Evernote and Tickler for Future Follow Up

[jkmchughgtd]

Anyone using Evernote? How do you use it?

I have many prospecting calls that result in a request to call next week, month, year.

What is best way to tickle these reminders in the future? Is it as simple as a calendar entry? What do you do if you want to save and associate and email with the tickle?

 

[mcogilvie]

Anyone using Evernote? How do you use it?

I have many prospecting calls that result in a request to call next week, month, year.

What is best way to tickle these reminders in the future? Is it as simple as a calendar entry? What do you do if you want to save and associate and email with the tickle?

I use Evernote for reference material. On a mac you can copy email or clip a web pages, and you get a valid url for the source, which is handy. I have 5-10 Lists and perhaps 50 tags. I wouldn't use it for a tickler system, although you could.

The problem with using a calendar for a tickler is that if you miss doing the item that day, then what? Most likely you lose it. Some todo lists can have items scheduled to become available or active on a given date, which is what you need. Otherwise you need some additional tickler system like the well-known 43 folders. If your system doesn't allow attachments, you can copy the email to the item's note field (electronic) or drop a copy of the email into the folder (paper).

 

[mackiest]

Evernote as diary and intention tracker

I use Evernote 3.1 as a personal and professional diary and intenion tracking system. As a side note I hate hate hate the new version 3.5 of Evernote (I'm referring specifically to the Windows desktop client) which is a total step back in both functionality, performance, and aesthetics. I digress.

Evernote is good for this kind of diary function because it's so easy to add and tag notes and they are automatically titled and timestamped so there is zero resistance to writing in it.

When the mood strikes (once or twice a day, usually) I'll pop open Evernote and create a note to express what's on my mind - thoughts, feelings, impressions, details of my daily life, whatever.

If an entry I write is particularly meaningful or inspirational I will tag it with "Intention". I occasionally browse through these tagged entries to remind myself of my personalized inspirations.

Such a diary is sometimes good for helping me to remember certain things, like "What was the name of the couple that so-and-so introduced us to some months back?" I just search for "so-and-so" and voila there's the entry describing the meeting with the couple and their names.

 

[dcfindlay]

Evernote as a folder and filing system

I love Evernote and it forms the primary basis for my GTD system for three big reasons:

1. My stuff syncs everywhere -- I can have my entire collection of notes on my iPhone, my desktop at work and my laptop at home.

2. It's really easy to capture stuff, meaning much less resistance to entering everything. I most often find myself doing it using the iPhone, either with voice or by photographing bits of paper. Evernote detects text in pictures you upload -- even handwritten notes -- and indexes it so it's searchable. I've used this a bit with meetings in cafes, etc, by snapping a pic of the napkin I wrote stuff down on, instead of manually typing it in later.
It's also easy if your scanner can send files to an email address -- I find myself regularly scanning straight to my Evernote account, using the unique email address they provide. So quick for filing, and it's all super easy to find and retrieve later, wherever I want to access it.

2. The use of notebooks (folders) and tags makes it organising your files (and finding them later) super flexible.

I work as the Business Manager for a multi-site church, so I have lots of discrete areas of responsibility that I need to track individually, but probably aren't big enough to give them a folder of their own. Initially I was making stuff too complex by using either tags OR notebooks and having way too many of them, but now I've hit on a system that works and is simple enough to distill down like so:

NOTEBOOKS are used to define what I have to do with each item. So, my notebooks include all the standard GTD ones, as well as ones for filing reference stuff I need based on whether it has an action attached to it, like below:

Using Action.(whatever) notebooks was heaps quicker, in the end, than using Evernote's check-boxes for sorting done and undone "to do" items. It was just too painful to repeatedly enter "todo:false" in the search bar anytime I wanted to see where I was up to.

I also have an "Archive" notebook, which forms part of my weekly review. At the end of the week I cull any items that I've finished, but still want to keep. That way I can find them later using a tag search.

TAGS are used to define what each item is about. This makes it easy to quickly see the total of all my thoughts, files and actions on any relevant topic with a single click. My current tag list is below:

The one thing Evernote doesn't have is a calendar. For this I use Outlook, which seems to work ok -- syncs with the iPhone, etc (this is important for me as I'm often not at my desk). For email inputs, if they're actionable or handy for reference I tend to forward them straight to my Evernote address for processing, or I respond using the 2-minute rule and then delete them.

Tickler? Don't really use it. If there's something I can't address for a long time, usually it sits in my Filing.Actions folder, which I pick up during my weekly review if it needs to be done in the next week or two, at which point it gets transferred to one of my action folders.

