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Let's talk about a subject near and dear to our hearts, ladies: how do you organize your office and your work (or otherwise get things done)? We've talked about cute office supplies, the best notebooks, planners, and office padfolios — as well as how to keep notes to CYA — but we haven't talked about this directly. Reader A wonders:
I would love to see more articles on the best ways to organize your work in the office, i.e., a folder with separate notes for each project or client v. one notebook for all meetings/projects, how to organize your day or to-do list, how to turn meeting notes into a to-do list, etc. I'd also love some suggestions on day planners, notebooks, and other office supplies.
Fun topic! Personally, when I was a lawyer, I played around with having a single notebook per case, as well as having one notebook or notepad that I grabbed whenever I was heading out to take notes. If memory serves I finally settled on a folder system — I would keep one “general” folder with all of my initial notes from prior pleadings and general strategy notes, and then I'd start a new folder for each major assignment I was tasked with (memo, research, portion of a brief, whatever).
I would keep the recent and active folders near my desk in a folder tower or stackable paper tray (where each case had its own little slot — something similar to what I had is pictured above), and then move them to a filing drawer or redweld once the case was Really Truly Over, or once the assignment got stale enough and I needed more room closest to my desk. (Oh, and I love my Brother P-Touch label maker.)
As I've noted in the past, I love using pretty file folders… These can be hard to find online, but Target's a good spot to look them (like the ones below from brands like Barker Creek and UBrands). (While you're there, readers have also noted they love their Blue Sky planners!)
For my $.02 on the to-do lists, I keep a number of them. I keep a Post-It with my immediate tasks for the day, and I start a clean Post-it for every meeting to record action items for me and others. I also keep a longer to-do list on a notepad that I update about once a week, and consult in the rare event that I finish all of my must-finish-tasks for the day. I also keep a running big picture to-do list on Remember The Milk and Google Docs, and I also use Mailbox as a sort of to-do list (in that it only reminds me of emails when I suspect I'll have time to tend to them).
{related: these are our best tips on digital journaling}
I've never been great about implementing Getting Things Done, but one of the lessons that I do take from it is to try to “batch” tasks — so if I have a bunch of phone calls to make I save several for one afternoon, or if I have a bunch of one kind of email to reply to (such as an advertiser query or something) then I try to reply to them all at the same time.
Readers, how do you organize your office paperwork? Do you have any office supplies or systems you swear by?
Some of our latest favorite books on productivity, below:
(2020 updated images via Stencil.)
Anon
I keep one notepad per case with a list of key facts/information (e.g., key facts, client contact info, trial date, etc) as well as monthly to-do lists. I stopped keeping files in my office because I have way too many cases to fit in my filing drawers and on my shelves. I try to make a to-do list every morning, but it’s hard to stick to it because so many things pop up throughout the day that detour me. I am the primary handler on my cases so I rarely have team meetings that would require me to keep a meeting notebook. If I did have such a meeting, I would just take my notepad for that case.
I also started keeping a master notepad for each of my major clients with a list of all active cases and reporting deadlines.
Ellen
These are great idea’s ANON. Here’s my trick. I have DIFFERENT Color Coded Manilla folders for each cleint. So I know if I have a bunch of YELLOW Manilla Folders, they are ROBERTA’s file’s and if I have Green they are Jim’s and if I have RED, they are the Supermarkit Guy’s. I have a couple of other color’s for other cleint’s but I am not at liberty to disclose them to the HIVE b/c I have not discussed the HIVE with them like I have Jim, Roberta and the Supermarkit Guy’s.
Noah came over and we watched the baseball game. It was good that HIS team won, but frankley, it was BORING, but this is the kind of thing’s women have to do to make guy’s think we care about it. FOOEY! Thank GOD Myrna was over so we could laugh and roll our eye’s at some of the dumb thing’s that went on. Myrna thinks Noah may be interested in me and I think she is right. YAY!!!! Finaly a guy who is not a looser who like’s me! DOUBEL YAY!!!! Mabye Dad was right all along about the tuchus thing. My tuchus would never look like it does if dad did NOT hound me every day about walkeing, the fitbit and my tuchus! YAY Dad! He is Soooooo smart!!!! TRIPEL YAY!!!!!
Lawgirl
i feel like a failure reading about all of Kat’s systems for to-do lists… o__O
Lorelai Gilmore
Yup.
Kate G
My systems is mostly paperless–I will occasionally resort to a PostIt for something I must must must remember to do.
