How To Use Evernote with the Top Productivity Systems to Make it More Meaningful

Make Evernote your friend to derive actionable results

Regardless of how great a person and employee you are, your professional and personal lives will be a real me if you are not organized.

Organizing your workspace, workflows, and digital life will help you maintain a healthy work-life balance.

From the simplest (Eat That Frog) to the most complex (G.T.D. and finally, PARA), powerful organizers recognize the power of organizational systems.

What is your favorite method?

Now let's take a closer look at the leading contenders to choose which one is the best.

Table of Contents

· 1. Eat That Frog + Evernote. · 2. Getting Things Done (G.T.D.) + Evernote. · 3. The 'PARA Method' + Evernote.

1. Eat That Frog + Evernote.

“If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.”

— Mark Twain

1. You can sort your notes by category by tagging them with keywords, even if they're saved in different notebooks.
2. You can find notes by typing and searching for words in pictures and handwriting using titles, dates, content types, and keywords.
3. Your daily frogs can be categorized and prioritized with Evernote tasks.
4. You can manage your notes, schedule, and to-dos in one place using Tasks and Calendar (which synchronizes with your Google Calendar account).
5. As you progress on your tasks, you will get reminders, priority flags, and due dates inside your notes, helping you stay on top.

2. Getting Things Done (G.T.D.) + Evernote.

The G.T.D. The method was developed by David Allen and required you to record all your tasks and projects.

You then break them down into actionable steps within a defined time frame. G.T.D. is made up of five fundamental principles:

• Capture — Write, record, or collect anything that catches your attention into a collection tool like Evernote.
• Clarify — Is it actionable? If so, determine the steps required to tackle the tasks.
• Organize — Organize them by priority or category in your productivity system.
• Reflect — Review your content regularly to regain focus.
• Engage — Make decisions with clarity.

You can create notebooks in Evernote with the above five categories and start organizing your life.

3. The 'PARA Method' + Evernote.

The P.A.R.A method, invented by productivity expert Tiago Forte, focuses more on an organization than productivity.

Nonetheless, organizing is crucial to productivity.

PARA is based on the following four strategic top-level categories that encompass both work and personal life:

• A Project is a specific task or goal with a deadline. Creating an employee handbook is an example.
• An Area is generally defined as a responsibility that must comply with some standard. A good example is human resources.
• Resources — Matters of ongoing interest and materials related to them. An example of a resource file is a collection of policies and procedures relating to vacation, benefits, and communication.
• Archive — Items that have been archived or are no longer needed for task completion. The complete projects, areas that are no longer important to you, or resources no longer of interest to you.

The flexibility of Evernote allows us to create even a P.A.R.A. method. Let's take a look:

1. Projects — Every idea, document, meeting note, schedule, and to-do list is accessible in EvernoteTeams, your projects hub.
2. Area — Evernote's Tasks feature consolidates your to-dos and notes and can help with your areas.
3. Resources — Evernote's Web Clipper lets you clip anything once and keep it forever. Clip whatever you find interesting. So the articles you read and bits of inspiration you pick up can always be found in Evernote when you need them.
4. Archive — Things that no longer belong in the previous categories. You can add an Archive tag to all your old notes by creating a new tag.

I would like to hear if you are using any other productivity systems to make your Evernote a better place.

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