41: Efficiency on the go
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Welcome to episode 41 of Permission to be Messy. I'm your host, JoAnn Krall and today I'm talking about efficiency on the go. So somebody, the other day asked me about, organizing yourself so that when you have to either go work at a coffee shop, or maybe you're going to work in the car while your kids are playing soccer or, even for travel, how do you make sure that you don't forget anything and that you have everything you need? And what actually do you need and how do you decide what you need and all of the questions. So I thought I would address those today.
Okay. The first thing of course is you really need to be organized at your desk at your home or your office before you ever decide to take things on the go, because you need to know what you have and what you need to bring. So that would be the first step is to make sure that you're organized in your space that you're in.
So assuming you already are. the next step would be to find, an appropriate bag that works for you, think about what you like best. Sometimes we'll grab a backpack that has a million different pockets and it just doesn't really fit the needs that we have. So sometimes a big open bag will work better with maybe smaller bags inside to hold things like chargers your mouse, any other small electronic things or any other personal items. That may be more helpful to organize that way, instead of trying to fit all of your stuff into a pre determined bag that has all of the different spots. Now, it is important that if you're going to carry a laptop or an iPad, that if it doesn't have a spot for that, a safe spot, you want to get a little carrying case for that as well. So that when you put that into the bag, it's safe.
Now you can approach us one of two ways. You could make sure that bag is always equipped with the essentials that you need for working on the go. If you are doing things on pen and paper, you have pen, paper, notebook,things that you wouldn't need with you at your desk. Or I should say, duplicates of things that you have on your desk. and then maybe any extra chargers so that you don't forget anything, any charging bricks. Anything that you might need that if you forgot it, it would be a big deal. So you could approach it that way. But if you don't. not everybody has the opportunity or the funds to have everything duplicated. you want to make sure that you have some way of making sure that everything gets into that bag.
One thing I recommend is having a list of items that need to go into the bag. Now you could create several lists or you could have one list that you know, is separated out, but you want to make sure that, so if you're traveling on a plane, you're going to need different things than if you're going to say a coffee shop that has plugs available for you.
So you might need those portable chargers. You may not need an external hard drive with you, or if you're just going out to work for a little bit at a coffee shop or an external workspace. So really think about what you need in different situations and you could make a list for that, so that when you go to pack up your bag, whether you're going on vacation or you're going on a business trip, or you're just going out for the day that, you have exactly what you need and you can just check them off.
Now you could keep this list electronically if that works for you. That way you always have it with you. It's a great way to, if you are traveling, when you go to repack your bag, you make sure you don't forget anything like those chargers. especially the computer chargers phone chargers are easy to replace computer charges they're a little bit more expensive.
Or you could keep a paper version of it. you could have it electronically and print it out so that you can just cross off if that helps you. Some people like to do that or. you could go as far as laminating a list and using a little, White erase board marker on it, to check things off, but having a list and knowing what you need to put in there can really be essential.
And then the final thing I would say is if you tend to carry around a lot of paperwork, and it's on piles on your desk and you don't know exactly what you need. one thing I've recommended to a lot of people and it has been helpful to them is to keep a 10 pocket, folder, with clear pockets and I'll put a link to an example of one that I use or one that you could use. but that is something where you can keep things that you may need to have with you at all times. Many of us don't have a lot of paper left, but if you do have any items and paper say you're going to go pay bills and you have some still in paper, those could be in there.
And then you can just grab that right off your desk and toss it into your bag. And, you haven't forgotten anything. This is how I actually organize all of my working papers. There's theories that, storing things vertically on your desk. people will say that's the best way to do it. Really.there is no best way, except the best way for you. When I put folders on my desk vertically. any different way. It doesn't work for me. I need to have these little books with me and I have one for, personal, and then I have one for business. It helps me because A. I can grab it when I need to go, but it also is sitting on my desk. I'm very visual and I'm a piler. If you've ever taken my quiz, I'll put a link to that in the show notes as well, but if you're somebody that likes to have piles, cause you need to have things out in front of you, these can be really helpful to contain your piles. So again, I'll put a link to what I'm talking about visually, cause sometimes people don't quite understand, but you could also just use two pocket folders depending on what you're doing and how much you have. Just think about that when you're organizing your desk. If you had to quickly pack everything up to go work somewhere, would it all be easy to grab? And if so, then you should be good to go and make sure that what you have fits in your bag as well.
And now all that said, it seems really simple and it is, but if you set yourself up for success, having that organized desk and I did a whole, episode number 18, top tips working from home. where I talk a little bit more about. what an organized office looks like and what you can do to improve working from home. And that may help you if you are saying, I am disorganized. I need to get organized first. It doesn't have to be perfect. do what works for you and really think about it. And again, I think really a big key of that. And some people don't think of it is that bag. If you have a bag that, works well for you use it. When you're looking for a bag, don't think, oh, wow, this is great. It has all these pockets because sometimes you'll be fumbling around looking for things. Whereas if you, like I said, if you have that one big bag or, there's a couple of different pockets. and you can put smaller bags in there to contain items like items together. So it could be personal items and it could be like the cords and electronics. and it could be any, if you do paper stuff, it could be anything that would be related to paper, pens, pencils, highlighters, erasers, all of that. It's almost like one of the top things and it just seems so simple, but we get drawn to those bags that have all those little compartments, butthey're built with one way in mind and trying to fit our stuff into them doesn't always work. So if it does work for you, great. and some people want a backpack versus, carrying a bag. So really think about that. this was a simple one today, but I wanted to answer that question and again, go back to episode 18 and listen to my top tips, working from home.
And if you're not sure where to start getting your office organized and you want to book a free strategy call with me. That link will be in the show notes. There is no obligation. We just talk for 15 minutes to see where you're at, and I can give you some guidance on where to start. And as always, I'm wishing you much progress, peace, purpose, and the permission to be messy. Thanks for listening.