My office uses Microsoft Outlook, which I don’t love, but I do use the Tasks area for my To Do list. I like how I can set any due date I want, and then I can color code it. So, if I just gave something to my boss to review, but I need to remind him about it later, I can flag it yellow, or red, etc. It also saves my completed tasks, which is nice if I need to remember when I did something, or I can make a note about the task that I can refer to later if I have to.
One thing problem I have not been able to solve is a good To Do list app for my phone. I have an android phone. I’m using Any.do, which I like okay, but it doesn’t let you set recurring tasks for any length of time (you’re boxed into choosing daily, weekly, or monthly, and you can’t do anything two or three times a week). I also don’t like that you cannot have different lists–I like to keep a to do list for my spouse to remind (i.e., NAG) him to do things.
Anyone have any good suggestions for a To Do list phone app????
anonsg
I love Todoist! You can also share “projects” with others – so you could do one that is shared with your husband and he’ll see it on his phone too. You can categorize by priority flags, and also assign due dates (or no due date is an option too) and do recurring tasks, which are tricky but easy once you review the tutorial page. I also like the cute karma feature. These features are all free but the premium one has some additional useful features, like adding labels. I just use the projects to categorize.
Wunderlist is not bad – I think wunderlist looks nicer on the phone but todoist has a decent number features that I like.
Tazdevil
I work in house doing transactional work. If I make any handwritten notes on legal pads during negotiations with the customer or inernal meetings related to a deal, I send myself an email with the subject line “Company
X – purchase of Y &Z Services”, with my handwritten notes typed up in the body of the email. It cuts down on a lot of paper clutter, and I still have this information at my fingertips!
Diana Barry
I have a lot of paper files. I also have an AWESOME new secretary who is getting all my files in order!!!
I do the same thing as Taz with typing up my own notes, but I also put the original notes on post-its or a notepad, and tape the post-its to the notepad, and then put those in the file.
Diana Barry
Oh, and I have a to-do list on a big notepad, which I update usually once a week (before that it gets crossed out and post-its on top).
Jennifer
I keep a small notebook for content notes from meetings, I use post-its for minor tasks I want to complete before the end of the day, but my real organization system is my calendar. I put the date Task X is officially out of my hands for review or submission (and if I am waiting on Y from someone else before I can be done, that deadline too), and then I put blocks of time on my calendar for steps a, b, and c of completing X. I move the blocks of time around as priorities change and meetings get scheduled, but it is much easier to:
a) track my billable time, and
b) have a realistic answers to the “when can you finish this?” questions.
Outlook categories keep everything color-coded on my calendar and inbox, and since I almost never do anything via hard-copy ends up as my email filing system (everything for Client M goes in the same archive folder, but projects 1 and 2 have their own category for faster searching).
MollySolverson
Lawyer here. I have established good strategies for organizing my thoughts and to do list, similar to Kat’s. I keep one notebook per case to contain all of my notes. I keep a running draft email in Outlook that contains all current and pending tasks, organized by priority/deadline. I also jot down any items from my to do list that I must accomplish each day on a post-it note affixed prominently to my desk (sometimes with deadlines – i.e., draft section A of brief by 1pm, draft section B by 3pm).
Where I struggle is the organization of all of the paper and hard copy files in my office. I sometimes joke that if I ever go missing, people should just look under the piles of folders/binders in my office. I really like the idea of a folder tower to organize myself going forward – it seems like a great way to avoid unnecessary pile-up of inactive materials. Unfortunately, what I really need to do first is set aside some time to clear out everything I have already let take over the room and start from scratch. It is so hard to motivate myself to do that when I try to spend my time in the office actually billing.
Tazdevil
Can any of your papers be scanned and stores as PDF copies? If you scan and send yourself an email with the soft version of the document and archive it appropriately, then it probably is a more easily access able and safely stored, due to most organizations strict IT retention policies.
MollySolverson
Thanks, that is a good idea. In all honesty, a lot of these materials are already available to me in electronic format should I ever need to access them again. I really should just get rid of the duplicative hard copies taking over my office unless there is a true need to hang onto my mark-ups or drafts.
KellyS
I don’t have time to type up my notes, but I have an app for my phone that converts photos into PDFs. Rather than saving them to scan later, I can just snap a photo of my notes and e-mail them to myself as a PDF.
I originally got the app to help with my pro bono clients, who I frequently meet out of the office and who almost always bring original documents (because they rarely have easy access to a fax or scanner).
ac
Do you recall the name of the app? This sounds very helpful.
OCaccountant
I use Genius Scan on my iPhone for that. Pictures to PDF works well.
