Statistics about productivity dominate articles about international competitiveness with the productivity of American workers compared to workers across the globe.  Businesses everywhere would love to get their hands on the magical solution to keeping workers productive, focused and dedicated to their work.

The reality is that numerous factors contribute to decreased productivity in the office.  Here at OPTED Magazine we’ve mentioned previous studies on why the boss may be to blame and also made suggestions for increasing productivity in situations like these, or these.

Just this week, several articles were published about the impact that Facebook, Twitter and other social networking platforms are having on productivity in the workplace.   These platforms are being blamed for $2.25 billion in losses from the decreased productivity, and companies everywhere are participating in surveys on social networking in the office and considering company policies to restrict use.

What do you think?

Should companies pass policies to restrict use of things like Twitter and Facebook in the office, or is it unenforceable with access to smartphones that can run apps to skirt the rules?  Is the problem any worse than a smoker taking frequent breaks, or the chatty receptionist that wastes time socializing in person?

Let’s hear about it in the comments section below!

Electronics also cost you significant money over time.  After spending so much money on electronics, it may feel like you’re throwing away money unless you hold on to your purchases.  But you can address that guilt, declutter and earn some cash for recycling at the same time.

Here are five places you can get paid to recycle electronics:

BuyMyTronics.com — they purchase used and broken electronics ranging from iPhone and iPod products to laptops and game consoles.  Fill out a form describing your item, and you’ll get an instant price quote.  Payment posts to your PayPal account within 24-48 hours of when they receive your shipment.  And your items are kept out of a landfill.

CellForCash — this site is fantastic.  The site has a very transparent disclosure policy for which cell phone models receive a cash payout (and what the amount is) and which ones don’t (that they recycle for free).  I was able to easily research the cell phones I have laying around and figure out exactly how much I’d receive.  The site lists over 500 models and there is no limit to the amount of phones they accept.  You phone can also be donated to 911 programs that provide cell phones to households that can’t afford them but need one for an emergency.

Gazelle – they have a long list of gadgets that they buy and recycle or format for reuse, similar to the other sites listed here.  They have an impressive list of testimonials from national media coverage and a fund gadget on their site publicizing price quotes given to others for different products.  They also pay for shipping AND send you a box for your items.  You can also learn more about using the money you make to fund a good cause.

MyBoneyard.com — they recycle and buy from you a wide range of electronics, and best of all the shipping is free when you print out a shipping label provided by them.  If anything can be fixed and resold, it is, and the remaining items are disassembled with as many of the parts being recycled as possible.  Many items are donated to shelters or schools as well.

GreenPhone.com — this site collects and pays you money for used cell phones and PDAs.  You send the item with any related cables and accessories, they test it, and if it still works they send you a payment.  Even if your cell phone doesn’t work or pass their tests, it’s recycled and kept out of a landfill.  And for each cell phone they buy, a tree is planted!

For larger electronics, like televisions and appliances, consider using Best Buy’s services.  If you purchase a TV and have it delivered by their home delivery service, they remove your old television at no charge.  Or pay a fee to have them remove your television or appliance without having to make a purchase.  Their website describes everything they will and won’t take at a store, if you’re interested in recycling other electronics as well.

A lot of electronics are too large to ship to the sites above.  If this is your situation, check out the Best Buy site, and also check out:

• The E-cycling interactive map to find a local or regional site for electronics recycling near you
• The E-recycle resource for other recyclable materials like batteries and stereos
• Earth911 for a comprehensive recycling and “going green” website

And keep your eyes open for free e-recycling days in your city!

How does it work?

Anytime you come across a piece of paperwork, such as a bill or memo that includes an important date, the paper is inserted into your tickler file system.  For example, if my phone bill is delivered to my house and is due next month on November 15th, I’ll file the bill in my “November” folder.  At the beginning of each month, pull out the folder for that month and sort each of the pieces of paper according to what day of the month they are relevant.  In the case of my phone bill, on November 1st I would open the November folder, take out the phone bill, and probably file it in folder “#10″ so I make sure the payment arrives on time.

Another example could be phone messages.  If I get off the phone with a client and they tell me they are going on vacation, but that I should call back in one week, I would get off the phone, write a note to myself, and place it in the numbered folder for one week from today as a reminder that I need to call her.

How can I make one?

For a long time I used a 31 pocket expandable file.  You might remember me referencing this multi-purpose office supply in other blog posts like this one here.  Using an expandable file is an easy and inexpensive way to create a tickler file system.  You would also need to procure 12 folders for your monthly files to make the system work.

