How many times have you needed a file in your office, only to end up spending hours searching for what you need, in either paper file or digital file format? This can happen in many offices, because there is often so much information that comes into the office in all kinds of ways. Sometimes it gets filed physically in your filing cabinets, sometimes it doesn’t, and sometimes you end up with a big paper pile that is so disorganized that no one knows where anything is when they need it.
And what about the information that comes into your office via email? Are they always printed? Maybe not, but you know you’ve seen the information somewhere! Do you try to organize your digital files into folders, and do you always get that done systematically like you should?
Even if you know where everything is, it doesn’t mean that your employees will be able to find files when you are not around. It will take them a lot of time if there is not a systematic plan in place for your document management system. Disorganization costs you money when you and your employees could be more productive and get more work done, instead of searching for that needed file, in whatever format it is in — whether it be paper file, scanned image or digital file created by someone in your office or downloaded from email. These are all really good reasons to make the switch to document management software.
Even the smallest of offices have all kinds of paper files and digital or electronic files, and after a while, if things are not properly organized, it can be difficult to get your hands on a file when you need it.
You are able to declutter your office and get more organized when you have effective document management software.
For your paper files and other physical items that cannot be scanned, Paper Tiger Filing System Software for Document Management enables you to index everything physical so that you can conduct a quick Google-like search from the software’s database and find anything you need in a matter of seconds.
Often, there is one person who takes care of the paper filing. With traditional filing systems, this person would often have their own system, and if they were out of the office, no one else would have a clue how to find the files they needed. When your paper files are indexed into a filing system software, anyone in your office can easily find all of the files they need, and there is no need to rely on one person to find everything. Instead of having people spend all day trying to find a file and not getting other work done, they can retrieve the file they need in seconds and go about their work.
In addition, instead of only one person knowing where the office supplies are or where the training manuals or CDs, and the many other things in an office, all of these can be indexed into Paper Tiger’s database. This will allow others in the office to search for ‘paper clips’ and know exactly what drawer or cabinet they are located.
There will always be some paper in your office, but are you planning to at least cut down on some of the paper you have in your office? You know the myth of the paperless office? So to you, paperless may mean simply less paper. Because you may not be able to do away with all of the paper in your office, you’ll have Paper Tiger-Digital Tiger Filing System Software for Document Management to take care of the physical documents and other items in your office to get organized, but what about your digital files?
Everyone in your office probably has their own way of managing their digital files. One may be diligent in how they manage digital files, but would anyone else in the office be able to figure out the system and find a document if that person is out of the office? Another person may be haphazard about where they save documents and very difficult to find their digital files when needed.
Having a digital filing system can really help everyone in your office, and we recommend Digital Tiger, powered by Google Docs for organizing your electronic or digital files.
With just one click in Paper Tiger, connect to your Google Docs account; then your Paper Tiger becomes Digital Tiger! Digital Tiger works with your Google account to allow you to upload any document from your desktop or scan directly to Google Docs, then be able to search both your paper files or other physical indexed items and digital files with one search. When uploading or scanning your documents to Google Docs, they become searchable, so you will be able to search by any word or number within the document. You will be able to organize your digital files into folders or collections and securely share documents with your co-workers or others with a Gmail account.
Implement Paper Tiger-Digital Tiger Filing System Software for Document Management to get your entire office organized. You’ll be able to access, search and organize all of your documents from any Internet connection. Digital Tiger promises to help clear your desk without clearing out your wallet, and gives you the tool to find anything in your office, either paper or digital, in seconds!
This article has some great suggestions for steps to get organized and create a system for yourself that will keep you organized. Notice that one of the suggestions is to implement a document management system in your office. Paper Tiger-Digital Tiger Filing System Software for Document Management. Digital Tiger promises to help clear your desk without clearing out your wallet! You may not be able to go completely paperless, but you can sure de-clutter your desk to create a more productive environment.
Ahhh, the enlightening feeling of a clear and focused mind. Everything on your “to do list” is done, time to relax on the couch, and slip in to that Zen state. Chances are this isn’t you because most people spend more time trying to organize their lives than actually making progress. Keeping organized is a daunting process that requires discipline and, most importantly, knowledge of what to do.
Once you start figuring out how to plan, and differentiate your daily tasks, you will become more proficient at accomplishing your goals. Whether you are looking to better achieve the items on your to-do list, or you are trying to better organize the electronic clutter at work, you should understand organization is a learning process. Some people are inherently detail oriented; others learn their disorganization is negatively impacting aspects of their lives. This is the way life works, but for those of you looking to better improve your organization to save time and be more productive, here are few tips and tools.
1. Create a List That Works For You
Whether you work better on a Google Calendar or you are more of a physical calendar person, determine what works best for you and go with it. Create separate lists for work and personal. Carry both of these lists in portable form, around with you wherever you go (Whether it is mobile device or a hipster PDA, planner or day-timer type calendar). Keep these items in terms of priority with short term first and long term next. Once you begin achieving items on your list, you will learn how to breeze through your goals or obligations.
2. Document Management Software
Document management software allows you to organize your work files by indexing and assigning tags or keywords to each document you file. This software is incredibly powerful because it allows instant retrieval of documents by storing your files in one place. Digitizing your documents can also save space, according to Eco-officiency, “Current estimates show that 50–70% of space in an office is still dedicated to filing and storage of documentation. The real clincher is studies showing that over 45% of the files in those cabinets are duplicated information, and 80% is never accessed again.” Save yourself the hassles of cost-heavy activities and implement a document management system in your office.
3. Hipster PDA
The hipster PDA is for everyone out there like me. The person who loves mobile apps, but knows there is nothing that drives you to a call to action like a physical piece of paper. I make my hipster PDA every weekend, and it guides me through personal, work, diet, fitness and social “to do’s.” Hipster PDA planner pages are available to help you put everything you need on to an index card.
4. Eliminate Clutter
Organize your computer’s folders, itemize your Google docs, and clean your desk. Spend a weekend to get “uber” organized. This will serve as a base for your productivity as you move forward on your goals. You will find that eliminating clutter enlightens your mind. Hopefully making you feel more at peace with your current situation, and allow you to function more effectively.
5. Gcal
Google calendar may be the best way to organize and compile upcoming events on the web. Because it’s made by Google and hosted remotely, Gcal is accessible from any computer or phone. The recurring feature is great for consistent weekly events and allows for multiple different themes and skins. Gcal also has added functionality with your other personal accounts, having the ability to sync Facebook events and link them with your Mac’s iCal App.
Whether you are using a bit of tips and tricks to get yourself on the fast track to time savings or productivity apps to get organized; you will find that as you progress into a mode of functionality, things will happen faster and you will approach each “to do” differently. Good luck! Stay healthy, focused and productive.
Matt Krautstrunk is an expert writer on point of sale systems based in San Diego, California. He writes extensively for an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing and outsourcing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs such as restaurant pos systems at Resource Nation.
This article by Denise Landers, founder and CEO of Key Organization Systems Inc. and Paper Tiger Expert, outlines a great plan of action to get organized before you go on vacation so you can actually take a much needed break with your family without having to worry about what will be waiting on you when you return to your workplace! Denise also recommends Paper Tiger Filing System Software and Document Management to help with your filing system so that your co-workers will be able to find what they need while you’re away.
Summer is here, and along with the warmer weather, it means a lot of us will be headed away from the office to take a week or two of vacation with the family. Having a break with your loved ones, or at least away from the daily grind, can be a great thing… but only if you plan ahead. Otherwise, it can easily become a couple of weeks of working almost as much as you normally do, but without the tools and resources you’re used to having on hand.
For a lot of us, working while we’re on vacation – or at least peeking at our email once in a while – is a way of life. But to make the most of your time away, and to spend the least amount of time worrying about the office, here are 5 things you should do before heading out for a break:
1. Set up email and voicemail messages reminding customers and colleagues that you’re away. This is not just common courtesy; it is also a good productivity tip. Letting others know you are out is a good way to stop them from trying to track you down, not to mention leaving you dozens of messages you will have to sort through later.
2. Delegate any projects in progress . If you can pass on the project to someone else, do it. Not only will that ensure that your department’s goals keep moving forward in your absence, but it will be one less weight on your mind while you are on vacation. Even if you do not have a subordinate who can help, simply find another person in the office who roughly understands your job and have an agreement – they take care of your most critical work during vacation, and you do theirs in return.
