Yesterday, on a whim, I ordered a Roku Stick. I didn’t really need another streaming device. I already had a Chromecast plugged into my Xbox One which was plugged into my Smart TV (three devices all capable of streaming all plugged into each other) AND an Amazon Fire TV Stick sitting in a drawer. But let’s be real, who can turn down same day shipping when it’s free? Not this girl.
Impulsive consumption aside, the Roku Stick really was the missing link in my entertainment set up. It’s speedy. It lets me search across all my streaming services (seriously life-changing), and Roku’s feed feature to track your favorite shows, movies, and actors is the closest I’ve gotten to being able to turn the TV on and just watch things I want to see since having a DVR.
The Roku Stick certainly gets my vote for best tool when it comes to streaming. In fact, it’s so good, I found that most of the movies I had in my Netflix DVD queue were available to stream elsewhere – enough so that I won’t be renewing it next month.
But… here’s where things took a dangerous turn.
Netflix has long served as my movie watch list. If a movie I wanted to see wasn’t available to stream, it went in the DVD queue where it eventually made its way onto my TV. I started thinking, “If I don’t have a DVD queue, how on earth will I keep track of which movies I want to watch?”
As a GTDer, I can’t keep that list in my head, so as the tech person I am, I would need a fancy app to keep track of my movies. For the next 4 hours, I went down a rabbit hole of movie watch list apps. My phone’s purchased section shows that I downloaded 11 different apps (most were free; and this number doesn’t include the ones I’d already tried previously and redownloaded). ELEVEN!
Which app did I go with?
None of them.
After wasting hours trying out different apps, I decided that the best way to keep track of which movies I wanted to see was the same way I’ve been keeping track of books I want to read – a “Movies to Watch” list, set to “On Hold” in my Someday/Maybe folder of Omnifocus.
Sometimes the best tool is the one you already have.
According to Andrea 
I recently went down the same rabbit hole, and ended up creating a “Movies and Shows” Trello board. I have a bookmarklet then to quickly add items to Trello, and sometimes I’ll also add more information to the card with what I might want to know, such as if the movie/show is on Amazon or Netflix. And best yet, the board is shared with my husband so we can each manage it.
I just discovered your blog today (love your articles, I think this is the 3rd one I’ve read) – so I did a quick search to see if you’ve written about Trello yet, looks like you haven’t. It’s another one of those things where at first it’s difficult to figure out how to use it since you can do so much, but once you get some organization down, it’s really helpful.
P.S. You’ve totally convinced me to use Day One. I used the original a few years ago but really love the idea of multiple journals!
Hi Sharon,
Thanks for stopping by. I’m thrilled to hear you enjoyed reading my posts. I don’t always get time to post, but I’m trying to be better about it, so hopefully, I’ll have more for you to read soon.
Right now I’m using the site Reelgood.io for managing my movie lists. It handles letting you know whether a movie is available to stream all on its own which is great, but it doesn’t offer sharing (unless you share an account).
I have tried Trello in the past though. I actually don’t use it for lists, but instead for categorizing things like apps into folders or work tasks into single-action lists. I find it helpful to be able to move things around visually, and this is the closest digital way I’ve come to replicating arranging sticky notes on a wall.
And Day One is great! I just have to remind myself to keep using it. 🙂
-Andrea