One of my New Year’s resolutions was to stop using my Franklin Planner and go digital by the end of the year. Amazingly enough, I was able to go digitial by the end of 1st quarter. The first week of April, I traveled without my planner. While I thought I would feel like Linus without his blanket, I didn’t miss it. It is because most of the apps I use with my MacBook Pro have corresponding iPhone apps. Here are the tools I’m using to manage my time and stay organized.
Google calendar
The major issue I had with going green is color coding. With my Franklin Planner the different pen colors had a meaning. In 1995 someone bought me a Palm Pilot and it’s bland green/black screen turned me off. With Google Calendar you can create lots of calendars on the same calendar.
Create calendars for the major categories of events you schedule. Mine are
- Personal
- Tasks
- Alaska Airlines (my job)
- Writing
- Working Out
- US Holidays – pre created by Google. I select to show it.
Evernote
I use Evernote tool for taking random notes. I no longer have to search through dates and try to remember what date I took notes on. Once I bought a Mac, I downloaded the free desktop version.
The iPhone app will synch to your computer version. I’m currently using the free version. You can upgrade to a paid version if you find you need more space. Randy Elrod’s daughter, Lauren, recently posted on his site the Top 5 Uses for Evernote.
I still carry a digital voice recorder in my purse to capture quick notes when I’m driving.
Things
Things is software for Mac that allows you to create sto-do list that will synch with your iPhone app of the same name. This is not free software nor is it a free app. Although Evernote allows you to create to-do list, I find having a dedicated app for it helps me stay focused on my daily to-do.
What’s left for me to be completely green? I’m looking into purchasing a scanner to rid myself of needing to carry some documents and scan receipts. I’m open to any product suggestions for going green.
I really like evermore but I also use springpad cos it is a more visually appealing app