Tag: home office

National Organize Your Home Office Day: My High Tech Me Project

Did you know?  The second Tuesday in March is National Organize Your Home Office Day.

I’m entertained by the fact that, thanks to technology, I started this blog seated at my favorite satellite office, the Corner Bakery near my home.  Not to be confused with my favorite Conference Room, the Beverly Bakery, also near my home and where I take my breakfast meetings.  The real irony is that I’m avoiding baked goods, but I really love these places!  And now, I’m home in my actual office.

These “home office” musings remind me that my “Home Office”, or in my case, just my “Office”, is anywhere that I am at that moment, thanks to technology.  There is a dark side of tech, though:

I’ve been struggling with the myriad methods of communication available, and how to manage them all well.  For example, last summer, a friend asked “Did you get my message?”, so I went back to check my:

  • recent texts;recent voice mails on my mobile phone;
  • recent voice mails on our home phone;
  • FB messages on my personal page, and
  • FB messages on my business page;
  • professional email;
  • personal email;
  • at the time, cub scout pack email (as I was still Cubmaster and she is a scouting friend);
  • twitter; and
  • actual snail mail, and my really big white mail box because she lives down the street, and could have left something for me.

Ridiculous.  Not the message or the friend (she is lovely), but the number of places I had to check for communications.  Ugh.

Fast forward: I spent the first 7 weeks of 2017 working on what I called my High Tech Me project. My plan was to make the moving parts of my office experience work better together.  To organize my “office” and clear communication clutter, I organized my tech.  After assessing my needs, I (just to list a few steps):

  • streamlined my IPad and IPhone apps, and set up my laptop so all the devices communicate with each other;
  • set up my devices to update automatically overnight, and installed yet another external hard drive;
  • purchased a few more chargers and surge protectors for the places we all use them the most (and my chargers are pink as the only female in the house, to easily identify who swiped my stuff);
  • fully embraced Gmail for my personal email – it’s easy and has an app!, and I left behind our old email provider that doesn’t have an app and regularly froze up or kicked me out;
  • wi-fi enabled my new IPad (woot woot);
  • adjust my privacy and notification settings on all my social media and email accounts, to better manage my information;
  • explored Evernote, and now use it more fully to organize my thoughts and notes;
  • unsubscribed from dozens of retailers and email mailing lists; and
  • re-established a relationship with Siri on my apple devices, and while we still don’t always see eye to eye, we’re making progress (and Siri is now an Australian male voice and I refer to him as Nigel.  Whatever works.).

On this National Organize Your Office Day, remember these important points:

  • Technology is amazing and overwhelming, but it is just a tool.   It’s here to make our lives better, so set yours up to improve your life and not detract from it (and if you don’t know how, ask my web guru Claire and she will say – When in Doubt, Google it Out!)
  • BACK IT UP.  To the cloud, to a hard drive, to your lap top.  Back up your information. And get a case for your phone.  Yes, you,
  • Keep current on your device udpates, all the time.
  • De-Clutter or streamline what you can. Unsubscribe, send all your emails to one address, get rid of your home phone (we’re working on this one!), mirror your devices so you only have to remember one set-up, etc.
  • Make maintenance a habit.  I have actually added a line item to my daily routine to remind me to check different communication methods until it becomes a habit.

 

What Was That?  Three Types of Paper, You Say?

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The Second Tuesday of March is National Organize Your Home Office Day.

Over the past 13 years, I’ve learned a lot from my clients and experiences in home offices.  Why are Home Offices a Challenge?

  • Home offices are still evolving, as more workers move out of brick-and-mortar offices.
  • With a blend of both home and office, there is just more paper to deal with, plus the boundaries between professional and personal papers blur.
  • Industries often provide Document Retention Policies, with clear instructions about what papers to keep, and how to confidentially get rid of documents when they are no longer needed (consider medical records in a hospital).  However, personal papers do NOT come with document retention policies, and we have to create them.

