When was the last time someone you heard that old saw? The saying is gone, but the feeling is the same. What are some of the organizational/productivity tips you guys have to control the torrent of information/tasks/things you want to do without creating so much overhead that productivity work becomes unproductive?
At work, I use Outlook and a tweaking of Getting Things Done and Inbox Zero (basically, everything gets dumped into categories and tasks, review it once a week, throw assorted stuff into a someday/maybe pile).
At home, everything is sort of a mess. I try to favorite things on Twitter I want to note, and have about a billion links in Chrome to recipes, articles, videos I want to look at later. I've heard good things about Evernote and Notational Velocity, but there's a Lifehacker's worth of programs, systems, tips, etc. that all sound so promising.
So how do Goodjers stay organized/productive at home and work? Any tips would be welcome.
Evernote.
/drops mic
Evernote.
/drops mic
But do you just dump everything in one notebook? Or do you break it up more?
I use a combo of Gmail, Google Keep(which connects to Google Drive, which I used a bunch), and Any.do (on Android). I used to use Wunderlist in place of Google Keep that synced pretty well between PC and Android (I believe they had an iOS version as well).
clover wrote:Evernote.
/drops mic
But do you just dump everything in one notebook? Or do you break it up more?
Here, I'll write a real post now that I'm done being dramatic 
I actually haven't been using it hardcore for that long, but I've been tinkering with this stuff for at least ten years. GTD, Hipster PDAs, bookmark hell, Google Docs, the works.
Basically, I love Evernote because it's persistent across devices (my phone, iPad, desktop, laptop, Moleskine when I feel like real paper) and syncs automatically, plus neat sh*t like the web clipper and Hello. It's basically my brain dump for everything, so I don't worry about forgetting things anymore or losing an idea I randomly have.
Organizationally, it's best to have just a few notebooks and a ton of tags. I have @inbox, contacts, general notes, blog posts, design, receipts, reminders, and a shared notebook with Edwin for house things. 90% of my notes go into the general notes notebook.
This was super helpful, and totally worth four bucks.
I'm still weaning off of OmniFocus, so it's a work in progress as far as reminders go. Thinking that a Powerbot subscription is in my future though.
I hadn't heard of keep so I will give that a go.
Gtasks and shared google calendars has been the bulk of my organisational work lately. My current job has me working at a bank that hasn't done a tech refresh in a long time. Windows XP and outlook/office 2003. Everything is locked down. I am forced to use pen and paper like an animal!!!
My wife and I have been using Cozi for a shared calendar but neither of us check it enough. Just something about it I don't really like. Maybe tonight I'll check me out some Evernote.
At Work:
I'm stuck with Outlook. Inbox zero. Everything either gets flagged for follow up and/or moved to sub-folders. Folders names are a mix of generic (finance, human resources) and project names. Email is checked twice per day, with no notifications! I use colored flags to define action; red = urgent, blue = general follow-up, green = financial issues, etc. and I have search folders set up by flag color. Tasks are only used for basic recurring tasks like my expense report or one-offs that I want a notification for.
My life though is in Evernote. I have notebooks named by general subjects (projects, finance, meetings) and EVERYTHING gets dumped in there with liberal use of tags. Outlook plugin, Chrome extension, Windows clipper: all are a godsend. I even scan my hand-written notebook pages in after meetings and have recently started sketching into Evernote with Penultimate.
My primary To Do list is a single (very!) long note with the text colored by subject/priority corresponding to the Outlook flag colors. Sadly, most of the items are often red. Every morning I try re-order this list to put the 3 or 4 items at the top that I plan to actually accomplish.
I use several systems at my job so it is important to have Evernote available everywhere via browsers and iOS. These notebooks are also shared with my personal account so I don't need to log on/off all the time when I'm home.
Lastly, everything is available on my iPhone and iPad.
I'll post back later with my personal setup.
Everything is about text files for me -- they are a giant inbox and to-do list system combined. And I don't need to worry about proprietary formats or compatibility issues.
I use nvALT on my work MacBook to create, manage and search text files. That syncs with Dropbox so I can access all my text files on all devices -- particularly with Notesy on iOS.
I have a handful of list-based text files for to-do's: Computer, Home, Work, Errands, Projects. Everything else gets dumped into a new text file with a unique file name (I have a system for naming and date stamping) so I can find it when I need it. That includes everything from drafts of work projects to gift ideas for the wife to projects I want to work on in the future to my gaming backlog list to my travel packing list and so on.
Beyond that, it's Google. Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs. My business uses Google Apps for Business as well, so there are some nice "synergies" between personal and work stuff in terms of shared calendars, etc.
Work organization is boring. Outlook for everything.
Personal life is a bit more fun. For scheduling, everything is based around my wife and I sharing Google Calendars. Easily accessible from any web browser as well as our Galaxy S3's.
For mail, all of my email address go to my main Gmail account.
For web I use LastPass Premium so I don't have to remember hundreds of usernames/passwords. I also use X-Marks to sync my bookmarks across all browsers/devices.
For tasks, I use Google Keep.
Here's some screenshots from my phone. These are all widgets.
Samsung built in calendar app/widget using our Google Calendars.
Pure Calendar widget which lists 1 week's worth of events based on Google calendars
Google Keep
Google calendar for family scheduling.
A whiteboard in a corner of my living room for "hey Jon, don't forget about this thing you've just thought of."
Being awesome helps too.
I lead a simple life.
I discovered that my fridge works with dry erase markers, that makes groceries easy.
