One of the final big tasks in organizing JoAnn’s messy desk was creating a functional filing system. JoAnn was not a huge fan of filing, especially financial documents. Over time, this created a backlog of documents that needed to be filed. This resulted in stacks of papers in drawers (or the floor) without any file folders to organize or contain her documents.

We helped JoAnn sort and purge the paper we found in her office, using some of our favorite Smead products to help us along the way. For her financial documents, we created a system that rotates every other year, so she won’t have to keep creating new labels and files each year. The way that this system rotates, it ensures that JoAnn knows exactly when it is time to archive financial documents.

We installed the filing systems and taught JoAnn how to use and maintain them. JoAnn is excited about her new filing system. She explained, “I was thrilled that after the first day, I could see my desk! It’s great that I can now walk in and be in my space. I don’t have to worry about finding space; it’s a sense of calm that it is so organized and I can instantly get to work.”

We chose to use Smead Viewables products for JoAnn’s filing system because:

• The software makes it simple to format and print labels
• The 3-dimensional tabs make it easy to see the categories you create
• The software allows you to color-code labels

Other Smead products that we used in JoAnn’s office:

• Viewables Color Labeling System
• TUFF Hanging Folder with Easy Slide Tab
• SuperTab Oversized Tab File Folders

Stay up-to-date with our blog for our big reveal of JoAnn’s completed new office transformation! You may not even recognize her new office!

Photo courtesy of Leo V. Santiago.

Special thanks to Smead for their filing system products.

The next step in transforming JoAnn’s overcrowded space into a functional office was scanning.  JoAnn has been saving paper copies of her past work, as well as other reference materials, in large binders in her office.  They were taking up valuable space and creating clutter, so we suggested that she scan the documents she no longer needed physical copies of.

While JoAnn had considered this option before, she never followed through because the task of scanning that many documents is fairly time consuming and overwhelming.  Thankfully, we were able to partner with Scan-Doc to help us tackle the project.  Scan-Doc was able to convert five entire bankers boxes worth of JoAnn’s binders into electronic files stored safely on a flash drive and organized into convenient sub folders.

Many of JoAnn’s reference materials are now paperless, stored in electronic files to save space.  She told us the scanning “was one of the most exciting parts of this whole experience.  I was over the moon to receive five bankers boxes worth of scanning; it cleared out so much space and now that they’re electronic, I can use them so much more efficiently.”  JoAnn can now reference what she needs from the comforts of her computer, rather than sifting through piles of paper.

Continue following our blog for the final steps we took in JoAnn’s office transformation, as well as the big reveal of her new functional office!

Photo courtesy of Leo V. Santiago.

Special thanks to Scan-Doc for their scanning services.

In January, we announced the winner of our second Messiest Desk Contest and the big reveal is right around the corner!  JoAnn is an educator with an overcrowded office and extremely busy schedule. She expressed her desire for a functional office that would allow her to be more productive in her roles and responsibilities. In order to make her office more functional, one of the items we needed to address was storage.

We began working with JoAnn in February to assess her space, identify her challenges and goals, learn how she would prefer to work in her space, and take steps towards creating an efficient office.  With her office currently being utilized more for storage, she had been using her guest bed as a makeshift desk!

JoAnn’s office was cluttered with piles of papers, boxes of books, and a wide variety of office supplies.  She needed a storage system that gave everything a proper “home” within her office.  We started by sorting and purging JoAnn’s paper and office supplies, then designated where everything should be stored based on how often JoAnn needed access to them.  She already had some great containers that we were able to reuse, but there were some items that needed better storage solutions. We turned to Turnstone and found products with the perfect mix of functionality and aesthetics that fit her needs and space.

Often times, people choose containers before they start their organizing project.  Instead, begin by sorting and purging.  Then take into account what is actually left and measure the areas where your containers will live to ensure you are maximizing your available space.

Based on the needs of JoAnn’s space and supplies, we installed the following products from Turnstone into her new office:

• For storing her office supplies: Bankers Boxes
• For her in and out boxes: SOTO Letter Boxes
• For storing desk supplies: SOTO Pile Boxes
• For storing her active projects: SOTO File Boxes

Be sure to follow our blog for the next steps we took in JoAnn’s office transformation, as well as the final reveal of her new functional office!