Most of the papers we have in our homes and offices fall into three categories:

  • Active;
  • Passive; and
  • Archival.

Your home office undoubtedly contains all three types, and each type requires different handling and storage.   Here ‘s what you need to know about each type:

ACTIVE PAPER

Active Papers are defined as papers that require some action to be taken.  Examples of Active Papers are: a bill to pay, a greeting card to send, a form to complete and send back to school.  The actions required might be a bit more complex, too, for example: a sports schedule to be entered into your calendar; a business card from a new contact that needs to be entered into your contacts and also an email sent; a reminder to call someone or make an appointment.

The most important thing to know about Active Papers is to ACT ON THEM, and then move them on.  So, pay the bill, send the card, complete the form, enter the info, make the call, send the email.  And them move the papers along, either into Passive storage, Archival storage, or the shredder or recycling bin.

PASSIVE PAPER

Passive Papers are Active Papers whose actions are complete.  Now, they require no further action except for retention for a predetermined amount of time (for reference or just in case), and then safe and confidential disposal.  For example, you may decide to keep one full year of receipts, paid bills, statements and the like until you file your taxes for last year.  Some people may feel more comfortable keeping 2 full years, and that’s OK, too.

The important thing to remember about Passive Papers is the “keep for an amount of time and then dispose of them” part of their definition.  Often my clients and I unearth grocery receipts from 4 years ago, maintenance records for cars they no longer own, or the electric bill from 7 years ago.  None of these papers have any bearing on our life today, and are just cluttering up our office and files.

Set up your Passive Paper files to store each month’s info together (no more micromanaging your filing), decide how long – 1 year or 2 years – to keep your Passive Papers, then put an annual date on the calendar with your shredder for old Passive Paper destruction.

ARCHIVAL PAPER

Archival Papers are the papers you will need in 5, 10, 20 or more years.  Archival Papers may include, but are not limited to: mortgage papers, car titles, certificates (birth, marriage, sacramental), passports and original social security cards, etc.

There are two tricks to handling Archival Papers.  The first is to be able to identify what is TRULY archival.  A couple questions to ask yourself:  Who else needs to know this info? Will it have bearing on my life or decisions in a year or 10 or 20?  Will someone ask me for this information some day?  How important was the transaction attached to this information?

Very few papers actually make it to Archival status, so you don’t need to dedicate too much space to them.  But the other important tip you need is to keep your Archival Papers SAFE. Invest in a portable fireproof safe, or a safety deposit box at the bank.

Invest a little time to day and this week to restore order in your home office.  Consider the various piles of paper in your space, determine what type of papers  you have, and plan your work and storage accordingly.

Productivity Challenge: My Desk is a Dumping Ground!

Last week, I asked professionals to share their Organizing Challenges.  The first response was:

“My desk!   Working from home, I’m so busy keeping the rest of the house organized, everything gets dumped on my desk! (thanks MG!)”

Has this happened to you?  You’re ready to get down to business, but your motivation and energy drain away as you face a desk cluttered with

