However, where it really excelled was in the fact that it was supported by a web version. I fully admit that perhaps I didn’t invest enough time with Evernote. I personally found it a little cumbersome to work around and navigate. What I didn’t like about it was the interface. My first real success came with Evernote and what I liked about this digital notebook application was that it was free and worked on all platforms. I figured that there must be a better way so I turned to technology. In many cases, I’d need to transfer that item to the current ‘to-do’ list on another page which is really just duplication isn’t it? Secondly, I’d write stuff down to remember it and when I needed it I couldn’t find it because I’d written so many more notes since.Īfter a while I also started to accumulate a lot of notebooks which became painful to manage and one of the biggest problems was keeping track of stuff that I needed to do but was a lower priority. The down side with paper is firstly, I need to have my notebook on me at all time to capture what pops into my head (and good stuff can do this at the strangest moment). I have used all sorts of time managers and recorders but normally defaulted to a simple blank notebook in which I could express myself in any manner. Of course the majority of the notes that I have taken have been paper based. His main premise is that the human brain is designed for creativity not storage, that’s why you need to write things down some where ‘safe’ so you can free up your mind for bigger things. Years later I read the book “Getting Things Done” by David Allen and found that it really spoke to my inner scribe. All of this reinforced the importance of getting stuff down on paper. My first job required me to complete a regular journal of the work that I performed everyday and have that available at regular intervals for review.

Where did this start out? When I was at university doing my first degree in Electrical Engineering it was drummed into us during every lab session that lab notes don’t need to perfect, it is far, far more important to capture the information right then and there. It probably won’t surprise regular readers of this blog that I’m a big note taker.

Evernote onenote 2015