I recently upgraded my tickler file system by deciding to reduce clutter, increase organization, and improve the decor of my home office by purchasing a black bill organizer (set up as a tickler file) as shown in this picture.  The slots are the perfect size for bills and memos, and now the drawer easily stores office supplies that previously cluttered my desk.  It’s a modern, functional piece that I highly recommend!  I found a link for it on Amazon’s website, but it’s also sold at Target (which is where I purchased mine).

Also, if you’re looking to save space and use a binder as part of your organization system, check out WhiteHatBlackBox’s compact tickler file.  The site has some other great stuff and I highly recommend it!

FAQ’s

Why would I use this if I have a digital or electronic task manager?

I also have a web-based task manager, but I found there are too many instances of things that are in paper form that need a reminder system and that I can save some extra time by popping quick memos in the file.  For example, some of my bills only have paper delivery and I frequently tear out magazine clipping that remind me of things I need to do in certain months.  Storing those things in one place and having an electronic reminder wouldn’t make much sense in those cases.

Will there be enough situations I can use the tickler file to justify creating one?

In my opinion, yes.  There will be more than you think!  Examples of items I drop into my tickler file include wedding invitations, print outs of travel itineraries, bills, magazine clippings, receipts go in the “#31 folder” for when I reconcile at the end of the month, calls I need to make, once-a-year papers like taxes or insurance, etc.

Hopefully you’ve found this information helpful and enjoy the organization that your tickler file will bring!

Time to make meetings more productive with a great tip: conduct your meetings standing up.

This is one of many great tips from Gina Trapani, and her article points out that meeting length will be cut dramatically as no one enjoy standing for long periods of time.  Participants will be motivated to be succinct and productive with their discussions, eliminating any unnecessary or off-topic conversation.

What are some other ways that you keep people on track during meetings?  Do you have any other good tips on how to make meetings more productive?

The first step to organizing your first aid supplies and medicines is establishing a central location in your home for all of your materials.  My personal solution is a basic plastic bucket that includes all of my essentials.  Having everything in one place ensures that you know exactly where supplies are in case of an emergency.  When you’re in pain or need a remedy, the last thing you want to face is not knowing where to find first aid essentials.

A second consideration is the safety of your first aid and medicine supplies.  With children in the house, child-proof tops on medicine containers and storing your central bucket out of reach is an important factor.  At the same time, you may find it necessary to separate medicines from band aids, so that even younger children will have access to things like band aids in a second bucket, should they be needed.

The next step is doing an inventory of your current first aid supplies and medicine.  Check expiration dates of your medicines and replace them as necessary and evaluate if you’re missing important basics using this handy check list.

The last step in the process is organizing your medical records.  Your system should include (at a minimum) information on doctor contact information, blood types, allergies and a history of medical procedures and medicine that have been prescribed.  If you’re looking for something more organized and functional than a basic “pen and paper” solution, check out this Family Health Organizer selling at an affordable price at Amazon.com

What does the app do?

This iPhone app allows the user to track achievements that contribute to their goals, for instance quitting smoking or exercising.  The app could be used for any goal where you want to track progress on developing good habits and the app allows multiple users so that information can be tracked for multiple people.

The app has a simple start process and is self-explanatory when you initially setup your specifications.  I especially like the way a calendar graphically displays your progress such as the screen pictured on the left.  Each habit you are tracking has a separate calendar where you can change the background and use different icons on days of the week that you have an achievement.  There are about 60 different icons to choose from.

What I really like

As I mentioned, I love the calendar display.  It reminds me of a chore chart from when I was a kid, or a basic calendar where you apply gold stars for days when you achieved something!  The icons make it fun as well.  For instance, on my exercise calendar I’m tracking the days that I make time for exercise and there are several colorful icons to choose from for different activities, so at the end of the month I have a great mix of pictures to show how I stayed active!

I also like that there is a notes feature for each calendar that I can have a quick reminder of an overall goal or a quote for inspiration.  There a number of useful possibilities for this feature.

What I didn’t like

I love the icons, I don’t love the selection.  Some of the pictures seem quite odd to me (like a motorcycle helmet, a cruise ship, and something that looks like a cow) and the app could use another page of icons to expand the options.

It also takes quite a few steps to assign more than one icon for a calendar.  The app is set up with a default icon and you have to switch between several screens to use different icons on different days.

Overall assessment

It’s a nice, basic app for tracking goals and achievements, yet not as classy or fun to use as Getting Dreams Done, which I previously reviewed here.  it would be nice to see more icon options and an easier interface to change the icons as you continue to track goals.  But if you’re looking for something simple and easy, this app definitely does the job.

This post is part of OPTED Magazine’s “iPhone Tuesdays” series, where we’ll feature a new iPhone app that helps with productivity, tasking, goal setting, or organization.  These posts will include a review and all the information based on a personal test and evaluation.  Watch for the series again on a future Tuesday!

