Being good at something doesn’t mean it’s easy or that everyone will be able to do it. After helping clients for more than a decade, I can confidently say that the number of people who are not good with technology is much larger than we think.

Today, I started helping a new client who had already told me about his lack of proficiency in technology. In situations like this, Evernote is always my top choice because it’s easy to understand and use.

In about 20 minutes, my client was comfortable with the user interface and the simple structure of notes and notebooks. Tags and tasks were also part of the explanation, but I told him to ignore them for now. Even in such a short time, I was able to show him all the basics and how Evernote Home can be used as a summary of all the information he has in the app.

Next, I helped him strategically think about and create some notebooks that he’ll be using to add content for the next few days.

In half an hour, a person who is very uncomfortable with technology was already creating notebooks, adding information, and moving notes to organize things on his own. That’s how intuitive Evernote is.

If everything goes as planned, he will arrive at the next session with many more notes and some discomfort with organizing and finding information. Yes, you read that right. It is intuitive, but it can’t do miracles.

This is when we’ll start creating his mindful workflow. I’ll be helping him make sense of all his content while introducing strategies using tags, widgets, or whatever else. It will all depend on how he describes what he is having a hard time finding or doing.

Baby Steps

Not only is he uneasy with technology, he also has his business and personal life activities to take care of. Like several others in his position, he cannot afford the time it takes to learn the fancy apps and methodologies productivity gurus love to sell as magical solutions. 

That’s why I try to constantly remind myself that many people can only improve their lives with technologies and workflows that are straightforward to understand and use.

That’s it for today. I hope you have a great week.