Search Results for: evernote

Getting things done by re-thinking the definition of a to-do list

November 28, 2016 by
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No matter what task management system you use, or even if you don’t use one at all, the odds are you have a seemingly endless list of things to do.

You might keep them in an app. You might keep them on paper. You might keep them in your head. But there’s your list, a mile long and growing every day, overwhelming you to the point where you don’t want to look at it anymore.

Okay, maybe that’s just me.

But I have a new weapon in the battle of wits between my lists and my sanity and you may want to use it.

It starts with thinking about a to-do list as simply a list of things to do TODAY.

Not tomorrow or next week. Today.

It is a list of 3 to 5 tasks you are committed to doing today because they are urgent or important.

Take a deep breath and imagine a list of ONLY 3 to 5 tasks. That’s a list you can and will do.

If you find yourself resisting a task, break it up into 15-minute bites. You’ll be less likely to procrastinate when “it’s only 15 minutes”.

You can also use 15-minute increments for bigger projects. I’m working on something right now that’s tedious and will take many hours to complete. I had put it off for a long time but I’m doing it now because my task list only commits me to 15 minutes. I can do more than 15 minutes if I want to, and I often do, but only if I want to.

Yay me.

Now, what do you do if you have more than 5 important or urgent things to do today? You keep them on a second list.

Your first list (today) has your most important or urgent tasks on it. Your second list is what to do after you’ve taken care of those tasks.

Your second list has no more than 15 or 20 tasks on it. It includes other things you need to do today, and things you need to do in the next week or so. Or things you’d like to consider doing.

When you have completed the tasks on your today list, you look at list number two and choose additional tasks.

Two lists: 3 to 5 most important tasks you are committed to doing today. 15 to 20 back-up or “next” tasks.

Check your today list frequently throughout the day. Check your second list once a day, after you have finished your today list.

Put everything else–all of the someday/maybes, ideas, things you’re not committed to doing–on a third list. Check that list once a week. Skim through it and find things to put on your first two lists and then put your third list away until the following week.

I’ve been doing this for about a week and it’s making a big difference in how I feel about my lists and in my overall productivity. My lists are much more manageable and much less daunting.

And, you can use this with any other task management system because it’s basically a way to combat overwhelm by limiting the number of tasks in front of you and the amount of time you commit to doing them.

One more thing.

While your first two lists are purposefully limited in number, list number three (everything else) will no doubt grow to hundreds of entries, many of which don’t need to be considered each week. To keep list number three from overwhelming you, at some point, you’ll want to segment it so that you don’t have to look at every task or idea on it every week.

You can do that by creating sub-lists or by using software to label or tag items to consider at some point in the future or under certain specified conditions. I have a list of more than 1000 blog post ideas, for example, but I only look at that list occasionally.

How to use Evernote for getting things done

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Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: , , ,

The paper is due a week from Friday and is worth one-third of your grade

August 17, 2016 by
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Remember in school when you were assigned a paper to write that had to be turned in by a specific date? You were given a topic, a word or page count, and a deadline, and somehow you managed to turn in the paper on time.

You may not have known anything about the topic. You may have hated the topic and wished you could write about something (anything) else. You might have put it off until the night before it was due. But you got it done.

Because you had to. Your grade depended on it.

Today, you want to write something for your newsletter or blog, but if I’m right, too often you don’t do it. You don’t because you don’t have to.

No due date. No grade. If you don’t do it, nobody will notice.

The solution? Give yourself a due date. Decide in advance a posting schedule and put it on your calendar. Even better, announce it to your subscribers: “I post a new article every Tuesday”. If you don’t post as promised, they’ll notice.

You can also assign yourself a topic to write about.

In 30 minutes, you can brainstorm enough topics to keep you busy for a year. Start with the ten or twenty “frequently asked questions” posed to you by prospects and new clients.

You can also set up a notebook and collect articles and notes and ideas as you go about your business day. I have more than 1000 “blog post ideas” I’ve collected and stored in Evernote.

You could work with a writing partner and give each other assignments. “Okay, this week, I want you to write about that client you told me about. . .”

Another way to get ideas is to use “writing prompts”. A search on that keyword will reveal a plethora of books and websites that can provide you with an almost endless supply of writing ideas.

I went to a website this morning and was given the prompt, “Why I love to. . .” I thought I could easily write a post about why I love marketing. I would talk about how gratifying it is to be able to use my skills to help people get solutions and benefits they otherwise might not get, and make a nice living doing it.

You could use the same writing prompt. Write about why you love helping your clients.

In school, writing assignments trained us to write “on demand,” a valuable skill to be sure. If you’re struggling to do that in your practice, a writing schedule and writing prompts can help you get there.

