Slow Learner

Delegation, asking for helpSame old mistake.

Fought with a technical issue for half a day without making any progress.

Finally, just before bed, I posted a job on Upwork asking for someone to either do what I needed to do or simply consult with me.

Next morning, Joe from Austin Texas who charges $53 per hour messaged me and said he could help.

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Using Evernote for Task and Time Management

enI began using Evernote last February. The initial purpose was to move towards a paperless office and have a better way of storing and accessing the thousands of quotes, stories, illustrations and files that I use in my writing and speaking.

EN has proven to be the answer for this type of data storage. I also use it as my tool for notes when I am taking an online course and can see using it increasingly as my initial location for all note taking. It auto-syncs with both my phone and the cloud so I can always access all my data even if I am on the road without my laptop.

My reason for going paperless was part of a larger quest for simplicity, so I began to wonder about using EN as a replacement for the time management program I have used for over a decade, Time & Chaos. I really like T&C, it has been the most used, always open program on my computer for years. I appreciate the ability to customize it, the option of using color coding and the tight integration of contacts, calendar and tasks. It also has an email client (in its Intellect version) but I have never bothered to make the move since it seemed to have several shortcomings compared to Outlook. But since I liked it’s time and task management features better than those in Outlook, I ended up using both tools.

Enter Evernote. After getting it and reading all I could find about it including taking in some online training, I realized that it could function quite well as a task manager. And the ability to so easily move documents- including emails added with a click from Outlook- from a task folder to an information folder made it a pleasure to use and instantly increased my efficiency. No more keeping emails in the email client as to do items- and usually forgetting about them.

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How to Have a Productive Afternoon

I’m aproductivity_cmp morning person. I get 50-100% more done in a morning hour than in an afternoon hour. My thinking is clearer and I am more creative. My second best chunk of time is often from 6-9 pm in the evening. But afternoons can be a challenge, and from what I have seen this is true for many people.

One year ago, that would have been true for me. I have since narrowed the gap dramatically, to the point where my afternoons, while still not as productive as my mornings, are now better than that evening slot. And some days, the morning and the afternoon seem pretty close.

Here’s what’s changed:

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