Organization
Going Paperless Part 5 - Backing up your data
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“1944”]Image by Martinluf under creative commons license [/caption] First go here and read my article on the 3-2-1 backup rule. There are 2 types of backups: Offline backups Online backups <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/0c21103e22.jpg" alt=""> An Offline backup is simple, it is an external hard disk or USB key you use to periodically keep an extra copy of your data. As an example you plug it in once a week to copy the information over then unplug it.
Going Paperless Part 4 - What to do with that PDF
So far we have: Reduced the paper clutter by throwing out needless items and switching from paper to digital where possible Bought a scanner and installed the scanning software Started scanning some of the paper and converting it to PDF Most scanners have an OCR option and that option should be enabled. On the Mac If you use a Windows PC, jump to the next section. I recently switched my main everyday laptop from a Windows machine to a Macbook Pro.
Going Paperless Part 3 - Choosing the best file format
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“744”]Image by xmodulo under Creative Commons License [/caption] This article is going to be short and sweet. It will answer one question "What format should I scan my documents to?" Regardless of the scanner or scanning software, typically they can save documents in JPG, GIF, PNG, PDF. The answer is PDF, end of discussion. PDF is an industry standard, allows for the inclusion of multiple pages and is accessible almost on every device in the world.
Going Paperless Part 2 - Choosing the right scanner
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“576”]ImageTrac 5300 [/caption] Before we talk about the different methods to capture information and workflows with digital information, I am going to talk about scanners right upfront. Like everything electronic, scanners come in all shapes, sizes and prices. On one end, you have the single sided, single page portable scanners (like the Doxie Go) <img src="https://ekiledjian2.micro.blog/uploads/2025/b2b82384b4.jpg" alt=""> Or you can splurge on a high quality, high volume, fairly automatic, double sided scanner with built in sheet feeder
Going Paperless Part 1 - Reducing your paper exposure
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“634”]Image by Joybot under creative commons license [/caption] A couple of years ago, I made the switch (personally) from a paper filling system to an all electronic document management system. There are a bunch of benefits by going digital that include: free up lots of space make finding information faster and easier easily transferring or sharing information I want to help you go paperless and the best way for me to do this is to slowly break-up different tips and recommendations over a series of articles.
Why working from home may harm your career
When you hear about non-traditional work arrangements, you probably think about a hot tech startup where employees come to work on Segways wearing Hawaiian shirts but most companies now offer some type of non-traditional work arrangement. The most common is flex time and work from home. These arrangements benefit the employees & employer. The employee gets a comfortable home work environment that is distraction free and saves dozens of travel hours. The employer gets a more productive employee and considerably reduced secondary costs (office, phone, internet, etc).
To to handle interruptions at work
With the economic realities we have been living with since 2008, companies are forcing employees to do more with less. Not only are companies asking employees to be more creative and use less resources, they are also asking less employees to do more work. An interruption is anything that distracts you from the primary task at hand. Common workplace distractions are emails, phone calls, drop-in meetings, etc This means that most people you talk to, working in a corporate environment, have too much to do and not enough time.
The Getting Things Done (GTD) Weekly Review Process
As a GTD fan, I have read the book, listened to the 10CD audio seminar, read the articles on GTD Times and subscribed to David Allen’s audio blog. In all of these mediums, one of the key messages that seems to come up over and over, is the requirement to do the weekly review. What would happen to your car if you never changed the oil? The car would get sluggish and eventually the engine would die. Same thing for GTD.
Management versus Leadership
As people read the new authorized Steve Jobs biography, they are realizing that although he was one of the greatest thinkers of our time, he seemed to lack “management skills”. This brought up an interesting management debate about which is more important for the success of a company: management or leadership. What is Management? Management is the art and science of controlling people, processes and technology to deliver maximum value through the prism of corporate values and beliefs. What is Leadership?
Research shows that Nice Guys DO Finish Last
If you have read any self-help books, you have undoubtedly read the adage “Nice guys finish last”. Now research from Notre Dame and Cornell Universities show how being too agreeable negatively impacts your earnings. More recent research from Stanford, Northwestern and Carnegie Mellon) continued on the same path showing that people who are overly caring, for overs, generally tend to make bad leaders. In particular, being overly nice generally means that you will likely fail in 2 important leadership domains: prestige and dominance.
