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Digital Minimalism

Jan 10
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Simplify Your Business with Effective Systems

By Blog, Business Organizing, Digital Minimalism, Digital Organizing No Comments

Looking to simplify your business with effective systems but not sure where to start?

 

Picture a digital workspace where chaos and clutter are replaced with streamlined effective systems. You can finally close down the tabs in your brain and your day-to-day operations are easy. An efficient business workspace for you and/or your whole team to easily navigate!

 

Below, I’ll be guiding you through the art of creating effective systems to simplify your business. We’ll cover the three basic steps of setting up highly efficient systems in your business. This includes defining a pathway to save time and optimize your workflows.

 

To begin, it’s important to think carefully about how you’ll be setting up strategic storage of digital assets. The key word we’ll focus on here is retrieval; specifically HOW and WHERE you will find what you’re organizing.

 

Next, I will help you draw up a plan of action. Don’t worry, we won’t be going back to your dusty digital files from a decade ago. We’re going in with a bite-sized approach starting with TODAY and MOVING FORWARD!

 

Lastly, we’ll be crafting an efficiency plan to keep it all together for years to come. Say adios to chaos and embrace a workspace where sophistication meets simplicity!

Get started on organizing your folder structure with my FREE Digital File Cabinet PDF: Click here to download!

 

Keep reading to learn how to create effective systems that reduce clutter and simplify your business. You’ll soon enjoy saving time, closing the open tabs in your brain, and working with ease.

 

 

Simplify Your Business with Effective Systems

 

 

1. Determine the WHERE

Write a list of everything you use in your business (a starting point is listed for you below). Ask yourself the following question for each category:

 

Where will this be stored or filed so it can be easily found and shared?

 

Now brainstorm where will you store and organize your…

  • Notes and ideas (Google Drive, Asana, Evernote, OneNote, Reminders App, Google Keep, etc.)
  • Frequently visited links (Bookmark folders, spreadsheet, etc.)
  • Passwords (Lastpass, 1Password, spreadsheet, etc.)
  • Files, videos, course content (Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, iCloud, etc.)
  • Digital assets (Canva, Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, iCloud, etc.)
  • Tasks and projects (Asana, Monday, Notion, ClickUp, Trello, etc.)
  • Receipts (Evernote, Google Drive, etc.)
  • Apps (Folders, groups, pages, etc.)

 

 

2. Plan the HOW

At this stage, you will have drafted a simple outline for your categories and where you may store everything. Take a moment here to think about any frequent roadblocks you encounter in your workday:

  • What often causes you to lose momentum?
  • What distracts you?
  • What is your team constantly asking you to resolve?

 

With a defined list of frictions at hand, ask yourself the following question to come up with resolutions to simplify your business for each one:

 

What are the exact steps I will commit to taking in order to increase efficiency?

 

Where can I…

  • Make duplicates or clones
  • Create a template
  • Automate
  • Delegate
  • Downsize
  • Create an SOP

Benefits of Implementing a System

  • Easy to store
  • Easy to locate
  • Easy to grant access
  • Easy to share
  • Easy to edit
  • Easy to duplicate
  • Easy to delegate
  • Easy to automate

Important Reminders

  • Start your adjustments TODAY and moving forward
  • Your systems will be imperfect to start and improve over time
  • Document what you are doing as you go for recurring tasks so you can create SOPs later
  • Create effective systems to simplify your business that are duplicatable and scalable
  • When in doubt, write it out

 

 

3. Get it GOING

As Barbara Hemphill once said, “Clutter is nothing more than postponed decisions.” The best way to combat clutter is to take action against it. Motion leads to momentum, and once you get going, I know you will be inspired to continue to simplify your business!

 

First, you must accept that you’re going to go through a bit of a process to make it to the other side. Since clutter did not happen overnight, decluttering is not going to happen overnight either. Organization is a lifestyle not a one-off kind of thing.

 

Think about how your life will function once these effective systems are in place. As well as the little habits (see below) you will implement to keep it running smoothly and stay organized.

You have now brainstormed WHERE you’re going to organize your business’ digital assets and planned out HOW you’re going to simplify your business. Equipped with this blueprint of effective systems, you are more than ready to take the first steps today!