3. Make an emergency copy of names, numbers, and files. Here’s the hard part: once you’ve figured out what you need to do to become a top performer, you can’t become distracted. Whether it means coming in to work an hour early, shutting your door and unplugging your phone, or just telling your assistant that you can’t be bothered unless the building’s on fire, you have to do whatever you can to ensure you hit your short-term goals each and every day.
4. Leave your contact information with one person you trust. In the event of a true emergency, your office should be able to contact you. Leave your vacation phone number and address with someone you trust and who knows not to send anything your way unless it is absolutely critical.
5. Organize your space so you will have a clean desk before you leave. This is a good productivity and time management tip for any day, but especially when you’re heading away on summer vacation. The last thing you want to come back to is a cluttered desk filled with old items, so make an effort to clean and organize it before you go. After all, there will be enough new material to review when you return. As an added bonus, this step will make it easier for another person to find important information while you’re gone, meaning they’ll have one less reason to call you when you should be relaxing.
Of course, this relates to actually taking a vacation. We all need that time off, yet so many Americans are suffering from vacation deprivation. They decline earned vacations days for a variety of reasons. Make sure you take those breaks to refresh yourself mentally and physically. It will actually help to improve your daily productivity when you are back in the office.
Contact Denise Landers
Author of Destination Organization
Call Denise at (281) 397-0015
productivity@keyorganization.com
Have you ever tried to “get organized” only to be frustrated after a day, or a week, or a month? Destination: Organization recognizes that reaching your organizing goals is a journey, not a one-time event, as you develop processes to cope with daily demands that constantly change.
Has this ever happened to you: you hire an excellent worker, commit time, effort and organizational resources into instruction, just to find out that your employee finds another job opportunity after less than 12 months?
Is there any surefire ways that it is possible for you to be proactive and minimize employee turnover? A lot of supervisors think that they understand precisely what their staff need. You may well be amazed to realize that it is not always what you believe.
Business success in addition to earnings are really important. But try not to let the bottom line deter you from focusing on employee satisfaction, which often will mitigate turn over.
Running a profitable business takes a lot of effort and work hours. However each and every time one of your employees leaves, the money and time which you have committed to the employee’s coaching costs you not merely monetarily, but in lost productivity.
Try these suggestions to reduce turn over and boost your employee’s job satisfaction:
In this tight economy, salary is usually a determining factor as to whether an employee makes a decision to stay or leave your company therefore make sure that you offer a realistic and competitive salary. Keep from paying your employees a lower salary than what is appropriate for the kind of work that they do. Paying employees at a salary amount that is unrealistically low for the work which they do is one of the best ways to ensure that they are using their spare time trying to find some other job.
To produce a highly functioning employee, it is important to offer the employee clear and focused feedback on their work and to provide useful criticism. Work with your staff on helping them to perform their jobs better.
Does a small bonus once a task is completed, or perhaps near the end of the fiscal year make sense for the company? It’s an option, but don’t think that this is the sole method to show employee appreciation. Bonuses, even a small one can be a significant part of an overall retention strategy.
Highlighting employees with some kind of award like “Employee of the Month” , or sending an email to the community recognizing an employees exceptional work can go a long way towards lowering turnover and increasing overall job satisfaction.
Employees would like to know that you actually value them and that they are recognized for their efforts.
Work / life balance is high on the list of employee retention strategies for any business. If it fits with your organization strategy, think about providing a work-at-home schedule for part of the work week, or a versatile work schedule that enables your employees to arrive into the office later in the morning, but work later in the day. Encouraging employees to balance their work and home life are essential to employee retention.
Making sure that the work gets done is essential, so it is easy to look the other way when your employees are working 60 hour weeks on a 40 hour paycheck. But don’t forget, an overworked employee is not productive. Employees who are over-worked and exhausted frequently have increased time off, which includes increased sick time which not just decreases work productivity, but influences your company’s bottom line.
Employee appreciation comes in so many forms. Make sure that your employees recognize that you are mindful of the job that they perform every day for you, and that you value them. This can do wonderful things for not only employee fulfillment, but employee retention.
How to Clear Your Desk Without Clearing Out Your Wallet!
Why we choose Google Docs to help you go paperless.
This is an interview with James D. Grady, President and CEO of The Monticello Corporation. In this interview Jim tells us why Monticello waited to bring out its new Digital Tiger product, what things needed to be in place and at what cost to customers and why the company choose Google Docs as its storage engine. Digital Tiger, powered by Google Docs, is designed to allow its customers to better manage their digital files, digital paper management and document management (PDFs, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.). Listen and/or read the full interview below.
Digital Tiger, powered by Google!
Beta testing to begin soon.
Hi, I’m Janet Baker with The Monticello Corporation, makers of Paper Tiger Filing System Software for Document Management. I have the pleasure today to interview my boss, President and CEO, James Grady. Better known to us here in the office as Jim. Jim, thank you for taking time out with us today to allow me to introduce you to our audience.
JIM: Hi, Janet. I’m glad to be here and glad to answer some questions about Digital Tiger.
JANET: I’m going to jump right in and ask you what is Digital Tiger?
JIM: We started out many years ago, launched Paper Tiger in the market 1998 and since that time have added tens of thousands of customers all over the world using our indexing system for physical paper including physical items that you might store in a storage bin and so forth, but mainly focused on helping people organize their physical hanging files and that’s where we started many years ago. And what has become obvious over the last 5-7 years that more and more people have gotten comfortable with .pdf files and comfortable with the internet and comfortable with the larger hard drives, is that you could take your paper and now digitize at least some or all of your paper in the office which would give you portability, it reduces the office space required for file cabinets and allows you to have better access in many ways than paper. So after looking at this for a long time and really trying to consider what our customers might want, we really started working on this idea of Digital Tiger and we have taken a lot of different directions with it and thought about it really hard about how we might approach the problem and help people in an economical and simple way manage the physical files in their office in a different way using .pdf, so that is when we came up with Digital Tiger. What we have really come down to now is that Digital Tiger is going to be powered by the Google engine. We looked at all different options out there from everything that you can possibly power the back end of this with and we really settled on Google and that is what we came down to. So let me just tell you a little about what Digital Tiger does. Digital Tiger does all the customary functions of online document management storage, and it does it in a very economical and simple way. Really here’s the kind of things we went after when we did Digital Tiger. We wanted it to be cheap, we wanted it to be stable, we wanted it to have multiple scanner support, We wanted it to be shareable so you can share the files with people in the office easily, We wanted it to be scalable so you could add digital storage to the system in an economical way, we wanted you to have one place to put all of your files. We wanted you to be able to manipulate those files in that same place. In other words, have the ability to actually work on your Word files or work on your Excel files or work on your .pdf’s or your presentations, which is what Google Docs does and then we wanted you to be able to back that up in a different way so rather than just being tied into Google which is a fantastic company and very profitable and should be around a long time, we wanted you to be able to back that up on a different place and that’s what you have with Google. And then really we wanted you to be able to have the future of what Google can provide with their Eco System. The Google system really provides tremendous value today and it’s just getting better all of the time especially with the tie-in now with the Android phones. So that’s kind of what Digital Tiger is and what we were going after when we actually developed it.
JANET: Wow! That’s a lot of information in one aspect of everything so you’ve covered the whole scope of it without breaking the bank.
JIM: Right, and that was our whole intention is that it is really designed for people who want to simply get their paper files into a stable, reliable, inexpensive storage system that they can easily search their files, they can share, they can manipulate their files all in one place, and that is what we were really going after.
JANET: What is the difference between Digital Tiger and other online document management systems?
JIM: It’s very confusing when you start looking at the document management, paper management, digital paper management, online storage bucket systems out there. It becomes a mishmash in your head in trying to figure out the differences are and what you really need and what would suit the purposes for doing what we call digital paper management which is what most people really want to do. It becomes very confusing, so the main difference from what we’re offering and what’s out there is if you start getting into document management, which it’s very hard to tell what the differences even are now between document management and digital management or digital content management, but if you start getting into it, you find out the cost is very high. Per month/per year, very high and you start really analyzing what they give you, what is it that you need, you find out that a lot of it or most of it, you can get with Google. So when we designed Digital Tiger, we really went after that. Simple. Inexpensive. It allows you to do things that I mentioned. And there are other systems out there that do content management. There’s Dropbox and SugarSync and there’s a whole host of products like that, but they really can’t do what you need to at least today for managing .pdf files, making them indexable, searchable and that’s not really designed for that. They’re really designed for a different purpose and it’s not designed for actually doing what most people consider digital paper management. They are not good tools for that. So that’s kind of the difference between what we see out there now and a lot of our customers, knowing that all of these systems are available, have not done anything yet. They’re waiting until they get the right tool at the right price and that’s what we think we have now.
