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The person that focuses for hours in a loud coffee shop, the individual who works from their home in the middle of the night, or the friend who is able to set their own work hours.  We all know these people (or are them), but what is it really like to have the life of a remote worker, and how can you effectively be a remote worker yourself? Here are our four tips on how to be a successful if you don’t work in a traditional office:

1. Balance time zones- Usually remote workers are individuals who communicate with people that are in different areas of the country or world. Because of this, as a remote worker you should communicate effectively with your clients and coworkers so if you’re holding a virtual meeting with someone that is in another time zone, no one will get confused on when the meeting is

2. Have your tools ready- Your tools include the things you need each day to be productive.  This usually includes your chargers, mobile devices, syncing software (the cloud), and your laptop

3. Discipline to focus on-the-go- Since you don’t work in an office environment, you may have trouble dealing with distractions. Learn to discipline yourself by focusing for an hour then giving yourself a quick coffee break or walk as a reward. Eventually, focusing won’t be an issue at all no matter where you are

4. Get good earphones (or a good playlist)- You’ll need music that gets you back in work mode when you are struggling with other distractions (especially in coffee shops!)

Want additional tips on how to be a successful remote worker? Check out The Productivity School’s blog for daily tips!

When your entire team feels overwhelmed by the flood of emails each day and their to-do lists that just keep growing and growing, it may not be a coincidence. Many offices leave it to each individual to decide on their own email plans, but if your team comes together and decides on a company-wide plan, then team members can be freed up to spend less time on emails and more time on their job responsibilities.  Refocusing attention and priorities in the workday as a team effort also provides a good boost to those that aren’t naturally as organized as others.  Here are 3 reasons why an email management plan could work for your team:

1. Improves Efficient Communication - If you compose each email properly with a specific subject and include your email signature, hopefully you won’t receive as many emails looking for your contact information.  Recipients will also be more inclined to call you instead of type out another email to you if your phone number is right in front of them.
2. Reduces Digital Clutter - When you create a system that works for how to handle your incoming emails, you’ll be able to eliminate the clutter in your inbox quicker.
3. Saves Time for Your Team - If you can manage email effectively, especially as a team, you can reduce the amount of time you spend in meetings. Instead of making all the decisions face-to-face, your team can make those decisions through email.

Want additional tips on how to manage your email effectively? Follow The Productivity School’s blog for daily tips on email management and other productivity topics!

Make 2014 your most productive year by actually eliminating an item from your list. Many people pack on tasks and goals to their to-do list in January and become overwhelmed immediately. This can actually hinder someone from getting any of those goals completed. Instead of adding something else to your to-do list today, what is one thing you can take off your list and let go of? This should be something that doesn’t add value to your life or is more of a filler than a real goal. There is a productivity myth between being busy and being productive, which makes most people inclined to add more items to their new years goals than necessary. By taking something off your list, you can focus on your main goals and utilize them. We want you to create a list of resolutions and goals that are realistic and attainable instead of overloading your list with things you may want to accomplish but aren’t yet ready to commit to doing.

2013 was a great year here at Innovatively Organized and to celebrate we are sharing our ‘best of 2013′ blogs. From useful downloadable checklists to step-by-step processes for increasing productivity, here are our top blogs from the past year:

1. Must Haves On-the-Go: Mobile Professionals Checklist- In February, we shared our Mobile Professionals Checklist to all our readers so that they could be more productive no matter where they work.

2. How to Efficiently Delegate to Your Assistant- Whether you need help from your assistant or a coworker, this article will help you delegate efficiently so you can save yourself time.

3. Essential Productivity Apps Checklist to Keep You Efficient- As a celebration of Small Business Week in June, we compiled a list of our top productivity apps that we recommend to our clients and shared them in this article.

4. 7 Ways Our Team Has Efficient Meetings- We described our step-by-step process of how we at Innovatively Organized hold efficient and productive meetings.

5. 5 Common Bottlenecks in Your Office- Whether it’s the chatty coworker in the cubicle next to you or duplicate documents that make finding the most recent version a headache, most offices deal with numerous productivity killers on a daily basis (sometimes unknowingly). This article helps bring awareness to some of those common bottlenecks.

