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Clear the Clutter: Computer Files · The Daily Writer

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Daily Rider Podcast, where we bring you tips and inspiration each day to help you build habits for writing success.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: For more resources, including your free Daily Rider Starter Kit, visit DailyRiderLife.com.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're continuing our Clear the Clutter series.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so far we've focused on cleaning your physical environment, but today we want to start focusing on cleaning up your digital space, starting with your computer files.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: As a writer, you don't want to spend all your time looking for files and information on your computer.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: You'd rather be writing, you'd rather be creating.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to share five simple tips to clear your computer clutter and help you be a lot more productive.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Here we go.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Number one is clean up your computer desktop.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: So I use a MacBook Pro and I love Apple products.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: I love my Mac.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's wonderful.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: And one of the cool features is that I can take screenshots really easily.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: And well, you can, I'm sure you can do that on PC as well.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: But I love how Mac makes it really easy to take a screenshot.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: And whenever I take a screenshot of something, it goes onto my desktop by default.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of stuff actually just goes on my desktop, on my Mac.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I drop other files there as a handy reference in the short term.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like if I need a file in the next five minutes, I'll just dump it on desktop and then I'll I know exactly where it is because I don't keep a lot of files there.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: But what happens is that over time it does get a little bit cluttered.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: So it's important to move those files from your desktop to their proper home in your filing system or delete those files if you no longer need them.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of times I'll take a screenshot and it's just something I want to upload to social media or whatever, and I forget that it's there, and then I'll look at my desktop and I'm like, oh my gosh, there's like 25 random screenshots there.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I just go through and delete those.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: And that's important because not only is it digital clutter that's taking up space on your computer, it also just looks cluttered.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: And there's kind of nothing worse than opening up your computer and just seeing a bunch of clutter there.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: It kind of has a way of just kind of making you feel a little bit down.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: Or, or maybe that's just me because I'm like a highly anal retentive person.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: So who knows?
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever the case, it's probably not good to have a bunch of stuff just on your desktop.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, number two is organize your files into a few big folders.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: And what this does is this keeps things very simple and uncluttered in your list of file folders.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: And instead of having a long list of more specific files that you got to search through constantly, just have a few that relate to the big areas in your life or in your business.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I have what I would just call major file folders for the following areas.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: I have one for clients, one for the Daily Writer Club, one for the Daily Writer Podcast, one for writing in general.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: That's where I keep articles, books, that kind of stuff, one for business, and then one for personal.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: So that's how I organize my big files.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: And then, of course, within each of those, within each of those larger file folders, I have a bunch of uh file folders for more detailed things.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: Number three is use numbers in your folder titles to create a hierarchy.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: So the folders that I access most frequently on my Mac are clients and daily writer club.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm in those folders almost on a daily basis.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: So the reason I'm not in my writing folder very often is because my writing stuff is the vast majority of that happens either in Google Docs or actually most the client stuff happens in Google Docs a lot of times.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: For stuff that I that is my own writing, for books and other content that's mine, as well as for this podcast, that happens in Scrivener.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: So Scrivener has its own deal that's you know unique to Scrivener.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: So in terms of file folders, I don't access my writing folder really that often.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: But I do access my clients folder on a daily basis as well as the Daily Writer Club.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: And for the Daily Writer Podcast, I'm in there a couple times a week because I batch create stuff for the podcast.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: And what I do is I have a numbering system that I use for those.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: So the way that those folders are actually titled is I have it titled 00 Space Clients.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then I for the Daily Rider Club, the folder is labeled 01 Space Daily Rider Club.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason I do it that way is so that the clients folder, which is the folder I access most frequently in my file system, I do it that way so that that one is on top.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: And the way that that those are organized in a list is that it's just that's the first one that pops up.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I do it that way just so I can access the most frequent folders that I get into so that those are actually on top and it's just more convenient that way.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: I know all this sounds probably kind of anal retentive, which is fine, but um if that's useful to you, then I think uh that might be something for you to consider.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Number four is to delete files that you don't need.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: So for years and years, I kept this folder on my computer that was basically, I'm kind of embarrassed to admit this.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: It was this just file folder of dozens, and at some point it got to be well over a hundred free PDF downloads that I hadn't gotten from different websites.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it was a guide to this or a guide to that or a free checklist or an assessment or whatever it was.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and for the longest time I didn't really know what kind of a business I was building.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I would download like every free PDF, you know, with somebody's newsletter and that type of thing.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I offered those things too, by the way.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I had accumulated a lot of those things.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so I've pretty much just deleted all those because I just don't need them anymore.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: And if I ever need them again, I can go find them on the internet somewhere.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if it's a digital file, somebody on the internet has it somewhere and you can probably get to it.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm a big fan of just deleting stuff that you don't really need.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Number five is backing up your files to both a cloud drive and a physical drive.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: So this isn't really related to clearing the clutter, it's more just related to organization and really running a business, I guess.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: But I do think this is important because we're talking about computer files.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's really important that you back up your computer.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, sometimes I'm really surprised at the people I talk to who don't have any kind of a way that they back up their computer.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: It just absolutely blows me away.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: That is such a simple, basic, essential task of anybody who uses a computer.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'm really, really shocked when I come across somebody that doesn't have their computer backed up.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Or when I hear of a friend whose hard drive crashes and, you know, they're all distraught and they go into hysterics because they've lost all this stuff.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then somebody, you know, in in the Facebook post or on social media or in a conversation, they'll ask, Well, didn't you have all this stuff backed up?
