My Simple Curiosity now has a Google+ Brand Page. I’ll be updating the site so you can connect to the page directly from the sidebar, but for now you can check it out here.

For more information on Google+ Brand Pages see Google’s official blog post.

 

Now that we’ve built the framework of our GTD system with notebooks and tags, it’s time to make some lists. To make lists, we’ll be using Evernote’s ‘Saved Search’ feature. Saved searches are awesome. I like to think of them as folders 2.0. They allow you to group notes with similar characteristics, and a single note can appear in more than one saved search. Saved searches are easily accessible on your mobile devices, making it easy to view your lists on the go.

To create a saved search, search Evernote using keywords, notebooks, and tags, then right-click ‘Saved Searches’ –> ‘Create Saved Search…’. Enter a name for your saved search and click ‘OK’. You can also enter the saved search query manually.

In order to stay organized, you’ll want to create the following lists:

• A ‘Projects’ list
• ‘Next Actions’ lists (including context and read/review lists)
• A ‘Waiting For’ list
• A ‘Someday/Maybe’ list

These lists are the minimum requirements. You can create additional lists if you’d like.

The ‘Projects’ list is simply a replica of the ‘*Projects List’ Notebook. The saved search query should look like this: notebook:”*Projects List”. Saved searches, like tags, are arranged in alphabetical order. Place a symbol (i.e. *) in front of the name to ensure it stays near the top of the list.

Context is the primary criterion for making action choices. Thus, in addition to a comprehensive ‘Next Actions’ list, we will be making lists for each of the context tags you created in the last post. My ‘Next Actions’ list contains only single next actions, whereas my context lists contain single next actions and project next actions (a post on projects is coming soon…I promise). Here are the saved search queries:

• ‘Next Actions’ list – notebook:”2. Next” tag:@Action
• Agenda – tag:@Agenda
• At Anywhere – tag:@Anywhere
• Calls – tag:@Calls
• At Computer – tag:@Computer
• Email – tag:@Email
• Errands – tag:@Errands
• Grocery List – tag:@Grocery
• At Home – tag:@Home
• Shopping List – tag:@Shopping
• At Work – tag:@Work

If you click on any of the context saved searches you will get a list of all the next actions (single next actions and next actions associated with projects) available for that context. You can then make your next action choice based on time available, energy available, and priority.

Here are the rest of my lists and their saved search queries:

• FYI-To-Read (Read/Review) – notebook:”2. Next” tag:”FYI-To-Read” (I don’t use the ‘FYI-To-Read’ tag for projects. I only use it for articles I clip from the web and want to read later.)
• ‘Waiting For’ list – tag:”@Waiting For”
• ‘Someday/Maybe’ list – notebook:”6. Someday/Maybe”

You can also create saved searches for lists of things you would like to access quickly. For example, a ‘Books to Read’ list – notebook:”6. Someday/Maybe” tag:#Books tag:”To Read”. If you need help creating saved searches, check out this article on advanced Evernote search syntax.

That’s all for lists! In the next few posts I’ll look at how to manage projects. Stay tuned…

 

Yesterday, Google rolled out a new design for Google Reader. Google+ integration was also added. I recently wrote a post about customizing Google Reader’s appearance. The CSS tweaks mentioned in that post still seem to be working with the new layout. Here’s a screenshot:

 

In the last post we created notebooks; now it’s time to look at tags. There are two main categories of tags: tags for Reference Materials or Someday/Maybes and tags for Next/Action items.

Before taking an in-depth look at each of these categories, let’s talk a bit about creating and organizing tags.

There are several ways to create a new tag. In Evernote for Windows, you can simply right-click on ‘Tags’ in the left panel and select ‘Create Tag…’ or, when creating a new note, you can enter the name of the tag where it says, ‘Click to add tag…’.

Tags can be nested inside other tags, and you can create as many layers of nested tags as you want. If you create too many, however, you may end up in limbo. To nest tags, drag and drop one tag onto another.

Nesting allows you to organize your tags so they are easier to find, though it does not provide any functionality—it’s merely cosmetic.