Anonymous
I use ScannerPro for iPhone. Works really well.
Erin
I have tried a couple scanner apps for this purpose and really like Turboscan.
In House Lobbyist
I use CamScanner for this.
Anon
Everything is electronic and I use one calendar in Outlook. My notes are in OneNote. If, on the rare occasion, I encounter papers I need to keep, I scan them and add them to a PDF file. I have one to-do list. It’s easy.
Carolina
I am not a lawyer, I work in the financial industry and not long ago I found our about Microsoft OneNote!
Its the best thing ever. I wish I had this back when I was in college. I pretty much stopped taking notes on paper. Check it out. It saves everything automatically, it’s like a notebook divided in sessions(tabs), and you can have multiple notebooks open at the same time. you can type anywhere on the page , crop anything and paste, tag important items, email meeting notes, keep documents attached, make tables, to-do list, and protect sensitive information with a password, you can synchronize them between your laptop/tablet/desktop.
check it out. I absolutely love it.
Medic Maggie
I have a single notebook that goes with me to everything. I number the pages, and then I have a running index list on the inside cover that is kind of a quick reference for the BIG notes, or for things that are likely to come back up. But, with one notebook, I don’t have to carry a bunch, if I’m in different project meetings all day. Or I don’t have the wrong notebook for a meeting or whatever.
With regard to the projects I manage, I keep all of the staff paperwork and applicant paperwork in a single folder(s) or binder, depending on the quantity. If I took notes in the notebook, I will xerox them and file them in the folder.
I use the notebook a lot to compile daily or weekly to-do lists. I should probably use Outlook more for my tasks and to-dos, but I find that I need to write things down with a pen & paper to get them to stick in my head sometimes. I keep my current project folders/binders near my desk, but not on my desk. I have a drafting table for working with bigger plans. The vast majority of the things that I produce (notes, reports, etc) become a part of the permanent file, so I don’t keep these kinds of things in my office, except when they’re with a current project. Everything else gets filed to the department filing system.
I think it works fairly well, but I am sure there is room for improvement.
purplesneakers
Grad student here, but one of the best pieces of advice I got was to treat my programme like a job, so here’s my system.
I have a notebook per subject, the kind with perforated/punched pages. Sheets with ‘reference’ information (stuff that may be useful for projects/assignments in the future) gets pulled out and put in a three-ring binder. I might switch to a five-subject notebook next semester, since I keep forgetting notebooks at home. (I don’t have every subject every day.)
As for to-do lists, my Filofax has saved my sanity on more than one occasion. I keep a running to-do list in one section, which kind of serves as a place to brain dump. From there, homework assignments get broken into doable chunks, and put in a separate homework planner. Events go in the calendar section of my FF, and I use a Post-it for daily to-dos. It’s a little involved, but it works for me.
Brant
I have a giant (GIANT) whiteboard. I take photos of the madness with my camera and store them by date. I also have a notepad that stays with me throughout the day.
I am tempted to move to OneNote but hate carrying around the electronics :)
OneNote- Lawyers
Can any lawyers comment on the use of OneNote in their practice? My practice is transactional/regulatory. The regulatory component is research intensive, with sources from legal databases like westlaw as well as other internet resources. I’d love a better system than a pile of papers all over my desk. Is this my unicorn?
Lynnet
I’m also a regulatory attorney, and although I used OneNote in law school, I’ve never considered using it in my practice. It occurs to me, however, that it might be perfect for my regulatory practice, since you can import materials from all over.
What really matters, though, is whether I can print out regulations in a useable format for my boss…
Scully
I adored OneNote in law school, but sadly it is not part of our applications at work. It’s great for cutting and pasting research from a bunch of different sources, so I think it would work well for you. I love how easy it is to star and check-box items.
This is totally outing me but I will share
I am an engineer, not a lawyer… but if this helps you:
1) ONE and ONLY notebook with ALL my tasks to do, both professional and personal. In this notebook:
1a) I have one page per day, and I religiously copy the tasks not accomplished to the following day or days.
1b) When I give a task to any of my reports, that very moment I make a note to check with them in the day when we next need to check on the task.
1c) At the beginning of each month I have a caldendar of the month in one page, where I can mark important dates and a page for a mind map highlighting the most important tasks/events/milestones in the month.
1d) Several blank pages at the end of the notebook, in case I need to make a sketch, take longer notes during a meeting, etc.
1e) At the end of the notebook, one page “NEXT COMMITMENTS”, where I list all the things I need to copy to the next notebook when this one is nearing its end.
