Evernote Checklist #1: Getting Started

It’s no secret I’m a huge Evernote enthusiast. I’ve led workshops, spoken at conferences, trained teams and chatted ad nauseum with anyone who will listen about the tool, which I consider my virtual brain.

In fact, I’ve shared before (in this post for Arkansas Women Bloggers) the irony of my very first foray into Evernote:

I discovered Evernote in 2009 and became an avid user in 2010, and I still find it ironic that the oldest note I have on file is a Far Side cartoon in which a student asks to be excused from class due to his brain being full.  In April 2010, I got tired of looking for that particular cartoon online (apparently I reference it so frequently that this was a huge inconvenience in my life) and filed it in Evernote for easy access. It actually couldn’t be more appropriate, because that Gary Larson snippet perfectly captures how I feel about Evernote: I use it because my brain feels full, and I simply don’t have the capacity or the desire to try to remember everything.  

You can’t make this stuff up.

As of today, my Evernote account has 10,284 notes ranging from work files & meeting notes to my kids’ art & report cards to product warranties, photos of our vehicle license plates, shopping lists and audio clips of my youngest daughter singing along with Bing Crosby at age two.

I love helping others who want to give Evernote a whirl because (as I’ve also mentioned before):

The fun upside to Evernote remaining relatively foreign is that discovering another user in a crowd makes it feel like we both know where the fountain of youth is located, and we plan to meet up there later to frolic.

However, I’ve noticed something consistently as I’ve continued to spread the gospel of Evernote: it is SO amazing that it can be really overwhelming. In fact, that’s one of the reasons I willingly help others learn the ropes – I want you all to come to the party.

So, while I’ve written – and will continue to write – occasional posts where I have tried to cover every.single.detail. of Evernote (like this one to convince you to try it: I’m Running Away To The Circus and I’m Taking Evernote and this one to get you started: Becoming an Evernote Ninja Part 1: An Evernote Primer), I’m finally embracing this sentiment:

And so, my Evernote holiday gift to you is a new series of Evernote Checklists. I’m a little biased, but I think they are kind of awesome. Here’s the first one:

You can also grab it here as a PDF: Evernote Checklist #1 (4).

And stay tuned – in the coming months I’ll be posting Evernote Checklists to help you maximize Evernote for everything from planning travel to navigating the holidays, planning a party, keeping up with receipts or servicing your car.

If you’d like to try Evernote, use my link for a free month of premium: litlmagpi.co/goevernote (I’ll get a pat on the back).

You can also join my new Evernote Ninja Support Group on Facebook where I’ll share tips, tricks, training and more checklists.

I’d love to hear what you think! 

Here’s to at least giving the appearance of sanity and keeping everything organized this holiday season. Enjoy!

The fab Evernote “aquicon” featured above is designed by Jessica Lanan and stars in a lead role in all my Evernote checklists.