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I’ve been looking forward to writing this post for months now. To say that I’m overly excited about organization would be an understatement. This stuff may not seem revolutionary or radical to you, but the potential here is definitely life altering. As a personal development junky, I know the long-term benefits of positive daily habits. I discuss this in full as Daily Bold Action in my book. Hang with me as I divulge how I manage to get more stuff done now than ever before.

What it Means to Go Paperless

I don’t know how organized you are, but I guarantee you that everyone could do more to streamline their productivity, find their stuff faster, and manage their projects with greater ease. Maybe this pertains to you. If so, read on. The system I outline below will show you what I have put together over the last few months, utilizing many free resources, in an attempt to access everything I need, regardless of my location, without hesitation or difficulty.

In a nut shell, I have officially gone paperless and moved my life online, including every document, project, to-do list, financial transaction, media file, and of course my email, contacts, and daily calendar. What could this mean for you? Everything or nothing. As a self-defined productivity nerd, this transition has revolutionized the way I execute high-priority tasks. If you have little interest in cleaning up your digital life, I can only assume this is because you are more OCD than I and have little room for growth, or the daily act of swimming through your paperwork gives you a high I will never understand or fully appreciate.

Benefits

I used to carry a man purse, wear a watch, store “important” documents in a physical filing cabinet, organize my projects with college-ruled notebooks, and carry a checkbook. This list is only a few of the many old school things I used to do that are now virtually irrelevant in my life today. The real benefit of moving your life online is the clutter-free lifestyle you will encounter immediately. With less stuff around you will be able to clearly see the important things that will be staring you right in the face. Don’t forget that nearly everything stored online is backed up and extremely secure.

“Simplicity doesn’t mean you have less – it means everyone else has too much”
- Jeff Sanders

A Word of Caution

I know many people who store their stuff on a computer or website and are just as unorganized and sloppy as they were with physical stuff. Don’t let this be the case for you. Start simple and stay there. The real core of this system is not the list of companies or services I use; it’s the way I organize my stuff inside of these services. In other words, you can hand two people a filing cabinet and bunch of paper and end up with two completely different final products. One may be properly labeled, easy to access, and simple to update. The other could be more confusing and disorganized than a pile of random paper on the floor.

The trick is to create a system BEFORE you begin transferring documents or creating things within the services. Know ahead of time how you would like to organize the stuff you have now and the stuff you might be adding in the future. For example, within my project management system I have 4 major folders: Current Projects, Future Projects, Ongoing Projects, and Storage (Previous Projects). Choose a system that makes sense to you and then work that system to its full capacity. Just don’t forget to always lean towards simplicity whenever possible. Take the advice from Steve Jobs, “I’m as proud of what we don’t do as I am of what we do.”

If this blog post is inspiring you, just click on the links to the left or at the bottom of the post and share it with someone who you think would find it valuable as well. I’d appreciate it and I think he or she would as well.

The Jeff Sanders Paperless System

1. Documents

Dropbox – Besides being free to store up to 2 GBs of data, Dropbox has a desktop app that lets you easily store all of your documents locally on your hard drive with automatic saving to Dropbox’s server. They also have an iPhone app and you can purchase additional storage for a reasonable price. I personally keep ALL of my documents on Dropbox and I backup everything with other service providers that I discuss below. I recently spent a weekend scanning all of my “important” documents and storing the PDFs on Dropbox. I know only have a handful of physical documents that I keep locked up in a small safe. If you want to scan documents with your iPhone, check out JotNotPro. It’s only $2.

2. Finances

Mint – I have recommended Mint before and there still seems to be no other company that can compete with their free service. If you want an easy way to organize all of your financial accounts and see their balances in real time, Mint is the simply the best.

ClearCheckbook – I have always used a checkbook to organize my money. There is no other way to forecast your future balance if you don’t have a system that lets you setup recurring and future transactions. Hint, this is how most people end up with bounced checks and endless overdraft fees. ClearCheckbook is the only service I have found that allows you to track your money online with all of these features for only $42 per year. With this system in place, you can update your checkbook while at work, traveling, or on the fly with their iPhone app.

3. Projects

Evernote – The lovely picture above with the heart on the elephant is Evernote. I recently converted to the premium version, which is only $45 per year, and I really can’t get enough. All of my current, future, and ongoing projects are organized here. I keep records of important notes, ideas, and goals. Evernote has become my go-to application for seeing the big picture of my life. Don’t forget, Evernote has a stellar desktop app, iPhone app, and website that gives you complete access to all of your notes, all the time. Check out Michael Hyatt’s blog posts to learn more about how to efficiently utilize all the Evernote has to offer.

iWork.com – If only Apple would copy off Evernote. Or, if only Apple would just buy Evernote, iWork.com might actually be useful. iWork.com is Apple’s version of online project management and document storage, but it’s only useful if you have an iPad. So, for those of you that own an iPad and frequently use Numbers, Pages, and Keynote, this is a very handy tool. For everyone else, just ignore this site completely.

iCloud – If you haven’t signed up for iCloud yet, now is the time. Apple has this side of the market nailed. Between emails, contacts, and calendars that all can be accessed from anywhere, it’s hard to compete with this system (unless you’re a Google fanatic and refuse to give up your gmail account). Either way, make the transition and get your stuff on the web.

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Don’t forget to check out my new revolutionary eBook for conquering life after college!

The Clueless Graduate,

Jeff & Tessa Sanders

Jeff Sanders


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