Technology is your best friend when it comes to getting organized. I can remember when I had to balance my checkbook using paper and pen. And carried a paper calendar in my purse everywhere I went to make sure I wasn’t forgetting anything. The aggravation alone, of pulling out my calendar, and trying to find a pen, was enough to make me what to pull out my hair when I had to update something or add a new appointment. I would cringe every time I had to scratch something out and change the date. My calendar looked like a two-year-old had colored all over the pages.
I embraced the technology age with open arms. My life has become a lot less stressful and easier to manage since the invention of all the gadgets we have available to us now. I don’t have to worry about checking if I am missing an appointment, my Google Calendar sends an automated reminder of upcoming appointments to jog my memory. Instead of pulling out pen and paper, I just pull out my phone and enter in the information I need to remember, and voilà, I can forget about it. My trusty little calendar has all the information stored and won’t let me forget a thing. There are several apps out there that can do just about anything you can imagine as far as keeping you organized. My favorite online tool for organization and keeping me sane is Google.
Calendar
With Google’s calendar, you can quickly access it from your computer, phone or tablet, they sync together, so any changes you make, on any one of your devices, automatically updates to all of your devices. You can color code any event so when you quickly glance at it, you can tell if there are any appointments, birthdays, or chores you have to remember. It truly is an amazing tool to keep you organized and all of your appointments in check. In addition to the features I’ve already mentioned, you can share your calendar(s) with others! This is extremely helpful when you have to keep your family informed of coming up events.
Email isn’t just tied to your computer anymore, you can also sync email to your smartphone. Don’t have time to sit down in front of your computer and go through all your emails? Not a problem! Download an email app that handles all of your email accounts in one location. Then when you’re sitting in the doctor’s office waiting to be called back you can catch up on all those emails. In today’s world, it’s all about multi-tasking and staying organized. The more tools you use, the less stressed and hectic your life becomes.
Other great tools
In order to stay organized, you must use tools that you like or you will never use them. So, before you start downloading a million apps, ask your friends which ones they use, or read the reviews. A few of my favorite that I can’t live without are:
- Evernote – Evernote is truly amazing, it can store photos, spreadsheets, emails, notes, anything you can imagine. It even has notebooks to help keep you organized, along with tags so you can quickly find that note you wrote two years ago. Instead of having everything saved in folders all over your computer, use Evernote to keep you organized. And the best thing about Evernote is it syncs to all of your devices. So if you need to access something while you’re away from your computer, you have it on your smartphone or tablet. Don’t get caught without valuable information again just because it’s only on your computer at the office or at home.
- To-Do-Lists – To-Do-Lists is a must, there are several out there that help you remember what’s on the agenda that you have to complete. Personally, I use To-Do-List. It simple, and straightforward. You can add people to the app and share items with them, so everyone is on the same page about what needs to be accomplished. When someone completes a task, they mark it finished, and it updates the list of what needs to be done and notifies everyone the statuses of each task.
- Full Contact – Full Contact is a great tool to keep all of your contacts in one place. It syncs with your email accounts. When you bring up a contact, you are able to add notes about the person, invite them to a meeting, and it links all of the social media accounts they belong to so you can follow each of their accounts if you choose.
Organizational tools are meant to help you stay focused and informed about daily tasks that need to be completed, along with helping you remember what you forgot. And all information is synced across all of your devices, so you have all the information you need at your fingertips at all times, which can make you look like a rock star.
