by

Using Evernote For Gtd



My GTD system uses the following from Evernote:

Hi, One trick to use Evernote as task manager is to add a checkbox in the body of the text (just like that - no text needed). Then the title would be let's say the Next Action and for tracking purposes all you need to do is filter those notes that have the checkbox unchecked (Not completed) when using the To-Do filter along with a context tag to list all pending Next Actions belonging to a. A step-by-step guide for implementing GTD using Evernote.

  1. I use Evernote as the basis of my GTD system and it seems like many others are doing the same. It is interesting to see how people use it is different ways. The most obvious is the use of Tags or Notebooks as the primary way to implement their system.
  2. Download: iOS Android Pricing: Starts from $1 to $3.99 per month Evernote is a great to-do list app featuring GTD steps that lets you store and access information whenever you need it.
  • Notebooks
  • Saved Searches
  • Tags

I use the desktop and android apps, and funnel my daily thoughts to them with my email shortcut android app.

I have the following notebooks:

  • !Inbox
  • 2. Next
  • 3. Projects
  • 4. Reference Materials
  • 5. Someday

“3. Projects” is actually a notebook stack that will hold project notebooks.

The system I was copying named the inbox notebook “1. Inbox”, but I already had “!Inbox”, and I just didn’t rename it. The rest have a number next to them to ensure they stay in order; the ‘!’ ensures the inbox stays at the top.

  • Inbox – Notes that need triaged go here
  • Next – All single actions that don’t correspond to a project go here, as well as “Waiting For” notes.
  • Projects – Every project has it’s own notebook, which will reside in the Projects notebook stack.
  • Reference Materials – This notebook acts as a virtual filing cabinet. Basically, anything that doesn’t fit in the other notebooks go here.
  • Someday – These are projects you might start someday.

My Simple Curiosity’s system has a Support Materials notebook, but I don’t see a need for it. All the notes that support my projects just go into the project notebook.

Saved Searches provide a way to search through your notes contextually. Here are some of the searches I’ve used the most:

  • ~At Work – Anything that needs to happen at work
  • ~At Home – Anything that needs to happen at work
  • @Next Actions (all) – Everything that needs to be, single actions as well as project actions
  • @Single Actions – Actions not associated with a project
  • Blog Ideas – Any ideas i might have for a blog post
  • *To-Read – Articles or books I want to read
  • ~Agenda – Julie – Things I need to discuss with Julie

My searches definitely need work. I have a lot more than these (from here), some of which I need to prune, and some I should make more human-readable. Update: You can see in the screenshot above that I’ve already started to change my searches.

Notes are searched on by their tags, as well as the notebook they are in (among other things).

Tags tie everything together. I currently have 190 notes in my Reference notebook, which would be impossible to sort through without appropriate tags and corresponding searches.

Again, I began from My Simple Curiosity. Here are some of the tags I currently have:

  • !Completed
  • *Action
  • *Agenda
  • *Project
  • *Waiting For
  • @Anywhere
  • @Call
  • @Computer
  • @Errand
  • @Grocery
  • @Home
  • @Shopping
  • @Work
  • #Blog
  • #Book
  • #Buddhism
  • #Evernote
  • #Tech
  • #Work Project
  • Android
  • Article
  • Blog
  • Family
  • Idea
  • Julie
  • Post
  • To-Read

Anything with a ‘#’ is a high level tag. Anything without a symbol is a sub-level tag. For instance, I might want to save a link to an article about evernote, so I’ll tag it #Evernote and Article, and then store it in my Reference notebook. Maybe there’s a buddhism blog I want to remember; I’d tag it #Buddhism and Blog.

Anything with ‘*’ is the type of note it is. A note can either be:

  • *Action – Something I need to do
  • *Agenda – Something I need to discuss with someone
  • *Project – Something I want to accomplish
  • *Waiting For – Something someone else needs to do

Using Evernote For Gtd Software

Anything with ‘@’ is where something needs to happen:

  • @Anywhere – Can happen anywhere
  • @Call – A phone call I need to make
  • @Computer – Something that requires being on a computer
  • @Errand – An errand I have to run
  • @Grocery – An item that will need picked up at the grocery store
  • @Home – Something that can only be done at home
  • @Shopping – An item that will need to bought while shopping
  • @Work – Something that can only be done at work
Gtd evernote setup

If it’s not one of these things, it’s a reference material.

Here’s an example.

I have projects at work that I oversee, which includes providing the developers feedback through project reviews. To keep track of a project review, I’d tag it *Action, @Work, #Work-Project, Project Review, and <Project Name> (not listed for client confidentiality).

If I wanted to keep track of all the project reviews I had to do, I’d create the following search definition:

‘tag:”@Work” tag:”*Action” tag:”#Work-Project” tag:”Project Review” -tag:”!Completed”‘.

