Evernote Power User Volume 10 - The Mighty Day Tag

This is not for those light users of Evernote. This is a simple tip , but implies that that your daily workflow will center around Evernote. This tip is the mighty day tag.  Every note that I create, I create a tag with the current date on it. This provides the following benefits:

• The ability to review any previous days notes for reference.  
• By creating a shortcut for the current date tag, it serves as a dashboard for all other applications that need to access. 
• Notes with reminders are easily accessibleto conquer tasks. 

This , by far , is the most useful feature that I have used in Evernote as I use it all through the day.  By sorting the notes that are jut relevant for the day , you can tackle the important things without cluttering your interface. 

Evernote Power User Volume 9 - Email Management in Evernote

Email has as a technology has been with us for many years. I have always had a problem with managing my email so that the things that come in, I act on in a effective manner.  I have found that I have had real problems the with just processing my emails so that I don't forget to respond.  Why not use the power of Evernote to manage those important emails?  Here are a few ways to do that:

1. The add button in Outlook will allow you to add emails and attachments to Evernote

2 . Forward email from any email client using the Evernote email address in your account information. 

3.  Use the IFTTT (If This Then That) service which as a recipe to allow you to star and email 

Note: When using IFTTT the attachments are added to the Evernote as a link and not a attached file. 

Evernote Power User Volume 8 Using Sunrise Calendar with Evernote

One limitation that I have found with Evernote reminders is the lack of a way to keep track of completed tasks. When you complete a reminder in Evernote it is only crossed out and no record is kept. I find a benefit in being able to know how well I am doing complete tasks during the day. Sunrise calendar provides a work around, as you can see the completed task in the prior days.

Get Sunrise Calendar here

Evernote Power User Volume 7 - Evernote Web Clipper

Doing research on the Internet can be a messy, unproductive thing. I have seen people take a pencil and paper to their computer and write down links and resources from the different websites.  Others, that are more advanced, will open a Word document and create a document for researching.  I find that both of these methods are flawed for researching as they are not good with some of the key things that make research useful, the ability to organize it and reference it.  The Evernote Web Clipper is an extremely powerful tool as allows multiple ways to capture the information from websites. Once you have it captured, you can use the power of Evernote to manage the information. 

1. Article - The article option recognizes the relevant portion of the web page and allow you to take a snapshot of it. 

2. Simple Article - This will place the webpage in a readable mode where all the ads and buttons are taken off the page and the all you are left with are the relevant content in a more readable page. 

3. Full Page - This is will take the full page that you are looking at without cropping anything out. 

5. Bookmark - This will simply place the bookmark of the current page into your Evernote with a small picture from the site and a heading. 

4. Screen Shot - The Screen Shot option pulls up a grid based pointer that allows you to select an area in the web page and take a picture of it. 

Get the Chrome extension here . 

Evernote Power User Volume 6 - Search Evernote Within Google Search

Evernote has a very power search feature. There are a number of things that you can do that will make searching within Evernote easier that I will cover in another blog.  Today's tip simply allows you to search your Evernote library when searching within Google using the Evernote Web Clipper:

1. While in Chrome go to the menu grid and go to Tools -> Extensions. 

2. Under the Evernote Web Clipper select "option" . 

3. Select the option to "Show Evernote content related to my web searches".

Evernote Power User Volume 5 - Note Template (Windows App)

I use Evernote to drive my entire day.  When I am at work, I am feeding Evernote information constantly and referencing old notes to stay productive.  I find that I add the same type of information consistently, so I found using templates as a fast way to create notes.  Doing it this way allows for clean and consistent notes. To do this, follow the steps below:

1. Create a note that has elements that you need in your daily notes such as sections, grids, and tasks.

2. Export the note to a .enex file to the desktop. 

3. With the Evernote app pined to the task bar, drag the .enex file to the pinned shortcut.  This will allow you to the right-click on the Evernote app and create a note with the pinned template. 

Evernote Power User - Volume 4 - The "Take Action" Tab

When you become a heavy user of Evernote, you will notice that your notes quickly pile up. The challenge with creating notes on the go is managing the use of the notes.  There are notes that need to be archived for later use such as a receipt.  There are others , like a business idea, that need to acted on in a timely manner.  There is an easy solution for differentiating this, and this is the "Take Action" tag.  The strategy works as follows: 

- Create a tag called "Take Action".

