The paperless habit is needed to allow you to actually go paperless as this is more than a set of tools. Sure tools make going paperless possible and in some cases easier but you need to get into some new habits.
Habits?
A habit is an acquired pattern of behaviour that happens without thinking. So to go truly paperless you need to get to a state where you live without paper comfortably.
Digitise then file or shred.
The first habit you need to get into is digitising and then either file or shred.
File only documents that cannot be replaced in digital form. So any official documents like birth certificates and driving licenses should be filed. It’s useful to have a digital copy as you will not need to go through the filing to refer to important info held within.
Shred anything that can be used in digital form without absolutely needing the original. Bank statements and correspondence is the kind of thing that fall into this category. More banks are moving to online statements – elect this option if you can.
Read onscreen – don’t print
Do all of your reading onscreen and do not print out emails, documents or anything for that matter. This can be a tough new habit to form as printing can seem to be a little bit easier to do. A laptop or tablet would help in this respect. I personally use an iPad for this purpose but I will not discriminate.
Take Digital Notes
Get used to taking notes either on a laptop or tablet. Evernote can make light work of organisation and has free versions available for all major platforms.
There are also apps and stylus which allow you to make written notes and sketches on an iPad or there are alternatives for Android and Windows 8 which may be worth investigating.
Encourage others
It becomes significantly easier for you to go paperless if others are prepared to share information with you electronically. Ask for email and digital correspondence rather than snail mail. It’ll get significantly easier if your friends and colleagues work in the same medium as you. Don’t get too evangelical about it but a few gentle nudges could help minimise the amount of paper that is wasted.
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