JANET: Why did you and your management team choose Google as the engine and storage system for Digital Tiger?
JIM: We did an exhaustive, exhaustive search on this and actually developed part of this on our own first before we decided to actually go with Google and the more we developed, and the more we looked at it, and the more we looked around, the more we decided that really there’s going to be two major players in this online document management systems that allow you to, and when I say online, Google will soon be able to actually allow you to look at your files locally as well and sync to the cloud. So you’ll have the benefits of both worlds – a local file storage and you’ll have it synced to the cloud so when you need it in the cloud. So there will be two players. There will be Google and Microsoft. Microsoft is coming out with their version of this shortly. It’s in beta right now. And so with the Google system is open, it’s inexpensive, you can manage all of your file types there and basically manipulate your files using a form of Word or Excel or Powerpoint or whatever you need to do. It actually indexes your files for you, makes them searchable in .pdf, for now at least for the first 10 pages or you can index them locally and put them up there. So it is just an all-around great system. You have your calendar, your contacts, you have your music, you have your photos, you have your news reader, and you have everything in one place and you are able to share your storage so when you buy storage, you are able to share it across the host of all the applications using Google. And they’re just becoming more and more every day. And then that’s before you actually get into the more mobile aspects of Google. So that’s why we chose Google as our engine and as the back end for what we’re doing and tying Paper Tiger into a digital system and we’re very excited about it.
JANET: So tell me what problems will people encounter when converting their paper-based information to digital?
JIM: So there are really two major types of .pdf files. You have a digital .pdf which means you actually have it in .pdf form like from your bank and documents that you see in .pdf form, your credit cards, etc. and you can take those straight into your Google engine and they don’t need converting to be searchable because; they are searchable. The other way is taking physical paper, which is what we deal with a lot and having customers that have banks and banks and banks of file cabinets, and they’ve decided to take some, part, all of their paper information and put it into a searchable .pdf and that becomes mechanical and somewhat cumbersome depending on what kind of equipment that you have. So some people take a printer that can be a scanner and they try to do it that way, which is fine. It’s a little slower and it can be little bit cumbersome or they can take a high-speed scanner, which the price has dropped on those dramatically and some of the software that’s built in actually converts the files very quickly, and does not jam the paper, and converts those into a searchable .pdf. And many of them now, amazingly so, because Google has such a presence; they have tens of millions of users with Google Docs. They actually convert those files into a searchable .pdf and load them directly into Google Docs in one step. So it’s just an amazing tool. You can save the information right into Google Docs, and soon you’ll be able to save them locally and they will go into Google Docs or you can save it into the cloud directly. And so they are all starting to interface into Google Docs and so again another benefit. But some of the problems people have is getting their information converted and getting it done in a speed that makes it plausible and then when they get it in there, it’s how they organize it. Again Google is an amazing tool for this. They use a system, not of folders, so you don’t wind up with a hierarchy of one folder has some files, but you want to share it with two different folders, but you can’t. They use what they call collections, so you’re able to take your file and show it in different Collections within your Google world and that makes it useful so when you have an example where you need a file that multiple people need to see and multiple environments and multiple Collections or Folders in there, so you can do that easily with Google, so it’s not an idea of folder system but a collection system and they use this also for Gmail. So it’s just amazing, amazing tool and it eliminates a lot of the problems that people have up front. So that’s some of the things I have seen as I was working through with this problem.
JANET: What equipment does one need to actually do the job?
JIM: If you’re going to convert physical paper into digital format, you want the right scanner. It’s very important. There are a number of them out there, and some are better than others, but you really want the right equipment. And that equipment has to have the right software that does those things I mentioned about imaging and then also converting the image and also being able to upload the image. And it’s also better if the software is designed and written by the scanner manufacturer because they know the equipment very well. And then you’re going to want to have the right tool for storage and you’re going to want to have the right tool if you’re doing paper management, in our case, Paper Tiger Online. You want to have the right tool for that so that if you’re doing paper and digital together, that the system will work together. And that’s what we have tried to build. Then on the back-side, if you’re going to convert your own files, fine, but if not, you might want to look at having a service do it for you. Then one other recommendation is, because most people know the security issues, and they are aware that anyone can get into trouble with this, and our recommendation is to have your information backed up to a totally separate system either locally on your hard-drive or to a third party that allows you to recover in case there were any problems in anybody’s cloud storage. So that is kind of what I think you need to do the job.
JANET: In your opinion, what is the future of digital filing and/or document management? What is the future for paper-based information?
JIM: Well, let me start with paper-based. We think that the world has existed on paper for a long, long time. There are millions of file cabinets in the world, and paper is not going away. Paper still continues to come and we think that indexing paper using a method similar to Paper Tiger is a great way to do that. Some people want to digitize all of their information and they are willing to get rid of their paper altogether. So for them, that’s fine, they can do that. Using this system, they can easily digitize all their information, put it up in the cloud, store it locally if they want, back it up, and have their information available to them. Some people want to have all their information in the cloud or stored in .pdf format, but they want the hard copy in case something goes wrong or in case they need it or in case they get audited or need some other way to get at it. The other thing is that some people might use a hybrid, where they have some information in paper and some information in digital form depending on what the paper is…if it’s a bound document or original signature or something they want to keep in it’s current form. So indexing is great for that. You can use this information, you can use the world of paper versus digital in any way that suits your purposes if you’ve got the right tools. Both of them have a place. What we’ve attempted to do with Digital Tiger and Paper Tiger is make it so that you can search one place for everything, and that’s what we’re trying bring to the market. So as far as we know, it’s really one of the best total systems out there and certainly the best low-cost way to get their information up there. So let me answer the question of the future. You will be able to put your hands on your information, whatever form that takes, virtually anywhere you are on any device, whether it be a tablet or phone, an Android phone, iPhone, whatever, you’ll be able to look at it, get the information you need quickly and easily. You’ll be able to share that information and collaborate that information. So that’s all the digital side, and we are already starting to see that, and that’s what Google brings to the table naturally. There are no extra things required. And then the paper-based information will be the things that you keep potentially back at your office that you need to get your hands on there. That’s kind of the future as we see it evolving and everybody is seeing that with the devices coming out.
JANET: Right. So can you tell me why should I put my information in the cloud? Can I keep my information on my local computer as well, either laptop or desktop?
JIM: Well I’ve probably already answered this as I’ve talked but the answer is yes, you can keep it locally. Google is working on the local sync as we speak today. They had it, they’re changing it to a new format that’s more robust and it is imminent that it will be out. A lot of people want that. They want to be able to see it locally or manipulate locally or offline, and that is certainly coming. The reason you keep stuff in the cloud is because it is ubiquitous. You can find it anywhere and it is backed up and very, very securely, very redundantly on a multitude of servers. Google has servers world-wide and they are fully redundant. So if one goes down, you still have access to your information. They have 99.9% plus uptime. So they are virtually down never. So it’s a great way to store your information, it’s a great way to collaborate on your information with other co-workers, and it’s a great way to share information with other people. It’s a one-place to keep your information.
JANET: What is the future for Digital Tiger development? And I know one question that I get asked a lot, will Digital Tiger work with Google’s mobile or Android apps?
JIM: The answer is, we’re not sure about Digital Tiger and where we will go with it. We can only see so far, and what we can see right now, based on our surveys of our customers, is that people the things we talked about, inexpensive, very robust, really oriented toward the future, meaning the developments are really rapid place to store their digital information. They want that to work seamlessly with how they store their paper-based information so there is one search, you find everything in my world. One of the things we will most likely add is the ability to search not only your digital files, not only your paper files, but also your email, so that you’ll even be able to pull that, and we may even look at going into other things, photos and so forth, because there are cases where people have all that information and they’d like to find it across all their Google apps which includes photos and their bookmarks and their calendar and so forth. We’re not there on the first development, but we can certainly see that coming. Then the mobile apps, all of this same functionality would be available to you on mobile, at least for Android and maybe for the IOS or Apple platform.
JANET: Wonderful. I think you’ve already answered the question as far as how secure our data is at Google, but what can you offer for additional backups?
JIM: Everybody gets concerned about their data in the cloud and want to make sure it’s secure and safe and backed up and so forth. The reality is, for almost everyone, your data is much safer in the cloud than it is on any local computer that you may have. So if you take some precaution in the sense of, in our opinion, get a back up of that data in the cloud locally, pull it down locally or put it to a third party. There are services out there that we recommend and that you have a full redundancy of the systems. So the chances of data loss then are even further out the statistical curve, so your chances are that you’re going to keep your data in those cases. So that’s what we see. I think the cloud is very safe at this point and not without mishap, but in general a very secure way to store your data, especially if you’re dealing with someone as robust as the big players out there.