6. App Recommendation: EchoSign- When a client signs a contract with you, the process of faxing or scanning documents is tedious and makes the negotiation process longer and more stressful for everyone involved. Fortunately, EchoSign allows users to send, sign, track, manage and access documents digitally. Read why we love EchoSign with this post.

7. Staying Productive When Your Self-Employed- When you are your own boss or work from home, there isn’t always someone pressuring you to complete that tedious report and while this can be refreshing for some people, it can also lead to procrastination or added stress because you are fully responsible for your own work load. In this article we provided a few tips we have come up with to help you stay motivated and productive when you’re self-employed.

8. Decide & Delegate During the Holidays- As more and more people in the office start disappearing during the holiday season, it can be stressful for those still left working. We provided a list of questions to go over with your team or coworkers so that everything is handled accordingly.

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With season 5 of ‘The Voice’ in full swing, our team at Innovatively Organized realized that the show is not only entertaining but also full of productivity lessons! The contestants and their coaches have been working tirelessly to make it to the final 12 announced last week, so how did they make it? Although their talent is undeniable, their drive and productivity is what has separated them from those that have been voted off. Here’s the 3 productivity tips we’ve learned from the contestants on ‘The Voice’:

Practice makes perfect

For everyone that watches the show, we’ve all heard the stories of the practice that each artist put in to have such an amazing voice. The show also highlights some of their practice they put in with their coaches. Those contestants who are serious about their practice time show vast improvements and avoid elimination each week all the way through to the end. This can be applied to everyday life because those who practice and stick to what they’re doing end up finishing, even if there are struggles along the way. No matter how difficult, doing something over and over again will lead to more success with that task in the future.

Commitment makes it easier

The contestants coming in with experience seem to know how to memorize and perform. Even the ones that lack experience but come into the show with commitment go far in the show. Being committed to something builds muscle memory and helps habits stick easier. When you are passionate about something, such as winning ‘The Voice’, there will be a much higher chance you will succeed. Even if you don’t like a task or find the steps to reach a goal are difficult, if you tell yourself that you really want it, you’ll achieve it.

Confidence leads to success

‘The Voice’ contestants are some of the most confident people out there considering they are willing to sing in front of millions of Americans on National television. We can all learn from them on this. Being confident and positive helps you stay committed. If you think a task seems too tedious or a goal too unreachable, you’re setting yourself up for failure. However, if you tell yourself that you are smart or talented enough to complete something, it will seem more realistic and will thus motivate you to finish.

Need additional help with individual productivity? Check out our Individual Productivity Consulting page to see how we can help!

Look around at your desk. If you have papers sitting next to you that you aren’t using for the task you are working on, then consider creating a file flow for all of your paperwork. An effective file flow solves the question of how you deal with incoming paperwork and where you store it all. First of all, you’ll want to schedule time for yourself for filing on a regular basis. This will ensure you’ll spend less time filing and looking for paperwork and more time being productive. You’ll also want to ensure that you and whoever else shares your filing system creates a file structure that everyone follows. If you still aren’t sure how a file flow could increase your productivity, take a look at our 3 reasons for developing a file flow in our office:

3 reasons why a file flow is important:

1. You won’t set papers down once you’re done with them, which creates piles of clutter around your desk or office

2. You can find what you’re looking for later - and so can your co-workers

3. You are saving time by batching tasks that the files represent into blocks of time. Don’t forget to put on your calendar though!

Need help creating an effective file flow for your office? Check out our file management consulting to see how we can help!

When you are your own boss, there isn’t always someone pressuring you to complete that tedious report or telling you to hurry up with that daunting project. While this can be refreshing for some people, it can also lead to procrastination or added stress because you are fully responsible for your own work load. Here are a few tips we have come up with to help you stay motivated and productive when you’re self-employed:

Establish a routine

Get up and get dressed as if you were going to the office. Make this a habit so you are mentally prepared every morning to work.

