Is 2018 the year you finally organize your life on a single page?


At the end of 2016, I published a book called The Master Note System: A New Way to Use Evernote to Organize Your Life. In my book, I show you step by step how to organize everything so you can find it in a few seconds with a few clicks, taps or keystrokes, on all your devices and platforms. This is a new way of thinking about how to store important data and documents so you can find everything by a tap on a single page — your My Life Master Note — or on separate Master Notes that meet your organizational needs. You can do this with the free version of Evernote.

The Master Note System comes with a free Resource Kit with many templates so you can instantly organize your life on a single page. A recent reviewer tested my claim that you could find everything you need in your Evernote account in a few seconds or a few clicks. Here’s what he said: “Awesome. Turned Evernote from a pile of notes that I dreaded searching into a lean, mean, organization machine. It’s hard to describe the change it will make in your opinion of organization,” Then he listed 8 examples with the clicks it took.

It doesn’t take long to set this up, and you can do it bit by bit or just start with what’s most important to you and do the rest of your re-organization as you go along. Just start somewhere. I provide full instructions, many examples and a bunch of free done-for-you templates to get you going. This is a flexible and customizable system, easy to learn and tweak. If you’ve never used Evernote, my book explains the fundamentals with numerous screenshots.

So don’t keep wasting time looking for stuff you know you stored somewhere. No matter how fast you search, you won’t be able to beat the two clicks or two seconds it takes with my system (not counting opening your master note, which I leave open all the time and keep at the top of the shortcuts bar).

For more about The Master Note System, go to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). Still not sure? Read this. Or see my post from November 2016.

Year after year, I was doing it wrong. Are you?

Before you waste another year daydreaming about instead of doing what you really want to to achieve...

Every year for many years, I had the same goals. And for every year for many years, I had started on these goals early in the year and then let them fizzle out.

Then I discovered a way that actually worked. Suddenly I was achieving good results even before the new year. I refined my new process and instilled it into a short guide which I urge you to read. And, more importantly, I urge you to take the Resolution Roadmap for a road test.

This little guideThe Resolution Roadmap: Achieve Your Resolutions And Goals With An Effective New System, is only 99 cents — a life-changing bargain. You get a free downloadable guide with it, Techniques That Work for Getting Unstuck. We all get stuck at times, but it doesn’t have to be a permanent detour. You get 4 ready-to use templates in 4 formats, with instructions in PDFs and videos. You can use the templates on various platforms and devices. And you get my help, if you need it, just by sending me an email.

So get it now, before you forget. Before you waste another year daydreaming about instead of doing what you really want to to achieve.

Learn more at https://masteryournotes.com/resolution-roadmap-2018….

Happy New Year!

Marjory Harris | The Master Note System

 

 

Scan into Evernote with any scanner

Scan into Evernote

Some scanners let you scan directly into Evernote. If your scanner does not, you can still do this with a few tweaks:

Step 1: Add a folder to your hard drive labeled “Scan to Evernote.” Scan into this folder.

Step 2: On your Evernote desktop, click on “Tools” then on “Import Folders”:

 

Step 3: After you click on “Import Folders” a menu box appears:

 

Add the folder and set to either keep or delete after scanning.

The Mac desktop does not have this feature. At present, the alternative is a dedicated scanner or third-party software. There are apps for smartphones and tablets that let you scan to Evernote, but that’s not a solution for large papers or multipage documents.

Are you using images to get more organized and inspired?

The Image Gallery Feature in Evernote - Three New Tips & Tricks

You know that old saying about a picture being worth a thousand words? Sometimes all you need is an image to remind you what’s important in your life. In a new release [v6.5 and v6.6 for Windows and v6.12 for Mac], Evernote introduced the image gallery. Now you can click through images side by side, the same way you can do on Facebook. Just double-click on an image in a note, and then scroll through the other images in the same note. What else can you do with the image gallery feature? Here are some neat tips and tricks for using images to be more productive and better organized, whether at work or at home.

1. Daily Reminders

 

Trying to establish new habits? Try this trick using the image gallery feature to bring the reminder front and center. Put images in the table starting with the first one of the day (maybe your “miracle morning” to-do list). If you want to do a set of exercises each day, put that image next in order. Try to keep these to a handful — it’s easier to instill new habits a few at a time. Once you have the habit down pat, so it is second nature, you can add to it (“habit stacking“).

2. Inspirational Quotes

 

Create a table in a note, either by inserting one using the table command in the menu bar or pasting one in from your word processor. Populate the cells with images. In this example, I inserted a 4 x 4 table. I merged the cells in the bottom row so I could insert a linked image, the banner from the site where I got the quotes (learn how to put a link in an image in #3 below). I colored the cells yellow. You can color them before or after inserting the images. By clicking through the quotes, you can focus on the thoughts and be inspired.

