By removing stigma, Mental Health Awareness Month aims to help people address their mental health needs and overall happiness. That’s why it’s important to educate others about what this month stands for, and ways we can all address our mental health difficulties in our own lives. A great way to gently and mindfully address this topic is by contemplating the wisdom of others.

In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, we asked our Evernote team members to share some of their favorite inspirational mental health quotes: from thinkers, historic figures, and modern people of note, from all walks of life. We hope these quotes will spread awareness of mental health issues, allow us to see ourselves and each other with kindness, and help ground us when stress and pressure take their toll.

The challenge: overcoming obstacles

All of us face challenges in life, both big and small. This can mean anything from being stuck in traffic to losing a loved one. Strong, focused mental health can help you face and overcome these challenges, as the following mental health quotes illustrate.

• “Tough times never last. Tough people do.” —televangelist Robert H. Schuller
• “On particularly rough days, when I’m sure I can’t possibly endure, I like to remind myself that my track record for getting through bad days so far is 100%, and that’s pretty good.” —life coach and author Michelle Weidenbenner
• “The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain!” —musician and philanthropist Dolly Parton
• “Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, he turned into a butterfly.” —Unknown
• “人間万事塞翁が馬 (You never know how things will turn out)” —Japanese proverb

The challenge: self-love

Practicing self-love can be a challenge for many of us, especially those inclined to give their time and energy to others. But looking after your mental health means treating yourself with compassion and giving yourself credit for your accomplishments—as these quotes show.

• “Always have the highest bar for yourself. Wake up every day and no matter how crappy you feel, want to change something for the better. Do something that makes someone happy. Create something that inspires someone. Be someone’s light when they are hopeless.” —musician Dave Grohl
• “I say, play your own way. Don’t play what the public wants. You play what you want and let the public pick up on what you’re doing, even if it does take them fifteen, twenty years.” —pianist and composer Thelonious Monk
• “Every story I create creates me. I write to create myself.” —author Octavia E. Butler
• “Remember the mountains and valleys that got you here. Remember the things you never thought you would accomplish but did. You may have a long way to go but never discredit how far you have come.” —artist Morgan Harper Nichols

The challenge: optimism and motivation

Motivation allows us to approach the challenges of our lives with energy and focus. That often starts with optimism and intention: envisioning a positive outcome and setting out to make it happen. These mental health quotes speak to looking for the positive side of situations and using it to push you into action.

• “Everything will be so good so soon, just hang in there and don’t worry about it too much.” —artist Adam J. Kurtz
• “To wonder is to learn—to wonder is to grow—to wonder is to live. Live with wonder—because in the simplicity of wonder lie the answers.” —neuroscientist Abhijit Naskar
• “It’s not what happens; it’s what you do that makes a difference.” —philanthropist and author Tony Robbins
• “Life is like music for its own sake. We are living in an eternal now, and when we listen to music we are not listening to the past, we are not listening to the future, we are listening to an expanded present.” —author Alan Watts
• “Don’t breathe the way fear makes you breathe. Breathe the way love makes you breathe. Breathe the way joy makes you breathe.” —Evernote team member Valerie (adapted from a famous quote by Osho)

What you can do this month

Quotes like these are intended to foster positive thinking, which makes it easier to find solutions to whatever challenges you’re facing. As Mental Health Awareness Month continues, May offers a great opportunity to address or improve your own mental health and make an impact on those around you.

If life feels challenging for you right now, here are a few quick suggestions that might help:

• Create a positive affirmation note and pin it to your home screen—something positive and uplifting about yourself, in a place where you can readily see it. Use Evernote’s scratch pad feature in Home to keep your note in open view on your screen.
• Start a gratitude journal. Journaling has been proven to have a positive impact on people’s mental health. Set time aside every day to write in it—however briefly—and use it to express intense emotions, talk about fears, and list accomplishments you achieved that day.
• Talk to your employer about mental health resources your company may have available for you. For example, resources like the Modern Health online therapy tool (used by us at Evernote!) can prove a helpful assist.

Use this month—and every month—to work on your own mental health

Robust mental health is the key to our overall happiness, and the satisfaction we get out of life. All of us face challenges and obstacles that can affect our mental health. By acknowledging that truth and seeking ways to address it, we can help ourselves live happier, healthier lives.

The quotes listed above offer simple and easy ways to brighten someone’s day—yours and others. You can pass on the good vibes by sharing these quotes with someone who needs to hear them—and add your own favorites!

The post 17 Quotes to Inspire You for Mental Health Month appeared first on evernote.com | Blog.

That doesn’t mean it’s easy. Every child has their own way of doing things, and learns at their own pace. Most adults aren’t even as good at organizing as they should be! The good news is that teaching your kids how to declutter is easier than it might seem. By regularly performing a few simple declutter and deep cleaning activities, you can teach them how to stay organized for life.

Isn’t decluttering just cleaning?

No, decluttering is not the same as cleaning. This is an important distinction to make when teaching kids how to declutter.

Cleaning comprises tasks like vacuuming, dusting, and wiping countertops—things that need doing regardless of how much clutter there is. Decluttering, on the other hand, is more an act of organization: putting things where they belong in a way that makes finding them easy, while getting rid of unused items that take up space.

Of course, while they may be separate tasks, they go hand-in-hand. Cleaning can’t take place without decluttering first. It’s hard to dust or vacuum around piles of toys littered on the carpet.

