A couple weeks ago, I wrote about shutting off portable electronics like your Blackberry or iPhone before going to bed to get restful sleep. But there’s also something to be said about why sleep is so important overall.

Studies show that lack of sleep affects learning as well as your cognitive skills, and this affects your daily activities, whether it’s at school, home or work. While you’re sleeping, new things you’ve learned are being processed and memories are being organized and stored.

Sacrificing sleep to get more done isn’t a good way to manage your time. In fact, the quality and performance level of your work will most likely suffer. However, getting adequate sleep will help maintain and may even increase your personal productivity.

On a side note, if you have the advantage of working from home, a thirty-minute nap in the afternoon is proven to help reduce mental fatigue and digital fog.

This is an insightful new book written by two college professors who have studied hoarding for 20 years. They share stories about real people and try to explain the reasons behind this behavior. You can read an excerpt from the book here.

Checking your cell phone and reading emails in bed are activities that have become synonymous with our society’s online obsession. However, although many of my favorite organizing tools come in the form of electronic devices or web-based applications, it may be a good idea to put away the computer or iPhone before you get into bed. According to a recent article, people who are looking at a monitor to type, read or watch content get less restful sleep than those who may read an actual paperback book or ban electronics altogether before getting ready to go to sleep.

Here are more tips for Evernote - my favorite online system for filing and sharing!

• Take photos of the wiring setup for your computer and television/dvd/stereo center so that if you move anything, you can put things back where they go.
• Scan and save warranty information for major appliances and electronics.
• Scan and save documents as PDFs and shred the un-needed paper version.
• Take photos of priceless items such as jewelry or family heirlooms with notes about their appraisal value.
• Make a PDF version of your business license - this comes in handy when you fill out business paperwork.
• Take pictures and make a list of important serial numbers on big purchases in case they are stolen; use the information to file a police report.
• Take pictures of the contents of your wallet in case of theft, especially the fronts and backs of cards for the phone numbers to call and cancel cards.

Join us on May 12th from 3-7 PM at the Qwest Field event center!  We will have a booth again this year at the Seattle Chamber Tradeshow.

This tradeshow is the largest B2B expo in the region and Innovatively Organized will be there!  Please stop by our booth and learn about our new programs and pick up a discount card to receive savings on your next (or first) organizing session.  We’d love to have you say “hello”.  Both Alisa and I will be there and look forward to seeing you.

The event attracts more than 1,500 attendees and 150 exhibitors.  Entry cost is $10.  Click here to register.