Attached files

 

[lolajl]

I'm starting to use Evernote as a notebook. I'd been using Noteshare by Aquaminds, but I've been very, very disappointed by their approach to community support (by that I mean connecting with other people who use Noteshare/NoteTaker so we can learn how others are using these products). All I know is they are developing new products so people must be buying their application.

I don't use it for ticklers, though - too complicated to keep a digital version (especially since I don't really have a job . . . well, I'm working on a new social site without pay with other partners but it's very early in the stage).

 

[productivity]

I love evernote! Evernote allows me gather clippings from various websites without having to bookmark every single site. I can select the text and photos that I want to select. So far I'm enjoying it.

 

[si_gale]

Thanks DC Findlay, I found that post really helpful. I am in awe of Evernote and want to work out the best way to structure it to fit GTD and organising my life.
God bless

 

[dcfindlay]

Just found a tickler to use with Evernote.

I think I might have found the tickler that Evernote is missing (sort of) -- Nudgemail. Just email it with the reminder you want to receive, and when, and it will send the email back to you at the time and/or date you specify. Flexible with email format, international timezones, mailers, etc. Only thing it doesn't do is attachments, but that might not be a problem. If you want to be reminded about a physical document or file on your computer that needs your attention, simply list in the email where you put it.

To make it work, a simple auto-forwarding rule to send all Nudgemail reminders to my Evernote uploading address (and delete from my inbox) was the main key -- otherwise the reminders get lost in the ocean of other emails I get. As long as they're in my Evernote account (ie my GTD system), they stick around until I look at them, turn them into an action or delete them -- which is the strength of a tickler system over a calendar, where the reminders are only current for the day you get them. Still totally free for now as it's in beta.

I'm even starting to get evil with forwarding emails from certain sources. For example, there might be a company that I'm receiving newsletters or updates from, that I definitely want to do some work with but definitely can't do it until march next year. Simple solution is an email rule (a la Tim Ferriss) to auto-forward all emails from that address (or domain, even) to march@nudgemail.com and then delete. Reminder service and inbox-cleaner all in one. On March 1, they'll all come back to me ... but I might also need to include a nudgemail reminder to delete the forwarding rule on March 1, otherwise everything I receive from them from that point on will disappear until March of the following year. Not cool.

 

[dcfindlay]

Just found www.followupthen.com -- a different flavour of the same thing. Take your pick ...

 

[Auke]

I Use Evernote as my Primar GTD system. But also use Gmail and Google Agenda.
Every item connected to a date I add to Gmail. So everything which is actionable on a certain date I put in my Google Agenda.

I have read a blog from somebody who uses tags with months and days for a tickler system in Evernote. You can find it here: http://www.40tech.com/2009/08/25/getting-things-done-gtd-in-evernote-with-only-one-notebook/

Auke.

 

[Vickie]

Evernote for Reference Material and Journal

I use Evernote for reference matieral and as my journal for ideas. Informant is my primary system and I love it! I find it to be very GTD friendly.

The one thing I'm still not finding a use for is a physical tickler file. I've tried setting one up and home and at work but never end up putting anything in there because Informant can send me reminders and Lotus Notes does as well.

 

[Oogiem]

The one thing I'm still not finding a use for is a physical tickler file. I've tried setting one up and home and at work but never end up putting anything in there

Don't you ever get any paper things you need to see at some later date?

Things like notes needed for a community meeting, tax documents you can't fill out until some event has passed in the future, cds or dvds to listen to or watch that you don't want to deal with until after a certain date, entry booklets for the fiber shows, county fair and other similar things that won't be due for several more months, newsletter with info on a class that I may or may not take just to mention a few things that are in my tickler file. These are all paper items that I will need some day in the future, where do you store that sort of stuff?

 

[Vickie]

Don't you ever get any paper things you need to see at some later date?

Things like notes needed for a community meeting, tax documents you can't fill out until some event has passed in the future, cds or dvds to listen to or watch that you don't want to deal with until after a certain date, entry booklets for the fiber shows, county fair and other similar things that won't be due for several more months, newsletter with info on a class that I may or may not take just to mention a few things that are in my tickler file. These are all paper items that I will need some day in the future, where do you store that sort of stuff?

I have file folders and have an action trigger to get in from that particular folder. For example, I have folders for each of the associates on my team and when I have a meeting with them, which is already on my calendar, I just go and pull their folder (already having added agenda items to their folder throughout the week). I don't need it by date necessarily.

Same thing with concert tickets. I have a folder at home called "Tickets" and just keep any tickets in there and go pull it when I need it. I've tried using the tickler system but I don't find a huge need for it.

 

[nunodonato]

I'm also using evernote mainly for reference and support materials.
This is how my notebooks look like

not using the tags so much.