Being the production coordinator for several magazine titles is no easy feat! With deadlines to meet, advertising to oversee, and activities to schedule, Evergreen Media’s Meghan keeps every aspect of her work meticulously organized. Organization is key to being more productive. After all, how can you get things done when you can’t find that darn ad proof?!

Meghan is old-school and likes to make sure she has hard copies of everything, and since she coordinates several magazines… that’s a ton of paper! When keeping hard copies instead of using online resources, it is important to keep them in an order that makes sense. No, throwing them in a box somewhere doesn’t count! Meghan keeps color-coded writing. Rick, the boss man, is blue. Meghan is purple. Design is orange. Red means stop and green means done!

“Yeah my papers look pretty, but pretty with a purpose. At a quick glance I can easily see where I am at with things. My eyes draw towards certain colors,” Meghan explains. “Also, hard copies give my eyes some time away from my screen.”

Sticky notes, calendars, Google spreadsheets, and notepads – experiment with various organizational aides. Meghan loves the search option on online resources, but prefers hard copies that line her computer screen with color-coded sticky notes of everything she needs to get done. Once she finishes a task, she makes a note of it and throws away the sticky.

“Writing something down helps with my memorization of things – which is one reason why I prefer it.”

If you do find online tools useful, try using Google calendar and spreadsheets, Trello, or TeuxDeux.

She also writes everything down, just in case she needs a reference later. Even in math class, she would write down 2+2=4… just in case.

“Some people prefer to do math in their heads… cool beans. Me, I’ll write out 2+2=4, just to know if I have to look back that it’s there,” explains the bubbly production coordinator.

Getting started working at 8:00 in the morning is difficult without coffee. At the end of the day, Meghan will jumpstart the next morning by writing herself a note for everything she needs to get done. On the margins, write encouraging notes to yourself.

“I am one who really pushes to enjoy my weekends, hence my ‘Good Morning Meghan’ notes. Especially on a Fridays, write a list of Monday’s to dos and leave it on your desk so Monday morning you know just where you left off, and right where to pick up.”

Most importantly, Meghan suggests finding your own organizational style that works for you! If her sticky notes and color-coding just isn’t doing it, then experiment with different styles until you find something that feels comfortable.

“Everyone’s brains works differently – right-sided; left-sided – it all comes into play (even with organization). People can get organized through different methods, but make sure the end result is equally as awesome.”

• Find what works for you
  • If you are having a hard time doing something a certain way, don’t be shy, try a different route!
• Stick with that style
  • Be consistent in the way you do things.
• Label & label in a way that makes sense
  • The way you go about organizing can be a personal preference—but when working in an office, be considerate and label things appropriately and in a way the entire office will understand.
• Storage: You label smart, in order to store smart
  • Simple, if you label something store it in a way so that the label shows to the outside for easy access.