  • Mail
  • School papers
  • Shoes / socks / clothing / dry cleaning
  • Legos (maybe that’s just me)
  • Receipts
  • Other people’s keys, wallet, phone
  • Office supplies or craft supplies
  • the list could go on and on …
Whether you work from home or in a more traditional office setting, trying to work at a cluttered desk can be a struggle.  Sometimes other people drop the stuff, and sometimes we ourselves do the cluttering.  Sound familiar?! Here’s what to do!
  1. When you sit down to work, spend the first 10 minutes of activity putting the dumped stuff AWAY, and the last 10 minutes putting your own stuff AWAY.  Most of us work better in uncluttered space, so that is a great place to start!   If you can do this every day, the piles will be progressively smaller, and you won’t need 10 minutes anymore!  Dedicate that small block of time at the start and the finish – seriously, set a timer if that helps!
  2. Make sure important things have a home.  For example, everyone needs a special place to put their cell phone, keys and wallet.  Establish a home for these important items NOT on your desk top.  Near it, perhaps, but not on it!
  3. Carve out “My Space” and “Public Space”, if you can.  For example, I recently rearranged my work space, and added shelves. I’ve moved the items that other people need to the shelves next to my work space instead of on the shelf over my work space.  In theory, this will cut down on interruptions and also encourage others to put things away!
  4. Establish containers for regular offenders, to direct stuff to other places:  An In-box for papers coming in; trash / recycling / shredding bins close at hand for papers going out; an errand bag for mail to mail or library books to return, items to drop off to other people, items to be returned to the store, etc.
  5. Act on your action items: In a client’s home office last week, most of the desk top was occupied by items that required action or an errand.  For goodness sake, ACT on your action items!  Invest an hour or two to take the actions or run the errands that will clear away those piles, then revel in the uncluttered space.
  6. Do you drop the stuff, or do other people?  If other people are the problem, set the example: Respect your own boundaries!  Clean off your desk and your own clutter, so the offending items are very noticeable when someone else drops them on your work space!

Keep you work space as sacred space!  Give it the respect it deserves, and expect others to do the same!

Keep Your Cool Technology From Getting Cluttered!

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My family really loves technology. I have a few tech items that I am extremely attached to – my IPhone 5, my IPad and my laptop. But those are just MY gadgets.  Everyone else has gadgets, too. We even loaned the 9 year-old an old IPhone 3 to use as an IPod touch (music, games and apps, no internet or phone usage) on a recent long-distance car ride.

So between 5 people, we have 4 phones, 3 IPod touches, 3 Nintendo 3DS handheld games, a couple of Kindles and digital cameras, and my IPad. Plus 3 laptops and a desk top computer, and an xBox 360 and Wii.

We embrace our technology, but the accompanying clutter can be maddening! Here are some ways we clear our tech clutter, try a few for yourself this week!

Tame the snake pit— I mean— chargers and cords.

1.  Dedicate 1 charging station. Image

  • We use a surge protector strip on the kitchen desk. Maybe you need more than one, for different family members, but limit yourself to one or two stations, to help keep track of necessary items and share resources. (Do this when you travel, too, so things don’t get left behind!)
  • Charge where you work. I leave my IPhone charger cord plugged into my laptop, and charge my phone while I work. My husband keeps an extra phone charger at the office.
  • I received a MOS organizer, http://mosorganizer.com/, to review and test in my office setting. A great gadget, the MOS Organizers is a magnetic object that holds the end of your charging cord between charges. The attractive 3.5” whiImagete triangle holds the charger cord end and keeps it from dropping off your desk/ charging area when not in use.
  • My hubby also received a very cool “Powerbot” wireless charger for his phone. He only needs to place his phone on the disc, and it charges! No more cords! (this only works for select tech items, though).

2. Match up your chargers with your current tech gadgets (phones, cameras, IPod, etc.).

3. Label the chargers / cords:

  • Tag the chargers with labels listing tech item type (camera, GPS, cell phone, etc.), date and owner’s initials. If you don’t have a labeleImager, you can also fold a blank mailing label around the charger cord, and jot the initials on that.
  • Bundle the cords. Most are longer than necessary. We use cord coils (picked them up at Office Max), to rein in the chaos.
  • ImageOr try bundling the cords with different colored Velcro straps (each person gets their own color), or even patterned craft tapes.
  • I have to share a suggestion to hang charger cords in the inside of a cabinet door with command hooks when not in use (check out all 34 of these awesome ideas, http://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/how-to-de-clutter-your-entire-life
  • Or these handy charging ideas, http://www.workingmother.com/content/desk-control .

4.   Any chargers or cords not matched up with a tech items? Put them in a freezer bag, with today’s date and an expiration / recycle date on it, about 6 months from now.

5.  When in doubt…   Occasionally, I will put all the cords away in the drawer under the charging strip. I figure, everyone knows which cord is theirs, and will take out what they need. And things will look tidy for a while!

