This tutorial uses Evernote for keeping track not only notes and useful reference files, but your To-do list as well. It’s been built around the Evernote app for Android and the Windows desktop application.
I have been using this implementation for months and works especially good for me since I have no complicated requirements for my personal to-do items (I use my own app Jello Dashboard for my more complicated work stuff). Now I have everything I need from my notes and all my tasks into one place, with no need for using other applications.
This tutorial was written using an Android phone and Microsoft Windows. It could be in use for the iPhone Evernote app too, or other combinations from the Evernote supported applications list.
Step 1: App Installation
You need to install the Evernote application to your Android phone and setup the 1x4 widget into a homescreen if you want to create notes with a tap. The installation of the Evernote Windows desktop application is not required, but it is essential if you want to enter a big number of notes or to use the Evernote copy/paste superb functionality to migrate from your existing system.
Step 2: Create the basic notebooks
Inbox: Set this notebook as the default for new notes. It will be your only inbox which should be reviewed at least weekly.
@Todo (stack): This will be the base stack notebook which will contain the main lists of the to-do system. I avoided the name GTD since I didn’t want to use contexts and complicate the system. It contains the following notebooks in my implementation:
- !Next or !ASAP
- @actions
- @projects
- @waiting
Of course you can create your own additional notebooks under this stack. If you cannot live without GTD @contexts, you can create one notebook for each context.
Projects (stack): This stack contains only big projects with many notes, which need a separate notebook
Someday: Everything (action or project) that drops under the GTD Someday/Maybe category and need to be reviewed for potential actions.
Reference: This notebook contains all reference notes or files. Make sure you tag each entry with a tag system of your choice for easier organization.
Step 3: Fill up your notebooks with notes!
Each task/action should have its own note. For small tasks, just a title is enough. Add your immediate next actions into the !Next notebook, and the rest of the actions into the @actions notebook. The @waiting notebook should contain action notes for which you are waiting on someone. The @projects notebook should serve as your projects list, containing all of your active projects.
I usually use a single note for a project, with a special leading character on the title (eg: $Paint House) and use the body of the note to analyze the project with to-do checkmarks or special notes for the project. If you have some large projects notebook into the Project stack folder, just create a note into the @project notebook for a placeholder when you’re checking out your project list.
Step 4: Setup the to-do view on your Android phone.
Open your Android Evernote and head on to Notebooks. Select the @Todo stack notebook and customize its view (display options). You need to select List View and the Notebook sort order.
Next, create a shortcut for the active notebook (@Todo) on your home screen. That’s all!
Using the @Todo notebook
When you tap on your @todo shortcut you will be presented with your active items list. First you’ll have the list of your !Next actions, then the rest of the @actions, your active @projects and your @waiting list. This is all the basic information you need to make your day-to-day decisions.
Additionally, if you installed the Evernote 1x4 widget, you can create new notes using just one tap and they will be saved in your Inbox notebook.
To mark an action as done you can just delete it (works for off-line notes too). Alternatively if you want to keep a record of done actions, move it to Reference notebook (or wherever you want) by long tapping the item from the list and select Move to notebook.
To move an action between sections (Notebooks) long tap the item from the list and select Move to notebook. This is extremely useful when you want to move an action to the @waiting list or to !Next actions list.
Weekly Review: The Windows Desktop edition of Evernote will help you with that a lot. After you sync your phone with the server, you can thoroughly examine/Review your lists and activate specific actions or projects for the next week.
What about reminders?
Evernote does not (yet) support reminders you for notes. So, I have found a great solution for my Android phone. Download and use the Business Calendar by Appgenix software.
Except being a great calendar with nice widgets, you can long tap any item from your @Todo list and select Share using… Business calendar, to create on-the-fly a new event for the specific to-do note.
I know there are lots of things missing from this semi-GTD implementation, but I found out that it works great for common people like me, who are not travelling in business trips and attending meetings all day.
I think its great for people who like some aspects of GTD and maintain small-to-medium task lists.
Evernote comes is many flavors, so it would be possible to implement this solution using the iPhone and Windows application, or the iPhone and MAC OS X application. If you have tried in any other combination and worked, I would be happy if you shared your experiences in the comments.