[Image from pixabay.com]
Preface: For those questioning the title please allow me to provide a quick slang definition. Nah= no, not, nope…and anything along those lines. All on the same page now? Good.
So I still consider myself to be fairly young. (Emphasis on the fairly.) At least young enough to be pretty familiar with technology. I think that throughout my experience in academia and in the working world I’ve learned quite a few things to earn me “intermediate level” status. Though I can’t lie. I still struggle with when and when not to go old school paper. You know those emails with the message at the bottom that read “Please consider the environment before printing.”? Well that message is for people like me. Yep, me. Love the environment and all but just can’t get off that old paper habit.
I think the foundation of my professional development occured in a time when the whole technology shift was taking flight. So the need to print everything comes from a time, in the quasi Dark Ages, when that was a necessity.
And let’s not even mention social media. Within the last 2-3 years I’ve felt a bit more savvy with the various platforms. But I remember a time when I thought Instagram was just a way to make your pictures look cool. (Hello to those pretty filtered flicks of my homemade sweet potato pie!) Or better yet, I remember Facebook becoming this cool new site around mid college years, back when you needed to have a college email address to have an account. Okay, now I’m dating myself.
All this to say, it’s really important to keep up with the times when it comes to technology. Many of our jobs were operated completely different 10, 5, even 3 years ago!
I am still a recovering printer paper pusher and have finally come to accept life without AOL Instant Messenger. However, there are a few strides I have made to embrace technology not only as it benefits me personally but also as it will grow me professionally.
- Utilizing the print screen option in lieu of printing emails.
If you print screen, or even copy and paste, emails you can save them in your Word documents for future use. Allwhile obeying that little environmental friendly message mentioned earlier. (See, I’m trying to be compliant.)
- Saving emails to a file folder within a network drive.
I like to use this option especially for meetings. When I have to organize meetings for work I create one larger e-folder for the meeting that contains subfolders for each presenter. Within the presenter folder I put any documents they’ve sent me (Word, PDF, etc.) as well as emails that pertain to the meeting presentation or related topic.
- Learning tips about social media for business by browsing.
So I don’t think there’s a formal class that tells you how to set up an Instagram account for your business. (Though I think there will be very shortly given the speed that technology is growing.) But I’ve learned quite a bit from simply just browsing accounts of other bloggers and business owners. The types of pictures they post on their accounts, bio details, and the times/days that they post are just a few small things that make a big marketing difference. Something that paper just can’t do alone anymore in this technological world.
- Using one device as a store house.
I don’t have a ton of electronic devices but out of the 3 or so my favorite is hands down my iPhone. I can maintain my calendar, store my email account, chat with friends (on like 3 different apps…shame), and get directions to a new destination all in one place. So my TomTom has officially taken a hike. While I do still use a paper calendar (primarily for blogging and other business needs) it usually is due to the fact that I need to scribble multiple notes that won’t fit within the fine lines of my iCalendar.
What ways have you been able to make the most out of technology and keep current?
