Beyond Folders : productivity

Why Aren’t You Doing These 5 Simple Things?

Community Manager — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 22:15:00 GMT

Look, we understand your to-do list is long. Same here. But some things just never seem to get done, right? Time for some gentle prodding: make 2013 the year you add these five simple steps to your usual to-dos. Most only take a few minutes of time to complete. Happy more productive 2013.

Daily: Wake up earlier. This may not go over well with the night owls in the crowd but rising and shining even 15-30 minutes earlier each day will jumpstart your day. More time equals less stress and better organization. You can even use the extra minutes for exercise or other wellness activities such as mediation or journaling.

Weekly: You've got mail!...somewhere. Check your spam folder weekly for emails that have gone astray. And if you have multiple email accounts, do a weekly review to make sure important messages aren't being missed. Finally, take 10 minutes at the end (or beginning) of each week to free up your inbox by clearing out old emails and responding to outstanding items.

Monthly: Max out your 401(k) contributions. Each month countless employees leave money on the table in terms of matching funds from their employers. If a reduced paycheck is daunting, cut costs elsewhere to make up the deficit. There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but free money? Yup, it exists.

Yearly: How's your credit history? If you're like many Americans, you have no idea. Given that identify theft is increasingly on the rise, staying on top of your credit history is critical. Once a year, use the three main credit bureaus--Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion--to both monitor and protect your credit. Many experts caution that credit monitoring is just the first step, and advocate signing up for two years of a free credit freeze at each of the three main credit bureaus. With a freeze, no one can look at your credit profile without having you first allow the ban to be lifted. So crooks can't open accounts or buy items under your name.

Extra Credit: Overachievers, we know you love to add a little extra to your routines. How about a thirteenth mortgage payment versus twelve? Did you know that by adding just one extra payment annually, you can shave as much as five years off on your loan? For homeowners in your fifties, this can mean one less expense during retirement. Now that's golden!

Design Your Office for Extra Oomph

Community Manager — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 18:12:00 GMT

Did you notice how your office looked more festive and welcoming around the holidays? The seasonal décor, baskets of treats and smiling faces gave your workplace an extra glow.

Carry that good feeling througout 2013 with this round up of advice for jazzing up even the dullest workspace.

10 Design Tips for Tiny Offices: A welcoming environment doesn't need to be costly, as the tips from these ten small startups prove. Snacks and smiles go a long way to warming up any atmosphere. Other ideas include punchy paint colors and pets. Yes, Fido is a welcome guest in some offices; they see the paws-itive benefits of interacting with furry friends!

9 Pieces of Furniture That Make the Work Day More Fun: Put a smile on even the grumpiest face with fun furniture. From a swing set that doubles as a conference table, to a green rug designed to mimic picnic grounds, to a ping pong conference table, these designs will put some play in your day.

5 Rules for Office Feng Shui: A calm, clutter free workplace gives out a welcoming vibe. This beginner primer for organizing your work environment promotes energy and atmosphere.

Finally, we leave you with a mind-blowing design project from a German company that used over 55,000 Lego bricks to create a divider wall in their office kitchen. This year-long project may not be in the cards for every workplace but it shows that when creativity meets teamwork, magic can happen!

Appy New Year!

Community Manager — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 18:16:00 GMT

No excuses this year: we have fantastic apps to keep your New Year's resolutions on track.

Add Exercise: Put your money where your mouth is and link your fitness goals to a monetary incentive (or penalty) with the GymPact app. Users commit to a number of workouts and tie each to a monetary sum, when you show up, it adds up. Skip a workout and cough up. Users can even join in a group and challenge friends/family/coworkers. Other helpful exercise tracking apps include MapMyRun's app and the Nike Training app. Or use the mobile companion to the monster exercise hit p90X with this app. Get up and get going!

Quit Smoking for Good: Dump those cancer sticks once and for all with the iQuit app, which lets you track your decreasing cigarette schedule and plot your progress on social media. The social element enlists positive peer pressure: your social network can cheer successes and rally support if you stumble.

