While going through the Reese Report, I came across a nifty tool, Evernote. At face value I didn’t think much about it but being curious (as usual) about software I gave it a go anyhow. Besides anything that captures John Reese’s attention should warrant a second look… right? Ok I admit, I was trying to one up him by trying to prove to myself John doesn’t have the midas touch.

Sadly, I’ve been proven wrong. Again! Guess that’s why he’s the guru. Anyhow, back to the point. This software although simple is concept has literally changed the way I save and bookmark information online. Now, I use it for everything and it’s a huge blast!

Why? You see, instead of bookmarking something, it can ‘save’ complete clips, including pictures and include a link to the original in two hopelessly simple steps.

1. Select
2. Click the save button

It’s amazing. I’ve been clipping questions I find or receive on message boards or messages I want to come back to later. Doing this means I don’t have to login to the message boards to search for the posts again. Because I’m clipping all these questions (related to my niche) from all over the web, it’s also fast becoming my idea file. Instead of searching online, I just review my Evernote clips each time I need to write an article or a blog post.

Another way I’ve used it is to actually write articles inside Evernote. Why? Because I really hate creating files. Everytime you power up your word processor to start a new article, you save it right? And before you know it you got a disk full of files some are just incomplete articles, some are quick notes and key idea points. Some are finished and some aren’t. Some need polishing, some don’t you get my drift. The worst part is wading through all those articles to sort and group those that need to be worked on and ones that are done it’s almost impossible without opening each file. It’s a huge waste of time. Searching for information on your computer is one of the most unproductive things to do and yet everybody is forced to do it.

In Evernote, I can quickly type in anything. It doesn’t matter if I write a full article in 15 minutes or it’s just a few key points I want to put down before forgetting. You can tag them like blog posts with keywords. So unfinished notes are tagged notes or need work whatever and in a flash I can quickly pull up all those unfinished articles. Plus I can do all that without creating more files. Really sweet.

Evernote can also save to do lists in checklist format, to do lists with date and time, shopping lists and a lot of stuff like voice recognition, handwriting recognition and draw notes, especially useful if you have a tablet. It has a free version and a paid version for only $34.95.

It has helped my information organization and productivity a lot. Try it.

Sidenote: As much as I like it, there is only one thing holding me back from using it more than I’m already doing. Evernote is Windows only. Since I move constantly between my PowerBook and Desktop PC so much throughout the day, it is not exactly ideal. I need something dual platform or web based. I’ve found two that fall somewhat short of Evernote but will have to do because it works regardless which computer I’m on. I’ll share more about them on Friday – watch this space.