- Create a shortcut for the "Take Action" tag.

- Create a note.

- If the not is something that you will need to take action on soon, place the tag "Take Action" on it.

- Schedule a time , daily , to go through the items in the "Take Action"

- Remove the tag once action has been taken. 

Using a Smartwatch to Increase Productivity

There is a lot of talk about the new wearable technology that is out there.  If you listen to most of the reviews you hear about how smart watches are useless.  They talk about how the price is way too high and the technology is in its infancy.   I have a different opinion.  I think that there are clear ways to make the a smartwatch fit into your life that warrants the price: 

1. Using a voice note - As busy as we are we are only as good as our last good idea.  These ideas usually don't come when you are on the computer ready to jot them down. They usually come in the middle of traffic while your mind wonders.  Hitting the voice memo button on your smart watch and capturing those ideas are a great way to not let great ideas fade.  

2. Using it as a back up alarm - There is going to come a time when your trusted smartphone is going to crash while you sleep and will not ring the alarm in the morning. This is not going to happen on a Saturday, when you have no real obligations.  This is going to happen when you have that important interview at your dream job.  Using your smartwatch you can ensure that you will be up and ready at those crucial moments. 

3. Save phone battery life -  Despite the fact that the smartwatches use battery life of your smartphone by connecting through bluetooth, it saves you a considerable amount of battery life. The savings come mostly with the fact that you are not checking the phone constantly when a notification comes in.  I find that I keep my phone i n my pocket more often because I can check my watch for my notification and only pull out my phone for the important things. 

My point? Buy a smartwatch! 

Evernote Power User - Volume 3 - Read Later

With all the information that we are  thrown everyday,  we need a way to keep the information stored for easy access when you need to read it later.  A well known solution for this is an application called Read it Later , which allows you to send links to the application and read it later when your time allows.  As a Evernote Power User , I try to find ways to move task like this into the Evernote world so that I may reduce the amount of applications I am accessing daily. 

The "_Read Later" Notebook 

What I do is create a note book called "_Read Later" and all links that I can't get to at the moment into that Notebook.  Placing the underscore (_) before the notebook name, places the notebook in the top of your notebook list.    

The Process 

All during the day add items into your "_Read Later" Notebook.  Make sure to tag the note based on it's relevance.  This could be articles you find on the web, mail that you have taken a picture of with your smartphone, or videos that you want to watch from youtube. Block out a time during the day to go over all of the items in the notebook. Once you have read the item, place it in it's own notebook and clean out the _Read Later folder for the next day.  

Doing this will help reduce information overload. 

Evernote Power User - Volume 2 - Task Clone & Evernote

As a follow-up to my previous blog about Evernote reminders, I want to provide a resource for those that use a more robust task management system. I came across a piece of software that leverages the flexibility of Evernote , but allows you to create tasks for just about any task manager out there.  The software is called TaskClone.  What this does is allow you to add checked tasks within an Evernote like so:

 Once Evernote syncs it creates that task into your tasks management system like so:

This simple process can save a great deal of time and effort. TaskClone has a free and paid version in the resource section: 

Resource:

TaskClone.com

Evernote Power User - Volume 1 - Evernote Reminders

I am a productive tool junkie.  I have the need to find different applications, books , and videos on making me more productive and efficient. In this journey, I have tried to find the best note application to dump all the crazy ideas that I have on the daily . There are no applications that came even close to Evernote. There is way to much in Evernote to cover in one blog , so I am going to address specific parts of the application that I will explain in small snacked sized portions. Your Welcome. 

Evernote reminders is a great place to start with this series. Evernote reminders are simply that, they are a setting in Evernote that allows you to make a note a reminder. The reason that this is powerful is the mobile component.  Since the Evernote reminder syncs with any and all platforms you place it on, you will get your reminders where ever you are. Another benefit is that you can create a widget that will show just the notes with reminders. This makes it easy to make Evernote your task management program as well as notes. 

Simply making a note of what you need to do is not enough to stay productive. Evernote reminders are a great way to make your notes actionable.  

Resource:

Evernote.com 

Your Next Million Dollar Idea is in Jeopardy

Ideas are the fuel for the hustler. The bad thing about some ideas, is that they don't usually come when you're sitting at your desk, ready to jot them down in Microsoft Word.  They often come while you're on the toilet , in the shower, in bed or driving.