Photo courtesy of Leo V. Santiago.

Special thanks to Turnstone for contributing modern storage bins.

You’ve probably been frustrated by these email faux pas before. Perhaps you’re guilty of a few yourself? Here are 10 email faux pas to be mindful the next time you hit send on an email:

1. Subject Line Confusion: Subject lines can be a very valuable tool—they help us decide if we should open an email now or later (or delete it all together).  When there is no subject line, an irrelevant subject line, or a ridiculously long subject line, we feel like our time is being wasted. Remember to take a look at your subject line before you send. Is it still relevant?  Sometimes the subject of your email changes from the time you start writing to the time you finish.
2. CC’ing the World: CC’ing others is important, but make sure the people you’ve included actually need to be on the thread. Also, keep in mind the difference between “To” and “CC.” By including someone in the “To” field, you are implying that an action is required. “CC” typically suggests the person has been included for informational purposes.
3. Can I Have Your Number? Have you ever tried contacting an email correspondent via phone after an email conversation, only to find they don’t have an email signature?  Make sure your signature includes all the contact information others need to reach you.
4. Email Novels: Emails shouldn’t be the next War and Peace.  The very nature of an email is to be concise.  Channel your Twitter skills and make sure you’re not sending unnecessarily long messages.
5. Email Tweets: In the same vein, don’t you despise emails that are so short they didn’t deserve becoming an email in the first place?  If you have a quick comment or question, connect through instant message rather than email.  You’ll probably get a faster response too.
6. Tpyos: Did you catch that one? You should not have to guess what a word means.  Especially with auto correct and spell check. Take a moment to glance over what you’re sending before you send it.
7. Replying to the Wrong Part of a Thread: If you haven’t checked your inbox in a while and begin opening the earliest messages first, make sure you don’t respond to outdated emails.  Turn the “conversations” feature on in your inbox so you can respond to the most recent email in the thread, rather than comment on parts of the conversation that have been resolved already.
8. “Where’s the Attachment?” How many emails have you received detailing the important attachment you must review and sign off on, only to find the attachment was not…attached.
9. Too Big Attachments: How do you feel about emails with way too many graphics in the body?  If you need to send large files, images or documents, try sending them a link via Dropbox to download the files directly.
10. Wait, What Are We Talking About? If your thread conversation starts to round a corner towards a new topic, just start a new thread with the appropriate subject line.  This helps recipients stay on track with the conversation and find the archived thread later.

How many of these pesky faus pas are you guilty of?  Share this blog post with your team to help everyone avoid these tendencies and stay on track!

At Innovatively Organized, we are big fans of label makers.  One of the keys to staying productive at work is not just organizing your space, but maintaining your space.

Once all of your file folders, incoming documents, supplies, and mail have a “home” in your office, make it official with a label.  Adding consistent labels to your workspace allows you to save time retrieving documents and maintain organization. It also helps others find (and return) items quickly and easily.

Without further ado…here is our favorite label maker, the Brother PT1290 Home and Office Labeler (don’t forget the label maker tape).  Happy labeling!

Over the last several years there has been quite a bit of buzz about virtual notebooks, most notably Evernote & Microsoft’s OneNote, but what is all the hype about? Below you will find a quick overview about virtual notebooks. For more information about virtual notebooks, sign-up to attend our upcoming webinar, Virtual Notebooks 101: Maximize Productivity Without Paper.

Virtual Notebooks Defined

Evernote and Microsoft OneNote.

What can I use virtual notebooks for?

The possibilities for virtual notebooks are pretty incredible and people keep finding new and creative ways to use them! Here are a few of our favorites:

• Gathering research
• Collecting articles
• Sharing meeting notes
• Planning events
• Managing tasks & projects
• Sharing documents
• Accessing important information on-the-go

What do you use virtual notebooks for?

Person A: Hi. How have you been?

Person B: Busy. You?

Person A: Good, but really busy.

