“…a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention…”
― Herbert A. Simon
What is digital clutter?
When you walk into a room and you see piles of paper, piles of clothes or stacks of dishes, you are very aware of the mess or clutter. When you turn on your computer and your desktop is overwhelmed by files and folders and your inbox is stacked with emails, you may not immediately register it as clutter in your conscious mind. But somewhere in your brain, it sees the overwhelm of this visual clutter. On some level you may feel stressed by the thousands of emails in your inbox or hundreds of folders on your desktop, even if you don’t feel like you’re thinking about it.
Different Types of Digital Clutter:
It’s not uncommon for people to have thousands of emails cluttering their inbox. The inbox is used as a “To Do” space for many of us, holding the emails we still need to take action on. If you have thousands of emails when you open your inbox, it gives you the feeling that you have so much to do. Look at those numbers!
People are afraid of getting rid of something they will need again. But they often don’t take the time to evaluate what can be quickly eliminated from the inbox. You’ll find that spam email is mixed in with important emails and emails that require action on your part. Processing and organizing email needs to be a daily task or you will quickly fall behind and see your numbers increase daily until it feels overwhelming.
- Make quick decisions on what you can delete because it’s spam or it’s not relevant to you.
- Create folders for emails that you determine you will need for future reference. Think about these like you would a filing cabinet with paper that is being stored as a resource or reference item.
- If you choose to use your inbox as a holding space for your “To Do” items, be sure to delete emails or move them into folders after they are complete. Your inbox should not be a permanent storage area.
Your Desktop
We’ve all seen, or had, computer desktops that were so crowded with files that you couldn’t see the desktop photo in the background. This turns into another source of stress on some level because it looks chaotic and it becomes difficult to distinguish what we have in front of us. What’s important still and what’s not? This is another area that we should stay on top of daily as we’re using our documents, files and folders.
- Be diligent about only keeping important documents on the desktop that you are using regularly.
- Create “nesting dolls” by having a main folder with folders inside the main folder.
Favorites
At the top of your computer screen, you may be clicking on favorites to save articles, blog posts, websites, ideas, etc. Let’s go back to the nesting dolls I mentioned for the desktop. You can create folders for main topics and then store subfolders related to the main topic inside. For example, I have a main folder for organizing products and then I have subfolders for kitchens, closets, toys, etc. It makes it a lot easier and faster for me to zero in on what I’m looking for.
Back-Up
Ease your mind with an external back-up system that backs up automatically and daily. You won’t permanently lose something through a computer crash, theft or a dropped laptop. People have good intentions with an external hard drive, but you have to be very diligent and consistent with backing up daily. I personally use Carbonite.
Why take the time to deal with digital clutter?
It gets rid of excess or unnecessary chatter that you don’t need to pay attention to. It makes you feel more in control and it’s easier to find what you need which helps you work efficiently and increases productivity.
“Information overload is a symptom of our desire to not focus on what’s important. It is a choice.”
― Brian Solis