JANET: So what if we need help getting our system setup and/or my data converted. What can Monticello do to help me?
JIM: Our commitment was this, on the Digital Tiger, when we brought it out, what we were trying to do is to offer one-stop shop for people that don’t have the time, they didn’t want to break the bank, they were worried about putting their data with unknown company that they don’t know if they’re going out of business tomorrow. In this case, the data is stored with Google, your data is all at Google. So that’s a reasonably good bet. They don’t have time to do the research all the systems that are out there and keep up with all that stuff. They want to make sure their data is backed up. They want to make sure they have someone to call; someone to keep them abreast of what’s going on in the market. As Google brings out new features, they want the company to interpret that for them and tell them this is how they can use it; here’s how you can use it; here’s how it will help you, because there is a lot of new stuff coming from Google. So that’s what we’re really trying to do with Digital Tiger, and that’s why we locked into Google as our engine and our back end, because what we can provide is help on understanding what to do and how to do it. As you have turnover in your organization, we can help the new people understand how this works. We can help you get your data converted; bringing it into Google. We can help you with training of the staff. We can also help you think about how you want to set up your data. So kind of an overall planning of this is how we are going to use it, this is how we should divide it, this is how we should put it up there and this is our workflow. Again, all of this we tried to make this very, very inexpensive on a yearly/monthly basis, so that people could have a partner in this at a very reasonable price point. And the price point for Google storage is just exceptionally low. In many cases, 1/48th of the cost of some of the systems out there. Almost 1/50th of the cost, not half (1/2), but 1/50th so you can afford to put your stuff, all your things, your digital files into Google, and then have Monticello, the makers of Paper Tiger and Digital Tiger as your partner in getting all your data converted and getting it in there and having us to help support you and back you up. So that’s really what we can do at this point to help people actually make the conversion or start the conversion over to the digital world and/or organize their paper information at the same time, so they have one place for everything.
JANET: Jim, you keep saying paper, but I know from experience that we also index more than just paper. Can you touch just a little bit on what else can possibly be indexed with Paper Tiger with Digital Tiger combined.
JIM: On paper files alone, there’s three parts of the life-cycle. There’s actionable files that are in the proximity of your desk usually. There are reference files, which are usually located in filing cabinets in your office. Then there are archived files, which are usually located off-site or in a storage room. So we index all of that and we can move paper through it’s life-cycle, and we will be able to do that with digital too in this case with Digital Tiger now. But what a lot of people end up with are other physical items, and those can take the form of storage bins that have things in them for personal use or for business. It can take the form of books, or can take the form of any physical item that you want to index. Any modern warehouse today, a computer has indexed everything in it and knows exactly where those things. So you can use Paper Tiger, which is kind of a misnomer, and maybe should be ‘Physical Tiger’, but you can use Paper Tiger to index virtually anything. Our customers do; and we see them all the time responding to surveys about all the different things that you can index with Paper Tiger. We actually have a blog post about it that one of our Paper Tiger Experts, Stephanie Calahan, wrote up that’s really well done that talks about 17 or 18 different things that people are organizing with Paper Tiger. So it’s not just about paper. It’s really about anything physical and it really saves a tremendous amount of time when you go looking for those items to find them index on your computer.
JANET: Sure. That blog post that you’re referring to written by Stephanie for us is actually now a webpage on our website, which can be found on our Why Paper Tiger tab, and over to the left, you’ll see Not Just For Filing Paper.
JIM: Right, www.thepapertiger.com
JANET: Absolutely. Well thanks Jim. We appreciate your time today. Awesome information. We look forward to everything Digital Tiger will offer everyone. So thanks again!
JIM: You’re welcome and we look forward to answering questions from everybody. This is a journey we’re all actually embarking on this digital world. The cloud has become very topical now, so this is going to be very interesting, but I think there will be a lot of productivity gains and cost reduction and cost savings for business owners out there and I think it’s ready for primetime. It’s going to be an amazing tool for helping people get organized and streamline their business and reduce the cost.
Paper Tiger Filing System Software can help you get organized in more than just paper files. Getting storage areas organized may seem even more of a daunting task than tackling your paper files, but it can be rewarding and help to declutter your life. It’s possible that you will have things in an attic, a garage, a basement, a storage shed on your property and some belongings in a rented storage unit. One of the biggest problems people have with their belongings is not even knowing what they have on hand or off site in a rented storage unit. So, if you are looking for a particular tool and cannot find it, you may end up buying another one and wasting money. People invest a good deal of money into certain things they may only use once in a while, but when you need it, you should be able to locate it.
The best thing to do for organized living is to get an idea of what you need access to on a regular basis. All those items you don’t want to keep in the house, or no longer have room for, can be stored in the basement, attic or storage building on your property, and documented with a filing system. Filing system software works great for this, because you can inventory and index what you actually have in the location you decide for storage, and what storage box or shelf the item is located. Then when you need to find an item, you can simply conduct a quick Google-like search in the software database and know exactly where it is located. This will save you countless hours because you won’t have to sift through everything before finding the needed item.
Box up smaller loose items and mark the box with a number. If you use a filing system software, you can keep track of what is in each of those boxes. You won’t have to sift through tons of boxes looking for that one particular type of screw if you know from your inventoried list which box number to find it in.
Keep items that you use the most close to the entry doors of the storage area and the rest can get packed in neatly. Take care to avoid storing anything that may not hold up well to weather issues, if possible. These types of items, or those you don’t use often but want to keep, will need to be stored in-house or can go to a climate-controlled offsite storage area.
Again, pack to the back those belongings you probably won’t need to get to very often. Bigger, bulkier and less useful things can be placed out of the way. The good thing with rental storage units is many of them are climate controlled and sealed off well enough to prevent problems from issues such as leaks and weather conditions. Then, those items you think you may actually want to gain access to on a somewhat regular basis can go up front.
The important part really is to use a filing system software to keep track of what you own, what you are storing and where it is being stored. Indexing your items into a filing system will ensure that you know exactly where these things are, before you end up buying another one because you can’t find the original.
Documentation of your belongings also helps other people who may need to gain access to things for you. If you want an organized life, organizing storage sheds is a great way to declutter your home and life.
There are so many uses for Paper Tiger because it is not just a filing system for your paper files, but can index any physical item. It would not be easy to give examples for everything, but we will give a couple of examples here that will hopefully give you the general idea. Just know that if you can imagine being able to put a number onto whatever type of item that you want to inventory or index, you can let your imagination run.
In this webinar, Anne McGurty, productivity expert of Strategize and Organize, conducted basic getting started with Paper Tiger Online functions, such as describing what is a Database, creating a Database, creating a Location, creating Items, printing labels for your items.
Then Anne continued by demonstrating the following, in addition to answering questions asked during the webinar, to help you use Paper Tiger more effectively to get organized and be more productive:
-How to organize things other than paper files
-Filing items from her inbox
-Searching items, then editing
-How to use the Transfer function to Move an Item, with an explanation of why and how to use Confirmation
-How to use the Cleanout Report and benefits of this report (this is one of Anne’s favorites)
-How to Toss an item when it is no longer valid
-Using the Confirmation function when transferring or tossing an item and why the confirmation function is helpful
As information, Anne is a professional speaker, productivity expert, and author. If you want to learn more about Anne and her services, please visit her website at www.StrategizeAndOrganize.com. She may be in Colorado, but she’s nationally recognized as an expert and works with people throughout the US in person and virtually.
See more information here on Paper Tiger Filing System Software for Document Management
You can contact Anne at amcgurty@strategizeandorganize.com or by phone at 303 881-0174.
Q: Referring to labels, can we get the document in a Word format so that I can change font options?
A: Currently, Paper Tiger Online will only extract labels in .pdf format, so it wouldn’t be possible to change the font. However, see this knowledge base article for instructions to create your own labels using MS Word Mail Merge: http://support.thepapertiger.com/entries/20900682-Create-Your-Own-Labels-Using-Mail-Merge
Q: Can you touch on using the alphabetical method & your thoughts on using it. We have several files that we don’t want to index. How do you use Paper Tiger A – Z file system?
