In order to get things done, and to get the most out of your time in your workspace, it is crucial to be able to find the information and the tools you need. One great way to achieve this is to cut back on clutter – the mess that gets in your way and ultimately stresses you out.

The first tip is to make your workspace a workspace. Get rid of anything that doesn’t pertain to helping you get your work done, or which distracts you from your work. If you have to think about a certain object for more than a few seconds, then chances are that you don’t need it. Keep all of the essentials in easy reach.

Have a work filing system to keep papers and files off of your desk. While you’re “in the zone” it’s easy to let papers pile up on your desk and tell yourself that you’ll get to them later. This is all well and good, but make sure that you do get to them later. Have a filing system that’s efficient and organized.

Essential organizing items are another good thing to have. Examples are cork boards for loose pieces of paper that you need to have quick access to, a mail sorter for incoming and outgoing letters, and a calendar so that you can take a quick look at upcoming events.

Keep your office clean. This means taking ten minutes to pick up around the office, dust and put things in their place.

Organize your significant items. It’s OK to have personal touches like pictures, awards, moments of achievement, and special letters in the office, but it’s better to have them in places where they don’t get in the way, like in a box or photo album.

Following these tips is an excellent way to get going and keep going throughout your workday.

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Developed by Good.iWare, the GoodReader app for the iPhone is extremely useful for anyone who has to handle or manage files on the go. The two most significant benefits it offers are its ability to handle very large files, of up to 1Gb, and to handle PDF files.

Whatever you need to read, should it be a newsletter, productivity report or earnings statement, GoodReader is sure to be able to handle it. Rather than moving around large physical volumes, the app lets you take your work with you and its portability means that you can work on the go, making full use of your commuting time.

GoodReader also allows you to create folders as well as files. You can copy folders, move them, delete them and protect them with a password. With these capacities, it’s a snap to organize what is on your iPhone.

The app comes with a feature called PDF Reflow, which takes the text out of any PDF files and puts it on the iPhone’s screen as immediately readable text. As text is placed evenly across the screen, you also shouldn’t have to scroll around too much while reading.

Aside from PDF and text files, the program displays a wide range of other files from MS Office and iWork, and can also display html files. This flexibility ensures that you should never be frustrated by an unusual file type.

Image: Good.iWare

There may come a time when you decide to change your business’s phone number. This does not have to a huge hassle if you plan ahead how to handle the switchover. One of your most important concerns is how to inform clients, the general public and those within your establishment what your new number is.

One of the first things you must do is to give a warning notice that you will soon be switching numbers. Consider sending a mailer or email message to all those involved about the switch. The notice should include a statement that you will be sending a second notice containing the new number. This keeps everyone informed and aware of the upcoming change.

If you have picked out a special number in advance with the phone company, pre-print new business cards for all employees with the new number. Have them bring in the older cards to be destroyed so that there is no confusion. You should also do the same with the company letterhead and related paperwork.

Ideally, you should have a crossover period during which both numbers will reach you. You can use this period to inform your clients and partners of the switchover and of the new number, minimizing the number of people potentially caught unaware.

Inform your advertising team and technical support team of the change. Your advertising team can put your company’s new number on any media advertising that you use, giving the public the heads up on the new number. Your technical support team can ensure that the number is updated on your website, email headers and related communication channels.

By having a plan in advance and keeping everyone informed, you can make the change to a new phone number is hassle and headache free. This saves you time and allows you to concentrate on more important matters.

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Being organized is crucial to getting things done, and an app that might help you with that is the 2do TaskPad. The app provides an endless number of ways to organize tasks, seamlessly fitting itself to the personality of the user. Most users’ first impression is that it is a particularly visually attractive app. Visual ease of use goes without saying in today’s plug and play world, but the 2do takes intuitive functionality up a level.

The cross task utility begins with a simple alert function, enhanced by the ability to email alerts and it has iCal calendar based organization features. The depth of the included features is astounding. For instance, a voice alert need not be re-recorded; simply append added details later. Calendars can easily be shared with friends, family or colleagues via MobileMe. You can prioritize reviews, forward them to subordinates or partners, all without worrying about incompatibility – nearly everything is compatible with the 2do.

For the organized professional, tasks can be meticulously collected into folders. For those who prefer the spontaneity of the moment, 2do has a location based task alert. 2do can also sync tasks from a wide range of other devices, making it an all in one device with a built in organizational transfer system. Tasks from the 2do can also be accessed from any web browser.

2do may truly be the best task manager ever built. Many of its innovations would only be used by specialists, its arsenal is so deep and thorough. But better to have more and never use it than not enough!

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Anyone whose job requires a lot of time spent on the phone knows that it has a way of stealing time and energy that could be more productively directed elsewhere.

Saving time on the phone comes down to being able to quickly make and receive calls, coupled with the ability to remain productive during the minutes spent on the phone when nothing is being accomplished.

Here are five handy gadgets to save you time while on the phone.

1. Headset: A wireless headseten ables you to move around freely around the office and to use your hands while on the phone. A bluetooth headset is fine for most offices, and headsets offered by Plantronics and GE offer ranges up to 300 feet. Even if you have to have a wired headset for privacy concerns, your hands are still freed up to sort papers, work on the computer or to write.

2. Speaker Phone: This comes with the same advantages as the headset, with the additional benefit of being able to include additional people in the conversation. Furthermore, sound quality is nowadays vastly improved over speaker phones of the past.

3. Speed Dial Software: You could use a full featured contact manager such as Outlook, or one of the many stand-alone software titles dedicated to providing the ability to make and receive calls, send faxes and emails, and even record calls.

4. Voice Dial: This is something that has been around for years. At one time it was error prone, but is now much more reliable, and less sensitive to issues that required set up, and was affected by the environment from which the call was being placed.

5. BlueTooth Car Kit: You can’t always take calls in your offices, but that’s no reason you should have to miss them. Using your car’s high fidelity sound system further minimizes the distractions of talking while driving, or fumbling around with the miniature buttons on some earpieces.

A key point to consider with any gadget that is designed to save time is that there is an up-front, initial investment of time involved with configuration and gaining familiarity with the gadget before its time saving benefits are realized. Once that is achieved, though, the benefits can be immeasurable.

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