Going Paperless

To help you jump start the new year, we’re posting thirty-one technology and business treats, one for each day of January.

If going paperless is on your New Year’s resolution list, you’re in luck! If not, it’s time. After all, this is 2012 and all the comments about killing and saving trees is o-l-d. The best benefit is having what you need when you need it on whatever device you have with you.

Ready?

Identify One Thing

The first step is to identify ONE thing you want to get paperless. ONE thing. As with all revolutions, it starts with ONE step.

Maybe you want to eliminate paper notes you take while on the phone with a client. Maybe it’s a reminder list. Maybe it’s notes for a staff meeting. Maybe it’s a list of books you want to read.

I’m going to select a list of books to read as our example. It was my last frontier I conquered going paperless. For some reason, everything else was much easier to implement. I have been completely paperless for over a year now.

I keep a running list of books I want to read. Originally I had lists in primarily three places: in Notes on my iPhone iPad, on whatever piece of paper was next to my computer, and in a My List on our local library’s website. When I was getting ready to throw away the paper that was by my computer, I’d find whatever books I’d written down on it and add it either to Notes or, if our library had the book, My List. Needless to say it was haphazard, time-consuming, and I never had the same information anywhere.

Pick a Method

Since I wanted to have the same list on all of my devices and also be able to add to the same list everywhere, eliminating any paper, I had several options I was already using and familiar with at my disposal: DropBox, Google Docs, and Evernote.

Although I could access DropBox via all of my devices, I had to create a file and upload it. Since Google Docs and Evernote are web apps, I wouldn’t have to upload anything. Once I accessed the web app, I could read or edit my list. I chose Evernote because it worked the best and most consistently on all of my devices (User experience does matter).

I now had one list with the same information on all of my devices. Plus, I had my complete list when I was looking for a new book to read whether I was at the library, in the airport bookstore, or on iTunes or Amazon with my laptop.

Eventually I migrated to Goodreads because I could search and click, eliminating having to type in any information myself! Plus I could eliminate the spreadsheet I kept of the books I read for the year since that feature was also available on Goodreads. Web app win!

What’s Next?

Now that you’ve gone paperless with ONE thing, what’s next? Meeting notes?