SLT017: Evernote Simplified (Part 1), & A Focus on Fitness

Today's show is about focus...from two very different perspectives. First, we're going to focus on how to use Evernote, and then shift the focus to fitness.

Dan's Topic: Evernote Simplified (Part 1)

OK so unless this is your first time listening to the podcast, you might know that I'm an Evernote fan. And one of the most requested things I'm asked to talk about is Evernote. So, by popular demand, my topic for this show and next week's will be Evernote!  Read more...

Today I want to cover the basics and next week I want to hit some more advanced tips and some use cases. Like most things, it takes a little playing around with Evernote to get the full hang of it, so after this show you can dive right into Evernote if you haven't already, and then you can send in some questions that I can cover on next week's show.

Here’s what I’m going to cover today: What is Evernote, Why I like Evernote, some  Evernote Basics, Searching in Evernote, and finally Sharing in Evernote. So let's get started.

So what is Evernote?

Well, you've heard the saying "an elephant never forgets" right?

Evernote is that little square green app you see almost everywhere with the elephant in the middle.

Most often you hear of Evernote being described as your "external brain."

Evernote makes it easy to remember things big and small from your everyday life using your computer, phone, tablet and the web.

With Evernote, you can take in info in tons of ways and it synchronizes it across all your devices so it's there when you need.

So..think of Evernote as a synchronized database of all your important information that’s there for you when you need it and how you need it.

The Evernote app is free for your desktop and all your devices, and so is the Evernote program on the web itself.

You can also upgrade to an Evernote Premium premium account for $5 per month or $45 per year.

We've been Premium users for about 4 years now and it is worth every penny.

There really is very little difference between the free and paid versions, but we wanted to support the company, and I'll get back to that in a minute.

So some of the benefits of a Premium account are increased ability to share, bigger file sizes, some other faster functions that I'll cover later.

If you're just a casual user, you'll be fine on a free basic account.

But if you're a power user or just want to support the company, you'll want to upgrade to Premium.

Why I Like Evernote

Ubiquitous Capture…

One of the tenets of Getting Things Done, by David Allen.

Very simply, ubiquitous capture means capturing all your important thoughts or "things to remember" thoughts in a way that you can recall them when needed.

Don’t let them float around in your head, where they will likely be forgotten. Capture it now, before it's gone.

I'm not a user of GTD…but ubiquitous capture is a fantastic habit to cultivate…if you're into that sort of thing, like me.

Get info into Evernote by…

Typing text

Recording your voice

Dragging in files

Email it to your account (even video)

Taking pictures

Scanning things in

Using the web clipper

Even use automated ways to get things in. We'll talk about that next week.

Evernote strives to be a 100 year company

Tech companies and their products come and go

Many like to bring a product to market, then sell for the big bucks

Evernote plans to be a 100 year company and make a difference in the world. I heard this directly from their CEO, Phil Libin when I was at Evernote in San Francisco at their first ETC…and I believe him.