www.JimScano.com - How to use Evernote and the GTD (Getting Things Done) Methodology as outline in David Allen's book, 'Getting Things Done'. This simple Evernote and GTD setup tutorial provides you with a simple foundation to build on.
I have read five books on Evernote/GTD and this is without a doubt the fastest way to set up notebooks and tags to SIMPLIFY Evernote using GTD principles. I opened my Evernote file on Windows, minimized, then minimized this video and followed step by step "cleaning house" on my already set up Evernote system..........Absolutely AMAZING. I had previously created notebooks for everything in my life (work and home) from soup to nuts. It was so horrible that it was only marginally better than my paper file system which I converted to digital information within Evernote. This has put me back in control like no other book or advice. Thanks Jim !!!! And Thanks is not enough!! Steve Cox
This is simply one of the most useful videos on productively using Evernote. It's better than the majority of videos on the subject, including the ones made by Evernote itself. Thank you.
Now that's a very useful setting for Evernote and GTD! Now it's clear to me how to use tags and notebooks efficiently. On my first try with Evernote, I set up so many notebooks and tags, that in the end I got a redundancy situation, and couldn't decide where to store the notes, and my searches were kinda pointless. Thanks for the video !!
Very nice explanation that's clear to understand. I used this as a basis to create my GTD infrastructure hooked it up with my iPhone. Watching this video I got my personal implementation of GTD up and running with in few hours. Thanks Jim! This helped me a lot!!!
Fantastic! I am an organised person at heart but have been drowning.Especially the use of symbols prior to tags is going to change my life!! Finally I will be able to manage my extensive photo library and zillions of projects effectively! THANK YOU!!
Definitely the best Evernote and GTD video I've seen so far. I am new to both and it's making my head spin around trying to figure out how to implement a system into my life, and at the same time learn a new tech tool... you made it so simple. Thank you for sharing your system! ... of course now I have to actually implement it, LOL we'll see how that goes!
This is a good tutorial. The problem I have with using Evernote for GTD is that you don't have any kind of auto promotion of your next actions. In GTDnext when you finish and check off an action the "next action" for that particular project is automatically placed on your "next" list. When you don't have a function like this what happens is you constantly have to go back to a much larger list of actions to pick what you will do next.
I'm just breaking into the GTD world, and I'm liking this implementation of GTD/Evernote, and my setup is starting to mirror this rather nicely/closely. Thanks Jim! Top notch!
Oh man, I've been using Evernote tags all wrong! Thanks for the excellent tutorial. I'm definitely going to clean house and set this up as part of my "getting started with GTD" sessions. It's so simple, yet so powerful, and I never would have come up with it on my own.
I have been looking for Evernote's video tutorials and definitely this is the most simple and useful application setting up I found..thanks a lot for share this :)
This was fantastically helpful - thank you so much. I paused the video as I watched it, created a set of folders and tags/subtags as you recommended, and now feel like I have great, workable system. I'll use and then share it with the teachers and students I work with. THANKS AGAIN! - Tim
I've been looking for a way on how to implement GTD in Evernote. Strangely, I stumbled on this very informative and simple to apply GTD in Evernote! Great job.... Thank you very much.
OK, so you are brilliant! I can't believe how good this is. Evernote has gone from being OK and confusing to amazing and essential within 1 hour of playing with this system. The two changes I made however: 1. Prefix 'where contexts' with the @ symbol (makes more sense to me) 2. I've added a 'who' tag which contains all the people in my life. I prefix people tags with : (colon)
Thank you so much. I like your way of implementing Evernote within GTD. I've tried it but didn't have a good enough setup. I like your notebooks and tags system. I will try it.
very good intro -- I am new to both Evernote and GTD, and it's nice to see how well they can work together, especially for those of us who are online a lot
This was so helpful!! I have a much better sense of how to use Evernote, and can better implement the GTD principles I've been working at for 18 months. Thanks so much!
I also added a 'recurring / common tasks' Notebook and tag. This is where I place common tasks that have a nice breakdown of steps that I need to go through each time. These can be thought of as templates.
Jim this was a fantastic base for me! I tweaked it to suit my needs and situation! I have an iMac and Evernote 5 on it so it looks very different from your Windows Evernote in this video but after figuring out how to make tags and sub tags (drag-and drop a tag on another) I could make it work np. Thx for being of service!
I've been using this a few months now (thanks so much Jim). Here's my feedback on it: - WHAT TO DO WITH COMPLETED ITEMS- If it's an action, I get rid of the tags (so the item no longer sits in Next Actions, Someday/Maybe etc.), and I put it in a notebook I created called "zCOMPLETED ITEMS" (z so it shows up under the other notebooks). I have never yet checked this notebook, so I'm still not sure it's worth it, but I'm the kind of guy who doesn't like to throw this information away! One day, it might prove very useful. - WHAT TO DO WITH STUFF WHEN YOU'RE WAITING ON SOMEONE- I found my 'next actions' in particular was getting filled with stuff languishing there because I was waiting on someone. I decided to create a whole new notebook (alongside my COLLECTION BUCKET, GETTING THINGS DONE, REFERENCE MATERIALS and zCOMPLETED ITEMS notebooks) called I'M WAITING ON SOMEONE. This means you keep your actions folders for just that.... action! - I use Siri a lot. I can add something to my collection bucket but just saying "Email Evernote, subject [whatever action/ reminder you want to add]"... it does then prompt me for what the email should say which is unnecessary... I just say 'blank' or whatever. Still, very useful for adding something when you're on the go. Overall it's been working well for me. My Referencing materials are a little messy, but I think that's me rather than the system. Big thanks to Jim and Getting things Done for all this.
