Organizing For A Stress Free Weekend

bymydeas

66 followers

3 years ago

Every week, I deal with around a hundred or so files. These are new files, old files, image files, text files, template files, asset files, and a ton of other files. Throughout the week, I make a complete mess of my hard drive. So, I try to set aside every Friday to organize for the next week. This doesn't always work. If I run out of time, then I usually have to work through the weekend. But, in most cases it does work even if I am up really late. So, here is what I do.

1. Clean Up

I commonly forget to do this but it is important. Throughout the week, I take random notes and I have to save the files in case my computer restarts. Most of the notes are only useful for a day or two, so they are not necessary to keep long term. I go through these files on Friday and move any important notes to my 3 mile long "To Do" list or any other file they should go into. Then I remove the unneeded files. I also make sure that my other files are where they need to be and have been updated for the week.

2. Get Ready

The next thing I do is plan out what needs to get done the following week. I have a folder set aside called "working on" which is where things go while I am working on them. I have a ton of files and this is the best way to deal with things in small sections. I move any files that need moved to this area. If any new files need started, I get those started. I mark on my "To Do" list which items I am going to be working on. I make a list of any files that can not be moved but will be needed for the next week so that I can open them at the beginning of the week.

3. Chill

After I have done all of that, I run a backup on my drive. This can take a while considering the number of files that I have. I actually do two backups because I have trust issues and my drives have crashed in the past. Not fun.

So, this is what I do to make sure I don't have to worry about work on the weekends. I have to try not to underestimate the amount of time each task will take. If I don't, then I run out of time through the week. How many files do I have exactly? Last I checked it was over 100,000 files. So, you can imagine that being organized is kind of important. Naming this many files is a whole other story. I won't even try to get into that.

I am also not going to get into how to organize this many files efficiently. I have never found a great way to do this. If it was just photos, then a theme and the date would work great. But, it is multiple file types used for multiple reasons that need to be accessed on a constant basis through multiple programs. So, there is no way that is a "one size fits all" kind of thing with this. My only suggestion is that if you have multiple files that go together, have something in the name to indicate that they are for that group. If they somehow get moved out of their folder, it is a mess if you don't have the names set up well.

I hope this helps anyone who might need it. :D