Managing to-dos & morein Evernote

My Issue

Keeping up with 25+ accounts with:– 5+ notebooks– ∞ Post-It Notes– 20+ pens– Hundreds of flagged emails in Outlook

I used this method for almost 2 years. And wondered why I was forgetting things and completely unorganized.

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Change often seems simple

• But…– Breaking bad organization habits is hard– Creating a routine on another platform requires

work, commitment– Initially extra work, but potentially a pay off

Left with 2 Choices!

Option 1:Keep my forgotten notebooks, post-its and flagged emails. Stay unorganized, lost and eventually become left behind.

Option 2:Get better. Find a method. Stick to it. Be more efficient. Seem more awesome because of it.

The Solution

Imagine to-do lists, action items, client notes, ideas in 1 place.

• In a way that is easy to review.• And a method that’s easy to stick to.

Method: The Secret Weapon Manifesto + my edits to make it work for my work load.

Things You Need • Evernote• The Secret Weapon Manifesto

Setting Up: Notebooks

• Action Pending: mainly for to-do items• Cabinet: Client notes, meeting notes –

things to reference• Completed: This is a feel good notebook. You

want to move things here.• IDEAS: Optional

Setting Up: Tags

.Client– Ex: Client X, Client Y

.What – .Active Projects, .Inactive Projects, .SEO

Meetings, .IDEAS, Read / Review

.When– !Daily, 1-Today, 2-Tomorrow, 3-This Week, 4-This

Month, 5-Someday, 6-Waiting

.Who– Ex: Juan, Mark, Victoria

Setting Up: Tags cont.

• Nest your tags under each other like shown on the previous slide.

• Allows for expanding & collapsing = easy viewing

• Drag & drop as if these are folders: – .Client– .What– .When– .Who

Add a To-Do!

• Create a note:– Note Title: Add new pages for Hip Hop Anonymous – Notebook: Action Pending– Tags: 3-This Week, Hip Hop Anonymous

Don’t forget the body!

• Copy/paste text and format it• Drag files into body for easy remembering

– Flagging emails and forgetting about them? – Create a to do and drag the email in

Add Meeting Notes!

– Note Title: Hip Hop Anonymous Meeting Notes– Notebook: Cabinet (or Action Pending)– Tags: .Active Projects, Read / Review, Hip Hop

Anonymous

Review it!

• Beginning of every day• End of every day• A couple times a day

No method will work unless you review it.

GTD

• Create a place that you trust to put your to dos, notes and ideas for your accounts.

• Use it. Correctly. Consistently.

Resources

• Evernote: http://evernote.com/• The Secret Weapon Manifesto:

http://www.thesecretweapon.org/media/Manifesto/The-Secret-Weapon-Manifesto.pdf