Organize your Workspace to Organize your Work.

Have a PC or a laptop? You download a document or transfer a photo to your system, and where do you first place it? “Ah for now, let me put it on my desktop, I’ll move it later!” And it remains on the desktop till the number of icons on the desktop makes you go crazy! Then you make a folder ‘Desktop files’ or if you are like me ‘Others’. And then comes a crucial time when you need ‘that very file’ and “Oh God! Where did it go? I have 5 – 6 folders by name Desktop Files!” I’m sure you can empathize with the above situation. So what do you do?

1. Get organized from Day 1. (Don’t get disheartened if you’ve already been disorganized. It’s still not too late. :) )
2. Trust me, doesn’t take too much time to keep your system neat and organized (I agree my room is not clean enough, but my laptop definitely is)

Let me first introduce you to the culprits who make you lose files – or rather keep them so safe that you yourself can’t find! Meet them here

• Downloads – You quickly download something and put it on your desktop, or you open it directly from downloads folder and it remains there forever.
  How to avoid this? If you’re using Firefox browser, the default setting is to save the downloaded files to ‘downloads’ folder. Change it to “Always ask me where to save files (Firefox menu -> ‘Options’ -> ‘Options’ -> ‘General’ tab is where you’ll find this setting)
  For Chrome – Chrome Menu -> ‘Options’ -> ‘Under the hood’ -> ‘Downloads’ -> ‘Ask where to save each file before downloading’ and so on for other browsers. Now when it asks you each time you download, kindly do not choose desktop, create a folder if need be and dump it there. A stich in time saves nine remember?
  Not to forget to rename the file to something that makes sense to you while saving it. If you’re downloading too many softwares, you’d usually install them right away and forget what they were named or where you saved them. Maintain a ‘Softwares’ folder and remember to download every single software into this folder and rename them. Trust me, your friend or colleague might ask you for the same software and they’d be impressed at your speed of finding them :)
• Files transferred from a pen drive or external hard disk – General tendency yet again is to put it on the desktop. Be cautious. Choose a relevant folder or create one. You’ll love yourself for it another day!
• Word documents, Spreadsheets, Presentations or any newly created file – Here, apart from choosing the right folder, it’s equally important to name the file correctly instead of naming it ‘New’, ‘Sample’ or leave it ‘Untitled’.
• Photos and videos – B drive, C drive, D drive, E and F also may be, will contain at least one photo, or worse even, contain a folder ‘Photos’ each. Best way to solve this is to keep each drive for a different purpose. One entirely for college/office or anything related to college/office (Yes, even if they are your photos with college-mates) Another folder – completely personal – which has nothing to do with college or office.

This should do, for a start. One tip to conclude – The best way to compel yourself to keep your desktop clean is to put a desktop wallpaper (Stretch) so beautiful that you wouldn’t like to dirty it with icons and icons all over. I suggest a photo of someone you admire…. Could be yourself as well! So here’s me, wishing you luck! Do let me know in your comments if this helped. If you can catch hold of few more culprits, do pour in your thoughts. :)