Productivity | Best Results Organizing

How to Send Large Files the Organized Way — Simple, Stress-Free Solutions

Posted on: March 2nd, 2026 by Julie Bestry | 10 Comments

In the olden days, if you wanted to send an important message, you could send it in the mail, and it might go by steamboat, stagecoach, or train to get to your recipient. Hopefully, your Pony Express rider wouldn’t lose it in a saloon. Perhaps if you were from a family of means (the Bridgertons, for example?), you might entrust your very urgent message to your ladies maid, who would give it to the hall boy, who would run through the streets to deliver your a note.

The telegraph was invented in 1837 and by the second half of the 19th century, it was widely used for messaging. But priced by the word, it was essential to limit what you wanted to say to the fewest number of words. As a classic Borsht Belt joke ran, “Start worrying. Details to follow.”

And for those of us of a certain age who recall pay phones, you could place a collect call for “Mom, I need you to pick me up at the mall” or “I arrived safely” and the operator looked the other way. Or, there’s this classic:

HOW TO SHARE SMALL AND MEDIUM FILES

At this point in the 21st century, things are much the same. The truth is that when you have a (relatively) small piece of information, it’s “no big whoop” to transfer that kernel of knowledge inexpensively and easily. The bigger the slab of data (what we’ll generally call “a file,”) the more expensive and complicated things are, and the more strategy you need to keep the cost and effort down.

Methods for Sending Small and Medium Files

For small files, like photos, PDFs, a resume, or a quick video, you can relay information by:

Text — Whether you use iMessage, SMS, Whatsapp, or Slack, you can quickly relay information or and attach to those texts.
Email attachments — As long as when you say “attached, please find,” you actually attach the file you intend to share, you’re good to go.
AirDrop — This works as long as you’e in the same room or area as your recipient and are using an iOS device (or, as of late 2025, are able to duplicate the process on Android using QuickShare).
Physical media — While tangible media method isn’t as convenient or as quick as a digital transfer, if you have lots of files, it can be helpful to download your files to a USB drive, external hard drive, or SD card, and then carry it to someone in a different location or even ship it to them.

The advantages of these non-tangible methods are that they are generally fast, and there’s little to no set-up needed. You just find the file, click a few buttons or drag-and-drop the file, and you don’t need to be particularly tech savvy as a sender or recipient. If you’re using tangible media, no internet is required, you have total control over the physical file, and it will work anywhere you’ve got the hardware into which to plug it.

The main disadvantage of the first three of these methods are that you’re limited as to the size of whatever file you wish to use, particular to share via text or email.

For example, last week, I had a funny experience when a client had a pregnant pig at her house. The pig had lived at her barn, with horses and chickens, but during a recent cold snap a few weeks prior, the client made a safe, cozy space in her home for the mommy-to-be.

With my client’s permission, I shared a photo in a group text thread with colleagues, and someone said they wanted to see a video! My client provided an adorable video of the pig’s first day in her new space; we were both using iOS, and there was no problem texting it. However, when I went to send the same video to our group thread, I got the message that because it was a mixed iOS/Android group thread, the video was too long to share. Harrumph.

In addition to size limits for file text/email/AirDrop filing sharing, you (or the post office) could lose a thumb drive, hard drive, or SD card in transit, or your recipient could lose it between plucking it from the mailbox and the moment they intend to use it. And none of these methods are particularly useful if you want to ensure that a file is backed up or easy to collaborate upon.

And what you if do you have a BIG file? Certainly text and email are out, as is AirDrop.

For bigger files, the two main methods to get important information from one location (yours) to another (theirs) will be through cloud storage or file transfer platforms.

SHARE FILES IN THE CLOUD

You probably upload files to the cloud (or create them in the cloud in the first place) all the time. This method works best for families and friends sharing documents and photos, professionals sharing client work, ongoing personal and work projects, and providing long-term access to content. As long as you don’t remove the file from the cloud, recipient(s) can re-access it as many times as they like.

How File-Sharing in the Cloud Works

This method involves the following steps:

Upload a file to your cloud account.
Set the permissions for the file. Sometimes, you just want the recipient to be able to view a file; other times, the permissions might allow them to edit and even share it with others.
Share the link with the people or teams who need access. This could be photos of the baby so Great-Grandpa can see how much junior’s smile is like his, or the latest TPS report your staff needs before the next Monday meeting.
Your recipient then views and/or downloads the file.

The advantages of sharing files in the clouds are:

Large file support — Cloud storage means that you can upload multi-gigabyte files. Sharing videos, folders of files, and project archives is easy-peasy lemon squeezy.
Easy sharing — File attachments can be a sticky wicket. If you attach five files to an email, and someone downloads them but then can’t figure out whether the files have ended up in their attachment folder, their desktop, or the most recent folder to which they moved something, it’s a headache. But if you’re just sending someone a link, it’s just a matter of one click to get what they need.
Ongoing security — With cloud sharing, you can change the permissions at any time. So, if you don’t want your now-insignificant other to access that photo, or your mother-in-law can’t be trusted to not post photos of your little angel to social media per your stated boundaries, or your former employee is “former” for a reason, one quick click denies access to files you no longer what them to have.
Backup as a perk — When you upload files to the cloud to enable sharing, those files stay conveniently stored until you decide that you don’t want them there anymore. You never have to worry about a crashed hard drive or an accidental local deletion.
Collaboration made easy — When you upload a file, multiple people can access it (if you wish) and you can keep track of version history, which is great at work or if you’re collaborating with others on a screenplay or story.

Of course, there are drawbacks to the cloud method of sharing files.

Storage limits — The free tiers for storage sites can fill up fast, so if you do a lot of file sharing and never purge your account, you’ll hit your free limit quickly and need to upgrade to a paid plan. Free tiers with enough storage space will let you upload content, but watch to see if there’s an upload limit on individual files.
Account registration requirements — Yes, I heard you groan. Nowadays, almost everyone has too many accounts and too many passwords. It may not be a big deal to you (because if you’re uploading, you probably already have a cloud or two that belongs to you), but if your recipients don’t have cloud accounts, they’ll usually have to register to gain access. Note: some accounts will allow recipients to view files without accounts, but not edit or share.
Learning curves for setup — Unfortunately, the less tech-savvy recipients might be frustrated if they aren’t accustomed to navigating a cloud space. Additionally, some users are inexperienced at setting up permissions, so it’s important to pay attention to the difference in permissions between view, edit, and share.
Privacy depends on settings — With some cloud accounts, you can create public links for file sharing. That’s great if you want everyone in your neighborhood to have access to a file, but if you meant for only the members of “I hate the dude who leaves his Christmas lights up all year” club to view the link but it’s available for public consumption, it’ll make the next block party a bit awkward.

The Main Players in Cloud Sharing of Files

You’re likely already familiar with the big names in the cloud arena for sharing files, even if you’ve never used them for file sharing.

Google Drive — Every Google user has 15GB of free storage; beyond that, there are different file upload limits at different paid tiers. Just upload your file to your Google Drive, get a link to share, and provide the link to your recipient.

However, there’s also a nice mix of the “attach” method I mentioned for small files and the cloud method.

As a Gmail user, if you start a new message with an attached file that’s over the 25MB limit for an individual file, Google automatically creates a link to that file in your Google Drive. When you go to send the email (the one you mean to attach), Gmail will ask you to grant your email recipient access to that file and prompt you to set the permission (view or edit). The default setting, wisely, is just to allow them to view your file. However, your recipient will need to have a Google/Gmail account.

iCloud — You automatically get 5 GB of iCloud storage for free, but an upgrade of just $0.99/month yields 50GB; $2.99/month provides 200GB; and for $9.99/month, you get a whopping 2TB! Store your files, share the link, and you’re all set.

However, as with Google Drive and Gmail, if you use Apple’s Mail, try the Mail Drop feature to send large files up to 5 GB via iCloud Mail on Mac, iPhone, or iCloud.com, without it counting against your storage quota. Read more about Mail Drop.

It will generate a secure download link that lasts for 30 days. Just attach a large file in Mail, and it will automatically offer to send it via Mail Drop if the file exceeds standard email limits.

Dropbox — You probably know Dropbox for its cloud storage with file syncing and collaboration tools. Their plans range from a free 2GB storage option up through premium business plans 15-freaking-terrabytes of storage. But that 2GB lower end storage limit for free accounts (with a 2GB file upload limit, isn’t going to win any beauty pageants. However, in addition to the storage

(In addition to the basic cloud storage method, Dropbox also has it’s own File Transfer protocol for large files.)

Microsoft OneDrive — Upload your file to your OneDrive cloud account; granting access to others is straightforward. OneDrive allows individual file uploads and downloads of up to 250 GB for both personal and business accounts, and while there isn’t a strict total data transfer limit, syncing oodles (like 300,000+ files can cause performance issues). They recommend using the OneDrive desktop app to accomplish large transfers rather than using browser uploads.

Note, Microsoft does something similar to Google and Apple, in that if you use Outlook 365 and try to send a too-large file as an attachment, you’ll be prompted to upload the file to your OneDrive and share a link to it in your Outlook email (rather than attaching the file, itself). You’ll just use the “Upload and Share as a OneDrive Personal Link” option. Recipients can click to open the file and view it from your OneDrive.

SHARE FILES USING FILE TRANSFER SERVICES

I like to think of this approach as a “send it and forget it” method. It’s great for when you want to send videos to family members or the tour group friends you made on your last cruise vacation, submit creative files to a client or virtual assistant, send one-time deliveries of a massive file — or if you know the person getting your file is a bit of a grumpus about dealing with tech.

Fewer people will be familiar with file transfer service method than the methods I described above, but it’s really efficient for the one-and-done file transfers, plus it’s surprisingly easy for the sender and the recipient.

Upload a file, then enter the email address of the person or people you want to receive it (or, alternatively, you can get a link to put in your own email, text, newsletter, blog, etc.). That’s it.

From there, it’s up to the recipient to click on the link, which takes them to the file transfer site. They click a link, and the file downloads to their computer, where it waits for them to open and use it. The best part is that the file auto-expires after a set period (like a week), so you don’t have to clean up after yourself or purge files or worry that someone you later part ways with could still have access.

I have a friend from high school who was always the most in-the-know person about music. Four decades later and he’s a professional in the music industry, but he still makes mix tapes, or at least the high-tech version. For years, he’s been sending his own little funnily-named, curated “albums” of music for his personal email list to enjoy. Only instead of a fiddly cassette requiring us to have a pencil at the ready to fix it when everything unspools (hello, 1983!), he sends a big MP3 file every month or so.

My music industry friend was my introduction to the file transfer service option, but certainly not my only experience. A few years ago, when I had to create a video presentation an online summit, my colleague had me submit my video via a file transfer service, and I was delighted with how easily it worked.

