Leaders are Time Challenged
I just finished teaching "Time Management for Business Leaders" at Green River Community College. I believe that business leaders are especially challenged with time management because of wearing so many hats, having so many commitments and working with so many people and clients.
Time Management Systems Take Time
I have been a student of time management my entire career. I have been to the seminars, read the books and talked to my friends who knew more about it than I did. Still, I have been overwhelmed by tasks, deadlines, and projects. I've tried all the latest GTD and Any.do apps. It felt like I took as much time to keep the system up-to-date as it did to do half my task list.
I have been a student of time management my entire career. I have been to the seminars, read the books and talked to my friends who knew more about it than I did. Still, I have been overwhelmed by tasks, deadlines, and projects. I've tried all the latest GTD and Any.do apps. It felt like I took as much time to keep the system up-to-date as it did to do half my task list.
Making Lists and Still Forgetting
Speaking of task lists, like most business leaders, I used online task lists, mobile device task lists, paper task lists, sticky notes, putting files in front of the door and tying strings to my fingers. Tasks, projects, emails and phone calls were still falling through the cracks.
Introducing Evernote:
Speaking of task lists, like most business leaders, I used online task lists, mobile device task lists, paper task lists, sticky notes, putting files in front of the door and tying strings to my fingers. Tasks, projects, emails and phone calls were still falling through the cracks.
Introducing Evernote:
I have been using Evernote very casually for a couple of years. Mostly for bookmarking websites I wanted to remember. In the meantime, Evernote has been making awesome improvements that have made it the ultimate time, task, and information tool for business leaders.
One Place for All That Stuff in Your Head
I recommend using Evernote for all of your task and information management. That way you will have everything you need out of your head, stored in one place.
Here is a short video introduction to Evernote:
How to Organize Evernote
To help you get started, it helps to understand how Evernote gets structured. You organize your tasks and information with these tools:
To help you get started, it helps to understand how Evernote gets structured. You organize your tasks and information with these tools:
- Organize by Stacks - Think of stacks of notebooks all in one place - like on a bookshelf
- Organize by Notebooks - Think of folders or 3 ring binders like you use at school
- Organize by Notes - think of pages you put in a folder or 3 ring binder
- Organize by Tags - Think of labels, sticky notes, or bookmarks
All your information get organized and then easily found with Evernote's search tool.
Evernote Becomes One Place for Your Information - It's Brilliant
- It records every type of information easily - text, pictures, audio, clips articles from the web, you can also attach documents.
- You will remember everything, forget nothing, do it all with Evernote. We live in the digital age, now you have a digital memory.
- Evernote synchronizes to all of your desktop and mobile devices. All the information is stored in the cloud.
- If you are working on a project you can share notebooks with team members.
- If you want to keep data private such as passwords you can encrypt information in notes.
- It has a great search feature and will save your searches for faster access.
- If you want to cross reference information you can create a link from one note to another note.
- You can use your Evernote links in your calendar items. Make a note, create the link and place it in your calendar for reference.
Manage Your Tasks with Evernote
To use Evernote for managing your tasks I recommend that you create a "tasks" notebook. It will look like this:
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When you want to add a new task you push the "new note" button. Notes is where you place and track individual tasks.
Next set up the following tags in this manner:
Put a . (period) in front of .priorities, .when, .where, .who. Tasks get very messy and unusable unless we can reference them by context. You can add as many tags as you need on each note (or task) identify the priority, when, where, or who your task is happening with. Although I have a list of tasks, they are organized by how they are important to me. Notice how I used numbers, "@" symbols, and "!" symbols. It keeps the tags organized and easy to access and reference. When you type in the first letter or symbol the tag comes up automatically.
Even Manage Emails
Evernote makes it easy to manage emails in Outlook. It puts the Evernote button on the toolbar automatically when it installed on my desktop. I am also able to send emails to and from Evernote.
Evernote makes it easy to manage emails in Outlook. It puts the Evernote button on the toolbar automatically when it installed on my desktop. I am also able to send emails to and from Evernote.
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Evernote keeps making this a better and easier tool to use.
Get Organized Fast
Once I installed Evernote, signed up and set up my "tasks" notebook and tags the way I demonstrated here. I was organized within 20 minutes. All the things that were on my mind to do were all in Evernote. In fact, things happen so fast and easily on Evernote that it feels like I spend almost no time getting and staying organized.
Once I installed Evernote, signed up and set up my "tasks" notebook and tags the way I demonstrated here. I was organized within 20 minutes. All the things that were on my mind to do were all in Evernote. In fact, things happen so fast and easily on Evernote that it feels like I spend almost no time getting and staying organized.
Evernote Reference Guides and Tutorials
I've included some additional tutorials and reference articles to help you make the most of Evernote.
I've included some additional tutorials and reference articles to help you make the most of Evernote.
Learning Resources
Some Good Evernote Reference Guides
- How to Organize Evernote for Maximum Efficiency
- How to Use Evernote If You Are a Speaker or Writer
- How to Use Evernote with a Traditional Paper Notebook
- How to Use Evernote with an iPad to Take Meeting Notes
- How to Email Your Documents Directly to Evernote
- How to Scan Documents Directly into Evernote
- How to Get Your Stuff into Evernote
- Is Your Data Safe in Evernote?
- How to Use Evernote as a Blogger
- How to Find Your Stuff in Evernote
- 7 Evernote Resources You May Not Know About
- How to Get Your Kindle Highlights into Evernote
Author: Kirk J. Davis is a SBDC Certified Business Advisor at Green River Community College offering no-cost consulting for
businesses. Kirk can be reached at
253.520.6262 or by email at kdavis@greenriver.edu. Read more on the Green River Community College SBDC Blog at www.bizdreamitdoit.com or follow
him on Twitter www.twitter.com/kirkjdavis, Facebook www.facebook.com/GRCCSBAC or Linkedin www.linkedin.com/in/kirkjdavis