Great video. I was thinking to use evernote to apply GTD method. Your set up looks effective and easy to use. I think I will use it until I find something more personilized. Thank you!
Really useful video Jim. Thanks for sharing your ideas. I've just started using evernote this year but only just starting to link the GTD priciples with it. I like the simplicity of your system. regards, Mick.
I plan my to do list at the beginning of the week. I summarize on Tues. & Thurs. I use GTD' methodology and another app. Thanks for your interest, 2btanacious. Stay tuned Travel Man
Excellent Video. The best on Evernote by far. I'll just move the "waiting" from Context of Where into !GTD, if I remember correctly the GTD book. Other than that, perfect!
EN has been very clear about security. "your data belong to you, and thus only you can see that, except in you share them". My bet is, once it reaches EN server you are pretty much safe. Also you can always encrypt any info within a note or the whole note if you want.
Thanks. Glad you skipped the Evernotes and GTD concepts. I struggle with how to process projects. Do you create a project and the add all steps of the project using tags? My real question is how to get from the current step (you just completed it and want to add the next step to today tag) to the next step and so on?
Hiya Jim, how do you get your Evernote to look like that please? As we first see it at 2:12? My Premium is just flat white and square and I've been desperately searching for another view option - which you seem to have!
Thanks for the tips. How do you incorporate people? Have a tag called 'People' and there names under that? It's also great that the new Evernote 5.5 has reminders and dates...
You create under "GTD" two sub notebooks "action pending" and "completed". Active task stay in "AP" and the done ones are moved to the completed notebook.
You want a create note tagged with routines and responsibilities- which will list everything that is a routine. Start with Weekly tasks- start will Monday and list all tasks and then all the way through Friday and then create a monthly list and quarterly. I printed my page. It's two sided. and it is inside a plastic paper stand that I can cross of all of my routine stuff everyday. I like to see it and cross it off, BUT you could create checkboxes and check them off as you are done, or just use it as a reference. Good luck!
Could you please explain the difference between Next Action and Today? Becasuse we have tasks either we gonna do it Today or Someday. What is the need of creating Next Action subtag? Regards
Correcting my own message: ... "waiting" under Context is a mis-placement and does belong under "GTD" (Allen's "Status").... David Allen in "GTD" (P. 149) mainly describes reviewing a "Waiting-for-List", but in "Making It All Work" (P. 144-146) Allen clearly lists "Waiting-for..." under "Context" (as Jim seems to do). I think "Status" of Action Items was something I cooked up trying to bend G-mail to GTD. The flexibility of Tags might be most appropriate for a "Waiting-For" List.
I personally delete minor actions but keep track of key actions. For that : I have added a tag "Done" to the group "!GTD" When the action is done I do the following : - add tag "done" - add a text comment e.g. "mail rcvd 25.09 15:03" (helps finding it later) - remove tag "today" or "next action" or "someday" search by project tag will show all actions (todo + done). Add in the search field the string "-tag:done" (exclude tag done) and then only todo tasks appear within that same project
HI Jim - thanks for the video. Researching how to use Evernote in basic GTD format, but having concerns: - What does daily to do list end up looking like? Is it just one long list of “errands" - What happens if something doesn’t get done today or changes status? - What does archive tagging look like? Thanks so much
this is really well done, isn't it? As he does not seem to be replying, I would guess that "waiting" (without a context ":") under Context is just a typo-type mis-placement and does belong under "GTD" (Allen's "Status").
Great vid! Thank you for putting this together. Question: are you using the upgraded version on Evernote? I cannot seem to create sub-tags on my evernote account. Thanks!
Jim, what you use to do with and action after get it done ? After complete the task like call to someone, what is the next step you use ? I use to delete it. Thanks and congrats for the great video !
Waiting-For continued: Perhaps the flexibility of tags puts less requirement for "Waiting-For" to be specifically under "GTD [Action Items] )as Mike and I tended toward) or under Context and lets it be searched by tag. GTD p 139 shows "Waiting" as its own ~node hanging off of "Delegate It". I will play with it.
Thanks for the great tutorial. I plan on implementing it. I have a question that has also been asked. What do you do once you complete your task? I am hoping you will answer this. I currently use Remember the Milk and want to switch completely to EN.
Interesting system, which is extremely similar to the secret weapon Method. But i find that they came up with a better way to manage tags, for to dos. You might check it out
