I generally use a very low effort approach. I stopped believing the productivity hype a few years ago and returned to methods that preserve my sanity.

As of today, I use 4 tools:

• The reminders app for recurring things, or things with a deadline that I cannot do before/after a certain point. Think recurring payments, keeping various accounts topped up or active.
• A piece of paper with an Eisenhower matrix and short-term notes and scribbles. I recycle that roughly every month.
• Vimwiki in markdown format for long-term notes that I need to refer to.
• A journal to keep track of habits and each day's most memorable moment plus other thoughts as I work through them. Although not so much a tool for workflow, some notes from my monthly piece of paper will end up in there in a more polished form once I took the time to refine the thoughts.

vimwiki which has evolved over the years in a single text file with occasional one-level deep off-branching.

And focusmate during office hours in silent mode.

I've tried many others, but these are the ones that consistently stick.

I have nothing but a Google Calendar shared with my wife, and a Google doc that I just use as a running journal / to-do list. I just throw everything in there.

No app recommendation. Just how I do it.

I started with a single file. I kept notes sorted by category, idea, topic, and project.

Then I switched to a chronological order, still in one file. I found a note about why I chose that. I just posted it here

But as I kept taking notes, a single file was no longer practical. It got way too big. So I split it into one file per day. For example, 2025-12-14_SUN for today.

Hope this helps.

Sending texts to myself in telegram

Trello when I need to socialize items

Pen and paper at night when im avoiding screens, contents usually end up in one of the above

Calendar only for meetings/appointments

Raw text files in relevant folders for reference docs, but sometimes notes in a password manager if sensitive

... Basically a shit show

I use obsidian for journaling and doing actual work. 10/10, I don't need anything else there, markdown is a breeze. I couple that with Google Calendar as a sort of "digital agenda", in the sense that I take notes right in there, next to events and etc (no "keep" nor any other app). It's horribly cumbersome (for it's not what it's made for), yet 110% effective at making sure I don't forget anything, both because everything is in just one same place, and because I can move important notes forward so that they appear right in my face at the right time (be it when I start working, or when I estimate I will arrive home, etc). Plus that same ordering capability (in a same day and along days) serves as a sort of kanban, to classify and establish priorities of the notes, right in the same place I organize the tasks they relate to (if even, sometimes it's just the notes). It makes it impossible to miss anything, and that lightness and peace of mind greatly offsets the cumbersomeness.

Two giant text files in org mode -- one for transient daily thoughts, one as a permanent store of concepts of lasting importance. Have some other auxilliary stuff, but they pale in comparison and account for 5% of my mental cycles, or less.

I also use “notes” on my phone with a long note

I agree, Google Calendar is probably my biggest go-to. It's availability across devices and ability to manage multiple calendars works great for different life aspects, especially for seeing things together all at once for the next few days as well as for activity tracking and reporting later on.

Maybe you can let Gemini or Claude build you something bespoke that you love, that combines a markdown editor with a calendar?