The advantages of file transfer services are:

No account (generally) is necessary — Just like you don’t need a UPS account to have UPS deliver a package to your door, file transfer services deliver the sender’s file to anyone.
Low-friction transfer — Remember how I said that some people can be overwhelmed by having to navigate cloud accounts to find a file? That doesn’t happen with file transfer services. My musical friend sends me to a big, splashy webpage with a big, obvious button to click to start the file download.
Big-file friendly — These services were designed to tackle large transfers. Did you write the Great American Novel? Produce your own album? Make a movie? Share it easily.
Automated file cleanup — Because the file auto-expires, once you tell the file transfer service to send to your recipients (or you’ve sent them the link or published access to it), you’re done.

There are a few potential drawbacks to file transfer services, though:

This is temporary storage — For those who prefer cloud storage to warehouse their files, it’s important to recognize that what’s a boon to some (the automated expiration of the files) means file transfer services do not store your files indefinitely.
You have limited control of your file — Because there are few (if any) options for permissions with a file transfer service, once you send that file, it’s out in the wild. Someone has it and can copy it, share it, change it and then share it, wear it as a hat, etc. Don’t provide access to your file to someone you don’t trust to have that access. Duh.
It’s not ideal for super-sensitive data — File transfer services are secure-ish. They use varying methods of encryptions, so if you need ultra-encryption or password-protection, don’t send your super-secret spycraft through a platform that doesn’t offer that. OK? OK!
Consider the money, honey! — As with everything in the era of late-stage capitalism, you get what you pay for. Free platform tiers work, but if you want bells and whistles, like password protection, longer-termed storage, and higher size limits, you’ll have to shell out the money.

The Big Names in File Transfer Services

There are a variety of file transfer platforms. As a professional organizer, I am not an expert in the technology, and none of these should be considered recommendations. Rather, they are a starting point for your own research into the right file sharing solution for you.

We Transfer — This is the platform my musical friend uses, and it’s the one that seems to be the best known.

Share and receive up to 3 GB/month (10 transfers/month) for free, with transfers expiring after three days. With a paid subscription ($25/month), you get unlimited transfers, unlimited file sizes, no expiration of (uploaded) files, custom branding, and automatic malware scanning.

FileMail — Send large files, up to 5GB, for free, to up to three recipients, with up to ten downloads per transfer. Just drag-and-drop the file from your desktop onto the website. Of note, they impose no restrictions on commercial usage. There are multiple FileMail tiers: Beyond the free Basic plan, there are paid personal ($6/month), professional ($14/month), and business ($24/month) account levels, with each level offering increased file size, storage capacity, and customization.

Smash — The free tier lets you send an unlimited-sized file, has no upload limits (vs. 2 per 24 hours for FileMail), offers password protection, and files are stored for seven days. At the paid tiers, $4.90/month for Pro and $12/month for ten users, 1TB and 2TB of storage, respectively, for 30 days of file storage. (I also think the platform has a more user-friendly experience than FileMail, but your mileage may vary.)

Drop Send — At the free level, send files up to 2GB, up to two files per week, and get 250 GB online storage. At the paid levels ($5/month for basic, $9/month for standard, and $19/month for professional) you get faster transfer speeds, can send 50GB files, increasing numbers of sent files per month and increased amounts of online storage.

Other popular options include:

My Air Bridge — This European platform is best for professionals and teams. Their service is free for individual transfers up to 20 GB in size, with multiple paid plans.

Wormhole — Right now, this is a free services. They note: “For files up to 5 GB, Wormhole stores files on their servers for 24 hours. For files larger than 5 GB, Wormhole uses peer-to-peer transfer to send your files directly from your browser to the recipient. So you’ll need to keep the page open until the recipient downloads the files.”

Send Anywhere — At the free level, send a file up to 50GB; the Lite tier is $5.99/month and the Standard tier is $9.99/month, with additional perks related to downloading, speed, and link management.

BEST PRACTICES FOR ORGANIZING YOUR LARGE FILES FOR SHARING

Before you send your files, consider some tactics for keeping the whole experience organized.

Name your files clearly — If you’re sending a photo, change it from IMG15678 to “Baby’s First Ice Cream.” If it’s a file for work, consider the nomenclature rules and best practices/guidelines your company generally uses for documents. If you’re a solopreneur, this is a great time to develop rules for how to organize and label files so that you know WHAT they are and WHEN they were created. “2026 1Q Earnings Report” tells your recipients at a glance what they’re getting.

Use folders when sending multiple files — Don’t send 3 (or 33) files all higgledy-piggledy. Group them in a folder with a clear name.

Check to make sure you’ve removed duplicates or changed the names — If your recipients are poking around in a cloud folder you’ve created and to which you’ve linked them, and you’ve got 16 iterations of ClientProposal.Final.Final.Final, that’s going to cause confusion.

Add a README file — If your recipients need to know more details about what they’re getting in files or folder, tell them what it’s all about.

Consider file compression — If your files are too big to send as-is for free, consider zipping those large files (or folders) so in order to reduce the size before you send it. Save money by putting your files on a diet, but only if your recipients are tech-savvy enough to know to double-click on a file to unzip them.

What do you do when you have a massive file and need to get it to someone quickly, efficiently, and safely? Have I omitted your favorite method? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

26 Ways to Celebrate GO Month to Get More Organized and Productive

Posted on: January 5th, 2026 by Julie Bestry | 12 Comments

Happy New Year! Happy GO Month!

Each January is Get Organized & Be Productive (GO) Month. Back in 2005, NAPO (then called the National Association of Professional Organizers) proclaimed the first Get Organized Month, as a national public awareness campaign about organizing and our profession.

A decade later, the month was expanded to incorporate productivity, just two years before we officially became the National Association of Productivity & Organizing Professionals. Our purpose remains the same. All of us — professional organizers, productivity specialists, declutterers, coaches, etc. — celebrate how we improve the lives of our clients by creating environments and developing skills to support productivity, health, and well-being.

Practitioners like Paper Doll are here to help you create systems and skills, improve your homes, workspaces, and attitudes, and live your best, most productive life.

For more great organizing and productivity tips during GO Month, you can also follow NAPO’s Social Media Accounts:

Today’s post offers some 26 ice cream samples of organizing and productivity tactics to make 2026 a little easier.

ORGANIZE YOUR PAPER IN 2026

1) Create a Tax Prep Folder

April 15th will be here before you know it. From now through February, you’ll receive tax documents (1099s, 1098s, W2s) in the mail. You may also get emails reminding you to log in to brokerage and other accounts to download your important tax documents.

Don’t wait until the last minute to gather these items. It’s not just good organizing advice, but helpful financial advice, too, because the sooner you get your important tax documents together, the faster you (or your accountant) can get you your refund, or at worst, let you prepare for the size of your tax bite.

Your tax prep folder doesn’t have to be fancy; a plain tabbed folder kept at the front of your financial files section should suffice. However, if you’re dealing with a lot of documents, you might prefer a dedicated accordion-style folder like the Smead All-in-One Income Tax Organizer.

Organize now so you won’t lose deductions, pay more taxes, or get in trouble with the IRS!

2) Roll Out the Red Carpet for Your VIPs

Make 2026 the year that you get your affairs in order. Estate documents and other essential paperwork must be created, obviously, but also reviewed and updated on a periodic basis.

As I’ve said before, this aspect of organizing may be boring (if you aren’t a professional organizer), but boring is good! If your VIPs are boring, it means that you and your family won’t ever experience any ugly surprises during difficult times, like when someone is in the hospital, when there’s been a death in the family, or even when dealing with the aftermath of a natural disaster.

Start by reading these from-the-vault posts to figure out your next steps.

Then list documents you already have (and their locations) and identify what you need to create, and then plan meetings with your family and a trusted advisor to set things in motion.

3) Declutter and Preserve Your Family Photos and Memorabilia

Two years ago, a beloved client passed away, and I’ve been working with his son to go through more than a century of photos, from passed-down black-and-white picures of ancestors on both sides of the family to lighthearted snapshots and travelogues from the gentleman’s young military years. We review prints and slides, as well as delicate (and crumbling) correspondence.

Do you have print photos that would be lost in case of a fire or flood because you don’t have the negatives (or store them with the photos)? Would digital photos on your phone be lost if your phone got smushed or stolen? You need backup!

I’m not suggesting you do this every day in January, but make a plan. What if you spent an hour every Sunday morning sorting through photos? Could you invite a family member or friend to help you consider what to keep and what categories to use?

Contact a NAPO member who specializes in organizing photos, or visit The Photo Managers to find experts who can help you safeguard your photo history.

While I’m on the subject, I absolutely have to recommend, yet again, my colleague Hazel Thornton‘s What’s a Photo Without the Story? How to Create Your Family Legacy.

(See my review, here.)

For more ideas, consider:

4) Know What’s In Your Wallet

Have you looked at what’s in your wallet lately? Would you notice if one of your credit cards went missing? It’s a new year — did you put your new health insurance card in there?

Pull everything out of your wallet.
Discard or put away anything that doesn’t belong in there. (Receipts for taxable events, like medical expenses? Keep. The name of a book your friend recommended? Log it in your Notes app or put it on hold at the public library before you forget.)
Take an inventory of everything in your wallet. Depending on your patience, you have two options:
1. Lay two columns of cards (side by side), face-down, on a copy machine. Press “copy” and then flip each card in place to the rear-side, and copy that, two. Repeat the process until everything in your wallet has been secured. Alternatively, you can scan these to your computer and save it all as a multi-page PDF. If you ever lose your wallet, you’ll be happy to have the account numbers, expiration dates, security codes, and contact numbers for your licenses, insurance cards, and credit and debit cards.
2. Use your phone to take photos of the front and back of the cards and upload the pictures.

Whichever method you choose, password-protect digital versions of this document in storage or on your phone, and keep the paper copies in your fireproof safe or lockable file drawer.

5) Clean Off Your Desk

Next Monday, January 12, 2026 is National Clean Off Your Desk Day. Celebrate it by making a clean sweep of everything piled up on your desk, de-germify it, and think carefully about what belongs on it.

Read last year’s Paper Doll Celebrates National Clean Off Your Desk Day for step-by-step for making your desk a space for productivity instead of mystery crumbs and mountains of papers.

Then refresh your space with ideas from Organize Your Desktop with Your Perfect Desk Pad: 2025 Update and Paper Doll Explores the Best of Desktop File Boxes.

ORGANIZE YOUR DIGITAL SPACES IN 2026

Digital clutter may not take up physical space, but it wears down our batteries, both in our devices and our personal batteries because of the overwhelm of excess.

6) Declutter Your Phone Apps

The Pareto Principle says that 80% of our success comes from 20% of our efforts. It holds true in many ways; 80% of the time, we wear the same 20% of our wardrobe, kids play with the same 20% of their toys; we use the same 20% of our apps.