2) A separate “lessons learned notebook”, so that knowledge gained in different project is kept together.
3) A digital and a paper folder for each ongoing project. In this folder I I keep things I need to keep for the future. Such as specially critical information the customer gave me, such as maximum operating pressure for a certain equipment if this pressure is the basis for calculations performed by my team. Of course for each project I have the usual digital files: directory, control list of deliverables, etc. Keep papers at bare minimum, i.e. papers are for quick reference, but all of them exist in my digital file too.
4) During meetings/phone calls I try to draw mind maps, be it manually or using some application. This mind maps + notes I store in the digital file for the project.
5) Use the alarms in my cellphone. If I call someone and they tell me to call back in 40 minutes, then I set an alarm 40 minutes later.
Mmmm… all this makes me sound like a freak I guess, but it works for me. Previously I used one agenda for work and one small agenda for personal things and it was not good. They day I decided I needed one and only agenda as I had one and only life, was a real epiphany for me.
Anon
Your system sounds great! Can I ask what kind of notebook or agenda you use to accomplish this? Is it a particular brand of agenda or just a plain, blank notebook? Thanks!
This is totally outing me but I will share
It’s a plain notebook, and I write the headers for month/day myself…. as I decided this was the way that made most sense for me, and it didn’t fit in an existing agenda format. I write the headers while doing mindless tasks, such as waiting for a call to get through…
I don’t use spiral notebooks (as they tend to tangle with other stuff in my tote) but more of a fancier notebook, of the moleskine kind (actually a moleskinesque cheaper notebook available in the office max by my office: it’s 13 x 21 cm).
For each day I take to sheets: left hand side, is the to do list: right hand side are relevant notes. And lots of colors!
MK
You sound like such an engineer.
This is totally outing me but I will share:
I know! I wrote the post on how I organize my work and when I re-read I realized I am a control freak… that’s what work and two small kids have done to my former easier-going self
Layla
Really like this system.
Erin
Geez-o. My son is studying to be an engineer. Are *all* you engineer types uber-organized like this? Because my son is like this too. Us attorneys could learn a thing or 2 from you. :) I tell my son that all my genetic organizational skills passed right through to him and skipped me.
Seriously though, thanks for the input. I dream of being organized some day.
LM
Heck no! I’m not an engineer, but married to one. I am 10x more organized than he is!
Former Biglaw
Can I ask a few questions?
1. Do you fill out the whole notebook with page headers at the outset? Or do you just fill in each day as you go, leaving yourself more than one page as needed? I like the idea of having a whole month ready at a glance but I don’t like the idea of keeping longer notes away from the date they relate to.
2. What do you use as your monthly page? Do you draw a calendar or paste one in your notebook?
3. How do you utilize colors? Highlighting? Other?
4. Do you ever try to put your notes with the project they are specific to?
5. Do you carry thus notebook all the time, including for your personal life?
Thanks in advance!!
TO Lawyer
I use legal pads and just file my notes on each file together. I get my assistant to file most of the big things on the files but I keep my own notes/copies of whatever I’m working on in my office. Once I’m finished a task, I usually get rid of the documents that I don’t need (copies of the pleadings or whatever) – either filed or shredded if we don’t need to keep it but keep my own notes. I have a folder for each current case and just stack them in a three-tray file holder that sits behind my desk. I like the idea of the folder tower though!
Must be Tuesday
Lawyer here. I have several note pads handy, and when I take notes, I write client’s name at top and then file notes away in section of file set aside specifically for notes. That is particularly useful if I take a quick phone call or jot down something from a brief conversation with someone else in the office – I don’t have to hunt for my case-specific notebook. I just take the note and file it away.
I have a to-do list on my desk for tasks that need done in the next few weeks, and I update that frequently.
Our office has a calendar system with reminders, so I set reminders for deadlines and those get emailed to me so if I forgot something, or forgot how soon it needed to be done, I get a reminder in advance of the deadline. I have a personal paper calendar that includes everything personal and professional. My calendar on my phone is synched with the work calendar system, so I don’t like to put personal entries on there. Our staff takes care of updating the shared work calendar, which we all have access to online.
Ashe
Scan to PDF is amazing. I don’t really need paper copies for anything. I just make sure everything relevant is discussed in reports/e-mails to the client. File copies and relevant supporting documentation are saved to the project folder on our server. (Then again, I’m not a lawyer, so YMMV.)
