Get Everything Done

I've been trying to use Evernote as a kind of parking lot. I write thoughts, capture meeting notes, notes from phone calls, web clippings, etc. I like how notes jump to the top of your list whenever they are edited -- it keeps the freshest items on top.

I scan through the notes from time to time, making edits sometimes, maybe just deciding what to keep, what to archive, what to delete. It's not a "to do" list at all - more of an "idea list" or a journal or a notebook of things to consider. There may be action items in there somewhere, but I don't try to flag them in any special way. I just try to cycle through the active notes from time to time. Sometimes I also look through my older, archived notes. I'm trying not to give it too much thought so it doesn't turn into some kind of master system. :-)

Hi Mark -

I just rely on active tasks rising to the top. Or, to be more precise, I rely on the active NOTES rising to the top, because there may or may not be any actual tasks in there. Maybe they are meeting notes, or ideas, or half-written proposals, etc.

Hi Cricket -- I'm not sure whom you are asking, but here is what I do. I scan the Evernote notes from time to time to review what's in there. I usually do this when I am sitting and waiting for something - waiting in the car to pick up my son after baseball practice, or waiting for my next meeting at work to start, or something like that. If I notice something I really need to do that I have forgotten about, then I might copy it from Evernote and email it to myself. Or maybe I'll just type into the note, "do this!" (causing the note to float to the top of my Evernote list).

But usually I'll handle things like that in the regular course of things. I have my volunteer work on my mind pretty often, and in the evenings when everyone is in bed I'll put "volunteer work" on SMEMA and look through all my papers and emails and meeting notes and just deal with anything that needs to be done. Or if some particular task is on my mind then that will go on SMEMA. During working hours, I'll be thinking about my work projects and handle them in the same way.

With DIT, I would just write everything in DIT. If I had meeting notes to review, I'd write "review meeting notes" and I'd get to it eventually, if not the next day.

I felt more methodical when using DIT, but feel more engaged using SMEMA.

Mark - I suppose I usually make some edits to the notes, and that's why they float to the top.