It’s why letting things go from the 80% we hardly ever use makes us feel less cluttered and more productive, even though we anticipate we’ll feel anxious about having let them go — that’s why they’re cluttering up our digital spaces in the first place!

Flip through your home screens and take inventory — What apps did you download and never even try because they required creating a login? What apps did you give up on because they were buggy? Let go of low-hanging fruit.
Clean up by deleting apps you used the least often (or never). To see the last time you used an app on iOS (for iPhone or iPad), follow this path: Settings>General > iPhone (or iPad) Storage. There are a few different ways to check app usage on Android devices.
Addicted to your phone? Check your Digital Wellbeing feature on Android or ScreenTime on iOS. Uninstall whatever is obviously distracting you with overuse.
Move distracting apps that you can’t (or can’t bear to) uninstall to your last home screen page to create more friction and make it less likely you’ll happen upon them when looking for your bank app.
Fill your first home screen with apps you need and want to use because of the benefits they bring to your well-being.
Organize the remainder of your apps by dragging-and-dropping them into folders labeled for shopping, dining, social media, productivity apps, etc. Keep them — just make them less convenient.

The point isn’t to get rid of your digital life. Just eliminate what distracts you from what’s important.

7) Clear Out Your Voicemail Inbox

In the olden days, people called you and either you were home and answered, or not home, and never knew you had a call. (If you’re GenZ and reading this: yes, really.) At work, if you weren’t at your desk during working hours, a receptionist took a message. After hours, either the “answering service” took your urgent call, or people waited until you got in on the next business day.

In the 1980s, we got answering machines and our messages lived where our landline phones did.

In the 1990s, we had voicemail, and at the turn of the century, people started calling less and texting more. Now, too many of our messages are spam, and voicemail fills up.

Have you ever called someone — or worse, returned a call — only to hear “This voicemail box is full and is not accepting messages. Please try again later.”

What if your message is important? Do you text? What do you do if it’s a business? On the flip side, if your child’s school, your doctor’s office, or a client needs to reach you, do you want them to suffer this frustration?

Clear up your voicemail box with the following steps:

On landlines, dial in, listen, and start deleting messages.
On cell phones, iPhones and most Android phones show transcribed messages. Known contacts should appear by name, making it easy to figure out whether a message is still needed even before you read it. Unknown numbers may be spammers (swipe left!), but may be people you’ve never entered into your contacts. Review those messages, and anything that doesn’t make the cut, delete!
Save numbers for contacts you may need in the future. — Add a last name and any context necessary. I have a contact saved as First name: MaryBeth, Last name: “Hit my car in the parking lot.”

Until recently, the only “Terri” in my contacts was my hair stylist, but when I was in Portugal and Spain in September, I added my tour-mate to my regular iPhone contacts. Just before my last haircut appointment, I voice-texted, “I’m here, but looking for parking. I’ll see you in a minute.” When I got to her space, she said she hadn’t received my message. A moment later, my tour-mate Terri texted, “You’re here to see me?” with a series of laughing emojis. Doh!

Last names (and context) are important!

Be ruthless in getting rid of old voicemails. What should make the grade? Messages that you save for:
- work purposes — but confer with your boss or your IT department regarding rules in this regard
- legal purposes (such as when someone is stalking or harassing you, or offering a set of deal points for a contract.
- sentimental purposes — but be judicious. Can you picture yourself sitting in an airport, listening to a loved one’s message over and over?
Download messages you want to keep permanently. On iPhones, tap the voicemail you wish to save and you’ll see the share icon in the upper right corner; share the resulting MP3 to your photos or notes app, Evernote, social media or wherever else, just as you’d share an article or a picture.

On Android phones, tap on the message to see a list of options. Click one of the save or archive options you prefer and select the storage location. For more voicemail-saving techniques, read Smith AI’s How to Download and Save Important Voicemails.

8) Clear out your email inbox

For years, people have laughed at me, saying that search worked so well and email providers granted so much storage space that it was no longer necessary to clear inboxes. Still, I blithely went on advising my clients to regularly clear their inboxes, and to create a hierarchy based on categories matching their analog filing systems.

Recently, I’ve felt vindicated as Gmail and other email providers have been adding storage limits, and people recognize that search (even AI-assisted search) sometimes takes longer than going to a particular sub-folder with a helpful title.

Email is a headache! According to an analysis by the McKinsey Global Institute, on average, 28% of work time is spent reading or replying to emails. And the average worker — and yes, you’re all above average — checks email 11 times per hour. 84% of us keep email open in the background while working, making it oh-so-easy to “check” our email.

The problem is that we CHECK IT over and over again looking for that dopamine hit, but we often look at emails without doing anything with them, like opening the fridge in hopes that someone has magically made something delicious and put it in there.

You may think that Inbox Zero is the cure, plowing away at email but getting further behind in important work. James Clear has said, “The most invisible form of wasted time is doing a good job on an unimportant task.” Email clutters our lives like that.

There’s no permanent state of inbox zero (unless you stop sending outbound emails and block all inbound senders), any more than finishing all of the laundry today will create laundry basket zero unless your family plans on becoming very tidy nudists.

There's no permanent state of inbox zero, any more than finishing all of the laundry today will create laundry basket zero unless your family plans on becoming very tidy nudists. Share on X

Processing email isn’t your job, it’s just one method of communication and information acquisition, and it’s not always the right one. Instead:

Unsubscribe from whatever you never read. (It’s like buying vegetables that you know you should eat but they disappear into the back of the fridge and eventually get slimy.) Take five minutes a day to declutter your future inbox.
Set up a simple hierarchy of subfolders with names of major projects, client names, or whatever works for you. Having a place for emails to safely, dependably live will encourage you to manually or automatically route necessary ones of your inbox. As with voicemail, don’t feel like you should save everything.
Learn how to use your email platform’s filters or rules function to automatically sort mailing lists to one sub-folder, anything you’re always CCed on even though you know it’s nothing to do with you to another, and so on.
If you’re overwhelmed by your huge backlog, move everything from more than a month ago to a folder you call “Archived” and start with a minty-fresh inbox. You can always go into the “Archived” folder and sort if you’re feeling enthusiastic, but at least you’re dealing with something more manageable.

9) Know What You Don’t Know About Your Tech

In Digital Disaster Prep: How to Organize Your Tech Info Before You Need It earlier this year, I walked readers through all sorts of information you need to know before something goes wrong with your tech. Do you know where to find your:

IP Address
Network and router information
ISP contact information
Device Identifiers
Operating system license keys
Software and game activation codes

Your household probably added some hardware and software goodies this holiday season. This is the perfect time for you to read the post and start logging all of your essential tech information.

ORGANIZE YOUR TIME IN 2026

You’ve heard the expression that “time is money,” but time is actually more valuable than money. You can return a purchase that falls short of expectations to get a refund. Time can never be refunded.

10) Track Your Time to Figure Out Where Your Time Is Going

To improve your productivity, the first thing you must do is get a handle on how you’re spending your time.

Read my How to Use Time Tracking to Improve Your Productivity from last January to understand the benefits of time tracking, including mindfulness and focus, prioritization, data-driven decision making, stress reduction, and accountability. The post also prepares you to face challenges and overcome the obstacles, and offers strategies and resources for tracking your use of time.

Track for just one day, or participate in a weeklong time tracking project such as Laura Vanderkam’s annual event. Register for her 2026 Time Tracking Challenge from January 12-19, 2026. I do it every year!

11) Get a Better Sense of the Passage of Time

For some people, knowing what time really “feels” like takes some effort.

First, put real, analog clocks wherever you tend to get lost in time. Is that your desk (even though you wear a watch and your computer has a clock)? Is that the bathroom, because you lose awareness of time while doing your hair or soaking in the tub? Is it your car, which has a perfectly serviceable clock but the time is always wrong because you never learned how to change it for Daylight Saving Time?

Next, read about all the ways timers can help you get a better sense of your time.

12) Time Travel in Your Planner

If you use a paper planner, hopefully you already have one for 2026; if not, that’s step #1. But even if you are 100% digital, this advice goes for you, too.

It’s tempting to just fill in your January pages and figure you’ll adjust as you go along. But even if you’ve had the same meeting every Tuesday for the past 5 years, somehow, some way, you’ll double-book if it’s not in your planner or calendar.

Spread out at your desk or your kitchen table, grab a cup of cocoa or something to soothe you into the new year, and do the following:

Page through each week of last year’s planner and copy everything that recurs by date (like birthdays and anniversaries).
Add events that happened in 2025 and are already scheduled to happen again, but not on the same dates (like conferences, work retreats, medical tests and appointments, etc.).
Use last year’s schedule activities to prompt you to make a list of anything you might need to schedule or add to your long-range tasks, like meeting with your accountant, scheduling annual medical tests/exams.

13) Eliminate What Doesn’t Excite You

I’m a big believer in the concept that whatever isn’t a “Hell, yeah!” is a “Heck, no!” at least in terms of what you can control. (Unlike Marie Kondo, who encourages people to get rid of tangible items that don’t bring joy, I know that you can’t just toss your old tax returns.

Similarly, you can’t strike everything that isn’t joyous off of your calendar. You still have get a dental cleaning at least twice a year, whether you like it or not.

But why not make 2026 the year you step back from volunteer positions that take your time and energy, but don’t give you delight?

How about taking that book club (for which you never like the selected books) off your schedule? You can always agree to meet the people one-on-one without the obligation to read the newest oversized dystopian novel.

Set yourself, and your calendar, free.

14) Pick a Problem-Solving Day

Theming your days can make you more productive because you don’t have to keep switching tasks. Marketing Mondays or Financial Fridays let you schedule a block of similarly-themed tasks so you can focus and get into “flow.”

I encourage clients to pick one day of the week for problem-solving. Block a few hours on a specific day for sitting on the phone and asking, repeatedly, for someone to escalate your call. This is the day you set aside for time to get help on whatever is making your computer do THAT THING.

Knowing that you have a slot firmly in place will allow you to worry less about getting problematic or frustrating things accomplished, and because there’s one place in your schedule for solving problems, you will be able to focus when that day arrives.

ORGANIZE YOUR FINANCES IN 2026

15) Stop Singing “I Owe, I Owe, It’s Off To Work I Go”

Debt creates mental clutter. Knowing is always better than not knowing, so make 2026 the year that you know what you owe and figure out what’s going on with your money and where it’s going.

Make a list of every credit card, loan, and any other kind of debt you have. Note the creditor, the amount, and the interest rate.
Next, make a list of every fixed expense you have.

Seeing it all in black and white (and red) may be sobering, but it’s the first step toward figuring what you can do about it.

Maybe you can refinance a car loan or mortgage to lower your monthly costs?

Perhaps you can call your credit card companies and request a reduction in your interest rates. (Nerd Wallet has a great article on How to Get a Lower APR on Your Credit Card.)

