Written by Ursula Hurn, Digital Organizer
Best known for her skill in digital organization, Ursula Hurn is the IG OrganiSZer® creator. Her online courses teach SME owners how to implement her system to maximize the value of the content they create for business promotion, through Instagram. She has over 30 years of digital experience, a wealth of knowledge and offers practical application.
Do you ever feel frustrated because you can’t find that file you worked on yesterday? You painstakingly created that important social media post and now you don’t know where you wrote the caption. You’re not alone when it comes to ‘losing’ digital files or being surrounded by digital chaos. Research has shown that employees can spend up to 5 hours per week searching for computer files.
Many of us, ranging from students to solopreneurs to CEOs, spend too much time looking for incorrectly named electronic files or those inadvertently saved in the wrong place. If this is one of your frustrations, this article will give you 8 practical tips on how to overcome this problem. They’re simple, easy to implement and will work for anyone.
What is ‘doing a digital Marie Kondo’?
If you’ve Googled how to organize your home, Marie Kondo is a well-known name that pops up. She developed, through her own experience, systems to help everyday people organize their physical environment. I’ve developed similar systems to organize digital environments and I’ve used the term ‘doing a digital Mari Kondo’ because it gives people a frame of reference for what I do. For those who know of Marie Kondo’s Konmari systems, this phrase provides an ‘aha’ moment, in a digital context.
Why we struggle to find files
Misplaced things can be found by using something called triangulation. One dictionary definition is “a method of finding out distance and position, usually on a map, by measuring the distance between two fixed points and then measuring the angle from each of these to the third point”. According to a University of California Berkeley study and a 1994 article published in the New York Times, squirrels can triangulate from 300-400 landmarks to find hidden food, however they still only find about 26% of what they have hidden! Humans can only use 4-5 triangulations. This is in the physical world, so what hope do we have of finding anything digitally! Implementing and following a system solves this problem.
5 causes of digital chaos
Digital chaos can be insidious. It doesn’t happen like the ‘Big Bang’, it creeps up on you and one day, once again not finding that file, you suddenly notice the digital chaos around you. How and when did that happen? In my experience, the 5 top causes of digital chaos are:
always just saving files to your computer desktop;
using unclear or non-descriptive filenames;
not saving files that relate to the same thing in the same place;
not having well-thought-out folder structures; and
inconsistency with filenames and where they are saved!
8 steps for digital organization
If things are a mess, it’s not going to take 5 minutes to fix, but implementing a system and following it will get things sorted out faster than you think. The key is starting and being consistent!
1. Make a decision to organize and commit
Do you see the value in and want to be digitally organized? If you’re a ‘No’, stop reading right now and go and get a coffee. If you are a ‘Yes’, once you’ve finished reading, set aside some time, take a closer look at what needs organizing and commit to getting it done. An hour per day for a week or two should be sufficient, depending on the size of the issue.
2. Analyze the chaos
Take a helicopter view of your digital chaos, familiarize yourself with where your files are located—in your OneDrive, Google Drive, desktop, My Documents, wherever they are, find them. Get a sense of what is where and what needs to be organized. Don’t get into the nitty gritty of individual files at this stage.
3. Decide which files are important
Once you’ve determined file locations, decide where the value lies in organizing. Some files will not add any value to your business or you personally if you organize them. Move all of those files into one folder and leave them be—now you know where they are. Use a descriptive folder name like ‘Archived’ or ‘Sort later’, something that makes sense to you and will still do so, in six months’ time. Adding a date is an easy way of indicating when you moved them. I use numbers like 0524 for May 2024, etc. Never waste time organizing files if there is no value in it. If, for example you need to keep files for tax purposes but they’re in a mess, move them into 1 folder with an explanatory name like Tax Files 2020-21. Don’t waste valuable time organizing them. Now you are ready to create value by organizing your most important files.
4. Use sensible folder structures
Categorize personal and business files into separate main folders. Use ‘Personal’ and your business name as the main folder names. Create subfolder structures for each using explanatory names. Subfolders in your main Personal folder might be Banking, Correspondence, Family, Insurance, Kids, Passports, Recipes, Travel, etc. Your main business folder might contain the subfolders of Admin, Clients, Marketing, Products, Suppliers etc. Once you’re happy with the folder structure, move these important files into the relevant folders in each main category. Once done, start organizing individual files into sub-subfolders, again using sensible, explanatory folder names.
5. Use consistent naming conventions
If you haven’t used specific file naming conventions, come up with something that makes sense in the context of what the files are for. For client files, use the client’s name in every file you create for them, followed by the purpose of the file and the date, as described above i.e. Jones – Kitchen Design 0523.jpg. If you accidentally save the file into the wrong folder, the name will highlight the error. Renaming existing files might not be worth it but using naming conventions going forward will save you time and frustration. Being able to find important files may also save you money!
Computers organize files alphabetically. To dictate the order, use numbers in the filenames. For files or folders used more frequently, prefix the name by 01. or 001. (depending on volume of files), keeping them at the top of the list. Several files with the 01. prefix will be organized alphabetically after that. To further dictate the order, name them 01. Filename, 02. Filename, 03. Filename, keeping them in number order irrespective of the subsequent alphabetical order.
6. Use abbreviations
If you can, use abbreviations as descriptors. When creating content for my Instagram account, I use the abbreviation IG for Instagram, IGR for a reel, IGS for a story, IGP for a single image post and IGC for a carousel post. The filename indicates what type of content it is.
7. Keep notes
Document your folder structure and filename conventions in something like OneNote. In the future, if you are working with a VA, other assistants or team members you will be able to show them your system so that they can implement it, maintaining your consistency.
8. Be consistent
Once you’ve created your system—be consistent! Implement it with each new file or folder and your digital world will remain organized with little effort! Inconsistency is the 1 thing that will create chaos faster than you can say the word.
Start organizing today
You may wonder why it’s important to be digitally organized—two reasons—time and stress. Most of us are short on the first and overloaded with the second. Digital organization allows you to reclaim your time, giving you more time for the important things and provides peace of mind and control in knowing where all your important electronic files are. If you’re ready to start your digital organizational journey but need some guidance, book a digital coaching call today. Let’s simplify your digital world, dive in and together provide you with your own system giving you the relief from stress and the timesaving benefits my experience can bring you.
Read more from Ursula Hurn
Ursula Hurn, Digital Organizer
Ursula Hurn is an expert in digital organization and systems. Being a lover of people, she understands the frustration and time-wasting that digital disorganization causes, especially when business owners don't believe it's a skill they can learn! With a burning desire to help SMEs succeed, her student- and client-base is international and she believes everyone has the ability to get digitally organized. She is only as far as a Zoom call away.
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