You can get lots of ideas for article and posts with this

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Filed Under: Newsletters, Writing Tagged With: ,

Why being a bit neurotic might be a good thing

August 16, 2016 by
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If you’re like me, you are constantly fiddling. No matter how well things are going, we’re never completely satisfied and we’re constantly looking for something better.

We may be running a tight ship at work but good isn’t good enough. We’re “getting things done” but we can’t help but think there are ways to get more things done, or get them done faster.

I’ve used Evernote as my primary productivity application for several years but I am continually trying new apps. I’m also trying new methods–new tagging schemes, new ways of organizing tasks and projects, new ways of approaching how I work.

I used to think my mercurial ways were a sign of weakness. It turns out they might actually be a strength.

According to Charles Duhigg, author of Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business, the most productive people frequently try new systems. “I found that the people who are most productive decided to think about it deliberately,” he says. “Habits are useful tools, but they can hinder as well as help,” he adds. “Constantly cycling through systems forces you to think about your own productivity.”

Each time we try a new app, a new system, or a new process, we critically examine what we have been habitually doing. Things may be good but they can always be better and by continually trying new ideas, we continually find ways to improve.

So the next time you’re feeling guilty about changing your methodology or replacing your favorite app with another, give yourself a pat on the back.

And if you’re not a jumpy monkey like some of us, if you’re satisfied with the way everything is working and have no interest in re-examining what you do, you might want to smoke some of what we’re smoking and join us on the cutting edge.

Evernote for Lawyers

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Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: ,

How’s that Pokemon thing working out?

July 19, 2016 by
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Pokemon Go is big, or so I hear. I really wouldn’t know. I had to ask my wife what it was because I’ve paid almost no attention to it. Based on what I’ve heard about it, it’s definitely not my thing.

How about you?

Do you use, or at least try, the latest apps? Do you follow the latest trends?

Sometimes? Never? What’s a smartphone?

I read somewhere that there are four types of people:

  1. Innovators. They’re the first to do, adopt, or promote something.
  2. Early adopters. They see the trend and jump on board earlier than most.
  3. Late adopters. They wait until many or most are doing it, saying it, or using it.
  4. Dinosaurs. They rarely adopt anything new.

Or something like that.

Me? It depends on the thing. I was on board early with Evernote but I don’t own an iPad. I was one of the first to create a marketing course for attorneys and I started a blog before it was fashionable, but I do almost nothing on social media.

How about you?

I would guess that most lawyers are late adopters but I think we all need to be flexible. Some things are worth exploring early on, even if we don’t adopt them. Some things are worth our time and energy because they make us more productive or they’re just plain fun.

And then there’s Pokemon. I’m pretty sure I’ll take my first selfie before I download that one.

The best way to build your practice is to master the fundamentals

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Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing legal services, Technology Tagged With:

Do you keep a reading list?

May 24, 2016 by
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I download Kindle books nearly every day. Some for research, some for fun, and some on subjects I later ask myself, “What were you thinking?”

What can I tell you, I like books.

Most of these books were free but I also buy a fair number. Right now, there are 4663 books in my account, and that doesn’t include the ones I’ve read and deleted.

Is that a library in your pocket or are you happy to see me?

Sometimes I go to read a book only to discover I’ve already read it. Many of these are books that offered no value and I tell myself I need to delete them. But that requires logging into my account and finding the book through the search mechanism and doing that one at a time is not a good use of my time.

So, I’ve started keeping a text file on my desktop: “Kindle books to delete”. When the list has five or ten titles on it, I log in and do the deed. I hope that one day Amazon gives us another way to delete a book (not just remove it from the device we’re using to read it). Until then, my system will have to do.

Now, what about books we’d like to read? A reading list of books we’ve heard good things about but haven’t had time to buy or look into?

For that, Amazon gives us an easy solution: wish lists. We can use them to identify products we’re interested in, including books. I use a wish list as my reading list.

But that’s too simple for many people. This morning I saw an article about the many ways people keep their reading lists. Some use a text file, some use a spreadsheet, and some use apps like Trello or Evernote. And there are many other options.

The article describes how some people organize their lists, update them, and add notes and other meta data. Too complicated, if you ask me. How much time do these folks spend organizing their lists?

I feel the same way about to-do lists.

Some people spend more time making and organizing lists than they do getting things done (or read).

When I hear about a book I want to read, I either buy it or put it on my Amazon wishlist to consider at a later time.

As Sgt. Rick Hunter (Fred Dryer) on the 80’s detective show “Hunter” used to say, “Works for me”.

How I use Evernote to organize my work

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Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: , , ,

A simple way to be more productive

May 12, 2016 by
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If you ever sent me an email, whether by replying to one of my emails or by using the “contact” form on my site, there’s a very good chance that you didn’t get a reply. One of the ways I stay productive is by saying “no” to most of the things that cross my path, and that definitely includes email.