Maybe you can cut expenses for things you’re not even using.

16) Go Spelunking for Lost Money

Start with your couch cushions. Whether your loose change is in a jar in the laundry room or at the bottom of your purse, it’s (literally) weighing you down wasting your financial potential. Put on some music and start rolling coins (or bribe your kids to do it) and take the money to the bank. Alternatively, dump it all in a canister and take it to a Coinstar machine or any credit union that accepts and counts coins for free.

To recoup other “lost” money, follow steps in these Paper Doll posts:

17) Re-Shop Your Auto Insurance

When was the last time you actually shopped for car insurance? If you’ve kept the same insurance for years, you’re almost assuredly overpaying. As with the cable company, this is one of those instances where newer customers are rewarded with the best deals, and loyal customers are not rewarded for loyalty.

It doesn’t cost anything to shop around. Even if you find a better rate, you may be able to return to your agent and say, “Hey, the guys across the street quoted me quite a bit less. Can you match it?”

Note: if you use online pricing comparisons, you’ll be bombarded with emails, so consider creating a new Gmail account just for these replies.

Before you make any calls, though, familiarize yourself with the basics of car insurance with Organize for an Accident: Don’t Crash Your Car Insurance Paperwork [UPDATED]

RECITE THESE ORGANIZING AND PRODUCTIVITY MOTTOS

When you’re having a hard time tackling the clutter or focusing on the work, pick one of these mantras to help point you in the right direction.

18) Don’t put things down; put them away.

19) Declutter first, then contain it. (Don’t acquire clutter to contain your clutter!)

20) Everything should have a home, but not everything has to live with you.

21) Someday is not a day on the calendar.

22) Break every task into its smallest possible step. If you can’t get started, the first step is probably not small enough.

23) Cut yourself slack. Give yourself grace.

24) Progress, not perfection.

25) Albert Einstein said, “Organized people are just too lazy to go looking for what they want.” Be lazy!

AND FINALLY…

26) You don’t have to go it alone.

If you’re struggling with organizing your space, your schedule, or your thoughts, a professional organizer or productivity specialist can help. I serve clients in the Chattanooga, TN area, but I also work with clients virtually, around North America.

Wherever you are, there’s a someone who can help. Happy New Year, and Happy GO Month!

How to Stay Productive When It’s Too Darn Hot

Posted on: June 23rd, 2025 by Julie Bestry | 8 Comments

The meteorologists tell us that we’re experiencing a heat dome. All I know is that my air conditioner is struggling and my brain is melting. I’ve debated with myself as to whether I really need to write this blog post or if I should just sit in a cool bubble bath.

Meanwhile, I can’t stop humming Cole Porter’s “It’s Too Darn Hot” from Kiss Me, Kate. The musical is a play-within-a-play; actors, backstage, lament that the environmental heat is keeping them from endeavoring toward romantic heat. (Nudge, nudge; wink, wink.)

Sweat Golden Girls GIF from Tenor

WHY IT’S HARD TO STAY PRODUCTIVE WHEN IT’S HOT

It’s no surprise that when we’re uncomfortably warm, we get cranky. We perspire and our clothes stick to us. Our skin chafes and our hair sticks to our necks. We stick to our leather or vinyl car seats or desk chairs. Our mouths get dry, and those sharing our space (be they work peers or life partners) annoy us more.

But it’s not just mere crankiness and discomfort.

Hot weather is linked to everything icky from mild irritability to aggression, headaches and reduced motivation to decreased memory, focus, and cognition. It seems like productivity doesn’t stand a chance.

The Science Behind “It’s Too Darn Hot”

According to a 2018 study conducted at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, students in dorms without air conditioning during a heat wave performed significantly worse on cognitive tests than their peers who were able to (literally) chill out, and their reaction times were slower. Elementary school students (and their teachers) in hot classrooms suffer similarly.

Other studies, such as by Soloman Hsiang and Jesse Anttila-Hughes (who study economics and public policy), Joshua Graff Zivin and Matthew Neidell (in global policy and economic research), and Shin-ichi Tanabe, a professor of architecture at Waseda University in Tokyo (studying “thermal comfort”) found that for ever 1° degree rise in temperature beyond 77° degrees Fahrenheit (~25° Celsius), productivity dropped approximately 2%. Each used different measures and models, and the percentages ranged from 1.8% to 2.4″ celsius, but going with an average 2% seems pretty sound.

Over the course of the typical workday, this works out to thirty minutes less work completed — for ever single degree rise in temperature. (If you’re a peri-menopausal or menopausal woman, I suspect you, like I, think that productivity drop starts much lower than 77°; if you’re one of those people who is always complaining that it’s too cold with the air conditioning on in your office, I respectfully submit that today’s blog post may not be for you. As noted, heat makes one cranky!)

A study published in PLOS Medicine in 2018 found a correlation between high indoor temperatures and impaired working memory and decision-making, particularly for tasks that required focus or logic.

Long story short, being hot isn’t cool if you hope to get anything done.

In fact, researchers at the Helsinki University of Technology and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory found that the performance of people who work in offices (or what is now generally called “knowledge work”) peaks at around 71.6°F (22°C). So, being able to maintain a fairly cool (or at least tepid) and comfortable office temperature is key to our productivity.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature is on a warpath and doesn’t seem to care whether we get our work done.

Why Productivity Declines When We’re Having a Cruel Summer

We humans are like Goldilocks, built for the middle ground, and we prefer our porridge neither too hot nor too cold. Our bodies go into survival mode when we get hot. Our body’s integumentary system diverts resources from elsewhere and toward cooling ourselves such that:

perspiration increases — Glands in our skin get stimulated by the sympathetic nervous system to produce sweat. (Yes, I know. “Horses sweat, men perspire, ladies glow.” But when it’s 94° outside, I’m glowing like a nuclear reactor. Feh.) As our perspiration evaporates, it carries heat away, effectively cooling us and lowering our body temperature.
vasodilation occurs — This is a fancy way of saying that blood vessels in the middle layer of skin, the dermis, widen. It increases blood flow to the skin’s surface, so excess heat gets released (through radiation and convection, which makes it sound like our bodies are built out of spare microwave ovens).

Meanwhile, as this is going on, the hypothalamus serves as a bodily thermostat, controlling thermo-regulation. Thermoreceptors in the body send signals and triggers our systems to either dissipate heat (to keep us cool) or generate it (for those office dwellers who truly do find the A/C too strong) to keep our internal temperatures stable.

The problem? When it’s hot, all those resources used to cool us down leave our organs (including our brains) with less energy to keep things running. Uh, oh.

So it’s not surprising that when we’re hot, our executive function capabilities drop. That means less mental acuity and power for attention, working memory, planning and organization, task initiation, problem solving, metacognition (thinking about our thinking), time management, and so on.

To keep our bodies from feeling like burnt toast, our cognition departs. Next window, please!

Additionally, when we’re dehydrated, our ability to focus is severely limited.

Even a mild case of dehydration (defined as 1-2% loss in body weight from water) can cause headaches, impair our concentration, reduce our short-term memory, and crash our math skills.

Just in case the heat had already worn you out, I’d like to point out that productivity and organizing skills are dependent upon concentration, short-term memory, and (argh, sometimes even) math skills so that we can focus on what to do, prioritize tasks, recognize patterns, make qualitative decisions, and figure out what goes where.

When it’s too darn hot, our bodies do what they have to, and sometimes that means shutting down our means of production (that is, cognition and productivity). That doesn’t mean we can’t take our own actions to keep our goals from running off the rails, but we’re going to have to take some extra precautions to keep us from losing control during a cruel summer.

MODIFY YOUR SCHEDULE ON HOT DAYS

Be patient with yourself (and your colleagues and anyone you supervise) with regard to pace of productivity. If the heat is wearing you down and you’re not on an unrelenting deadline, move non-essential tasks to when Heat Miser isn’t trying to make you miserable.

(I dare you to not listen. Just don’t get up and dance. It’s too hot.)

Reorganize your workload so you tackle your highest priorities and deliverables but give yourself permission to let low-priority tasks wait a few days until the A/C (and your brain) is at full blast.

Time-shift your productivity. Embrace the Mediterranean and South American models and take a siesta. If possible, get your deep work done early in the morning and schedule light, less brain-intensive tasks during those hot midday hours. To get a handle on this international approach to dealing with steamy workdays, embrace the advice in my post Take a Break for Productivity — The International Perspective.

If you, like Paper Doll, are a night owl, see if you can schedule follow-up tasks (particularly those where you don’t have to interact with others) in the cooler evening hours. Save your admin, reading, email-checking, and light decluttering (avoiding the attic or garage) for after twilight.

Remember other breaks, too. The productivity strategies we’ve discussed at length at Paper Doll HQ over the years, like the Pomodoro Technique, or the approach discussed in Frogs, Tomatoes, and Bees: Time Techniques to Get Things Done, accent the importance of employing breaks to clear your head.

For more on these kinds of breaks, see Take a Break — How Breaks Improve Health and Productivity.

REDESIGN YOUR WORKSPACE TO BEAT THE HEAT…

If you work from home, consider working in the coolest room in your house. Get away from windows and trade that hot, bright midday sunlight for more subdued lighting.

Do the limbo, by which I mean, go lower!

Heat rises, so you may just find it cooler to get down on the floor to work. And when the atmosphere in your home is steamy, basements are often darker and cooler. If you don’t have a finished basement, it may lack the creature comforts you depend upon, but when the alternative is suffering while your A/C limps along to cope with the heat, you may not mind roughing it. Think of hanging out in the basement as similar to camping out, only with running water, a nearby fridge, and bathroom facilities.

Use blackout curtains (or at least pull down your shades and close your curtains). Position fans to create a cross-breeze — but either don’t point them directly at your workspace; otherwise, grab some coasters or cans from the kitchen to use as paperweights. If you have to chase your papers all over the room, you’re going to feel hot and bothered, not cool and collected.

