Tips and Techniques #9

This month we’ll touch on several applications with suggestions to improve your skills and speed things up. 

Evernote 

Use the Side Bar (turn on/off in View menu). Notebooks are sorted in alphabetical order by default, but that might not suit you. Add a “.” in front of the name to bring it to the top. You can also use letters, a, b, c in front of the names to order them as you like. Of course z, x, etc will move them to the bottom of the list. 

Scannable if you haven’t loaded on your iPhone or iPad, you need to do it. When you open the app log into your Evernote account. Now when you open it, the camera opens and you can capture documents as a .pdf or a .jpg image file. This is one app that I use daily to capture things on the fly. You can create multiple page .pdfs for document that you scan. Save it directly to Evernote. Capture expenses, important papers, warranties, purchase receipts, vehicle repairs, recipes, etc. 

View Menu you can easily change what you see when Evernote is open by using different views of notes as well as sorting different ways. Experiment a little to see what suits you. 

Audio file did you know that you can use a voice recorder within Evernote? When you open a Note look along the menu for the microphone. Click it and start recording. Perfect for making notes when you are a real estate broker to make notes when touring a property. Take a few pictures with your camera to go with the notes. 

Templates Evernote has a new feature. When you open a new Note you’ll see an icon for templates. Click on that and select one that can help you. They are already formatted and you can even edit them to suit your own needs. You can find planners, meeting notes, budget documents, etc. There are dozens waiting to download. They are free of course. 

ToDoist® this popular task manager continues to improve and is a bargain for the “pro” version. It has a fast learning curve and seems intuitive. Use it to capture tasks that you need complete. You can place a due date, a priority on them. Further classify with labels such as “computer”, phone, errands, etc. You can filter them to further refine what you are going to do. Have a few mintues to make some calls, call up the filter “phone” to see which you might knock out. Have an important email that needs attention? Send it directly to ToDoist. There are many videos on YouTube® explaining in detail how to use it. 

What are your Strengths? Have you ever taken a Strengths finder test? The well known Gallup organization has an on-line test. 

https://www.gallup.com/cliftonstrengths/en/home.aspx