Clutter in our homes is a direct result of the amount of items we let into our lives. We grow attached to belongings either by nostalgia from the memory they bring, or a dependence on something we previously could have lived without.  Cell phones and other technologies are a good example.  As we age and our roles and commitments are altered, new possessions become ingrained in our way of life.  Admittedly it would be difficult, if not impossible, to imagine my life now without a telephone and computer!

As we evalauate all our possessions and long for a decluttered environment, it becomes more and more difficult to part with our belongings.  Let me explain by giving a description, although simplified, of how this thinking changes through different life stages.

Stage: Childhood

As a child, we are dependent on our family to provide shelter, food and water to survive.  With each year, we acquire possessions such as clothing and toys that fill storage spaces.  A shared space with a cot expands to a bedroom with furniture to store these new things.  At birthdays and holidays we’re given gifts and the amount of clutter begins to grow.

Recall your childhood for a moment.  I remember as a child quickly losing interest in my toys and sometimes forgetting I had them when the next latest and greatest toy came along.  My parents could have removed 90% of my toys from the house as other ones came in and I wouldn’t have known the difference!  With a fleeting childhood, possessions are quickly discarded, outgrown and abandoned easily without a second thought.

If only that mentality could be maintained in a reasonable way for the later stages of life!  As a child our spending and acquisition of items is (in most cases) controlled by parents and by the reality that we did not have an income.  Clutter was limited by only the rate at which outgrown toys and clothing could be donated, sold or passed along to another in need.  Our attachments were few and it wouldn’t be until later that old toys and playthings were now held on to and put in storage for that “one day when we could look back at the toys we owned.”

Stage: Teenage Years

With maturity came mall trips to clothe ourselves in the newsest fashion trends at every season to impress our classmates and friends.  Complicating this susceptibility to peer pressure and materialism were growth spurts that meant clothing items were outgrown faster than we could wear them out.  Recalling my own addiction to the “items of the moment” I’m horrified at the staggering financial cost of this period in my life!

And these days, cell phones, laptops, CD players, video game systems and even cars are commonplace for today’s teenagers.  In some cases schools and hectic family schedules necessitate a cell phone for communication.  Or do they?

The problem with the “teenage years” is that young adults often adopt spending habits mimicing the example set by their parents.  If owning a cell phone is “accepted practice” without exploring alternate communication strategies, the idea is ingrained that owning a possession is the solution to a problem.  And this example is one of many.  Material possessions become perceived necessity and the clutter begins to grow.

Stage: Post-college twenty-somethings

When you’re young and single, it’s easy to walk away.  Many young adults spend 4 or 5 years in college living in small dorm rooms or apartments and coming home for the summer, living a transient lifestyle with very few possessions.  Filling up a small car for the ride home after the spring semester is an easy task.  Furnished dorms and apartments are easily swapped for another dwelling without the burden of furniture.  Add to that situation a limitation of funds, and material possessions are relatively controlled.

Entering the job market often means frequent job hopping, even city hopping, and jettisoning inexpensive furniture on the curb or using Craiglist when life quickly changes direction makes it easy to walk away from material things.  Is it always this easy to walk away from things?

Stage: Marriage and family life

Long term relationships bring a new world of situations for material possessions.  A partnership and combining of living spaces brings a merging of “stuff” along with squabbles and compromises about the best way to consolidate and streamline the doubling of objects in a (likely) small first home.  As the relationship grows, so does the clutter.  Appliances, decor, books and DVD’s, big expenditures on more permanent furniture sets and of course, mementos of the relationship all begin to gather in clusters in the living space.

If children are born, the “childhood stage” described above kicks in and a new set of possessions for new family members enter the mix.  Possessions like car seats, strollers, a crib and toys are now necessity for the children and begin to take up space.

As the years pass, the clutter grows.  The overwhelming stream of toys, gadgets, clothing and decor become difficult to manage as family obligations and careers limit the time necessary to tend to the possessions around us.  Our stuff falls into disrepair and things we purchased are quickly forgotten when new purchases are made.

Stage: The Golden Years

The kids have left the house and after decades of marriage, possessions in the house reflect years of family life with many possessions taking on a memory.  These memories attached to physical objects tug at our hearts and make it difficult to part with our possessions.  A glance around one room could provide hours of reminiscing: the chair the kids jumped on, the rug the family dog loved, or the homemade candles from a weekend vacation to the countryside 20 years ago.