OR, RELOCATE YOUR WORKSPACE TO WHERE IT’S COOLER

If your air conditioning has conked out or is on the way to its final reward, or if you never had an A/C to begin with, consider relocating your workspace elsewhere for the days the heat is oppressive. Some options include:

the public library — Although you generally need a library card to check materials out, any member of the public can occupy table space and enjoy the air conditioning and rest room facilities of the public library.
a college library — University libraries are more likely to limit access to current students, faculty, and staff. However, if you’re an alum, or if there’s a university (or perhaps a community college) nearby with more lenient policies, you may find a cool, quiet place (perhaps a carrel in the graduate student stacks) to focus for a few hours.
a coffee house — Long before COVID drove people to work remotely from home, coffee houses were the in spot for creating your own remote office. Just be sure to buy food or beverages in exchange for that free Wi-Fi, and tip your servers.
a cafeteria space — Massive stores like IKEA and Costco often have food courts or cafeterias. If you’ve got noise-canceling headphones, get yourself some gravlax or a hot dog, tuck yourself into a corner, cool down, and focus with an un-fried brain.
a hotel lobby or business center — Most cities have hotel conference centers with lots of empty/unused space. Think of all the times you’ve been at a conference and tucked yourself away in a quiet corner to read or a make a call without schlepping all the way to your room.
your local community center — Many community centers are remodeled schools with a variety of rooms, and most community centers have quiet spaces set aside for working or studying.
a friend’s house — I’m not saying to descend on a friend’s house and take over her dining room or guest room. But if you’ve got friends who love you and they have the chilly air that you’re lacking, especially if they’ll be off to their offices, why not ask? You’d do the same for them, right?
a co-working space — While co-working spaces likely won’t be free, you may be able to buy an inexpensive day pass. Google “co-working” and your geographic location, or check out and online directory, like CoWorker, Liquid Space, or Co-Working Cafe.

REDUCE YOUR TECH TO KEEP YOUR COOL

Digital devices are hot, hot, hot!

Have you ever noticed how your lap gets extraordinarily taosty when you’ve had your laptop balanced on your legs for a while? Have you ever touched the back of your desktop computer on a hot day? Yikes!

On days when the heat is excessive, use less electricity and feel less burnt out by making changes to how you use your computer and mobile devices:

Dim your monitor’s brightness — The brighter your computer or phone, the more battery and energy your screen is using, and the more heat it may give off.
Close unused browser tabs — Too many open tabs in your brain keeps you from working at top speed; the same goes for your browser. If that article has been sitting in an open tab on your computer for weeks, you’re probably never going to read it. If you’re not inclined to read it today, save it to Evernote, add a bookmark, or ask ChatGPT to summarize it for you.
Unplug chargers and unnecessary lights and devices — They radiate heat and add to your discomfort during a heat wave.
Unplug yourself — If you’re not on a deadline, go analog! Power down your laptop or desktop and grab a notebook. Obviously, you aren’t going to replace email with passing notes (across the country), but if you just need to write a draft or brainstorm, power down your tech. Conserve the energy — your devices’ and your own.

PRACTICE SELF-CARE WHEN THE TEMPERATURES RISE

You know that your car won’t work as well in extreme heat. You need to check the radiator, keep the fluids topped off, shade your windshield, maintain a fairly full gas tank. You need to take similar precautions to keep yourself running smoothly.

Hydrate — Keep one of those recyclable bottles (whether it’s named Stanley or YETI or nicknamed George Clooney) on hand. Fill it with icy water (and not caffeinated beverages) to sip throughout the day. Use a visual water tracker (like a bottle with time markers) or try a hydration app to prompt you to drink more. Popular apps include WaterLlama, HydroCoach, and Waterful (which has a cute Octopus mascot — you hydrate to keep him (and yourself) healthy).

Eat smaller meals more often, and focus on snacks with high water makeup, like salads and fruits (hello, watermelon!), and select lean proteins. Reduce excess sodium intake. A heavy meal full of fats, carbs, and sodium make us sloth-like and lethargic at any time of year. Add high temperatures, and the 3 o’clock slump becomes the all-afternoon crash-out.
Nap —The more we are exposed to heat, the less time we spend sleeping, and the pejorative effects are stronger during heat waves (like this heat dome kerfuffle).
Relax your dress code — No, don’t show up to Teams meetings or Zoom calls in your PJs. But switch out form-fitting clothes for looser cuts (and looser weaves) to let the air circulate around you.
Brush your teeth — I mean, I hope you’re probably already brushing your teeth. But there’s something about a minty fresh mouth that helps cool your system down.
Run your wrists under cold water or rest them on soft, squishy ice packs (like chilly wrist rests) while typing or reading.
Consider a personal cooling tool device. — A few years ago, Paper Mommy bought me a bladeless neck fan and it directs a lovely (and not-too-noisy) breeze up under my hair, cooling my neck and head. (Readers: Don’t tell, but I’m running it right now!)

Check in with others — on your team, in your neighborhood, in your family. Heat reduces our mental energy and sometimes capacity to take care of ourselves, so we need to do what we can to take care of one another. Heat can make us anxious, and connecting with others (and maybe stopping to take a Popsicle break with them) can help us feel less out of sorts.

In much of the country, temperatures are going to be in the 90s and even over 100° this week, and we’re only (officially) a few days into the summer. Productivity is important, but endangering your mental and physical health in the short term is a recipe for declining productivity in the mid- and long-term.

Pace yourself, relocate, use less tech, and take care of your body and your brain. The work will still be there when the temperature comes down.

Paper Doll on the Power of a DONE List

Posted on: June 16th, 2025 by Julie Bestry | 12 Comments

DON’T BE LISTLESS

We all know the power of a To-Do list.

When we’re feeling overwhelmed by all the little dings in our brains reminding us, over and over, of what we have to do, we turn to a brain dump. While it may, at first, seem overwhelming, completely off-loading everything we have to do — from paying quarterly estimated taxes to making (or ordering) a birthday cake for a tiny human to dropping off that trunk-load of donations — takes the weight off our shoulders.

Having to constantly remember TO do something keeps us from being to think in a nuanced way ABOUT how we’ll approach a task. Think of a brain dump as a prototype To-Do list. It works with almost any kind of productivity technique.

Review How to Make a Big To-Do

If you’re following David Allen’s Getting Things Done paradigm (even if you didn’t know until now that you were doing so), you start by gathering tasks from all of the places you’ve captured what you have to do, like a scribbled note, email, voicemail or memo on your desk.) Then clarify what efforts the end-results involve, and organize them into by context. If the items are actionable, you’ll break big things down into smaller, actionable “next steps” and likely send them to a To-Do list.

Alternatively, you might create lists according to Steven Covey’s Sharpen the Saw approach as part of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Covey’s Weekly Compass allows you to consider your tasks under larger rubrics reflecting your roles. For example, Paper Doll‘s roles include professional organizer, blogger, product creator, marketer, daughter, and friend. (It also includes “aspiring heiress” to cover all my self-care tasks.)

If you’re freestyling, without any particular system, it still goes the same way. Download all of the remembered tasks floating around your brain to a tangible or digital form, add items prompted by reminders in your environment, and ta-da, it’s a To-Do!

Still, it’s hard for your brain to know what to do next when the upcoming tasks are “schedule a colonoscopy, buy a dress for my high school reunion, and write a cost-cutting report for the CEO.” Instead, it makes sense to divide To-Do lists into categories, like “work” and “life.”

Depending on the complexities of your situations, you’ll probably want to break these down into subcategories. For “work,” you might have lists for client follow-up, marketing tasks, reports to write, presentations, and so on. For “life,” you task categories may be financial and household, plus personal concerns like parenting tasks (ranging logistical, like carpooling or being a room mother for a field trip, to big-ticket items like having big talks), relationship management, and self-care.

For mosts of us, To-Do lists are the first step toward getting the work of life accomplished, and numerous Paper Doll have walked you through those steps. But there’s another kind of list that serves a different, though adjacent purpose. That’s a Done list.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A TO-DO LIST AND A DONE LIST?

It’s possible you’ve never heard of a Done list. You could oversimplify and say that a To-Do list is a log of things you intend to do and a Done list is a list of what you’ve done.

Or, you might say a To-Do list is tactics, while a Done list is metrics.

But there are philosophical differences between the common To-Do list and the far-less-known Done list.

Stress Factor

A To-Do list can be hopeful, but it can also provoke anxiety. All of those “shoulds” can wear a person down, making us feel unproductive. The more we have on a To-Do list, the more we are reminded of what remains undone; for some, this can trigger procrastination.

Aspiration vs. Reality

A To-Do list shows shows our intentions, but that means everything on it is aspirational. As long as there’s a verb at the start, it could include anything, from “pick up the dry cleaning” to “convince George Clooney to invite me to dinner with him and Amal.”

A To-Do list holds potential, but you can’t take potential to the bank or serve it up for dinner. Conversely, there’s nothing aspirational in a Done list; it’s entirely reflective of what you’ve actually done, whether you’d planned to do so or not. Given that, Done lists take into account surprises, interruptions, and how you’ve managed to succeed despite inputs that were out of your control.

A To-Do list holds potential, but you can't take potential to the bank or serve it up for dinner. A Done list take into account surprises, interruptions, and how you've managed to succeed despite inputs that were out of your… Share on X

Expectations

A To-Do list it can also be overwhelming, especially if you overload it with more than you can accomplish in a day. A Done list, however, looks at your day’s activities from a different perspective. It leaves aside the should-have-dones or the never-got-to items and embraces reality.

A Done list ignores expectations, allowing you to revel in what you’ve achieved without measuring against any particular pre-conceived benchmarks.

Identity

Your To-Do list says who you want to be. It creates a necessary blueprint, because we can’t accomplish much without a vision. Your idea of who you want to be might involve a ten-point plan taking you from college to career to marriage and parenthood, or it might be more passionate than prescribed. (Are you having wicked dreams about leaving Tennessee? Is Santa Monica calling you? Is there any chance Chappell Roan is reading my blog?)

Your Done list says who you are. There may be more to accomplish, but there’s an achievement or three you can point to and say, “I’m a person who has already [XXXX] and nothing and nobody can take that away from me.”

A To-Do list is akin to the clutter of exercise videos or the diet books you buy or the cardio classes you schedule on your calendar (or the bathing suit you buy because THIS is the summer you will actually swim to get in shape). But a Done list is the steps counted by your Fitbit or Apple Watch, the way your waistband fits, or the numbers when the doctor checks your blood pressure.

Momentum

A To-Do list is static, like runners in the blocks before a race begins. A Done list, as it’s built, reflects the runners making progress (against their own time? against each competitor?) and pushing onward through the winner’s tape.

Don’t burn your To-Do lists. Just see the potential of adding a Done list to your productivity repertoir.

THE BENEFITS OF A DONE LIST?

Blogger Katherine Firth at Research Degree Insiders encourages us to look at our days more deeply. She asks, “But how do we know if we have succeeded in our day, or just succeeded ticking things off our To-Do list? Is a day where we did lots of important, urgent and valuable things (none of which were in our plans) still a success?”

And in the May 28, 2025 edition of Laura Vanderkam’s Vanderhacks Substack, she notes, after we tackle on our To-Do lists, “Now, of course, stuff comes up. Stuff always comes up. … You leave enough space that the unexpected doesn’t derail the expected. Shouldn’t we get credit for doing the stuff that came up too?“

Let’s consider the attributes and benefits of a Done list:

Compare plans vs. accomplishments — This is the most pedestrian of benefits.

Create an official record — If you ever wonder if you canceled your satellite radio service or sent that thank you note, the Done list offers concrete proof.

