I’m Phil Libin, CEO of Evernote, and This Is How I Work

 Tessa Miller

Since kicking off the How I Work series last summer, nothing has been praised by our interviewees as many times as Evernote. (Seriously, we counted.) The free, cross-platform app does just about anything you could want to stay productive: note-taking, task management, web page archiving, recipe storage, and more—and has collected a dedicated fanbase since launching in 2008. Naturally, we had to find out what Phil Libin, the man behind Evernote, uses to stay organized. We caught up with him to chat about apps (of course), workspaces, and so much more.

Name: Phil Libin

Occupation: CEO, Evernote

Current mobile device:Oh so many. I guess the iPhone 5 is what I consider my "personal" phone and the new iPad is my tablet of choice.

Current computer: I just got the new iMac at home. So well designed, right down to the crazy box it arrives in. Main laptop is a Macbook of some kind.

One word that best describes how you work: Honorificabilitudinitatibus. Ok, I admit, I was just looking for a really long word, but it means, "the state of being able to achieve honors", which is actually a pretty good description of what it's like to work with the amazing team at Evernote. My second choice was Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz. That's German for "cattle marking and beef labeling supervision duties delegation law," and is also not too far off the mark.

What's apps/software/tools can't you live without?

Well, there's Evernote, naturally. Seems a bit déclassé to tout your own product, but we make it to be indispensable for us, and by "us" I mean "me."

Of course I can't imagine life without the fundamental tools of humanity: Google, Wikipedia, GPS, Fire, The Wheel. That's the real magic of the human brain; how quickly it rewires itself around a fundamental new tool as soon as you really grok it. Think about it: at some point in your life you didn't understand the concept of "hammer", and then you understood it and the whole world changed in front of your eyes. Now, when you look at the world, you do it with the understanding that hammers exist. Same thing for the inclined plane. Same thing for Skype. One day you're worrying about how you'll pay for that call and the next day you just know that you can talk to anyone at any time. That's what we aspire to build at Evernote. Something fundamentally tool.

Uber is kind of becoming that way for me these days. I've decided that the future of the Internet in cars is that somebody else drives while I sit in the back seat and do whatever I want. Can't wait for the self driving car.

Also can't wait for smart glasses. All my life, I've been looking at things with glasses that aren't projecting useful stuff into my eyeballs. Like a sucker. It's high time that stopped.

What's your workspace like?

The Evernote office is all open seating. My desk is the messiest. We don't have any desk phones, but lots of conference rooms if you want to talk to someone.

Pictured above: Phil's desk.

My home office setup is finally pretty sweet, after many months of seemingly endless work. I've got a little room to myself with a wallpaper that's a giant map of London. I tried to get a map of The Shire, but London was the closest thing they had. It still has place names like 'Battersea Fields,' 'Westham Abbey Marsh' and 'Barking Reach,' which I find relaxing for some reason. I painted the door to my home office dark green and put in outdoor-style hardware like locks, a knocker and a mail slot. This way, when I go to work at home, I kind of feel like I'm actually going somewhere. I admit that this is pretty stupid. I've also got a little outdoor deck where I can sit with my laptop and a dram of scotch and catch up on email while looking out over some nice hills and water.

What do you listen to while you work?

When I'm at the office, I like to keep a high level of situational awareness about what other people are doing around me so I don't listen to anything else. When I'm working at home, I play The Hobbit dwarves humming "Misty Mountain Cold" over and over and over again on mySonos speakers until my wife tells me that I have a serious problem.

What's your best life hack?

My best life hack is actually the opposite of a shortcut and certainly doesn't save any time. It's pretty awesome, though, and makes me much happier and more productive in the long run: I don't work on airplanes. I sleep, I play Minecraft, I read (non-work stuff), I watch movies, I daydream. I don't work. It's great. Makes me look forward to that 13 hour flight to Japan! I work at every other time, though. Sure, I lose some productivity on airplanes, but getting rid of all the pre-flight dread more than makes up for it.

What's your favorite to-do list manager?

You know, I don't actually have one. I use Evernote, which isn't particularly great for to-dos yet. Yet.

Besides your phone and computer, what gadget can't you live without?