A: Filing alphabetically is not the concept behind Paper Tiger. You don’t necessarily need to forget about alphabetizing, however the concept behind Paper Tiger is to file numerically rather than alphabetically and search from keywords that you’ve input versus the one or two words that might be input on the hanging file folder tab when filing alphabetically. If this is frightening or too much of a paradigm shift for you, but you still want to index your filing system, see the following blog posts for how to use Paper Tiger for alphabetical filing.
Q: Did I hear you say that if you want to move from a PC version to web version, the files will be transferred for you?
A: Yes, you can send your Paper Tiger desktop database to our tech support team and they will import the database for you into your Paper Tiger Online account. Prior to sending your database, make sure all pending items have been confirmed by clicking the Confirm box, and empty the Trash. Then export your database to .CSV file by following the instructions below for all databases if you have more than one database. To export a Paper Tiger CSV file from Paper Tiger 4:
1. Open Paper Tiger and the appropriate database.
2. From the File menu, select Export.
3. Check the Select All box.
4. Click the Browse button to select the preferred directory so that you will know where the file will be saved to and type in a file name for the CSV file, click the Save or Open button
5. Then attach the .CSV file to your email that you’re sending to our tech support team at support@thepapertiger.com
Q: How do categories work in Paper Tiger Online?
A: You do not need to add a Category for every item. You can add a Category in the instances when you might want a virtual view of files that are related even though they may be in different file drawers. See our knowledge base article at How do I use Categories in Paper Tiger? for more information.
Q: I have a Paper Tiger account and have created several databases. But when I search, it appears that I can only search one database at a time. Is that correct?
A: Yes, Paper Tiger does not search across databases. Having different databases is only advantageous if you want to keep different filing systems separate and do not want to search for all files in all databases at one time. For example, if you have an Office database and a Home database, you do not want items to pop up from your Office database when conducting a search for an item in your Home database.
Q: I use Paper Tiger for the business that I manage. It is a large dental practice. My doctors want me to be “paperless” and scan in all invoices, statements, etc. When will I be able to do this and organize via Paper Tiger? I have used this system for three years and don’t want to abandon it
A: We hope to have a digital filing solution soon, but do not have a definite date yet.
Q: I would like your views on filing DVD’s and computer software.
A: Of course, you can index DVD’s and computer software, and basically anything that you can put a number onto. Simply index your DVD’s and computer software, and print out labels from Paper Tiger to affix onto each DVD and computer software CD or you can number the CD itself or the edge of the jewel case or storage sleeve.
See our Not Just For Filing Papers webpage for other great ideas.
Q: Once created, can a database be accessed from any computer?
A: Yes, Paper Tiger Online works on any computer with an Internet access including Mac, so you will be able to log into your Paper Tiger Online account from anywhere.
Q: What is the best process for moving from a traditional file system to Paper Tiger?
A: See our blog post Customize Your Filing System with Paper Tiger’s Indexing Method
We know that companies and organizations, both large and small, and government agencies, etc. struggle with the decision of security for any software. Since Paper Tiger Online is a cloud computing software for document management and filing systems, we thought this article might be helpful to those who have concerns surrounding cloud-based software. Security is our goal for Paper Tiger Filing System Software for document management.
Companies that use IT investments to maintain their businesses have begun to make a turn towards cloud computing. Cloud computing in the context of software testing refers to the centralization of tasks or functionality over the Internet, such that inputs from multiple physical locations can be processed via a single online infrastructure.
Lots of information technology departments have started to utilize cloud computing at a greater frequency to improve efficiency and save money and resources. Recent cloud test methods are becoming more and more successful. Here’s a few insights regarding ways to utilize this platform for your organization.
Executing a software test via the cloud necessitates a specific set up; you ought to maintain a separate test laboratory and personnel, which of course might vary from industry to industry or product to product.. It is essential to remember that the laboratory must be separate from the rest of the IT area and should also have employees specifically there to execute testing activities within the lab. Once created, the lab can start to test things over the Internet, and in fact this is the foundation of what cloud computing is.
Ultimately, as soon as the systems and laboratory environments are created, the company will have the ability to handle an increasing number of tasks via cloud computing. This will save tons of cash and resources, and the movement is already transforming the business world as we speak (a good example of a company on the cutting edge of this trend is Twitter). The primary reason for this trend is that efficiency and effectiveness are more important now than ever due to worldwide competition and economic uncertainty, and the usage of the cloud can help companies do more with less.
Obviously, any thing that is relatively new will have its share of issues. For example, you really must keep tabs on the activities of the actual testers. If your staff is experienced, you can relax a little; But don’t make the error of placing complete and unquestioned faith in your staff. It is critical to follow up to ensure that the activities of the testers are moving forward on time and on budget. The last thing you need is to see an error or test case problem at the eleventh hour, because this could invalidate the test results and require that the testing project essentially start over from the beginning. Therefore, have your IT department watch this closely and set the expectations with the software testers up front that their work will be closely monitored.
In summary, cloud computing seems like it is not going away any time soon, for software testing functions as well as business operations in general. The capability to use distributed computing environments to tap into global resources concurrently has the chance to dramatically help the bottom line when it comes to software testing efforts. However transitioning to the cloud necessitates some time and effort to create the lab plus train and motivate the employees. However the subsequent gains in efficiency should be worthwhile.
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If you have ever wondered why some paper filing systems are so expensive, the answer might be in how they are used, or rather hard to maintain. The more times that you have to go outside of a system to accomplish the task it is meant to handle, the more you increase its cost. The more additional items that you have to buy to properly use a system, the more expensive it becomes. And, the longer that it takes to train your employees or your family members to use a system, then the more it costs in terms of your valuable time and your money.
Additional items must be bought for some organizational systems to work. This can include a scanner, which is used to create either a digital file backup or to get rid of the physical paper file attempting to go paperless. Some people already have a scanner, but not everyone does. If you have to buy such an item, would you still be saving money by using it? If everything is put on the same disc, what happens to your filing system if that disc is lost, stolen or destroyed? Or worse, becomes obsolete – remember floppy discs? In addition, how do you search for a needed file on a CD or backup?
What if you have a system that is meant to organize more than just papers? What if you have books or CDs or DVDs or items in storage containers or other physical items that need to be documented? If you have to implement a secondary system for the non-paper items, then the cost of that first system will go higher by default. The right filing system software can be used to organize and maintain items beyond just papers…basically anything that you can put a number onto can be indexed.
So how do you index items other than paper? Simply index your books, CDs, DVD’s, computer software, items in storage containers, etc., then print out labels from Paper Tiger to affix onto each item. Actually with Paper Tiger, you can print out the numbered labels first, affix to the item, then index each item to match the relating item number. For CDs, DVD’s, and computer software, you can number the CD itself or the edge of the jewel case or storage sleeve. For books, simply put the item number on the spine. For storage containers, put the number on the end of the container that will face outward.
See our Not Just For Filing Papers webpage for other great ideas.
Finally, you also have to consider the value of your time when you are starting an organizational system. Organization, by its very definition, should mean that things are in the right place and they are easy to find. That should free up some of your time, not bog it down even further.
Experts estimate that people spend 150 hours per year looking for lost information in any office environment. Being able to cross-reference your files and find them with a click of a computer mouse with a simple Google-like search in the database is like paying yourself because you are saving time.
Remember, in business and in your family life, your time is very valuable and precious. You can make more money another day. You can sign a new document or mail out a letter or whatever else you need to do but you absolutely cannot make more time.
Implementing Paper Tiger Filing System Software that’s not just for document management will provide you with an organizational system tool that you will wonder what you ever did without! Get organized with a smart filing system that will help you stop wasting time and start finding what you need, when you need it!
This article by Denise Russos, Progressive Organizing Solutions and Paper Tiger Expert, gives us a great plan to conquer our clutter and paper filing problems! The Paper Tiger Document Management Software and Filing System (Paper Tiger Online or Paper Tiger desktop version) will help you accomplish this very efficiently and be able to later find what you’ve filed!
Conquering the paper issues in an office or home can be the most stressful part of getting organized. Everyone realizes they actually keep too many clothes, or too many pots and pans, or even too many of whatever it is. We’re just so afraid to get rid of the paper trails in our lives that we hold on to every slip of receipt, and every article we’ve ever wanted to read so we are overwhelmed with paper! I know what I’m talking about! Aunt Mary sent you a card! Uncle Jim sent a article on fly fishing! I can hear you now! “If I get rid of it, they are going to ask me for it or about it!”
