At first it feels like Master Procrastination, that bit of organizing. But, there is method in the ‘messing around’.
Being paperless isn’t always the best way to organize the things you need to be able to learn more about your craft. Keyboarding is a terrific way to implant ideas and patterns into your brain. I write my perceptions of the things I am studying, particularly Duct Tape Marketing. I like to create them using tools such as MS OneNote or EverNote. Both work quite well for me.
Printing and filing the notes keeps them at my fingertips for studying away from the computer. We are a society of bathroom readers or take it to a quiet corner and do some highlighting. I have a reading corner set up in an unhandy part of the living room. My husband has recently discovered it and now I have competition.
My office never saw a ring binder that it didn’t like. I save old ones and buy new ones by the case. My printed study and reference material are at my fingertips again. The three hole punch and stapler help organize the material ready for me to use and make notes on. Subtopics are divided by sheets of cardstock. I bought a multi-colored package to get one color…now the unwanted colors have come into their own as dividers. I store some of the binders in plastic crates with the spines (labeled) on top so I can easily pick out the one I need.
My library isn’t expensive, it is attractive and useful. My methods might not be applicable to your office in every step; my goal is to stimulate your thinking about how you can keep your office neat, organized, while utilizing all of the information you meet every day that has value to you.
Sonia Simone said
I feel like a treekiller, but I’m the same, love to print things out and highlight them, mark them up with notes, add post-it flags.
I’m a compulsive student of copywriting and marketing, I can’t stop myself from getting books & eBooks. I do find that it helps my mental composting process of making the advice my own if I read and re-read. Having everything easy to find & read is very helpful there. I’m much more likely to re-read an eBook if it’s on my shelf in a nice binder or cover.
I also get report covers for shorter eBooks that I buy or download for free. In fact, I have all of Gary Bencivenga’s copywriting bullets printed out and snagged in a report cover–it’s probably the best copywriting book I own.