I don’t distinguish between work stuff and personal stuff for the same reason I do not use tags – I do not want additional clicks or touches when capturing or processing my stuff. Do not distinguish between work and personal I do not use tags because of the extra steps (clicks or touches) it takes to tag the item introduces friction into the capture and processing processes. This provides for the ultimate in filing flexibility and many people prefer to use tags as the basis for their system instead of notebooks. You can then view all notes with a specific tag, regardless of which notebook it resides in. Tags are attributes that you can apply to any individual note. I only use tags sparingly and really only use two tags – “Today” for the next actions I am planning on doing today and “Weekend” for next actions I plan on accomplishing over the weekend. Some GTD Evernote practitioners use tags extensively to organize their system. Reference: Education, GTD, Information Technology, Receipts, Reference.Next Actions: Anywhere, Errands, Home, Office.I also have two “Stacks” (Next Actions and Reference) that are collections of Notebooks. I have 16 “Notebooks” which are the collections of individual notes. I also use the Evernote Web Clipper to clip web pages into Evernote with one-click ease. I use Fast Ever to capture text-based stuff in a friction-free manner. I use a Fujitsu ScanSnap scanner to scan all physical paper directly into Evernote. It syncs across all my devices so it doesn’t matter if I am on my laptop, my home computer, my smartphone or my tablet because I can easily get information in and out of Evernote.Įvernote’s ecosystem of applications allows me to fine-tune how I use it for capture. It is always available and I can easily access it from whatever device I am using. And most important, when building a trusted system, simplicity is the key – less is more – and that is why I use Evernote.Įvernote serves as the foundation for my trusted system because of its friction-free input and output of data. It must be able to handle digital and analog inputs depending on contexts.
It must be able to retrieve the relevant information I need at a moments notice. It must be able to provide friction-free capture of the incoming stuff that comes to me. My trusted system must be 1) easy to use 2) with me at all times 3) on all my devices. In GTD you also need a general-purpose trusted system for all the other “stuff” in your life. Same thing goes for todays Contacts Apps for your names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses, etc.Ĭalendar and Contact apps are specialized trusted systems for specific uses.
Why does your brain “forget” that meeting or birthday? The reason is your brain “trusts” your “system” (calendar) to remember it for you. Once you put a meeting or appointment into your calendar your brain “lets go of it” and no longer keeps it in your subconscious. We all use trusted systems today and probably don’t know it. Many people who are Mac-centric use OmniFocus and are extremely pleased with how it works for them and since it is designed with GTD in mind it makes it easy to follow GTD methodology. Choosing a tool for your trusted system is a personal decision and analog, digital and hybrid systems can work. I recently ran across an old friend who uses OmniFocus as the basis of his trusted system and he wanted to know why I used Evernote instead of OmniFocus. Once the information is out of your head, it’s far easier to figure out what to do with it. David Allan defines “stuff” as: “anything you have allowed into your psychological or physical world that doesn’t belong where it is, but for which you haven’t yet determined the desired outcome and the next action step.” (page 17 of Getting Things Done) So, when we have stuff in our heads, it causes untold stress and anxiety. The best way to stop mentally stressing and start being productive is to get all your “stuff” into your trusted system. Trying to juggle too many things in your head at the same time is a major reason we get stressed out when there’s a lot of stuff going on. Our brains are optimized for fast decision-making, not storage. Many people (either consciously or unconsciously) try to keep track of everything they need to do in their mind, which is a big mistake.
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