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: And the person will say, Well, no, I didn't have any backups.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I just want to beat my head against the wall because I'm absolutely baffled by people who don't back up their computer.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you're a writer or if your job depends on your computer or if you use your computer a lot, which all of us do, why wouldn't you have it backed up?
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just honestly completely baffled by that.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: So, what I'm begging you to do, what I'm maybe begging is a little strong.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's actually not too strong.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm begging you, as a writer, to make sure your computer hard drive is backed up somewhere.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I have mine backed up in triplicate.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I guess I have it backed up really in duplicate, I suppose.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: But I have three copies of everything that lives on my hard drive.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: I have what's actually the material that's actually on my hard drive, and then I have it backed up to Dropbox, and then I have it also all backed up to an external hard drive.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Now on Macs, and I know you can do this on PC as well, but for Mac in particular, they have an app called Time Machine.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's a really cool feature of Mac that makes it super, super easy to back up your whole hard drive.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I've got an external hard drive that's plugged in via USB, and I it's set to back up several times a day, actually.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I love that because I know that if my hard drive crashes or something goes awry, that everything is going to be backed up into Dropbox and an external hard drive.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: So if one of those happens to fail, then I'm not gonna be hosed because I make my living doing writing and client work and you know, membership and podcasts and all that stuff.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: My digital stuff is really, really, really important.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm sure it is for you as well.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: So make sure that your computer hard drive is backed up.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Now, let me share a bonus tip before I wrap up this episode, and that is in terms of clearing the clutter and getting organized, I encourage you to have what I would call a holding space for notes and ideas.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: And what I'm talking about here is basically just having a dumping ground for stuff that it's an idea that you have in the moment, or you're in a meeting and you've got to take some quick notes, or just kind of a holding space.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: What I do is I use the notes app on my Mac and also on my iPhone.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: I use both of those really on a daily basis, several times a day.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: And whenever I need to just jot down an idea or um I want to take some quick notes, I almost always just use the notes app.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I love it because it syncs instantly to the cloud, so it's always updated on both of my devices.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I use it all the time.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's super, super handy.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: You can access it very quickly.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: But then every month or two, I will go through all those notes because every month or two I'll have, you know, 50 or 60 or a few dozen notes that I've accumulated.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll put those into Evernote, which is my digital brain, or I'll dump those into Scrivener if they need to go in there, or Google Drive, or Google Docs, or wherever they need to go.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: The point is just have a quick dumping ground where you can put stuff really fast.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Don't use your email for that because if you've got 6,000 emails that are just notes to yourself, you're gonna be massively stressed out.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna get to email actually here in a couple episodes and how to deal with that.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: But I encourage you just to have a dumping ground on your computer and on your phone and then go through that dumping ground occasionally and do something with all those notes so you don't have this list of 5,000 uh notes and that kind of a thing.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: They need to go somewhere else where you can find them easily.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: The notes app is not a permanent storage location, by the way.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: You should not treat it that way.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Neither is email.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: The reason that people get stressed sometimes about these kinds of things is because they're using things as permanent storage that should not be for permanent storage.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: Email is is for messages that should be sent and received and then deleted or put somewhere else.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: Your inbox should not be, you know, this giant long list of notes to yourself.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: The notes app should not be a list of things that's you know 6,000 items long or 6,000 notes long.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Use those as a temporary holding place for things and then put those in a more permanent place like Scrivener or whatever your system is.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't really matter what your system is.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: I just encourage you to have a system where you've got a space for these little notes and little things, and then you're gonna move those somewhere else.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Since we spend so much time on our computers and our devices, it's important to declutter occasionally, not just decluttering our physical space or our homes or offices, but our digital space as well.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I think if you keep things simple, it makes it way, way easier for you.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: Then again, this is why I just have a simple file folder system.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: I have a simple holding space for my notes, and then I do something else with those notes.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Keep it simple, keep it organized, keep it clutter-free.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: And when you do that, you can spend a lot more time on writing and building your business and not so much time looking through files and trying to find stuff and trying to overcome being really disorganized.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: Here's today's challenge.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: Today's challenge is I hope that you follow through on all these tips, but the most important one by far is keeping your computer hard drive and keeping your files backed up.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't already do that, I want to encourage you to sign up for a cloud-based backup service like Dropbox.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: Do that, but also have an external hard drive so that your hard drive is actually backed up in two other places.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a big fan of redundancy with your computer files.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: Don't just have them one place, have them two or three places just in case, because your life as a writer depends on your digital files.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: And if you lose those, you're going to be really host.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: So don't let that happen to you.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure and back up your stuff.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening, and I'll see you tomorrow.