One of the nightmares of the online digital world is the sheer volume of “stuff”. That stuff could be your own products that you’ve created. It might be PLR that you intend to rewrite and use. Maybe courses, Webinars or teleseminars you’ve attended. Reports, bonuses, and a plethora of freebies and giveaways. I’m sure there’s more!
If you are diligent and highly methodical, as you download something you file it to its right place. If you’re less so, it gets dumped into an “I’ll get back to that later” folder and later never comes. Before you know it gigabytes have been swallowed by your lack of systematic administration.
I’m no saint here: my drives (that’s plural) are full of stuff that I plan to do something with … if only I remembered that I had it before I downloaded it again, or can find it again! My drives are in dire need of a genie makeover!
I really hate being disorganized and so here’s a few principles to think about applying. The short slide deck is followed by instructions.
1. STOP downloading! No point adding to the pile until you have it under control. Ok maybe there is a mission-critical course/app/report that you absolutely need. If that’s the case set up a space for it on your drive before you grab it.
2. Draw a line in the sand. From today, anything you download goes into it’s own little repository. Unless you’re disciplined, in which case you don’t need this post, your chances of getting back to sort it later is a risky tactic.
3. Map out a system. Most people tend to use folders and sub-solders to house material in a recoverable manner. You might decide folders by category, product, niche, provider, type. Think about how you normally search for resources and use the filing model.
4. Create a master spreadsheet. This is handy for cross-referencing and keeping track of what you have. It’s also a god too to clarify your rights, your ownership and expenses.
5. Keep backups. Have an external drive or a cloud solution that backs up your data, including your downloaded content and especially your created product. Make sure your backup is actually picking up the data you want – check the settings. Store copies of resource material offline in the cloud for example Dropbox or Copy.com. Dropbox allows you to share and sync your files whereas Copy is designed for storage. Don’t store only an original of anything.
Filing systems are personal – everyone works in a different way so what suits one person may not suit another. That’s why I didn’t want to be too specific or prescriptive here. But if you follow these steps you’ll be far better off and more organized by the end of the year compared to now!
I’m starting to reorganize tomorrow. I’m moving my pre2014 downloads to a SORT folder and will be mapping out folders and clearing that bundle out each day for 30 minutes at a time. Little by little 🙂
This is great. One of my goals of the new year is to get organized in ALL aspects of my life, so these tips are very helpful. Thanks!
Pleasure, glad they were useful. Good luck!
I found myself giggling while reading this because if you knew how many products I’ve actually bought TWICE you would laugh at me. 🙂
My organization has gotten better since earlier years, but I would still say I have too much “stuff” on the 5 drives I have now! 🙂
Great post, thanks for sharing!
Not laughing – I’ve done that myself, Bonnie! It’s challenging to slim down the digital but worth it!
I just had to switch computers and went through all my old downloads and organized them. It is amazing what you save and never use. My biggest tip is that after moving your downloads to their new home, clean out your download folder too!
Great tips Mel, enjoyed reading them.
Good point, Sue. I’m in the process of doing that. I cheated – I moved all my prior downloads to a sort folder and am slowly organising them (or deleting!). Cheers.
I’m the queen bee of downloads. My desktop has numerous folders of downloaded files that I plan to get to someday. At times, I do pull out information and use it for a post or product, but most of the time they just sit there gathering dust. Unfortunately, they were not all free. I probably have a small fortune in products waiting to be utilized.
I think I’d toss you for the queen title :-).
So the question becomes, how can you start to leverage some of those purchases? I am scheduling 30 minutes a day (slow and steady) to identify what to use and put it into my planning system.
Staying organized can be a really good thing or a really difficult task. I know when things aren’t organized for me, I can feel even more stressed than before. It’s weird how the only way to fix that is by actually cleaning up things.
I know, Vincent. Just gotta stop and reorganize to feel back in control!
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