This week I’ve been out of town working with a woman who is trying to get her papers in order. She is part of a large family corporation that owns a lot of land, ranches, oil fields, farms, etc. She is really great, but she is just like everyone else when it comes to paper. By the way, she is doing a magnificent job at the clearing out process and yesterday began the process of learning how to scan documents and enter them into her new centrally understood filing system! But I digress here. I will explain what this type of filing system is soon! Be patient.
It doesn’t matter if you are a one person family or a ten person family, you will have paper clutter. Clutter is postponed decisions. Everywhere you look some surface in your home or office is cluttered with papers that should have had decisions made about them the minute they hit your desk or counter top! So the first thing I want to address is your lack of habit!
Lack of habit is the cause of clutter. We have tendencies that say, I’ll get to it later. Only we don’t. So it builds up until we have to take entire days to do something that originally should only take a few minutes or an hour at a time to complete. This goes for other things than taking care of paper clutter, but we’ll stick to paper clutter management for now.
If I look around my home office, I can see trends that need improvement and I bet you can too. Little slips of paper my adult son left on the home computer desk that should have been thrown away. Or the fact that I went out of town for several days and now have an accumulation of mail on my desk to go through. Or that stack of magazines that only have one article in them I wanted to read. So as I go along, I do what I teach my clients to do. Reading that article is first, because I can certainly clear the space if I decide not to keep the article. I definitely will not keep the magazine!
As for the mail, which is the biggest contributor to paper trash in the household or office, it is next. I have to decide to file it for future decisions, act on it if it is necessary, or trash it.
While I was out of town I spoke with some ladies at the Millennium Hotel in Durham. Sweet ladies, but they were as mind boggled over what to throw away as the next person.
Keep these rules in mind!
The point here is that every piece of paper that comes into your home or office needs some type of Action. You only have three choices. Make them wisely and you will have less and less piles of paper and more desk real estate to use for important things!
A friend of mine, Stephanie Calahan said something recently on how long it takes to create a habit. It is generally accepted that it is a 21 day process. However, I agree with Stephanie that it can take up to seven weeks to create a sustainable habit.
Knowing what you have to do, and doing it are two different things. You know you need to get it under control. Clutter is a stress magnet and if you can get the clutter under control or gone forever, wouldn’t you? Reduce your stress, reduce your blood pressure, and try to enjoy a wonderfully new environment by becoming clutter free!
Denise Russos, Progressive Organizing Solutions
Original article posted: Making Your Filing System Work for You!
http://twitter.com/DeniseRussos
Paper filing on your own can be hard labor. If you have been in business for quite some time, keeping up with the amount of paper work that you have in your office can be overwhelming. Do you think it would be possible for someone to alphabetize and index each and every document that you ever printed?
Thankfully, paper filing does not need to be a nightmare. Implementing Paper Tiger Filing System Software for Document Management, can eliminate your filing woes completely and will help you get organized. Here’s why you need a good filing system:
Paper Filing Is a Laborious Task but Filing Systems Cut Down the Physical Effort Required
There is no doubt about it, filing paper physically can be really back-breaking. There are many things involved in the process of paper filing. If you have a large volume of physical documents being generated in your office, you certainly cannot stack them in a filing cabinet forever, so you begin making folders for each. Once you have made your folders, you move on to alphabetizing them and finally you index them and store them in your filing cabinets. The more documents that are generated in your office, the more time it will take for you to perform this whole process. In the end, you will have wasted a lot of company time just filing paper.
Instead, when you use a good paper filing system, you can use the document management software to generate an index number for each hanging file folder, so that the next time you have paper to file, you simply drop it in the first available numbered folder. As you file a document away in your cabinet, you create a record in the software database that coincides where that physical item is stored. Then you assign it as many keywords as necessary so when you need to find the item, you can conduct a google-like search in the database. For example, if you are filing your tax return for 2010, you might use keywords like “tax,” “taxes,” “IRS,” “Internal Revenue Service,” “finances,” “bookkeeping,” “accounting,” “legal,” “end-of-year,” “2010” — whatever makes sense to you. Then when you want to retrieve that item, you can search by any keyword to find its location.
Filing System Software Points Out Free Space in Your Filing Cabinet
When you are filing paper without professional help, it is only a matter of time when you run out of space to put additional files. For instance, if you have arranged your files alphabetically, and your Ks are completely filled, you seek to move additional files to a new venue. This makes your job more tedious, and it makes the filing more confusing and a major reason why many people delay filing, and therefore causes another problem – a backlog of filing, you know, those stacks and stacks of paper files all over the office.
On the other hand, if you use paper management software like Paper Tiger that will allow you to set up numbered hanging file folders in advance, when you add a new file, the software will find the first space available in your filing cabinet for your new documents so that you won’t have to spend hours searching for a new venue to move folders around to make room to insert in between. This is extremely convenient and helps you find your papers easily when you require them.
Filing System Software Makes Office Management Much Easier
Paper Tiger Filing System Software for Document Management helps you track the move of paper files from one place to another. If you want to make a copy of a paper, or if you want to destroy one, you can put reminders in your filing system. Another advantage is that when you want to move your files, you can transfer the file to the new location in your filing system software so that you can locate these when you want them next.
When you bring a new filing system into your small business office, some of the employees might be a little concerned. If you currently have a haphazard filing system, especially one that is unconventional at best, you might find yourself at the mercy of the few people who understand it. If there is no organization system that works the same way for every employee, there will be reluctance of most people to try to find any information at all. And, if that one employee that actually gets the filing system has to be out of the office for an extended time or worse leaves the company, where will that leave you?
A good filing system, like Paper Tiger Filing System Software for Document Management, is one that is effective, adaptable and expandable, but most importantly, is simple enough to be used by everyone in the office without needing hours of training. Ideally, you want to take a new employee to the computer, show them the basics of the system and then be done. That is the mark of a good system: the ability to show it off once and then walk away, no hand holding needed.
Your employees should know what their duties and responsibilities are in regard to the filing system in the office. There should never be just that one person that does all of the filing and updating, especially in a very small office where there only a few employees to begin with. Remember: the more that you rely on one single person other than yourself, the more trouble you will have if that person has to be out of office for vacation or sickness or decides to leave your business.
Instead of allowing papers to pile up, there should be a systematic filing system – preferably when a paper or document comes in to the office. The right organizational filing system is also one that will allow you to file away other items, not just papers. A small business has just as much obligation to keep an accurate inventory of their business machines or products as a larger business. Being able to keep track of those items on the same filing system that manages your paper documents streamlines your entire operation. Of course, the document management systems that require you to scan everything will not be useful for this process. You can’t scan an adding machine or a set of office phones.
The papers that you have laying around can be very messy, but more importantly, they can be dangerous to your business. The more time that you have to spend shuffling papers around, the less time you have to focus on your business which means less time that you have to make money. Because there are so many papers that can be vital to the operation of a business, it becomes even more important to make sure that they are where they need to be when you need them.
In addition, it is important to create a records retention guideline for your document management system so you and your employees will have a systematic system in place to know when to purge certain types of files, how long to keep records. For more information on records retention, please see articles that you might find helpful in our blog category: Retention Guidelines: How Long Should You Keep Records
Implementing a simple, straightforward, easy to use organizational filing system, like Paper Tiger Filing System Software for Document Management, in your business allows you and your employees to focus on what really matters.
This article by Denise Landers, founder and CEO of Key Organization Systems Inc. and Paper Tiger Expert, will help encourage and empower you to become more productive by setting goals and implementing better time management! Denise also recommends Paper Tiger Filing System Software and Document Management to help with your filing system to actually be able to find what you need, when you need it.
by Denise Landers
Ever wonder what separates the very best performers in any field from their competitors? Lots of people would point to genetics, education, or maybe just a bit of luck, and these all certainly play a part. But usually, those parts aren’t as big as you might think…
That’s because, when you dig a little bit deeper, you find that top salespeople, executives, and entrepreneurs all have one thing in common: they set goals and are very intentional about their time when it comes to reaching them. By keeping calendars, lists, and other organizational tools up-to-date, they avoid that feeling of having the day or week “just slip away…”
There’s no reason you can’t do the same. The trick is simply to become more focused and not let yourself become distracted by problems, issues, or even opportunities that would keep you from reaching your long-term goals. Here are a few quick tips to get you started:
When you still find yourself getting distracted throughout the day so that your focus is interrupted, take one week to try a technique used by many productivity experts: the time log.
If you have ever been to even one serious time management seminar, you’ve already heard the advice to keep a time log (a record of how you’ve spent your day down to the minute) as a first step to getting control your calendar… and you’ve heard the dozens of groans around you from the men and women who have heard this tip before and ignored it.
