Clare Kumar: Power up your productivity with new office tools
By Adam
October 22, 2012
Productivity
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Do you accept broken staplers and squeaky, stiff hole punches as part of your day?
Are you spending a lot of time switching back and forth between applications on your computer? It’s hard to justify spending on new office tools if you have a version of them already, but what if they are sabotaging your productivity?
Here are a few terrific tools to ease your day in the office:
Smooth as Silk Stapling
An electric stapler sounds like a bit of an indulgence, but if you’ve ever struggled with a stapler that jams or doesn’t quite drive the staple all the way through your stack of papers, then you might want to consider an investment in this beauty. Its motor is quieter than the slam associated with traditional staplers – a bonus for open concept offices. I actually look forward to the sound. Wait till you hear it – you’ll know what I mean! And if you are suffering from arthritis or do a lot of stapling and want to avoid repetitive strain injuries, this machine will reduce the work you have to do to the simple push of a button.
Its footprint is larger than most staplers, so you’ll have to allocate space for it on your desktop or in a paper processing space. A bonus, you can choose to operate it with batteries instead of the provided cord, in case an outlet is not close by.
Label Away
You would expect an organizer to rave about a label maker, right? Why do we love them? Simply because it makes labels faster to read, and therefore it’s easier to find what you’re looking for. Okay, it looks good too – all relative of course to the legibility of your script.
Once you’ve got the labelling bug, you can easily go label crazy, but as with any type of organizing activity, I recommend spending the appropriate amount of time. Simply put, time spent organizing has got to pay back in more time saved or frustration eased.
Using a label maker is great for
- Shared binders
- Hanging file indexes
- File drawers
- Storage boxes
For file folders I recommend a white sticky label and black marker. Whatever system you set up, you want to make sure it’s not onerous to execute, or you’ll end up with a bunch of unlabelled folders – a quick path to chaos.
Label makers come in a variety of forms – from simple hand held units, to devices which can be hooked up to your computer for efficient labelling.
Soup Up Your Screen
If you’re working on one screen and find yourself switching between applications, a quick way to boost your productivity is by adding a second screen, or upgrading to a wider monitor that facilitates viewing two documents side by side. It’s much more efficient if you’re researching information or even perform simple administrative tasks.
Are you spending a lot of time switching back and forth between applications on your computer? It’s hard to justify spending on new office tools if you have a version of them already, but what if they are sabotaging your productivity?
Here are a few terrific tools to ease your day in the office:
Smooth as Silk Stapling
An electric stapler sounds like a bit of an indulgence, but if you’ve ever struggled with a stapler that jams or doesn’t quite drive the staple all the way through your stack of papers, then you might want to consider an investment in this beauty. Its motor is quieter than the slam associated with traditional staplers – a bonus for open concept offices. I actually look forward to the sound. Wait till you hear it – you’ll know what I mean! And if you are suffering from arthritis or do a lot of stapling and want to avoid repetitive strain injuries, this machine will reduce the work you have to do to the simple push of a button.
Its footprint is larger than most staplers, so you’ll have to allocate space for it on your desktop or in a paper processing space. A bonus, you can choose to operate it with batteries instead of the provided cord, in case an outlet is not close by.
Label Away
You would expect an organizer to rave about a label maker, right? Why do we love them? Simply because it makes labels faster to read, and therefore it’s easier to find what you’re looking for. Okay, it looks good too – all relative of course to the legibility of your script.
Once you’ve got the labelling bug, you can easily go label crazy, but as with any type of organizing activity, I recommend spending the appropriate amount of time. Simply put, time spent organizing has got to pay back in more time saved or frustration eased.
Using a label maker is great for
- Shared binders
- Hanging file indexes
- File drawers
- Storage boxes
For file folders I recommend a white sticky label and black marker. Whatever system you set up, you want to make sure it’s not onerous to execute, or you’ll end up with a bunch of unlabelled folders – a quick path to chaos.
Label makers come in a variety of forms – from simple hand held units, to devices which can be hooked up to your computer for efficient labelling.
Soup Up Your Screen
If you’re working on one screen and find yourself switching between applications, a quick way to boost your productivity is by adding a second screen, or upgrading to a wider monitor that facilitates viewing two documents side by side. It’s much more efficient if you’re researching information or even perform simple administrative tasks.