3. Linked Images

 


You can put a link in an image. Single click on the image, then hit Ctrl+K. Paste in the link, then click “OK.” On a Mac, use Cmd+K. The link can take you anywhere, whether to a note in Evernote, a website, an email address, a folder tree online — there are endless possibilities. To learn more about the power of links in increasing efficiency and productivity, read my book, The Master Note System: A New Way to Use Evernote to Organize Your Life. See “A Crash Course on Note Links” in Chapter 2.

For more Tips and Tricks, sign up for the Newsletter (if you don’t see the lightbox, go to top of screen). To learn more about Evernote’s plans, click here.

For a PDF copy of this post, click here. Check your download file if you don’t see the PDF in the browser.

Do you have a dream of organizing your life this year?

My solution: the My Life Master Note

Does your desk have a mountain of papers on it? Are all waiting for decisions about where to store them, how to find them, what next actions to take? For over a decade I wrote articles about office efficiency and productivity. But I have a confession to make. Despite all my advice to others, I too had a paper mess in my office.

Finally, I went from a paper mess to paperless. Only an odd Post-it remains, always to the left of my keyboard. That single Post-it contains a jotting or two I took down on the phone or a sudden thought. I will do something with that little note within 24 hours. I want no mess to accumulate. I finally overcame my bad office habits and do not want to backslide.

Even after I went paperless, there were still bits of information I had stuck into Evernote or OneNote. It took too long to find things. Too many keystrokes in the search bar, then scanning lists of items that popped up. I had to come up with a way around the digital disorganization.

I had notebooks, notebook stacks, notes with good labels and tags. But still, it took too much time to call up what I wanted. And I wanted to organize everything so I could find it through a single note or page. I did not want a linear index that would have me scanning many note titles and hope I was clicking on the right one.

My solution: the My Life Master Note

In November 2016, I published a book on how to do this. Before it came out, I posted an article here. That article got several hundred more views than any of the 34 other articles I published on LinkedIn.

In my book, I show you step by step how to organize everything so you can find it in a few seconds with a few clicks, taps or keystrokes, on all your devices and platforms. You can do this with the free version of Evernote.

To learn more about this, get my bestselling book, The Master Note System: A New Way to Use Evernote to Organize Your LifeThis book comes with a free Resource Kit with many templates so you can instantly organize your life on a single page.

The days of opening my office door and confronting a huge pile of papers on the credenza are finally over. When I open my note programs (Evernote and OneNote) I can find what I need in seconds. I am free to work on more engaging projects, like writing a book on OneNote.

For more about The Master Note System, go to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).

Get the book and the free resource kit

Get organized in 2017: get the book now and then download the resource kit.

Do you have great ideas that pop into your head from time to time? Of course you do!

Find out how to preserve and grow your great ideas

We all get ideas from time to time, those “Eureka!” moments where you think, “what a great idea!” Some of you get them only once in a while, while others may get them many times each day.

What matters is preserving these ideas and putting them to use.

What if Gary Dahl, who came up with the idea of the pet rock while in a bar, had dismissed the idea as nonsensical, instead of developing it into a multi-million dollar product?

But not everything is about making money from an idea. There’s a sense of satisfaction from developing an idea into a product or problem-solving technique. There’s the joy of discovery and creation, bringing out the best in ourselves, reaching for that brass ring when we ride the carousel.

How can you record and develop your great ideas so they don’t fade away like morning dreams?

You can record your great ideas on a Post-it, a cocktail napkin, a note in Evernote or OneNote, a mind map or whiteboard. What matters is to preserve the ideas, refer to them frequently, and see how you can develop them, so they’re not just vapor trails in your mind.

I found the best way to do this is using a dedicated note-taking app like Evernote or OneNote. Brandon, a professional writer, dictates an Evernote note on his smartphone before the thought gets away. He adds a “great idea” tag and puts a checkbox at the top of the note.

Every few days, Brandon goes through his great idea notes and works on the unchecked ones. He links them to notes he has already set up. These notes relate to projects he is working on or would like to work on. Sometimes there’s no project to assign the note to, so they get linked to the “My Great Ideas Master Note” at the top of this post.

Get the “Great Ideas Master Note”

You can get this “Great Ideas Master Note” as a word processing table and paste it into Evernote, OneNote, or any other system you use that has a rich text editor. If you get in the habit of reviewing your master note and re-inspiring yourself, your great idea can take flight. No matter how silly the idea may seem when you write it down, it is the source of more new ideas and new hopes. Remember the pet rock: The idea needed nurturing and development, but it all started with an idea while drinking with friends in a bar.