 

While sorting your files, if you encounter a roadblock with your new system, remember to refer back to the questions from step two. Use these to untangle your thoughts and don’t hesitate to write it out if you need to.

 

If you’d like some support along the way or are ready to streamline your business even further, join our community in Organize Your Business.

This is our community-focused course where you can meet other business owners like yourself with similar goals of:

 

✔️ A smoother, more productive workday where you have quick access to all of your frequently used bookmarks and web tools

✔️ Implementing a simple solution for storing passwords securely and accessing them seamlessly across all devices

✔️ Creating the systems your online business needs for effortless file retrieval and managing your team’s flow of content creation

✔️ Obtaining a personalized plan for scheduling important tasks throughout your week and then letting go of the rest, guilt-free

✔️ Setting up a structure for easy file, photo, and content retrieval, with confidence that your team can navigate it

ORGANIZE YOUR BUSINESS →

 

 

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Tips for Working From Home Effectively

 

 

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Dec 12
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The 5 Daily Digital Habits of Successful People

By Blog, Business Organizing, Digital Minimalism, Digital Organizing No Comments

Ever wonder what the 5 daily digital habits of successful people are, and how you can start adopting them today?

 

If you’ve experienced the overwhelm of desperate searches in the depths of your digital files… keep reading, this one’s for you!

 

The frustration of navigating through an unruly inbox or a cluttered desktop is a commonly shared struggle. It’s not easy to avoid in our hyper-connected world today. The constant incoming emails, habits of saving everything to the desktop for “later,” and the perpetual fear of losing important information – it is a digital jungle out there.

 

Inevitably, your digital files will soon enough become a mess. It gets so overwhelming that you don’t even know where to start picking through.

 

Below, we’ll delve into the very real challenges of digital disarray. As well as combat each of the 5 struggles with an even stronger habit to overcome them. Also known as the 5 daily digital habits of successful people!

Being digitally organized is not just a matter of convenience. It’s a key to reclaiming your peace of mind and boosting your overall productivity. Allow these 5 habits to be your compass in navigating the sea of digital clutter. Together, we’ll work toward guiding you towards a more streamlined workspace and stress-free digital experience.

 

 

Here are The 5 Daily Digital Habits of Successful People:

 

Tip 1: Schedule Dedicated Email Time

 

Getting up first thing in the morning and going straight to check your phone is going to derail your day. Not to mention heavily impact your productivity.

 

Seeing all the emails that you have waiting is never going to do your mental health any favours. Avoid diving digitally head first upon waking up. Instead, schedule two or three times a day to check your email regularly. This first habit of the 5 daily digital habits of successful people creates space in your schedule. Now you can work on improving the other four habits. Make sure you implement this as soon as possible to be able to move on to the others!

 

During those blocks of time, you can quickly process your emails. Review them, reply to anything that takes less than two minutes, schedule appointments into your calendar, and so on. Whatever it may be, just get it off your plate, then archive it out of sight.

 

Tip 2: Avoid Computer Desktop Clutter

 

Don’t save files to your desktop and leave them there to deal with later. This is not one of the 5 daily digital habits of successful people, as staying successful means staying organized.

 

What happens when you save files to your desktop, you may ask? Your desktop becomes a big, cluttered mess. It may appear convenient at first. But there is only so much room for convenience until it becomes in-convenient to find what you’re looking for. We have the ability to create folders for a reason, right!

 

Once it piles up, then you’ll say, “I’ll deal with it later.” But as we all know… later doesn’t come. Then it’s just a huge, annoying, time-consuming, daunting task. Let’s face it – it’s overwhelming to deal with a cluttered computer desktop!

 

So do yourself a favour and deal with it in the moment. Save your files in a folder that makes sense to you. The next time you go to retrieve that file, you will be able to find it.

 

Tip 3: Implement a File-Naming System

 

If you are already practicing a system of where to save your files, it makes it a lot easier to name your files. And to find them again!