Watch Your Money: Whip your finances into shape with the Expenditure app, which tracks spending across categories as well as one-time only expenses. The user-friendly interface shows where the money is flowing. Or check out award-winning app Mint.com,which lets users track, budget and manage money in both checking and savings accounts, as well as credit card accounts, investments and retirement funds. Reminders also help prevent late fees. You'll love the price tag: free!

Be More Organized: Ready for a more organized 2013? Productivity app Evernote,lets users create and save notes, pictures and voice memos and sync them across your phone, computer and the Web. Never lose track of a to-do list again. When you team Evernote with a time-management tool such as OmniFocus, which lets users track tasks by date, person, place or project, you're on your way to an organized day. Still procrastinating? RescueTime, not only tracks all your time, it'll block you from visiting distracting websites when you work.

Get Up Earlier: No time for resolutions? Wake up earlier each day with the Sleep Cycle Alarm Clock, http://bit.ly/Vw6Jzr an intelligent alarm clock that analyzes your sleep and wakes you in the lightest sleep phase of a set period so you wake up feeling rested and relaxed. The app offers lots of customization such as 15 alarm options, sleep cycle monitoring and wake-up options. Use your extra morning hours to keep your resolutions on track.

Finally, if the thought of tracking all your resolutions across various apps makes you overwhelmed, this one-stop-shopping app is for you. Centralize all your goals in one spot with the All My New Year's Resolutions 2012 app. http://bit.ly/YoTDYf

Happy New Year!

Evernote Can Organize Your Life

Community Manager — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 14:33:00 GMT

Tired of juggling streams of digital data, paper notebooks and zillions of yellow post-it notes to keep track of to-dos, appointments and all the random bits of information required to make it through your day? Add one-stop organization to your life with productivity app Evernote. Called the "killer app" by former Mashable editor and Silicon Valley insider Ben Parr, Evernote is an app and web service that will organize your life: period.

With Evernote, users can keep track of notes, web clips, images and bits of data on virtually any device or computer. Evernote syncs with the cloud making it useable on any device, anywhere and allows for simple searches by key word, tags or even handwritten text inside images.

Wondering how this app could work for you? Check out these first-hand accounts from devoted users.

How I use Evernote for Work: This MacWorld writer uses Evernote for everything from corralling info on work trips (i.e. itinerary, PDF images of boarding pass and airport shuttle tickets, maps, as well as trip notes) to keeping track of favorite teas (he snaps photos of labels which can be searched by key words.) Read on for tips on making this tool your own killer app.

10 Tips On How to Use Evernote To Its Fullest: Ten simple steps that will make Evernote your own go-to app. Tips include using the merge feature to search across various notes for common topics as well as info on how to encrypt text so Evernote can be used to store sensitive passwords.

8 Great Ways Couples Can Use Evernote Shared Notebooks: Evernote is more than a work productivity tool; this article examines the ways couples can use Evernote to keep the home front running smoothly. Ideas include sharing recipes and grocery lists, to keeping tabs on home improvement projects.

Finally, with tax day right around the corner, check out this useful read on how Evernote makes tax organization easier than ever.

If you're an Evernote user, what is the most useful or surprising way you've used the app? Share your thoughts here and on the Pendaflex Facebook page.

Recharging for the Work Week

Community Manager — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:28:00 GMT

What do your weekends look like? Are they two days of rest and relaxation, allowing a chance to recharge for the busy work week ahead? Or are they jam-packed with chores, kids' sports and various commitments?

We know the laundry needs to get done but downtime is critical to your well-being. This weekend make a must-keep appointment with yourself: schedule a chunk of downtime just as you would any other important commitment. Time to get serious about relaxation.

Go Mental: Sometimes a mental break is all that's needed. Meditation, or relaxation techniques, can clear your head and provide relief from stress, anxiety and even mild depression. Not sure how to get started? Guided mediation tapes can be found online that walk you through the process. Practiced regularly, these moments of silence will recharge you for Monday's hectic pace.

Move It: Exercise is the best form of stress release bar none. Take a brisk walk, run with a friend or take a morning yoga class. Getting the blood pumping releases the physical stress that builds up during our desk bound work week. Start your day off with exercise to ensure it gets done before the day's activities distract you.