In many cases, younger children can’t participate in deep cleaning, since it involves chemicals and heavy appliances like vacuum cleaners. But you can connect the cleaning experience to the act of picking up their toys and decluttering, to pull them into the process. Kids need to understand that decluttering is the first step, and that cleaning comes after.

Power tip: Use Evernote to save a detailed list of where your kids’ things will live once you’ve decluttered, such as a breakdown of the best places to tuck all their favorite toys. You can even take photos of the toys in their homes and store them in your note as a visual reminder.

Introducing charitable donation

One of the most important parts of the decluttering process is learning how to let go of things that may have sentimental associations, but are no longer relevant to your life. As with any of these lessons, adults can often prove just as bad as kids at this—though adults have fewer excuses. Kids are still learning and can find it difficult to part with toys they have outgrown and no longer play with.

Decluttering presents a great opportunity to set up a donation box to take to Goodwill or a similar charitable organization. Explain that the items will go to a new home with a new family, and not simply get thrown away. That’ll make it easier for kids to surrender those outdated treasures.

Power tip: While your kids learn how to declutter by setting aside donation piles, keep track of the items in Evernote. Meticulously itemizing what you drop off will prove valuable at tax time, as charitable donations can be a handy tax deduction. Instead of scrambling for receipts at the end of the year, keep tabs on donations as you go.

Let them lead a garage sale

If enough items in your “to go” list are still functional and sellable, you might consider holding a garage sale to let the neighbors take them off your hands. If you take this approach, involve the kids in the organizing process to make it a family activity. Have the kids pitch when it comes to organizing and labeling items, setting prices, putting up signs, and other such tasks.

The more you can encourage them to take the lead—especially older children ready for some responsibility—the more enthusiastic they’ll be about decluttering. Besides feeling connected to the process and helping out their parents, they’ll find a good lesson in parting with unneeded things. (And for older children, it might even mean a little pocket money after the sale—which is a strong motivator for learning how to declutter.)

Incentivize decluttering

We all know how hard it is to get a child to do something they aren’t profoundly interested in. In cases like these, it may not hurt to offer them little incentives for learning how to declutter effectively.

Garage sales can bring extra spending cash for older kids, but these incentives needn’t always involve money. You don’t want to confuse decluttering with chores or similar tasks that might merit an allowance. Instead, look for little benefits that you can dole out as a reward for decluttering. Perhaps free, yet fun, perks, such as getting to choose what to watch on movie night or extra time with a video game. Ask your kids what their ideal free reward might look like, to get ideas. They might provide some very interesting answers.

Power tip: Organize decluttering and similar tasks with a customizable Chore Chart template. Use this template to set up reminders for kids to declutter and track their progress towards any rewards, marking steps forward with emojis and images along the way.

Start the life lessons early

Children are often eager to help around the house, if you just ask them—and sometimes even if you don’t! While this can result in a lot of added work for busy parents, you can also use this drive as an opportunity to get them started on lifelong habits. Give their enthusiasm a direction, spice it up with a bit of fun, and you can ensure your decluttering lessons stick with them for good.

The post Teach Your Kids How to Declutter (and Get Excited About It) appeared first on evernote.com | Blog.

Decluttering—or better organizing your life—can do wonders not only for your productivity but also for your overall sense of well-being. Improving the aesthetics of your space is proven to have positive effects on mental health. And on a purely practical level, the ability to find what you need when you need it helps you more effectively live your life.

The good news is that it shouldn’t take a huge upheaval; just a few small steps, applied judiciously and with the right tools to help you stick with it. These tips will help you get started.

Take time for a general cleaning

Spring cleaning is a good habit to get into, not only for the breath of fresh air it brings to your household but also for the opportunity to rearrange things more efficiently. Regular deep cleaning also serves as a “mental reset,” helping you clarify and refocus your thoughts and priorities. While any attempt to declutter your life will require more ongoing work than just one deep clean, it makes for a great start.

The specifics of any deep clean are factored around your home space and the way you organize your thoughts and surroundings. Accordingly, there is no “one size fits all” blueprint. Sometimes, all it takes is a little dusting and vacuuming; in other cases, it might prove a hefty enough project to divide into multiple days.

Regardless of the extent to which you need to dive in, if you plan ahead and include actionable lists, you’ll find that such a cleaning liberates your living space.

Power tip: A checklist is essential for conducting a proper spring cleaning. Write down everything you need to accomplish, and carefully detail the steps required to complete them. Tasks in Evernote provides a streamlined view of your plans and scheduled tasks in one accessible place, customizable to your specific needs. Use this to keep you on track and organized in your grand deep cleaning project.

Sort your digital life

Your digital surroundings—desktops, laptops, phones, and personal devices—are just as much a part of your life as your home, and just as ripe for decluttering. Unsorted files, duplicates, and other virtual paperwork all sprawl across your digital workspaces if you don’t tidy up every so often. Address this by sorting your desktop into an organized system: categorize files, delete duplicates, perform regular backups, and so on. “Clean out” any apps on your phone that you haven’t used in a while, and similarly delete outdated backups of files and photos.

Power tip: One good way to eliminate digital clutter is by consolidating multiple functions in one application. Use Evernote to link your various scheduling apps in one central hub. This can be a big help when streamlining your digital workspace and deleting unnecessary apps.

Give your bag a break

So many people use their purses, satchels, and backpacks as a travel catch-all for all the odds and ends they might need throughout the day. Unfortunately, this means that these items are just as prone to clutter. After all, a purse or backpack full of essential items is no help if you have to spend precious time digging through excess to find what you need.

