I am not a techphobe. I work on a Lenovo laptop every day, and I adore my iPhone. Though I admit I use it more to provide a soundtrack to my sporadic workouts and to navigate the Chicago public transit system than anything else. But there are ton of business apps people use of every day to great effect. Still, as Thorin Kowalski at Lifehacker reminds us, there are some tasks best suited for plain old pen and paper.   Continue reading →

If you’ve  ever  tried to track down a misfiled document — and who hasn’t — you know the task can be an exercise in frustration, and sometimes outright futility. Indexing your files to a color code solves the problem. Mislaid files stick out like a sore thumb in a color coded filing system. Plus, since we recognize color faster than text, filing and retrieving documents goes faster as well. Here are three ways you can use colored file folders and labels to eliminate misfiles and create a more efficient file storage system.

Use colored file folders to create file categories.

Manage large amounts of data? Divide your info into major categories, then assign each group a file folder color. For example, use red files for customer data, green for financials, blue for vendor, and yellow for forms. Filing and retrieving documents goes a lot faster when you can identify the contents of a folder with a glance.

Use colored file folder labels to eliminate misfiles.

Using colored file folder labels creates visual bands of color, so its easy to spot misfiles, and quickly find specific folders. Assign each component of your filing system a label color. So if you file alphabetically each letter gets its own color, numerically each number, and so on.

Sort desk files into colored file folders.

You recognize colors much faster than you read text. Replace labels such as To Do, Pending and Follow up with colored folders. Or try assigning each project it’s own colored file. Before long, you’ll ID the contents of each folder by color instead of by name, and save time.