Scott recently posted about sharpening your saws in preparation for 2012. I find myself in the same mode, but while he is cleaning out his truck and organizing his shop, I find myself focusing on my digital saws. There is more to the saw story:
The axeman went to the saw shop and the shopkeeper said, “you need a new saw, this is the latest and greatest saw, and handed the axeman a brand new chainsaw. The axeman went out and sawed all day. Returning to the shop at the end of the day, he exclaimed to the shopkeeper, “this saw is terrible, I cut much less wood!”. The shopkeeper took the saw and pulled the cord and as the saw roared to life, the startled axeman shouted,”what’s that noise!”.
Like my friend Jack Pauhl says, “The Right Products, the Right Systems, the Right Place, the Right Time.”
Not only do we need to keep our saw sharp, we need to find the most effective tools for the job. Topcoat Review covers this pretty well for the tools in the field. But what about your digital/office tools?
I probably hold some type of record for amount of bookmarks in my browser, I often have two browsers open, each with multiple tabs and am switching from Facebook, a blog, gmail, or a forum. I think I am multitasking, but often I find I am spinning my wheels. When I spoke to Regina, she mentioned that she had to set a timer to keep herself from spending all day on Facebook. I need to do something! I often sit down with my laptop thinking, “I’ll just check my email” and 2 hours, 10 forum posts, 5 tweets, 3 likes and 2 shares later find I have accomplished nothing!
So in my quest to clean out my digital toolbox and pare it down to the essentials, the right tools, I have listed a few of my favorite things.
- Google Docs– I love my Google tools!
- Dropbox-great for moving files
- Flickr-manage all my photos
- A simple file system to manage paperwork.
- Iphone apps-No, not Angry Birds! Everything from time to web stat tracking.
- Neat Desk-Nope, don’t miss the huge box of loose receipts a bit!
- Lastpass– manage all your passwords
- Delicious-I may have a solution for all those bookmarks!
- Spiral Notebook-I always it have it close by, jotting down notes to follow up in batches.
- Power Hour-I focus on one task for an hour, turn off the phone, shut the computer off, whatever it takes!
Ok, so maybe they are not all digital, but they are the best choices for me! These are the tools that make my life easier, what are yours?
Thanks Chris, I will be checking these out.
What a great post, Chris. I can especially appreciate your comment, “I’ll just check my email” and low-and-behold, you’ve lost hours where you simply “check out” of everything else around you. (“Wait. When did the hockey score get to be 3-3 in OT??” – lol)
I”ll have to checkout LastPass. Thanks for the recommendations!
Thanks Tess! Another timesaver for me has been Hootsuite, makes sharing good content so simple! But I think the time I save is lost reading all the great tidbits!