!Completed is a tag I came up with on my own. I hate deleting anything (in case I want to go back and view it), so !Completed acts as a logical delete. Anytime I’m done with a task, instead of deleting it, I tag it “!Completed”. My searches then always exclude that tag.

My Simple Curiosity introduced the idea of nested tags, but I’m trying to remove them completely. The problem is that no 2 tags can be named the same. That means I can’t have an Article tag under #Buddhism, as well as an Article tag under #Evernote.

Instead, I’ve come up with the system of high and sub-level tags. I tag a note with a high level tag (#Buddhism or #Evernote) and then a more descriptive sub-level tag (Article, Blog, Idea).

  • Inbox – This is where all new notes start, and where I tag each one.
  • Next – All *Action or *Waiting For tagged notes go here.
  • Projects – Each project has a project template note. The note is tagged *Project and *Action, and the note will contain the next action needed to make progress on the project.My Simple Curiosity’s template has the name of the project as the top line, but I removed that and just have the Next Action at the top. I like this because the default title of the notes is the first line of the note. This means when you search for your project notes, all of your next actions for the projects are easily viewable in the returned list. No need to click into the note.The project name is also the notebook’s name, and I don’t like duplicating information. Any other project related notes can go into its notebook with or without at tag.
  • Reference Materials – These notes are tagged in whatever way makes sense. Usually with a high level and possibly sub-level tag.
  • Someday – I actually have nothing in here, yet. I’ll probably not tag the notes in there, and just click the notebook to see what’s in there (or create a notebook:”5. Someday” search).

That’s basically the overview of my system. I haven’t worked out all of the kinks, but it’s still a work in progress. But that’s how everyone’s GTD system should be. It should be tweaked over time to fit your needs.

The important thing is coming up with conventions, and sticking to them. You need to be diligent in tagging notes so you can confidently find information or actions. Keyboard shortcuts help with efficient tagging.

Future posts will cover how I utilize different inboxes to feed the system, how I use calendars to help me complete actions, and how to use Evernote’s Android shortcuts to view action lists.

If Evernote GTD isn’t for you, maybe you’d like Trello.

And be sure to check out my android app so you can quickly capture anything that enters your head.

Since moving from Evernote to Notion in 2019, I’d been looking to implement David Allen’s Getting Things Done® (GTD®) system.

At first, I used one Notion page with multiple views, and despite a few hiccups, it worked reasonably well. I had a view for each of my GTD lists (inbox, next actions, projects), and most importantly, I got things done.

An overview of my first GTD dashboard.

As I added bigger, more complex projects, however, I struggled to get an overview of what I needed to work on—particularly for projects with multiple next actions.

If I had a project called, “Write Article on How to Set Up GTD in Notion,” for instance, I would create a subpage in my GTD page, tag it as “Projects That Need to Be Started,” and then add a kanban view within that subpage, for all of its next actions.

An example of a kanban view within a subpage.

The problem was if I wanted to view the project’s next actions—or any project’s next actions, for that matter—I had to open the project page. In other words, I lacked a simple overview of everything I needed to do.

I had to open each subpage, individually, to see a project’s next actions.

I tried adding each project’s next actions to my Next Actions page instead, but that resulted in duplicate subpages, making retrieval harder when using Notion’s search function.

So, I set out to find a better, more manageable Notion setup. And after much research, and a little tweaking, I now have a GTD dashboard with a clear overview of my inbox, next actions, upcoming projects, and more. [1]

In this article, I want to share how to implement GTD in Notion. You’ll learn how to manage your next actions and projects better, so you can achieve much more, in less time, stress-free.

New to Notion? Read This

Using Evernote For Gtd Learning

If you want to follow along at home, you will need to create one page for each of the following in Notion:

  1. GTD Dashboard

You can also add additional pages for Reference and Waiting for/Review if you prefer. (I have a page for Reference, but I chose to omit explaining how and why I use it in this article as it’s not as relevant as the other pages.)

For your GTD Dashboard, you’ll need to use linked databases. These “let you show, filter, and sort the same database in multiple places (elsewhere on the same page and/or elsewhere in your workspace) as many times as you want.”

Once you have a page with several subpages added, say, projects for the coming month, you can sort that page’s data in your GTD dashboard to match your preferences.

Let’s take a closer look at each page.

Inbox

Your Inbox is where you capture and collect everything that has your attention. That might be articles you want to write, to purchases you’re considering, to potential projects you might pursue, and everything in between.

Anytime you have an idea—add it here. Then, ideally, once a day, review and process your inbox. If an item is actionable and will take two minutes or less to complete (such as paying an unexpected bill), do it immediately.

If an item is actionable and will not take two minutes or less to complete, move it to Next Actions. If more than one action is required (as is the case with “Write an Article on How to Set Up GTD in Notion), move it to Projects.