Does this sound familiar? You might be working on projects all day, but being “busy” does not necessarily mean you’re being productive.  You can be busy checking things off of your to-do list, but if they’re not the right priorities, it does not matter.

Here are 3 examples of how you might be “busy” during the day, but not always productive:

1. It’s possible for people to be busy during meetings, but meetings are not always productive.  Calculate the cost of a meeting and consider trying 45-minutes meetings to stay efficient.
2. People often feel busy when they are processing emails, but this is often a reactive task.  Responding to each email as it comes in is not productive when there are pending projects that need to get done.
3. For entrepreneurs and small businesses especially, everything you do should come back to bringing in dollars (which looks different depending on your role).  Take a step back and ask yourself if you’re doing the right things with your time.

Think you’re too “busy” at work?  Contact us for a free 15-minute phone consultation to see how you can become more productive with your time.

When Evernote announced in May 2012 that it was acquiring Penultimate, one of our favorite iPad apps, we knew it was just a matter of time before Penultimate would seamlessly sync with our Evernote notebooks. It looks like that day has finally arrived.

We’ve had a chance to test the new Penultimate features and here are the highlights:

Syncs with Evernote

Once you write your handwritten note in Penultimate, you have the option to sync with a variety of different services, like Dropbox and Evernote. It’s a quick and easy process.

Search your handwritten text

One of our favorite features of Evernote is the search functionality and now the same search features are available for Penultimate. When we tested it, the app was even able to successfully search our chicken scratch writing!

Penultimate is free

There used to be a small fee to download Penultimate to your iPad, but now it’s free and you can purchase it here.

Don’t worry…we didn’t forget about the Messiest Desk Contest! Our team has been working hard sorting through piles of paper, sticky notes, books, office supplies and did we mention sticky notes?

The big reveal is coming soon, but we wanted to give you a sneak peek of what we found in JoAnn’s office. The infographic below shows how many bankers boxes worth of “stuff” (we try to avoid that word) we filled. Stay tuned as we continue to update the infographic and reveal the after photos.

*To enlarge the graphic, right click on the image and select “Open Image in New Tab.” Then you can zoom in and out according to your preferences.

How much time do you spend transitioning between tasks each day? According to a study by University of California, Irvine, ”people switch activities on average of every three minutes and five seconds.”  Then, “it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back to the task.”

It may sound simple, but batching similar tasks together will decrease the amount time you waste transitioning between projects and increase your productivity.

Which tasks should you batch together? That depends on the nature of your job and industry. Here are 6 ideas to give you a jump start:

1) Schedule networking meetings on the same day

Cut down on driving time and schedule meetings in batches according to geographic location. It’s not efficient to zig zag your way across the city. Instead, see if the people you’re meeting can meet back-to-back at the same coffee shop.

2) Set specific times to respond to emails

Instead of checking your email every 10 minutes, schedule specific times to check emails. Too often we waste time reacting to what comes through our inboxes instead of proactively scheduling blocks of time to tackle our incoming emails.

3) Write content in large batches

As much as possible, our team at Innovatively Organized tries to set aside large blocks of time to write content for our blog and social media. It can take some time for the creative juices to start flowing, so batching blog posts together encourages us to write as efficiently as possible. We recognize that not everyone has content writing in their job descriptions, but the same concepts can be applied to any projects you work on consistently.

4) Read articles & newsletters at designated times

It seems like there is a never ending supply of articles to read and industry newsletters to peruse. Instead of reading them as they come to your inbox, create a “Read and Review” folder. Then add a recurring appointment to your calendar to read through the folder (perhaps Friday afternoons when the office has quieted down). You can do the same thing with your RSS feeds. The key is to schedule the time on the calendar.

5) Scan papers once a week

When you’re trying to go as paperless as possible, your electronic files will only be as good as the last time you scanned your documents. Set aside time once a week to scan all of the paper notes and documents that you want to have access to electronically. If you don’t have time to do it, delegate it to an assistant.

6) Process expenses once a month

It doesn’t matter if you’re dealing with personal finances or business expenses, schedule time once a month to organize and process all of your receipts and invoices.

What tasks do you batch together? We’d love to hear your ideas!