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.

When you are taking the pulse on your productivity and the overall health of your ‘organization,’ you need to take a very good look at the ‘pixels’ related to your productivity. You can use this *P* word to think about a category that includes everything digital. For example, consider your

• cell phones,
• computer(s),
• PDA,
• TV,
• websites,
• LCD projectors,
• and the list could go on and on.

When you are really taking the pulse of your organization, you want to make note of – and make changes in (as needed) – anything and everything that can clog up your “circulatory system.”

Sometimes, the items (and your use or misuse of them) may clog up your ‘circulatory’ system because you don’t know how to use it effectively and efficiently. Other times, it is because the item – or some aspect of it – is a distractor to you. Either way, recognize that your productivity can either be helped or hampered by the way you utilize the technology tools you have available.

Let’s just look at two examples you will want to attend to if your ‘system’ has clogged arteries: email and electronic files.

Three key tips on how to use email effectively thereby keeping it from clogging up the works are:

1. Only check periodically through the day (vs. all day).
2. Empty your inbox daily.
3. Learn how to use your email software, whether it’s Outlook, Gmail, or any brand. There are tools there to support you – or thwart you. Learn and choose wisely.

As far as your electronic files are concerned, you need to be able to find what you have on your hard drive (just as you need to be able to find what you have in your paper files). A few tools to check out:

1. If you use a Mac, of course, there is a great search tool that is part of why people love their Macs.
2. If you have a PC and use Vista, it has an excellent search tool built in. I am loving it!
3. If you don’t have Vista, then consider one of the following: Easy Reach or Copernic. There are others, too. The main idea is that you need to have software that has already indexed your hard drive so that a search is as fast as Google.

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: Organize, Productivity

One Response to “Take the Pulse on Your Productivity – How is the ‘Health’ of Your Organization? All Things Digital”

1. Aretha Stefansky says:

   December 24, 2009 at 6:27 am

   Just want to say your article is astonishing. The clearness in your post is simply impressive and i can take for granted you are an expert on this field. Well with your permission allow me to grab your rss feed to keep up to date with future post. Thanks a million and please keep up the sound work