Perform a reality check — The official record is like sports statistics, but this benefit is like a mini-career retrospective before your jersey number gets retired (for the day). Reflecting Vanderkam’s question, if we’re going to give ourselves credit, let’s make sure we credit ourselves for everything and not just what we said we’d do.

If you’re always asking, “Where did the day (or week or month) go?” or spend each day fighting dragons it’s easy to dismiss your un-done tasks as failures. The Done list tallies your successes.

Add a real-time component to appreciating your accomplishments — When you try to capture your successes far after the fact, memories of what you did well can be fleeting.

When I worked in TV, I had a boss who favored saying, “One ‘aw [expletive deleted]’ can wipe out 10 ‘atta-boys.'” He meant that a stellar reputation among others can be stained by one misdeed, but I take it to mean how our brains judge us, too.

We remember our failures, our mistakes, our almost-but-not-quites. Instead of remembering that you didn’t get a job, wouldn’t it be more helpful to recall that you made it through four rounds of interviews and have developed better responses to those weird questions?

Instead of remembering that you didn't get a job, wouldn't it be more helpful to recall that you made it through four rounds of interviews and have developed better responses to those wacky questions? Share on X

Develop positive reinforcement — So much of modern life is ongoing: how often does anyone get to Inbox: 0 (or Laundry Basket: 0)? It’s hard to feel like any attention is given to what we’ve finished before it’s time to chase ourselves to the next benchmark.

A Done list reminds you that you can do it because you have done it. Recognize your successes. The Done list gives credit to the depth and breadth of achievements and sends dopamine hits to your brain, making coming back tomorrow easier and more eagerly anticipated.

Boost confidence in yourself and not just your output — We are always our own worst critics, and in this part of the Western Hemisphere (and in this part of the 21st century), we are bombarded with messages that if we don’t “produce” then we aren’t enough. This is a reminder that you ARE enough, and if you need more to undergird that reminder of your value, may I direct you to:

Reduce (or reject) your “productivity debt” — In his most recent book, Meditations for Mortals: four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts, Oliver Burkeman writes about the role of a Done list in counteracting the sense of productivity debt.

Burkeman notes that:

Many people these days report the feeling that they begin each morning in a kind of ‘productivity debt,’ which they must struggle to pay off over the course of the day, in hopes of returning to a zero balance by the time evening comes. If they fail — or worse, don’t even try — it’s as though they haven’t quite justified their existence on the planet.

While Burkeman clarifies the difference between the tasks we must in order to pay the rent, or how it’s “generally a good idea” to make sure your kids have food and clothing. But very much like what I wrote in my series on toxic productivity, he gets to the heart of what happens when we go beyond the push to be productive pressed on us by society into something more insidious:

But we overlay this everyday sense of obligation with existential duty not only to achieve certain ends, or to meet our basic responsibilities to others, but because it’s a cosmic debt we’ve somehow incurred in exchange for being alive….Our frenetic activity is often an effort to shore up a sense of ourselves as minimally acceptable members of society.

Burkeman reflects that whether the origins of this sense of inadequacy comes from the Protestant work ethic, our parents, or consumerism (um, check out that first toxic productivity post, eh), this “productivity debt mindset” means that even our checked-off To-Do list items create an ever-higher standard to achieve.

He posits that a Done list — rather than serving as a yardstick against your To-Do list — should invite you “to compare your output to the hypothetical situation where you stayed in bed and did nothing at all” and goes further to ask, “What makes that comparison any less legitimate than the other one?”

Whoa.

Of course, Burkeman’s recent area of expertise is the finitude, or limited nature, of life, and he doesn’t see the Done list as merely a way to give ourselves a rah-rah. He envisions the process of the Done list as one that makes us increasingly likely to make better decisions about what efforts and tasks to face in the first place, make more progress on them, and experience less anxiety about the things we’ve chosen to neglect.

My colleague Linda Samuels’ recent post, How a Helpful Productivity Reframe Makes More Time for Fun on making a “satisfying” day dovetails nicely with this line of thinking.

Conquer task rebellion — Are you the kind of person whom the minute you’re assigned something (even if you assign it to yourself), you suddenly don’t want to do it? A Done list is an alternate productivity tool for keeping a close eye on your important tasks and obligations.

Make sure others appreciate your achievements — Vanderhack’s Substack post acknowledges two bonuses to the Done list:

If you ever need to convince someone that you are in fact working hard, you can just send your manager your Done list. If you are managing people, you can ask team members to keep Done lists and share them with you. That way, at your next check-in you can congratulate them on a job well…done.

Create an operations manual — What you did helps you figure out what you will want to do. For example, blogger Randall Degges explains that he uses his Done list to make sure he’s gone through all of the steps in his programming work. For some ideas on how to develop this idea, consider reading Atul Gawande’s The Checklist Manifesto.

Blend a Done list into your gratitude practice — If you’re inclined to regularly practice gratitude (or, especially, if you’re not), a Done list shows you what you can be grateful for and show gratitude to: your skills and talents, for the time you had available to accomplish something, for the people or agencies that helped you accomplish what you wanted.

A long list of doctor’s appointments and medical tests on your To-Do list can be daunting. But seeing things like “Made mammogram appointment” or “Got dental crown replaced” on your Done list gives you the opportunity to feel grateful to be healthy or restored to health, that there are specialists to whom you can turn for expert care, and that you have health insurance. For those of us who are terrible at gratitude journaling, our Done list is a good alternative.

WHAT GOES ON YOUR DONE LIST?

We all know the joke that on days where we struggle to make headway, we might put “wake up” or “make a To-Do list” on our To-Do list, just so we’ll have things to cross off.

If your Done list were merely your To-Do list with items checked off, those pseudo-tasks, while helping you get your mojo going might* — under most circumstances — feel silly upon reflection. The following that might go on your Done list:

Calls made
Appointments kept
Meetings attended
Work obligations completed
Errands run
Household chores tackled
Procrastinated-upon “adulting” completed

But a Done list may capture more than just the tasks you performed but also some higher level achievements like:

ideas you generated, like brainstormed concepts for a blog post or outlining a plan for a vacation itinerary

metrics of what you are achieving, like if you walked 10,000 steps or recorded three videos or did ten language lessons on Duolingo. If you plan to read a certain number of pages or chapters or books in a set period of time, you can log your efforts toward those goals. If you planned to read 40 books a year, but only read 35, something that shows you that you DID read 35 books is a lot more motivating than the fact that you fell somewhat short of the overall goal. The metrics let you focus on what you did do.

what you didn’t do that you didn’t want to do. If your goal is to have a no-spend Sunday and you found cost-free activities and didn’t spend a penny, huzzah! Write it down! If you’re struggling to maintain no-contact status with that ex you miss but know isn’t good for you, when you complete a day of NOT CALLING THE PERSON, give yourself a prize!

*Is there anything too inconsequential to put on a Done list?

It depends on you. If you’re not struggling with depression right now, “took a shower” or “brushed teeth” is going to fill up your Done list unnecessarily. If you aren’t suffering with an eating disorder, writing “ate lunch,” or “had a healthy mid-day snack” probably needn’t show up on your list.

However, any challenge you overcome deserves to be celebrated. If you have ADHD, tracking that you got to work (or got the kids to school) on time is valid. Your Done list can track these successes, and it will remind you that you can do, and have done, hard things.

And if you struggle with giving yourself compassion, whether you’re dealing with chronic pain or illness, mental health issues, or anything that makes the tasks of daily living (including self-care, cleaning, organizing, etc.) hard, I recommend How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing by K.C. Davis.

HOW TO CREATE A DONE LIST

Add items to your Done list contemporaneously with achieving them so you won’t forget anything. If that’s not possible, schedule time at the end of the day to log and review your successes.

I know there’s a temptation to think that if you’ve already got a To-Do list, you can just check items off as you complete them. I’m not saying that you can’t do this, but it’s much too easy to forget things.

So, if you’re tempted to reject my advice to keep them separate, then please do the following:

add all of your unanticipated achievements to your To-Do list as you go
at least use a check mark or similar ✅ symbol in the left-hand margin rather than ~~striking through~~ what you’ve done; the point is to be able to see what you HAVE accomplished
move incomplete tasks to a list for the next (or some future) day; then cross out those items, remembering that crossing it out means it’s been moved, not accomplished.

However, I really encourage you to make your Done list a separate endeavor from your To-Do list.

Pick a style that reflects your preferences:

Analog Done List Formats

a handwritten paper list
a journal/bullet journal page
pretty sticky notes on the wall, perhaps in a Kanban format as I described in Checklists, Gantt Charts, and Kanban Boards – Organize Your Tasks
index cards — In 2007, Entrepreneur and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen recommended an “anti-To-Do list” as part of Pmarca Guide to Personal Productivity, tracking accomplishments on the flip-side of an index card used for daily To-Do items.

Digital Done List Formats

a digital document in a format like Word, Google Docs, Excel, or Google Sheet
daily or weekly emails to yourself — keep a running list of “dones” and then send it to yourself to archive.
an Evernote note using the Daily Note template function, formatted to your preference
Apple’s Done List app, which allows you to type or use emoji to track your completed tasks
your phone’s Notes app

Some people post their achievements as a running list of social media posts. That requires a strong ego, thick skin, and an achievement list that doesn’t include awkward personal care tasks. If you’re an introvert or a menopausal woman, you might want to skip this method.

Not everything lends itself to a list format. Sometimes, seeing a task on a list doesn’t tell the whole story. There are times when journaling “the story of my day” will not only be the better alternative to logging achievements, but appreciating them.

Remember Unplanned Successes

Don’t forget to include huge leaps that weren’t on your list.

Did you fly for the first time since the pandemic even though you’ve been scared to do it? Did you set consequences and enforce a boundary and with someone who historically tramples them? Did you (politely but firmly) explain that you will not be “voluntold” (forced into volunteering) for a project, whether in life or at work?

Put them down as DONE!

DON’T BE DONE WITH YOUR DONE LIST

Post your Done lists for the week on a bulletin board or the fridge so that you can reflect on your successes.

Leave it side-by-side with tomorrow’s To-Do list so that when you sit at your desk, you can review yesterday’s successes before attacking today’s goals.

Put reviewing your Done list on your calendar. Review it before heading out for the weekend.

Create a Success Folder and at the end of the quarter, go through and highlight the “big ticket” successes. When you do your personal annual review, haul these out so you can record the bigger (or small but important) accomplishments. (See Organize Your Annual Review & Mindset Blueprint for 2023 for examples.)

And now…I’m done.

Organize Your Desktop with Your Perfect Desk Pad: 2025 Update

Posted on: June 2nd, 2025 by Julie Bestry | 11 Comments

This post originally appeared in November 2023 and has been updated for June 2025.

WHY USE A DESK PAD?