I do read my email and I encourage you to write to tell me what’s on your mind or to ask questions. I get a lot of ideas for blog posts from your questions and comments, so please don’t stop writing. But don’t be disappointed if you don’t hear back from me, or if you get a one or two-word reply.

Time is money. Tempus fugit. I love ya, but I get a lot of email and I can’t spend hours every day replying to everything.

How about you? Do you answer all of your email? Do you “say no” to most of it? Or do you do something in between those two extremes?

I’m not going to tell you what you should or shouldn’t do because everyone is different. But I encourage you to think about your situation and establish a policy that works for you.

Obviously, you shouldn’t ignore emails from clients or prospects. Nor should you discourage them from writing. In fact, you should do just the opposite–the more you communicate with them via email, the less time you’ll need to spend on the phone.

The point is that email (and regular mail) takes up a good portion of the day for most professionals and it is okay if you don’t reply to everything. If you can shave off 30 minutes a day by not doing so, doesn’t it make sense to move in that direction?

A good place to start is by deleting or archiving emails from people who want to sell you something or do business with you. It’s not rude to ignore unsolicited email, however personal and polite (or known to you) the sender might be. Your refusal to reply is, in itself a reply that says, “thanks, but no thanks”.

It’s also okay to have someone reply for you. And to use form replies that require no more than a couple of clicks.

Start by making yourself aware of how much time you spend responding to email, and to whom you are responding. You might want to keep a log for a week or two and then imagine that time being spent doing billable work.

If you want to get more done in the course of your day, you need to say no to most things that cross your path, and email is a good place to start.

How I got my email to “inbox zero”

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Filed Under: Email, Law office management, Productivity

Where to find inspiration when you need it

May 4, 2016 by
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In Evernote, I have a tag for “quotes”. As I browse websites, read books, and hear presentations, I look for statements or quotations that resonate with me and record them, and then use them in my writing and presentations. They give color and contour to my words and help readers or listeners understand and remember my message.

I also use quotations as an idea starter for creating new content.

When I’m scheduled to write something but I don’t have a subject, or I know what I want to say but I need an inspiring way to say it, I skim through my collection of quotes or visit websites that curate quotes, and find something that grabs my attention.

Sometimes, I use a quote as the basis for an entire post. Let me give you an example.

Yesterday I read an ebook that contained a quote from Erma Bombeck. She was best known for her humor but she was also an incisive observer of the world condition. The author of the book sought to inspire readers to go “all in” in our chosen work and he used Bombeck’s words to make his point. She said:

“When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me’.”

That spoke to me, as I hope it speaks to you. It prompted me to remind you, and myself, that we owe it to ourselves, our family, our employees, and our clients, to use our God-given talents to their fullest. To do less than we are capable dishonors our maker.

Whatever you do, do it with gusto. Don’t hold back, don’t phone it in. Give it everything you’ve got.

If you can’t do that, or you can no longer do that, go do something else.

Many successful people in the world once practiced law. When they lost their passion for the job, or they discovered a different calling, they pivoted and began a new chapter in their life.

If being a lawyer makes you happy, use every ounce of talent God gave you to be the best lawyer you can be. If you’re not happy, if you find the job enervating instead of energizing, the best thing you can do for yourself and those who depend on you is to begin a new chapter in your life.

How I use tags and notebooks in Evernote

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Filed Under: Inspiration, Writing Tagged With:

Careful, don’t choke on that frog

January 20, 2016 by
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Brian Tracy’s best selling book, “Eat That Frog,” champions the well-known productivity principle of doing the most important task of your day first.

Tracy says we should swallow the frog whole. As nasty as that might be, if you do the biggest, most difficult and most important task first, you will make great progress towards your goals, even if the rest of the day you don’t accomplish that much.

So if you’ve got a trial coming up next week, prepare for it this morning. If you’ve got a lot of research to do on a file, do it first thing. This makes sense, of course, because if you wait until later in the day or put it off for a few days, you might not have enough time to do them. You might not start, let along finish, your most important tasks.

But you need to be flexible. At least I do. Apparently, some scientific types agree.

I’ve written about this before. I said that much as I would like to, I’m usually not ready to eat that frog first thing. If something takes a lot of time and energy, I usually need to sneak up on it, especially since I’m not a morning person.

I usually get other things out of the way first.

I sort through my blog reader and save articles to read later. I check email, delete most of them, respond to short messages, and star those that require more time. I write my blog post. And take care of other reasonably short tasks that need to get done.

Then I’ve got the rest of the day to work on my big project.

When I was practicing, if I had court in the morning, that’s what I focused on. When I got back to the office, appointments were next. Once those were taken care of, I dove into the files on my desk. I would usually go through them from top to bottom. Dictate, make notes, review.