Thankfully, it’s relatively easy to declutter this aspect of your life, too; just use the tools these items already come with. Most purses and satchels have pockets and compartments to provide some sort of organizational system. If you’re not using these to your advantage already, now’s the time. Empty your purse or backpack, dump any accumulated trash, and sort your essentials in an easy-to-locate system. Not only will it streamline your purse, but you might be surprised at how much lighter it feels on your shoulder after!

Power tip: If you find your purse is packed with receipts and similar documents, use Evernote’s document scanner to digitize the paperwork. Save a digital copy of these important paper files for future use, and share them directly from Evernote as you need.

Learn to let (some) things go

We all have a tendency to collect things of sentimental value. It can be hard to let go of these items, but as time goes on, the mementos pile up and clutter our lives. Learning how to let some of those items go—despite your emotional attachment—is an important step on the journey to declutter your life. A few easy tips can help you decide what stays and what goes.

• You don’t have to get rid of everything. The key to letting go is knowing which items have a deeper meaning to you, and which are here because of habit.
• Let go of the easiest things first, and save the harder choices for later in the process. It may turn out that you don’t need to get rid of as much as you anticipated.
• Ask yourself the reason behind keeping any given item. Those with genuinely sentimental value should have a higher priority than those kept for purely materialistic reasons.

Live easier with less clutter

Decluttering your life can feel like a colossal task, but a few small steps can make it more manageable. The key is to keep up with your cleaning and decluttering. Continue making regular steps towards your goal and, in the process, you’ll establish good habits that will help you stay organized in the future. With these handy tips—and the tools to execute them—you’ll be able to find what you need when you need it, improving your outlook, your mental health, and even the look of your home to boot!

The post How to Declutter Your Life: 4 Small Steps That’ll Have a Huge Impact appeared first on evernote.com | Blog.

With that in mind, Evernote offers a variety of different features to help make your efforts to go green easier and more effective.

Ditch your paper planner 

For many people, the move to digital tools has made paper planners a thing of the past. But some people still prefer a dedicated paper notebook to keep track of everything on their plate. Unfortunately, paper planners are often unwieldy to carry around and are easily lost. Between that and the speed at which you can start filling up a planner, you can go through a lot of paper trying to keep your agendas up to date… not to mention all the wasted money, too.

With Evernote, that’s not a problem. Evernote makes it easy for you to connect notes to your calendar events so they’re handy wherever you go, and ready whenever you need them. That makes it easier to prepare for meetings, take notes on the fly, and remember next steps or action items—way more useful than just an entry in a planner. And since Evernote can live on all your devices, there’s no need to lug around anything extra just to keep track of your responsibilities.

Plus, Evernote offers a number of different templates for every work style and lifestyle, including daily, weekly, and yearly views on everything you have coming up. So you can still maintain that “month at a glance” list view you’re used to.

Notes where you need them, when you need them

Evernote is the most accessible way to keep detailed notes on all your devices, readily available and a cinch to pull up the moment you need them. Say your plan for going green includes committing to composting. Use Evernote’s Web Clipper to compile a handy composting guide as you work to keep your community clean and healthy, or keep detailed notes on tending a sustainable garden right in your own backyard.

Any additions you make to your burgeoning gardening notebook are updated everywhere you have the Evernote app, so the changes will be reflected across all your devices right away. Need to check on the right soil type while visiting the local garden center or pick up tools from the hardware store? No problem. Everything you need to remember is at your fingertips.

Evernote also makes it easy to share those notes with your neighbors for all your environmental care efforts, allowing you to stay in sync with anyone, even if they don’t use Evernote. Whether you’re developing a community farm, organizing a cleanup in your local parks, or making notes during meetings for your city’s environmental collective, Evernote has the tools to help your whole team go green.

Click your to-do list, don’t cross off

With Tasks in Evernote, it’s a breeze to keep an eye on all your upcoming to-dos. While you’re assembling your plan for a greener, more paperless life in Evernote, you can add tasks inside your notes, right alongside the info that inspired them. When it’s time to act, simply click on a note to see your associated tasks and the info you need to get started, all in one place. You’ll also get a reminder for any upcoming due dates, so if you happen to forget about one of them, don’t sweat it. Evernote remembers for you.

Recycle your old notebooks 

Let’s face it: physical notebooks are a pain in the neck to organize and store. One notebook can get messy enough, but when you’re the kind of person who takes notes regularly, they can quickly pile up and become a chore to sort through.

As the name suggests, notes are the heart of Evernote, and we strive to be the last “notebook” you’ll ever need, one that’s constantly growing and evolving along with you. With Evernote, everything that was, is, or will be important lives in one place, instantly searchable, with no need to sift through countless individual books to find the specific information you need.

Transitioning all your note-taking and note-keeping to Evernote doesn’t just help you conserve physical space, but can go a long way toward conservation of the Earth’s environment. Think of all the paper you’ll save by not having to buy a new wall calendar each year, or endless packs of sticky notes (they’re small, but they add up). Going paperless is easier with Evernote, and one of the best ways to do your part.

Go paperless at home 

We all know how easily paper documents can pile up—between bills, receipts, and mailers, it’s a wonder you can find anything these days. As a result, you end up printing out the same documents over and over again, or worse, losing something that can’t be easily replaced. And that can be especially problematic when you have an important document that you need to keep handy at all times, such as a vaccination card or personal ID.

The deeper you dive into everything Evernote has to offer, the more resources you discover that can help drastically reduce your paper use, both at home and in your workplace. Whatever happens to your paper documents, you can rest assured that once you’ve saved them to Evernote, they aren’t going anywhere.

