Evernote, Remember the Milk, Dropbox, Google doc
I have been disorganised for years. I was the kind of person who forgot deadlines and meetings all the time. I spent my time apologising as my friends were complaining all the time. So one day, I decided to be organised! I decided to change everything in my life. I started my road with Getting Things Done by David Allen where I got all the necessary productivity methods. I never read the full book but I got all the crucial productivity advice. From that time, I could see the sudden change. My level of stress reduced, I could achieve more things during a day and my stress levels decreased. What truly helped me are all the applications and software I have used.
We all hear about amazing applications to use, but it’s always difficult to use them all together. Those apps all sound amazing, but once it’s about using them it’s become difficult to get the right techniques. I mainly use five apps to organise my life. Personally, I think five applications are enough, because it can be quite overwhelming if you use too many of them.
So I am sharing the way I organise myself using those different apps.
Evernote
Evernote is amazing. It allows you to connect all your devices, so you can have access to your notes everywhere. You can save text notes, audio notes and even pictures notes. That’s so easy to use. I take a note of everything I have in my mind. I record everything I do, my new ideas, and I even capture pictures of new places. The platform is very easy to use. I also use it to take notes when I read an article or watch a video. I can’t live without Evernote. It helps me so much to be organized.
Remember the Milk
Remember the Milk (RTM) simply changes my life! I started using it a year ago and it simply changes the way I organise things. For me it’s the best to do list/ tasks management. With RTM I list my daily or weekly tasks and I organise them by categories. I can organise my tasks per category, such as home stuff, work projects or personal social life. I set an alarm for every task, so every morning Remember the Milk sends me an email to remind me of all the tasks I have to accomplish during the day. You can set up recurring tasks in RTM – daily, weekly, or monthly. I set a reminder every Monday to organise my week, or write new posts. It’s very simple to use, and it has everything you need. The RTM user interface is pretty and highly functional.
Dropbox
Dropbox is a great document sharing app. Dropbox allows you to share big files like photos or pictures, which are usually too big to be sent by email. You can use it with any computer or Smartphone. I find it very easy to use. You can synchronise all your files, so it gives you access to your files no matter the devices you’re using. I personally use Dropbox mainly between my mobile and my computer, and it’s very useful when I am outside home. I don’t need to carry a USB key anymore. It’s based on the cloud system so everything is done automatically and synchronised. Dropbox is also good if you want to share files with colleagues or friends. For me it’s the best file-sharing app.
Google Doc
Google Docs / Google Drive is the online competitor of Microsoft Office. You can access your documents from any computer or mobile having Internet access. You can create a word .doc, spreadsheet, presentation document and even data collection documents. Everything is based online. Having all those documents online allows you to share those documents between devices. You just need to have a Google account. I find it very useful because besides the documents creation features, you can also have access to a calendar, and photo sharing. I also like it because I can share my documents with colleagues and we can edit and change the same document via the Internet. It prevents us from carrying hard drives. I store all my documents on it. It’s very useful if I spend my day outside the office, and this mean I have access to my document while I am away. The interface is very easy to use.
Google Calendar
Google Calendar is another great tool from Google. It allows you to schedule events and share them online through mobiles and desktops. You can have access to your calendar online and offline. I love Google calendar because it synchronises my entire calendar between devices. When I add tasks on my computer, it automatically synchronises those tasks on my mobile. It’s truly handy for busy people. I usually have several calendars – office calendar or personal calendar, so I can share them with my colleagues or friends. Also the colour-coded calendar helps me to stay organized.It is just amazing how you can save time by having all calendars at the same place. I just link all my emails and then everything is on one calendar. I also synchronize Google Calendar with Remember The Milk so I visualize all my tasks at the same place.
So just take advantage of those apps and become even more organised.
Lisiane Ndong 