Productivity

Organizing Your Folder Structure

When we last saw our hero (that’s you), information was coming into your life at an alarming rate. And now, you have to figure out what to do with it until you’re ready to use it. In essence, we need to look at how you store your information.

Of course, there are lots of systems out there, and you have to find what works for you. What you’re about to learn here, though, is a system of organization that can be used on any standard computer—or, "in the cloud" systems like Google Docs—and it works because it’s built around two fundamental principles:

• how you think, not how someone else thinks for you.
• a usage mindset, not a storage mindset.

Looking at those two points, it sounds completely obvious. But you’d be surprised.

How You Think

Before you even take your computer out of the box, there’s a lot of stuff already on it, such as applications, pictures, fonts, etc. For most people, that’s pretty transparent stuff; whether you use it or don’t, you take it for granted. However, there’s another out-of-the-box component that most people don’t ever mess around with, and it’s the cause of hours of wasted time, multiple headaches, and the all-too-common facial expression of blankness mixed with confusion that graces most people faces as they search umpteen buried folders on their hard drives, looking for that one file that they know they saved somewhere, but just can’t seem to find… the default folder structure.

Take a look at a standard Finder window, and (if you’re using a mac, as I do) you’ll most likely see something like this snapshot from Apple:

Take a look in the sidebar, and you’ll see the basic rundown: Desktop, Home, Applications, Documents… and sometimes Movies, Pictures, and such (I know Windows has a similar setup, and I tried to find a screenshot somewhere, but Windows user will just have to extrapolate for themselves on this one; it has been years since I was a Windows user, and like someone who got food poisoning at a B-grade greasy spoon, I can’t bring myself to go back and try again…).

The general idea, quite simply, is that applications get stored in Applications, your documents get stored in Documents, and on and on (this is such a ubiquitious structure, that many people replicate it if they start storing information online…). The currency? Stuff.

But does this describe how you think about your work? Doubtful.

Chances are, you don’t think in terms of "documents", you think in terms of projects and people. Rather than stuff,, you think in contexts.

So should you create a Projects folder?

Heavens, no! When you sit down to work, do you think, "I have to get to work on my projects?" Or do you think, "I have to write that article," or, "I have to create that presentation," or, "I’m working with x client this morning at 9:30."? My guess is, the latter.

The idea, again, is to make it easy for you to get what you need while maintaining (or improving) your mental state. The more intuitive your file structure, the less ruffled your mind’s feathers will get while you get to your stuff. So rather than swim through layer upon layer of folders ( Documents -> Projects -> Presentations -> ABC Corp. -> presentation.file ) to get what you need, organize your file structure by how you think. If you think "clients", have a Clients folder, with individual folders for each client. As an example, the structure I use to organize my client files is "Clients -> Last Name, First Name -> 08 (or whatever year) -> 031308.rtf" (for a session on March 13, 2008) … see example below:

When you file by context rather than content, and you’re willing to reorganize a few folders, you’ll find that your file structures become much more intuitive to manage. Here’s how you can do the same:

 

• Have a folder for each of your contexts. This could be "Writing/Web/Graphics", or "Clients/Finances/Groups", or "Workshops/Speeches/Books", etc.
• Within each of those folders, have sub-contextual folders that make sense to you. As an example, within "Writing" could be "Posts/Guest Posts/Books/Handouts", and within "Web" could be "Pages/Graphics/Audio", etc.
• Drag your most commonly used Contexts into your sidebar, put them on your start menu, dock, or whatever gives you instant access to them.

 

Usage, Not Storage

We’ve already begun talking about having a usage mindset rather than a storage mindset; thinking in terms of context rather than content helps tremendously when you’re creating documents and folders. But where this will really save your bacon is when it comes to storing files, photos, and PDFs that you download, are emailed, or find online.

Think about your mindset when you’re in research mode. You browse and search the ‘net, looking for specific information. Then, like a hawk-eyed granny in the "blue-light special" isle at K-mart, you come across the treasure of a lifetime. You grab/click/download the thing, but now, where do you put it? You put it in your Documents folder, of course.

Noooooooo! Don’t do it!

Storing information by content type is silly. And yet so many of us do it out of habit. Why? Because when you’re in search mode, you’re looking for stuff. So, when you find it, you’re thinking, "stuff." You’re so in "stuff" mode that you can’t see past your little squirrel nose, packing away those nuts for a snowy day. But when you actually need to use it, you won’t be in search mode, you’ll be in do mode.

Do mode is the mode of action, of implementation, of productive forward motion. And when you’re in that mode, you’re thinking about stuff differently than when you’re in search-and-store mode. In fact, you’ll be thinking in the same mode you were in when you figured out all your contexts just a minute ago.

Storing information effectively means you need to shift your mental gears from search mode into do mode. Before you save that file, think about when you’ll need to use it, and what context you’ll most likely be in (in some cases, it may be hard to predict, so go with the most obvious one).

For example, let’s say you’ve just Googled "computer organization", and found a blog that linked you to this article. You enjoy my slightly bizarre sense of humor and keen organizational acumen, and you want to save this for later. Scrolling up to the top of the page, you see the "PrintThis" link at the top of the post, and print it as a PDF to your desktop.

• If you were still in search-and-storage mode, you’d probably put this into a folder about "organization" or something (thank god you’re reading this, though…).
• Once you shift into Do mode, you realize that this would best serve you in a "maintenance", or "do this!", or "read me" folder, or some place you use to store information that you want to stay current with, so you would see it again and again until all your habits became good ones, and you now revel in the simplicity of your folder structure, and sing my praises from rooftops (hey, I can dream!).

Get the idea?

Good. Now get in there and think for yourself.

Related posts

• Thought Management, and Simplifying Your Information Intake (10)
• Surfing The Digital Tidal Wave (5)
• A Question of Structure: How Much Works For You? (3)

2008 Viverati.