The fact of the matter is, people don’t like keeping time logs. Not only are they tedious, but they would seem to get in the way of the one thing these busy professionals are really trying to accomplish – having fewer tasks on their plate, and more time to do them in. And so, a lot of time management professionals don’t even bother with them anymore, or at least don’t hold out big hopes that attendees will give them a try.
That’s too bad, however, since one thing that tends to get forgotten about time logs is that they work. Here are three reasons productivity experts love time logs, and why you should try using one for at least a week:
These aren’t complicated pieces of advice, of course, but if you can follow them, it’s only a matter of time before productivity becomes a habit – one that will make other people wonder how you got the genetics, education, and luck to become one of the best in your field.
For more details on managing projects and time management techniques, read our article on Project Management.
Contact Denise Landers
Author of Destination Organization
Call Denise at (281) 397-0015
productivity@keyorganization.com
Have you ever tried to “get organized” only to be frustrated after a day, or a week, or a month? Destination: Organization recognizes that reaching your organizing goals is a journey, not a one-time event, as you develop processes to cope with daily demands that constantly change.
Hi, I’m Janet Baker with Paper Tiger Filing System Software for document management and I’m thrilled to have Meggin McIntosh with us today. Meggin is The PhD of Productivity™. Meggin founded Emphasis on Excellence, Inc. in 1996, and is based in a Reno, Nevada, where she serves individuals, but also travels extensively throughout the country consulting and doing workshops for associations, schools, Universities and Colleges, and companies through workshops, seminars, coaching, and consulting.
Meggin’s purpose is to help others to know, feel, dream, and do more, and differently, so they are living the best and most productive, and doing so with consciousness, clarity, and conviction.
The choice for the name Emphasis on Excellence is deliberate. Meggin and her team endeavor to make excellence their habit, which is important to know because they not only have high expectations of themselves, but of the situations and set ups where and with whom they are working. They work with bright people who want to be more productive, so they can consistently keep their emphasis on excellence.
As a coach, Meggin will support you in the changes that you want to make. At times, she can help you see the next step. Other times, she can give you a push to take the next step, and sometimes she will question you on your decision not to take the next step. Having a coach makes a tremendous difference and accelerates the change and often the direction of your change.
In addition, Meggin is an accomplished author and speaker, and continually publishes articles on her diverse websites that will help you gain control of your life and stop being overwhelmed. The many websites she publishes can be found from her primary website www.meggin.com and two of my favorites are www.justwhelmed.com instead of ‘overwhelmed’ and www.stayingpositiveinafreakedoutworld.com.
Meggin, wow, this is quite a bio! and that doesn’t even begin to tell us of your accomplishments! Thank you so much for agreeing to interview with us today.
MEGGIN: Well thanks! And I will certainly tell people that we teach what we most need to know and I always like to let people know that ahead of time, because in case anybody thinks, ‘I bet Meggin has pretty much everything all figured out as far as productivity and never gets overwhelmed or all of those things.’ I would let them know that we’re all learning all of the time, so I’m kind of my own laboratory so I’ll try things out with myself and ask, ‘did that help?’ … ‘yeah!’
JANET: So you know from your own personal experience what to tell people.
MEGGIN: Exactly!
JANET: ok, Meggin, I’m going to start with asking you a few questions about Paper Tiger, and then move forward, ok?
First of all, let me ask do you use Paper Tiger for yourself?
MEGGIN: Yes I do. Should I tell you how I got started with it?
JANET: Yes I would love to hear it.
MEGGIN: Well many years ago when I was a professor and then I was the director of our excellence and teaching program at our University and so I had a few people who worked for me in our office. We taught Professors how to teach better and so forth. My office manager was there one day and then she was gone the next, with no advanced noticed. She had announced that she was pregnant, but nowhere near having a child yet, but she got very, very sick and became a bed-ridden like overnight. So like I said, there one day, gone the next. She was gone for three months. The whole office, I don’t want to say we almost fell apart, but we at least fell apart as far as knowing where things were and how to find them, because Karen knew where everything was and how to find everything. So when she came back, I said you must find a solution for us. That is your first job. Don’t even worry about any of the backlog of this work. You find a solution. And what she found was Paper Tiger and that was back when it was at 1.0 or something and it was a long time ago. We implemented Paper Tiger, tried the free trial and I was sold instantly and I have used Paper Tiger ever since. There are a lot of things in my office I would give up if I had to, I wouldn’t necessarily give them up happily, but I would not and could not give up Paper Tiger. And I tell people that all of the time. I’m not just telling you that.
I say that in my workshops or with my clients. I just say, “You’ve got to have Paper Tiger.”
JANET: Wow, I’m really glad to hear that. I appreciate you letting us know. In fact, that describes one of the main problems that Paper Tiger does solve and that is to be able to let a replacement actually find or actually the office manager in your case, the boss, find the files that need to be found.
MEGGIN: That exactly what I tell people, whether you are a one person shop and you just need to be able to file and find your own materials when you don’t have anybody else helping you or you have a multi-person office or you have an assistant who comes in once a week or anything like that. To me, it’s the only way of being able to have efficiency in filing items, not having to re-create things, being able to have somebody else to help us. And finding things, let’s say we’re not in the office and if you’re like me and travel as much as I do, there are times I need to be able to tell somebody else, ‘Hey, would you please look up thus and such, and tell me what’s in there.’ One of things I use Paper Tiger for is in my storage unit. So it’s not just for files, I have boxes in there that are labeled and numbered; and I can for example ask my husband or my assistant, I can say, ‘Look I’m getting ready to do a workshop on this and this. When I come home, if you could have these 6 boxes loaded up in the back of my car’, because I’m going to need them then the following week as I head out into the hinterlands to teach something else; and if I didn’t have items organized in that way, then I would never be able to ask somebody else to look in the storage unit.
JANET: Exactly. So obviously, you’ve just told us two of your favorite things that Paper Tiger fixes for you. What are other things that Paper Tiger solves for a majority of your clients and yourself, of course.
MEGGIN: I work with a lot of Professors and if people think of the stereo-type of professors as absent-minded professors and they’ve got stuff all over their office and I would say that is not just a stereo-type. It’s true. I mean there are a few faculty members that really do know where everything is, but most of them have way too much stuff in way too small of a space. I have faculty who has used Paper Tiger to catalog videotapes and even though some people think, ‘well I don’t know if people use videotapes that much anymore’, but they do. I have certainly used it for CDs and DVDs, some people have use it with notebooks. I’ve worked with people in government agencies and school districts who often have so many notebooks from so many projects or conferences that they’ve attended and they don’t even know what they have. We number those notebooks or whatever the other items are and that has really, really helped. Plus in some cases where people find through Paper Tiger, they realize, oh gosh, I actually have three of these notebooks, but they are in different places and I only need one that I can find and then they are able to free up some space.
JANET: That’s really cool, so they’re able to keep up with all of those and I know that professors have so many different subjects that they teach and they have to keep up with the paperwork for their students and everything else, so that’s great.
Do you find that Paper Tiger is used mainly by administrators or managers or a mix of the two?
MEGGIN: I’ve had some instances for example, when I’ve had grant funded agencies that brought me in and they often do have an admin who gets things set up and they handle it. So I have some of that, but I try to make it clear to people that it’s easy enough to use and it’s fast enough to use, that we don’t have to have somebody else do it. For example, a lot of time, especially now that I have Paper Tiger Online, but even before when I had the desktop version, I’d always have it open, and so I could just quickly open up that window, type in what I needed, find it and it took three seconds. So I try to let everybody know this isn’t some monster software that is going to be impossible for you to use.
JANET: Meggin, tell us how you implement Paper Tiger in your client’s offices most effectively. I understand that you mostly work with Professors and that kind of thing.
MEGGIN: Well we just did in. I have some people that I work with remotely, but mostly I love the hands on, the going in and working with people and getting it set up and then I start to show them, and I usually bring an assistant with me and I usually ask my client to have an assistant so there is four of us, and so that the main client and I are doing the decision-making, making it happen, figuring it out, answering questions and the assistants are either dropping things into folders, running things out into a recycling bin. I mean it’s a beehive of activity. So that’s what I really like is sitting with a person and showing them how it works. I also find that for most of us, even though the concept that, it’s the decision-making. I try to tell people ahead of time when I worked with them, you were going to be exhausted. I try to brace them for that. It is not that they’re going to be exhausted physically, because we will have other people that will be physically doing the work. They’re could be mentally and emotionally exhausted even though overjoyed at the same time. Does that make sense?
