‘How did I cope without Evernote?’ is a question I frequently ask myself.
This productivity app, which was recommended to me by a friend about a year ago, is probably the most useful iPhone app I’ve ever used. It’s essentially a note making app, and yet it’s so much more than that. For me, it’s a way of keeping track of my many ‘to do’ lists, a way of remembering everything I’m supposed to be doing on a daily basis – frankly, it’s a way of life.
‘Remember everything’ is the Evernote tag line and that’s exactly what it allows you to do. The great thing is that it’s accessible on your smartphone as an app, your PC or laptop as a downloadable programme, and on any internet browser as a web app that you log in to. All the version sync automatically, so whether you’re at home, at work or on the move you can always access your notes, adding and deleting as new tasks come up and your complete others.
The way I use it is to have a series of ‘to do’ lists. One is for this here blog, so I know what post I need to write, edit and publish; one is for my other writing projects; another for finances; and my favourite one is for social activities. But most important is my Daily list, which tracks what I need to do each day of the forthcoming week.
I always have the app open on my laptop at home and always have an internet window open at work so that when I think of something I have to do I can add it straight away, along with any web links, attachments, photos etc that need to go with it. I used to constantly have a little yellow post-it note stuck to the back of my iPhone, and it would invariably fall off and I’d have to send myself an email as a reminder to pay my rent or Skype my Mum and Dad.
It turns out that there’s loads of other great features I’m not even using. When researching this post, I discovered there are cool things like Evernote Hello, which helps you to remember people you meet (useful for networking, social or otherwise), Skitch, a tool you can use to annotate pictures, and Evernote Food, to preserve food memories and recipes.
If you struggle to stay organised, or even if you’re a super organised person who wants an even more efficient way to stay on top of things, I couldn’t recommend Evernote highly enough.
