It’s that time of year when we often resolve to do crazy things like get more organized. I love organization. It’s not a want for me, it’s a need. I get agitated by clutter. Everything should have its place (preferably out of site) with only essentials within eyes view.
This type of organization I can accomplish with physical objects. Accomplishing this electronically has been a different challenge. I rely mainly on two applications. The first is Evernote. I’ll discuss the second in the follow-up post, Part 2.
Evernote is like my virtual (very organized) junk drawer of thoughts and ideas. It’s ideal for collecting quick notes and things you don’t want to forget. You can make notes in text, audio or photo formats. You can create notebooks within the app to further organize these thoughts. To make life even easier you can do a keywords search when that well thought out notebook naming structure let’s you down and you can’t find that note you are looking for.
Here are some of my favorite uses for Evernote.
- I do most of my reading on my iPad using the Kindle app. As much as I love reading this way I am still drawn to real physical books. I love wandering through an isle of books, especially in airports. I often take pictures of books I want to read and file the photo in Evernote under my “Books” notebook. I can then quickly scroll through my reading list when it comes time to start a new book.
- I’m constantly seeing things online and offline that spark ideas. Business ideas, blog post ideas, decorating ideas and travel ideas are just a few of my Notebooks. Sometimes I take photos from magazines that spark the idea. Some of my notes are audio notes. It so easy to use whatever format is most convenient at the time.
- I’m a horrible grocery shopper. If I don’t walk into a grocery store with a list, I wonder up and down the isles collecting snack foods and leave without a meal in my shopping bag. So I have a recipes Notebook. I’ve collected my favorite recipes from dozens of sources into one place. A quick scroll and I’ve got my shopping list and dinner.
- Brief things I want to remember. Here’s where the organized junk drawer really comes in handy. Think about all the tidbits of life we need to keep organized somewhere. Evernote has become my go to place for all of these odds and ends.
If you are like me you’ve got a laptop, phone and tablet device on the go. Evernote will sync between these three devices so each one is up to date and available at your finger tips. A real plus.
I’m just scratching the surface of how to use this app. I’ll admit I wasn’t immediately a fan. It took some time and encouragement from a loyal Evernote expert (otherwise known as @tyr) to convince me of the many benefits of this organizational tool. In spite of a slow start, I’ve grown into a loyal fan and frequent user. If getting better organized is on your to do list I’d highly recommend giving Evernote a try.
I’ll share my second favorite app to keep you organized in an upcoming post.
Evernote is definitely a favorite of mine! Another way I find myself using the tool is that I forward important emails to my evernote account where I can more easily search on them. Great stuff! 🙂
Good post. I started testing the water a bit when you mentioned it before. I can tell it will be useful when I can use it more frequently. Maybe the best thing for me to do is to go ahead and comitt to it for 30 days and see how I do. Stay tuned.
That’s a great idea. I bet you’ll be hooked far before the 30 days is up. Keep me posted!
I’m checking out Pinterest, not for organization but more for inspiration. Have you tried it yet?
No, I haven’t played with Pinterest yet. It is getting some buzz some I’m curious about it. What do you think of it?
Just getting started but it seems like a good way to collect images for ideas. Might be great for building inspiration for a dream home or any other big idea you might have!