Unplug: Take a mini vacation by unplugging all your devices. Ignoring phone calls and e-mails during the week is a luxury that is next to impossible, so use the weekend to disconnect and savor the free time created from your self-imposed digital diet.

Give Back: The work week is dedicated to advancing the cause of your company and career. Make the weekend a time to focus on others; giving time and energy to others in need is incredibly rewarding and renewing.

Reconnect: Life is busy, work days are hectic. Chances are you don't have enough time Monday through Friday to connect with your spouse, spend time with your kids or hang out with friends. Reconnect with the people, and the pursuits, that matter most during the weekend.

How do you recharge for the bust week work ahead? Do you carve out time to reenergize during the weekend or are you on an endless chore treadmill? Share your thoughts here and on the Pendaflex Facebook page.

5 Things to Do Every Day

Community Manager — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 16:48:00 GMT

If your daily routine has become humdrum, shake it up in as little as five simple steps. You may have caught the blogosphere buzz over a Fast Company post, 5 Things to Do Every Day for Success, that quickly went viral last year. The steps themselves are hardly revolutionary-wake early, follow the news, reach out to a work contact, an old friend, and send someone a hand-written note. Simple indeed. So why the major buzz?

If the self-help shelf at your local bookstore is any indicator, people love advice on overhauling certain aspects of their lives. And five simple steps, practiced every day, falls into the category of manageable change. Too many items on a to-do list generally means some items never get crossed off. Five items? Well, that's doable.

Consider the tips in the Fast Company post as a way to jump start a stalled engine: rising earlier, keeping abreast of industry trends and news and interacting with smart colleagues and cherished friends creates a frisson of energy. Harness that momentum and you're off and running!

We've rounded up other great resources touting five-no more, no less-steps to reinvigorate your daily routine.

Get the Big Picture

We all have goals, but do we all achieve them? The wonderful post Five Golden Rules for Successful Goal Setting breaks goal setting down into what five concrete steps; we think the first is key: set goals that motivate you. When you truly have a reason that gets you up and going every day, the rest will fall into place.

Get Fit

No time for the gym? Reinvigorate your fitness routine with five easy exercises that can be done at your office desk. Yep, you read that right. Push-ups, leg lifts, simple stretches, even simulated jump roping are all possible, right in your very own office. What are you waiting for? Time to try those desk chair lifts.

Get Financial

Wish you had more money in your pocket at the end of the day? Trim your daily overhead with the tips in 5 Ways to Save Money on Everyday Expenses. Ideas include buying generic goods and comparison shopping for insurance plans. Other money saving ideas can be found in 5 Simple Ways to Cut Your Spending - And Still Enjoy Your Life! Tips include canceling unused subscriptions and limiting window shopping (and its online equivalent, window surfing) to prevent impulse buys.

Get Happy

Finally, what's the point of overhauling your daily routine if you forget what's important in life? Focus on what matters with the advice in the Top 5 Daily Tips for Better Living. These tips are no-brainers: sharing a smile or laugh every day and doing a good deed for someone else is a surefire way to reap personal satisfaction and contentment.

What does your daily routine look like? Can you see incorporating any of the above steps in your daily routine? Or do you have others that work for you? Share your thoughts here and on the Pendaflex Facebook page.

In Praise of Praise

Community Manager — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 14:56:00 GMT

Want an easy and completely free way to drive employee engagement and increase profit? Turns out that praise-the simple expression of appreciation and gratitude-boosts morale and employee engagement which in turn drive profitability and productivity.

Praise Be!

To be most effective, praise needs to be tailored properly. We are big believers in recognizing hard work, diligent effort and simple kindnesses. So we want to be sure to deliver our kudos in the best way possible. We like the tips in The Power of Praise in Business -- and How to Do it Right.

Do It Now: Closely link the delivery of praise to the timing of the accomplishment for maximum impact. Try not to let too much time pass before acknowledging effort and hard work.

Be Specific: Don't let a blanket "great job!" suffice. Spell out concrete details that demonstrate that you truly understand the effort that went into a project or a job. When you praise specific actions, you are more likely to see them repeated, creating a virtuous circle of excellent work.

