Organizing Your Digital Life - TPW449

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Organizing Your Digital Life – TPW449

Let’s talk about getting our digital life organized.

Organizing our digital life can help increase our productivity and prioritize our time

Last week we talked about managing distractions in a digital age. Among those distractions would be digital clutter–voluminous emails and text messages, messy computer desktops, open browsers, digital files and photos, and unused apps. One survey concluded that “the average American has about 83 bookmarked websites, 7 tabs or browsers open, 582 saved cellphone photos, and 13 unused apps.” Some of us have a lot more than that.

Digital clutter has its hazards just like physical clutter. One article I read summarized them well: “Digital clutter doesn’t take up physical space (except maybe at a data center in Las Vegas), but it takes up significant space in our heads. A cluttered environment gives the feeling that various things are competing for our attention, which can be mentally taxing and stressful. This makes it harder to focus and reflect, think creatively, and make important decisions.”

We might all have different issues when it comes to digital clutter. Maybe you’re on top of email but can’t find documents you need on your computer. Or your digital photos are carefully curated and organized but your computer desktop is a mess. I thought I’d talk about a few of the most common sources of digital clutter and share some thoughts on how to get them organized.

Email Organization:

Why it’s important:

According to one source, the average professional receives over 120 emails each day, and another notes a study that found that reading and responding to emails takes up to 28% of the average workweek. Another article cites a study that “found that the average American spends just over four hours a day on their email alone, which equates to more than 20 hours a week and more than 1,000 hours every year.”

Consequences of poor email management?

Wasted time looking for important messages that are buried in the mass of emails. Even worse, missed messages.

Tips for better email management (recommended by various sources I looked at!):

Set up folders or labels for different types of emails (e.g., personal, work, bills). In my work email (Outlook), I have a folder for each client, with subfolders for each deal for that client. I also have folders for nonbillable work, and a folder for things to read (e.g., newsletters) when I have time. I use an Outlook plugin called SimplyFile to help me manage emails and file those I receive but also those I send as I send them. I have a similar setup in my personal email, with folders and tags organized around the different areas of my life
Use features like flagging or starring important emails. In Outlook you can set it to add flagged emails as a task with a reminder that will pop up periodically. In Gmail and Apple Mail you can view all flagged emails in a separate view. Remember to delete or at least unflag and folder these emails after you’ve tended to them.
Set up rules/filters to automatically sort incoming emails.
Unsubscribe from unnecessary newsletters and promotional emails.
- If your inbox is currently full of hundreds of old emails, allocate time to cleaning it out. Sort by sender, then bulk delete or archive all old delivery notices, newsletters, promotional emails, any emails that no longer are relevant or meaningful; put others into applicable folders Create an archive folder for the year (e.g. 2021 archives) and move all emails from that year out of your inbox into the applicable folder
Learn how to use the search function effectively.
Establish a routine for email management:
- If you can, limit the number of times you check email each day. Tim Ferriss, in The Four Hour Work Week, suggests an auto-reply you might consider for particularly busy times:

“Due to high workload, I am currently checking and responding to email twice daily at 12:00 pm ET [or your time zone] and 4:00 pm ET. If you require urgent assistance (please ensure it is urgent) that cannot wait until either 12:00 pm or 4:00 pm, please contact me via phone at XXX-XXX-XXXX.”

- During inbox review times: If it can be responded to in a minute or less, do it. When you reply, change the subject line if necessary to make sure it reflects what your email is actually about. Flag or star if it needs more time to respond. Immediately unsubscribe, delete, or archive if/as applicable. Regular times daily to follow up on flagged or starred emails, to check folders that you’ve filtered into, etc. Regular times weekly to read and then delete the “to read” email newsletter, etc.
Use a tool like TextExpander or Gmail’s snippets to create pre-drafted responses for frequently asked questions

Digital File Management:

Set up naming conventions for files and folders to easily locate them later.

Whatever conventions you use, be consistent. When dating, use year.month.date so files will sort chronologically (using a dot instead of a hyphen or slash saves visual space). I have TextExpander snippets for dates in that format so I just type a couple of keystrokes and it inserts the actual date in the correct format.

