Tools Archives - Page 2 of 2

Evernote: Managing Someday Tasks

By Laura Earnest March 30, 2020

Most people have moments when they see something and think, "I'd like to do that someday." If you're not going to forget about it, that means you either have to do it right now or write it down somewhere so you won't forget. David Allen, in Getting Things Done, recommended having a Someday/Maybe list, where all of these ideas reside.

The problem with any sort of list is that if you keep stuffing things into it, without removing items in turn, it becomes a giant slush pile of un-acted-upon ideas.

As an IT data professional, I can tell you that a system where you only put things in, without the ability or inclination to take it out again, is a failure. If you can't or won't get data out of a system, why put it in at all? It's wasted effort/time/money.

So the ginormous list of things you might want to do, unless you regularly pull things out, is worthless.

Evernote: My Maintenance Routine

By Laura Earnest March 22, 2020

Even though Evernote has some serious disadvantages , it is still my chosen note software. Today I wanted to show you how I use Evernote so that things are manageable.

When I first started using Evernote seriously, I researched the best practices. Why re-invent the wheel, after all? The best practice at the time was to have a few notebooks and then use tags to classify everything. This didn't work for me, because I couldn't find what I was looking for most of the time, and a single breakdown in tagging caused information to get lost. I also found that I couldn't efficiently clean out old unneeded information, and that just made everything worse.

Now I have multiple notebooks. If something gets mis-tagged, or lacks a tag, I can still look through the notebook to find it. Plus having multiple notebooks allows me to selectively sync to my tablet for offline use, and it makes cleaning out outdated information much easier.

In order to make Evernote run as smoothly as possibly, I use a three-phase technique.

Evernote: Love, Hate and Usage

By Laura Earnest March 16, 2020

Have you ever bookmarked a website, to return later and find that it is gone? Or wished that you could make notes on a website and save it? These are the primary reasons to use a notebook application like Evernote instead of a bookmark manager.

I used a bookmark manager as my primary source of keeping track of useful information on the interwebs for years. But after realizing that many of my bookmarks pointed to sites that were no longer there, and the inability to access information without the internet made me reconsider how I was storing things. Enter Evernote. Evernote is a notebook tool that is available as desktop, web and mobile, allowing me to get to my notes no matter where I am.

Today I will talk about Evernote, its ups, downs and foibles, and how I use it.

Making a Dream Board with Canva

By Laura Earnest January 20, 2020

It has been said that a picture is worth 1,000 words. Since we can distill complex thoughts into single images, it makes sense that we can use images to represent our desires. Dream boards, which are collections of things you want, are a collage of images and words that we can look at to remind us of what we are seeking.

Today we will learn how to make a dream board with Canva.

Using the Right Tools

By Laura Earnest November 11, 2019

I've talked about how you can take a tool that is not quite right and make it work for you. This is good if you cannot use a tool optimally, or don't really know how to use it fully. There are times, though, when you do know how to use a tool, but are forced to use a sub-optimal or substitute tool. And this can be a major hit to your productivity.

Making A Tool Work for You

By Laura Earnest October 7, 2019

Not all tools can be used optimally by all people. This applies whether it is a physical tool like a hammer or a productivity system. Today we will look at an approach to allow you to get as much out of a tool as you can.

I've always maintained that there is no magic bullet in productivity. The best we can do is assemble a toolbox of methods and systems and make them work for us. No one system is going to work for everyone in all circumstances. It's a matter of how we use the tools to get things done.

How I Process My Email (2019 Edition)

By Laura Earnest August 26, 2019

How many emails are in your inbox? How much time do you spend scanning over emails that are already seen, thinking about what you have to do to each one? Inbox zero, which is not the number of emails in your inbox, minimizes the time you spend in your inbox. Today I share my current (as of 2019) method of processing email.

I had a shock the other day. I was at a co-worker's computer to help her with some code, and saw that she had 32,000+ emails in her inbox. Unread. I understand that we get a lot of email every day, mostly status messages from the system. But this floored me. How many are in my inbox? Zero. Now I understood why she could never find anything that wasn't from the current day, and was always saying, "I didn't see that email."

It's really not that hard to stay on top of your email.

How I Do Web/Blog Reading (2019 Edition)

By Laura Earnest August 19, 2019

Today we take a look at a targeted way to read content from the web. I'll look at RSS readers, and share an even better way to read the content when it's convenient for you.

Most bloggers will offer free content in exchange for your email address. This is to give them an audience to pitch products and other offers to. There's nothing new in this - every blogger is told to do this, and I do it myself.

On the flip side, I give people an email address when I am interested in their freebies. After I get the freebie, I generally hang out, reading the first few emails. And then I unsubscribe.

How I Use My iPad (2019 Edition)

By Laura Earnest August 5, 2019

Tablets are a great way to have productivity on the go. With the latest hardware and apps, some people are using them to replace their computers. Today I'll give you an update on how I use my iPad.

When I first bought an iPad, I thought it would be an asset, but I never thought it would become a mainstay of my productivity. I use my iPad every day, and on a recent vacation didn't even open the laptop, using the iPad exclusively instead. Here is how - and when - I use my iPad.