The Best Way to Organize Your Files and Folders
- Welcome to the most exciting video
that you are ever going to watch.
Yes, it is.
And what will we be covering you ask?
Sports cars, explosions,
the top 10 most dangerous bees?
Even better, file organization.
Oh yes friends.
Buckle up because this is going to be one wild ride.
And especially I have access to all this explosion footage
which I am going to apply liberally throughout this video.
(explosion)
Now I should say that this is 1/2 of a wild ride
because there are in fact two halves to your file system.
The files that exist in your computer,
and the ones that exist here in the real world.
And if you're anything like me,
most of the files exist digitally.
And we're gonna cover exactly how to organize them
in the next video in the series.
But due to my very intense study
on game design principles, I have learned
that it is best to start off with the easier stuff.
So today we're gonna focus on your physical file system.
Now my personal physical file system is pretty small
and that is because whenever I get a piece of paper,
my first instinct is to either recycle it immediately
or digitize it and then of course recycle it.
And later on on this video, we're gonna talk
all about digitization and how to do it easily.
But sometimes you're gonna have physical files
that you just need to keep for one reason or another.
Perhaps, it's your birth certificates or your passport.
Or that clipping of a newspaper article that mentioned you
back in the eighth grade.
Gotta keep that for posterity's sake.
Whatever it is, it is time to organize it.
So when it comes to storing physical files,
I use a simple system that consists of three locations.
The main file box,
the inbox and a portable file folder.
The main file box is the place where the majority
of your physical files should eventually end up,
if you're not going to digitize them.
And if you have a lot of papers you need to store,
you could buy a multi-drawer filing cabinet
for this purpose.
However, I find that a single file box
is more than enough for me.
And this is what it looks like.
And now you know why the continuity arrow was there.
Now this file box, and pretty much every single
other one like it is built to store hanging folders,
each of which gets a label.
And that's how you can easily see what's in them.
Now when you're creating your structure here,
I think it's a good idea to try to adhere
to a tree structure where you have a top level
of organization, which is essentially your root
and then for which you can create
multiple, deeper sub-levels or branches.
And personally, I use these hanging file folders
as the top level of my organization system.
I don't really have a whole lot of files
so that's really all I need.
Though there are ways that you could go deeper
if you need to.
The first is to simply put multiple, regular folders
within your hanging folders.
And I actually do have an example of this
because my landlord left this entire file box
with the house that I'm renting
because she is supremely organized.
And honestly, she should be making this video instead of me.
But within her box, each hanging file folder
is actually just a repository for multiple, regular folders.
And each of these folders in here is a place to store
all the manuals and instructions for all kinds of stuff
in the house.
So things like the air conditioner,
the dryer, the hose reel.
Now if you don't wanna use the folders within folders method
'cause you don't wanna buy tons of folders
or you don't want 'em take up so much space,
there are other methods such as
using a piece of printer paper
as a divider between different sections
within your hanging folders.
And to make sure that you can easily thumb through
and see where your dividers are,
you can use these little sticky flags.
I often use these for taking notes in books
and making sure that I can see which page I took a note on.
But if you just take one of these off of here
and then sort of you know stick it
right on your piece of paper.
Then that sticks up and you can put that
into your file folders and be easily
able to thumb through them.
And if you wanted to, you could use construction paper
instead of normal printer paper so it's a little bit,
you know, different feeling from the rest of the documents.
But either way, it's pretty easy.
Now aside from the ones I just mentioned,
there are other methods such as the one
that you can see in this picture
where they're actually using the colors of the folder labels
as an even higher level of organization.
But let's move on to the next location in the system.
The ice box.
Wait, that's not right.
The inbox.
So be honest with me here.
When you get a piece of mail that needs to go
into your file box, how often do you immediately
open up that file box and put it in the correct spot?
I'd wager a guess that it's not a 100% of the time.
And that your kitchen table is often used
as a convenient place to toss things
that will get dealt with later.
Here's the thing.
The first part of that is fine.
And you probably shouldn't be opening up
your file box and finding the exact folder every single time
you need to file at the exact moment you get it.