 

You may want to file them by date format or alphabetically (A – Z). I highly recommend that when you’re naming the files you use a space, underscore, or dash between keywords. You can also use a capital letter for each word. This makes it easy for you to scan quickly. It’s a whole lot simpler to search for your files when you separate the keywords in the file name.

 

You won’t waste any time searching through your computer again. It will be much easier to find your files the next time you need to access them!

 

Tip 4: Save Files Where They Belong

 

Saving your files immediately where they belong in your folder structure is quite possibly the most important habit.

 

To use the default computer Downloads folder, make an agreement with yourself to only save files there temporarily. Know that you can do a quick delete after you’ve used what you need.

 

I delete the contents of my Downloads folder about once every 2 – 3 weeks. It’s not information I need to save. This releases any stress about having important files randomly saved in there or needing to spend time-saving them beforehand. My files have already been saved into my folder structure the moment I downloaded them.

 

Tip 5: Filter Email Subscriptions

 

Create a filter in your email system for subscriptions. You can thank me later!

 

This last habit of the 5 daily digital habits of successful people is a simple automation. Predetermined emails will skip your inbox and go directly to the folder you set up in the filter. You won’t have to process them one by one manually, which is going to save you time every single day. You can adjust your filter settings for specific email addresses to be forwarded directly into a label or folder in your email upon arrival. This is a great hands-free way to declutter your inbox.

 

To view the sorted emails you can simply go to your subscription folder at your leisure. And the emails are not cluttering up your main inbox!

This week, put into practice the 5 daily digital habits of successful people! You will definitely see a massive difference in your productivity in only one week.

 

You won’t have anything piling up, causing you stress, and wasting your time anymore. Maintaining digital organization does require consistent effort, but the benefits far outweigh the initial investment of time.

 

What is your top tip for keeping digital clutter from piling up? Share with us below!

 

 

 

 

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Organize + Level Up Your iPhone for Better Productivity

 

 

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Oct 10
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Organize + Level Up Your iPhone for Better Productivity

By Blog, Digital Minimalism, Digital Organizing No Comments

 

It’s true a lot of people find their devices distracting, but what they don’t know is, that when you organize your iPhone for better productivity, the distractions seem to fade away!

 

Have you ever stopped to think about how the clutter on your phone might be adding more stress to your life? The clutter and constant notifications on your phone are like hidden stressors, and they weigh on you in more ways than you realize.  But we don’t want stress here! We want to  eliminate the stress, especially from our phones.

 

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Let’s first acknowledge that our phones play a crucial role in our lives. From managing business tasks to staying connected with employees, they’ve become indispensable.

 

One thing I do to prevent a problem from even budding is I tell myself, “I want to use my phone as support in making life easier.” By setting this intention, I can more easily avoid it becoming a vortex of distraction.  I use my phone to literally run 80% of my business (because I’m out and about so often), so I’ve set it up to still be able to support me when I’m not at home.

 

Below, I delve into how you can effectively organize your iPhone for better productivity. This aids in making it a stress-free tool that can both enhance your productivity and simplify your life!

 

 I highly recommend that you grab your phone while reading this so we can organize your iPhone for better productivity together!

 

Organize + Level Up Your iPhone for Better Productivity

 

Subscription Cleanup

The first thing you can do to organize your iPhone for better productivity is to start reviewing the apps on your phone and checking for any running subscriptions you have. Open your phone’s settings, click on your name, and consider whether you truly need them all. Unsubscribe from unnecessary subscriptions.

 

You can also check in here when your subscriptions are renewing. If you’d like to keep them until the end of the term, set a reminder in your calendar to come back and cancel them before that date. By doing this, you not only save money but also free up space on your device. Let’s start deleting!

 

 

Free Up Storage

Next, navigate to your phone’s settings. Go to “General” and select “iPhone Storage.” You’ll see a breakdown of how your space is being used and it will even recommend what you should delete!

 

Now, you probably have a lot of apps and videos eating at most of it. I know for me, I’m always having to delete those! To free up some space, identify which non-essential files consume the most storage and delete or offload them. Make sure to uninstall any apps that you’re not using, too.

