Becoming More Organized

[TRIPAAA]

I just got done listening to 4-5 past Poker Affiliate Radio Pod Cast While i was doing some things in the office. One of the shows really sparked some interest in me about how to be more organized and motivated.

I seem to always work way way better when my desk is clean. It usually has a million sticky notes , lists and crazy Sh$% i make notes of for what ever reason.

On the show someone mentioned about having a totally paperless work environment. So this segways me into some questions, so anyone please post your ways to be more organized and how to do all what we do with no paper to file or toss.

• What do you do with ideas you need to make note of?
• How do you save your aff end of month statements?
• Do you print your invoices and then scan them to a pdf file?
• What tools do you use to achieve organization?
• etc etc etc.

I think this is one way i can learn to be more productive and have a cleaner work space in which i feel much more motivated to work when my space (desk) is clean.

So what is your organizational tips? and how to go paperless?

[TheShortStack]

I'm bookmarking this as I really need to improve my organisational skills.

Just one thing though. You guys who talk about your desks? Are you all full time professionals or do you just have a separate area to work when you get back home.

Look forward to hearing from you ...

[TRIPAAA]

Just did a little research online and there seems to be some pretty cool program(s) to save anything you can print from your computer to a pdf doc for archiving.

The reviews on a free program called PrimoPDF seem to be pretty good.

There is also

CutePDF Writer
doPDF


I am installing it now. I post how well it works in a few days.

Also ran across another cool tool , a note taking program from post it called you guessed it post it lite which is again totally free. So i am going to check this out also.

[DealerDan]

Originally Posted by TRIPAAA

Also ran across another cool tool , a note taking program from post it called you guessed it post it lite which is again totally free. So i am going to check this out also.

Was just about to come suggest something similar to this. For as long as I can remember, I use Turbonote(Turbonote.com) - there is a free trial but I bought it long ago. Just a great note taking program and better than the others I tried - has a ton of features that many don't. And just sits in the system tray and so easy to access. I use it for many things, like obviously to do list, but I also keep different notes for different things - like I have one entitled "Link Exchanges" where it is ideas I've read in regard to link exchanges, etc etc. It really does make life a lot easier.

[LadyHoldem]

I'm going to look into that note taking program, I keep a .txt doc on my computers desktop that's brilliantly titled day by day, it's just the thing I grab instead of a pen to jot down.. anything.. notes.. phone numbers.. dentist appt's .. ideas.. link sale dates.. everything!

I am making friendly with outlook as was suggested in the chat of the PAP radio show in question and I keep a task list and projects list for articles, websites, etc.

I'm definately a learner.. with .. a couple messy desks :O

[themike537]

If you install the Google sidebar for Windows Vista you get a note taking option that is always on the right side of your desktop, and saves automatically. I use that for short notes, and use notepad files for longer ideas and projects.

[guljo]

I am using a txt on my desktop,

and next to my desk a have a big board to write on it with markers, this is a great thing, as I can be doing something different and than see the ideas written on it and I improve them. Also I think this is working sub consciously, when you are seeing ideas many times per day they get inside your brain.

[haynesey]

• What do you do with ideas you need to make note of?

At the moment i'm using post it note's, a whiteboard and a book. I've also got a todo.txt list, but generally it gets bigger week by week.

• How do you save your aff end of month statements?

I generally don't save these, i go through my accounts once each 2 to 3 months, but i only really work with 5-6 different companys properly. As i add more i'll have to find a different way, but a spreadsheet works well.

• Do you print your invoices and then scan them to a pdf file?

I like to keep keep copys of important documents, backed up on paper in a folder, although i also keep things in a computer folder.

• What tools do you use to achieve organization?

Pen, Paper, Spreadsheet (Link Details + Accounts), Whiteboard.

Will be looking in to the suggestions made in the above posts though!

[PKing]

I use Google Docs for pretty much everything.

I'll keep a notepad on my desk for jotting down notes.

Other than that, I'll use Google Docs.

I use it to write all of my articles. Each article is its own document, so it makes things easy to find.

I also keep a to-do list going for each day. Before I go to bed every night, I'll start a new document - "To Do List for Monday, September 30th", etc. I'll jot down the things that I want to accomplish for the next day.

Then, when I wake up, I'll continually add to the to-do list. I'll start off by adding two things to the list - then, when I take care of these two things, I'll add two more. This greatly increases my productivity and keeps me from getting overwhelmed at the prospect of all the work that I have to do (I usually write 7-10 articles per day, handle SEO, advertising requests, etc).

This is how I do things. It works for me.

[JohnH]

i can't put ideas into files on the computer, if I do that, they get closed and are never seen again. There is no substitute for the classic yellow legal pad.

I think this entire business could be run with excel. Just one massive workbook with tabs for the different areas.