Talk to enough writers and you’ll find we fall into two camps.
Some of us are highly organized. We have a clean desk, an email inbox at zero, and an easy-to-navigate filing system on our computer.
Others of us are a little more chaotic. We have stacks of papers everywhere, an email inbox that doubles as a to-do list, and seemingly no rhyme or reason to how we name and arrange our files.
I have a foot in each camp…
You’ll find multiple high stacks of papers, books, and notepads on my desk… an email inbox that makes my organized husband shiver just to think about… and a very well-thought-out organizational system for my computer files that I adhere to almost religiously.
So, not everything in my work life is cluttered.
But as writers, we sometimes forget that clutter has its benefits.
Can Clutter Actually Be Helpful?
People, in general, tend to solve problems better and come up with more creative solutions in a cluttered space.
And, if you fall into the second camp, even though your organizational system may appear anything but, you probably know right where everything is… and maybe even silently curse any well-meaning household members who try to tidy things up for you.
But, clutter does have its drawbacks. It makes it hard to relax. And, even if your system works for you, it might not be very efficient.
All this is to say, if you function well with clutter, there’s not a thing wrong with that.
But… if you would like to declutter a bit, that’s okay, too. It can feel daunting, though, when the clutter has been building up over the months or even years.
To make decluttering your desk, your inbox, and your computer filing system a little easier, here are five steps that break it all down into manageable chunks.
— Step 1 —
Connect to Your Workflow
Before you start decluttering anything, pause and think about why you want to declutter and what you want to get out of it.
Do you want to have a beautiful, photo-worthy desk? Do you want bragging rights? Do you want to be able to find documents faster?
What you want from your decluttering efforts will affect your approach.
If you want to improve your workflow — which is the most beneficial reason to undertake this process, in my humble opinion — then you need to start by thinking about your workflow, how you want it to be, what’s currently getting in the way, and what you can change to make it more in line with your needs.
Some questions to ask yourself…
What physical things do you need at your desk to help with your workflow? A day planner? A pad of paper and pen for capturing ideas? A fidget spinner to help you think? A whiteboard?
How would you like to handle email messages as they come in, so they don’t stack up?
When it comes to naming your computer documents and organizing them, what makes sense for you, your client load, and how you think about things?
Only you can answer these questions. But having the answers will make the next steps easier.
— Step 2 —
Tackle the Low-Hanging Fruit
Trying to revamp your entire organizational system all in one go can feel more than a little daunting.
Instead, identify one easy thing to accomplish for each of the areas we’re focusing on:
- Your desk
- Your email inbox
- Your computer filing system
If you have stacks of papers on your desk, and you love the idea of having a clean, minimalist space, you can get closer to realizing that dream by taking just 30 minutes to throw out anything you don’t need anymore.
When I do this, I do a gut check on each item. I try to go fast, not giving myself time to overthink. “Do I still need this — yes or no?” If my first thought is no, it goes in the trash.
If your email inbox is overflowing, take a similar approach. Spend 30 minutes and, starting from the oldest messages, ask yourself, “Do I need this — and, if yes, do I need to respond to it?”
If you don’t need it, delete it. If you need it for reference, archive it. If you need to respond, either do that immediately or add it as an item on your to-do list.
If you use Gmail, and you have an overflowing Promotions or Updates inbox, consider selecting all of those messages and deleting them. It’s a little scary, but it feels good when it’s done!
For your computer filing system, think about the biggest buckets you need to get organized. You might need a folder for client work, one for your own marketing projects, one for courses you’re working through, and one for miscellaneous items. Create those folders and then spend 30 minutes sorting your files into their buckets.
— Step 3 —
Make a Plan
There are two reasons to take the rapid-fire approach I outlined in the section above.
First, it builds your momentum. It shows you that you can accomplish a lot in just a little bit of time, and that makes it easier and more exciting to take the next steps.
Second, it gives you some insight into what you need to get organized and stay organized going forward.
Based on what you learn, make a list of the things you’ll need to organize your work documents in a way that works well for you.
For your desk, you might need:
- A pad of paper and a pen
- A weekly planner
- Project binders for printed research
For your email, you might need:
- An app integration that lets you seamlessly move emails onto your to-do list
- A set of rules to help you better sort your emails, so you don’t miss the important stuff
For your computer filing system, you might need:
- An external hard drive to store older files or large files
In addition to the things you physically need, give some thought to the things that create clutter in each of these areas… and make a plan for how you’ll handle each.
For example, you might use a yellow legal pad to brainstorm for a client project, to capture ideas from meetings, and to jot down action items related to the project. But, what happens to that legal pad when the project is done? If you don’t have an answer in mind, you’ll start accumulating a stack of legal pads on your desk from projects that are complete.
Or, you might regularly need to download files from your clients. If you don’t have a system in place for moving those files from your download folder into the appropriate client folder, then you’ll eventually have a downloads folder overflowing with stuff.
— Step 4 —
Implement Your Systems Going Forward
Before you finish cleaning your desk, sorting through your email and organizing all your past files, start implementing your plans for everything that comes in going forward.
By doing this, you’ll keep your stacks and clutter from getting any bigger, and any future headway you make will be more permanent.
— Step 5 —
Schedule a Task Each Week
Finally, plan to do one decluttering task each week and block it in your calendar.
Maybe you sort through the stack of papers on your desk that you felt like you needed to keep and find a home for each one…
Maybe you spend 30 minutes unsubscribing from email newsletters you don’t really read…
Maybe you spend 30 minutes sorting through files on your desktop….
For each next task, pick the one that will be most meaningful to you and commit to it.
It won’t happen overnight, but before too long, you’ll have a desk that’s clean, an email inbox that’s manageable, and a computer filing system that’s easy and intuitive to use!
