Why does it change everything. When you start filing information it is not searchable. You have to have some sort of a directory structure to get to that piece of information again. When you start throwing in your personal, social, sport, hobby part of your life into the equation suddenly you have a massive amount of information coming into your daily life. Now when you take notes, make bookmarks in the books you read you start getting information together that in a year; well, you will not remember about it, because there is no way to get to if quickly. That is the problem, even if you are an advent keeper of your notes and you know where you store it because your filing system is up to date; when push comes to shove and you need it quickly you wont go look for it.
So what is the solution?
I myself am busy trying out various systems although my basic system still sticks. I am yet to come across a company that offers the whole solution the way I would like to use it. But that is just the thing. The way you approach it might be very different from the way I approach it.
So today we are talking about filing information. What is the easiest way according to me to file information and then getting it again.
Firstly what do you need?
1.Scanner
2.Cell phone
3.Software company that offers cloud based storage. (if you want to sync your files to your phone/tab etc.)
This is how my system works.
I prefer to use Evernote or Springpad for this. For over two years I have used springpad but recently it has some shortfalls to the way I work so I will be switching over to Springpad. Evernote is much easier to understand and to use for the normal person that Springpad. Springpad is also very much aimed according to me at pad and cell phone users whereas Evernote is a well developed system where it covers from PC to Mac, Cell phones, Tabs and Browser applications. I also find that more people that are business orientated use Evernote. Springpad has also recently made a major change to their look and feel and it has now become more social sharing type of a platform.
It doesn't really matter what type of Notebook on the cloud you use it has to have the following options. Must be able to sync to various devices
Must be able to take photos, videos, audio recordings
Must be able to take notes
Must be able to take various types of documents ie pdf, word, excel etc
Must be able to tag
Must have a web clipper for your browser (this app you use when you want to store stuff from the web)
Lets look at how I setup my Evernote at the moment. (Bearing in mind this is specifically to store information so that I can get it again, this is not for note taking)
I have notebooks on Evernote for every main department of my life where I am getting information from. For instance, if I belong to a club and information comes in via that avenue I would have a Club X notebook. Same goes for my Hobby X, Personal Development, GTD, Tips and Tricks etc.
The way information gets into this notebook varies greatly. It could come from my iPhone, notepad that I scan, a clip from the web, a url, email etc. It is important that all those notes go into your notebook.
How do I use my paper notebook? I would take notes, as soon as I can I would scan those notes into the system. If it was a Personal Development meeting where I took notes, that scanned document would go into my Personal Development notebook on Evernote, I would tag it things that would make sense for me. For instance if the meeting was with Gerhard it would have his tag there, it was held in Johannesburg, that tag would be there etc. That way in the future 3 years from now I could easily get all the info that I've gotten from Gerhard by just clicking the Gerhard tag and filtering all my material.
I am busy with interesting projects on how to get my parents and grandparents to be able to save stories about their past and get that into my system. Working on a way to get more information to photos that my parents took for instance. For them the photos make sense but for me who wasn't there it has no meaning but sentiment.
If you have special way of doing this please let me know.
www.evernote.com
www.springpadit.com
No comments:
Post a Comment