Maximizing Productivity with Mailbox, Evernote, and IFTTT

If you’re someone who’s always on the go, time is of the essence. You need to stay productive in order to achieve your daily tasks, but sometimes you just don’t have enough hours in a day. Fortunately, technology can help us optimize our daily routines so we can work smarter, not harder. In this article, I will share with you a quick hack that combines three apps to save you time and effort in managing your emails.

The Secret Weapon

But before we dive into the how-to, let me introduce you to The Secret Weapon, an organizational method that integrates Evernote with David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) method. The Secret Weapon is a free system that aims to streamline all aspects of your life, from work to personal matters, by creating a single platform where all your ideas, tasks, and information can be stored and synchronized across all your devices.

The beauty of The Secret Weapon lies in its simplicity. By having a centralized inbox for all your thoughts, you can easily sort and process them later on based on their level of priority. This method allows you to focus on the task at hand without getting overwhelmed by the sheer amount of emails, ideas, or tasks that come your way.

Mailbox

Now that we have a basic understanding of The Secret Weapon, let’s get into the hack. The first step is to download Mailbox, an iOS email client for Gmail users. Mailbox offers several features that make it an ideal app for productivity lovers. For instance, you can snooze your emails, archive them, or set reminders to reply later. It also has a simple swipe interface where you can perform different actions like delete, archive, and add to a list.

After installing Mailbox, you need to create a new list and name it “Evernote” (case sensitive). You can do this by swiping right from the main menu, tapping the “+” symbol, and selecting “New List.”

Evernote

The next step is to decide which notebook you want your emails to go to. Evernote is a note-taking app that lets you create different notebooks for different purposes. For instance, you can have a notebook for work-related tasks, another one for personal notes, and so on.

Once you have selected the notebook, make sure to note down its exact name (case sensitive) as we will be using it in the last step.

IFTTT

Finally, we’ll be using IFTTT (If This Then That), an automation website that lets you create custom recipes to simplify your digital life. IFTTT connects different apps, devices, and services to perform specific actions based on a trigger.

For this hack, I have created a recipe that allows you to send your emails to Evernote with just one swipe. You can find the recipe here.

After activating the recipe, make sure that your Gmail and Evernote channels are connected, and that the Evernote Notebook matches the one you want to send the emails to.

The Result

Congratulations! You can now send your emails to Evernote straight from your iPhone or iPad. By swiping right on the email, selecting “Add to List,” and choosing “Evernote,” the email will automatically be sent to your desired notebook. This hack is especially useful when you need to keep track of important emails or reference them later on.

More Ideas

But that’s not all. Here are some additional ideas on how to use this hack to optimize your productivity:

– Create different lists to send to different Evernote notebooks depending on the topic, urgency, or context of the emails.
– Append a notebook on Evernote whenever you need to add an extra note or idea to an existing one.
– Create or append a text file on Dropbox for more advanced note-taking or collaborative tasks.
– Create or append a document or spreadsheet on Google Drive if you need to share the information with other people.
– Create a post on WordPress for bloggers or content creators who need to write or publish articles on the go.

A Note on The Secret Weapon

While The Secret Weapon is a powerful organizational system, you don’t have to adopt it entirely. As the author of this article admits, he only uses it for emails that he wants to annotate or edit as a reference. The key is to find a productivity system that works for you, one that adapts to your needs and preferences.

Furthermore, Mailbox, Evernote, and IFTTT will inevitably change over time, so this hack might not be available forever. That’s why it’s essential to keep an open mind and embrace other productivity tools as they become available.

Conclusion

The Mailbox, Evernote, and IFTTT hack is just one example of how technology can help us optimize our daily routines. By using these apps in combination, you can save time, effort, and reduce your stress levels. If you know someone who might benefit from this hack, be sure to share it with them, and let us know in the comments how you would use these tools together.