You have surely heard the "Clean desk is a sign of sick mind" quotation. You may have even read my article with that title. Perhaps you heeded my recommendations and you might be enjoying the newly discovered color of your desk. No clutter. No mess. Better focus on the task ahead. But, what about your computer "Desktop"?
For many, the location for most of their email is their email Inbox. Fortunately for them, Outlook offers a find function. For a lot of people, the location of many of their computer files is on their Computer Desktop. However picturesque those colorful little icons may be, their artistic disarray could be a source of wasted time, stress and frustration.
Some may defend the above scenario by saying, that they know exactly where everything is in the pile of icons. Science, however, tells us that our mind subconsciously processes everything in our field of vision. Our brains start worrying about all those files, the work they may entail, or a file, which we may be forgetting about. It translates into more stress.
The more pressed we are for time, the faster we need that file, which is there... somewhere... in that picturesque pile of icons, right in front of our eyes. If only, we could find it. So, we waste a little time (that we don't have) and further increase our stress level. It doesn't have to be this way.
Follow these steps to clean up your Computer Desktop:
1. Create meaningfully named folders for your desktop.
Right click anywhere, in an icon-free area of your screen. In the pop-up window, click New and then in the next window Folder. This action creates a new, un-named folder on our deskto p.
2. Name the new folder.
Give the name a little thought. How best you will find it or remember it? Perhaps a category or group name, which can accommodate like files, or files belonging to a specific client or a project.
3. Start dragging and dropping the appropriate files from your desktop into the newly created folder.
Enjoy the beautiful desktop image re-appearing from under the fast disappearing file icons. Just like, when you discovered the color of your desk after you filed away the accumulated paper documents. Just feel your blood pressure dropping a few notches.
4. Right click again on your desktop and select the "Arrange Icons by" command. Select the desired option(s), such as "Auto arrange" and/or "sort icons by Name".
The above steps will make it a snap to find files and keep them organized. Yet, I don't advocate that your desktop should be the "normal" location for your computer files. The proper place for your files is in yo ur well structured folder hierarchy under system folders, such as My Documents, My Pictures, My Videos, etc. You should limit your Computer Desktop for your "currently worked on" files. Use the desktop as a temporary filing location. Once you are done with a document, move it to its permanent resting place.
One final bonus secret: Do you know how to get to your desktop view with a single click? Especially, when you have many application windows open? On your Quick Launch Bar (usually on the bottom of your screen) look for a little blue-white icon, which says "Show Desktop". Click it and your desktop is revealed, with all other application windows minimized.
Alex Revai, president of Productivity Solutions ( http://productivity-solutions.com ), is a professional organizer, who helps companies, businesses and professionals improve profit, productivity and peace-of-mind. An engineer by training, Alex is also a seasoned business manager with over 30 years of high-tech industry experience. Alex is a member of the Professional Organizers in Canada (POC) industry association. He is an exceptional problem solver and a passionate mentor, who provides hands-on support, as well as workshops and seminars.
Alex may be contacted at arevai@productivity-solutions.com for a complimentary needs assessment and consultation.
P.S.: Any use or reprint of this article (in full or part) requires attribution to the author by way of a hyperlink or by providing the full web site url: http://Productivity-solutions.com.
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