What is Post-it and What It Is Not?

All of us know the small yellow (or pink, or orange colored) pieces of paper that cover sometimes the whole desks, monitors and keyboards of our colleagues. I agree they are very cute, but they could be the killer of every effort for better performance. They could be a source of unlimited stress. They could remind us for important events, phone numbers, etc. But they could drive us crazy if used improperly.

Post-it has one single purpose and it is: “To temporary store short pieces of important information until it is recorded into a more secure storage!” That’s all! What the Post-it is not? The Post-it is not that “more secure storage”.

How not to use Post-it!

I am sure that you know what is the common practice with Post-it. I know it very well. First you use one piece and write down a very important phone number. Then you get one more for your new MySpace.com account access data. After that stickie-by-stickie you realize that your working place is covered all over with yellow and pink notes that fly away with every movement of your hands or body. You have turned the simple idea of Post-it into a new concept of not-realtional database model which can be used as the ultimate symbol for the total un-efficiency.

How to use Post-it Properly?

If you want to use the full potential of Post-it, follow the procedure below:

1. Do not use Post-it if you can.
2. If you have to write an important piece of information, get one piece, write down the information and finish the current urgent task you are involved in.
3. When the task is finished and you have 10 seconds of free time, enter the information of the post-it note into the appropriate data storage (phone numbers - into Outlook Addressbook or into your phone’s addressbook; tasks - into your calendar or tasklist; passwords and access data - into a special file on your computer…).
4. Kill the stickie. Throw the Post-it note away and forget it.

If you follow this steps, you will have clear and stressless desk which will give you unbelievable peace of mind.

No stress, no trouble, no problems!