Capturing your next million dollar idea is important , so here are some ways for you to get those ideas saved FAST :

1. Hovernote -Hovernote is a note taking program like many others , but what sets it apart is that it (as its name implies) hovers over your screen when using it.  This comes in handy because you can open Hovernote and  leave it open in your notification bar until you need it.  When you want to jot something down , you simply pull down the notification bar and start typing.

2. Google Search "Note to Self" feature - Native in the Google search utility is a little known feature that allows you to take quick notes.  To activate it you simply have to hold down the search button on your Android device.  The voice prompt will come up and you will dictate your note by starting with the words "note to self".  After your note is taken, you will be placed in an interface allowing you to send the text of the note that you just too plus the audio to your email.  Make sure you create a filter and note label to organize these messages and you are good to go.

Read all Your Favorite Sites Like a Magazine with Currents

If you are a person that is busy and money-minded , you will have websites that you frequent for your daily information.  Some are heavy into stocks so they hit cnbc.com , or you may have more underground sites that you use to guide your hustle (riseandgrind.com) .  Regardless of the site you can view them in a consistent magazine-like format using currents.  Currents is a rss feed reader just like Google Reader , but this brings a much more readable interface to the table.  It is a free app and needs to be experienced to understand how awesome this app is.  Get it now from the link below.

Currents on Google Play 

Do It Well with Doit.im - Sub-tasks Done the Right Way

Your son's football practice, getting ready for the big meeting, getting ready for the real estate exam.  All of these tasks can have multiple tasks within .  There are a great deal of tasks management programs that will help you organize your life , but they all had one big flaw, and that is the way that they handled sub-tasks. 

The advantage of the managing tasks using sub-tasks, is that you will separate your tasks into projects.  This , for me , has been very powerful because I can easily group my tasks and focus on details that I may miss otherwise.  There is only one system that that I have found available that is both an Android application and a web application.  The application is called Doit.im.  

This powerful application gives you the ability to create tasks just as your simple tasks managers like Tasks (yes the application is called tasks) , but it goes much further with powerful subtasks options. The subtasks are used through projects.  Each project can have several subtasks.

Doit.im also has a powerful online application that is very consistent and works very well.  This application are for those that are highly productive and need to manage their lives like a business.  Doit.im is the perfect companion for the hustler in you!

Doit.im android application

Doit.im web application

Previous blog on Astrid with Producteev 

The Go Software Suite

Using an Android device for most can be a very confusing thing.  This is because there is no single Android experience on an Android platform.  This is because the Android platform is open source.  What that means is that multiple manufacturers can  make their own custom Android experience.  Companies like Motorlola, LG, Samsung, Sony, and HTC all have their own Android experience.

These experiences are fine, but they can be very heavy and unappealing visually.  There are many alternatives out there that will give you a custom experience, but there are none that are as complete and functional as the Go Software Suite.  The developers at "Go " have a suite of software from a launcher, keyboard, and even a lock screen app.

The benefit to the productivity fiend is that when you use multiple devices or you switch devices frequently, you can always depend on having a consistent experience.  These also have the added benefit of being FREE!

Go Launcher from the market
Go Keyboard from the market
Go Locker from the market

Evernote, Not Just for Recipes

I think if you have any experience with the Internet at all, then you have some familiarity with Evernote.  Evernote is the do it all program that is available for any platform you can think of Web, Android, iOS, Honey Comb, etc. The great thing about Evernote is that there is a lot for the busy man or woman in you.

Some of the uses are :

For students:

• If you are a student on campus use the HP View tablet has a pen enabled Evernote that will allow you to take a digital note writing on the tablet like a notepad.
• If you are an online student, use Evernote to start your discussion topics. 

For Business Owners 

• Use your mobile Evernote program to take pictures of business cards , which are then searchable in Evernote.
• Keep notes of things done for a client , this is a great way to keep time stamped notes for future reference. 

For the Home Administrative Engineer (House Wife/Husband)

• Using the mobile app , scan receipts to keep up with expenses and stay organized.
• Create a recipe book with pics and organize them with tasks for easy the reference. 

This is truly just a few things that can be done with Evernote, spend some time playing with it on all your devices so you have access to your notes everywhere.  

Resources:

Evernote Website

Evernote Android App