Benefits of habit “Always organise your files into folders”

✓ Increases productivity
✓ Reduces stress
✓ Reduces time waste
✓ Improves organizational skills

First step:

Create 1 folder today

Progress:

1. Today, create 1 folder and put all your existing files, relating to its name, to that folder. Do so every day for 1 week.
2. Next week, increase the daily folder creation to 2 per day. Move all your files to them as well.
3. Keep it up until all your files are organized into folders and always end up in their dedicated folder

Helpful tips to make it a habit:

✓ Same time is key. To start this habit off well, try having organizational minutes at the same time every day. Eventually, you will have a habit of automatically moving files to relevant folders, but start off by doing it at the same time. Your habit will come much easier.
✓ Trigger your mind. On your desktop, put a large image of folders, or do the same on the lock screen. That way you won’t be able to miss the folder necessity.
✓ Let the app help. If you’re going about this habit by organizing your folders at the same time, set a reminder on this app to ring you up. You may also track your progress on the calendar by marking out the days you missed organizing your files into folders.
✓ Reward yourself. Once you’ve gone a full month of organizing your files into folders without fail, reward yourself by organizing your physical files into same, neat folders on your desk. Extend this organizational skill into physical world and enjoy it to the fullest.
✓ Celebrate small victories. Every time you perform this habit, congratulate yourself! Say “I’m awesome” or “I’m so cool” out loud and with a smile on your face.

Tips for beginners:

✓ Time saving. It might not look like it now, but once you’ve organized your files in a logical way, access to information becomes much less time-consuming. Remember that your time is valuable so stop wasting it on something as menial as searching for files.
✓ Logic. Every one of us has some logical pattern we follow. Your files will reflect that, but there are some general patterns you should follow. There are the process-step-related folders, for example sales, marketing, administration, etc. Then there are client folders by their names. Task-related folders that contain documents related to that task alone. Shared folders are also useful if you and your team exchanges a lot of data.
✓ Serious organization. For more serious clean-up of your files, start by writing down hierarchy of your folders and only then replicate them digitally. Track your daily working progress and reflect it in your folders.