Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Time to take a break!

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Safe New Year.

Enjoy your family and friends.  Travel Safe, and here's looking toward 2012!

Thanks for following and sharing,

David

Tools I Use: Evernote

I've been using a program called Evernote for several years.  If you're unfamiliar with the app, check it out.

First, it's free!  Second it works on your computer, your phone, your tablet and the web!  It interacts with virtually every OS, and it syncs in the cloud.  There is a premium version, but I used the free version for quite awhile till I needed to upload files and such.

Evernote, in its simplest form, is an electric notebook.  In its useful form, it's a notebook that lives on your computer, your tablet, your phone and online - all in sync.  I think of Evernote as quite ubiquitous.  I thought everyone knew about it and was using it.  I'm amazed at the number of people I come in contact with who have never heard of it.

Do yourself a favor and check it out.  Their website has a fantastic blog and can give you examples of how others are using it.

They've said it best.  This is from their "about page" - http://www.evernote.com/about/corp/

  Our goal at Evernote is to give everyone the ability to easily capture any moment, idea, inspiration, or experience whenever they want using whichever device or platform they find most convenient, and then to make all of that information easy to find.

  And we’ve done just that. From creating text and ink notes, to snapshots of whiteboards and wine labels, to clips of webpages, Evernote users can capture anything from their real and digital lives and find it all anytime.

Feel free to comment or ask a question to find out how I use it.

Thanks for following and sharing!

David

EVERNOTE, the Evernote Elephant logo and REMEMBER EVERYTHING are trademarks of Evernote Corporation and used under a license.

Android Tablet vs iOS 5, iPhone and Ipad

I was posed a question this morning by a co-worker.  What's your take on the Sony tablet?

Here's my take.  I've purchased many Sony computers.  I've purchased several Sony phones and cameras.  I'm a big fan of Sony.  I went to the Sony Store, played with and almost purchased the Sony tablet.  Here's the catch.  It runs Android.

Don't get me wrong.  I'm also a big fan of Android and Google.  I'll discuss Google more in a moment.  Also realize, this co-worker, like myself, spends a ton of time traveling and is on the road constantly.

So, I'll try to answer more than just the question asked.  

I have switched my whole digital world back to an iOS-centric, Google Driven experience.

I personally have owned several Android devices, both phones and a tablet.  I've spent many hours pouring through articles and reviews both before and after purchasing.  The main problem I find with Android is the fragmentation in the marketplace.  This has been discussed for many years, and supposed to be somewhat fixed with the new 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS.

I finally had to spend more time working my day job, and stop trying to make my "digital world" work on several different devices and OS's.  

I went and purchased the iPhone 4S.  I already had an iPad2.  I use an iMac at the house and a PC at the office.  I mentioned Google.  I sent my first Gmail in March of 2007.  I just went and looked it up.  It was a test email to my son.  Over the past 6 months I've migrated my entire world over to Google.  Mail and Docs and Calendars, Oh my!

My IT guy called to make sure I was still alive.  He'd not heard from me in awhile.  I've moved all my information off the exchange server.  When I said iOS-centric and Google Driven, let me explain.  All my devices pull their information from Google.  Google, the free version, hosts all my data.  I do back everything up on a weekly basis, but in all honestly over the past many years, I've never had any problems.  It's just a ritual I can't break.

My phone pulls from Google.  My iPad pulls from Google.  At the office, I use the web version of the Google Apps.  At home, my iCal and Address Book pull from Google.  I mainly use a Chrome browser, even at home.

Bottom line.  Remember the travel part?  I travel with one cable and one charger.  My iPhone and my iPad work in perfect harmony.  If I want to change settings on one, it's virtually the same to change it on the other.  Most of the apps I use, work on both the phone and the pad and pull from the cloud anyway.

I hope this helps.  Please feel free to comment or ask questions if I've left anything out or unanswered.

Thanks for following and sharing!

David

The importance of a Daily Planning Process in the Digital Age

As we move away from paper-based planner systems, we move away from a key element of a productive day:   the Daily Planning Process.  A common thread in most productivity systems and training is some type of daily planning.  Today's digital world is as simple as walking in, turning on and "off to the races."  Daily planning has been replaced with an on switch and "full steam ahead" in many cases.

Can you remember when the first 10-15 minutes of each day was at your desk with a cup of coffee and your trusty planner?  Ready to conquer the world.  Remember when an entire day was laid out in front of you?    Whatever system you used, typically had your calendar, a task list and a place to capture notes.  Your system may have also spanned the week, a month or just the day.  You reviewed the past few days, made a few notes and then started your day.

When we started to go digital in one way or another, the beauty and simplicity of our "system" was forever changed.  Gone was the clean snapshot of the day or week.  Task lists gave way to inboxes.  Notes pages turned into digital files folders and confusing file structures.  Calendars turned into of a mash of everything else.  This mornings cup of Joe was sipped while many flashing lights vied for my attention.

As I've navigated through the maze of products and services to bring this new digital age into order, I've reverted back to a very simplistic tool, and my own Daily Planning Process.  I'll cover more tools and services in upcoming posts.

I start each and every day pulling up a Google Doc.  It's named "Daily & Weekly Planning."  I've created a list of daily activities to get my day started in the right direction.  Check this, open that, dial here and look at this list.  At least I'm in control of what I open and look at to start my day.  We'll cover weekly planning later.

I have three voicemails to check.  I have three email inboxes to check.  I have a variety of lists in a few task management programs to review.  On the second page I've also kept/copied/pasted quotes and statements to read each day to get my mind right!

Here's the point.  When I go through this routine, stop my world for 10-15 minutes each morning and plan my day accordingly, I have a much more productive day.  When I let life get in the way, my day takes off and I'm not prepared.  It only takes a few unprepared days to get myself back on track and remember the importance of the Daily Planning Process.

Thanks for following and sharing!

David

Fresh Start

I've been intrigued by the world of BLOG for sometime now.  I decided the easiest way to find out more about it was to start one. A blog, not a world.

A fresh start seemed like the way to go.  I've taken off the old posts.  Throwing out all the old, and in with the new.  My quest, and I know it's the quest of many others, is to take all the technology around us and in fact make it work - for us.  Not be a slave to it.

Time to break the chains folks.

Join me on a journey and conversation about using technology to truly being more productive and living LIFE!

I welcome input and feedback.  I've personally been on this journey now for decades.  I've gone from the pad of paper in the 80's, to a day planner in the 90's to a variety of electric gadgets along the way.  I'm sure many of you can appreciate that.  And like you, I've bounced back and forth many times as well.

Thanks for following and sharing!

David