Reference Materials & Someday/Maybe Tags:

The Reference Materials notebook is like a virtual filing cabinet to store anything you find interesting or useful. I like to organize it using two types of tags:

Primary/Category Tags (#) – These tags represent the ‘folders’ in the filing cabinet and are denoted by the # symbol. Examples: #Books, #Career, #Finance, #Food/Drink, #Health, #Movies, #Music, #Tech, #Travel. Tag names are arbitrary—feel free to use whatever symbol and names you desire.

Subset/Subcategory Tags – Many of your primary categories will have at least one subset of topics. These tags are not denoted by any special symbol. Again, tag names are arbitrary. Here are some of the tags I have nested inside #Tech:

Someday/Maybe items—things you may want to reassess in the future—are tagged in a similar manner. For example, if I find a book I would like to read, I’ll clip it into Evernote, tag it (#Books; To Read), and move it to the Someday/Maybe notebook.

Other tags that apply to Someday/Maybe items include the following:

• Future Projects
• Gift Ideas
• Wish List
• Coupon

These tags are nested under #Misc.

Next/Action Item Tags:

The Next notebook contains all of the Next-Action items, Waiting-For items, and any Read/Review materials, and the tags used for these items represent the second major category of tags used in this system.

A new note is created for each Next Action (single next actions, not next actions associated with Projects—I’ll discuss Projects in a future post), and this note is tagged @Action. Since most Next Actions require a specific location or tool, this note is also tagged with a context tag. Here a some examples of context tags that I use: @Agenda, @Anywhere, @Calls, @Computer, @Email, @Errands, @Grocery, @Home, @Shopping, @Work. I nest the context tags under the @Action tag:

Let’s look at an example. Perhaps my printer is running low on black ink. I would create a new note, give it the proper tags (@Action; @Errands), and move it to the Next notebook, as seen here:

Similarly, each Waiting-For item—things you’re waiting to get back from or get done by others—has its own note, which is tagged @Waiting For. Use context tags here as well if appropriate.

To-read items that have been clipped or scanned into Evernote are also placed in the Next notebook. I label these FYI-To-Read.

That covers everything you need to know about tags. In the next post, we’ll look at how to create lists to manage all your actionable things.

 

Now that you have Evernote installed and ready to go, I’m going to walk you through setting up the notebooks we will be using to GTD with Evernote. I will be using Evernote for Windows, but the process should be similar if you are on a Mac or the web.

When you first open Evernote, you’ll notice in the upper-left corner that you have 1 notebook already created. Rename this notebook to ‘1. Inbox’. This is your default notebook. It will serve as an in-basket, capturing self-generated input as well as any information you clip from the web, send to your Evernote email address, etc.

Next, right-click on ‘Notebooks’ and select ‘Create Notebook…’. Name this notebook, ‘2. Next’ (all of the notebooks created will be synchronized notebooks; leave the ‘make this my default notebook’ box unchecked). The ‘2. Next’ notebook will contain all of the Next-Action items, Waiting-For items, and any Read/Review materials (more on this in future posts). Note—the numbers before the notebook names are there to ensure that the notebooks stay in the proper order.

Create another notebook called, ‘*Projects List’. Once it is created, right-click ‘*Projects List’, select ‘Add to stack’ –> ‘New stack’. Rename the newly created Notebook Stack to ‘3. Projects’. Your notebooks should now look like this:

I’m going to write an entire post on Projects, but I’ll give you a brief synopsis here. The ‘*Projects List’ notebook acts as an index and contains one note for each project that you have. This note details the project’s name, next-action, purpose, outcome, brainstorming notes, etc. For each project, I also create a new notebook (give it the name of your project) in the ‘3. Projects’ stack. These notebooks will be used to store all of the support materials that you may need as you work on your various projects. These notebooks are temporary, and they can be deleted once the project is completed.

The next notebook to create is called, ‘4. Support Materials’. Before Evernote introduced notebook stacks, I used to use this notebook to store all of my Project Support Materials. Now I simply use it to store any temporary/transient stuff (such as confirmation numbers) and any supporting information for things that aren’t projects. You may want to turn this notebook into a notebook stack and have separate notebooks within the stack for work, personal, banking, school, family, etc.

The final two notebooks to create are, ‘5. Reference Materials’ and ‘6. Someday/Maybe’.

The ‘5. Reference Materials’ notebook acts like a virtual filing cabinet. I’ll describe how it will be organized in my next post on tags.