Take breaks

Have lunch, get up and walk around the block, etc. Reinvigorate yourself so you are able to maintain your productivity instead of sitting in your space all day long.

Create a work environment

Designate a specific room or desk as your “office” or consider joining a coworking space. Read our past blog posts, “5 Tips to Organize Your Cubicle or Small Desk” and “10 Organizing Tips for a Small Home Office” for additional tips and tricks for creating an effective home office space.

Batch tasks

If you’re self-employed, you’re likely wearing a lot of different hats and therefore doing a variety of tasks. Set aside recurring blocks of time to work on accounting tasks, marketing tasks, or anything else that is needed to maintain your business. The idea is that you want to spend as little time as possible transitioning between tasks because that ultimately wastes time.

Outsource when necessary

Consider outsourcing some tasks to a bookkeeper, human resources professional, virtual assistant, web developer, etc. Identify what you’re wasting time on or dislike doing so you can concentrate on growing your business.

Performance review

Make goals for yourself and evaluate if you’ve achieved them or not. You may want to consider having a standing meeting every 6 months with a fellow entrepreneur to help hold you accountable.

Need additional help staying productive while you’re self-employed? We offer individual productivity consulting!

Each A is worth 6 points, each B is worth 4 points, and each C is worth 2 points.

8-12 points: Overwhelmed On-The-Go

Whoops, looks like you may need some mobile productivity help! You may not have access to documents from anywhere outside the office, and you spend your time waiting doing mindless activities that may be fun but aren’t so productive. Don’t worry, we can help you get your devices in sync and give you tips on staying productive when you only have a few minutes. Follow our Blog for help throughout the year and consider calling us for a free 15-minute phone consultation with one of our productivity consultants

13-18 points: Promising Professional

You are doing pretty well with your mobile productivity, but there are a few areas that could use improvement. With a few tips and tricks you’ll be well on your way to being a mobile productivity rockstar! Follow our Blog for mobile productivity tips throughout the year, or follow us on Facebook and Twitter for quick daily tips.

19-24 points: Mobile Master

Congratulations! It looks like you know exactly how to stay productive when you are away from the office! You can access and edit documents while you are waiting, your email and calendar are perfectly in sync across devices and you make the most of the time between appointments. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for additional tips that will keep you organized and productive!

Register for out upcoming webinar on Wednesday, September 25th, Mobile Professionals: 12 Quick Tips for Professionals On-The-Go for additional mobile productivity tips!

Many people who already have a Gmail account have probably noticed the new tabs that recently appeared in your inbox. Gmail has included new tabs labeled primary, social, promotions, and updates. With this new feature, your emails will automatically get sorted into these tabs (and more if you wish to customize them). Some people are complaining about the change, while others love it. After testing out the new inbox ourselves, here are our thoughts on this new feature:

Pros:

With these new tabs, Google does some of the thinking and sorting for you, which can save time when you’re checking your emails. It also eliminates non-urgent emails (such as newsletters and promotional deals) from your primary email inbox that can lead to distractions at work.

Cons:

The tabs put your emails “out of site and out of mind,” which can lead to forgetting about certain emails and tasks. Also, some people prefer to sort emails themselves so they feel more in control of their inbox.

What are your thoughts on the new Gmail Tabs? Let us know in the comments below!

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It may sound simple, but it’s important to think of everything as part of a workflow, including your paper piles. Take a look at your paperwork when you’re sitting at your desk. Do you have a designated place for papers once you complete the task associated with it, or are they placed at random around your space?

If you don’t create a workflow for your paper, it will hinder your productivity because there is no clear beginning, middle, or end. Too many people have all three stages in a single pile. Below is an example of a simple workflow to help you process your papers efficiently. You may want to designate a separate bin for each stage of the workflow.

Suggested workflow for your paperwork:

1. A place to arrive

2. A place to live when they’re in progress

3. A place to go when they exit the workflow or are complete

Being productive is about moving things along and not letting them get stagnant. A simple workflow can help you keep track of your paperwork and ensure everything is moving along.

Interested in additional help with your paperwork? Check out our file management consulting!