With Evernote’s document scanning feature, you can conveniently scan physical documents from your own phone to digitize them for safekeeping on all your Evernote devices. And with Web Clipper, anything important you find on the internet, from web pages to screen captures, can be saved in Evernote, making them instantly accessible on all your devices.

If you want to make a positive impact on the environment by reducing your paper use, Evernote puts the tools to make that possible right at your fingertips. And for more tips on how Evernote can help you go green on Earth Day and throughout the year, check out these insights from Evernote Expert Stacey Harmon.

The post The Surprising Benefits of Going Green With Evernote appeared first on evernote.com | Blog.

The challenges to the planet Earth Day brings up can be complex and troubling—everything from climate change to gasoline prices—and parents wishing to teach their kids the basics might feel overwhelmed. At the same time, it’s an important educational opportunity.

Thanks to remote and hybrid learning environments, parents can take extra steps to make this Earth Day a fun and memorable occasion. You just need engaging activities, the right tools to execute them, and a little preparation to pull it off! Here are some ideas to help get you started.

How to explain Earth Day

When it comes to complex, grown-up topics, children are both challenging to talk to and very open to what you have to say. If approached with care, you can make Earth Day into an uplifting educational experience, imparting strong custodial values while having a terrific day.

Start with a single goal in mind: highlight the state of the planet (without scaring them) and emphasize what individuals can do to help. From there, you can plan some fun and appropriate Earth Day activities tailored to your kids’ specific interests.

Power tip: Use Evernote to coordinate your Earth Day activities, and similar educational opportunities. Centralize your notes and plans in one digital location and then sync your agenda to Google Calendar to integrate it with the rest of your busy life.

Earth Day recycling crafts

Recycling as a general practice is nothing new. But Earth Day presents a perfect opportunity to do some fun “upcycling” activities with your kids, repurposing things you might normally throw away. For example, redecorate some empty coffee or oat cans for toy storage, or turn old plastic bags into toy parachutes for action figures. Finding new uses for “trash” beyond the landfill both sparks creativity and helps save the planet, one plastic bag at a time.

Zoom read-together for Earth Day

Remote and distance learning have made Zoom meetings a normal part of every household. Earth Day can be a great reason to arrange a Zoom meeting with family members or friends who can’t meet up face to face and read some age-appropriate books. That can include older stories with ecological themes, like “The Lorax” and “Curious George Plants a Tree,” as well as more modern examples like “The Earth Book” and “We Planted a Tree.” Follow the reading with a short quiz about the contents to keep it educational, or maybe engage in some related long-distance Earth Day crafts.

Virtual field trips

The COVID-19 pandemic complicated in-person visits to many museums and landmarks. In response, many institutions turned to virtual tours and similar efforts to connect with visitors remotely. Virtual field trips open up your options to locations around the world. Use Earth Day to explore some natural wonders with your kids, from the comfort of your couch!

Explore Yellowstone National Park and numerous other national parks and wildlife preserves from your living room with virtual tours. On a more local level, look for live feeds of animal sanctuaries or bird feeders, as well as instructional videos on activities like recycling.

Online games

Online games are another way to connect kids remotely for Earth Day activities. You can find any number of online games with an ecological theme, such as Every Day is Earth Day and The Food Chain Game—with enough variety in complexity and engagement to match age levels. Combine these games with reading, quizzes, and other group activities, either as part of an overall schedule of Earth Day activities or as a reward.

Offline games, too

Ideally, the best way to celebrate Earth Day is to get out in nature. Nature walks in local preserves (or even just a day in the park) are perfect Earth Day activities. You can add educational value to the outing by planning activities such as a plant scavenger hunt, or perhaps a discussion of how a basic ecological system works.

Make sure that such outings adhere to any existing COVID-19 protocols about gatherings and mass activities. Plan back-up Earth Day activities in a backyard or similar safe spot, just in case plans need to change.

Plant a tree

Speaking of outdoor Earth Day activities, consider using the day to give back to the Earth directly by doing some gardening. You and the kids can plant a tree (or any plant, really) to add to the global greenery. Size the tree to your yard and follow any given instructions for proper planting. Alternatively, you can start a small vegetable plot in your backyard, checking in on your harvest throughout the year. The point is to give your kids a personal stake in the nature that’s right outside their window.

Start them young

All of us share the same home: a small, delicate blue-and-green ball floating in space, for which we have no replacement. Earth Day is an effort to recognize our common responsibilities to this shared home, as well as better appreciate the ecological wonders it cultivates.

It’s a holiday everyone can participate in, transcending borders, cultures, religions, lifestyles, and ages. We all need to do everything we can to curtail climate change and protect our planet for current and future generations. This universality can help you find great ways to observe the holiday and get your kids to care about their environment. Making an annual event of the day, with planned activities and outings, is a perfect way to instill a sense of wonder and shared responsibility in the ones who will inherit this home from us.

The post Earth Day for Kids: Activities and Lessons for a Hybrid Learning Environment appeared first on evernote.com | Blog.

Time management depends a great deal on your unique individual circumstances, but a few general tips can help you better organize your life and career, significantly improving your time management capabilities—regardless of what’s on your plate.

1. See the big picture

You know that old adage, they couldn’t see the forest for the trees? It’s nearly impossible to be productive when you’re disorganized and drowning in details. What you need is a bird’s-eye view of your entire schedule and workload; a firm grip on the big picture. Only with clear visibility of the whole can you effectively drill down into the nitty-gritty and get things done.

