Can you unplug? Making time to have a life. More than ever, today’s newsrooms are trying to do more with less. Learn tips to help you manage your time and those of your newsroom teams, while getting the job done and staying sane. (Jeremy Caplan)

1. how to stay sane and
@jeremycaplan
be calmly effective
The Art of Digital Efficiency

2. adjust your mindset. sharpen your toolkit. practice new rituals.
how to stay sane & excel at journalism efficiency
!2
mindset toolkit rituals
fresh start. fresh perspective projects & tasks
email & notes
trello, evernote
morning routine
tech break
news diet
new habits. new strengths
explore. experiment

3. !3
bit.ly/digitalsanity18
jeremy@jeremycaplan.com
@jeremycaplan

4. 3 steps.
mindset. toolkit. rituals.

5. mindset

6. sponge
sponge
fresh start
fresh perspective
start over

7. new habits
new strengths
clean slate

8. creative sandbox
15 mins
beginner mindset
experiment
learn daily

9. email
to-dos
projects toolkit
notes

10. WHAT IS THE MOST
FRUSTRATING
ASPECT OF WORK?
!10

11. 1,000 EMAILS
!11
Your Month Ahead:
+ 20 MEETINGS
= COMMUNICATION FAIL

12. We are
Flooded
with Information
!12

13. AND
OVERWHELMED
with Meetings
!13

14. TOOLS &
SYSTEMS
CAN HELP !14

15. !15
streamline your stuff
Image By Justin Leibow

16. !16
simplify email
Image By Vadim Sherbakov

17. !17
email efficiency is the most
underrated newsroom skill

18. batch & focus
focus on one thing at a time
your attention is valuable
don’t squander it
!18

19. don’t be a squirrel
check email hourly,
not every minute
!19

20. !20
write brief messages
five.sentenc.es

21. !21
Send @ 6am Not 4pm
a message sent at 6am is three times as likely
to have a link clicked on than one sent at 4pm
Source: ReviveYourInbox.com

22. schedule messages &
follow-ups
boomerang
followup.cc
mixmax

23. !23
Search, Don’t File
Finding a message by hunting through folders
takes 3.4 times as long as searching for it.
Source: IBM Research
four useful searches:
has:attachment
from:caren
subject:budget
newer_than:2d

24. !24
searchtag examples:
#craft
#bronx
#hudson

25. !25
Gmail’s undo send = magic

26. Einstein’s Desk
!26

29. !29
4 Solutions

30. !30
organize yourself & your team
Image By Vadim Sherbakov

31. SLACK
TRELLO
EVERNOTE
CALENDLY

32. !32
TRELLO

33. !33
trello = manage projects

34. !34
trello = organize your life

35. !35
Trello: Organize Anything

36. !36
Add Info to Each Card

37. !37
Design Sprint Phases

38. !38
Blog Post Ideas

39. !39
Editorial Calendar

40. !40
Editorial Calendar 2

41. !41
Easily Filter Cards

42. !42
Add Extra Features

43. !43
Preserve Institutional Knowledge

44. !44
Add Images

45. !45

46. !46
Easy to use
5 Best Things about Trello:
Collaborate. Filter. Publish.
Ecosystem = IFTTT, Gmail etc
Free
Elegant

47. !47
More Ideas:
trello.com/inspiration

48. !48
EVERNOTE

50. A powerful, flexible, easy-to-use digital file cabinet
Evernote = organize your reporting notes
Streamlined digital notebook
Clip material from the Web
Forward important email
Collect images, audio w/ phone
!50
notes

51. Evernote is a powerful digital file cabinet
Many Ways to Use Evernote
‣ Add reporting notes from any computer or device
‣ Clip research from the Web
‣ Email in attachments, notes, or forward received emails
‣ Capture visuals and audio with the mobile app
‣ Ingest info automatically with IFTTT
‣ Organize materials with tags and notebooks
‣ Collaborate with shared notebooks
‣ Capitalize on OCR to find material in scans or PDFs
!51

52. !52
CALENDLY

59. !59
SLACK

60. !60

61. !61

62. !62
SLACK TIPS
• Establish must-read announcement channels
• Keep important channels clear of chatter
• Keep channels focused and on-topic

63. !63

64. !64
ADVANCED TIPS
• Set notifications for particular keywords
• Add apps (like Polly) to auto-survey a team
• Bring emails in by forwarding into Slack
• Fine-tune notifications and do not disturb

65. !65

66. !66
SLACK BENEFITS
• Increase transparency across teams
• Decrease email: opt-in to announcements
• Create a central hub for apps & knowledge
• Reduce # of meetings with info sharing

67. !67

68. !68

69. !69

70. !70
Hangouts Chat

71. !71
Microsoft Teams

72. two lists: imminent & someday
task = one clear action
to-do list

73. !73
PRODUCT HUNT

74. !74

75. rituals
morning routine
tech break
news diet

76. “It is a profoundly erroneous truism that we should cultivate
the habit of thinking of what we are doing”
“The precise opposite is the case. Civilization advances by
extending the number of operations we can perform without
thinking about them.”
- A.N. Whitehead, Philosopher, 1911

77. break away from tech
no screen saturday
bed = paper only

78. 1-minute journal
gratitude notes
daily laugh
calm /
headspace helping out

79. “…we each have one reservoir of will and
discipline, and it gets progressively depleted
by any act of conscious self-regulation...”
- Tony Schwartz
Harvard Business Review
bit.ly/rituals101

80. “Launching my work day by focusing first on
whatever I’ve decided the night before is the
most important activity I can do that day. Then
taking a break after 90 minutes to refuel...”
- Tony Schwartz,
Harvard Business Review

81. mens sana in corpore sano

82. !82
someone who gets things done
Image By Justin Leibow

83. !83
someone who has time to be creative
Image By Justin Leibow

84. !84
someone who savors j-school
Image By Justin Leibow

85. adjust your mindset. sharpen your toolkit. practice new rituals.
how to stay sane & excel at journalism efficiency
!85
mindset toolkit rituals
fresh start. fresh perspective projects & tasks
email & notes
trello, evernote
morning routine
tech break
news diet
new habits. new strengths
explore. experiment

86. bit.ly/quickreplies
@JEREMYCAPLAN
jeremy@jeremycaplan.com

87. !87
bit.ly/digitalsanity18
jeremy@jeremycaplan.com
@jeremycaplan