Using a personal example, I noticed, recently, that I had two similar next actions. So, rather than do them, as and when needed, I created a new project in Someday/Maybe.

Then, I added the two next actions as a reminder for when I scope the project and gave it a high priority. (More on that shortly.)

Lastly, if something is not actionable, delete it or move it to Read/Review, Reference, or Someday/Maybe.

Projects

If you’re like most readers, you study or work full time and have extracurricular interests on the side. That might be learning a new language, volunteering for a nonprofit, or using a personal example, building an online business.

Many of my projects are large and require multiple next actions for me to complete them. So, for that reason, I take time at the beginning of each month to choose the right projects to work on and scope them to ensure I complete them as efficiently as possible.

When considering projects, I first go into Someday/Maybe. I then move any projects prioritized as “High” to “Projects.” As a rule of thumb, I give a project a high priority if it’s one that will make the highest possible contribution to an annual goal.

For instance, one current goal is the amount of revenue I want my website to generate. I’m currently behind on that goal, though, so I’ve given most “Sales” projects a high priority in Q2 and Q3.

Priority is one example of how I use what GTD calls, “Context,” as is Area. I also use Size to determine the number of projects I can commit to in a given month, and Sprint to estimate when and for how long I need to run a project.

A project’s sprint is influenced, in part, by its scope, which is an explanation of the project’s goal (e.g., increase website traffic, generate more revenue, etc.) and its potential next actions. (The reason I write “potential” next actions is that some next actions change once starting a project.)

Once I’m happy with my list of potential next actions for each project, I copy and paste them into Next Actions and add any appropriate tags.

Next Actions

Once I’ve moved a project’s next actions to this page, I add the following tags:

1. Sprint

Given that most next actions have soft deadlines, I give myself a buffer of seven days, running my sprints from Sunday to the following Sunday. If an action has a hard deadline, however, I’ll add it to my calendar. I also add a filter in my GTD dashboard to ensure that I only see my next actions for the coming week.

2. Status

Each next action has the following tag: To Do, Doing, or Done. Once I assign Done to a next action, I have it filtered out of my GTD Dashboard and Next Actions. If I ever need a reminder of a project’s next actions, I can view them all the project’s page, even if I’ve tagged them as Done.

3. Priority

One tip I learned from productivity expert Tiago Forte is only to have high and medium priority next actions. High priority next actions are those with hard deadlines and must be done this week. Medium priority next actions, by contrast, are those that have soft deadlines and can be completed next week, if not later.

4. Time Available and Energy Available

Imagine you finish work at 16:00, but your bus doesn’t leave until 16:15. What should you work on, assuming you don’t have any high priority tasks you can continue with or start?

That’s where Time Available and Energy Available come in. With them, you can prioritize tasks, not by urgency, as is the case with time-sensitive tasks, but by how much available time you have and how motivated you feel.

5. Related Project (If Applicable)

Like my Next Actions property in Projects, I use Notion’s Relations property to link to the project that the next action belongs to, if applicable.

Read/Review

When I encounter an article I want to read, I use Notion’s Web Clipper to save it to Read/Review. Then, to ensure I differentiate between just-in-case and just-in-time information, I tag the article as either “Must-Read” or “Nice-to-Read.”

If an article is highly relevant to a project I’m working on or about to start, I’ll mark it as Must-Read and read it at my nearest convenience.

For instance, I’m currently reworking my email automation, so I’m tagging articles on that topic Must-Read because they will inform how I think about and, more importantly, scope the project.

Moreover, because I want Notion to remind me of these articles each time I log in, I have a filter in my GTD dashboard to ensure that I only see my Must-Read articles.

When I read an article, I like to do it in Notion rather than read it on the website. There’s a good reason for this. If I like an article, I will bold and highlight its big ideas, similar to how I do when I write a book summary. I will then move the article to my Resonance Calendar to reference in the future.

If an article is Must-Read and time-sensitive, such as an article I need to read before a meeting, I’ll create an event in my calendar with a link to the article in the event’s description.

Notion will one day, hopefully, integrate with Google Calendar so I’ll be able to remove actions like this.

Someday/Maybe

Someday/Maybe is where I save any potential next action(s) or project(s) I might work on in the future.

As mentioned above, I assign each potential next action and project and high or medium priority. Thus, I have everything sorted in order of priority to save time when choosing what to work on in the coming month.

I’ve found one particular advantage of having a Someday/Maybe list is giving yourself time to reflect on individual projects. You might think it’s a good idea to start a podcast, for instance, but upon reflection, you often realize it’s not a good use of your time.

Conclusion

Learning David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) has changed my life. Implementing GTD in Notion, however, has allowed me to plan bigger, more ambitious goals. Moreover, it’s helped achieve them with greater ease and with less effort.

Acknowledgments

[1] I want to acknowledge Khe Hy for influencing my initial GTD setup.