The Top 5 Things NOT To Do When Organizing Your Digital Life and Business

Common Mistakes Many Business Owners Make When Trying To Organize Their Digital Life and Business

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You've probably seen A LOT on how to organize your “digital stuff”, but today, I'm going to be telling you the things NOT to do. 

There isn't a perfect way to organize anything, BUT there are certain things that you can do that will dramatically decrease your productivity. So in this article, I'm going to share with you five don'ts for organizing your digital stuff. 

DON'T NUMBER ONE:

DON’T use your desktop to store your files. 

Otherwise, it'll look like your filing cabinet blew up on your computer screen.

DO put the files where they belong when you're done with them. Preferably before the end of the day. 

DON'T NUMBER TWO:

DON’T use your downloads to store your files.

You'll end up with an endless list of documents and you will have no idea what they are. …and they'll take up space on your computer. 

DO put the files where they belong after you download them.

DON'T NUMBER THREE: 

DON’T use your web browser as a way to try to remember to do things. 

I know, I know, you don’t want ‘to lose’ that page.  

You’ve found that really cool dress that came up on an ad and you have no idea how to get it back if you lose it (so the tab stays open), you have an email that you want to answer but don't have time right now (so the tab stays open), or you’ve been researching your project but have to switch to work on something else… you MUST keep all those tabs open so you can revisit them later, right?!

What if, BAM!, your computer accidentally shuts off or you lose power?  Or worse… the rainbow wheel of death…?

Do you ever really go back to those tabs? 

DO copy that dress link, email, or sales page into your task management system so that you can remember where to find it… and actually do something with it. You can use your browser history to return to any page you have visited when you return to your research AND you will be so much less stressed!

DON'T NUMBER FOUR:

DON’T try to remember your passwords.  You may be able to remember every work to Hold On by Wilson Philips, but your passwords don’t have the tunes to help you out.

We have enough to remember as it is and trying to remember 80 passwords is just going take up too much of your brain power. 

DO use a password program or app to help you out. 

LAST BUT NOT LEAST ... DON'T NUMBER FIVE:

DON’T use your inbox as your to-do list.

PSA - Using your email inbox as part of your to-do list DOES NOT WORK.

Do you have 3,500 emails in your inbox? Maybe 135,000 or more? That's totally okay, no judgment here. If you keep things that need action taken on them inside of that inbox, they will get lost and forgotten. Can you leave them there to go back to? Sure, whatever makes you happy.  I too keep mine in my inbox until they are complete.  

BUT… don’t expect that keeping them there will get your to-do items done.

DO put those emails in your task management system. If you use something similar to Asana or Trello, typically you can use the email-to-board function and it can put that information directly into your task list.  If not, simply add a task to whatever system you use so that you don't have to worry about remembering to do that email.  This will reduce searching and get the email tasks completed rather than them sitting in inbox purgatory. 

So we're done with the digital don'ts. If you'd like some digital do's, head on over to this video right here 👇 to get more digital organizing hacks.