The Getting Things Done Workflow (GTD)
Life has a way of always getting more complicated so I am constantly searching for the next tool, technique or methodology that will make my life easier. A couple of years ago, I stumbled on David Allen’s Getting Things Done book and I knew I knew this was something special. I had gone through many other time management techniques from ABC prioritization to the Eisenhower method. Nothing else seemed to be as simple or powerful. I have also referred to it in previous posts here and here.
How human needs influence motivation
Human needs psychology teaches us that all human motivation can be explained by the need to meet one or more of these primary needs: Certainty Variety Significance Connection and love Growth Contribution Anytime you are in an interpersonal relationship whether to close a sale or coach an employee, it is important to understand which of the needs (one or many) are motivating the other person. Each need is met differently so take the time to think about it.
5S is an easy Japanese philosophy to improve your work environment
My current employer is committed to achieving excellence and empowers its employees with simple yet powerful work strategies. One of the tools we use is called the 5S. It comes from the management practice of the Japanese giant Toyota and each of the 5 guiding principles start with the letter S: Seiri – Means to sort. It mandates that you get rid of anything that is underused or not used. It allows your employees to work in a clean environment with less distraction.
When group decision making goes wrong
Every time I am asked about decision making, I remember a mantra one of my earlier bosses use to chant all the time A company is not a democracy . Many modern managers have taken the completely opposing position of managing by consensus. Personally, I believe that there must a be balance in all things and this is no different. For those times when a group decision is required, when is the group too big? Marcia W Blenko, Michael C Mankins and Paul Rogers wrote an interesting piece called Decide & Deliver: 5 steps to Breakthrough Performance in Your organization .
Why you should you allow working from home and how to do it right
What are the benefits of teleworking? Before we talk about how to do it properly, I want to take a minute and quickly brain dump some of the benefits of teleworking. Not every organization will identify with every one of the items on this list but you should be able to pick out a couple that are applicable to your reality. The environmental benefits Whether you believe in this point because of your commitment to the environment or simply because of the monetary savings it provides, this is a reality most organizations will highlight.
When should you confront a co-worker?
The Rule of 3 Over the years, I have had the opportunity to participate in many interesting activities, from parachuting and bungee jumping to traveling and trying new exotic cuisines. A long time ago, I learned a simple trick called the rule of three. The basic breakdown is: First time Just do the activity Second time Learn how to do it properly Third time Do it again to determine if you like or enjoy it In a professional setting This has served me well, and over the years I have started to use this for other aspects of my life.
Creating the paperfree work environment with Evernote
The Brilliant Idea The fine folks at Evernote came up with a brilliant idea. They created a hybrid cloud-based solution to store all your personal digital information, making it available everywhere, on any platform and completely searchable. I call their solution a hybrid-cloud solution because it is based on an offline-online model. All of your data is downloaded and available offline on their Windows, Mac and Linux clients. At the same time, it is available via their web interface or dozens of other mobile devices like Android, Iphone, Ipad, Nokia, RIM, etc.
An end to multitasking?
[caption id="" align=“alignnone” width=“1200”]Image by John Ragai used under Creative Commons License [/caption] Many years ago, I got to the point where I felt overwhelmed by my jobs and all the tasks I had to perform. After a long search, I learned and implemented the concept of Getting Things Done promoted by David Allen. One of his beliefs is that a person cannot multi-task and he built his entire system around this one concept. He preaches undertaking tasks one at a time sequentially.
Tickle your way to better organization
We live in an era of information and often times it may feel like we are being overwhelmed by information. Many years ago, I reached an inflection point in my career. I had reached a point where I was constantly overwhelmed with my tasks and information. I did not know what to do, how to handle it and often felt like my work life was out of control. I decided that I needed to find better ways of doing things and so I embarked on a multi year journey to study and learn as many time management, work management and information frameworks as I can.