Reset Your Digital Office | Part 1

Reset your digital office. Create space for creativity, productivity, and excellence in your day. We will do this by organizing your cloud, desktop, and mobile devices. 

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Digital clutter weighs us down with things that no longer serve us. This happens because we have an “infinite” amount of cloud space to save everything. But, we rarely refer back to them. We save things for fear of losing something we might need later. This practice leads to mental clutter when overused both in our homes and offices. 

Clutter whether digital or physical creates stress, impedes productivity, and slows down our progress forward.

Key for Activities

Completing these activities will not give you the perfect digital office. It will give you habits to implement and tips to help you create space (visually and digitally) to do your best work!!

• ✅ Tasks
• 📌 Tips
• 🔁 Habit

Spend a minimum of 5-10 minutes each day completing the exercises below. If the activity takes you longer, continue or schedule a time to come back to it.

Refresh Your Screens

Refresh Your Desktop 

The best way to make forward progress is to build momentum with easy wins! I often see desktops cluttered with shortcuts. It works for some people, but it makes me cross-eyed. 

If you have a large amount of files on your desktop, it is slowing down your computer. If you have multiple widgets running on your desktop or dashboard, they could be slowing your computer down also. 

SOURCE

✅ ACTION STEPS

1. Remove all unused shortcuts; 
2. Limit your shortcuts to 10. If you have more than 10 shortcuts consolidate them into folders by subject.
3. Choose a new desktop image to reflect your vision and goals for the year. 

Vision bulletin board created with Canva

📌 Most cloud-based apps allow you to tag favorites to easily access frequently used files without creating a shortcut on your desktop.

Refresh Your SmartPhone – Part 1

Does your phone display all the apps available? Or do you use folders? Most app icons are colorful to grab our attention. But all lined up next to each other it can take a minute to find the one you are looking for. 

✅ ACTION STEPS

1. Delete apps you don’t use. If you are hesitant, consider how many times you used it in the last 3 months? If you really need it, you can download it again in the future.
2. Consolidate and organize remaining apps into folders. My folders are by purpose, but I’ve also seen organization by color, person, or subject.
3. Refresh your mobile wallpaper.

📌 Unused apps and accounts leave you open to security and privacy data risks. They slow down your phone by using the battery, cloud, and data. If you delete an app make sure you also close the account associated with it.

Refresh Your SmartPhone – Part 2

How can you make your phone work better for you?

NOTIFICATIONS

Review notifications. Not everything requires your immediate attention. Cues such as ‘red dots’ and alerts distract us and pull us out of our zone.

✅ ACTION STEPS

1. Turn off non-vital notifications. You get to decide when and how you get updates. 
2. Repeat for desktop. We have a lot of technology crossover.

📌 Cal Newport’s book Deep Work shares the benefits of focus without distraction.

FOLDERS (OPTIONAL)

✅ ACTION STEPS

1. Create folders for media. Saves time when you need specific photos or videos.
   • Social Media
   • Albums (Artifact Uprising, Shutterfly)
2. Create folders for notes. I use iNotes to store information I frequently reference.
   • Grocery List
   • Target List
   • Packing List
   • Home measurements (ex: width of the doorway. Helps when shopping for furniture.)

🔁 Automatically create notes in respective folders. Take a photo and immediately move the image into a folder. It takes a couple of seconds vs spending minutes later.

I hope the information and tips shared help you create a system that works for you and your business. Check back later for Part 2 and Part 3 of Reset Your Digital Office!

---

Your Turn

Did you find this helpful? Share it with a friend.