Productivity Tip: Organize Your Time

If you collapse onto the sofa at the end of your work day wondering what, if anything, you’ve accomplished, that means you’re much like me. I don’t loaf (much), but I rarely feel I’ve put in the proverbial “good day’s work" -- yet, I'm always exhausted. That’s usually because 1) I’ve been repeatedly diverted by crisis fires to put out and by chit-chat or 2) I’ve simply not focused on what I needed to get done that day.

Consider K.J. McCorry’s new book Organize Your Work Day . . . In No Time (Que Publishing; http://www.quepublishing.com/). A professional organizer in Colorado, McCorry starts by getting you to describe your “perfect work day,” then to identify the differences between your ideal and reality. She focuses on the use of computers to manage your work time (this being the Digital Age), but much of her tutelage can be adapted by those whose office routines are paper-based, as well. Computer books these days are exorbitantly priced, in my view -- but not this one. At $16.95 (paperback, 227 pages), it can be a bargain, if you’ve been squandering your time hand-over-fist like me.

Que Publishing sent me a review copy of the book to consider for The Lawyer’s PC, the legal technology newsletter I edit for Thomson/West. I find it to be of potential benefit not just to legal professionals but to all readers whose office jobs are drowning them.