Blonde Lawyer
I’m another poster that uses one notepad at a time, date and client name on top, and when the pad is full and I have done my billing entries the notes go off to my assistant to get filed in the notes file for each particular client file.
For to do lists, my state bar gives each attorney a bar directory that also has a notebook page for each day of the year. The book is huge and heavy and I could never use it as my calendar. I write things I need to do on it instead and put a line down the right side of each page where I write in the date that I actually complete the task. When all the tasks on a page are completed, I cross the page off. When I have multiple crossed off pages, those get paper clipped together so I can easily flip back and forth at what still needs to be done.
If I know I won’t get to a task today, when I think of the task, it goes on the page for tomorrow or the next day. Seems to work for me. Hard to explain without a visual.
Anonski
Regarding the use of notepads, I read on some website that notepads appear very “new hire” or “intern” and should not be used if you are neither. A nice notebook was suggested. I use a notepad at every meeting, and never even thought twice about it, but now I am looking around considering what other people are using. Any thoughts on this?
Former Biglaw
A few guys in our in-house legal group carry their pad in a leather portfolio. I have to admit, it looks more professional. Plus, you always have your pen there and maybe could fit your handheld there too? I hate not having pockets on my clothes….which is a gripe for another day. I’m going to investigate the portfolio idea for this reason.
This is totally outing me but I will share
In general, I think it is key to adapt your system to track tasks/manage information according to your needs at a given moment. For instance: at this moment I have only 3 reports, so my system for following up tasks works fine. Were I to lead a bigger group, I would probably need to develop a new system.
I think analyzing what when wrong and why, or what could have been done better is useful to find & refine your own way to organize your work.
NancyD
Not law; higher ed admin.
I keep one Moleskine type notebook for notes, take it to meetings, etc. Date every entry, number the pages. Build an index in the back as I go, noting pages I may want to refer back to. (Some years ago I tried keeping more subject/topic notes, but realized my brain remembers things chronologically anyway and this is much easier to maintain.) General notes, phone call notes, work reminders, etc. all go in the notebook. I put a box in front of anything that is a “to do” and then keep scanning back over recent pages to make sure things get done.
Each “project” (idea, committee, groups that meet regularly, new program plans) gets a folder. Folders stand upright in a file rack near (not on) my desk. When I work on something, I pull out its file. I allow myself to spill contents of one file all over my desk when I’m working on it. But the minute I stop, even if it’s just to take a phone call about something else, every paper goes back in that file. Papers are not filed within the file in any particular order. (Sometimes I keep important notes, names and phone numbers, etc. on the file folder itself.) Sometimes I copy a page from the notebook I talked about and stick it in a file if its key to the “project”.
No more than one file open at any time is the secret to keeping my brain undistracted! The minute I’m done working on a file, I put it back in the front of the file rack. So over time, certain project folders move to the back because I haven’t used them in a long while. Periodically I review those and move some to archive. This is simple and it works for me.
We use a shared Google calendar in the office and I put my own personal events on it too. For a while that was my only calendar but I decided I miss the “high touch” of a weekly planner that is written in by hand, so now I have one of those, too. Once a week, I transfer from our Google calendar all of the events that are mine or that I need to be a part of and all my personal stuff into the paper planner. I color code those as work or personal. I also put my personal “to dos”, errands, etc. on the paper planner. It’s in my purse everywhere I go, I can stick coupons and stuff into it, sometimes I scrawl the grocery list on it.
I try to spend sometime every Friday afternoon at work on a weekly “review” of the notebook, setting up next week’s paper planner, etc. It doesn’t always happen.
I enjoyed this topic. Thanks for sharing.
Anon-Y
Lawyer, used to use outlook, but have now gone back to paper for planning and note-taking. I have:-
1. A monthly planner, which I use to record meetings and appointments. Next year I’m switching to one with monthly calendars and weekly schedules.
2. A pretty to-do list pad which I use as a master list for tasks. Every day I pick a different colored pen to tick of tasks that I’ve completed, record time and add new tasks. Completed tasks get transferred to time sheets.
3. A notebook with tear-out pages that I use for recording meeting /conversation / seminar notes, yearly gift lists, miscellaneous things I’m working on. It has colour coded sections so I know which section to turn to for what item, and all my notes are in one place. I plan to tear out the pages I want to keep or scan and toss/shred the rest, once the book is filled.
4. A deskCLEAR folder system that hangs behind my door for miscellaneous papers (administrative, marketing, CLE stuff, articles I want to keep) that I don’t want to have to file everyday, and arch level files that match the colors of the deskCLEAR folders. When the deskCLEAR gets too full, I do all my filing at once and it’s clear where everything is supposed to go.
