With a well organized office file you should be able to find any document in 30 seconds or less. The same should be true of your computer. Your hard drive can be a powerhouse of potential. When clutter takes over we lose the ability to utilize our computer for daily productivity.
Here is how I organize my folder structure.
Home Folder
My home folder holds all my other ‘root’ folders. Everything I do starts here. It’s pretty much set up the same as any other computer. Pictures, movies, etc…
What really is at the core of my organization on my computer is my Documents Folder.
Documents Folder
In my Documents Folder I have folders set up for each area of my life: work, study, design, bookeeping, etc… You can see this is where I keep the “Temp” and “To Read” folders I talked about yesterday.
- The Computer folder holds all files and documents that only have relevance to my PowerBook.
- The Design folder has sub-folders for all clients and their projects I’ve done.
- The Financial folder holds electronic receipts, tax-forms and other spreadsheets.
- The IHOP folder holds all the documents and templates related to my life at IHOP, such as the outline macro template, and all the files and notes related to the onething conferences.
- Misc Docs is just that: Miscellanious.
- The Personal folder holds electronic journal entries, files for our support raising, health insurance info, and a few other random things.
- The Work folder doesn’t hold anything right now since pretty much all my work files go into the design or IHOP folders.
Bible Folder
With the ever-expanding superabundant notes and teachings available it would be foolishness not to keep them and organize them. Within my computers Bible folder is a virtual library of outlines, commentaries, classes and topical studies. I have tried to set up these folders to facilitate the easiest organization of all my Bible notes, though it is far from a perfect science. (That’s why spotlight is so great.)
Tomorrow I’ll show you how easy it is to spruce up your Mac with custom icons.
Phil said:
Shawn you have an uncanny knack of posting articles based on the exact things I’m in the process of refining or altering! I’m looking at the way I organise my files, hoping to find a good combination or a loose hierarchy and spotlight comments or tags. Finding the time though is the issue to do it all!
Posted on April 17, 2007 at 9:02 am
Ducky said:
Little tangent based on your “Bible Folder” screenshot: what Bible program do you use?
Posted on April 17, 2007 at 9:19 am
Jo said:
Great collection of new icons. Once you download the program, (AquaBlend) how do you attribute the new folder icons to their desginated folder? (Diggin’ the tighy-whities on the personal folder
)
Posted on April 17, 2007 at 9:31 am
Jo said:
Nevermind… got it!
You just drag to where you want to use the folder and rename right? 
Fun…
Posted on April 17, 2007 at 9:36 am
{Shawn} said:
@ Phil: I don’t use any spotlight comments. I tried it at first when I got Tiger but it seemed like too much trouble.
@ Ducky: I have Accordance but don’t use it very often. Almost all of my personal Bible study is done on paper.
@ Jo: I already have a post lined up for tomorrow on custom icon setup. It is easy to do, but it’s not dragging and dropping.
Posted on April 17, 2007 at 9:42 am
Yuri said:
Shawn, thanks for taking the time to do this. This is really helping me out. I’m enjoying the freedom of having things organized. I’ve applied these things at home and now at work. Now I’ve got more time to do the fun stuff …
Thanks!
Posted on April 17, 2007 at 12:23 pm
{Shawn} said:
@ Yuri: I assume by ‘fun stuff’ you mean read and comment on The Fight Spot, right?
Posted on April 17, 2007 at 1:23 pm
Aidan L said:
Wow, you look super organised! I like to think that I am decently organised, although after looking at yours I am not as organised as I perhaps thought!
I will be sure to apply these organizing methods ASAP, it will help me a lot, I am sure.
Posted on April 17, 2007 at 3:25 pm
Yuri said:
Yes, Shawn, that falls on the ‘fun stuff’ list.
Posted on April 17, 2007 at 4:58 pm
Marc said:
All this mac talk makes me question my purchase of a Dell. I have read nothing but great stuff about macs. I do not even own a mac but enjoy this post immensley.
Posted on April 17, 2007 at 7:44 pm
Idhrendur said:
@Shawn: 30 seconds, eh? I’m lucky if I get into my documents folder period in that time. Of course, it would help if I didn’t too many programs running on too little RAM all the time.
@Marc: Even if you don’t question buying a PC, always question buying a Dell. Dell is pretty much the worst thing to happen to computers since Packard Bell.
Posted on April 17, 2007 at 8:11 pm
Dennis said:
Good stuff Shawn!
Posted on April 17, 2007 at 8:13 pm
Caleb Vaughn said:
@Marc: I would recommend getting a IBM/Lenovo computer, of all the PC manufacturers, they are one of the best for quality and durability.
Posted on April 17, 2007 at 9:03 pm
{Shawn} said:
@ Marc: If you are contemplating getting a Mac let me help you out: the answer is yes.
Posted on April 17, 2007 at 9:39 pm
jamie said:
thank you
Posted on January 18, 2008 at 6:20 am