Be Authentic: Praise needs to be heartfelt to be meaningful. Don't merely spout out platitudes or laud someone simply because you feel you should. When praise is rooted in true appreciation, it is easier to deliver and received more appreciatively.

Before we end, we leave you with a wonderful article on praise's close kin, the thank you. A sincere thank you delivered either by words or by gesture, elicits the same sense of appreciation and recognition for one's effort. Yet often we overlook those who are most deserving of our thanks. Read Who Should You Be Thanking? and never leave someone off the list again.

Do you make it a point to praise your coworkers? What is the best way to deliver praise? Share your thoughts here and on the Pendaflex Facebook page.

Making the Most of Mondays

Community Manager — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 13:48:00 GMT

Tired of dreading Monday? We hear you. Stop singing the Monday Blues and instead embrace the week's fresh start with our simple steps for making the most of your Monday.

Aim for Progress, Not Perfection: Begin each week by adopting a very simple formula: aim for progress, not perfection. Don't look at the entire scope of work for the week and think, "ugh, I'm overwhelmed." Look at what you need to do that day, or even that morning, and go task by task. Once you set the wheels in motion, momentum will carry you through the rest.

Self-Awareness Scheduling: Gretchen Rubin, the New York Times best-selling author of The Happiness Project, explores different ways of using scheduling tricks to combat the Monday Blahs in 5 Tips for Improving Monday Mornings. Rubin suggests that if hectic Monday mornings always create stress, try to opt for a Monday morning zone free of email, phone calls and meetings. Or schedule enticing Monday lunch dates or evening plans to make the day more appealing. Manage your schedule to make the most of your Monday.

Monday, Monday, So Good to Me: Make Monday a designated day for enjoyable activities. We like the feel good advice from web site Growing Happiness. In 20 Ways to Beat the Monday Blahs tips for combating the Monday Blues include scheduling calls with friends, treating yourself to a small gift (new pen, cool magnet, etc.) and making Monday, not Sunday, your day for a delicious breakfast treat such as pancakes.

How do you make the most of your Mondays? Share your thoughts here.

Be an Energy Star: Tips for Operating at Peak Capacity

Community Manager — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 19:56:00 GMT

Want to hit the ground running each morning? How about enjoying enhanced productivity, greater energy levels and less stress? Be more energy efficient with these simple steps:

Sleep Smart: Get a full night of shut-eye. Most adults need 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night. Having trouble catching 40-winks? Read WebMD's Sleep Tips for the 411 on sleep including avoiding alcohol and unplugging distracting lights in your room.

Snack Happy: Don't run on empty: refuel throughout the day with small, healthy snacks such as nuts and hummus and veggies. Read our past post Healthy Office Eating Made Easy for more ideas.

Simple Stretches: Studies show that productivity slumps after 90-minutes and too much sitting leads to muscle fatigue and discomfort. Reboot your productivity by getting the blood flowing with gentle desk stretches: feeling good equals performing well.

Take Breaks: Pace yourself, allowing blocks of downtime to refresh concentration and energy. Break projects into discrete portions and take breathers throughout. A fresh eye will often catch mistakes or allow for a new perspective.

Time Off: Prevent burnout with time off from work. Add a three day weekend to your schedule when you can and be sure to take longer vacation weeks when work allows. Burning the candle at both ends decreases productivity so make time to recharge and refresh.

How do you stay energized throughout the day? Share your thoughts here and on the Pendaflex Facebook and Twitter pages.

Top 10 Tips to Reboot Productivity at Work

Community Manager — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 14:32:00 GMT

Summer's lazy, hazy days are firmly in the rearview mirror. Time to reboot your back-to-business mojo with ten tips to make your September more productive.

1. Reconnect with your colleagues after vacation by updating your boss and co-workers on summertime successes and project statuses.

2. Tackle the tickler list that got short shrift during vacation weeks.

3. Jump on the back-to-school bandwagon by stocking up on organizational tools of every stripe. Folders, files, notebooks, day planners, computers and the like all sport sales stickers come September.

4. Schedule a block of time to prune the paperwork that didn't get filed. Moving piles to files is energizing.

5. Do some goal-setting. September's new-notebooks, fresh-start-energy is the perfect time to strive for an unrealized goal.

