Evernote

This is part two of a three-part series on the productivity method called Getting Things Done developed by David Allen. I explained GTD in the first post. In this post I’ll share my personal GTD workflow, and the final post explains the critical GTD component called the weekly review. I’ve used nearly every type of tool to organize my workflow and manage my tasks. I’ve used Moleskine journals of every size, Clear, Reminders, Evernote, my email inbox–you name it. But I’ve landed on the big daddy of Apple GTD systems to get things done–Omnifocus. ...

I recently discovered MacSparky, David Sparks’ website. He often highlights the home screens of his friends’ iPhones, and since I don’t have any friends, I decided to write about my own home screen. My home screen is in constant flux. I’ve moved the icons around a dozen times in the last week since being back in the States (au revoir, MagicJack and Ljubljana Bus app). It was time to get all efficient. I normally sell you on why I love apps, but this is more on how I use them and my general iOS workflow instead of just great apps. I’ve been thinking a lot about workflow lately thanks to the Mac Power Users podcast (by David Sparks and Katie Floyd) and my incessant urge to be ever more productive and efficient. ...

I love knowing how people get things done. Seeing other people’s arsenal of productivity weaponry gets me pumped up than a nerd at Comic-Con. Here’s the list of tools I use, in no particular order and how they help my workflow. Click the name of each tool for a link to download or purchase it. My Toolbox...

Sometimes I do stupid things that waste time out of habit. Most of the time I do that because it’s more convenient to keep doing things the way I know how instead of investing the time into figuring out the best way to do them. Here’s a recent example. This is my normal workflow for creating a blog post. ...

I still prefer physical books to eBooks, but one thing I love about eBooks is having all of my notes and highlights already digitally documented. Unfortunately, Amazon and Apple don’t make saving your notes in a clean format simple. Since I’m a fanatic when it comes to organization and digital hygiene, this is not acceptable (more on how to fix that later). If you are just looking to get all of your notes and save them in a document, PDF or paper copy (because you hate trees and have filing cabinets from the 1980s) here’s the quick and dirty process. ...

Imagine a junk drawer that had a search bar. You throw everything you’ll ever need into it, but when it comes time to dig out the scissors, rubberbands, or a half used q-tip, you’ll find what you’re looking for in no time. Meet your digital junk drawer: Evernote. I tried to use Evernote a few years ago and I gave up on it fairly quickly. I was using it all wrong. I found if you aren’t using it for everything it’s more of a hassle than a help. It should become your go-to app for absolutely everything that you’re writing, archiving, and referencing digitally. To get started with Evernote, head to Evernote.com and click on the Get Started link near the middle of the page. They also have an app for practically every kind of smartphone. Here are a couple quick pointers: ...

Some say clothes make the man. I say apps make the phone. If you don’t have an iPod, iPhone, or iPad, you’ve effectively rejected consumerism or you’ve just spent your money on the wrong technology. [Totally kidding, but by now you’re offended and the rest of this post wouldn’t be helpful for you anyway.] I love good apps, and as my closest companions know, I’m evangelistic about products and services I love, so it’s my pleasure to present to you… ...