Today's technology was designed to make our lives easier and to help us to be more productive, but for many people, it has created a whole new set of challenges. This blog will look at electronic tools for organizing your work and your life, as well as tips and techniques for managing email and electronic information.
One of the biggest challenges most of us face these days is information
overload. Whether it's staying on top of trends in your industry or monitoring
mentions of you or your business online, it can be pretty time-consuming to
check for new information on a regular basis. Fortunately, there are online
tools that will automatically run searches for you and send you the results. ...
A few months ago I blogged about Using a Virtual
Notebook to Organize Your Ideas. Never having used such a tool, at that
point I was basically sharing some of the information I'd gathered on the
subject, but while writing that post, I became especially interested in
Springpad, especially for the purpose of
organizing recipes. I've tried many different systems over the years, and found
none of them to be 100% satisfactory. Here are a few things I've done: ...
No, your eyes aren't playing tricks on you! Are you having a hard time believing
that after extolling the virtues of Outlook, ACT! and other powerful personal
information managers, I'm now suggesting that you use Excel? Well, it's like
this... ...
Through some of my colleagues in the Canadian Virtual Assistant Connection forum, I learned about a really cool tool to help organize computer files. Called Folder Marker,
it allows you to change your folder icons from standard yellow to your
choice of a variety of dark or light colours. Even better, it lets you
assign specific icons to indicate priority (high, normal, or low),
project status (approved, pending, or rejected) and work progress
(planned, half-done, done).
The program is available in
three versions, including a free version for home use. I haven't
downloaded it, as I think I have a pretty good handle on my computer
files, but if it sounds like something that would be valuable to you, why not check it out?...
When you use a paper planning system such as a Day-Timer, Filofax, or Franklin
Planner, you usually have one or more
sections for writing notes about things you're working on, as well as ideas for
future projects. If you decide to make the transition to Microsoft
Outlook or another electronic personal information manager, you may find
yourself lost, because although Outlook does allow you to create and store
notes, you can only enter text, so it's impossible to include maps or diagrams,
or even to format your text. You could start keeping a notebook with you, but
that would basically eliminate one of the benefits of switching to an electronic
system....
It's no secret that I'm an Outlook user, and have invested quite a bit of time
learning all the things it can do over and above email, and sharing what I
learned in my e-book, Maximizing Your Time With Outlook 2003.
...
Here it is, April, and we all know what that means! For my
American friends, the deadline to file your taxes is just a few days
away!
Still, things are a lot easier than they used to be. It's not
so long ago that tax time meant gathering up the paperwork and the calculator
and filling out a bunch of forms, then rushing off to the post office to make
sure it was postmarked before midnight! Nowadays, we can purchase tax software
online, let the software do all the math for us, and even submit our tax returns
online. That's especially helpful if you've left things to the last
minute! ...
Janet Barclay is a Master Virtual Assistant and the founder of Organized Assistant. Specializing in supporting entrepreneurs in the Organizing and Career Services industries, Organized Assistant provides top-notch Internet marketing services to business owners of all shapes and sizes.
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or another electronic personal information manager, you may find
yourself lost, because although Outlook does allow you to create and store
notes, you can only enter text, so it's impossible to include maps or diagrams,
or even to format your text. You could start keeping a notebook with you, but
that would basically eliminate one of the benefits of switching to an electronic
system....
OnlineOrganizing.com is a service mark of Bradford, LLC.
