5 Tips to Color Code Your Way from Computer Chaos to Coherence

Written by Eve Abbott


5 Tips to Color Code Your Way from Computer Chaos to Coherence by Eve Abbott,repparttar Organizer Extraordinaire Excerpted from her new book, How to Do Space Age Work with a Stone Age Brain TM

Color is just like a Porsche--There Is No Substitute In anatomical illustrations you seerepparttar 141521 brain's large visual system, whererepparttar 141522 optic nerve is actually 25 times faster than our audio nerves (hearing). No matter which processing style you depend on, 90 percent ofrepparttar 141523 sensory perceptions received by your brain are visual. This is undoubtedly why color-coding works even for Auditory and Kinesthetic Learners.

Color-Coding Your Calendar Custom color-coding each entry is one ofrepparttar 141524 biggest improvements in Computer Calendars. When your appointment window pops up forrepparttar 141525 details; You'll find a drop-down field option to choose which color you want.

Color-coding will reduce mis-reads by as much as 90%, even if you don't change anything else about your calendar's display.

One executive client codes his calendar with black for onsite meetings, red for travel, green for offsite meetings and blue for personal/family time.

I know soccer moms who color code for school, church, medical appointments, and family time. Truth is, they have just as many appointments to track as most executives.

Color-Coding Your E-mail You can color-code your messages in almost every current e-mail program. You can do this by "training" your filters (sometimes called rules or screens) to recognize your clients or customers and make all their incoming messages appear in red.

Usually you'll find this function under Tools, and Options. Just fill in which e-addresses you want in what colors. You only have to do this once and it will work for you from then on.

My e-mail is set up to show all incoming messages from people I know I want to hear from in blue. Many of my clients set it so that any e-mail from their boss appears in red. Make color work for you - use it a lot in your office and on your computer too!

10 Tips for Digging Out Your Desk Today

Written by Eve Abbott, the Organizer Extraordinaire


10 TIPS FOR DIGGING OUT YOUR DESK by Eve Abbott, Excerpted from her new book, How to Do Space Age Work with a Stone Age Brain(TM)

How long has it been since you saw your desk? Has your polished mahogany (or pitted Formica) been buried for so long that you can't remember what your desk is made out of?

If so, use these tips to clear yourself some space to work in-and stay on top of your most urgent action items.

"I know I had it here somewhere..." One big reason we can't findrepparttar information we need when we need is that there's just too much of it. Not just too much coming in, but too much piling up. Resist unnecessary information overload and protect your mind-and your desk-from clutter. Why go through three inches of stuff when you're only looking for one piece of paper?

When you take a piece of paper and you put it somewhere flat, it takes up almost a square foot of space. The instant that you put anything on top of it-Bingo! You're halfway to compost. You're creating a random access office.

On computers, RAM works really well. In humans, most of our memory is in context, so random access is a recipe for disaster.

Having to look through piles of paper steals your time every day. Even worse, while you're looking through those piles, your focus is dissolving. And then you have to get back into what I call work-state or focus in order to do a good job again.

Get it VERTICAL! When you get your paper vertical, you can fit more than two reams of paper into that same one square foot of physical space that just one piece of paper occupies when it's horizontal!

To start with, let's consider an escalating wire sorter, which makes a great visual to-do list withrepparttar 141504 most important things inrepparttar 141505 front. Notice how it "climbs" - sorepparttar 141506 top of each file sticks up aboverepparttar 141507 one in front of it.

That means you can see all ofrepparttar 141508 contents at once, without having to actually touch any ofrepparttar 141509 others. You can use several sorters to improve fingertip access to your information. For example use one each for related People, Projects and Meetings to-dos.

There are many different organizing tools to help you get your paper vertical, and most are available in any office supply store.

Does it really belong on your desk? The only things that live on top of my desk arerepparttar 141510 computer monitor, desk caddy with pens/paperclips etc., my phone and message book, andrepparttar 141511 electric stapler. I strive for nothing else on my desktop unless I'm working on it that day.

In deciding what really belongs on your desk, you need to think: "Frequency of use determines ease of access." If you're not using it that day or every day, put it somewhere farther away from you. Or when a bunch of paper is 'sticking' to your hand, try "The more often I use it --repparttar 141512 closer it has to be."

Remove any materials, supplies, etc. that you are not using or actually working on today or tomorrow from your Action Zone. Even if you don't takerepparttar 141513 time to file them now, get them off your desk and out of your way.

Defining your Action Zone Your Action Zone isrepparttar 141514 area you can reach comfortably while sitting in your chair. That means no stretching and no standing up. How big an area this is depends on how long your arms are. No matter how large your office is, your Action Zone is limited byrepparttar 141515 size of your "wingspan."

Cont'd on page 2 ==>
 
ImproveHomeLife.com © 2005
Terms of Use