Parting with possessions is no longer an easy task when discarding an object is perceived as discarding a memory.  Objects with an attached history may not have started out as a “need” but now hold more importance.  Storage units and attics sit crammed with boxes of memories, some untouched for years.  And the unfortunate consequence of the passing of life transfers the clutter to family members who are burdened with the difficult decision about whether material objects are clutter or family treasures to hold on to.

These observations about clutter and the role of material possessions are not new, but the examination of phases of life and how possessions change in meaning is an important observation that informs our relationship to clutter.

I won’t pretend that letting go of possessions, and our dependence on them, is an easy task, because it’s not.  But with a little time and energy we can challenge ourselves to evaluate the “need” and “want” for the things we own.  In many cases a digital photo of an object can satisfy our desire to hold on to a memory attached to an object and in other cases, parting with objects for the sake of achieving a serene, decluttered environment will be a challenge, but rewarding in the end.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about your journey with your possessions and if any of these life stage descriptions hit the nail on the head!

Thank you to all who have provided helpful feedback about the content and direction of the site, and in response we’ll be expanding the coverage of OPTED topics and focusing on the issues important to YOU, the reader!  As always, please use the content form to provide feedback and suggestions and comment freely using the content form at the bottom of each post.

This week on OPTED Magazine…

• Check out tips for organizing first aid and medicines as flu season kicks in
• Read a cutting edge review of the new Google Wave
• Enjoy the iPhone Tuesday and Fortune Friday regular series
• And much more!

Hope you enjoy the content this week and that you’re enjoying the changing seasons as we move into Fall!

Well it’s time for the new OPTED Magazine poll and this one requires your participation.

This week we’re posing the question: are you ready for the 2009 holiday season?

Next week is Halloween, shortly followed by a rapid descent into cold weather and Thanksgiving travel, the craziness of Black Friday, the arrival of December with its office and holiday parties, Christmas and Hanukkah, lavish New Year’s celebrations, football bowl parties.  And then finally a breather.  I’m exhausted just thinking about it!

So, check out the poll on the left hand side bar of the site and cast your vote.  But your participation isn’t over!

Now, share in the comments what you’re dreading, whether it’s social functions, financial woes, decorating or travel and any advice you may be seeking for how to get ready.  Your comment could be featured in an OPTED Magazine post in the next few weeks where you’ll get advice on the topic of your comment!

Please share this link with your friends so the conversation grows and we can share in the comment section our own strategies and tips for a hassle free holiday season.

Happy commenting!

Needless to say, on my “off” weekend, with no agenda and no constraints, I did a lot of thinking about what is the perfect balance of relaxation and productivity on a weekend.

I woke up on Saturday morning determined to find a happy medium between feeling useful around the house and enjoying much needed free time.  I made a decision that Sunday would be a day of rest and Saturday I would split my time between “productive” tasks and fun time.  It’s simple mind trickery that works every time — if my brain knows that for 48 hours I have one entire day to do whatever I want, the house chores don’t seem as bad when I get them out of the way at the front end of the weekend!

I also elected to complete 4 tasks, while not big by any stretch of the imagination, still had a big impact on my psyche and will certainly keep me in a good frame of mind in the week ahead:

1. Cleaning out the fridge — it’s a great feeling to see exactly what is fresh and consumable and to know that the bad stuff has been removed on time for trash day.  And as an added bonus it helps for constructing a weekly meal plan.
2. Clearing off my desk — there’s nothing like a gleaming, clear desk to start out the week.  I try to do this on Friday afternoons before the weekend as well.  A cluttered space truly is a cluttered mind.
3. Catching up on laundry — knowing that all my clothing is clean helps me stay on top of my schedule for the week.  No more scrambling for a matching outfit now that everything is clean and put away!  It’s also the perfect task that can fit in between other chores while the washer and dryer are each in different stages.
4. One decluttering project — any time I have a free window of time I pick a decluttering project to tackle.  I didn’t count my desk for this exercise (that would be cheating!) and instead chose to clear out my coupons.  With such a hectic few weeks, the stack of coupons waiting to be filed vastly exceeded those in my mini accordion and many coupons had already expired.  And wasted money does no good for my mood!

There was still some cleaning and tidying here and there, but for the most part I silenced the perfectionist in my head, if only for one weekend, to enjoy quality time at home.  There was much good football to be watched!

After this weekend I came to an important conclusion: I take life a little too seriously and productivity practiced 24/7 is not good for the soul.  I really challenged myself to change my habits, even if I consider those habits to be beneficial most of the time.

For anyone reading this that is seeking a more productive and organized life, my one piece of advice is to hold onto at least 3% of your unplanned, unstructured self (and ideally more!)  Give yourself time to unwind and enjoy simple pleasures and it will reinvigorate you for the work week ahead.