Manage This!

MyLifeOrganized & Desktop Search Launch Scripts (AutoHotkey)

carl — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 18:59:43 +0000

I make frequent use of my label maker for all sorts of things around the house and office. I actually bought the one that David Allen recommended in his 2001 book, although that exact model has probably been replaced with newer versions. One of the more recent uses for my label maker is to create [...]

Weekend Planning Template

carl — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 06:45:34 +0000

I told my wife I wouldn’t drink tonight. Besides, I got a big day tomorrow. …actually a pretty nice little Saturday. We’re gonna go to Home Depot. Yeah, buy some wallpaper; maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed Bath & Beyond, I don’t know. I don’t know if we’ll have enough time. – Will [...]

Simple Coin Toss

carl — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 04:15:26 +0000

Here’s a cute trick. This is a bit old, but since I have actually used it a few times in recent months, I thought it was worth sharing. (Click the image below to view full size.) I can’t remember if I first found this on Lifehacker or on the Minimal blog, but both seem to be [...]

MyLifeOrganized – Automatic Synchronization

carl — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 06:33:46 +0000

I am trying out a new task management software package called MyLifeOrganized, or “MLO” for short. I have looked at MLO before, but only casually. What got my attention this time is that there are some nice mobile apps available as well as a new “Cloud Sync” service. I thought I would give the desktop [...]

DROE Tool 0.5 Alpha01

carl — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 07:28:11 +0000

As promised, here is an update to the DROE Tool. I am calling this an alpha release since there may still be some rough edges, and this includes only about half the list of planned fixes and improvements. Here is the summary of what is included in 0.5 alpha 01: Hopefully fixed all compatibility issues with [...]

Updated DROE Tool In the Works

carl — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 15:04:33 +0000

I am finally working on a major update to the DROE Tool (stealing time over the holiday weekend). I hope to have an alpha test version posted within the coming week. I have already fixed the compatibility issue with OneNote 2010, and am working on some other enhancements such as configurable hotkey definitions. I have pulled [...]

The Triple Hat Trick

carl — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 23:18:00 +0000

Here is something I am trying for 2010… I hesitate to call it a new year’s resolution, so let’s just call it an “experiment”. Sometimes it is tough to get focus with my big fancy fiddly collection of GTD lists. There are just too many items on the lists, and even when [...]

Note Taking & Note Page Templates

carl — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 23:29:45 +0000

Part of my new year’s resolution is to be more prolific and to share more ideas, tools, templates, etc. In the past I often tried to wait until I had things nearly perfected, and felt that everything needed an exhaustive write-up. I may still do some of that, but you’ll also be seeing a lot [...]

Happy New Year! …Web Site Overhaul

carl — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 22:11:04 +0000

Happy New Year! I recently update the Manage-This.com website. There were some issues with the older version of WordPress I was using, as well as some limitations. The updated site fixes these issues and (hopefully) makes it easier to follow the various discussions. For example, there are now a few different ways [...]

Configuring Google Voice as a Jott / reQall Replacement

carl — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 05:17:23 +0000

I’m a big fan of reQall, Jott, and the various other voice-to-text services out there. I currently have a reQall Pro account and use it on a daily basis. Naturally, the first thing that came to mind when I heard that Google Voice was going to have voice transcription capabilities was using it to augment [...]

Evernote CEO Discusses App (SXSW Video)

carl — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 02:16:06 +0000

Phil Libin, Evernote CEO, discusses the current state of the app in this video from the SXSW ‘09 conference (courtesy of Arik Hesseldahl). One of the interesting notes is that the company is now “net margin profitable”, meaning that they are turning a profit even when you consider all of their overhead expenses. [...]

Strip Outlook Attachments and Replace with Links

carl — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 02:55:46 +0000

UPDATE OCT 2009: Reader jumpjack has created a Google Code project for this macro. You can download the latest source code on the project page. _________________________________________ There are many good reasons to strip attachments from your email messages. The main reason for me is that I often embed email messages into my Outlook tasks for [...]

Backup All Outlook Contacts to VCard in 3 Easy Steps

carl — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 22:20:31 +0000

For some reason, the Microsoft Outlook developers never really embraced the vCard format, and did not provide adequate ways to import/export to this format. The “File > Import and Export…” menu only has ways to import vCards, and no options to export them. Because of this, various tools and add-ins have appeared that allow you [...]

Handy Outlook Attachment Reminder Macro

carl — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 04:44:55 +0000

Have you ever had one of those “oh shit” moments where two seconds after sending an email you realized something was missing? And you know, by using the Outlook “Recall Message” feature, you’re just going to draw even more attention to your mistake. It’s like a highway accident… people will open recalled messages before anything [...]