To get the “Great Ideas Master Note” and other tables you can use to organize your life, click here.

For more about The Master Note System, go to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).

Get the book and the free resource kit

Get organized in 2017: get the book now and then download the resource kit.

Want to get on top of your finances in 2017? Try this neat Evernote hack

This is the time of year I think about making changes. I bet you do, too. I want to share a way to plan a change for 2017 that will really make a difference in your life. I will show you the method using a theme many of us think about — finances. Just click on the links to see enlarged images so you can recreate this for your own note or for a subject that matters to you.

Step 1: If you don’t use Evernote, download the free version here.

Step 2: Create a new note and label it with the area you chose. We’ll use “Finances.” Then start a numbered list by clicking on the Numbered List button:

I’ve added numbered items:

Now I made those individual items into numbered lists by clicking on the Numbered List button. This moves the first numbered item to the left and allows me to insert numbered items below the original ones:

I now have ideas for how to label and tag notes to create my Finances Master Note. Here’s the revised Finances note, showing labels for my topic notes and tags:

The capitalized word is a note label. The lower case word after the forward slash is a tag. Not all my options need their own note or tag, so I just picked a few to get going on my Finances Master Note.

Step 3: Make it your goal to label and tag in a systematic and sensible way when you create a note. If you already have masses of notes, then the next time you find an important note, make sure the label and tag or tags make sense.

Now you have the labels and tags, so make your Master Note. Right now make a plain one by going to the bottom of the Finances note and clicking on the table button:

Step 4: Next, I dragged and dropped the items into columns on the table:

Now I have labeled the topic notes and created tags, so I just have the table itself:

Notice I inserted links to the topic notes. I can use those notes to collect the information I need to stick to my financial goals. I also included a “Monthly Weigh In” note to keep track of progress. Just insert a checkbox:

So there you have it. You just made a Master Note. To learn more about this, get my bestselling book, The Master Note System: A New Way to Use Evernote to Organize Your Life. This book comes with a free Resource Kit with numerous templates so you can instantly begin to organize your life on a single page.

Why do you need a new way to organize your life and your notes?

 

Are you perfectly satisfied with your existing system? I know I wasn’t. Do you even have a system? I did but it still took too long to find what I needed. I wanted to find everything important in a few seconds, with two or three clicks at the most. So I created The Master Note System. After I tested it onvarious areas of my life, from work to leisure, I wrote about it in my new bestseller, The Master Note System: A New Way to Use Evernote to Organize Your Life.

What is The Master Note System?

This is a new way of thinking about how to store important data and documents so you can find everything by a tap on a single page — your My Life Master Note — or on separate Master Notes that meet your organizational needs. No more typing long strings of letters or multiple tags, then reading through lists of notes looking for a specific one you need at that moment. Everything is in one place, accessible by a tap or two.

Why do you need this?

♥ You will save time and frustration. Because you can find every important thing in a few seconds with just a few taps, clicks or keystrokes, you’ll have time for more rewarding pursuits than searching all over for a lost note or document.

♥ By organizing your life on a single page, things that matter to you won’t fall through the cracks. No more forgetting a loved one’s birthday, or to get your driver’s license renewed, or where to find the letter you wrote, etc. Or even where you stored the spare part for your lawn mower. There is only one place to look — your My Life Master Note.

What is a Master Note?

Master Notes are special notes for organizing your life. They let you find information fast. You can be more productive and effective in whatever you need to do.A Master Note is a table in a note that holds links to other notes or links to files or webpages. It can hold images, labels, text, and audio. It can hold anything that you can store in Evernote.When you use links on a table, you don’t have to search through piles of notes to find what you need. It’s like a well-organized closet: when you open the door, you see everything arranged neatly. You save time when dressing or packing for a trip. If you just threw everything in the closet, you’d have a messy pile of wrinkled, unsorted clothing.This book shows you how to create notes that put everything at your fingertips with a few keystrokes and clicks or taps. This book takes other Evernote guides a step further.

You’ll learn how you can find every important note fast and keep everything organized. You won’t need to know or remember complex syntax and search strings to find your best notes. And best of all, you’ll find things in seconds, with a tap or two.

For more about The Master Note System, go to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).

Get the book and the free resource kit
Get organized in 2017: get the book now and then download the resource kit.

Start the New Year with a New Way to Organize Your Life!

Put everything on one page so you can find it in seconds with one or two clicks

Start 2017 on the right foot. Take advantage of the introductory price of the international bestseller, The Master Note System: A New Way to Use Evernote to Organize Your Life.

This book describes an easy-to-learn method for storing and finding fast every digital thing, from notes in Evernote to documents on your cloud or hard drives. The book comes with numerous free templates so you are up and running fast. No coding or programming necessary — just instant organization.