It's a lot more efficient to have a specific time
blocked out for processing all of your unorganized files,
mail and of course, cryptic messages nailed to your door,
written in cut out magazine letters.
But your kitchen table does not deserve
to be a dumping ground for all these things
in the meantime.
Because that is a job for your inbox.
So an inbox is a simple tray, or a stack of trays
if you really wanna get fancy,
that sits on your desk.
And whenever you get something that needs to be processed
later on, you put it in the inbox.
And then at least once a week, you wanna go through
everything that's in this inbox.
And decide what needs to be done with it.
If it represents a task like paying the water bill,
then you wanna deal with it.
Otherwise, you might wanna digitize it or recycle it.
Or put it in your main file box.
Pretty simple.
And that brings us to the final piece
of your physical file organization puzzle.
Which is the one that travels with you.
So when you're out of the house,
and you're away from your file box and your inbox,
you still need some way to store any papers you get
from work or class, and of course,
from the guy outside your local coffee shop
holding the End is Nigh sign.
He's got some pretty interesting pamphlets
and you should probably take one.
Now depending on the type of work you do
and the classes you attend, your portable file folder
can function either as a portable inbox,
which you wanna clear on a regular basis.
Or as a mini file box that actually holds papers
for a significant amount of time.
Now if you are anything like me,
then you probably don't have any physical papers
that you need to carry with you.
You might have like a physical notebook,
or be carrying a novel.
But you're not actually carrying worksheets
or other papers that you actually need to use
on a regular basis.
And if that's the case, then I recommend
just keeping a single folder in your bag.
This gives you a safe place to temporarily store
any papers that you get when you're out and about.
And it doesn't take up a whole lot of space at all.
And then when you get home each day,
you can move any papers and End of the World pamphlets
that you've received on all of your adventures
to either your inbox for later processing
or into your main file system if you have
a decent amount of time.
But what if you're a student who needs to carry around
assignments and handouts.
Or what if you're a high powered,
slick-haired business person who needs to carry around
well, you know, your business papers.
If this is the case, then I think
a single file folder probably
isn't going to cut the mustard.
Actually, hang on a second.
Anna.
Do you have any mustard?
- [Anna] Yes.
- [Man] Where's the mustard?
- Why?
- [Man] Science.
- Uh,
okay.
You're worrying me a little bit.
- That's enough.
Okay.
Oh my god.
Okay I stand corrected.
The edge of a folder is more than capable
of cutting mustard.
But you still shouldn't use it.
Instead you wanna look into getting a portable
accordion folder.
These give you several folders in one slim
compact package which means they act
as a portable file box that you can actually work out of.
And you can easily separate and organize
all the different papers,
for your classes or very important business deals
and unlike old school binders
with a hard spine, these expand or contract
based on how much you're carrying.
Now before we move on,
I wanna briefly mention a couple of other locations
that you may wanna add to your file system.
The first is what I call a manual's box.
And for me, it's just a regular old cardboard box
where I put things like my piano manual
or my TV manual because I don't like keeping these things
in my main file box since they're bulky.
But they're really aren't enough of them
to warrant a whole new folder system.
Which brings me to a point that I wanted to mention here.
Sometimes, over optimizing one tiny part of your life
ends up taking so much time that you kind of de-optimize
your life as a whole.
So sometimes letting something be a little bit messy
or a little bit, you know, unorganized is fine
because it really doesn't matter in the long run.
So that being said, the second one
that I'm gonna mention here is a safety deposit box.
And you can rent these at banks,
and they can be a safe place to keep things
like the original copy of your birth certificate,
or your passport and the rest of your John Wick coins.
Now I don't use one of these, since I can just store
all of my John Wick coins under the concrete floor
in my basement and because well, they cost money.
But I do wanna mention them because I know
a lot of my viewers live in dorms and apartments
with roommates who don't always take
even simple security matters, like not leaving
the front door wide open, seriously.
So you can consider it.
(upbeat music)
All right, to round out this guide,
I wanna talk about something that's even better
than properly storing and organizing your paper files,
namely, digitizing them.