Discount on ClearContext IMS Pro!

carl — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:40:45 +0000

Good news! The folks at ClearContext are offering Manage-This! readers a $15 discount on their ClearContext IMS Pro v4 product that is good through August 31st, 2008. Just enter the “managethis” coupon code when checking out. Also, rest assured that anyone who purchases IMS Pro v4 will receive a complimentary upgrade to ClearContext Professional [...]

ClearContext and My Quest for an Empty Inbox

carl — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 03:02:43 +0000

In a previous post I talked about my quest for an empty inbox and all the tools I tried along the way. Well, I’m at it again. My previous tool of choice, Taglocity, has taken a turn toward online social/collaborative email in their 2.0 release. I’m afraid that 99% of the email I [...]

DROE Tool now supports EverNote, and much more!

carl — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 03:04:25 +0000

I just released a new version of the Daily Record of Events (DROE) note taking tool. This release adds support for EverNote and text-based DROE files, as well as enhancements for the OneNote DROE. From the README file, here is a summary of what changed in v0.4 (Beta). For complete details, download the README [...]

Handwriting Recognition in OneNote 2007? Well, kinda…

carl — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 04:36:13 +0000

In my post on EverNote vs. OneNote, I mentioned handwriting recognition as one of the shortcomings in OneNote. I also mentioned that the implementation in EverNote is a bit disappointing as well because it uses a “shotgun” word approach. By that I mean that EverNote sets up an XML database of sorts where [...]

Attach Notes to Outlook Messages

carl — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 03:23:49 +0000

Here’s the scenario… You are quickly clearing your email inbox before going home. You open a rather lengthy message and start to read through it. A vague idea forms in your head about what your response will be, but you’ve been reading it for 5 minutes now and haven’t gotten through the [...]

Setting up OneNote 2007 for GTD

carl — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 06:16:00 +0000

As I promised earlier in my post on “Bending OneNote and Outlook to Fit my GTD System“, here are the setup details for OneNote 2007 along with some screen shots. For each of the screen shots, you can click on the image to open it full-size. The options panel is accessed from the “Tools” menu [...]

Send PDF Files to EverNote

carl — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 04:05:33 +0000

UPDATE: Since releasing version 3.0.0.842 in September 2008, Evernote for Windows now supports import, indexing, and preview of PDF files. The Mac version supported this several months prior. The work-around below is no longer needed (but still fun to try if you want to experiment with and learn more about Ghostscript). UPDATE 2 (May 2009): A [...]

DROE Tool Now Supports Outlook

carl — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 07:41:38 +0000

I just posted an update to my Daily Record of Events (DROE) Tool, please check out the Downloads page. Version 0.3 adds some additional shortcuts for fast Outlook task and message creation, as well as easy creation of PigPog tasks. (Note that the Outlook shortcuts have only been tested on Outlook 2003). [...]

DROE Tool Update

carl — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 04:18:25 +0000

I posted a minor update to the DROE Tool, now at version 0.2 (Beta). There are three changes in this release: The download now includes a detailed README file with installation/upgrade instructions, screen shots, and troubleshooting tips. The check to make sure that the OneNote DROE page successfully opened is now case insensitive, so it’s a [...]

Forever Tasks – How do you handle them?

carl — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 05:10:51 +0000

Andy raised an interesting question last week commenting on my post “Bending OneNote and Outlook to Fit my GTD System“. His question relates to something I like to call “Forever Tasks”. These are basically projects that have no real end date that you have to continually track and execute. Here is [...]

A Better Calculator – Go RPN on Your PC

carl — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 14:02:45 +0000

For those of you that don’t enjoy RPN calculators, you can skip this post… Yes, RPN does stand for Reverse Polish Notation. It doesn’t mean it’s a backwards way of doing things. Actually, it’s a much smarter more compact way of doing things. It was originally just “Polish Notation”, invented [...]

OneNote DROE AutoHotkey Tool

carl — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 07:33:19 +0000

As promised in my previous post on “Bending OneNote and Outlook to Fit my GTD System“, here is the tool I use to drive my DROE (Daily Record of Events) in OneNote. This is a configurable tool built using AutoHotkey. Note that the tool is a compiled executable, so you do not need [...]

OneNote and Outlook Task Synchronization

carl — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 23:51:24 +0000

I had a few questions come up related to how the task synchronization works between OneNote 2007 and Outlook. This is actually one of the best features that was added in OneNote 2007, as I noted in my post on “EverNote vs. OneNote“. The task synchronization feature, however, is still pretty [...]

