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I am a small business Conversation Consultant and public speaker that uses the power of the internet to leverage your success. Productivity in Context is a web magazine focused on Productivity and tools for organizing. Make this your headquarters for improving your life and work through increased mindfulness, education, and workflow practices.

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Please contact me via e-mail: stephen @ hdbizblog dot com

Today I would like to share a description of some of the tools I use for my own productivity practice:

Workspace

First, my workspace in my home office. This is where I manage all of my activities for the blogging enterprise as well as my day job for BigCorp. If you click on the pic you will be able to see the notes at Flickr.
This is a very simple and effective set-up. Everything that I need on a daily basis is available close by. You may also notice that I have arranged the desk according to the “F-shape” principle that I featured in the design of my planner pages. From the top left across I have placed:

• Note cards and the usual office supplies.
• Pen-holder.
• Desk lamp.
• Laptop.

From the bottom left:

• In-box.
• Open task information.
• Clear desk blotter with frequently-called numbers and notes

To the right of the desk:

• Bookshelf with reference and tracking materials.
• The Book of Days
• Software.
• The printer.
• The Tickler File.

The Tickler File

This tool consists of 43 Folders numbered 1-31 for the current month and 12 more for the months of January through December.

I use these files for paper items that I need to process at specific times but the items do not need to go in my organizer right now. In the same file are the Reference folders for frequently-accessed information such as billing records, work records, etc.

The typical workflow for the Tickler file is:

1. Each morning, while the coffee is brewing, I check the contents of “today’s” folder.
2. I sync any time-specific items with my paper calendar,
3. Complete the items that are date-specific but will not physically fit into my calendar (which I refuse to stuff with notes and loose papers),
4. Any non-time-specific items then go into the In-box on my desk for processing.
5. Items are processed in order of the amount of time required, starting with the shortest.
6. Anything that does not get completed, or needs to go in the organizer, is forwarded to its proper place.
7. When “today’s” folder is empty, it goes to the back of the line, becoming in effect an empty folder in next month’s queue.

Part of the beauty of this system is that if something comes up and I cannot process the items in the Tickler File for a day or two, it is ready right where I left off. This gives me almost instant access to date-specific items that need to be processed with high priority.

My Organizer

I picked up a nice leather planner that zips closed for $10 at Target. It is now a mini-briefcase that I use to carry my essentials. Number one of course is the Circa organizer that holds my DIY Calendar pages that I designed. (You can read more about this at “Print Your Own Calendar Pages“)

I keep a Pilot .5mm G2 in the pen loop, and a PaperMate .5mm Mega Lead mechanical pencil loose inside. I tuck a few blank 3×5 cards into the front pocket, along with some business cards. Toss in a pad of 3×3 Post-Its and I am ready to go.

These are the most essential tools for my personal productivity practice. What tools are most important for your activities?

What do you think about the lack of portable electronic devices?

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/66d98x. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen