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How Tim Ferriss Used Evernote to Write His New Book, The 4-Hour Chef

Tips and Stories | By Mie Yaginuma
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Tim Ferriss, entrepreneur, Evernote Advisor, and author of The 4-Hour Workweek and The 4-Hour Body, just released a new book, The 4-Hour Chef, which he researched and wrote almost entirely with the help of Evernote.

Read and watch how he did it. Then purchase your own copy of The 4-Hour Chef here!

Using Evernote to simplify

Tim used Evernote as the repository for everything related to The 4-Hour Chef, including thousands of photographs, illustrations, hundreds of interviews, and research ranging from recipe notes to Web Clips. While his latest book covers a phenomenal amount of information related to food and cooking, it’s also very much about how anyone can learn to master anything in a short period of time with the right approach and methodology. In order to sift through enormous amounts of research and intelligently organize it, Tim used Evernote for gathering and organizing.

Whether he was at a bookstore snapping a picture of something to research later, creating a shopping list for a recipe he was testing, or chronicling a restaurant meal he ate, Tim was able to quickly capture everything in Evernote, and search for it later. Recalling his earlier book-writing experiences, Tim shared that the drafts of his first book produced mile-high piles of paper that covered his large dining table. With Evernote, writing the book was virtually a paperless process. In fact, the only paper he accumulated came in the form of final press checks that were printed for fan giveaways.

A serendipitous discovery

Years ago, Tim Ferriss asked his fans and followers on Twitter and Facebook to share their favorite tools for task management. He was looking for tools that would allow him to save articles, research, create to-do lists, and more. Overwhelmingly, people kept suggesting Evernote, so he thought he’d give it a try.

While he initially began using Evernote primarily for his work, he quickly found that it also became a personal diary for tracking his interests over time. As Tim told us, “There are very few services that I real feel I could not live without. Evernote is one of them … I use it 10 to 20 times a day. Evernote literally saves me hundreds of hours.”

  • Balzar Aikin

    We can see the downside of writing and publishing with computers and smart phones. Tim has been quoted as saying “I real feel.” You

    • Jay

      wow talk about missing the message

  • DoctorBill

    Great idea !!

  • Benjamin Chavez

    I like Tim’s ideas and i think some of his methods could apply to many people. I’m a manager in a fast paced environment and trust me you don’t have time to capture everything but evernote really helps!! Tim keep on doing what your doing!!

  • mark

    Excellent use of the cloud and filing capabilities of Evernote. For Authors, always remember to export your Evernote notes and files to your backup a minimum of monthly…just in case.

  • http://somewiseguy.com ThatGuyKC

    That’s awesome to see a best-selling author championing Evernote. I use it all the time and recommend it almost daily to people I work with and meet.

  • Rabeeh

    Did anyone notice that Tim kept talking about evernote without actually showing us a screenshot from his evernote setup…

    mmm …

  • Tyler

    The question that always nags at me is:

    Did Tim Ferris write his last two great books working only 4 hours a week, as he preached in his great 4 Hour Workweek?

  • Tyler Moore

    Did Tim Ferris accomplish writing his last two books working only 4 hours per week like he reported in his first famous book, the Four Hour Workweek?

  • Jonathan

    @Tyler
    You obviously didn’t read the 4 hour workweek. There you would find the answer to your question. :)

  • Ze

    Looks like Evernote helps another dyslexic, good work!

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