This week I was given the opportunity to learn new ways to make my life a little easier. What a welcome relief this was, as I feel a bit like I’m running around like a chicken with my head cut off on a day-to-day basis. I’m bad about keeping my planner updated, and it seems like I’m always responding at the last moment getting things done just in the nick of time.
This week I watched a “Ted Talk” entitled “The Art of Stress-Free Productivity” by David Allen (Watch it. Seriously. You will re-think the way you live your life.) His main point was about writing down EVERYTHING that needs to be done. Don’t let even a tiny bit slip past. The rule is, will it take less than two minutes to do? If so, do it now. If not, put it on your list and base what you do at any given moment of the day on the following criteria:
1. Context
2. Time available
3. Energy available
4. Priority
I desperately have needed something in my life to help me hold myself accountable for my productivity, so I decided to explore the application Evernote. It’s absolutely fantastic for a number of reasons.
What I love about Evernote:
- I can make lists with check boxes! I love lists.
- I’m a huge fan of snapping pictures of things to remember them, and this app allows me to organize those pictures and even include them in my list of to-dos.
- It syncs with my calendars, one of which is my classroom calendar, so it helps me remember everything I’ve planned for the week for my students, thereby helping me to plan out what nights I’ll be busy grading and when I can get other things done.
- If there are things I don’t get done one week, I can duplicate them into the following week’s to-do list so that they don’t get lost in the shuffle week after week.
- The iPad interface is easy to maneuver, and I can also put it on my iPhone.
What I don’t love about Evernote:
- Typing on an iPad or iPhone is not my favorite (but I can also do voice memos, so that makes up for this.)
- While it does sync with things I use every day (like my photos and calendar), it is a separate app that I need to open up every time I need to add something to it. Its wide array of features are all wonderful and will improve productivity as long as I remember to use it. Getting into the routine is the tough part.
Here are this week’s to-dos. I need to add more of the steps for each task , but this is a start of getting it off my mind and onto my list.
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Learning with Ms. Christensen 
I can sympathize on the “getting things done at the last minute” feeling. It’s certainly a reality that I find myself in juggling many job duties. I struggle with the ideas shared in this TED Talk (disclaimer, I watched most of it). I do write down an enormous amount of tasks and jobs I need to accomplish….sadly, I still find myself falling behind at times. I use my Mac Notes similar to Evernote in that I sync them through iCloud, but I confess to never having fully invested myself in Evernote. However, based on the visual tools and clipping that you described, I might have to give it a second look. Thanks for sharing!