Power tip: Connect Evernote with Google Calendar to better conceptualize your workload and break it down into manageable bits. This brings your schedule and notes together, and linking your notes to events makes it easier to get organized.

2. Identify priorities early

Setting priorities is a smart way to ensure a productive day. You need to know what you need to tackle first and why, as well as a general sense of which tasks will take place when. That should happen before your day starts, with an honest assessment of what needs to be accomplished and the time it will take to complete.

More specifically, you should aim to:

• Consolidate all of your tasks into one list and break them down by month, week, or day.
• Separate important or urgent tasks from those of lower priority and
• Build them into your day, tackling the most important tasks first and saving less important tasks for later.

Power tip: Tasks in Evernote helps you keep your day on track by organizing and presenting assignments for you to check off when completed. Capture actionable details in each of your tasks: project, due date, time commitment, as well as other details. Adjust them as needed in order to prioritize your workload and develop a schedule that meets all of your responsibilities.

3. Centralize information

Accessibility is key to effective time management; time spent hunting down information is time wasted. Make your life a little easier by consolidating all of your notes, tasks, and schedules in a single place. You’ll be able to back away and get a clear, cohesive, big-picture view of your situation, and better prioritize your to-dos—and you won’t lose precious hours tracking down important info.

The easier it is to access the information you need, the more readily you can act on it. If you constantly have to shuttle back and forth between apps to get the data you’re looking for, it’s going to drastically affect your time management capabilities and cause huge frustration.

Power tip: Tasks + Notes connects the things you need to do with the information required to complete them. This way, nothing gets lost in the shuffle. Try combining Calendar + Tasks + Notes to:

• Create notes for events instantly and get quick access later, right from the calendar widget in Home.
• Prep for meetings easily, ahead of time, or on the spot. Set up a structured note with just one click; complete with event details and options for action items and notes.
• Search for event details—like date, location, and attendees—so it’s easier than ever to access the information you need.

4. Set deadlines—and stick to them

The most important detail for any task is its deadline, whether self-imposed or mandated. Deadlines provide a set timetable and an idea of how much time you’ll need to devote to each task.

Many people organize their day by drawing up a checklist and knocking off each task once completed. Unfortunately, this approach is not conducive to efficient time management and can actually prove counterproductive. Simple lists fail to account for the expected time of each task and they’re rarely prioritized. Instead of focusing on to-do lists, arrange your tasks by deadlines. Remember, though, to make allowances for more time-consuming projects.

Follow these four rules to better manage your tasks:

1. Make it urgent. When you have all the time in the world to complete a task, it’s easier to procrastinate. Without a sense of urgency, it’s tempting to focus on less taxing activities often unrelated to your work. Assign yourself an earlier deadline to stay on track and motivated.
2. Make it fit. The way you manage your time is personal, and the tasks in your life fit its unique rhythms. Arrange your schedule to accomplish those tasks in a way that works for those patterns, rather than trying to force it into a set schedule.
3. Make it actionable. Don’t just note what you have to do. Visualize how you’re going to do it and what you’re going to need. Then you’re prepped and ready to complete your task.
4. Make it meaningful. The deadline needs to matter, and you need to be accountable, both to yourself and your team.

Power tip: Use Evernote to set (and meet) deadlines and stay on top of it all by bringing your to-dos and notes together in Tasks. With Tasks, your to-dos live inside your notes, complete with priority flags, due dates, and reminders.

5. Take smarter breaks

Fear of losing productivity often prevents people from taking breaks when they need to. And yet, breaks are not just healthy but necessary to a productive workday. They work best when they meet the following parameters:

• A break should focus on a significantly different activity than the one you were just working on.
• It should keep you in a work-related frame of mind, allowing you to ease back into work quickly.
• Any break is helpful, provided it’s taken when you really need one.

The health benefits of well-planned breaks every 45-90 minutes have been well-documented. They provide a sense of wellbeing by reducing stress and allowing you to better focus on your job when the break is over.

Power tip: Try using notifications in Evernote to automate your break schedule. Then, when you get a reminder to take that much-needed breather, allow yourself that break. It’s not a waste of time and you’ll be more productive overall.

Time to get organized

Pandemic-driven work routines—such as remote and hybrid working arrangements—have wreaked havoc on how people manage their time, and not being able to establish a healthy work-life balance could spell disaster. Problems in one area can quickly cascade into the other, resulting in procrastination, an inability to meet goals, and even burnout.

It’s a universal struggle: you’re trying to be productive at work and at home, but the demands, deadlines, and distractions seem never-ending. You need to get more done with less time and still be more productive, but how?

With ever-changing priorities, it can be hard to stay on track, but with Evernote, you can better manage your time, stay on top of tasks, plan ahead, and become more productive. Home, Calendar, and Tasks all work together to build on existing features and help you do more.

Tasks + Notes combine to help you get to your goals faster, closing the gap between what you need to do and the information you need to do it.

Calendar + Notes + Tasks turbocharges your meetings, speeding up your preparation time with all the information you need accessible at a click.

Home + Notes + Calendar + Tasks structure your day in an organized dashboard that consolidates what you need to know with what you need to do. Your most important notes, most urgent tasks, and up-to-date schedule appear together in a single consolidated view. Instead of being overwhelmed by information, your information works for you.

Time management means making the best possible use of your time and doing the right thing at the right time. Smart time-management empowers you to be more productive and make progress in different areas of your life while retaining control over your stress and energy levels. Understanding the value of your time means you are rarely overburdened and can enjoy each and every work or life moment to the fullest.

