Software

I’ve been meaning to write about Evernote Web for quite some time now. Being a fan of the original Evernote application and having used it for managing all sorts of personal notes for the past few years, I’m really excited to see that Evernote Web has finally arrived: it now takes only seconds to get started with using one of the most useful online services on the web.

What is Evernote?

Evernote is an information organizer. Coming from the world of standalone applications, it started as a Windows app, but is now available on a number of platforms. The most useful thing about the current Evernote service is that it’s an online repository – so all your information is available instantly on any of the devices – including Apple iPhone.

[Read more…] about Evernote Web Has Arrived!

I’ve been trying to find the best way to keep up with the task of a regular new articles writing for my blogs. Unfortunately, it’s not the easiest task imaginable. I mean, it’s been a good few years of me blogging, and I still haven’t found the right approach. But I never surrender so easily, and so with my Personal Development Ideas blog I’ve inspired myself so much that recently I’ve decided to continue my research.

And what I find very useful now to ensure new articles get written and posted regularly is this: I simply plan for the time I’m going to spend working on the articles. Only the best of us can just sit down for half-an-hour a day and provide brilliantly witty content which then gets popular among the people. But for others, and I’m one of them, writing a new article isn’t as easy. There has to be some research carried out, some books read and some blogs (re)visited.

I usually write a few paragraphs of text on a given topic and then sit back to simply think them over just once more. It’s very unusual for me to go back through my text and spend extra time reading it all again, fixing typos and changing sentences. I’m usually more like “do it once – forget till the next time”. So if I’m writing an article, I’m so thrilled with the ideas I’m talking about and sharing with readers, that I simply know that there is no way and no point for me to re-read my paragraphs – I will not be willing to change a single sentence.

Yes, there is a price to pay for this. Sometimes I have to spend an extra minute or two on a particular sentence, simply because somewhere deep inside of me I feel that the sentence isn’t going to serve the purpose I have for it. And so I keep trying various forms and words, until the sentence looks exactly like it should. But if I accepted it and moved on, I’m very unlikely to come back to it and edit it.

I don’t suppose this approach is the best one, but it had worked for me so far, and so I’m happy.

When you agree with yourself on a particular time in your day which you’re going to spend on writing your articles, you’re effectively making all your plans much more real. As with many things, agreeing on something means some kind of commitment. And once you’re committed to something, you’re much more likely to follow through simply because now you know: not only were you going to work on articles, but you have just made a promise to do so, you’ve committed yourself.

Another positive side of having a certain time designated to writing for your blog is that if you book this time for your own use, and finally agree with everyone else not to interfere, you’ll end up having this time all to yourself.

Even if you think you ran out of ideas, you still have time left to continue your work. You’ve committed to working on articles, and so if you’re not writing – start planning new ones. Work on the titles, think of new post series, or simply read some of your old articles one again!

I think I’ve learned it from Steve Pavlina’s pages, that you’re going to be much more productive if you allocate substantial amounts of time to every particular task and tackle tasks one by one. While in many cases you can multitask, I believe you really should do concentrate and refrain from doing anything else when writing.

In his Do It Now article, Steve explains why it is very important for you not to get distracted during your working on something hours. Once your focus is lost, it will take you at least 15 minutes to regain it. Because of this, it’s better to have 45-60 minutes allocated to any task- if you don’t get distracted, you’re going to have enough time to write a sketch for a serious article or even complete a simple post. And if you have been distracted, you’re still going to have enough time to regain your focus and finish the work.