It’s funny how small, random things resonate with people. In early September, in Paper Doll Explores New & Nifty Office and School Supplies, I included a small section on how desk pads have come back into vogue, and shared some examples of brightly colored, inexpensive options. I’ve been surprised by how many people had follow-up questions about this rarely discussed office supply.

Desk pads are similar to but not quite the same as desk blotters, even though the two are often conflated. However, as we’re not writing with quills or fountain pens anymore, nobody is really blotting anything. Still desk pads have a variety of benefits for organizing your desk physically as well as psychologically.

Practical Reasons

Desk pads have a variety of purposes for keeping your workspace safe, organized, and comfortable. A desk pad will:

Protect the desk from spilled beverages, sticky or crumbly foods, and scratches (either from your watch or jewelry, or from pens that dig into the desktop surface).
Create a more comfortable workplace. This includes making the traditional writing surface smooth for when you’re actually using pen or pencil (like a caveman) or protecting your arms from the desktop’s surface. If your desk is metal or glass, the surface can be ice cold; an old wooden desk may feel scratchy or splintery. Desk pads vastly improves your comfort level because they’re generally made from softer or sleeker materials. This also provides a gentler surface to reduce friction against your wrists.
Yield more slide-y space than a mousepad. Whether you’re using your desktop for working or gaming, a mousepad offers little space to slide your mouse around. A desk pad makes that smooth area much wider and eliminates your worry about making grander gestures.
Reduce the sound and vibrations of a clickety mechanical keyboard.
Designate zones for different tools. Some desk pads give you specific areas to help carve out the niche areas of purpose on your desk.

Personal Reasons

Beyond the practicalities, desk pads can create an ambiance that appeals to you on an emotional level.

Aesthetics may help you feel more productive; at least, they put you in the right headspace to tackle spreadsheets or TPS reports.
A desk pad makes a statement of style for the owner of the desk, to communicate personality with visitors and to delight you when you’re sitting at your workspace. Given that most of day’s post focuses on more mature styles of desk pads, in leather and and leather-like materials, I thought I’d share the kind of desk pad that the less grown-up version of me is often tempted to acquire. Because, as you may have wondered at some point, Surely Not Everyone Was Kung Fu Fighting (from Society Six).

A desk pad makes a desk look “put together.” This is less about looking attractive vs. looking finished. Paper Mommy drummed it into me that when you want to make a good impression, you should always wear a jacket, blazer, or cardigan — something that pulls an outfit together and makes it look intentional. A desk pad does the same for your desk.

DESK PAD ATTRIBUTES TO CONSIDER

Most of the inquiries I received asked about what features they should consider in a desk pad. For those used to the traditional oversized calendar style of blotter, the number of modern desk pad possibilities come as a bit of an overwhelming surprise. Let’s look at several.

Size

One hesitates to say that “size matters,” but you need to consider a variety of size-related elements:

How large is your work area? — If your desk is enormous and you’ve got an itty bitty desk pad not much bigger than a mousepad, the desk pad is going to be engulfed, both logicically and aesthetically. If it’s only the width of your keyboard, the friction of the edges against your arm may annoy you.

Conversely, if you’re working on a tiny desk, make sure your desk pad will actually fit. Read the actual measurements, but also keep your eyes out for keywords, like “extended,” that give you an idea of the size of a product. A standard goal is to pick a desk pad that covers 2/3 of the width of your desk, but your needs may vary, given other factors.

How much of your stuff do you want on the desk pad? — Do you want the deskpad to cover just the area closest to you, or would you prefer your computer to sit atop it? If you want your desktop and keyboard located on top of your deskpad, you’ll need more space than if you just want to put it under your laptop (or just prefer it under the area where you rest your arms).

Some desk pads are designed to be large enough to have space for your phone, mouse (so a mousepad is unnecessary), office supplies, and any papers essential to your work.

What kind of surface do you need for your work functionality? — If you’re using a mouse instead of a track pad and a desk pad in lieu of a mouse pad, the mouse needs to be able to move smoothly but not slip on too glossy a surface. The surface should also allow you an adequate, comfortable area upon which to rest your mousing wrist.
Do you need a desk pad to accommodate a special purpose? — Gamers often use oversized (overly wide) desk pads; engineers and computer specialists may need specialized pads for work on computers or with tools.
Do you need options? There are varieties of desk pads with different surfaces on each side (like for gaming vs. standard computing or intricate work vs. writing). If your work and play tasks vary widely, consider looking at dual-dided pads to make sure you’re comfortable. A distracted worker is an unproductive worker.

Think about width as well as depth of your desk (and desk pad) as you look at your purchase options.

Materials

The material from which your desk pad is constructed will impact how it looks, how long it will last, and how much it will cost. Common desk pad materials include:

Leather looks sumptuous and sophisticated, is easy to keep clean, and tends to be durable over the long term. However, it is often one of the most expensive options.

Leatherology has a wide variety of classic and modern desk pad options, but they also have some spiffy extra-long desk pads and narrower “conference and laptop” pads. They’re all in gorgeous Italian leather and are (for real leather) fairly affordable, from $95 to $170. Even their colors sound luxurious, with Bordeaux (below), Oxblood, Mocha, and Dove mixing with Tan, Black, Midnight Blue.

Grovemade is a similarly delicious vendor of 3.5mm-thick premium leather desk pads with cork backing in six sizes: Small – 11” x 24.75”, Small Plus – 14″ x 31.5″, Medium – 11.5” x 38”, Medium Plus – 15.75″ x 38″, Large – 26” x 38.5”, and Extra Large – 26.5″ x 49″. Small, medium & medium plus provide room for an external keyboard and mouse, while Large is designed to work under the Grovemade Monitor Stand and Laptop Stand. Prices range from $110 to a whopping $400!

Of course, leather can get incredibly pricey. Smythson of Bond Street’s Large Desk Mat in Panama (available in Black or Sandstone) runs a hefty $1095!

“Vegan” leather is what we used to call vinyl. It’s durable, though not so much as real leather, but it avoids the whole Bambi’s mother issue. You will sometimes see this described as “Eco” leather. If you’re not spending in the $100s, you’re almost assuredly not seeing a leather pad.
Plastic or PVC vinyl is inexpensive, but may feel cold against your arms, can split or crack over time, and likely won’t last as long as some other varieties. That said, whether clear or opaque and colored, plastic surfaces are usually easier to clean and ideal for people who tend to stain their horizontal surfaces with coffee cup rings.
Wool/Felt provides a cozy, hygge look, but can feel itchy or scratchy to your arms. (If you’re buying a wood desk pad as gift, make sure your recipient doesn’t have wool allergies.) Of course, a mouse will not slide on wool so you’ll still need a mouse pad, and you’re not really going to be able to handwrite on it unless you’ve got a notebook or want to fuss with cardboard backing while drafting your thank you notes.

If you’re up for spending $45-100 on cloth that you can’t even wear on date night, Graf Lantz has sophisticated Mosen Medium and Large Merino Wool Felt Desk Pad measuring 31” wide x 19 ½” high in multiple subdued colors.

Microfiber or Polyester — These materials tend to be relatively thin, on to top of spongy backing, making it hard to write with pencil or ball point pens, and can be hard to keep clean over the long run. These range from lower-end options to more fancy-pants versions, like the Harber London Microfibre Minimalist Deskmat, available in three sizes, from about $60-$84, from the UK.
Cork — For example, IKEA’S minimalist Susig, measuring 17 3/4″ by 25 1/2″ is made of cork, which repels dirt and water. It’s only $8.99. Bear in mind that cork can have a strong odor, as anyone who’s ever purchased a new bulletin board will know. Buyer beware.

Linoleum is an atypical options, but Grovemade makes them from linseed oil, natural pine rosin, wood flour, and calcium carbonate, with a cork backing, in ten different colors. They resist fingerprints and are antistatic and durable.
Aluminum or Copper desk pads provide anti-static attributes. These metals have conductive properties, and will protect your computers and electronic equipment from static electricity. If you work around equipment that’s sensitive to static, like in a computer lab or server room, this is something to consider.
Marble, glass, acrylic — These atypical desk pads are going to be cold, heavy, and slippery, but easy to clean.

I’d recommend against these icy materials unless you are far more into aesthetics than computing, but the Pottery Barn White Marble Desk Blotter may put you in “fancy society matron” mode. It comes in 24″ wide by 18″ high for $79 or 36″ wide by 18″ high (pictured below) for $99 and can be personalized.

This stunning Abstract Stained Glass Desk Pad from Cozy Street Designs at Etsy might make you feel as though you are writing on behalf of royalty from the distant past to readers in the future. It comes in 7″ x 9″, 12″ x 18″, 12″ x 22″, and 15.5″ x 31″ (from $18.99 to $42.50).

As you examine your options, ask yourself, will this material deflect spills? Morning Starbucks? Afternoon Starbucks? Late night pizza grease?

Leather and “vegan” leather are sumptuous, but will they withstand ink stains and the pressure of a ball point pen?

Do you need gutters (indentations) for pens or cord organizers or side panels on the edges to give you a sense of boundaries (and let you tuck in note cards)?

Whatever material you choose will reflect your personal style. Select something that uplifts and inspires you (or at least doesn’t frustrate you) when you approach your desk.

That said, consider that how you organize your desk reflects on your office mates or your employers. There’s some wiggle room, but if your desk pad quote Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Eat the Rich! but you work at a high-end accounting firm, you may encounter some conflict.

Grip/Traction

You know the trick about putting a wet paper towel under your cutting board to keep it sliding around, right? You need a solution that will approximate that for your desktop.

A super-slick desk surface such as one made of metal or glass will improve your mousing capabilities but may make it hard for you to keep things from rolling away. A good desk pad has backing that provides traction for keeping your keyboard from jiggling, your pens from rolling, and your podcast microphones from sliding away.

Think about how the backing material will affect the grippiness of the pad on the desk’s surface. Look for a desk pad with backing that’s sufficiently rubbery to keep the desk pad from sliding around, but not something so inexpensive that it will get sticky or goopy near a heater or in direct sunlight as the years go by.

You also want a smooth top surface for writing, but not so smooth that your keyboard will slide around.

Organization

Psychologically, a desk pad has a calming, centering effect, much like a tablecloth or table runner in a home, dissuading you from piling junk or excess materials in your space.

A desk pad also helps you create zones, both on the pad and around the perimeter. You might find yourself keeping resources on the back third of the desk, beyond the far edge of the depth of the pad, or papers to the left of the pad and your phone and gadgets to the right.

Let your desk pad support your organizational structure, and you might find that it supports your physical as well as cognitive sense of order.

Design Aesthetic

Design also has both a functional and psychological impact.