6. Take steps to hone focus; noise canceling headphones or technology-free blocks of time can provide needed concentration.

7. Commit to a regimen of simple desk stretches to keep the blood flowing and boost memory and energy levels.

8. Arrive well-rested; early to bed, early to rise, you know the drill.

9. Think positively! Arrive at your desk every day with a smile on your face and some pep in your step; positivity propels productivity.

10. Finally, schedule a fall vacation. You're going to need a break from all that productivity!

Productivity Plus: Making the Most of Your Days

Community Manager — Fri, 27 May 2011 12:53:00 GMT

Put that extra "spring" in your step to good use. The season's longer days provide ample time for enhanced productivity as we posted about last month in Making Better Use of Longer Days.

Stay on a productivity roll with our round-up of useful posts from across the web.

Productivity blog Stepcase has three new terrific posts worth a read:

Lifehacker, another site devoted to doing more with less, is taking a look at different productivity strategies linked to each the day of the week. For their seven-days-a-week strategy to a more productive you, read here.

Does procrastination often get in the way of your productivity? We have a fantastic post for you at Gretchen Rubin's blog, The Happiness Project. Read what Rubin, a NYT's best-selling author, learns as she interviews Piers Steel, the author of "The Procrastination Equation: How to Stop Putting Things Off and Getting Stuff Done."

Finally, we leave you with the thought that happiness can contribute to productivity. Leading Fortune 500 consultant Paul David Walker calls it one of the crucial ingredients. Read here for more on the link between feeling good and performing well.

Have you come across any useful productivity resources on the web? Share your thoughts here and at the Pendaflex Facebook page.

by Candie Harris

Keep Your Motor Running: Tips for Optimizing Energy Levels

Community Manager — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 13:18:00 GMT

Want to hit the ground running each morning? How about operating at peak capacity throughout the day? Optimize your energy level with a few simple steps.

Sleep: Get a full night of shut-eye. Most adults need 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night. Having trouble catching your ZZZs? Read WebMD's Sleep Tips for the 411 on sleep including avoiding alcohol and unplugging distracting lights in your room.

Snacking: Much like a car, you can't run on empty. Refuel throughout the day with small, healthy snacks such as nuts and hummus and veggies. Read our past post Healthy Office Eating Made Easy for more ideas.

Stretching: Studies show that productivity slumps after 90-minutes and too much sitting leads to muscle fatigue and discomfort. Reboot your productivity by getting the blood flowing with gentle desk stretches: feeling good equals performing well.

Taking Breaks: Pace yourself through the day, allowing chunks of downtime to refresh your concentration and energy. Break projects into discrete portions and take breaks throughout. A fresh eye will often catch mistakes or allow for a new perspective.

Taking Time Off: Stave off burnout with time off from work. Add a three day weekend to your schedule when you can and be sure to take longer vacation weeks when work allows. Burning the candle at both ends decreases productivity so make time to recharge and refresh.

How do you stay energized throughout the day? Share your thoughts here and on the Pendaflex Facebook page.

by Bradley Eggers

Here Comes 2011: Tips for Readying Your Office for the New Year

Community Manager — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 17:19:00 GMT

It's right around the corner: A New Year, a clean slate. Take a few simple steps now to get your office in order for a productive start to the New Year.

Make a List: Don't start tossing stuff willy nilly. Approach the year-end clean up in an orderly fashion by inventorying your files, deciding what to keep, what to store and what to toss. Next, make a master list. For example, if you know you want to keep 2010 customer files for posterity, put them on the archive list. Same goes for invoices, or purchase orders or anything else that has to be transferred to storage. Color code the list so files to keep are one color, files to archive another and so on.

Toss: We've said it before and we'll say it again. Organizing begins with eliminating the unnecessary. So get out that shredder and wastepaper basket and get ready to purge.

Buy boxes, and files and labels: Invest in solid, corrugated file boxes for archiving records to keep. Ready yourself for an organized 2010 by stocking up on files and labels.

Day Planner: Don't spend the first week of January playing catch up with your calendar. Get your day planner now and start filling in January appointments.