The post 5 Time Management Tips for Organizing Your Life and Career appeared first on evernote.com | Blog.

“I had thousands of notes and no naming convention. I didn’t know about tags. I just couldn’t find anything anymore.”

That’s Diana, a client of Evernote Certified Expert Stacey Harmon, and she’s not alone. It’s easy to get started with Evernote—saving everything that is, was, or could possibly be important—but staying organized sometimes takes a little bit more effort.

That’s why we launched the certified Evernote Expert program, to help support our customers in their journey to a more organized life. Now it’s easier than ever to go from feeling disorganized to in-control. Here’s what Diana has to say now:

“I’ve gotten more efficient now because I actually developed skills. I didn’t even know half the stuff Evernote did! Now it’s easier to move through my process of capturing information, naming it quickly and putting it in the right place. Now I know I’ll be able to find it later. 

I’m so glad I invested in myself and took the plunge to work with an Evernote Expert.”

What is an Evernote Expert?

Experts are individual coaches and consultants who have passed certification training from Evernote. With their in-depth knowledge, they can help you customize Evernote to do exactly what you need it to do—including using features you might not know about yet. They’ll show you how to optimize your workflows and feel confident in those processes, and provide many different resources you can take advantage of. While they don’t work for Evernote, their passion for the product and our customers is as strong as our own. 

What can an Evernote Expert help me with?

Experts are productivity coaches, Certified Professional Organizers®, and business and leadership consultants who have a variety of different specialties and interests. If you’re looking for help with task management, running a small business, or organizing your personal life, there’s an Evernote Expert ready and willing to help. 

Who typically hires an Evernote Expert?

Experts work with anyone wanting to use or already using Evernote. Here are a few common scenarios:

• Looking to learn: Whether you are brand-new to Evernote or have been using it for years, there’s always something new to learn. Many Evernote Experts offer academies, courses, and personalized trainings that cover everything from the basics to taking productivity to the next level. Some even have free community groups you can join to share ideas and stay inspired.  
• Be more productive: By learning different methods and workflows, you can achieve your goals without feeling stressed and burned out. Evernote Experts can help you waste less time, prioritize and organize your work, and procrastinate less by pairing the power of Evernote with time management and prioritization methods like Getting Things Done® or the Pomodoro Technique. 
• Organize a business, team, or project: Learn how to reduce inefficiencies and boost productivity within your business. Evernote Experts can help identify bottlenecks in your processes and offer solutions to set you up for success. Think of them as a second set of eyes that can see your business from a fresh and knowledgeable perspective.

Where can I find an Evernote Expert?

View an official list of Evernote Certified Experts by browsing the Expert directory. You can filter the experts by your unique interests, preferred language, and their specific expertise. Select an Expert to learn more about them and then visit their website to contact them about their services. 

If you are interested in applying to become an Evernote Certified Expert, you can submit your application here. 

The post Feeling Disorganized? Maybe It’s Time To Find an Expert. appeared first on evernote.com | Blog.

• Easier meeting prep with Calendar event notifications
• Better focus on the tasks you need get done 
• Optimization for M1 Apple silicon devices
• Faster access to important info with new Android List widgets 
• Improved experience on Evernote for tablets
• Helpful previews when exporting PDFs

Calendar event notifications make meeting prep a breeze

We’ve all been there. An important meeting sneaks up on you, and you spend the first five minutes (although it seems like fifty) hunting down the information you need—with everyone staring right at you. Now we’ve introduced a way to help you prepare for meetings more comfortably. 

Enter calendar event notifications. With Evernote connected to your Google Calendar, you can get notified when it’s time to take notes or to open an existing note related to your meeting. These handy reminders help you stay ahead of the game so you can show up to every meeting ready for anything. 

• Take better notes. Click or tap the notification to create a preformatted meeting note that automatically fills in details from your calendar, like name, date, and attendees.

• No more fumbling for notes. Instantly open an existing note linked to your meeting and find all your relevant info in one place, ready to go.

• Turn meeting into doing. Follow up on action items and capture next steps quickly and easily.

To learn more about calendar event notifications from Evernote and how to manage them, check out this article.

Notifications can be useful for all your events, not just business meetings. That’s why our Professional plan allows you to connect up to five Google Calendar accounts to Evernote.

Gain clarity in your workplace, and your headspace

Is your work-life balance leaning a little too much in the ‘work’ direction? We know the feeling. That’s why we asked some of our Evernote Certified Experts to share their favorite tips for using calendar notifications to bring work and personal life into better harmony. Here are some of the highlights:

• Get notified for the right stuff. You probably don’t need to take notes for every event on your calendar, like your lunch break. To get only the notifications you need, reserve your default Google Calendar for important events—the ones where you need to take notes. Then create other Google Calendars for other areas of your life, like ‘fitness’ or ‘kids.’ This way, you’ll see all of your calendar events in the calendar widget on your Home dashboard, but you’ll only get notifications for the events on your default calendar.
• Unlock the power of notes in your personal life. If you’re like most people, you probably take most of your notes at work or at school. But notes might be surprisingly helpful for your personal or family events, too. Have a doctor’s appointment coming up? Remember to ask important medical questions by jotting them down in a note ahead of time, then link that note to the appointment on your calendar, and Evernote will serve that note up right when you need it. 

“My Tasks” view puts your to-dos in focus

If you have a lot of shared notes or regularly assign tasks to others, your tasks view can populate fast. But now, with one click, you can get a view of your tasks that’s laser-focused on what you personally need to get done. 

