Industry Magazine Beyond the Kitchen Door Magazine Fall 2019 | Page 8

HOW TO ORGANIZE
How Do You
ORGANIZE?
BY ARI MEISEL
THERE’S A question I’ve been asked
time and time again and it’s usually some
variation of the following:
How do I organize my file hierarchies?
It’s a good question and one that has
two different answers — there’s one
for email, and there’s another answer for
everything else.
As it pertains to email, you’re all
probably familiar with my opinion:
There should only be THREE folders in
your email:
DELETE
DO
DEFER
That’s it.
But as it pertains to everything else:
Dropbox…
Evernote…
Your Hard Drive… Or — if you’re old-
fashioned — your filing cabinet…
I’ll simply say this:
You never want to have too much or too
little in any file or folder.
To get specific, I quantify too little as
fewer than 20 and too much as more than
100.
When your file or folder has fewer than
20 items in it, you need to consolidate.
Move those items into a similar filing
category that can accommodate an
absorption.
When your file or folder has more than
100 items in it, then you need to BREAK
IT DOWN…by date, subject, file type, it
doesn’t matter — do what you think is
best.
Obsession with organization is
inefficient, but so is sloppiness. When it
comes to filing, finding the balance is key,
and I believe that balance starts with my
20/100 rule.
If you find yourself frequently
struggling with file hierarchies and
organization in general, here are some
additional rules to live by that I highly
recommend…
Don’t Wait
The longer you take to address your
filing/organizational problems the worse
they’ll get. The worse they get, the more
inefficient and frustrated you’ll become.
Keep Categories
Categories within the umbrella of your
hierarchy are great as long as they aren’t
too broad (“documents”) or too specific
(“Receipts — April 1st through 7th 2018”).
I recommend filing by general topic
categories, and going from the broad to the
more specific (“Finances — “Receipts” —
Q1 2019”).
Remember the 20/100 Rule Applies to
Subfolders
The 20/100 rule doesn’t just apply to
individual files, it applies to subfolders
as well. If your umbrella category is
“Clients” but more than 100 different client
subfolders fall within that categorization,
find a way to break them up, like “Clients
2017” and “Clients 2018”.
Name Practically
Whether you find yourself naming
individual files or important folders, keep
8
names short and sweet. Don’t take that as a
license to forgo detail or specificity, but long
names are going to be more of a hindrance
than a help, guaranteed. This is especially
true if the files/folders named are going to be
shared (like a company Dropbox account).
Stay Steady
Whatever system you ultimately elect
to put in place, it’s important to practice
consistency. The rules you create for
structuring your file/folder hierarchies need
to be just that — rules. Without diligence
and repetition, your dream of having an
organized, highly-efficient filing system will
never be realized.
Getting organized is never easy — but
it is 100 percent worth the effort. Try
implementing my 20/100 rule today and I
promise you’ll start reaping the benefits
sooner than you think.
Ari Meisel
Ari is the best-selling author of “The Art of Less
Doing“, and “The Replaceable Founder.” He is a self-
described Overwhelmologist whose insights into
personal and professional productivity have earned
him the title, “The Guru’s Guru.” He can be heard on the
award-winning Less Doing Podcast, on international
stages speaking to thought leaders and influencers,
and for those who prefer the written word, Ari’s blog
posts on Medium offer immediate and actionable
advice for entrepreneurs seeking replaceability.
Lessdoing.com