How to Use Voice Apps to Capture Your Ideas

Dictating notes, tasks, and ideas.

Image created via Midjourney

As a writer and solopreneur, my brain never really turns off. Sometimes, ideas hit me at the least opportune moments, such as when I’m driving my kids to school or cooking dinner. Never when I have a notebook nearby, poised to write something down.

I’m a systems person at heart, so not only do I want to capture my ideas, but I also want them to be organized — at least a little bit. For me, having a running list in the Notes app on my iPhone wouldn’t work.

I’ve created a few ways to capture ideas with my iPhone and then send them to another app, whether it’s my to-do list, my project management tool, or my knowledge management tool.

To-do list

My to-do list is never-ending, and if something isn’t on the list, it isn’t happening. I use Todoist, and it’s really easy to add items from sources such as my email or directly in the app. It doesn’t matter if it’s household, personal, or work-related — everything needs to be in Todoist (and then I have separate lists based on the type of to-do).

I like to add items using voice commands so I can capture to-dos hands-free. Todoist used to work with Alexa devices (“Alexa, add ____ to my to-do list), but Amazon stopped supporting the…