Home Office Organization–21st Century Style

How To Keep Track of Everything

Home office organization requires some personal organization. In the past, people used a plain notebook or Day Timer or FranklinCovey Day Planner to keep track of all their contact information, appointments, notes, to-do list and other information. While paper is still quite useful and plain paper notebooks are very cost-effective, a much better solution is available for the twenty-first century, a PDA.

The twenty-first century solution is the PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) or Smartphone (PDA plus cell phone all-in-one device), also called a handheld computer, or just a “handheld”. You back it up to your computer frequently using a docking station or cable.

Remember, one of the reasons so many of us can choose to have our own small businesses or commute electronically from our home offices is because of all the technology available to us to make it possible. Twenty-five years ago few people had access to a computer at work, let alone in their homes. Now, most everyone in a developed country has a computer at home or uses a computer regularly at a library or other free public location. One more thing, this is not a sales pitch for PDAs or any other product. I’m providing links to planning solutions as a convenience to make locating what I’m talking about easier for you.

A FranklinCovey
Day Planner

I was a FranklinCovey paper Day Planner system user for years before I got my first Palm Pilot. My Franklin Day Planner was a terrific system, and at the time, it beat everything else available hands down in both quality and value. I learned the strategy and mechanics of personal organization with that system. When I changed to a PDA I incorporated what I’d learned with the paper system into my use of the electronic system, and I’ve never gone back to paper. In fact, FranklinCovey now has Palm PDAs as part of their line of planning solutions.

Why a PDA is Much Better

A PDA is a powerful handheld computer and has the benefits of a computer. The biggest benefit is the ability to customize it to your needs with add-on applications. And it only weighs a few ounces and fits in your pocket.

Palm Tungsten E

A PDA does everything the paper system did and a lot more. An alarm never rang an hour (or however I set it) before an appointment when I used a paper Day Planner. A date book with color coding and audible alarms is so incredibly valuable when you’re busy. It keeps you from forgetting important appointments, and it allows you to set the amount of time an alarm rings before appointments. You can set alarms for weeks in advance of any date book item. It makes remembering to shop for birthdays just as easy as remembering birthdays.

A PDA allows you to effectively deal with all the information you have to keep track of in one place. It contains your prioritized to-do list, your contacts (you can have thousands of them), your calender and appointments (you can have years of them), and a myriad of other information and applications a paper planner could never offer. It has a great search function so you can search for anything you know is in there somewhere that you can’t find right away. All you do is tap on the magnifying glass icon at the bottom of the screen, enter your keyword(s) and tap search. It starts searching in the application you’re currently working in, and searches the rest of the unit after that. If your keyword is in there, it will find it in a few seconds. What a time-saver!

Another cool benefit of a PDA is that it comes with companion software for your computer. You can type all the information you want in your PDA on your computer, and then download it to the handheld unit. It’s fantastic for setting up your first PDA and adding large amounts of new information. It’s also crucial if your unit is damaged, lost or stolen.

When you back up regularly, at least once daily, if something happens to destroy or damage your unit beyond use, or it’s lost or stolen, all your data is on your computer. You can still access everything with the PDA software until you can get a new unit. All you need to do is buy a new PDA with the same operating system and download your data to it. There is a lock feature on all PDAs that you can set to secure your personal information if your PDA is lost or stolen. You can login to your PDA just as you login to your computer. I highly recommend using this feature.

Application Programs

There are many application programs for PDAs that range from office suites to games, calculators, ebooks, grocery lists, diet management, and encryption to keep sensitive information secure. Some are free and some must be purchased. There is a Microsoft Office compatible suite, Documents To Go, that can be synced with your computer documents, taken with you, and updated versions can be uploaded to your computer later. The PDA date book can also be set up to sync with Microsoft Outlook.

You can download photos to share with friends and family.

There is an Adobe Reader so pdf files can be downloaded and read. Many ebooks are available as pdf files. Palm handhelds also come with PalmReader for compatible ebooks. You can download entire ebooks in pdf or pr format and read whenever you have a few minutes or get stuck waiting somewhere like the doctor’s office. I read the entire novel The DaVinci Code on my Palm m125. Most ebooks cost a few dollars, but are well worth it if you love to read and often forget to bring a book with you.