Keep your Apps and Updates up to date. At least once a week for my phone, I download all the app and system updates available. I update my IPad occasionally, too, but not as often as my phone.

Set limits.  No phones at the dinner table, or after 10 pm. The wi-fi to the kids’ IPods turns off at 10 pm, and all tech items are left in the kitchen overnight. No one needs to send or receive texts after 10 pm. When the boys were younger, we set TV limits, too, for example, the TV in the basement was set to only age appropriate programming.

And unplug sometimes. Seriously. I love my technology, but I like to just talk to people, too. And nap. And read, like an actual book. And go hiking. And tickle my son.

So, spend just a little time this week, and clear some tech clutter!

Boost Summer Productivity with Tech and Routines

my portable office

my portable office

My sons are home with me this week since school has ended for the summer and activities are just starting up.  And while I really like my family, they are quite fabulous, the schedule changes and having them home with me in my office threaten my professional and personal productivity.

The lure is strong, to ditch my computer and take everyone out to lunch, or go on an adventure, or curl up on the couch and watch movies with them.  Also, the interruptions increase, which is a small price to pay for being with my family, but again, those interruptions damage my focus and make simple tasks take way too long, or not get done at all.

So….. what is a working parent to do? A dear client last week suggested that I get a desk that folds out of my van, so I can work anywhere.  I like the image of folding out a desk, but I already can work from anywhere, thanks to cool technological tools.  Here are some of my ideas, maybe they will work for you, too!

  1. Know what is in your in-box.  I have been making a conscious decision to check my work email on my smart phone while I am leaving a client appointment or meeting, instead of waiting to get home.  This may seem like another distraction, but I actually find it beneficial to my focus, deleting unneeded messages right away and spending some of my commute time mentally preparing for the work waiting for me when I get home.
  2. Make your office portable.  I take my IPad everywhere.  I can write up client notes and send them right away, instead of having to wait to get home to compose, edit and send the notes. I also added duplicate apps to my IPhone and IPad, like WordPress for managing my blog, Paypal for invoicing clients, and Evernote for sharing documents among all my devices.  We traveled this past weekend and I took just the IPad instead of my laptop.  I had everything I needed for work and for fun (downloaded movies and my Kindle App) right at my fingertips.
  3. Make it easy to manage and receive your money.  I have been using Paypal a lot lately for my client billing, which shortens the wait between completing client hours and payment – awesome!
  4. Go Paperless.  I cancelled my PO box in May, which may seem trivial to you, but for me it is huge!  I’ve had that PO box since I started my business!  However, steadily over the last 12 months, I have moved my correspondence to strictly on-line so that I could let go of the PO box, with its added expense and maintenance.  In addition, I receive some monthly publications on my IPad now, instead of in print.  My office is not yet Paperless, a goal for 2013, but I am one step closer.
  5. Share the calendar.  I am slowly warming up to the idea of sharing our family calendar online, through google calendars or a similar platform.  I figure summer is the time to decide, before the school schedules start up again in August.

Routines:

  1. Get up early.  I am still getting up before 6 am.  I heard a quote recently, something about how you never hear about the hero of the story sleeping in and taking it easy!  So, I get up and enjoy a very productive 60-90 minutes before my boys get up.
  2. Shave your head (or not!!).  I shaved my head back in March for a fundraiser, and it has taught me a lot (a blog for another day).  It seems extreme, I know, and I am NOT recommending that anyone should shave their head just to save time in the morning, but it is remarkable how much time this change has opened up!  Are there parts of your daily routines that you can streamline for summer?
  3. Maintain your focus.  I am so grateful for my accountability partner, especially right now.  Most summers, I struggle to get even the basics done some day.  With the focus that comes from accountability, I feel I am still moving forward on professional goals despite the summer urge to slack!.

So, what will you try this week to streamline your work and increase your productivity this summer?  Give one of these ideas a try, or share one of your own, I would love to hear it!