The ‘My Tasks’ tab gives you an organized view of all the tasks you’ve created for yourself and any tasks assigned to you by others, in order of priority. This helps you see what’s on your plate at a glance, so nothing slips between the cracks. 

My Tasks now appears as the first tab in your Tasks view, followed by Assigned, Notes, and Due dates. You may notice that ‘Flagged’ is no longer a tab—instead, we’ve moved it up to the search bar where you can quickly apply it as a suggested filter. 

Optimized for M1 Apple devices

If you’re using Evernote on an Apple computer with an M1 chip, we have good news. The latest version of Evernote now runs natively on Apple silicon—resulting in much faster start-up time, fewer bugs, and improved overall app performance for many of our customers. 

This is all part of our commitment to ongoing performance enhancements. We’ll continue our rigorous testing to iron out bugs and further optimize Evernote for Apple silicon devices. 

Tap less, do more with Evernote on Android

Turn your Android home screen into your new productivity hub. Our new List widgets surface your most important notes and tasks, so you can take action in Evernote without even opening the app. 

Choose from the following widget configurations: 

• Note List: Scroll through your notes and open them with a single tap.
• Shortcut List: View your shortcuts and click to open.
• Task List: See recent tasks, complete them, and create new ones right from the widget.

The new widgets are available now on Android. For more ways to create content in Evernote from your Android home screen, check out our Action Bar and Action Button widgets.

A better experience on tablets

Home has been a game-changer for many Evernote fans, but people on tablets have had a less than ideal layout. So we’ve optimized Home to take better advantage of the screen space on tablets and large-screen phones.

The app now automatically adjusts the number of columns to make the most of your screen real estate when switching between portrait and landscape mode on tablets and larger mobile devices. 

Get the PDF export you expect

We’ve improved the PDF export function in Evernote for Windows and Mac. Now when you choose to export a note as a PDF, you’ll also get a live preview of the PDF so you can see exactly what it’ll look like. 

There’s more where this came from

These are just a few of our latest improvements. As always, we have more enhancements in the pipeline getting ready to make their debut—and we’ll let you know as soon as they do. In the meantime, start putting our newest features to work by updating to the current version of Evernote on all of your devices. 

To get a full recap of everything we’ve updated lately, check out our archive of release notes. If you’re curious about our update process, check out this article on how we release updates to our customers. 

The post Q1 Roundup: Find the Right Info When You Need It With Our Latest Updates appeared first on evernote.com | Blog.

This sudden shift burst the comfort bubble, causing a tremendous amount of uncertainty. As a result, a CNBC report suggests that over 55 percent of Americans are planning to change jobs. This may not be an ideal situation for employers but it’s a watershed moment of opportunity for employees.

We are at a turning point. People around the world are taking the initiative and determining what they want their lives and careers to look like—and then going for it.

Employees are understanding their worth and are looking for high-paying jobs with better benefits. Some are even considering a complete career change. If you’re wondering the same, this may be a good time to make the move. And with some organization and a smart strategy, you too can change your career and leave the past behind you.

Step back and take stock

Knowing yourself is the first step to career and life success. Once you’ve decided to change your career path, begin the journey by reflecting on your current career status. Make a list of things you enjoy doing in your current job, the actions that motivate you, and the areas where you excel. Now, make another list of the things that demotivate you, the areas where you are lacking. These comparative lists will help you evaluate your current job and career status.

Collect your thoughts in a journal. Jot down your reactions to different job situations and how they’ve impacted your performance. Record your successful contributions and the roles you enjoy. Think of this journal as your inventory of personal skills.

This strategy can help you to discover more about yourself—your ideal work environment, motivating factors, and your definition of a fulfilling job. This practice will also help you decide whether you want to explore an adjacent career or start something completely new. Armed with these answers, it will be easier for you to brainstorm new career ideas and chart a new career course.

Journeying toward a new career path can be scary. It’s no small feat to consider completely changing the direction your life is heading. In fact, it may very well be one of the most important decisions you make.

Power tip: Templates in Evernote are a great way to organize your thoughts and reflections, with 50+ examples to save you time and effort. Your saved templates are displayed with preview images and are synced to your account so they’re available on all of your devices.

Build a roadmap

While you might have extensive experience, there are many questions you need to answer. Are your skills transferable? Do you need to invest further in your education? Are you headed in the right direction? Is now the right time? Here, a career coach or a counselor can prove particularly beneficial as they’ll help you work through the roadblocks.

Career counseling allows you to reevaluate your strengths and weaknesses. You reassess your work experience and skills. Most importantly, you gain an objective viewpoint that helps in broadening your perspective. This guidance will help you cut through the noise and clarify your career goals.

Power tip: Looking for an effective method to career planning that can be completed in less than an hour? Conduct a personal Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats or SWOT analysis. Making comparisons and prioritizing plans of action will assist you in setting goals for improvement and keep you firmly focused on your career objectives.

Upgrade your skills

Upskilling (upgrading current skills) and reskilling (learning a new skill) play important roles in every career trajectory. These tend to become particularly relevant regardless of whether you’re planning to simply change lanes or exit the freeway completely.

A new job, even a promotion, may require some substantial personal investment. A copywriter, for example, may need to upskill themselves and learn link building if they wish to move into digital marketing. Or, a software engineer planning to move into healthcare will be required to reskill themselves completely and go back to school. Your preferred career change will determine whether you need to upskill or reskill.

