How Pain Taught Me to Work Smarter
If you’ve ever hurt your back, you’ll know the pain changes everything — including how you work.
I’ve spent the past few months slowing down, working from home more, and preparing for surgery. Sitting for long stretches isn’t an option right now. And if I’m honest, that’s probably how this happened in the first place — too many hours at a desk, deep in SharePoint libraries and Teams meetings.
But being forced to slow down has taught me something important:
When you can’t work longer, you have to work smarter.
I had to completely rethink my daily systems — how I manage my information, track projects, and stay productive even when I’m not firing on all cylinders.
And as it turns out, Microsoft 365 was built for this.
Below is the exact system I’ve built to keep myself organised across Copilot, OneDrive, Teams, SharePoint, and OneNote. It’s colour-coded, efficient, and surprisingly simple once it’s all working together.
1. Copilot as My Morning Brain
I start and end my day with Copilot summaries — one first thing in the morning, another after lunch.
Instead of wading through 80 unread emails, I ask Copilot to summarise my inbox and highlight anything I actually need to action.
- It catches meeting invites, tasks, and follow-ups in seconds.
- It helps me prioritise without scrolling endlessly.
- And it saves me at least an hour every morning.
When I’m low on energy, that’s the difference between feeling on top of things and drowning in detail.
Pro tip: Use the Copilot dashboard in Edge or Office.com as your launchpad — you can access Outlook, Teams, Loop, OneNote, and OneDrive all from one place.
2. My OneDrive “Traffic Light” System
I’m a visual thinker, so I built my OneDrive around colour and clarity.
I use three main folders — each colour-coded with emojis and labels so they stand out:
- 🔴 Scratch Documents – quick drafts, rough notes, random ideas that don’t have a home yet
- 🟠 To Be Filed – polished documents that are ready to move into a SharePoint library
- 🟢 Current Projects – live working documents or finals I’m actively using
This gives me instant visual feedback on where things belong.
No more “final_v3_FINAL_reallyfinal.docx” floating around aimlessly.
3. Colour-Coded SharePoint Shortcuts
We’ve all been there — you go to save a document, and OneDrive throws up a dozen “Documents” folders.
To fix that, I created shortcuts to my most-used SharePoint libraries, and I colour them teal (my SharePoint colour).
That way, when I’m saving a file, I know exactly where it’s going — personal (red/orange/green) or shared (teal). Simple visual cues make a huge difference when you’re tired or multitasking.
4. Record Meetings + Organise Notes in OneNote
I record all my Teams meetings — not just to rewatch, but because it keeps me from worrying about taking every note in real time.
After each meeting, I save the notes in a OneNote notebook that’s divided into sections by department or project.
That means when I need to check what Marketing decided last Tuesday, it’s all right there — recordings, decisions, follow-ups.
It’s my personal “project memory.”
5. The Post-It Note App: My Thinking Space
During meetings, I keep the Post-It app open on my desktop.
I jot down questions, thoughts, or screenshots as people talk — so I can stay engaged instead of worrying I’ll forget something.
Afterwards, I review the notes alongside my meeting summary and move any actions into Microsoft Planner with a clear deadline.
This quick review step keeps everything tight — no floating tasks or forgotten ideas.
6. A Visual Inbox
Outlook can be a visual nightmare, so I colour-code everything:
- Each project or department gets its own colour.
- Meetings in my calendar use the same colour as the related emails.
That way, when I glance at my schedule, I can instantly see where my time is going — without even reading the subject lines.
It’s simple, but it keeps me mentally organised even on low-energy days.
7. Copilot Dashboard as My Control Centre
Instead of hopping between tabs, I use the Copilot landing page as my dashboard.
From there, I can jump into:
- Teams
- OneDrive
- SharePoint
- OneNote
- Loop
Everything I use daily is integrated in one place, so I’m not burning energy on navigation.
8. Final Documents in SharePoint (Properly Tagged)
Every finished document ends up in a SharePoint library — never in my personal OneDrive.
Each file is tagged with metadata like department, project, or document type.
That means I can find anything later in seconds, even months down the line.
This structure keeps content Copilot-ready and ensures version control, permissions and visibility are all handled automatically.
Check out the following article on how to build this: How to Build a Personal Information Architecture in SharePoint that Works for You.
The Bigger Picture
Pain forced me to design a system that works when I can’t.
And that’s the real lesson here:
Productivity isn’t about how many hours you spend at your desk. It’s about how well your systems run when you’re not at 100%.
Microsoft 365 is powerful — but only when it’s structured around how you actually work.
So whether you’re dealing with back pain, burnout, or just too many projects, take a step back and ask:
How can I make my system smarter, simpler and more forgiving?
Because sometimes, the most productive thing you can do is stop fighting your tools and start designing around them.
✳️ Bonus: My System at a Glance
| Area | Tool | Key Setup |
|---|---|---|
| Copilot | Morning & post-lunch summaries | |
| Drafts | OneDrive | 🔴 Scratch / 🟠 To Be Filed / 🟢 Current Projects |
| Shared Content | SharePoint | Teal-coded shortcuts + metadata |
| Meetings | Teams + OneNote | Recorded + categorised notes |
| Quick Capture | Post-It + Planner | Questions → tasks with deadlines |
| Inbox + Calendar | Outlook | Colour-coded by project |
| Dashboard | Copilot | Central hub for daily work |
| Storage | SharePoint | Finalised, tagged content |
Ready to make SharePoint simpler?
Explore the Simply SharePoint Hub
If this post helped you untangle part of SharePoint, you’ll find more practical guides, templates, toolkits and resources inside the Simply SharePoint Hub. It’s where I keep the downloads and support materials designed to help you clean up, structure and actually use SharePoint with more confidence.
Visit the Simply SharePoint Hub →
Hi, I’m Liza 👋
Microsoft MVP (SharePoint) • Information Architecture Specialist
I’ve been working with SharePoint for nearly two decades, across consulting and in-house roles, helping organisations design, clean up, and scale their Microsoft 365 environments.
My focus is information architecture — the layer that determines whether search works, governance sticks, and tools like Copilot actually deliver value… or quietly make things worse.
Through Simply SharePoint, I share practical, real-world guidance on structuring libraries, designing metadata, managing permissions, and fixing the issues that policies and “best practice” slides never really solve.
Everything here is based on how SharePoint is actually used — not how we wish it was used — with a strong emphasis on foundations that scale and hold up in the AI era.
