How to Setup Apple Reminders to Organize Your Day (Simple Productivity System)

Key wellness + productivity strategies from the video

• Keep the task system “intentionally boring”

  • Avoid over-complicating Apple Reminders before you start.
  • A reliable, simple setup helps keep your brain calm and reduces stress.

• Use Reminders for “what you need to do,” not life planning

  • Don’t structure Reminders around overly broad goals/projects/long-term plans.
  • Instead, focus your list on actionable next steps so your task list feels helpful rather than overwhelming.

• Show only what matters today (reduce noise)

  • Customize your Reminders “Today” view to display:
    • Due today
    • Scheduled
    • Assigned to you (useful for collaborations)
  • Turn off distractions like flagged/completed items.

• Create clear lists by life/work domain

  • Build separate lists for how you actually work daily, e.g.:
    • Personal
    • Content
    • Business / Work

• Use a column/canban layout for at-a-glance clarity

  • Switch to View as columns (especially helpful on iPad/Mac).
  • Use columns/sections such as:
    • Top 3 priorities (non-negotiables)
    • Content priorities
    • Admin tasks
    • Upcoming tasks (not due today/this week)

• Rely on tags for automatic organization (less manual effort)

  • Add tags to each task (e.g., admin, content, business, personal).
  • Filtering by tags becomes a fast way to find relevant tasks instantly.

• Use Smart Lists to generate views automatically (no extra work)

  • Create Smart Lists based on filters like:
    • Tags
    • Date/time presence (e.g., “any time” vs specific times)
    • Other criteria (tags, location, list, etc.)
  • Smart Lists act as filters, showing what already exists instead of duplicating tasks.

• Only schedule tasks when they truly need a specific time

  • If a task doesn’t require a date/time, don’t schedule it.
  • Let your calendar protect your realistic time; Reminders should represent actions, while the calendar holds time-specific commitments.

• Create a two-way handoff between Reminders and Calendar

  • When a task has a date/time in Reminders:
    • It appears in Apple Calendar with the correct time block.
  • Alternative workflow:
    • Drag a Reminder into Calendar during planning to block time for it.
    • The task remains in Reminders but is scheduled in your calendar without duplicating it.

• Use time-blocking to avoid feeling overbooked

  • Block dedicated sessions for tasks (e.g., content recording).
  • Then align your task completion with realistic windows in your calendar.

Presenters / sources

• Presenter/Source: Not explicitly stated in the provided subtitles (the video mentions “get your system inside of the creator flow kit” but no name is shown).