I’m willing to bet you’ve experienced on one too many occasions the effects of not having enough time to prepare for work after that alarm clock sounds the digital battle cry. To err is to be human, but beyond the darkness of consistently being ruled by clock there exists a promising light of promptness. Attaining morning bliss is easy, with a little planning.

Personally a few years back before I rebooted my morning routine, the AM hours consisted of never eating breakfast and hopping up on what couldn’t have been healthy amounts of manufactured eye-opener aka caffeine. Red Bull coursing through my veins, I’d consistently forget lunches and other items that I’d want to have with me at the workplace. I’ve never been a ill-prepared individual, but I will say that my college/early work years could have been injected with a solid dose sticky notes. I’ve got that on “lockdown” now and hit every day stacked to the brim with everything I will or potentially need.

So, what did I do to go from forgetful fumbler to stocked stud? Well, the recipe lies across several methods of better morning-time management via the evening before. You see, I was always viewing the time before making my commute as my window to pack the briefcase and dash off, when in fact I was dead wrong. To become the optimized professional, there were four main points I had to hit that hardly take any time and can be done 12 hours before work.

Pack lunch - This is perhaps the biggest time saver I can recommend. You’ll love yourself for doing this the night before.

Lay out clothes - No more deciding on what to wear or furiously sifting through closets at the last minute.

Write reminders - Instead of gradually remembering “to-dos” through the day, jot them down while they are fresh.

Clean up room/house - The feeling of leaving a living environment messy will hamper sleep and wear on a person through the day.

By doing these things at night, instead of the morning, you’ll enjoy a care-free commute with plenty of hourglass to spare between waking up and pushing through the office doors.

photo by: Flickr user amnesiak1978

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Adobe, creators of fine software such as Photoshop, Illustrator, and the AIR web application development environment…have made a boo-boo that I just couldn’t help but bring about here on the Modern Worker blog.

Let me say that Adobe is one my favorite companies in the design/web industry, which is why I hate to see them slipping in area so easy to control like pay-per-click ads (PPC). These ads are served up across the Internet, mostly through Google AdSense. Advertisers will sign up with such a program, input the text they wish to describe what they’re selling, input a destination link, and pay a little (or a lot) of money each time someone clicks the ad is taken to their website.

Companies all across the globe make use of this great advertising method, and Adobe is no exception. One problem though… their ads are misspelled. Now, for a company with such a high profile to maintain, you’d think proper grammar and such would be locked down tightly. As evidenced by the image below, you’ll notice the lapse in quality control.

Mistakes happen, and unfortunately for Adobe it did for them through this haphazard ad. We should always keep in the forefront of our minds, specifically at work, that mistakes are often remembered more so than maintaining the standard. Make use of spellcheck when appropriate and keep those textual tasks free of ailing errors.

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Today is Blog Action Day and Modern-Worker.com is doing its part to support the growth of environmental knowledge.

Many celebs have gone “green” lately as a trendy fashion statement, but I urge you to be smart in the use of office products and in your personal lives to save not only cash, but our environment as well.

I’m all about using power, pens, and paper when necessary but often times these resources can be held off on, with just a little extra planning.

“Think before you print” could easily become a successful slogan around your office by asking yourself these questions on a daily basis.

• Will printing more effectively communicate information than electronic mail or messaging?
• How long will this time-sensitive print stay relevant?
• Will anyone actually look at what I’m about to print out?
• Can I write down what I am thinking of printing?
• Do I need to print all of some of this document?

By thinking through these thoughts and questioning the importance of the print process, you’ll surely notice that ctrl+p can be significantly cut back on. Are you laughing hysterically? Understandably this may seem fabled, but I assure you that I speak the truth here on print conservancy.

I work in an office environment dealing strictly with electronic communications via the web and e-mail, and I have not printed a single piece of paper within the past 6 months. There are other means of sharing the information with co-workers that I need to besides the laser jet, and I take advantage of them on a daily basis.

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(This post is part of an ongoing “Less is More” series)

PDAs, iPhones, moleskines, cell phone applications are all marketed to consumers to be life-saving organizational devices. There’s a catch though, for me at least, and it’s that my productivity goes downhill when cramming my work life into these battery coasters. It could be that I’m a frugal American and don’t feel the need to grab the latest and greatest tech toy each month, but these supposed handy dandy coordinators-in-your-palm deals don’t tickle my professional fancy.

Now, don’t get me wrong here, because I’m very much aware that my co-workers and friends rave about how much time and effort their handheld devices save. It’s just that I keep a fairly open schedule and relatively small list of contacts. Furthermore, I store these all in one spot. Call it a personal habit, but I prefer phone numbers, appointments, and such, to exist in one reliable source that I can easily access when I need to.

There is one potential downside to this, and it is that sometime I wish to bring up a bit of data while I’m out and about the town, but times like those are when memory comes in handy. Not everyone wants to (or could possibly) memorize their digital life, but for someone like myself who’s a green tea aficionado, I guess those antoxidants kick in at the right moment when attempting to recall an associate’s new screen name.

So, take some time to determine whether a low-tech approach to organizing your life is for you; or if dropping close to a grand on a digital notepad is truly worth it. Remember that sometimes… less is more.

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Back in the saddle again; Monday has arrived! How was everyone’s weekend?

I stress the importance of backing up digital data, and now I’m acting as your advocate for backing up the morning routine. Mike at The Daily Saint reminds as that a day’s productivity depends on a smooth start in the a.m., and he’s right on the money.

Your goal for today: Set your alarm clock 15 minutes earlier this week, allowing room for Murphy’s Law

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