OneNote GTD Project Template

carl — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 07:00:58 +0000

After my post on “Bending OneNote and Outlook to Fit my GTD System” I got a few requests to share the actual project template file. You can download the file here: OneNote Project Template File NOTE: I make no guarantees related to this file or its suitability for any particular purpose. [...]

Bending OneNote and Outlook to Fit my GTD System

carl — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 22:44:45 +0000

I am now using Microsoft OneNote 2007 as part of my GTD (Getting Things Done) system. I talked about this a bit before in my post on EverNote vs. OneNote. My approach is a bit different than Rob describes in his 7Breaths blog. Where Rob tends to use OneNote as the hub [...]

Sticky Note Surprise

carl — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 06:35:14 +0000

Here is a quick sticky note hack that I like to call the “sticky note surprise”. Basically, you take a bunch of sticky notes, or Post-it® notes if you prefer, and affix them inside your planner. They are handy whenever you need them, wherever you are. If you miss someone at [...]

EverNote vs. OneNote

carl — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 05:34:34 +0000

UPDATE July 2008: Since writing this post in October 2007, some important things have changed on the EverNote side. I’m currently evaluating the EverNote 3 beta and will let you know how things turn out. The original post is below… Okay, let’s have it out! What tool is best for capturing and [...]

Taglocity’s AutoTag Engine: CRM114

carl — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 04:03:31 +0000

The main feature that attracted me to Taglocity was its ability to automatically classify and tag messages. My dream was that email would arrive, be pre-sorted for me, and that only the important messages would be presented. Since it was already tagged, I would only have to dismiss the window after reading each message. No [...]

Taglocity Workflow

carl — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 02:17:51 +0000

Here is a description of my basic workflow in Taglocity. I originally posted this as a reply to a question on the Taglocity forum. Here it is again with some actual screen shots thrown in. First off, I have a rule in Outlook that sets the @Incoming tag to each incoming email. When I scrub my [...]

Jott Blog Post

carl — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 21:34:04 +0000

Hi everyone, I thought I would make my first blog post about Jott.com using the actual Jott tool itself. This was created by dialing into Jott and using the link feature to Jott directly to my blog, more to follow. Powered by Jott.com – Try it at 1 (866) JOTT123 –

My Quest for an Empty Inbox

carl — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 02:17:34 +0000

It has been a long arduous journey, almost two years in the making. I almost began to think that I would never have an empty inbox. I got close a few times. Over long weekends, if I gave up my freedom, I could get down to under 100 messages. I just knew there had to [...]

Manager-Tools Rocks!

carl — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 01:09:28 +0000

I just wanted to give a quick shout out to one of my favorite podcasts: Manager Tools. I’ve been listening to this podcast for over a year now and found lots of useful nuggets. Mark Horstman and Mike Auzenne present the material in a straight-forward and compelling manner, and cut right to the [...]

Colin Powell on Leadership

carl — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 02:26:49 +0000

There is a set of PowerPoint slides that have been making the rounds now for about 5+ years. The presentation is billed as “A Leadership Primer” by General Colin Powell. The content is actually pretty good, and the quotes in it probably did come from Colin Powell. I’m guessing that someone else put the pitch [...]

PROCRASTIVITY! Yikes!

carl — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 00:56:35 +0000

During one particular period when I was actively tweaking my “GTD” system, trying out all sorts of software tools, and scouring numerous productivity blogs, I came to a startling realization. I was guilty of something. Something unproductive. Something that went against the very nature of what I was trying to accomplish. But what? I needed [...]

Self-Check Timer

carl — Sun, 06 May 2007 04:35:12 +0000

Here is a little life hack you might find useful. I call it the self-check timer. Often times I get sucked into meaningless non-productive tasks. It’s usually when I have a difficult task that I don’t want to start, or a task that is longer or more tedious than expected. Granted, we all [...]

Leadership Quotes

carl — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 03:36:11 +0000

Here are some of my favorite leadership quotes – this is pretty much a reference post. Maybe not directly applicable to your day to day tasks, but definitely inspiring. I have used some of these as headers in counseling documents, or on introductory slides in presentations. I also pick a few choice [...]

Introducing AutoHotkey

carl — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 15:57:11 +0000

I just wanted to tell you about a terrific utility called AutoHotkey. From the web site, “AutoHotkey is a free, open-source utility for Windows. With it, you can automate almost anything by sending keystrokes and mouse clicks. You can write a mouse or keyboard macro by hand or use the macro recorder. …Virtually any key, button, [...]

Good Interview Practices

carl — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 01:48:56 +0000

One of the most important things that a manager does is building his or her team by bringing in new talent. The most critical step in this process is the interview. Here is a collection of tips/techniques that I usually send out a few days ahead of time to anyone that is helping me conduct [...]