That's right, it's time to start adopting the,
mostly, paperless lifestyle.
So digitization is the process of scanning
your physical files and turning them into
electronic images or PDFs.
And then from there, you can easily slot them in
to your beautifully constructed computer folder system
where they no longer take up any space in your home
or backpack, but more importantly are backed up
and no longer vulnerable to fires, bullies,
or the random escaped zoo gorilla.
Personally, I try to digitize almost every paper I get,
because it takes very little time to do so.
(explosion) And this is especially true now
that almost everyone has an ultra high resolution
camera built into their phone.
Now in the past, the only ways to digitize paper
is to either to go buy a scanner
or go down to FedEx, Kinko's or Staples
and scan documents there.
But now, you can just use your phone,
which means that you can digitize handouts,
and receipts and other papers, literally wherever you are.
And additionally, if you're using the right app,
you can also automatically send your scans
into your file system with no manual choosing of folders.
So here's how I digitize my files.
And the first thing that I wanna mention
is that for the most part, I send my scans
into my Evernote account, instead
of my computer's main file system.
Why you might ask?
Well all of my article research,
my book notes, my recipes, journal entries,
and almost every other idea that I have
goes into Evernote.
So that's why I choose to send scans there as well.
But there is one other reason.
Evernote makes your scans searchable even if they're images.
Now I tend to upload my scans as PDFs
'cause I often stitch lots of things together
and to like a multi-page document.
But you can also add pictures into Evernote
and it's optical character recognition algorithm
will allow you to search any text in them,
even if it's handwriting.
That being said, I don't actually use Evernote's built-in
scanning tool to do this.
Instead I use an app called Scanbot.
I found that Scanbot's ability to quickly detect
the edges of a piece of paper or a business card,
a receipt, or literally whatever it is that I'm scanning
is a lot better than Evernote's.
And you're also able to scan multiple pages at once.
And then once you're done, then we'll stitch it
into a PDF, which is exactly what I just talked about doing.
And these features makes scanning much faster
but there is one other reason why I like Scanbot so much.
The automatic upload feature.
So within the app settings, you can actually
choose a destination to which all new scans
will be automatically uploaded.
Moreover, you can choose a specific upload folder
or notebook for most of these destinations.
So in Evernote, I've set mine to a notebook called inbox
which is also the place where I create
most new text notes.
And that brings me to the final point
that I wanna cover on digitization.
And this is kind of verging on the computer file territory
but I do think it's good to cover here anyway.
If you choose to upload your digitized files
to your computer's native folder system,
instead of an app like Evernote,
then it might be a good idea for you to create
an inbox folder on your computer.
And some people actually use a digital inbox folder
just like a physical inbox.
They save all new files to it,
and then they relocate them later on
when they have more time.
Now, I don't do this for a couple of different reasons.
One, most of my frequently accessed folders
are pinned to my quick access side bar,
so opening them doesn't really take much time
and more importantly, number two,
a lot of my work involves video editing
and video projects are full of references to footage,
images, music and tons of other files
and changing the file locations for all these assets
can really break a project.
So I don't mess with the inbox folder.
However, using an inbox folder for your automatic
scan uploads is a really good idea.
Because it allows you to scan a document in seconds
and then move on with your life.
You really don't wanna be standing around
in the grocery store digging through Google Drive folders
trying to find the exact right one
for that receipt you just scanned.
Instead, just sit down once a week
and process the inbox folder,
just as you would do with a physical inbox.
And this is exactly what I'd do with my inbox notebook
in Evernote as well.
And when you work this way, you efficiently batch
all of your sorting tasks,
removing as much friction as possible
from the multiple times during the week
where you might choose to make a scan,
which means you become more productive overall.
And this is something that you wanna be doing
in every area of your life.
Looking for ways that you can make things you do
in a repeated basis, more efficient.
Not only will doing this save you time
but it's also a method of thinking in an adaptive way.
And of course, the more time you spend
thinking adaptively, the better you get at it
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Big thanks as always to Brilliant for sponsoring this video
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♪ Da da da da ♪
♪ Dara da da ♪