Newer units have Bluetooth and Wi Fi capabilities. These PDAs can connect directly to the internet for web-surfing, and sending and receiving email and instant messages. SmartPhones have made this extremely easy because many wireless phone providers have internet service in their plan packages. There is a news and information service, AvantGo, that allows you to set up your PDA to retrieve news, sports, weather, and other information every time you sync your PDA and have an open internet connection on your computer. This enables you to have recent information available when you don’t have a handheld with internet capabilities or you’re out of range of a Wi Fi connection.

Like most new cell phones, some PDAs also come with built-in digital cameras for capturing pictures on the go.

One of my most often-used PDA application is STRIP (Secure Tool for Remembering Important Passwords), a shareware program from Source Forge. There are other similar programs available, but most aren’t free. STRIP is 256-bit encrypted, stores sensitive information like passwords, account numbers, credit card numbers and PINs, and it also has a very easy-to-use password generator where you set the length of the password or PIN, and whether you want numbers only, alpha-numeric only, or alpha-numeric+special characters. This tool is priceless if you need to generate strong passwords and keep track of secure data. Unfortunately, at this writing, you can’t access this program from your computer desktop to make adding information easier, but your information is backed up on your computer in encrytped form. You have to put all your secure information into your unit using the pop-up keypad, Graffiti pad, or an add-on portable keyboard specifically for use with your PDA. Some of the paid software programs have desktop access for putting secure data into the program.

Are There Any Downsides?

There are a couple of drawbacks to using a PDA. It’s tough to write notes on it fast using the Graffiti pad. Even experienced users usually can’t write more than 30-40 characters a minute accurately. The screen pop-up keypad isn’t much faster. The solution to this problem is a portable keyboard. If you often need to write or take notes and don’t want the hassle of using paper, a keyboard is the perfect solution. An infrared universal keyboard can be purchased for under $75. Nearly all PDAs have an infrared function for beaming information to other people with handheld computers, and universal keyboards take advantage of this built-in function. Security isn’t an issue using infrared transmission because it has a very short range, within a couple of feet. Most of us transfer data by setting handhelds within a few inches of each other with infrared ports facing each other to speed the process. New PDAs have Bluetooth, and Bluetooth universal keyboards are now available for use with them.

An Infrared Universal Keyboard:

A Bluetooth Universal Keyboard:

The second drawback is you can’t draw on the older PDA screens. My current PDA, a Palm Tungsten E, has a program called Note Pad that allows you to draw or write directly on the main screen. Newer units have more of these capabilities, and the sky seems to be the limit for improvements in these applications.

Operating Systems

There are three operating systems for PDAs:

• Palm
  
• Windows
  
• Apple
  

Apple of course has the newly introduced iPhone. Palm has been around the longest and Apple is the newest, and with Apple’s extremely reliable, powerful and user-friendly Macintosh line of desktop and notebook computers, and very successful iPod media devices, the iPhone is sure to continue making a huge splash for quite some time. Windows-based PDAs are more expensive ($500 – $1000 range) than Palm OS PDAs ($100 – $500 range) and seem to be targeted to corporate users, although many individuals own and use a Windows PDA just like I use my Palm Tungsten E. SmartPhones are also relatively expensive, but are again more corporate-targeted. I know a few people who have a SmartPhone, but the unit and service are paid for by their employers. I don’t know anyone who has an iPhone, but I would love to see one up close and personal.

Keep In Mind…

There’s one thing I want you to keep in mind always when facing the challenge of keeping yourself organized. Whatever system you choose, plain paper notebook, paper day planner system, or PDA, be sure you will be a faithful user of it. Any system not used, no matter how simple or complex, won’t work. You must use it and commit to continuing to use it faithfully day in and day out for it to work. If you won’t keep yourself organized your home office won’t stay organized either. Personal organization is key to home office organization and the success of your business or career run from that office.

So if your choice is a PDA, from the elegantly simple and inexpensive Palm Z22 to the great power and ease of use of the Apple iPhone, and all the PDAs and SmartPhones in between, once you use one, I bet you’ll never go back to paper!

I’d love to know what you think.

Sherri

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PS: Here are links to the current Palm handhelds:

The Palm Z22 is available here: Palm Z22 Handheld

The Palm Tungsten E2 is available here: Palm Tungsten E2 Handheld

The Palm TX is available here: Palm TX Handheld

I recommend getting a SmartPhone at the wireless provider of your choice since your service will be through them. You will often get a better deal on the Smartphone when you buy the service package with it.