I'm good at...
I've aways been able to keep my documents and email organized by sorting them into an alphebetized system of folders. This results in folders within folders within folders. I can pretty much find anything in my computer or house for that matter... but it may take some time. I'm also good at creating lists.
I'm not good at...
Yes, I am good at creating lists BUT I have a huge problem in following them. It is a fact that I have created an agenda but forgot to invite people to the meeting!
The biggest problem I had was remembering what needs doing and when. After receiving an email that required me to do something, I did one of the following: added it to a list, flagged it, marked it as unread, or just let it to sink to the bottom of the pile never to be viewed again until the client called asking why I hadn't completed the task. Sound familiar?
Evernote to the rescue
My favourite feature of Evernote is that it allows you to forward email to Evernote. Not only does the email end up in Evernote, but you can tell it exactly where to go within the system and tag it before you send it.
The how to
Within Evernote, I created tags called "Action" and "Done". In the subject line of the email, add @Inbox (or any notebook's name) and then #action to tag it. In Evernote, I have created a search for "Action minus Done". Obviously, the search finds all the email with the tag "Action" but not any with the tag "Done". Brilliant! There in front of my eyes is a detailed list of all the things I need to do. When completing the job prescribed by the email, I tag it "Done" and it disappears from the list. It is a great feeling.
Here is a video and step by step description on how to send email to Evernote.
