3 Ways I Use Trello

I had a friend that was downsizing his life and moving into a studio apartment, which required him to take stock and organize his entire life.

He had to sort through all of his belongings to decide what to keep or throw out, pack everything that he was taking with him, and then finally make the move. On top of that, he was also selling his car after the move.

It was a lot to juggle, and he needed a way to stay organized and on task. He said he really enjoyed using Trello because it allowed for creating lists of lists, it displayed everything in front of you, and it allowed simple dragging and dropping of the items between lists.

The dragging and dropping feature sparked my interest. I’ve been using Evernote to track my projects, but always thought it felt a bit clunky. With Trello, everything is laid out in front of you so you know what needs to happen with a quick glance, and updating the lists is a breeze.

Here’s how I use it. Continue reading →

Instantly Email Yourself a Message on Android

When I first got into Getting Things Done (GTD), I wanted a quick way to send myself a note from my phone. I didn’t want to have to open the Gmail app and type my address every time I wanted to send myself an email.

I looked but couldn’t find a single app in the Google Play store that did what I wanted. They all required too many clicks to accomplish the simple task of sending myself an email.

All I wanted to do was click a shortcut that would pop up a Gmail screen with my email already filled out so I could write myself a note and hit send.

Not having any options, I decided to write my own Email Yourself app. Click the image below to download it.

Get it on Google Play

Continue reading →

How I Use Hashed Evernote Tags

I received a question from someone about how I use my #work-project tag.

I work for a software consulting company. We deliver website, desktop, and mobile business applications to our clients.

I tagged notes for these projects with #work-project and the name of the client. If Microsoft was desperate enough to hire us, I would tag their notes with #work-project and Microsoft. Continue reading →

Negotiation Tip: Wait For An Opening

Not all negotiations take place over a conference table. Any time we want something and need cooperation from others, negotiation is involved. I needed to convince a developer at work to move desks so that someone else could better focus on her work. I didn’t know if I’d be able to, but made it work when a good opening presented itself. Continue reading →

How To Use Evernote’s Android Shortcuts

My biggest obstacle to getting things done with Evernote is forgetting to look at my action lists. I’m using Evernote to track everything I want to get done, so if I don’t remember to look at my ‘~Groceries’ saved search, those groceries won’t be picked up.

I’m on my laptop all day at work, so it’s easy for me to remember to open the Evernote desktop application to view my work actions. It’s the non-work actions that are difficult. When I’m away from my laptop, I never remember to view my lists in Evernote. Continue reading →

Reducing My Browser Tabs

I used to have a lot of browser tabs. I’d see something interesting and middle click the link to read later. I’d open so many that I’d eventually have to restart the browser. I restore my previous session in Firefox, but I don’t have Firefox load the tabs until I select them, freeing the precious memory while keeping my to-read list intact.

I always have around 6 to 8 tabs opened and pinned. Gmail, Google Calendar, Facebook, Twitter, Google+. Sometimes Pandora. Then after that, I could’ve had anywhere from 10 to 40 open. Anytime I researched something, I’d open another 2-10 tabs. If I didn’t find what I was looking for, they’d remain open for me to come back to at some point.

After doing the GTD thing for a couple of weeks, though, I’ve realized that those tabs were subtly causing stress. I’d look at the tabs and think, “Ugh, I don’t feel like reading any of them right now.” My tabs were just one more todo list for my mind to keep track of. Continue reading →