The ‘6. Someday/Maybe’ notebook is for Someday/Maybes—things that you may want to reassess in the future.

And we’re done! Stay tuned for more posts on how to Get Things Done with Evernote.

 

In order to love to write, you need to blog about a topic that you already think about all of the time. That said, I’ve decided to write a series about how I Get Things Done with Evernote.

First things first, I’ll give credit where credit is due. The framework for my GTD system was based on a series of posts at Productivity 101 written by Dutch blogger Fokke Kooistra. His posts were exceedingly helpful as I transitioned my system from OneNote to Evernote.  I have also incorporated many of Stephen Millard’s ideas into my GTD system. Stephen is the author of a blog called Thought Asylum, and you can check out his thoughts about Evernote here.

Before we begin, I’m going to assume that you’ve read David Allen’s Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity at least twice. If you haven’t, I suggest you do that first.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get rolling. Head over to evernote.com and create an account. I’m a premium user, but you can accomplish everything you’ll need to do with a free account. You’ll also want to download and install a copy of Evernote on your Mac or PC. While you’re at it, you may as well install Evernote on your mobile device. Evernote is available for iOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone 7, and even Palm Pre/Palm Pixi.

Lastly, you’re going to need to install the Evernote Web Clipper. I recommend using Google Chrome, but the clipper is also available for Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer.

That’s it! Stay tuned for the next post where I’ll walk you through setting up the notebooks we will be using to Get Things Done with Evernote.

 

I use Google Reader to keep up with all my favourite websites and blogs. Since I am currently looking for a new job, I have also been using Google Reader as a job search tool.  Each day, several hundred new job listings pile up inside my job search folder. Sounds great, right? One problem: It can be quite strenuous on the eyes sifting through the entire list.

In order to relieve my eye strain, I decided to seek out a way to improve the appearance of Google Reader. I thought to myself, “What if every other entry had a light grey colour like you often see in data tables?”

After a quick Google search, I came back empty-handed. A few days later, however, I came across this article on advanced CSS3 techniques, and I decided to implement a solution myself.

Here’s a snapshot of the end result:

As you can see, I’ve made a few minor changes that I feel enhance the readability and functionality of Google Reader.

What you’ll need:

1. A Google Chrome Extension to modify the site’s CSS.
   • Minimalist Google Reader or
   • Stylebot
2. The code:

Install one of the extensions, then copy and paste the code in the relevant area.

For Minimalist Google Reader, it’s on the extension’s options screen as seen here:

For Stylebot, click the css button in the omnibar, then click the ‘Edit CSS’ button:

That’s it. Feel free to make any additional CSS changes you desire. If you have any questions, please leave a comment.

 

This post has been a long time in the making. A few months ago, I created My Simple Curiosity in an effort to learn more about website design, programming, and database management. I also hoped blogging would sharpen my writing skills and help me to better express my own ideas and opinions.

Why the delay? I knew all along I wanted my blog to reflect the things I value: health, simplicity, the pursuit of knowledge, my relationships with family, friends, and the planet. However, I wasn’t sure how to format the blog so it would be interesting for people foolish enough to read it.

What changed? A few days ago, while wading through my Google+ stream, I stumbled upon a link to an episode of The Random Show podcast hosted by Tim Ferriss and Kevin Rose. At the time, I didn’t know much about Kevin Rose (he founded Digg and likes tea), but it seemed as if Tim Ferriss had his hand in a lot of things I was interested in (Evernote, The Paleo Solution, simplicity, etc.), so I decided to check it out. Over the course of each episode, Tim and Kevin discuss various books, people, and websites/apps (among other things) they find intriguing and/or useful. After watching several episodes, I became captivated by the show’s somewhat random nature, and I was eager to hear more of their recommendations. I had also just read an article on Stepcase Lifehack outlining 7 steps for getting unstuck, one of which was the following words of wisdom from the man behind Apple, Steve Jobs: “Good artists copy. Great artists steal.” Thus, I put two and two together, and I have decided to use The Random Show’s book/person/website format as the basis for my blog.

For the most part, My Simple Curiosity will focus on health and nutrition, personal productivity, and technology. I also have an interest in finance and investing, so I’ll be looking at global trends and companies that may benefit from the emergence of these trends.

Enjoy!