Productivity Tools I Can’t Do Without

Posted on April 13th, 2009, by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D.

Recently, a Life of E’s member sent in this question during and Email Extravaganza:

Given that I’m up to my eyes in an office clean-up at the moment, this is my question: What is your can’t-do-without it organization tool and how do you use it?

I can’t do without several things:

A good inbox (I’m a David Allen fan and his whole thing about get it all into the inbox and get it processed really struck me and has helped a lot). I have a wonderful (large) basket that I can load everything into and it doesn’t crush it or topple out…and then I empty it everyday.
A tickler file (the 1-31/January – December). I don’t know what I would do if I couldn’t use this type of file. Stuff would go back to just being piled around on my desk, hoping that I remembered it when I went somewhere or when I needed to do it or whatever. Not pretty.
A labeler. It’s true, just like the article says. I have a Brother P-touch that I got at Office Depot and it makes a difference. My handwriting is dreadful and there really is something about having things labeled that just makes stuff look better. Supplies in the closet of my office are labeled, certain working files are labeled, etc.
Paper Tiger software (for my files). I can’t imagine trying to find anything without it. When I used categories or alphabetical, etc….things didn’t’ get filed and when they did, I pretty much couldn’t find them…but with PT (which I’ve now used since it was version 1.1 and it’s now 4.1 – they only upgrade “majorly” every couple of years), I can find everything. If you use a Mac, it doesn’t work, but if you use a PC, it does. I should probably do a little webinar to show people how it works. Contact me (meggin@meggin.com) if you would like to purchase Paper Tiger software from me.

Some others I love having…