Functionally, the design and manufacture of your desk pad can affect your comfort while you work. Those with some extra padding may be more comfortable under your arms while you’re typing. Of course, you don’t want a pad so thick that it adds bulk or adversely impacts your ergonomics. And, as mentioned, size will matter if you’re trying to create a sleek, uniform look on your desk.

Aesthetically, the combination of materials, colors, and styles determine whether your desk pad looks:

Professional — Let’s define this to mean anything from serene to stuffy, but generally appropriate for an attorney’s office or anywhere you’re expected to dress conservatively for work.
Sleek, modern, minimalist — If the bulk of your workspace is glass, metal, or full of spare IKEA-styled wooden furniture, you’ll want a desk pad that sets a similar tone.
Activist-oriented — Does everything in your office convey a written message? Is your tone political (in the wider use of the term)? You may want a bold look.
Too Cool for School — If you’re working with younger people (by which I mean adults younger than you, as parents may bristle at middle school guidance counselors decorating with edgy messages), you may want a more youthful, expressive style to maintain integrity.
Personal — Whether you want Barbie pink or a custom-designed desk pad from NovelKeys, in the end, you need to ask: does the desk pad fit your tastes? If not, you’ll never feel entirely at ease at your desk or in your workspace.

For example, this Muppet Science Chemistry Deskpad from Deep Space Designs at RedBubble measures 31.5″ x 15.7″. For less than $25, it makes a strong statement that the user cares about science — or at least Beaker.

In the end, however, it’s a desk pad, not a wedding dress. Pick a color, pattern, and material that reflects your style insofar as you’re allowed to express your true style at work.

And if you find the perfect desk pad but expect it will be received poorly at work, use it in your desk area at home — and start looking for a job that won’t stifle your soul.

Portability

If you set up a desk once and never remove anything, this won’t be a concern. However, if you hot-desk at your office, or if you’re a student who relocates to different work areas and likes your desk pad to come with you, portability may be an issue.

Some desk pads easily roll up like small yoga mats and you can keep them rolled with a rubber band or yoga mat band. Conversely, some fancy-pants desk pads, the kind made to emulate old-fashioned leather pads, are not only stiff and un-rollable, but are often weighted heavily on the left and right edges and not ideally portable.

Special Features

A desk pad is not always just a desk pad, especially in the 21st-century. Some, like the KeySmart Charging Taskpad have built-in charging capabilities. Measuring 35.43″ x 16.54″, in comes only in black. What it lacks in panache, in makes up for in features.

You can just set your phone, Airpods, or other doohickies on the mat and they’ll charge quickly, even when in their cases. It’s also water- and stain-resistant, and anti-scratch, with a no-slip-backing and PU Leather surface. There’s a “micro-textured mouse pad built in, with cushioning for wrists and forearms. It’s $120 from KeySmart and currently on sale at Amazon for $69.

Gaming keyboards are built with colorful, lighted margins to help set the ambiance. For example, see the Razer Goliathus Chroma line, which runs about $55 at Walmart and Amazon for the extended version. (You may want to turn down your volume if you’re over 30 years of age.)

And in one of the most unusual findings for this updated post, there’s The CozyDesk, a heated deskpad for those of you who grip your coffee cup for warmth, whether it’s deep in winter or your office A/C is just too brisk for your tastes.

At 31.5″ x 9.4″, the smooth leather CozyDesk has 50 different heat settings but a heat-resistant base. Your desktop and your accessories (like your mouse and keyboard) remain safe, while your fingers stay toasty warm. It has built-in safety features, including an auto-shutoff and a low-power consumption setting.

Whether you’re an office worker, student, gamer, someone suffering from poor circulation or Reynaud’s Syndrome, or just someone whose office space (or hands) are colder than you’d like, this CozyDesk promises customized warmth for your desktop workspace from 50° to a whopping 140° Fahrenheit (10°-60° Celsius).

Normally, the CozyDesk sells for $80 but is currently half off at $39 for a mid-year sale.

While there are a variety of similar heated desk pads listed on Amazon, ranging from $25 to $200, the lower-priced items are often marked as “frequently returned items.” Let the shivering buyer beware.

Price

Do you want to make a long-term commitment to one desk pad or “date” around with different options depending on your mood of the week? The more committed, the higher a price point you can embrace.

I’ve seen desk pads ranging from $10 to $200, so you should be able to augment your work space at a cost that works for you.

A FEW MORE DESK PAD EXAMPLES

Smead Desk Pads

Just as I was considering writing this blog post, I got an email from one of my favorite companies to recommend about the brand new Smead Desk Pads. The waterproof surface, described as being crafted from “premium vegan leather,” has a sturdy design to protect against keyboard scratches, water marks, and spills.

Smead notes that the faux-suede, non-slip backing will ensure stability, so it won’t wiggle while you work or write. They stated that it comes rolled for easy shipping but will lay flat without curling once it’s on your desk.

The Smead Desk Pads come in three sizes:

Small (23.6″ x 13.7″) for $10.49
Medium (31.5″ x 15.7″) for $12.99
Large (36″ x 17″) for $14.99

and five colors: Blue, Dusty Rose, Saddle, Sandstone, and Charcoal.

If you’re seeking a serene, serious, vibe, like for the office of a therapist or ADHD coach, this might be ideal.

OrbitKey Desk Mat

The OrbitKey Desk Mat comes in Black or Stone, in two sizes: Medium (27.01″ wide x 14.69″ high) and Large (35.28″ wide x 16.65″ high). It’s made of premium vegan leather and 100% recycled PET felt and comes with a two-year warranty.

The OrbitKey Desk Mat has some intriguing features, including:

a quick-access indented toolbar across the top
a magnetic cable organizer
a document hideaway feature, suitable for keeping your cheat sheet formulas and codes, or sensitive papers you need at your fingertips

It’s also somewhat pricey (at just under $80 for Medium or $100 for Large) from OrbitKey and Amazon.

Adir Professional Reversible Self-Healing Cutting Mat

Adir’s dual-sided green and black desk pad is made of “self-healing” vinyl and comes in four sizes: 12′ x 18″ ($15), 18″ x 24″ ($25), 18″ x36″ ($45), and 36″ x 48″ ( $76) from Amazon. If you’ve got someone on your shopping list whose desk is equal parts computer desk and work bench, this option will “self-heal” if an art or mat knife or rotary cutter slices through it, keeping the surface smooth. It’s marked with 0.5 inch, as well as measurements in centimeters and millimeters, 45- and 60-degree angle guides, and diagonal cutting lines.

Excel Tips Deskpad (and Morning Brew)

This is actually two recommendations in one. Do you subscribe to the Morning Brew newsletter? It’s a stellar daily newsletter for catching up on all the (mostly non-stressful) national, international, business, and entertainment news delivered in a delightfully Dad-joke tone to make starting your day easier.

If you spend too much time on Microsoft Excel, you might want to look at the Morning Brew Excel Tips desk pad. It measures 27.20″x11.75″ and provides more than 60 Excel functions, 100+ Excel shortcuts, and top dialog box definitions, all for $35.

Paper Doll HQ hasn’t had the opportunity to use or rank every desk pad, so you may wish to peruse recent coverage of the best of desk pads.

The 7 Best Desk Mats, Tested By Our Editors (The Spruce)

8 Best Desk Mat Options For 2025 (Rosstopia)

9 Best Desk Mats of 2024 for a More Organized Workspace (Good Housekeeping)

The 10 Best Desk Pads to Elevate Your Workspace (The Robb Report)

The 13 Best Desk Pads to Make You More Productive and Organized at Work (Esquire)

The 15 Best Desk Pads & Mats for Your Office (Werd)

The 17 Best Desk Pads For Your Home Office (GearMoose)

21 Stylish Deskpads and Blotters for Writers (Accessory to Success)

Do you use a desk mat? What are the most important features for you to work comfortably? Do you care more about looks or texture? Do your tastes run toward luxe or funky?

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Archive for ‘Productivity’ Category

How to Send Large Files the Organized Way — Simple, Stress-Free Solutions

HOW TO SHARE SMALL AND MEDIUM FILES

Methods for Sending Small and Medium Files

SHARE FILES IN THE CLOUD

How File-Sharing in the Cloud Works

The Main Players in Cloud Sharing of Files

SHARE FILES USING FILE TRANSFER SERVICES

The Big Names in File Transfer Services

BEST PRACTICES FOR ORGANIZING YOUR LARGE FILES FOR SHARING

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26 Ways to Celebrate GO Month to Get More Organized and Productive

ORGANIZE YOUR PAPER IN 2026

1) Create a Tax Prep Folder

2) Roll Out the Red Carpet for Your VIPs

3) Declutter and Preserve Your Family Photos and Memorabilia

4) Know What’s In Your Wallet

5) Clean Off Your Desk

ORGANIZE YOUR DIGITAL SPACES IN 2026

6) Declutter Your Phone Apps

7) Clear Out Your Voicemail Inbox

8) Clear out your email inbox

9) Know What You Don’t Know About Your Tech

11) Get a Better Sense of the Passage of Time

12) Time Travel in Your Planner

13) Eliminate What Doesn’t Excite You

14) Pick a Problem-Solving Day

ORGANIZE YOUR FINANCES IN 2026

15) Stop Singing “I Owe, I Owe, It’s Off To Work I Go”

16) Go Spelunking for Lost Money

17) Re-Shop Your Auto Insurance

RECITE THESE ORGANIZING AND PRODUCTIVITY MOTTOS

AND FINALLY…

26) You don’t have to go it alone.

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How to Stay Productive When It’s Too Darn Hot

WHY IT’S HARD TO STAY PRODUCTIVE WHEN IT’S HOT

The Science Behind “It’s Too Darn Hot”

Why Productivity Declines When We’re Having a Cruel Summer

MODIFY YOUR SCHEDULE ON HOT DAYS

REDESIGN YOUR WORKSPACE TO BEAT THE HEAT…

OR, RELOCATE YOUR WORKSPACE TO WHERE IT’S COOLER

REDUCE YOUR TECH TO KEEP YOUR COOL

PRACTICE SELF-CARE WHEN THE TEMPERATURES RISE

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Paper Doll on the Power of a DONE List

DON’T BE LISTLESS

Review How to Make a Big To-Do

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A TO-DO LIST AND A DONE LIST?

Stress Factor

Aspiration vs. Reality

Expectations

Identity

Momentum

THE BENEFITS OF A DONE LIST?

WHAT GOES ON YOUR DONE LIST?

*Is there anything too inconsequential to put on a Done list?

HOW TO CREATE A DONE LIST

Analog Done List Formats

Digital Done List Formats

Remember Unplanned Successes

DON’T BE DONE WITH YOUR DONE LIST

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Organize Your Desktop with Your Perfect Desk Pad: 2025 Update

WHY USE A DESK PAD?

Practical Reasons

Personal Reasons

DESK PAD ATTRIBUTES TO CONSIDER

Size

Materials

Grip/Traction