A professional organizer, quoted in an article on Vox, gives some recommendations and examples: “She likes to start with the date (for example, YEAR.MONTH.DAY) then a few words about the file. Say you’re saving copies of your kids’ report cards; you might use your child’s name and the semester or marking period in the name of the document.”

Create a logical hierarchy of folders to store files.

Keep it simple. One article suggests “create some general buckets of documents you’ll frequently reference, like tax info, rental paperwork, or templates you often use for work.” Ask yourself how you find information on your devices, whether you prefer searching by date, tag, or just the general search function on your devices. Set your files up accordingly

Regularly back up important files and photos to the cloud or an external hard drive. (I use Backblaze.)
Use file syncing services to access important documents across devices. (Dropbox, Box, iCloud, Google Drive, OneDrive)
Schedule a few minutes a day or regular times weekly/monthly/quarterly–whatever works for you–to maintain and clean up your files. On the bemorewithless blog, writer Tammy Strobel shares her checklist for digital decluttering, which she says she goes through once a week:
- Delete mindfully
- Create and manage secure passwords
- Close unused accounts
- Unsubscribe from mailing lists
- Archive or delete emails
- Organize documents based on themes
- Create a tidy desktop by moving files to the cloud
- Upload photos and delete duplicates
- Uninstall unused apps — another article suggests considering the following categories when you’re deciding what to keep and what to delete:
  - Messaging (Gmail, Microsoft Outlook, Apple Mail, Facebook Messenger, Android Messages)
  - Document creation and management (Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Adobe Acrobat, Dropbox)
  - Social media (Facebook, Instagram)
  - Videoconferencing and chat (Slack, WhatsApp, Zoom)
  - Project and task management (Trello, Basecamp, Evernote)
  - Accounting and finance (QuickBooks)
  - CRM (Salesforce)
- Back-up documents
- Empty trash folder. It’s important to do this regularly because (a) deleted items from your computer go into your trash but still exist on the computer (and can take up a lot of space) until you empty the trash; (b) those items could disclose information to hackers
- Take digital breaks – put your devices away for some periods of time

Consider a Digital Declutter:

What it is and why to do it:

“A digital declutter is an audit of one’s entire digital life, followed by removing or reorganizing everything into a simpler, more secure, and more backed up system.” [from How to Declutter Your Digital Life and Reclaim Your Attention]

Just like in your physical life, it’s easier to be organized if you have less stuff.

Benefits:

In an article titled How a Digital Declutter Can Lead to a Better Life, the writer lists 7 benefits: a digital declutter speeds up your devices, boosts your efficiency, improves your focus and concentration, reduces stress and frustration, builds your confidence, gives you back emotional energy, and helps you prioritize tasks. That same article lists (and explains) 8 steps to completing a digital declutter, including:

Back everything up before you start deleting
Delete what you don’t need (“Start with things like promotional holiday emails, spam, apps you don’t use, or even Facebook friends with whom you no longer speak. Then, move on to photos and videos that you’ve already backed up on a hard drive or the cloud. Lastly, get rid of any obsolete documents and files, outdated software, or programs you no longer use, and anything else standing between you and a decluttered digital space.”)
Choose a web browser that lets you erase history, cookies, cached images and files, etc.
Move your mobile apps into folders

Basic Digital Decluttering Techniques:

Regularly clean up the desktop and downloads folder.
Delete any unused browser extensions and bookmarks
Delete or archive old, unnecessary files.
Empty the recycle bin or trash on your device.
Review and clean up cloud storage periodically.
The psychological benefits of a clean and organized digital space.

Online Security:

Importance of organizing and securely storing passwords.
Utilize password management tools. I use LastPass, many recommend 1Password. There are others.
Regular updating of software and apps for security. Software developers release updates with security patches as well as cleaning up bugs.

Last thoughts

Just like physical clutter, digital clutter is in the eye of the beholder. No one says you have to get rid of anything that’s useful or meaningful to you. But also just like physical clutter, digital clutter can distract you, impair your productivity, and create anxiety, all of which can be improved by giving some time and thought to decluttering and organizing your digital life. More ideas and checklists are linked in below.

What do you think?

Which area of your digital life gives you the most headaches? What steps will you take to get better organized? Post your thoughts and suggestions in the comments section below or in The Productive Woman Community Facebook group, or email me

Resources and Links

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