Merlins Tower

Using Cornell Note System in Business

Posted on April 11th, 2009 by Merlin.
Categories: Communication, DIY, Freeware, GTD, HPDA, Hack, Human, Indexcards, Life, Notetaking, Office, Pen.

Yes, I use the Cornell Note System in my daily life. I find it a great way to organize my notes and ideas from Meetings, Conference Calls, and What I did or need to do each day. I also use it when reading a new book that I want to take some notes on. I even draw the dividing lines in my notebooks now to help me organize my thoughts there as well. 

I made a modified version of Note Paper from Cornell-Notes.com to include a time clock to help me track my time and what I need to do and what I have completed and what I have coming up. 

I posted it on Scribd.com for all to use.

To use the clock in the upper left  to shade in the time (Begining to end) and mark a Letter or symbol near it and Use the Letter / symbol to Highlite the notes from that time slice.  I also use this with the Cue Column to track my upcoming meetings and schedule for the day.

How many times have you wondered what you did and have not clue where your day went - Keeping this with me allows me to make notes and annotate what I complete and see why I had to push other things off of my plate for the day. In the notes area I am able to write the tips and note things that I didn’t know and this allows me to update documentation and let others know the little fixes I used. I keeps these daily and use the summaries to help me find info I need from past notes / days.

And I have scheduled time weekly  later in the day Friday (while the week is still fresh in my mind) and look over the past week and see what info was good - I sometimes will highlight portions or copy off data and store it in other notebooks for future reference material. But I also scan the more important pages and put it into my evernote  system as well as that come with me on my iphone and it is easily accessable via their web page.

I also want to note every day I  look over the previous day and get my new notepage prepared for the day. Writing down what I need to do - checking my online calendar and seeing what I have scheduled for myself.  This way I have that info at hand even if I am not at my desk. This is also when I summarize my previous days notes making the weekly summary on Friday’s even easier. This only take me about 10 to 20 mins each morning but it saves alot more time through out the day then what I put into it.

Technorati Tags: Cornell, Notes, Note, paper, Organization, Sytem, business, calendar, schedule, free, organizer

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Miquelrius Journals - On Sale - Moleskine Replacements

Posted on December 15th, 2007 by Merlin.
Categories: GTD, Gadgets, HPDA, Journaling, Leather, Life, Miquelrius, Moleskine, Notetaking, Office, Web Service.

On sale for the next few day are the Miquelrius Journals that I love an chat about here on Merlins Tower.
I really do use these everyday for my notes and ideas. And Now I can help you save some money on these journals.

To see all the Miquelrius Journals Click Here - NOW! or the link might run and hide from you LOL! Or the Special will run out.

The special is if you order over $35 dollars you will get 25% off and upgraded to 3day shipping at no additional cost over the regular shipping price.

To get this offer Type in this following code 25OFF - But what if you are not ordering over $35 dollars then Use the word 15Off and you will get 15 % off your entire order. Wow nice to same some cash at Christmas Time.

Just thought I would share this with everyone - Enjoy and Happy Holidays from the Tower.

Technorati Tags: Miquelrius, Journals, Moleskine, Journal, notebook, fountain, pen, Fountain+Pen, Leather, Like, Life, Journalling, Notetaking, Notes, Writing

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The Hippier Hipster PDA - The Hipster Shuffle

Posted on June 22nd, 2007 by Merlin.
Categories: Communication, GTD, Gadgets, HPDA, Hack, Indexcards, Life, Notetaking, Video.

I really use quite a bit of index cards and carry them around with me in my Levengers International Pocket Briefcase. (Hey, I even spotted another one at work during lunch - Which was cool seeing someone else using the same technology - Way to go Bart)But this is just too cool not to post about - The Hipster Shuffle - Making a cool idea even cooler. Below you will see a video of the Hipster Shuffle in Action.

In case you are not in the know - “The Hipster PDA is a paper-based personal organizerSan Francisco writer Merlin Mann. popularized, if not invented, by ”

Varients of the Hipster PDA which I use is the DIYPlanner complete with templates and directions. The version I use is the DIYPlanner made for HipsterPDA. This was designed especially for the D*I*Y Planner project by Douglas Johnston, the package includes a wide array of cards covering life management, project planning, calendars, notetaking, business development, and creative uses like writing, storyboards, mind mapping, and photography.

Now on to the video:

Technorati Tags: hipster+pda, HPDA, Notecards, Indexcards, Index+cards, 3×5, Organization, Levenger, Wallet, Internation, SPBC, Shirt+Pocket+Briefcase

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New Product Found: Index card Holder

Posted on February 27th, 2007 by Merlin.
Categories: GTD, Gadgets, Hack, Notetaking.

I just happened to be browsing for a gift I need to purchase on Amazon and I happened to see this item and thought I would share this with everyone. It is called the Deluxe Hard Wood card Holder - The Current Price is $9.32 - Below is a Photo of the item.

I can see this being used as an inexpensive alternative to the Levenger Index card holder. This seems to have a nice angle and has 4 row that can hold quite a few cards. This can be a nice 3×5 Index card Tickler Device. Simple and Effective to use. And it doesn't look that bad either.

Technorati Tags: Index+cards, GTD, Notecards, Note+cards, 3×5, Cards, Card+holder, Levenger, Levenger+Products, Wooden

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Online Tool: Visuword - Online Visual Dictionary

Posted on February 1st, 2007 by Merlin.
Categories: Communication, Freeware, GTD, Hack, Journaling, Notetaking, Office, Search Engine, Web Service.

Previously I wrote about the Visual Thesaurus and now I found another cool online word tool - VisuWord - They call it the online visual dictionary. I have to agree - I like how it interlinks the words and visually shows you which words are related and which ones are the same and which ones are opposite. This can be a fairly useful tool - Not something I will use everyday but can be quite useful to have in your arsenal of word tools. Like using a mind map but of words and their inter-relationship.

Technorati Tags: visuword, visual, word, words, dictionary, thesaurus, online, tool, online+tool, mind, map, mind+map, gtd, hack

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Free Wallpaper: Make a Life

Posted on January 21st, 2007 by Merlin.
Categories: Communication, GTD, Hack, Health, Human, Life.

Had to share this wallpaper I found on Anabubula.com - A very simple message - Never get so busy making a living that your forget to make a LIFE! - A very simple message that everyone should remember.

Are you putting your real life on hold while you are at work trying to make a life that you forget you already have a life? Sometimes people put making money higher on their list of priorities then actually having a life. Do you remember your Friends, Family, etc while you are putting your career ahead of your life. What good does having money and that next bigger  and better item if you are not there to share and use the rewards of your hard work. Remember there really is more to life then just making money. Questions to ask yourself? Does your son await you to come home from work to play with you but you work late and put your family second? Do you cancel time out with friends to stay at the office - You need to make time for yourself to live and enjoy life to the fullest. This reminds me of that quote of the old man on his death bed saying I wish I stayed at the office longer, I wish I skipped lunches out in the park, I wish I put off the hikes in the park to work more. Of course you will never hear that. So what are your priorities in life? Today is that day that you sit back - take a deep breath and see where you are going, what you are doing, and use all the tools you may have at your finger tips (GTD, Organization Tools, Franklin Covey System, Index Cards, Notecards, etc…) and set your priorities. Make sure you schedule some time for yourself and MAKE A LIFE.

Technorati Tags: GTD, Franklin, Covey, Index, Cards, notecards, 3×5, life, priorities, priority, family, hack, living, time, management

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Free Research Help - CrossEngine.com

Posted on January 17th, 2007 by Merlin.
Categories: Computing, GTD, Hack, Search Engine, Web Service.

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