You wouldn't know it by looking at me, but I'm a big fan of all the quantified self stuff: theJawbone Up, Fitbit, iHealth, Nike Fuel, etc. Big fan of Sonos as well. I wouldn't necessarily die without it, but I would be less happy at home.

Are you more of an introvert or an extrovert?

I'm an introvert. Definitely. I don't think I've ever started up a conversation with a person I didn't know in my entire life. Well, one time I did say "hi" to an attractive girl while walking in a park in Boston but we've been married for 16 years now, so I never have to do that again.

                               Pictured above: Phil jumping outside the Evernote office.

What's your sleep routine like?

I actually sleep really well; it's sort of my core competency; I can fall asleep anywhere, at any time, on command. My brain doesn't understand time zones and I don't get jet lag. This is my super power. I go to sleep at random times and wake up at random times, but I probably get about eight hours of sleep on average. I know how incredibly lucky this makes me.

What's everyday thing are you better at than anyone else?

I'm good at combining other people's good ideas. That's the main gist of being a CEO, I think.

What's the best advice you've ever received?

First, I'm going to tell you the best advice I've ever given: a friend of mine was sad that he didn't have a girlfriend, so I told him, "You know how when you first walk into your house, the first thing you see is that bookcase by the door?"

And he said, "uh huh."

And I said, "And how, on that bookcase you have your boxed set of all the old Star Trek movies on VHS?"

And he said, "yeah."

And I said, "And how, since you have them lined up in chronological order, the art on the spines of the tapes comes together to form a picture of the USS Enterprise?"

And he said, "right."

"Mix up those tapes."

He was married a year later.

Best advice I ever got was: Up-Up-Down-Down-Left-Right-Left-Right B, A, Start.

Is there anything else you'd like to add for readers/fans?

I think it's important to have an identity mug. That's a coffee cup that you always carry around the office so that it becomes associated with you. It shouldn't be too crazy. You have to think really hard about this before you come up with the perfect mug that represents you. Now here's the trick: as soon as you find one, buy a bunch of them and hide all but one. That way, if you misplace it, you've got several backups. It'd be a shame to spend eighteen months building up an identity mug only to lose it and have to start from scratch. Classic amateur mistake, that.

Also, I want to know how to make Evernote better! Email me and let me know.

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我是Evernote的CEO Phil Libin，想知道我是怎么工作的吗？

自从我们（Lifehacker）在去年暑假发起一个叫“How I Work”系列的活动之后，被受采访者表扬最多的就是Evernote。（这确实是我们的统计结果）这款免费、跨平台的应用程序所做的事情就是使你保持工作效率。你可以通过它来：记笔记、任务管理、网页存档、配方存储等等。自从2008年发布以来，它已经拥有了很多忠实的粉丝。于是，我们找到了Evernote幕后的组织者Phil Libin。我们跟他谈了很多，包括软件、工作环境已经其他的很多事情。

基本概况：

姓名：Phil Libin

职位：Evernote的CEO

目前用的移动设备：有很多。iPhone5可以算是我的个人手机，平板电脑是new iPad

目前用的电脑：我刚刚买了一台iMac回家。它设计的很精巧。主要的笔记本是一些Macbook型号的电脑。

一个词来概况你的工作：

不胜光荣（出现在大文豪莎士比亚的剧本《空爱一场》里）。好吧，我承认我只是想了一个很长的词语，但是确实是这个意思。“能够获得荣誉的状态”，确实是对我们Evernote这个令人惊奇的团队正在做的事情的一个很好的描述。我的第二选择是：Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz。这是一句德语，它的意思也大致跟刚刚讲的相同。

你的生活最离不开什么应用或者工具？

毫无疑问，当然是Evernote。虽然有自卖自夸的嫌疑，但是我们确实让它变得不可或缺，至少对于我个人是这样的。

当然，我也无法想象失去其他的一些基本工具，比如:Google、Wikipedia、GPS、火、车轮。这些才是人脑真正神奇之处，一旦掌握了某项真正底层技术或者工具，大脑都会重现刷新自己对世界的认知。想想看，某个时刻你还不懂什么是锤子，之后突然你明白了，眼前的世界瞬间都变了。再看这个世界时，你会明白“哦我有锤子”。同样的，还有滑翔机、Skype 和无线网络。这也是我们做 Evernote 的动力所在：一个真正革命性的底层工具。