Power tip: Both upskilling and reskilling require training. Use Evernote’s document scanning capability to quickly capture information from a whiteboard, screen, or handwritten note, then search later for specific words in the images you’ve saved. You can also record and save discussions and lectures directly to Evernote, eliminating the need to jump back and forth between different apps. It simplifies the process considerably, letting you focus on the info delivered rather than losing sleep over whether or not you’re getting everything down.

Test the waters

Recently, there has been a mind-shift in the education sector. Degrees are losing their appeal. New-age companies prefer real-life experiences rather than these paper testimonials. So, with your current degree or diploma losing its grandeur and not enough to land you that dream job, internships and volunteering should be important considerations. And these are not only restricted to college students.

Harvard expert Linda Spencer is known for advocating the importance of internships and volunteering when considering a career change. She suggests shadowing experts or doing some temp work so you can explore first-hand the practical side of your newly chosen field. In addition to gaining hands-on experience, internships and volunteering also help create meaningful contacts that can come in handy in the long run.

Chart a course and set sail

Life is too short to not take chances, but long enough to make a positive impact. Your career is more than a job and a paycheck: it’s your calling. If you have decided to change your career, then you owe it to yourself to give it your best shot.

A lot of people dread the thought of shifting lanes—it’s a big decision, after all. But don’t let fear make all your decisions for you. Sure, it’s easy to put off changing careers because of a few uncertainties. How will you know if those career goals will pan out? Instead of taking a blind leap of faith and being all at sea, help guarantee your success by getting organized, drafting a viable plan, and taking calculated risks. Successful career-switchers are able to see big picture strategy and chart a way to match their skills with their desired industry.

The only way to get closer to your dreams and live the life you want is to take action. Sometimes, you need to make changes before life can be lived fully. Take a chance—success awaits you!

The post Chart a New Course: How to Change Your Career Path appeared first on evernote.com | Blog.

But we’re in the digital age now, and advancing technology has changed this aspect of our lives, like so many others. The centralized location has been replaced by apps on our phones and computers; digital calendars do the same job as the sticky notes on your fridge, only better and faster.

A 2018 eCal survey indicated that at least 70 percent of respondents use a digital calendar in their daily lives, and that number has only increased since then. For busy families who need to stay connected, transitioning to a digital calendar can make a huge difference in staying informed and organized.

Why shift to a digital calendar?

The beauty of the traditional ‘fridge calendar’ is that it is lives in one central space, through which family members are most likely to pass during a given day. That provides the best chance that everyone will see it at some point, and thus stay informed about the entire family’s schedule and any developments.

The problem with such a format is that it’s bound to a single spot. That may have been a practical option 20 years ago, but times have changed. With the ease and portability of new technology, a digital calendar offers numerous advantages over traditional calendars.

Anytime, anywhere access

A digital calendar retains that centralized location, only now in electronic form. An app on your phone or computer can show all the same information and make it accessible to any family member, regardless of where they are, at any time. Visibility is enhanced by instant access, giving everyone in your circle up-to-the-minute data about who is doing what, and when.

Most calendar apps offer online synchronization; an individual can update information at any time via the cloud and ensure that other family members are instantly informed. They can fill everyone in on new developments in the space of seconds, saving time and energy, as well as preventing the need to head home and “check in” to get an update.

Create smart alerts for daily events

A physical calendar, regardless of its location, can’t set alarms for you or remind you of important events. A good digital calendar integrates with commonly used platforms to set up smart alerts to remind users of daily events that could get lost in a blizzard of responsibilities, as well as important one-off events such as a business meeting or doctor’s appointment.

Collaboration made easy

An effective shared calendar improves communication and ensures that everyone has accurate data on family members’ locations and plans. Digital apps make that easy. Should two or more family members need to collaborate in order to plan around certain events, a digital calendar lets them do it from anywhere. Collaboration becomes infinitely easier and potential schedule conflicts can be resolved in real-time without disrupting anyone’s day.

Power tip: Connect your Evernote with Google Calendar to easily stay on top of your busy day. Create notes with relevant details, and link them to calendar events so they’re easily accessible when you need them. For an added bonus, set calendar notifications in Evernote and the app will remind you to open them at exactly the right time.

Is a digital calendar for everyone?

For all the benefits that a digital calendar can provide, a few drawbacks may prompt families to stick with more traditional methods. Those accustomed to spending time at home each day may find Post-it notes on the fridge more useful; and, of course, the fridge calendar doesn’t need electricity or internet access to function.

That said, the benefits and additional functions of a digital calendar more than balance out the old-fashioned way of doing things. With their portability, accessibility, and ease of use, digital calendars have collaboration and time-saving abilities that traditional calendars simply can’t match.

Power tip: Evernote works on all your devices, making it easy for families to share information. Any synced note and notebook can be viewed and edited from any supported computer or device, as long as you have an internet connection. You can also use the app while offline and sync any changes instantly once you go back online.

Fridge notes vs. digital calendar— which is better?

The good news is, it isn’t an either/or proposition. Transitioning to a digital calendar doesn’t preclude keeping the kitchen calendar up for emergencies. Indeed, it can make maintaining such a calendar easier, allowing you to check for real-time updates before making adjustments on your stickie notes.

But limiting yourself to a physical calendar alone may not be your best bet, considering the possibilities that digital apps provide. A digital calendar system provides integrated options and rapid applicability so you and your family can start using it right away. And if anything changes in your schedule, everything gets automatically synced. You’ll be surprised at the time, energy, and paper you’ll save!

The post Replacing the Fridge Calendar With a Digital Alternative appeared first on evernote.com | Blog.