Paper Tiger Blog

By Meggin McIntosh, “The Ph.D. of Productivity”™ and Paper Tiger Expert

Meggin also recommends Paper Tiger Filing System Software for document management to get everything in your life organized — it’s not just for filing paper.

Take your pulse right now – and then answer these questions:

• Is it racing?
• Is your pulse rapid?
• Do you have a steady pulse?
• Can you even find your pulse?

Now, let’s think about the pulse of your productivity. Ask and answer these questions:

• Is it racing?
• Is your pulse rapid?
• Do you have a steady pulse?
• Can you even find your pulse?

If you are in business (or really, in any other type of profession), you need to periodically take the pulse on your productivity and the overall health of your organization.

Seven key areas to take your productivity pulse are:

1. people,
2. physical arrangements,
3. paper,
4. planning,
5. projects,
6. procrastination, and
7. pixels

When you attend to all seven of these on a regular basis, you’ll see your organization’s health improve. And, let’s tell the truth, your personal health will also improve since the stress of living and working in a ‘sickly’ organization takes its toll.

So right now, using your list of the seven areas listed above, give your productivity a checkup.

1. How would you rate the organizational health as it relates to the people?
2. How about to the physical arrangements?
3. What would you say about the paper situation?
4. How does your planning rate?
5. What is the status of the various projects in which you’re involved?
6. Is procrastination on the rise or is it disappearing?
7. And, last, but not least, how would you assess the productive (or non-productive) use of pixels in your organization?

Now that you have thought this through a bit and done a quick diagnosis, do you have a sense that it’s time for some changes? Is there a need to make some adjustments that will increase your overall productivity?

Choose one of the seven areas to focus on first. Just as a patient who goes in for a yearly check up, may have multiple areas that the doctor recommends need attention. The doctor knows that no patient can change 15 behaviors or practices in one day or even in one week. So just choose one area and determine one change you can make in the next day. Now, repeat that change for at least seven days….and then move on to the next change. Watch for improvement. You’ll see it.

And remember, just as your physical health needs to be monitored, so, too does the health of your organization. An excellent way to keep checking the pulse of your productivity is to join others (worldwide) who receive Meggin’s weekly emails (and check out what is available for download at no cost at the following websites):

**Top Ten Productivity Tips (http://www.TopTenProductivityTips.com)

**Keys to Keeping Chaos at Bay (http://www.KeepingChaosatBay.com)

(c) 2009 by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D., “The Ph.D. of Productivity”(tm). Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh works with bright people who want to be more productive so that they can consistently put their emphasis on excellence. If this sounds like you, I look forward to having you in our group!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Meggin_McIntosh

http://www.meggin.com/

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Tags: Organized, Productivity