| Reduce Stress - Space Clear Your Computer |
|
|
| Helena Loveday | |||
| Thursday, 14 February 2008 | |||
Folders & Filing Ok, that was the easy bit but hopefully you’ve got into the Mary Poppins-esque swing of things now (feel free to start humming Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious to steel yourself for the steps ahead). Now it’s time to get your digital hands dirty. Organise your files and folders in a way that makes sense to you. You might find that you have the same information duplicated in more than one place on your computer. If this is the case create a new folder where you want it with sub-folders that are relevant for this information and consolidate all the data into these new folders. It might help to think of the way your company or job is structured and emulate this with your folders and sub-folders. Scary moment - delete any files you no longer need, identify what’s important to you, anything you’ve been keeping for more than a year you’re unlikely to need again so get rid of it. Projects that are completed and any vital files or important docs should be burnt to disk. If you have different versions of the same file, eg. Test, TestFinal, TestFinalFinal, it might be helpful to use a date and time stamp as a suffix to keep track of the latest version. When you’ve decided that the TestFinalFinal file is the only one you still need be bold and ditch everything else. Kerb Appeal Your computer desktop is what you’re inevitably faced with every morning and a cluttered one will immediately cause unnecessary stress. Spend some time every so often cleaning out and filing anything that really shouldn’t be there. Try not to save all your work in progress on your desktop, if this is a hard habit for you to break then file it away once you’re done with the task and try to keep as little as possible on your desktop. Correspondence Whilst e-mail has made communication easier and more efficient than snail mail it doesn’t mean that we feel any less stress when it comes to staying on top of our correspondence. Create folders and sub-folders to make it easy to file them, these can be structured in a similar way to folders in the step mentioned earlier. Try to keep your inbox empty. After reading your email flag anything that needs your attention, and file or delete anything else. Make time each day to attend to the flagged items remembering to file them as soon as they’re dealt with. If you find you’re getting too many emails you might want to spend some time unsubscribing from some of those newsletters you find you never get around to reading (not the Harmonious Living newsletter of course). Bookmarks With regular browsing of the internet you probably bookmark or add many websites to your favourites for future browsing, these too can be organised into folders. Again, spend some time reviewing your bookmarks and delete anything you haven’t visited for a while. Uninstall Old Software & Delete Folders Are you really using all the software on your machine? It’s amazing how many demos and trials are just sitting there taking up space, many of them you probably only ever used once before deciding that it didn’t meet your requirements. Uninstall any software you no longer need. Some uninstall programs don’t delete all the related files and folders so you may need to do this manually after the uninstall programme has run its course. For any purchased software that you downloaded, that did not come on a disc in a box, make sure you have burnt a copy of the original install files before deleting. Take Some Insurance One of the biggest potential disasters for anyone who uses a computer is the dreaded crash, the moment when your computer decides that the afterlife sounds like a good idea, and all data is lost. This of course can reach a whole new level of calamity if you don’t have backups, and the mere fear of this happening is the digital equivalent of going on holiday and thinking you’ve left the oven on, like a quietly ticking bomb the stress will gnaw. So make a plan now, you’ve organised everything so why not get into a backing up routine? You should make regular backups of all important data on your machine on a server, external hard drive or even the internet. You can use synchronization software, such as the excellent Syncredible, to do this automatically. Of course if this is your work computer check with your IT department, they should already have something suitable. Clean Out the Garage Now that you’ve deleted or archived all obsolete information you’re probably keeping it in your trash can just-in-case. This is no different to cleaning your house by moving everything to the garage or attic. At some point you’re going to need to remove it more permanently, so go ahead, empty your recycle bin. If you’re feeling insecure, then backup to disc first. Its time to reward yourself for the hard work you’ve just put in and to create a fun and pleasant environment to work in. Aesthetically Pleasing Do not underestimate the importance of aesthetics and the impact it has on the state of your mind, you need to have something nice to look at. A mirror above your monitor might not send out the right signals so instead try some inspiring wallpaper for your desktop. Use a photograph of your family, a holiday snap or try one of our Harmonious Wallpapers. Good Vibrations Put a smile on your face and take some time to chuckle, this Laughing Yogi video on You Tube is sure to do the trick. Keep Going Now that you’ve started why stop at the computer, you might be ready to tackle the desk or even your pedestal, what about the entire office – go for it. The secret though is to try to stay on top of things, if you find yourself getting disorganised or overwhelmed again then its time to revisit this article and its probably a good idea to go through these steps at least once a month to make it easier next time.
Disclaimer: Harmonious Living is written for and read by a community of individuals with strong and independent opinions. While the publishers of Harmonious Living are dedicated to providing a forum in which views can be openly expressed, those views do not necessarily reflect those of the publishers.
| |||
| Related Articles | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|||
Space clearing your computer is no different to space clearing your home. De-cluttering, re-organising and creating a pleasant environment will dramatically boost your productivity and decrease your stress.
This is the powerful story of the author's struggle with Multiple Sclerosis and how a healer's unusual prescription of mindful altruism - to 'give away 29 gifts in 29 days' - ignited her energy, her happiness, and invited more abundance into her life.
