apps by Friday. Pick the one thing you're currently tracking in your head that shouldn't be there, and give it one real home this week. That's the whole system — everything else is just maintenance.
If you end up building something in Base44 for your own tracking, I'd love to hear what you made.
Until next time,
In the margins · Let's chat
Loading…
Leave a reply