ARoundTuit Organizing & Productivity

Last Sunday morning, I woke up fine, but my laptop did not.  It would start, then crash.  Start, crash.  After a day of troubleshooting, I realized I would have to face the facts: time to reset the monster to factory settings.  My trusted laptop repair specialist Sam Sato, of Leading Technology Micro, Inc. confirmed (thanks for the freebie, Sam!).

I tell you now I have neither shed tears nor lost a moment’s sleep over this crash.  Even during the relatively long file restoration process (in the Age of Immediate, 7 hours is an … Continue Reading

Evernote and Shoeboxed have put an end to the universal struggle of managing receipts and business cards.  Even I, professional organizer, had a pocket of business cards in my work bag, waiting to be made useful…

Until now!  I’m pretty sure the only easier way than this is chuck the papers in the trash and not bother at all.

And a big “thank you!” the nice folks at Shoeboxed, Evernote and … Continue Reading

Thanks to Toodledo, I have been able to accomplish an unprecedented amount of boring but vital admin work this week.

Yes, even a productivity evangalist has her challenges. I dislike burocracy and paperwork as much as anyone else.  A small but growing pile taunted me at my desk. So I moved to another room.

Unfortunately, my conscience follows me everywhere. I know I have to fill out those forms.  And not just one page.  We’re talking projects.

This week, I decided to take … Continue Reading

MOST COMMON PAPERWORK WORK FLOW

This cartoon pretty much says it all for many people.  The more information we have coming our way, the harder it is to deal with.

That’s because the brain can only focus on a few things at a time.  Like your computer, when your brain is overloaded, it shuts down (i.e. give up making decisions and pile up papers to process “later”).

How did things get so bad?

Some information clutter occurs naturally when it simply comes in faster than we … Continue Reading

Anyone here ever heard of Alexander Kjerulf?  If not, you’ll want to.  He’s made a business out of helping people be happy at work.  Here’s Alex’s workplace productivity theory (click here to read the full article):

Now, I don’t believe for a minute that a worker with inadequate productivity skills, but who is very happy, will get more done than a

… Continue Reading

U.S. Employees Agree: A Good Laugh Can Increase Workplace Productivity

Two recent studies reveal humor may have a positive impact on the corporate bottom line. Researchers at Penn State University (PSU) and Silly Slammers are both confirming what employees have been saying for years: Laughter is essential to a … Continue Reading

High-value habits require very little effort for significant results. Perhaps one of the best examples of this is planning a day’s work the night before.  Sean D’Souza of Psychotactics summed it up brilliantly (I must say) in his blog post Three Minutes That Save Three Hours.

Also, storing frequently used items on the side of your dominant hand. This makes retrieval instant and replacement convenient = far more likely to occur.  This is a high-value organization habit, believe it or not.

Here are some prize … Continue Reading

“Evernote allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform you find most convenient, and makes this information accessible and searchable at any time, from anywhere.” – The Evernote People.

Lauren Davidson says: Evernote is the open-source equivalent to Microsoft’s OneNote… minus the Microsoft monopoly bugs and glitches, and plus oodles of options and add-ons to expand it’s uses with your Mac, PC, iPhone or other mobile device. Evernote takes the place of note pads, scratch paper, sticky notes and “favorites files”.  En somme, … Continue Reading

Watch this great demo with Prasad Thimmeneini, CEO and Founder of Pixily. If you think it’s a great idea, but don’t know where to start in your piles and piles of paper (yes, I know), just drop me a line to talk about it.

Easy as 1-2-Pixily!

Here are the three killer questions I ask clients to help them take action against clutter:

Do you need it?

In this category fall the many types of document a business is required to keep for a limited period of time, and some not at all.  Digital files are now acceptable in many instances, which allows you to move the originals off-site, or even destroy them (WHAT?!).  Also in this category are some types of statements and invoices.

Ask a CPA or visit www.irs.gov for the latest on document retention requirements and recommendations for your type … Continue Reading