In the afternoon, my staff would have letters for me to sign and more documents to review and bless. And then I had more appointments. Somewhere in between all that, I was on the phone.

Most days, I got the most important tasks done, or made progress on them, and I got a lot of other things done, too. My desk was usually clean before I left for the day.

And the only tool or “system” I used was a calendar.

In fact, when I was practicing, I can’t recall ever looking for a better system. I was busy doing work.

Besides, before computers, there weren’t a lot of options for getting organized and being more productive, other than trying out a new calendar or paper planner.

When we started using computers, they helped with a lot of basic functions but didn’t give us the multitude of options (and complexities) we have today.

I’m not pining for simpler days. I love and use technology all day, every day. And it does make me more productive. The point is we all have to find what works best for us.

Some depend on a complex workflow and a panoply of tools. Others use little more than a calendar and eat frogs when they get around to it.

The last time I wrote about this, I said as much. Do what works for you and don’t worry about finding the perfect system. Eat that frog first, or save it for later, maybe with some fava beans and a nice chianti.

Other than my calendar, Evernote is still my most valuable productivity tool

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Filed Under: Personal development, Productivity, Time Management

Apparently, I don’t know when to shut up

January 19, 2016 by
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I’d rather be sitting on the sofa all day, listening to the Eagles and thinking about the 70’s. But with so many music legends leaving us lately, I am reminded that I’m not getting any younger and I need to be grateful for every day I wake up and I’m still alive.

So instead, I’ll tell you about a conference call I did last night where I was interviewed about reaching a big milestone in my network marketing business.

As usual for these kinds of things, the host first asked about how I got started. And as usual with these kinds of things, before long I turned the call into a training.

My Spidey sense, and the fact that I’ve done a lot of these kind of calls before, told me a few things you might want to note for when you do an interview or presentation.

  • Although there were hundreds of people on the call, most were only half-listening. Trust me on this. Even though I am the most fascinating person I know and deliver many nuggets of gold, people get on these calls while they are doing other things, making dinner, putting the kids to bed, and probably also watching TV, and they don’t pay a lot of attention. On top of that. . .
  • Most people don’t care about me and my success. They may be inspired by my story, but only for a few seconds. They want to know how they can do what I did, and that’s what I told them, however. . .
  • Most people don’t take notes. Despite having been repeatedly told that a “short pencil is more valuable than a long memory” or however that goes, they don’t write anything down. Fascinating. On top of that. . .
  • Most people don’t want to hear about things like “hard work” and “long term”. They want shortcuts and immediate results, and they’re not going to have it any other way. That’s why some people are successful and others play the lottery. But. . .
  • Some people will take my advice and run with it. That’s cool. That makes it all worthwhile. Most won’t, some will, and that’s okay because I was only talking to the few. Finally. . .
  • Hells, bells I sure can talk up a storm. I had no idea how long I had been speaking until the host told me we were already over the scheduled time. Note to self: learn how to STFU.

Okay, well I hope that helps. Not so much? Not even the last point? C’mon, you’re a lawyer. You flap your lips for a living, just like me. And just like me, I’m guessing you have never been accused of not saying enough.

Yes or yes?

Now if we can just figure out a way to get paid by the word.

I take notes in Evernote, how about you?

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Filed Under: Communication, Inspiration, Personal development, Presentations

When was the last time you were scared?

September 22, 2015 by
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I was pretty cocky about starting law school. But I was also scared.

It was new, it was different, and it was intimidating. I didn’t know if I was embarking on a great adventure or I had made a big mistake.

I can say the same thing about opening my practice and about many other milestones in my life. I’m sure you can, too.

It’s not the fear of failure so much as the fear of not knowing what’s next. H.P. Lovecraft said, “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”

But the flip side of fear is excitement. Not knowing what’s about to happen can be thrilling. So can the notion that you might be about to accomplish something great.

And so I ask you, when was the last time you were scared?

Because if you’re not scared from time to time, if your career or your life are boring and routine, it means you’re not taking enough risks, or big enough risks, and you’re not growing.

Former CEO of Evernote, Phil Libin, said recently that one of the reasons he stepped down from the company was that he was bored. He’s now with a venture capital firm and thrives on not knowing what’s next. “It wouldn’t be the best time if it wasn’t scary. When we started Evernote, it was terrifying,” Libin said. “I don’t think I’ve ever embarked on anything great without being scared.”

Of course too much fear can be paralyzing, so you have to find balance. You have to find things to do that challenge you and frighten you but also excite you and pull you forward.

What might that be for you career-wise?

Take on a partner? Go out on your own? Start a new practice area? Revamp your marketing?

Or are you ready for a new career?

Helen Keller said, “Life is either a daring adventure or it is nothing.” Do something that scares you. Find your next daring adventure.

If you’re ready to revamp your marketing, start here

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Inspiration, Personal development, success
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