JANET: Sure, because the benefits far outweigh the physical activity. Just like a work out, an exercise workout in which you feel tired and everything while you’re doing it, but afterwards you feel refreshed, especially if you keep it up.
So that brings me to another question, do you find that your clients are easily maintaining Paper Tiger after you’ve help them implement the system and after you have gone.
MEGGIN: Almost always, I mean I would love to tell you 100%, and I would say that’s something I need to do a better job as far as follow up and checking in. It’s very funny, a government agency I worked with, probably four years ago, and they had quite a few people in their office and it was a major, multi-day event. I happen to see their main admin at Costco the other day, and I said ‘hi, how are things, what’s going on?’ I wasn’t even sure that she was at the same place. She said, ‘well we’re still using Paper Tiger!’ I said, ‘I’m certainly glad to hear that! I can’t imagine that you wouldn’t be’
There will always be somebody here and there that interfere with staying with a new one. So those are the only people that sometimes have a little bit of trouble and it’s because they’re not setting themselves up with any maintenance time. They just keep letting stuff pile up instead of realizing … split, they could have it put away. So overall though people just say ‘oh my God, I get it’ and I can’t imagine what I did before it, and it’s the energy that carries them through. That’s what I tell people, gosh what has it been 10 or 11 years that I’ve been using Paper Tiger? and I still am still so happy when I find things! And so easily, I think Wow! because it was many years before that I did not!
JANET: Yes, because it still amazes you that you can find anything in 5 seconds or less?
MEGGIN: It does!
JANET: So what does your clients have to say when you have helped them get their offices organized versus what they would have been able to do without your help?
MEGGIN: Well I think part of what people appreciate is that I’m helping them implement a system; that I’m not just coming in and “cleaning up their offices.” This is one thing that sometimes when people don’t understand what professional organizers do anyway. I tell people that if they want to somebody to come in and clean, they can hire somebody for a lot less than me that just cleans. I’m not coming in to just dust or straighten. We’re implementing a system that will allow them to maintain this on their own. That’s what they say is, so many people it’s the first time they have felt control in a long time. They appreciate the fact that when they walk in, their desk and workspace looks professional and that’s a big part of it. The people I work with, they are professionals and they want their space to be representing that level of professionalism; and if it could have gotten there by themselves, they would have gotten there. That’s why all of us who have coaches, it’s why we hire coaches, because we think I can’t get there by myself or I would’ve already done that. So making sure that they are bringing in a professional to help them get organized and be able to stay organized and with Paper Tiger being a big part of that system, they’ve made the decision that yeah it’s time.
JANET: Right and with professionals sometimes, it’s like they almost don’t think that filing is an important thing … it’s kind of a menial task according to the rest of the things that they have on their plate and so with you giving them the system to work with, the decision making processes in how to actually have a productive day and keep organized in the same way, I’m sure very helpful to professionals.
MEGGIN Yes, it really is, and that is what some of what our discussion will often center around, your filing may not be this super high-level responsibility that you have, and yet, you can’t put your hands on a document or proposal or an invoice, or who knows what else, when you need then you can’t even go forward on the part that are the higher-level, more strategic types of processes that you need to be involved in.
JANET: Right and if they cannot put their hands on what they need, especially if their boss is standing there in the office, they look even more unprofessional, I think.
MEGGIN: Oh absolutely, and how embarrassing is that and then we spend a bunch of time apologizing or stressing over this, and it’s no good. It’s much better to use Paper Tiger, and have the system in place so that you can stay on top of things. Cause heavens know there’s enough coming at all of us, any tool that’s going to support us, because I don’t think the deluge and the pressure is going to stop anytime soon, or not that I’ve noticed!
JANET: No, remember they talked about the paperless environment, I think it was 1990 when they brought that out and here we are!
MEGGIN: Yeah, here we are!
JANET: Meggin, tell us what else do you have going on currently that you want to tell everyone about.
MEGGIN: I’m never at a loss for things. I do love supporting people who want to be more productive, and the reason they want to be more productive is as you said at the beginning, is so that they can maintain their emphasis on excellent. One resource that people love is the www.top10productivitytips.com and there are 8 different series there that people can access. There is a weekly set of tips … there’s a set for women and a set for professors and a set for entrepreneurs and so on and so forth, that people are welcome to take a look at, and those are available at no charge whatsoever. Then http://www.justwhelmed.com that you mentioned and that one is going through a metamorphosis and it’s going to be much more extensive than it has been with the real focus on women. In particular, academic women, so people who are brite, educated and let’s just say there’s a lot of excitement around that. That’s getting ready to come rolling out. I always have teleseminars going on and I would encourage people to go to Meggin.com and you can usually see at least two of the upcoming teleseminars featured on my home page and there are things about writing, things about taking a look at your energy, many, many different areas. So there’s always something, because, I think you know Janet, you get my things.
JANET: Yes, you have a very diverse mind and you’re always willing to share all of your thoughts and tips with us and we appreciate that too, believe me.
MEGGIN: Well I’m thankful for the opportunity. I’m thankful for what I’ve been given and I love the fact that there are other people that find it useful. They let me know that it’s very gratifying and encouraging.
JANET: Is there anything else you’d like to add before I close out?
MEGGIN: I don’t’ think so but I’ve certainly appreciated over the years working with your company and ever since you came on, you are just so delightful to work with and you’ve always been so helpful to me and my assistants and also to my clients when they’ve had to check in on something and so I really appreciate everything you’re doing there so keep up the good work.
JANET: I appreciate that, thank you so much. Meggin, thanks again for your time. I have had a great time to you today. I appreciate you so much. Your spirit of teaching and coaching others is beyond compare.
I strongly encourage everyone to go to Meggin’s website and peruse through what she has to offer. I guarantee there will be something there for you!
About Meggin McIntosh
Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D., “The Ph.D. of Productivity”(tm). Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh supports smart people who want to be more productive so that they can consistently keep their emphasis on excellence.
Emphasis on Excellence, Inc.
Email: meggin@meggin.com
Phone: 775.853.5510
MEGGIN’S WEBSITES
http://meggin.com (Primary site)
http://GetaPlanGuides.com
http://KeepingChaosatBay.com
http://TopTenProductivityTips.com
http://JustWhelmed.com
http://OwningWordsforLiteracy.com
http://PumpernickelPublishing.com
http://StayingPositiveinaFreakedOutWorld.com
http://LifeofEs.com
This article by Anne McGurty of Strategize and Organize, and a Paper Tiger Expert, gives us excellent advice to make each day more productive! Also click here to see the latest webinar recording available where Anne demonstrates how to use Paper Tiger Filing System Software for Document Management more effectively.
As we look at getting busier with the nicer weather, it’s easy to get sidetracked from our ward at hand. People spend lots of time planning vacations and they actually are able to go on vacation simply because they planned it. You can do the same with your workday by simply planning each week.
This habit of planning will give you the gift of focus, allowing you to get a jump-start the next morning. In a sense, you’re creating a map for the following day. By writing down everything that needs to be accomplished tomorrow, you can prioritize so urgent needs get done.
When you walk in the door the next morning, you won’t have to waste time shuffling papers and trying to figure out what to do first. The process of writing (or typing) down your thoughts will help you relax at home as well – you’ll think about work a lot less knowing it’s all down on paper.
It’s also a great exercise that allows you to reflect on the great work you accomplished today, so you can leave work feeling proud.
WANT MORE INTERACTIVE CONVERSATIONS AND TIPS: See Anne’s blog
About Anne:
Anne McGurty is CEO of Strategize & Organize, a company devoted to training individual’s to be more effective with the tools and resources to be productive in their work environment.
If you liked today’s issue, you’ll love Anne’s transforming productivity training and organizing products to help you organize your business — and yourself — ranging from productivity consulting for individuals and executives to small business coaching programs to keynote speaking and corporate training programs to improve efficiencies in the workplace and improve productivity. To hire Anne as a speaker for your next event, please visit, www.AnneMcGurty.com.
While Anne’s best known for her expertise in productivity and expert office organizing, her clients share that her biggest impact comes from her philosophy of “personalizing her programs to fit the needs of her clients so they can streamline more efficiently with existing processes” – ensuring to create a sustainable work environment. This, Anne says, is the most important key to bringing an individual to personal freedom with time and organization.
You can learn more about Anne and her services, programs, and products for small businesses at www.StrategizeAndOrganize.com. To hire Anne as a speaker for your next event, please visit, www.AnneMcGurty.com.