From the OP, I need something separated. Are you having issue prioritizing important things in your life-paying bills, shopping, and work tasks? Or are you sensory overloaded? IE is this a question of "How do you juggle all the responsibilities of an adult?" or "How do I know which game, movie, TV show to play or watch next?"
I use a Google calendar accessible from my phone, ipad, desktop and work laptop to keep track of my schedule. I also use Evernote to keep a general To Do list and shopping lists as well as reminders.
I use my inbox and pc desktop to keep emails and files which require attention. Everything else is filed away.
This was super helpful, and totally worth four bucks.
I'll have to check that out, thanks Clover!
Jonman and Scratched have the right of it. Be awesome and lead a simple life. Problem solved. If that fails, shoe boxes and duct tape. Do with them what you will.
Instead of Evernote I use Springpad. Same basic idea but I found it earlier than Enote. I'm also trying Colornote for lists in conjunction with Google Calendar.
Since I recently moved from iOS to Android I'm looking for some replacement apps, particularly a checkbook/personal finance app. Any suggestions?
Mint!
Mint!
Is it wrong that I don't trust those apps? They can double-secret-pinky-swear that they keep all personal information private, but I've heard the same from Dropbox and they've had security issues.
I use nvALT on my work MacBook to create, manage and search text files. That syncs with Dropbox so I can access all my text files on all devices -- particularly with Notesy on iOS.
Someone at work has been raving about Notational Velocity. I guess I need more structure.
B Dog wrote:I use nvALT on my work MacBook to create, manage and search text files. That syncs with Dropbox so I can access all my text files on all devices -- particularly with Notesy on iOS.
Someone at work has been raving about Notational Velocity. I guess I need more structure.
Notational Velocity -- and the nvALT offshoot -- were a revelation for me. It fits perfectly with how I want things to work -- one repository that everything goes into that I can easily add to and search. I'm also the type of person who just archives all of my Gmail without labels and relies on search to find things.
But I can definitely see how that approach wouldn't appeal to everyone.
clover wrote:Mint!
Is it wrong that I don't trust those apps? They can double-secret-pinky-swear that they keep all personal information private, but I've heard the same from Dropbox and they've had security issues.
Edwin is pretty paranoid about that stuff, and he's a huge Mint fan. Maybe we can page him in here for some details.
I like YNAB. Doesn't Connect directly to banks. You import manually from your bank download.
I've used it for about two years and the workflow really works for me. I have not upgraded to version 4 however which bakes Dropbox synchronization into it.
clover wrote:Mint!
Is it wrong that I don't trust those apps? They can double-secret-pinky-swear that they keep all personal information private, but I've heard the same from Dropbox and they've had security issues.
Don't feel bad. In theory, Mint sounds awesome. In practice, I just can't justify giving one digital service the keys to the kingdom. Nothing is secure enough for that.
I use Pocket Informant on both iOS and Android, with Google integration. My wife does the same, and we have a family account that syncs to to all of our gadgets. We use Toodledoo for tasks, largely because my wife has a pre-existing account, but interact with it via Pocket Informant. PI covers notes, diaries, contacts, calenders and tasks, and everything just syncs across all of our devices without any problems. The iOS client is better than the Android one, but both are frequently updated.
I used to use Evernote a bit, mostly for web clipping, but I find that I am using Chrome's sync across devices features a lot now.
Mint!
I've tried to set up an account on Mint a couple of years ago but, for some reason, it didn't recognize my bank. I'll give it another try. 
I was using Pocket Money on iOS. It doesn't seem as popular on Android.
I use Xobni for Outlook. It makes it so much easier to look for old e-mails, or get an overview of certain contacts.
Other small tools I use:
PureText, which allows to use a self-chosen shortcut (default is Windows Key - V) to paste any text as plaintext, so it adapts to the target format.
PowerMenu, to force a window to stay on top.
I like YNAB. Doesn't Connect directly to banks. You import manually from your bank download.
I've used it for about two years and the workflow really works for me. I have not upgraded to version 4 however which bakes Dropbox synchronization into it.
$60 on Steam! That's a high price for budgeting software....
I feel we got all $60 out of it. It's more than software, it's a philosophy backed by webinars and a newsletter that's not just fluff. We aren't fully on-board, in that we don't have a full-month's worth of expenses covered at the beginning of the month, but we're better-prepared and -aware of our budgetary habits. YMMV.
Trello at work, also Google Calendars.
Evernote for on-the-go stuff.
Here's my take:
Work - I use my Inbox as To-Do list, filing mails I've responded to or completed. To-Do's from meeting go into a spiral notebook - left hand page of the notebook for To-Do's, right hand page for minutes.
Home - this is a more spread out than I would like, but I haven't found one tool that does them all.
- Email - It's all in Gmail or Google Apps. Gmail is organized with labels. Google Apps mail goes to Inbox during the week and over the weekend I fire up Postbox where a bunch of filters move things into folders.
- To-Do's are managed through Google Calendar (Agenda on iOS, Lightning addon for Postbox at the Desktop) or Wunderlist (apps on iOS and Windows, only website in Linux).
- For On the go note-taking I use SimpleNote (SimpleNote on iOS, ResophNotes on Windows, Website in Linux). I used to use Evernote, but the lag on the mobile apps became too much of a drag for me.
- For bigger personal projects, I use Trello.
- For shared projects - last example being buying & moving into our current apartment, I used Evernote (to keep track of our comments & photos of apartments we saw) and Basecamp (to manage the ToDo list for moving).
+1's for Lastpass, YNAB and PureText.
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