Ubar也正在变成这样的一些基础工具。我已经决定未来就在互联网上打车，而我自己则坐在后座上做自己想做的事情。我也非常想要尝试无人驾驶汽车。

当然，我也非常渴望智能眼镜。在我的一生中，我一直用眼镜来找寻物品，但是进入我眼球的事物并没有突出其中有用的东西。很快的，这样的事情就要结束了。

你的工作环境是怎么样的？

Evernote 的办公室是全开放的，我的桌子最乱。大家都没有座机，但是如果你想找人聊的话总会有空的会议室。

我家里的工作设施是很温馨的，即使是经历了无止境的工作好几个月之后。我有一个小房间，墙纸是一副巨大的伦敦地图。我试图得到一个地图的夏尔,但伦敦是最接近他们的。这个房间是我休息的时候用的。我为我家里的工作室涂上了墨绿色，并且放了一些户外风格的装饰，比如锁、门把、还有一个邮箱。这样的话，当我在家里工作的时候，我会觉得自己正在去其他的地方。好吧，我承认这有点傻。我还有一个户外甲板，在那里，我可以坐在我的笔记本电脑前面，边回复邮件，边欣赏着外面的美丽风景。

你工作的时候都听什么音乐？

在办公室，我得知道周围的人们在干什么，所以什么都不听。在家里，我会单曲循环的放一首 Misty Mountain Cold，直到我老婆过来说“你有病吧”。

你最好的生活技巧是？

我最好的生活技巧并不是什么节省时间的妙招，但是依然很棒，可以让我更开心更有效率。那就是，不在飞机上工作。我会睡觉、玩 Minecraft、看闲书、看电影或者发呆，但就是不工作。这么做我就不会讨厌飞行了，即使是 13 小时的日本之行。当然，我损失了飞机上这段时间，但是不再会因为长途飞行而焦虑了。

你最爱的 to-do 工具？

我不用的，就用 Evernote，虽然现在的确不太适合用作 to-do 工具，以后会有改进。

除了手机和电脑，还有什么你离不开的小工具？

说了也许你不信，我很喜欢 Fitbit、Jawbone Up、Nike Fuel 这类小工具，还有 Sonos 等。虽然没了它们不会死，但是会少很多乐趣。

你是比较内向还是外向？

内向。我似乎从来没有主动跟不认识的人搭讪过。哦对了有一次，那是在波士顿一个公园中，碰到一位美女，我主动打了个招呼。不过后来她成了我老婆，结婚都 16 年了，所以以后也再没这么干过了。

你的睡眠质量如何？

事实上我的睡眠质量非常高。随时随地想睡就能睡着，算是我的核心竞争力吧哈哈。通常睡觉的时间不固定，但是每天还是会睡个八小时，真幸运。

生活中有什么事你比别人做的好的？

我擅长把大家的好点子组合到一起，我想这也是做 CEO 很重要的一点吧。

你收到的最好的建议是什么？

首先，我想告诉你我所给出的最好的一件：我有一个朋友因为没有女朋友而伤心。然后，我告诉他：你知道当你第一次走进你的房子,你首先看到的是书柜的门吗?

他回答：恩恩

我又说：在书柜上有你的所有旧的合订本星际迷航电影吗?

他回答：有的。

我说：你是按照时间顺序归类，使得这些磁带的背面看起来是一副企業号航空母舰的照片吗？

他回答：是的。

“把这些磁带的顺序打乱了”

一年之后，他就结婚了。

这是我得到的最好的建议：Up-Up-Down-Down-Left-Right-Left-Right B, A, Start.

还有什么想要对读者、粉丝补充的吗？

拥有一个个人专属的杯子很重要。你用这个杯子来在办公室装咖啡，使得它跟你有所关联。它不必太疯狂。但是，在它成为你的个人专属杯子之前，你一定要考虑充分。这里有一个窍门：当你找到一个个人专属杯的时候，买下一堆一样的，留下一个，然后把其余的都藏起来。这样，你不至于或了18个月找一个杯子而一不小心丢了之后还要重复这个过程，这是典型的业余错误。

最后，我还想知道你们对于Evernote还有什么好的建议。如果有的话，请给我发邮件让我知道。

----------by----zerocool------2013年2月9日19:40:06