How do you save your downloads? Do you save them all in the “downloads” folder by default? Do you save everything in your desktop so that you’ll remember where the files are? If you’ve been working like this, living like this, can you tell in a second where all your files are?
Yes. I said “all.”
I keep track of my downloads and the files I am working on based on the following:
- To name files and some folders: Date + Keyword / description
- To name main folders: Topic / Utility
As someone who, by default, cannot remember what happened last night (unless I check the planner I use as a journal), the method I am going to share with you has done a great thing for me: I can work efficiently.
Because, let’s face it, from the downloads to our phone’s backups, the photos friends send us through WhatsApp and many etcetera’s, our whole life is on our computer. Hence it should be as clean and neat as our house, mainly because…: it is going to be our office.
To do:
First, create a folder in your desktop and name it using today’s date with the formula YYMMDD slash description or topic:
YYMMDD – description
For instance, if today is January 25, 2023:
230125 – desktop to arrange
Second, move all the files in your desktop to that folder
Third, move that folder to your documents.
Now, your desktop is clean, and it is up to you to arrange all those files eventually and to “not” repeat this process ever again.
oOo
In case of emergency
Let’s say Jon has sent you a bunch of files with recipes, because he’s studying to be a bartender and you’re planning a party (or considering to become one, if you’re ADHD)
- Create a folder in your documents and name it “This Should Be Empty”
- Create a sub-folder and name it with the same formula: 230125 – jon recipes
- Save Jon’s awesome drink’s recipes in that folder
If at some point you’ve reached over ten “emergencies” inside “This Should Be Empty”, you are in trouble.
The goal of this method is to always keep our office neat, our life organized. Always. By the time you close your notebook or decide to leave your desktop for the day, that folder should be empty and its content where it belongs
