Lose Your Paper Planner without Getting Lost

Community Manager — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 14:15:00 GMT

Still Tied To Your Paper Planner?

There was a time, not too long ago, when the loss of a paper planner spelled a personal organization and time management disaster of epic proportions. In fact, one Saturday a few months ago, I was panicked by the thought that I lost my paper planner. After driving into the office, I was relieved to see it, in plain view right on my desk.

Although the evolution of web-based applications has liberated many of us from total paper dependency by providing a range of online options for planning and tracking our daily tasks and activities, I had resisted letting go of my planner. During my trip back to the office on that Saturday, I decided the time had come to take advantage of the benefits of going digital.

It actually was easier than I anticipated. I entered all my contact information into my blackberry, and began to use Lotus Calendar (which is synced from our email system) for all my appointments. I used my paper planner as well, keeping both for about two months. After realizing that I hadn't needed to look at the paper planner during the entire two month period, I gave it up and went totally digital.

To help you make sense of the online personal productivity tools available today, here is a round up of recent articles and reviews. As always, we consider this a two-way conversation and invite you to share your favorite online personal organization and time management solutions with us here.

Whether you are a location independent professional or office worker, you can benefit from this post on 8 Simple online Time Management Tools for Freelancers. Included in the review are the following flexible solutions:

Calendars: Google Calendar and 30 Boxes
To-do lists: vitalist and Todoist
Project management: Backpack and Basecamp from the innovators at 37signals

Popular Web-based task manager Remember the Milk is the subject of this in-depth review. Among the notable features are:

Multiple avenues of access (via Gmail, Firefox, mobile phone, iPhone and Blackberry)
Organization of tasks by category, priority, date or tag
Single keystroke shortcuts
Free and paid professional versions (the pro version is required for the iPhone, Windows Mobile and Blackberry integration)

For a deeper look into popular online calendars, you can watch this helpful video tutorial produced by butterscotch.com.

Letting go of my paper planner has made it so much easier to organize my life (both business and personal), and with the added security of back up, it's negated the need for a Saturday trip to the office! Let us know how you have transitioned from paper to digital!

by Candie Harris

Beyond Folders : workplace organization, technology, paper planner

Lose Your Paper Planner without Getting Lost