 

If you want to go a step further while you organize your iPhone for better productivity, you could also move some apps to your library so they’re not cluttered on your home screen. Here’s how you would do that: while on your home screen, when it says edit/remove app, you click that. It will ask if you’d like to delete the app or remove it from the home screen. Since we still want to keep it, we’ll choose the latter. And poof! All gone.

Additionally, don’t forget to back up your photos to a cloud service like Google Photos or iCloud. I’ve set up my phone so my photos automatically back up to Google Photos. When I go into Google Photos, I can see at the top that it’s backing up. 

 

Once it takes them from my phone and puts them up in Google’s cloud, I go into my laptop to make sure that they’re all there. Then I go to my storage in settings and hit empty, delete from this phone. It’ll permanently delete all of them and you won’t be able to recover them. This is why I use my laptop to always double-check that my photos have synced up to Google Photos before removing them!

 

 

Tame Notifications

Overwhelming notifications cause disruptions to your focus and increase stress levels! To combat this while you organize your iPhone for better productivity, go to the “Notifications” section in your phone’s settings and fine-tune your preferences.

 

I like to use a Scheduled Summary to stay on top of my notifications. This means that I just get a summary of everything at a pre-scheduled time, instead of everything all at once. For minimizing distractions during the day, I love this method!

 

You can also scroll through all of your apps and edit their notifications individually. Then you won’t get any of those stress-inducing red bubbles reminding you that you have 20 text messages and 432 emails that you haven’t read! And for some less-necessary apps, it may be better to actually disable badges entirely to avoid the constant reminder of pending notifications.

 

Customize Your Home Screen

 Now up to organize your iPhone for better productivity is the home screen. Your home screen should support your specific daily needs and goals. Organize your apps in a way that makes sense to you, based on how your brain works. For example, if you’re someone who likes to color code your apps, then go ahead with that!

 

Utilize folders to group similar apps together, create shortcuts for quick access to what you use most often, and make custom widgets to display important information at a glance. I use a combination of all of these, and I love the widgets on my home screen. To make them you swipe way over to the right and hit the plus sign. There are preset ones in there or you can customize them yourself.

 

I recently set up a widget for my decluttering and chores of the week! I brainstormed my weekly tasks thinking, “Okay, I need to take our recycling to the depot… I also need to declutter my kitchen counters and do my Sunday reset… And sometime this week I’d like to go through my books to free up some space… I’m also in the midst of decluttering my phone…” When I’m done, I schedule it to send me notifications on a particular day and select the time.

The other thing I really like is shortcuts. One of mine is Focus Time. When I’m doing some work and really want to get focused,  I set that timer for 50 minutes and it’ll play my focus music. Then it’ll remind me to get up and have a drink of water to stretch. We all know that if you just keep on going and going all day long, your attention actually decreases! So you want to make sure that you’re taking regular breaks while working. And when you organize your iPhone for better productivity, you’re helping just that 🙂

 

I also have a shortcut that goes to my weekly filming tasks. In one click it takes me to Asana where the tasks reside and I can just scroll to my “Youtube to Record” section and everything is here for me. It’s all at my fingertips! Whereas before, it would take some navigating around with five clicks or even more to find it. The message here is – make your home screen a reflection of how your brain works and use it to streamline your daily tasks!

 

 

My Favorite Apps!

 

First Page

The first page is for productivity, things that I want to have front and center every time I open my phone. I used to have social media here in a group, but I found it was too tempting to open them. Keeping these time-sucking apps harder to reach really helps support me in staying focused on what I want to accomplish during the week! When you organize your iPhone for better productivity, keep this strategy in mind for apps you’re susceptible to over-using.

 

 

  • Fuel For Fat Loss with Simone Lovell – All of her recipes, each day’s workout, weekly meal plans, track water intake
  • Reader – Forwards newsletters to the app to unclog inbox, can read them at my leisure, not getting distracted on the internet/social media since I can read right inside one app
  • LastPass – Store all of my passwords, access from all devices, secure storage, safely share logins with my team
  • Google Drive + Google Photos – Use for my business, store + share content with team, keep client files and photos, access from all devices, automatically backs up, keep course materials in one location
  • Google Keep – Great note-taking app, packing checklists, current project checklists, grocery lists, Costco list, can add fun little emojis, keep track of errands, easily share lists with others, it works perfectly for my needs
  • WhatsApp – Free international messaging/calling/video-calling, can create groups + communities, use for team communication
  • Asana – Project management, keeps track of daily/weekly/monthly/yearly tasks, both personal + business, connect with team, stay on top of project phases, organize launches, store my to-do’s for clients

