Ever have that nagging feeling that there’s GOT to be better ways to do things and you just haven’t figured it out yet? Well, you’re part of very large club! Happens to be an ongoing quest for me so I may as well share as I go.
There is a part of this that’s a little disconcerting though. There’s always a chance that you get yourself all organized with a pretty workable set of tools and workflow, and then the "next best thing" comes along that changes everything. For that reason I’ve found it makes sense to do a little due diligence by finding some current discussion on the subject. For example I did this recently by simply doing a Google search for "iGoogle vs. NetVibes". Found a couple of great conversations on the subject that helped me make an informed choice. Doesn’t mean I won’t test the alternatives – but having the best tool for now might help me manage my workflow as it currently exists so that I might free up the time for those things.
Anyhow, that’s a pretty broad topic for future posts.
Let’s start with a tool that you’re likely to be using already – GMail.
Steve Rubel has a great post called Turn Gmail Into Your Personal Nerve Center with some very nifty tips, including:
- How to turn Gmail into a massive personal database (Gmail + the Google Toolbar)
- How to get real-time news updates in Gmail (Gmail+ Google Talk + Twitter)
- How to automatically store your bookmarks in Gmail (Gmail + del.icio.us + Yahoo Alerts)
- How to manage Calendar and To-Dos in Gmail (Gmail + Backpack + GCal + GTalk + iMified)
- How to blog from Gmail (Gmail + WordPress/TypePad/Blogger + IMified)
I should note that part of Steve’s approach is based on the fact he travels a lot and wants to be able to manage things from his mobile device. Could be that if you don’t travel much you might prefer tools and methods that are more desktop-oriented.
One the simple tricks that was a revelation to me is how you can use the Google Toolbar to send yourself "clippings" via email and automate tagging and filtering to your precise needs. Turns out that you append a tag to your gmail address like so: yourname+tag@gmail. It still goes to the right address, and you can set up a GMail filter to bypass the inbox and store under the label of your choosing.
Some of his suggestions I’ll have to think about because they would require that I rethink other tools that I’m currently comfortable with.
(be sure to read the comments in Steve’s post – some good tips there too!)
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