HOW TO ORGANIZE
How Do You
ORGANIZE?
BY ARI MEISEL
T
here’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 less
than 20 and too much as more than 100.
When your file or folder has less than 20
items in it, you need to consolidate. Move
24
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
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 a
diligence and repetition, your dream of
having an organized, highly-efficient filing
system will never be realized.
Getting organized is never easy — I had to
almost die in order to realize the value of
organizational efficiency — 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 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 Pod-cast, on international stages
speaking to thought leaders and influencers.
LESSDOING.COM