First things first…HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! People usually this time of year consider a physical resolution (as an example, I’m trying to take up running….again). My issue with Resolutions is that they are intended as things that you can start or stop doing with the will of short term projects, but they are life-changing goals. Goals like “I’m going to give up smoking” or (ahem) “I’m going to take up running again.” The problem with these resolutions is that most of the time, we start the year with a head full of good intentions and then when the rubber hits the road, most of us give up cause it’s too hard. Digital goals are the same. Some of the ones that I’ve heard are things like “I’m going to clear out those 4,000 e-mails from my inbox” or “I’m going to tackle that pile of paper and set it all up.” Again, good intentions but large and lofty goals like that usually end up failing. The problem is that people try to take on too much in too short of a period. If you were going to the gym, you wouldn’t walk in (having never been before) and start with 400 pound weighted squats. You’d break yourself in half!
Clear out that e-mail!
Dealing with the e-mail is something that I continue to struggle with. There is just SO MUCH OF IT, and there is a continual stream that comes in every single day. Indeed, at this time of year, we will have all just gotten rid of the “Happy holidays! Here is a discount at our store!” e-mails, only in time for the “HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! Here’s a discount at our store!” e-mails. All of this background noise gets lumped in with the legit e-mail that you are looking for. Trying to separate the digital Wheat from the chaff can be a tedious task, but very necessary. Having a well-organized e-mail system will only make your life easier. Having just a massive pile of e-mails in your inbox causes nothing but craziness. Something that I do is use my inbox as a todo list. All of the e-mail that I keep on my todo list are bills that I have yet to pay or documents that I need to file, so you can imagine for me, having all the other things that come to you through e-mail absolutely drives me crazy.
Here’s my challenge for you. If you are experiencing the same thing that I am, try taking this year and piece by piece, clear out your inbox. What I would advise is once every three months or so, take 20 minutes to an hour, and get rid of everything in your inbox. You will easily be able to see the flyers that you don’t need or want, the documents that you want to save, and the personal communication that you want to keep. By the end of the year, you will get into a mode where every once and a while, you will look at your e-mail and be able to take a small amount of time and clear everything out.
Consider removing the paper that is sitting on your desk right now
The amount of paper we STILL receive on a day to day basis is crazy. I have signed up to receive all my bills through e-mail, and STILL, the mailbox outside my house is full nearly every day. For the most part, the mail that I still get hard copy falls into two different categories. The first group are flyers advertising everything from house painting to people who want to sell my house for me (I don’t want to move btw…). Those types of things are straightforward to deal with. I recycle them and barely give them a second thought. The second group is a bit trickier. These are documents that I do need to have somewhere.
This is why I like my scanner/shredder solution. I’ve talked before about how important it is for every household to have a scanner. It’s a critical piece of equipment that allows us to make any related files that we have in hard copy, digital. There is no time like the present, and that pile of paper will not get any smaller, so I would advise tackling it. When you’re done with the paper, of course, it has to go somewhere. For me, 90% of my paper ends up in my shredder. Its a quick and easy solution (to say nothing of oddly satisfying) to trying to find a place for your documents once you don’t need them anymore. The only papers that I don’t shred are legal documents (Things like my will, tax documents and such) that I am required to keep a hard copy. Once all those documents are gone, I find that my desk is cleared off and is MUCH easier to work at when it’s not covered in paper.
Consider removing the files that are on your Desktop
Now that you’ve gotten rid of all the physical paper on your desk, you may want to take a look at the pile of icons on your DesktopDesktop. The stuff that’s on your Desktop, typically is stuff you’re working on, can pile up if you don’t manage it properly. To be clear, I do like keeping things on my Desktop. I like it because it’s right there in my face and easy to access when I need it. The problem with keeping so much on your DesktopDesktop is that it slows down your actual computer. Having things on your Desktop means that you are saving them to your hard drive. The other problem is that if it’s on your Desktop, then you won’t be able to access it from the cloud. If you are like 99% of the people around the world, you work on multiple devices, and you will need to access your work from anywhere. Saving to your Desktop means that you can only access it in one place. If, however, you are one of the rare individuals who only works on a desktop, First of all…seriously? Secondly, if you only keep your documents on your Desktop and you go around with your computer, you risk dropping your laptop. If you drop your laptop, you risk breaking the hard drive, and then all of your files will be lost. Having them on the cloud in the first place prevents your reliance on once piece of hardware.
Instead of keeping the actual documents on your Desktop (and therefore your hard drive), you may way to consider saving all your documents to your Cloud account. With them on your cloud account, your hard drives will be freed up to run your programs much smoother. If you REALLY need to keep something on your Desktop you do have the ability to create shortcuts. For Windows users, go into File Explorer and right-click on any document. you will see an option that says “Send to,” and when you hover over that, it will say “Desktop.” Left-click on that, and you will see an icon with the file name appear on your Desktop. The only difference is that you will see a small arrow on the bottom right side of the icon. This indicates that what is on your Desktop is simply a link to your file, which is saved on the cloud. Mac users don’t have the ability to save links on their Desktops, but Mac has figured this issue out by merely making your Desktop available on iCloud instead. This means that if there is anything saved on your Desktop, it’s also saved to the cloud automatically.
New Years is a time to celebrate. New beginnings, new possibilities, and new things we can be doing to make your life better. Before you go skydiving of picking up a new sport, may I humbly suggest you take a look at your desk and consider making your digital life a little more organized. Not for me, not because I told you to, but because it will make your experience better. For now, I wish you a happy 2020, and may this year bring you joy and happiness.
What are you going to do this year?
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