GetDropbox.com – at the risk of sounding cliche – has revolutionized the way I manage my files & documents.

I have a work PC, a window netbook, a Macbook Pro, gmail documents, lists on iPhone “notes” … just all manner of personal and work files spread everywhere. Budgets, resumes, professional photos, personal pictures, guitar tabs, wordpress themes, workout log, french vocab, photo biz documents, family geneaology research, upcoming nepal trek info, grad school pdfs… you KNOW what I mean!  Now, I keep “backups” of my computers and my professional photography on my Windows Homeserver. What I’m talking about here is just the “data of life”.

I needed:

1) A way to centralize all these files, so I could access them from any computer or device. And SUPER SIMPLE EASY to use.

2) Have them integrate natively into my folder structure on all these computers. I don’t want to always go to a website to manage the documents, it’s gets tedious & I quit doing it (eh-hem, like with iDisk, not so native for Windows). I just wanted a folder to show up in “my documents” or on my desktop that I can drag-and-drop the files to. And if I add or change a document in one place, it changes everywhere. But I did want web-access, if I’m on someone else’s computer or am travelling.

3) A way to share documents if need be: send my boyfriend the silly “hurricane drinking game” I wrote, send a family member an old photo I found of a great-grandparent, share a logo pdf file with a co-worker.

4) And the dream was to have an iPhone app for it as well.

BAM! ZAP! PING! ….. enter: DropBox.

It does all of this without blinking. It’s totally secure, and free (or cheap, for more storage options). I put all of these folders/docs/photos in my dropbox and can get them anywhere. Also, I won’t have to sweat it if one of my computers dies, or lets say, if I change jobs and don’t want to have that panic of “wait, did I forget about my personal budget files on that PC?!”.

And now that there’s a slick iPhone app, I can even upload photos I take (or already have in my album). I can send links to documents from within it. I can view all of my MS Office files (yes, even .docx), high-res pdfs, photos. There’s even a way to pick “favorites” – those docs you access all the time.

I think you get the picture, and why I’m so stoked! Check out their website for a demo. Also, pricing: 2G = free, 50G = 9.99/month, 100G = 19.99/month. I got the free option, and within 30 minutes had upgraded to 50G. I’ve nowhere near maxxed it out, but it’s worth the cost to me. Peace of mind that my “life data” is secure & universally accessible ROCK!

Here are some screenshots I made so you can see how it fits into my life. Click the first one & it opens up like a gallery, you can click “next” through them all.

“Baby step to 4 o’clock, baby step to 4 o’clock!” is one of my favorite Bill Murray lines from “What About Bob”.  I am the queen of list-making; I feel like I’m making sense out of my crazy life. Problem: I make these monster lists, immediately get overwhelmed, then hide under my desk procrastinating and chewing on pencils. Clearly, this isn’t working. I need to go back to baby steps.

( “Baby step through the office, baby steps out the door… It works!” )

So how to solve the problem & get motivated?
Enter stage right: David Seah’s “Printable CEO” series. All free, all printable pdfs.

His theory: Normally you could work ALL day on your list, and still leave with nothing officially checked off. Moreover, with a big or daunting project it’s the starting that’s hard – taking that first step up the mountain. Staring at a list that rarely gets checked off gets discouraging really fast.  His task list sheets focus simply on starting a task, and then making progress. Just like standardized tests you took in school (what’s up #2 pencil!), there are little bubbles next to each task  – in sets of 4. For each 15 minutes you work on something, fill in a bubble. 4 bubbles is an hour. Just fill ‘em in as you go. You don’t need an egg timer – guesstimate away, my fellow slackers!

The sheet I chose to print is a “Task Progress Tracker” sheet (here’s a link to the pdf file) – one for each of my current projects. This one is also the most basic & easy for me to apply immediately.

Example: I have updates for our programmers that I had to review. I’d been stalling, it’s a beast of a project.  So yesterday simply I reviewed my emails about that project to refresh my brain – I got a bubble filled in. I TOOK THE FIRST STEP. Then I started jotting down some notes about the updates, checked the clock – woo! 3 more bubbles!

By the end of yesterday I had:

1. Filled in a bunch of bubbles and could SEE what I’d done
2. Felt a sense of accomplishment about my day even though there were no “final check marks”
3. A side benefit: I had a log of how my time was spent, and how much time different tasks took (good for billable hours)… accountability for time is always good for the ol’ job security.

Dave has TONS of different sheet formats so you can find one that fits your workflow best – different sizes, colors, approaches, etc. Frankly, those were overkill for me… which is why I used the one I did. But you’d be amazed by his awesomely designed options.

“Keep sailing, Bob!”