 

Second Page

The second page on my phone is for business. I’ve created some groups for finance, filming, shopping, video, and all my social media. I also do a lot of shopping (sourcing products for organizing projects) so I also keep shopping and shopping-related apps quite accessible. Think about which useful apps you use most often next to your every-day ones and while you organize your iPhone for better productivity, place them on this page.

 

  • Amazon – Client product sourcing, personal shopping, client errands, finding specific items on demand
  • Google Maps – For getting to client homes, figuring out quickest routes, general navigation
  • ReadWise – Compatible with Reader/Pocket/Instapaper, connects with Kindle, when I’m on my Kindle I can highlight information and store it all here to repurpose
  • Kindle – Have created a shortcut for this, my current reading (Deep Work by Cal Newport), whatever book I want to read I can have right at my fingertips
  • Clockify – Use with my on-site organizing + remote teams, track client hours, I’m able to download those for my invoicing, saves me a lot of time
  • StoCard – Keeps points cards in one place, literally just scan your code from the app, uses a barcode system, less weight in my wallet!
  • Reminders – Tasks, errands, things I need to remember, ideas
  • Sortly – Use this for my business, all of my products are inventoried here, it’s a paid app, I can simply scan a barcode when I’m on-site to move it out of my inventory or put it into a client folder, can download a client’s product list for my invoicing (it has the prices, totals it all up, and puts it in a CSV file), it’ll tell me when I’m low on a product
  • Gmail – Email communications, business + personal use, newsletters, client correspondence, purchase tracking
  • Google Chrome – Secure internet browser, transfers my bookmarks to any device I’m logged in to, has my settings saved, has my shipping information saved for purchases
  • Messages – SMS communications, business + personal use, text subscriptions, appointment confirmations + updates, client correspondence, business team communications

 

Third Page

 My third screen is more personal. I love to see old photos pop up as highlights from three, five, seven years ago. It’s just kind of nice 🙂 I’ll flip through those to enjoy the spotlights  and sometimes Google Photos even creates these great little videos for me! For this page, organize your iPhone for better productivity by keeping the apps you enjoy using and that are useful here. This page is mainly groups, which I’ll list below.

 

 

  • Group: Books – Different book apps, different features
  • Group: Fitness + Wellness – All of my medical apps, health apps, step counter, water tracker
  • Group: Entertainment
  • Group: Music
  • Group: Travel – Anything to do with travel, a few weather apps
  • Group: Apps for Label Makers – I have the Cube + the Brother Cube, it sends from my phone to my little cube label printers
  • Google Photo Scan – Digitizes physical paperwork or art, takes four scans of kids artwork and it will compress them together into one clear scan, takes photos of kids pottery projects, scan in and get rid of miscellaneous papers that you’ve had for 10/15/20 years, create a photo book
  • Growth Day – I love it and that’s IT! 🧡
  • Shortcuts – Creates your shortcuts, you can change the name, choose the scripting, change the color, tell it what the next action is + what it’s automating for you, there are some preset shortcuts, you can also take a preset and customize it the way you want, all sorts of fun things!

 

 

These super-smart devices have the potential to be powerful allies. When you organize your iPhone for better productivity, you transform it into a seamless extension of yourself. This helps you to achieve your goals and stay organized!

 

As you can see, I keep my phone very lean and clean, I strictly use it as a tool to help my day go by a whole lot smoother. It also helps me be more productive and minimizes distractions. It has just been an absolute game-changer for me since I added these groups and created shortcuts. Explore these apps and see how they can simplify your life too!

 

Let me know in the comments below  which productivity app is your favorite, and what widgets or shortcuts you’ve created that really make a difference in your life!

 

 

 

 

 

Like this article?

You’ll love this one👇🏼

10 Ways To Stay Productive At Work Over the Holidays

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