Tag Archives: ScanSnap

Productivity, Motivation, and Personal Development Links – 19th July 2009

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I am eventually back into my home office and I aim to make it as productive as can be!

It has been around three weeks in the making and I am very happy with it. I just have to sort out the cabling so it is all hidden and I will also get a blog post written about my findings.

I am starting to play with my ScanSnap and Evernote and must admit that I am very happy with the results so far!

Here are my collection of links for this week.

  • My first link for this week is a link from the CNN Money website titled Getting Things Done guru goes digital. Quite an interesting post about the GTD and the new digital help we are getting to implement it.
  • My second link is a link to a GTD and Covey Implementation via “Things” [Mac, iPhone]. This is a nice review of a GTD/Covey implementation using pretty much the same hardware as I do, a Mac and an iPhone. I used to be an advocate of the Fraklin Covey system before I discovered GTD!
  • My third link is a link to a blog post titled 7 Ways Less Can Mean More. Interesting post from the Mildly Creative blog that shows you when doing less of one thing gives you more benefit in creativity and productivity!
  • My fourth link is a link to link to Getting Things Gnome! . This is a cool new app for the Linux GUI, Gnome that you must check out if you are a Linux user!
  • My fifth and last link is a link to a part 3 of some great OmniFocus tips for Advanced Users. This tip is about how to use OmniFocus. I have learned a lot from these posts and they are great reading for all OmniFocus users!

Hope you have all had a great weekend and heres wishing you all the best for the coming week!

Also, be sure to follow me on Twitter as I post great Productivity and Motivational links on a daily basis!

Creating a Productive Home Office

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Messy Home OfficeI am happy to say that I am eventually upgrading my home office and this is something I am really looking forward to.

My current office layout is now nearly 8 years old and a lot has changed since then. Time for a change and time for me to start with a blank canvas and plan an ideal and productive home office.

My home office 9 foot x 7 foot, so a pretty good size for just me and all the techie gadgets I can fit into it!

I am trying to get quite a minimal layout within my office whilst building a great working environment. My current office is rather cluttered and does become a dumping ground for a lot of things.

So, the essentials I need as far as I can see are a chair, desk, filing cabinet, inbox trays, and some cabinet to hold my printer.

I am totally clearing my office and buying everything new. I am going to take down my wall units and get the office painted and new carpet.

I currently have a desk with two drawers down each side. One is a drawer and filing cabinet and the other is three drawers. The filing cabinet is bad as it is hard to get my files in and out due to the layout of the drawer and the fact that it does not fully open. I currently have quite a cheap fake leather chair. My printer is on the top of a nice Ikea wooden cupboard.

For my new office I want a big, curved desk to hold my MacBook Pro and 30″ Monitor. I have seen one in Ikea from the Galant range. I want to do away with pedestal drawers as I just seem to fill these with junk, as most drawers are in most offices.

I am looking for a nice premium but trendy chair. Not really started looking but one in Costco does take my eye although it is quite expensive at £250.

I currently do not have a great filing capability and I must have a good filing cabinet in my new office. I want at least two drawers with the ability to utilize my manila folders and A to Z system.

I do not implement the Tickler File so no need for the 43 folders!

I have a laser printer that I do use quite a lot when I need to print anything out. It is only a small footprint but I still need some cabinet to keep it in, ideally out of view.

I am also really fancying a scanner to go totally paperless. I currently have a HP OfficeJet All In One but this has a large footprint and takes an absolute age to scan from.

I therefore will purchase a Fujitsu ScanSnap. The models I am looking at are the S300M or the S510M. These are not cheap scanners but the ability to duplex scan as well as use the ability to load the document tray with up to 20 sheets makes these a very attractive proposition.

I love Evernote and the ability to scan from the ScanSnap scanners straight to Evernote looks amazing, and one of my main drivers for trying a totally paperless office.

If I implement a paperless office I am going to need a good shredder. I currently have a bin shredder but it is quite lightweight so I may look at the cost of updating to something more heavy duty as I plan to shred everything I can.

I will take photos and keep you all updated of my new workspace.

Also, the photo at the top of this post is NOT my current home office 🙂

I would love to hear any recommendations anybody has about building the ideal home office or the choice of equipment to place in the office to make it as productive as possible.