5. I only use outlook for events beyond the current year.
6. The bane of my existence is miscellaneous working copies, which get tossed into a pile when I need to move on to another task. These days I try to file, bin or bind everything, so I’m not overrun by paper. (If anyone has ideas on how to deal with this, please share!)
I think what’s really helped is to have a “place for everything, everything in its place” mentality and make sure that it’s really easy to use whatever system I have.
Julia S
I have a few systems that I developed when I was a management consultant, juggling multiple clients and projects. I use a very nice circa notebook (http://www.levenger.com/Circa-Notebooks-326/Circa-Notebooks-339.aspx?gclid=CNPS0sCmxMECFcKHaQodO18A-Q) with a very nice pen. I have tabs for key functional areas – currently I’m working on a program for Accounting, another for HR, I get involved in University-wide committees, and external committees, so those are my primary tabs. I also have one for the kids, my dad (I’m his caretaker), and personal.
I use the front for my to-dos, which stay there until they are done or moved or irrelevant. Anything that is more project-based goes into the functional/project areas but the action items are on my to-do list. I group meetings by purpose (i.e. faculty meetings) and those go on several grouped pages. The circa allows me to move pages together as need be and pull old projects and to-do’s out. I file those away in a file drawer.
I’m known for my note-taking, and the wide margin on the side of the circa pages is fantastic for follow-up notes, assignments, random phone numbers, etc.
I also have my Outlook beautifully organized by our former IT director. I created five shortcuts on the top of my screen – clicking on one flags the email as a task of a certain priority (either Important and Urgent, Not Important and Urgent, Not Important and Not Urgent, and Important but not Urgent). I also have a just plain “Archive” button and another category for Read and Review for all of those newsletters and ideas I need to look at down the road. Clicking on one of the buttons creates the task (which links to my email), and sends the email to a giant Archive directory. Then I have my search criteria look in my inbox first, and then my Archive. No more billions of folders, trying to find things, and I keep my inbox pretty clear as I can categorize pretty quickly. Sometimes tasks from outlook will take longer than an email and will wind up on my to-do list or a project list.
I also have a gigantic whiteboard for sketching thoughts and ideas out that often translate into “my book.” I use OneNote on occasion but I don’t like to type in meetings. I use Dropbox and Google Drive to share documents with colleagues, particularly project-based. I’m slowly moving to Google Drive for work since we have a mega license with them.
I also use Lync a lot but I have an office with huge screens and a great webcam, so it makes video conferencing easy. For my students, I use Skype. The key is to have a system and commit to it, but tweak it along the way. Mine has been INVALUABLE particularly when legal issues associated with students crop up (and they do, often, unfortunately).
I'm Just Me
I’m a Circa devotee as well. I use the SMARTplanner in junior size for my personal stuff and a letter size foldover notbook for work. I have various types of paper and a monthly calendar in it (I use the less pricy Staples ARC paper unless Levenger is offering a good deal and free shipping). I tab the sections by project.
I also print out my own Emergent Task Planners from David Seah’s webs!te to use for tracking various projects.
wildkitten
We are exactly the same! Except I buy the ETP pads.
EK
Attorney here. I struggle to be organized, but one thing that has helped me a lot is the cross-platform app Wunderlist. It’s on my iPhone, iPad, and laptop. I have a work “to-do” list that is open on my laptop when I am at my desk and when *anything* comes across my desk that needs done, I immediately add it to the list. I then review this list every day to make sure nothing it overlooked. Sounds so simple, but it has definitely saved me many times with small but important tasks that might have otherwise been overlooked by me. This isn’t the only thing I do, but it is the basics and has been very helpful.
I also have separate lists on the app for home to-do and various shopping lists. I have a grocery list, a Sam’s Club list, etc. You can even share the lists. My husband has the app with the shared shopping list on his phone, so he can add things to it and I can see them. (Not that I can get him to use it, but at least in theory, he *could*.)
Anonymous
Higher ed admin. My main To Do list is OmniFocus, which syncs on my iPhone, laptop and desktop. HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend. I try to keep minimal paper files; e-files are in Dropbox (which syncs with my iPhone, laptop and desktop), organized by subject folders eg Budget, Personnel and then subfolders eg annual budgets, offer letters, letters of reference. I have “in progress” manila files for meeting notes etc, which are shredded when/if possible. Oh and a leather portfolio for my notepad. Besides looking nicer it keeps my notes on the day’s meetings more private between meetings.