*sigh*
I’ve been told it’s the cat’s meow, but I still can’t come up with compelling enough reasons to actually use Evernote. I’m like a poster child for the app though. I have an iPhone, I’ve got a fancy schmancy iPad, this lighting-fast-rocket-scientist-approved MacBook Pro. I’d love to be able to sync notes between all three, and even went so far as to start looking for a way to do it, doing shit like Googling, “how do I sync my iPhone, iPad, and Macbook?” and, “Can I sync stickies with my iPhone and iPad?” (I’m a huge fan of stickies) and seeing, buried deep in some discussion thread about why stickies suck (remind me to flame that asshole) someone simply saying, “Evernote is perfect for this”. I think my forehead is still a little red from where I slapped it. After all, I’ve had Evernote installed since almost the first day I got my Macbook, based on a recommendation from a friend of mine (Hey Tracy!) who swears by it. Then I got an iPad and it was probably like, the third app I installed, right behind DropBox and iBooks (okay, fourth… I did install the Marvel Comics App before the thing had even warmed up, after all).
And on paper it’s perfect. Install Evernote on your phone, your tablet, your laptop, your desktop… and sync them all. Create a note on your phone and sync it with your laptop. Embed locations into documents and search for notes based on geolocation. Install the Safari (or Firefox) extension and clip whole web pages to save and read (or whatever) later. You can even clip things and save them to Evernote as a PDF. See? Am I right? It’s like, the perfect app.
So why don’t I use it?
I’m not saying, “like I barely use it, dude.” No, I’m saying, “I don’t ever use it” (no pun intended).
And it makes me think. Why don’t I use it? Is it the extra step involved in creating a note in Evernote? Is it even an extra step?
So I make little promises to myself, like some reformed alcoholic, looking at myself in the mirror in the morning while I shave, “Today I’m going to use Evernote. Today will be the day!” In my head, I even say it with a Tony Robbins voice and agree with myself, “yes Jeff, you CAN use Evernote today! Today you’ll be a beacon of organization! A standard-bearer of all things orderly and organized!” I “golly gee whiz” myself a couple times, grab my laptop bag, get to work…
And promptly write shit on little scraps of paper surrounding my keyboard… using a dull pencil.
For all my digital acumen, I’m still just a guy with a desk filled with real, actual sticky notes. But I promise I am gonna start using Evernote for like, ALL my notes and important stuff.
First thing tomorrow.
Hmmm Evernote… let’s see… I’m'll go all long-winded on you…
Just get the brakes changed in your car? Snap a photo of the invoice and tag as car-maint and upload to evernote… then toss the paper version. If you get a good photo you can actually search against the text on the invoice due to Evernote’s OCR magic.
I try and use it to catalog random scraps of paper like that as much as possible.
I have a notebook called CRM and it has a note in it most everyone I talk to and they’re named like @Client Smith and if Client Smith calls and wants some pricing or info on a project or something we’ll chat then I’ll add some text to his note. Email documents itself, but random phone calls or meetings not so much… so his note might look something like this:
2010-11-21
Client Smith loves the new design, but wants to make the logo bigger and change all the colors
2010-11-09
Client Smith called and we are a green lighted for Project X. Wants to make a few changes to payment terms.
2010-10-02
Called and spoke to Nancy about the proposal we sent last week. Said Jim would call back next week.
So I have this running history of our phone conversations.
If you wanted to get real fancy, you could then share this notebook with your coworkers so that if Client Smith calls and a coworker answers, they can pull up his note and see where things were last time we spoke. Of course, this only works if you actually keep accurate records – which I go through phases of doing and not doing
Another thing I’ll do is if I think, “Oh, next time I see Jeff I want to ask him about that video game thing…” I’ll jot that down in my @Jeff Small note – then, the next time I see Jeff I can pull his note up on my phone and ask him about it… for me its a way to just get that stuff out of my head, but store it in a system somewhere that I trust I’ll be able to find it when I need it… the whole GTD David Allen thing.
I have a notebook called Design Scrapbook where I’ll file away snapshots of cool things I find in a store or interesting typography I run across – or I’ll snag a screenshot of an interesting form design or color scheme and tag them with things that come to mind. All my PDFs are in there in a notebook called eBooks
Also use it for throw away notebooks like Appliance Research for when we were looking for new appliances for the house. It had photos of dishwashers, stoves, etc. (and their price tags) from Lowe’s/Home Depot, web clippings from Consumer Reports or other reviews online, etc. Then once we decided what we wanted I found the PDFs of the manuals online and have them stored in my General Reference notebook so I can toss the paper version and print my own if I ever need it. Then I just delete the Appliance Research notebook… it served its purpose and I’m not tied to any of its info anymore.
