Increase Your Productivity By At Least 35%

How would you like to increase your productivity by at least 35%?

I’ve been in pursuit of improving my filing system for years.  I’ve tried many different systems.  At first, they would seem to be okay, but then became cumbersome and time consuming.  Statistics show that we spend up to 35% of our time looking for something.

At this point, you probably think I’m going to try to sell you something.  I’m not.  I just want to share a timesaving tool with you that you already have and which may have slipped your notice.

At my office, I get overwhelmed with paperwork, instructions, ebooks, and special reports.  They’re all good and I need them.  I learn a lot from special reports or ebooks, and I want them, but how to keep control of them becomes a problem.

Then it occurred to me—like a light bulb going off above my head—dummy (I don’t call myself that often, but every once in a while it’s appropriate), you’ve got the best filing system ever right in your PC.  It’s already there.  It’s called the “search” tool.

I consider myself proficient on the computer, so I know about and use the search tool frequently.  However, I haven’t fully used the powerful application that allows me to search for any word, or string of words.

Today I wanted to find a particular quote.  I could remember some of the quote, but couldn’t remember the name of the author.  So I searched on the two words I could remember and it popped up in my search results.

All you have to remember is one word that’s in the document, put it through the search, and everything pertaining to that particular subject will show up.

You might even be a bit embarrassed because now you see how many times you’ve saved that same item in different places.  Or all the different places you’ve put that subject.  Or all of the different products on the same subject you’ve purchased.

If it’s a document that doesn’t come to me through the computer, I scan it and save it in an appropriate file in my computer.  I’m almost becoming a paperless office.  At the same time, I’m able to find documents more easily, and my office is much neater.

Two words of caution.  When you’re relying on everything being on your computer, it’s doubly important to use a good back-up system and to back up regularly; and there will be documents for which you need the original, so we can’t get rid of all paper documents.

If you remember the valuable applications available using the search tool, you can save yourself tons of time every week.  The next time you are tempted to keep a hard copy of a special report, an eBook, or documents, put it on your computer instead, and rely on the search tool to find it.  You’ll be amazed how much more efficiently you can run your office.  And you’ll get rid of a lot of paper work.

Please add  your comments, especially if you have some time-saving tips you’ve been using.