The Power of One

As Three Dog Night explains in the lyrics of their 1969 hit, one can be the loneliest number. Sometimes, there is power in the masses, meaning a group makes more impact that just one; however, when it comes to certain organizing tools, one can be a very powerful number. It can be very important to "practice the power of one". Here are a few examples:

- One Calendar... Whether it's paper or electronic, a single planner enables tracking all commitments (personal and professional) in one place, making it less likely that appointments will be forgotten or that you will double-book yourself.

- One To-Do List... Are you jotting down reminders on multiple sheets of paper, in various different notebooks or via sticky notes posted all around your office? If so, how many of those actually get completed?!? Keeping all the action items needing your attention in one place makes it more likely they'll get completed and aids in prioritizing.

- One "Data Dump"... Our brains get filled with more and more information each day; keeping them in one place ensures meeting notes, ideas, phone messages, inspirations and the like are not lost and are easily accessible, regardless of whether that one place is the paper option of a spiral notebook or an electronic option, like Evernote or OneNote.

- One Address Book... For contacts' names, phone numbers, emails and snail mail addresses as well as any notes related to that connection, keeping everyone's information centralized within one system makes it easier to keep contacts' data up-to-date and to access those details quickly whenever they are needed.

Are any of these areas in which you can streamline? And, if you have ideas for other items that are more powerful when you have just one of them, please share those in the Comments section below.