I love Evernote. Anyone who has ever met me and talked nonsense about it has seen how passionately I defend my liking for Evernote and its simplicity.

I have always been an avid note taker, and when ever note came along it was like christmas for me. I could type faster, cram more information in the same amount of time and above all feel like I was being more efficient. Evernote completely replaced my pen and paper to an extent that I got rid of all my notepads and told myself that somehow I was helping the environment (yeah, thats exactly what I told myself to feel even better).

Although, after having used evernote for a good part of the last two years I started feeling like I was not retaining as much information as I used while hand taking notes earlier. Even though my notes were getting longer, and that made me feel content in the moment, I barely remembered anything within 24 hours of taking the note. I felt like I was more attentive when I used to write with a pen and paper, and decided to test this theory of mine.

So for the last three months I have been carrying around a pad and a pen to jot down anything important. And these have been my observations in that time —

a. Increased Focus — Since I can not write just as much as I could on my computer, or iPad, i am forced to listen more during the conversation. Be more involved, make better mental connections and only note things that are the most important. This made me sharp and ensured that was completely focused in every conversation that I was a part of.

b. More solutions, less meetings — Because I could not write everything, I spent more time thinking during my conversations and coming up with solutions instead of mechanically taking notes throughout. This was awesome because now the conversations moved forward in directions that I could not have imagined. And most of the time reduced the need for more meetings since I was able to think simultaneously instead of retrospectively.

c. Its like a story — There has been a definite in my ability to recall the details of the conversations. And looking back at my notes is a breeze and I am just relating the words on my pad to my recollections from the conversation like a story line. I dont struggle trying to read through each word to make sense of why I wrote that down. This has been particularly helpful in saving me a ton of time.

d. It was all a fear — Because evernote was so ingrained in my habits, I took a quick snapshot of my notes after the meeting and added that to my evernote account. That is how I realised that my main motivation for using Evernote was not to make note taking easier or faster, but to make sure I dont lose all that I have written down. It was the fear that formed my habit for using evernote and not its actual usability.

In fact, it has been scientifically proven that taking notes with pen and paper is better of us.

There is no going back for me, and I would recommend you try it too. You are going to love it.