I have a notebook named Lists that has notes in it like:
Gift Ideas (when the wife drops the hint, I store it away here… then if I’m out and can get something I fire up the phone and have it handy)
Life Goals (good to review and refresh every so often)
Movies to See
New Music
ToDo@House (Things to do/fix around house)
ToDo@Jetta (Things to do/fix on car)
Then just random stuff that comes to mind like I have notes for:
Places to change our billing address (since we just moved) – as they come to mind I jot them down then take care of when i have time
Again, mostly just to get out of my head and into a system I trust.
Other ideas:
Serial numbers for applications
Ideas for blog posts
Recipes
Photos of beer/wine labels (If they’re good) so I can remember them next time
The best thing about it is content ubiquity… computer, phone, ipad, pretty much wherever you are you have one of those things handy so its the perfect capture tool… you may have a great idea for a blog post, but be sitting in traffic… fire up the phone jot it down, then you have that idea waiting on you for when you can sit down and work on it.
Bottom line: you have to create a system that works for YOU. It’s not a magic unicorn that poops out rainbows and jolly green leprachauns carrying pots of gold… but its good at what it does do: Gather random crap and make it findable when you need it.
Your mileage may vary, but it works for me!
LOL… I had the same exact conversation with myself. “There has to be a better way to do this stuff…. Evernote must be the silver bullet! I will use Evernote!”
And I do. I clip shit out, save snippits, links, pages, etc. Its great! Its become the messy virtual desk to go along with my real messy desk.
The problem is that I don’t ever go back into it to find the crap I store there. Is it that I just don’t need to pull the stuff back out? Once I’ve read it once, do I seem to retain it and not need the source? Apparently, I just don’t know what I need to keep… or I’m trying to solve a problem I don’t really have.
For the important stuff, I have Outlook, Google Reader, DropBox, notebooks, sketch books, etc. Hell, I even have that messy desk which I can magically find whatever I need on (under piles of paper and everything… as long as no one moves it!).
“Its become the messy virtual desk to go along with my real messy desk.”
Hahaha… I love that.
But isn’t it amazing how powerful a pencil and a Moleskine is? Give me one fine point mechanical pencil and a Moleskine and I’ll rule the world.
The problem is that I try to stick stuff in there that doesn’t fit into a category I’ve already taken care of elsewhere. Evernote may be great for stuff you know how to classify. That’s the shit I already have taken care of. Its the stuff I’m not sure how to categorize that create problems for me.
I may as well just have one “notebook” labeled “shit, I’ll never need or look for.” Gee, I’m glad I kept that…. that lets me satisfy my pack rat/collector behavior.
Not a big fan of the pencil (unless its a good heavy 4B for sketching)…. I’m more of a pen kind of guy. I think its a character of line and permanence issue.
The one thing that sticks out in my head is Evernote’s ability to tag notes and leave yourself voicenotes. If I got into the habit of leaving myself little voicenotes and they were just tagged based on geolocation, I might… *maybe* have a use for, say, searching, “that note I left myself yesterday while I was waiting at the swing bridge” or, “that note I added at the backgate stoplight”… but then what I chose to DO with that note, I have no idea. Would I just transcribe it to a sticky note? Add it to my google calendar?
Which brings up a whole ‘nother issue… There are pretty useful “to-do” lists built into Google Calendar, which is where I mostly keep all my time-based events. If I could figure out a way to quickly add notes and to-do items to my Google Calendar easily, I could see that becoming infinitely more useful to me personally.
Perhaps Tracy Floyd will jump in here and give us some pointers. He actually upgraded to the full version of Evernote because he uses it so much.
I guess what it boils down to is that Evernote seems like SUCH a well thought out app with so many useful and convenient hooks, that I feel like there HAS to be a way to integrate it better into my own personal work/home/flow/life/processes… like I don’t wanna waste such a great app.
Also, since I got the iPad, I’ve become almost crack-like addicted to Instapaper. I find it so much easier to clip stuff with Instapaper and go back and read it later on the iPad, so I find less and less use for the Evernote Clip extension. I struggle with, “so what exactly would I clip from the web and save into Evernote?”