File this under the heading, "practice what you preach." Well, what I preach. Or maybe you preach it, too. Anyway. You know what I mean.
Yesterday I hooked up my new Fujitsu ScanSnap S510 scanner. It's got a tiny footprint and sits on my desk right next to my monitor and docking station. Now, I'm no newbie to the paperless (or paperLESS, as some folks contend) world. I've been scanning documents for a long time. I'm comfortable with the concept and with not keeping things in paper. I may need to turn in my law degree for that last sentence. But I digress.
In all the time I've been scanning paper, though, I've always done it through a copier/scanner machine that emails the document to me (or through staff personnel dedicated to scanning stuff). The copier/scanner/email plan worked fine; I was used to it and it worked. After attending TECHSHOW 2008, though, and listening to everyone rave about the low cost, yet excellent ScanSnap, I finally decided to take the plunge and buy one for my office.
It was a breeze to set up and is super easy and intuitive to use, just as promised. It met expectations. But here is where it exceeded my expectations: I totally underestimated just how awesome it would be to have it sitting on my desk within arm's reach.
By now, you may have drawn two conclusions: 1) I am lazy as all get out, and 2) I use the word "awesome" more freely than a man in his 30's probably should. True on both counts.
David Allen keenly observed in his must-read time management book, Getting Things Done, that if you keep your filing supplies (folders, labels, labelmaker, filing cabinet) within arm's reach, you are far more likely to file something when it needs filing than sticking it in yet another pile. The same is true with scanning. Having my little Fujitsu buddy sitting right next to me makes the difference between scanning something as soon as I think of it and piling it up for later. Translation: more stuff gets done.
Even if you are in a paperless environment now (or just wishing you were), don't wait. Go out and get yourself a nice little scanner today. You'll be amazed at what a difference having one right at hand makes.