Sort Your Desk Drawers: Take 20 minutes to organize your desk drawers, tossing unnecessary items and grouping like supplies (i.e. post-it-notes, pens, staples) together.

Eliminate e-clutter: Does your email box overfloweth? Schedule blocks of time to get through the email once and for all and head into the New Year resolved keep your inbox from filling up again.

Do you have plans to clean up your office as you head into the New Year? What end-of-the-year organizing strategies do you use? Share your thoughts here and on the Beyond Folders Community's Facebook and Twitter pages.

by Candie Harris

Easy Desk Stretches

Community Manager — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 14:28:00 GMT

I spend more hours in a day sitting at my desk than I do anywhere else including bed. And I have the sore back and stiff neck to prove it. To combat the desk-bound blues, I'm committing to a series of easy, desk stretches throughout the day. Join me! Your back will thank you.

Streeeetch

To start, here are three of my favorites, courtesy of WebMD.

Shrug your shoulders: Great for releasing the neck and shoulders. Inhale deeply and shrug your shoulders, lifting them high up to your ears. Hold. Release and drop. Repeat three times. Shake your head slowly, yes and no.

Point your fingers: A wonderful stretch for hands, wrist, and forearms. Stretch your left hand out in front of you, pointing fingers toward the floor. Use your right hand to gently increase the stretch, pushing your fingers down and toward the body. Repeat with other hand. Next stretch your left hand out straight in front, wrist bent, with fingers pointing skyward. Use your right hand to increase the stretch, pulling the fingers back toward your body.

Torso Twist: Release tension in the upper body. Inhale and as you exhale, turn to the right and grab the back of your chair with your right hand, and grab the arm of the chair with your left. With eyes level, use your grasp on the chair to help twist your torso around as far to the back of the room as possible. Hold the twist and let your eyes continue the stretch -- see how far around the room you can peer. Repeat on the other side.

For more stretches, read WebMD's Stretching Exercises at Your Desk: 12 Simple Tips.

In addition to stretching, desk workers should get up and move around at least every hour to promote circulation and get the blood flowing. Other simple desk relaxation techniques include breathing deeply; many people unconsciously hold their breath, which causes tension in our muscles. Take time to focus on breathing throughout the day.

Finally, before hitting the "send" button on an e-mail, consider getting up and walking to talk with your colleague face-to-face. Or hit the stairs at lunch rather than the elevator. Small steps can add up to relaxed results.

Do you have desk stretches or other office relaxation tips? Share your thoughts here and on the Beyond Folders Community's Facebook and Twitter pages.

by Bradley Eggers

Disorganized? Stressed Out? You Could be Hurting Your Health

Community Manager — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 12:50:00 GMT

Google the phrase "disorganization and stress" and 384,000 results pop up. In .25 seconds flat. Whoa. But Googling isn't the only way of knowing disorganization is linked to stress, just feel your own blood pressure rise as you search messy desk piles for a crucial missing document. Stressed out? Heck yeah!

Being disorganized means more than just being messy, forgetful or chronically late; being disorganized creates stress which can have an adverse affect on your health.

Stress Mess

According to WebMD, people experiencing symptoms of stress may:

Feel cranky and unable to deal with even small problems.
Feel frustrated, lose your temper more often, and yell at others for no reason.
Feel jumpy or tired all the time.
Find it hard to focus on tasks.
Worry too much about small things.
Feel that you are missing out on things because you can't act quickly.
Imagine that bad things are happening or about to happen.

Combating stress is vital for maintaining good health. Heart disease, cancers, high blood pressure and mental illnesses are all linked to stress to some degree.

Ready to combat stress and improve your health? Tackle that to-do list and organize those files. Just as an apple a day keeps the doctor away, so too does being organized. Give it a whirl.

You may wish to review some of our past posts for help getting started:

And finally, we are big believers that organizing can be fun. We like the blog The Happiness Project for tips and techniques for combating disorganization, managing your time effectively and best of all, for its guidance on how to get happy. Start small, read The Happiness Project: Six Tips for Forcing Yourself to Tackle a Dreaded Task. You'll be happy you did!

How do you combat stress? Share your thoughts here and on the Beyond Folders Community's Facebook and Twitter pages.

by Carly Fadako