Three ways to be more productive with color codes

Part of being productive means eliminating distractions and focusing on the task at hand — and color coding can increase productivity in almost any scenario. With colorful Post-it® Products and these tips, you can turn thoughts into actions and get things done.

As one of the first things our brain perceives in any environment, color can be a powerful force for productivity. And because they come in a variety of vibrant hues, Post-it® Products are ideal tools to help you and your teams achieve big goals more colorfully. Check out these three tips for using color to spike productivity in your workplace.

1. Color coding to track a brainstorming session

In a brainstorming session, color coding by team member can be a great way to track ideas as they’re generated and discussed. Give each of your co-workers a pad of different colored Post-it® Super Sticky Notes 3 in. x 3 in. for jotting down ideas during the brainstorm, and have everyone stick their notes onto a Post-it® Super Sticky Big Notes 22 in. x 22 in. that’s adhered to the wall. As the flurry of colorful ideas comes to life, the colors of the super sticky notes will let everyone know at a glance which ideas came from which person — and because the notes are super sticky, they can be arranged over and over again as your team iterates. The large size of the big note makes it a great canvas for visualizing thoughts and ideas.

2. Color coding for calendars

If you manage a calendar and multiple schedules, color coding can be a lifesaver. Create an analog calendar by drawing a grid and numbering the days. You could do this on a Post-it® Super Sticky Dry Erase Surface installed on a wall or on a Post-it® Tabletop Easel Pad if you don’t have free wall space available. Both of these products allow you to customize your calendar to suit your particular needs — dry erase surfaces allow you to create new writable surfaces on walls or tables, and tabletop easel pads give you a flexible vertical surface to display when you don’t have a wall handy.

Next, assign a color to each person you manage — let’s say Molly is yellow — and whenever Molly has an appointment, use a yellow Post-it® Super Sticky Note 2 in. x 2 in. and stick it on the calendar on the appointment’s date and time. Once you’ve internalized which colors go with which people, you’ll be able to see exactly what’s happening with your entire team’s schedule at a glance without thinking — saving time and energy for you to focus on getting things done.
3. Theming with color to help prioritize tasks

Theming can give you and your teams a major boost in productivity, and color can help. For example, you might usually wake up on a Monday morning and wonder what you should prioritize that day. But if you theme your days — let’s say Monday is administrative day, Tuesday is creative day, and so on — you’ll know exactly what to do on any given day instead of wondering. Take it to the next level by assigning colors to your themes. Then, when you have a task, a to-do, or a reminder, you can write it down on a Post-it® Super Sticky Note, Post-it® Page Marker, or Post-it® Flag of the task’s theme color. Wherever you make it stick — your planner, the pages of a book, or your desk — the color will let you know in an instant which theme it’s associated with and when you need to prioritize it. With color on your side, you’ll spend less time thinking and more time doing.`

Using a color framework fosters more freedom, because it frees up your mind to do the real work of generating ideas and delivering the goods. Post-it® Products are the ideal tools to get your ideas out and achieve your goals more productively.