Digital chaos is not different from sorting through your wardrobe. Here are tips for cleaning your digital wardrobe to get more simplified and simple Life online. This post is sponsored by Compass Data Centers.
As I often say in my digital training course materials, the accumulation of digital chaos is a relatively new problem for humanity. Since the computers and storage based on the group of the peers and data centers hardly exceed half a century, these are new limits to solve problems. We have organized cabinets for thousands of years, but we are only in organizing folders and pictures for a few decades at best!
According to a survey of compass databases, 59 % of people prefer to process a tire of dirty dishes than cleaning their digital files. In fact, Americans prefer to clean most of the spaces – their garage, car, or annihilation – over their devices. Why this?
Some of the main reasons are to keep people stalling this important task:
- Fear of deleting something that they might need later
- Stalling / paralysis analysis / fatigue
- Not enough time
So let us simplify this process with something we know how to do it: sorting clothes!
Clean your digital wardrobe
1. Simplify what you have
fact: The least things you have, the least things you have to organize. This applies to clothes in your closet, dishes in your kitchen, and all digital chaos.
Whether you are in your clothes or folders on your computer hard disk, the first step should always be to remove anything you no longer need. This first decisive step makes the rest of the process easier. After good cleaning, you will feel lighter and less storage.
When you go to your wardrobe, you may donate clothes that are no longer suitable, or have signs of weariness, or no longer fit your style. Now, just apply these guidelines to digital chaos.
Methods of simplification to digital chaos:
- Spend week Cancel subscription from unnecessary emails.
- Spend hour Delete the files that you do not need.
- Spend 10 minutes Delete applications that you can no longer need.
2. Organization
Once all the clothes are removed from your wardrobe that you do not need to keep, the next step is to organize the remainder. How to choose to sort your clothes is up to you – according to the style, according to the season, in color. Likewise, choose an organizational strategy for your digital tank. How to sort files and images are up to you: according to the year, according to the category, according to the topic.
Tips for regulating digital chaos:
- Less number of folders Better than many folders. You will have fewer places to check.
- Use The names of the friendly files for the search With keywords. Instead of “IMG4597”, rename the images (in large quantities!) To “2025 Trip to Disney World” or files to “Jane Doach Packing List.”
- Clean your photos By deleting screenshots, repetitions, or blurry images.
3. Prepare a system
In analogy of our clothes, decide how you will keep your elegant tank. If it takes a lot of time and leads to a messy pile, you may decide to hang a set of clothes (jeans and woolen jackets) instead. You may turn your hangers so that you can know the elements you already wear in this season.
If you want to keep digital spaces arranged, then bound by a system you know you will adhere to. Get a reminder on your phone once a week until it is usually.
Maintaining the minimum digital space:
- Access to a zero box on a daily basis. Be honest on the emails you subscribe. Do not use your inbox as a file store. Transfer the information from e -mail to calendar, notes or cloud storage so that you can archive the email.
- Once a week, Sort the pictures I have taken and deleted any not worth saving. Decide how you will provide your precious memories. Here are some tips for storing pictures.
- Don’t save! Every time you start to save something, ask yourself if you really need to save it. If you need to refer to something, can you find it by searching in the web or your e -mail instead?
Want more organizational advice?
Do you want to learn a lot of digital regulation? Check out my free workshop here: How to organize your email, photos and files.