Sometimes, I feel like
am very organized, then other days I feel as if I am anything but organized.
But generally I feel I do a good job utilizing task lists, to do lists,
documenting ideas, mileage, meeting notes, instructions, web pages, tips, etc.
Over the years I have used many techniques to record this info, from
paper, 3M sticky notes, to notes in Outlook. But hands down, the best
tool I have ever used for this is Evernote - http://evernote.com/evernote/ . As busy
leaders, a tool like Evernote can prove indispensable to maintaining organized
information in a hectic work world of information overload.
Evernote is a free
productivity tool that I feel basically acts as my second brain many days,
allowing me to easily find chunks of information that I probably would have
otherwise forgotten or lost. Evernote is available on the following
platforms:
And even without a
software or app install, Evernote is always available just
through a web browser. So as long as you
carry a smart device, you will have Evernote at your side, ready to record info
you do not want to forget.
I keep
all sorts of information in Evernote, which allows you to store related
information in notebooks, which are pretty much what they sound like. You could have one giant notebook, or organize
notes into a notebook for every subject.
I am not a big filer – I use about five main notebooks for a majority of
what I file. Much like my email filing
technique, where I stopped being an email filer several years back and now I
rely on search queries to find information, saving me the countless hours of
filing emails, or in this case notes. I
keep the following notebooks in Evernote: Systems, Work, Personal, Recipes to
Try, and Best Recipes. A way I find
useful that allows you to further make notes searchable, and findable, is by
adding tags to notes in Evernote. As many tags can be added to a note as you
want, allowing you to quickly find the note at a later time, but if you don’t
tag notes, Evernote still has a robust search system built in to help you find
your notes.
And
this is where Evernote really shines and ends up being what I call my second
brain. I have Evernote on at least three
computers, three tablets, and my phone.
What is great is that all of these devices keep their notes in sync,
such that I can save a note on my phone during the busy work day, then fire up
my tablet in the evening, to find the note waiting for me. So I may clip a web page in my web browser,
using the Evernote Web Clipper Extension - http://evernote.com/webclipper/ ,
which I can then later access on any of my devices when I need it. The web page
is fully indexed, so I can search for a word or subject that was on the page,
without having to remember what web site I had found the info on.
I also
file lots of emails into Evernote. If I
receive an email that has information I need to keep, then I forward it to an
email address that Evernote has attached to my account. I think this is one of Evernote’s most powerful
and often overlooked features. To find
out the email address to send notes to for your account, in the software, go to
the Tools menu and choose Account Info. On a mobile device or tablet, click on your
name to see Account Info. You will see
an address to email notes to, which will then be automatically placed into your
notebook. This is fabulous and makes
retaining a few really important emails all the easier. I often
send receipts, software licenses, and other things I need to keep to my
Evernote email address so I can find them easily later.
If you have not joined
the Evernote revolution, and you are looking to start the New Year out better
organized, then I highly recommend you try out Evernote and see how it works for
you. Do you have an Evernote super
tip? Then feel free to leave a comment
and share it with the world at http://ctotechnotes.blogspot.com/
This blog entry is cross posted with the great folks at SchoolCIO
