Episode 043 - Disorganization Will Kill You

And I'm not saying that you have to be like super duper organized with everything labeled, but you know, if you're a victim of, you know, coming to your desk and like, well, where is that thing? Or you know, on your computer, like I knew I had my logo file, where is that? And you just spend so much time wasting on that, then you can tell that you're obviously not going to be the most productive with it. And we're back with another episode of the Welcome to the Ebullification Podcast. We're going to be talking today about the importance of organization, not only in your business, but in the marketing that you do. I'm a strong believer that if you're disorganized or your workspace is disorganized, your files are disorganized, you're not as productive. Would you agree?

Absolutely. Yeah, it's, it's the exact same thing with me. And I mean, even, you know, before I go to bed at night, if my room is a mess, I, you know, your, your brain is just, you know, reflecting that space, right? So when you think about your business and all the tasks you have to do, if you're not organized, then your brain's gonna be messy.

Mm-hmm, and I'm not saying that you have to be like super duper organized with everything labeled, but you know, if you're a victim of, you know, coming to your desk and like, well, where is that thing? Or, you know, on your computer, like, I knew I had my logo file, where is that? And you just spend so much time wasting on that, then you can tell that you're obviously not gonna be the most productive with it.

Yeah, exactly, and I mean, in my life at least, and I'm sure you'd probably agree with it, the best way to be organized is to have systems that you follow consistently, you know, whether it be file organization on your computer, having a system that you're following, you know, your to-do list, having a system that you follow consistently is what I have found to be the only way to stay organized and, you know, be consistently organized.

It's going to take a little bit of time and effort and repeated doing of that to really get in that habit of doing it. And you mentioned file organization, organization, you know, that's huge. And I see a lot of people will just do things like, like copy images off of their, their phone or off of their camera and just dump it in with the file name that comes with it, which is like IMG and a number, right? And then the reason that it'd be important to actually use something like a file renaming tool that you can actually, you know, put the project name on there is that's how your computer searches for things. So if you do a search, whether you're on Apple or PC, and you search for this project name If the file name isn't that, it won't even know, right, that that's what it is. So having that habit of renaming your files, proper folder structures, you know, we use Google a lot, so we have Google Drives, and you know, you've set them up for client accounts where you're going in and putting proper folders in there for the different elements. So, you know, the best, I think, example of that would be show your naming structure, your file structure, to someone who doesn't know your business and say 'Does this make sense to you?' Yeah, definitely.

And I mean, that's what I've done with you and, and even honestly with clients. I don't necessarily ask them, you know, like, 'Does this make sense?' But I explain my system, and if they're like, 'Oh yeah, okay, makes sense,' you know, then I'm like, 'Okay,' that little bit of reassurance. And I mean, something you said just at the beginning of that was that, you know, it can take a little bit of time and effort initially, which is huge, right? Because people you know, the reason why they're not organized is because when they first started, they didn't see that as important. Because when you first start a new project or whatever it might be, you know, it doesn't seem as important. But then 2 months down the road, when you have files that aren't named, when you don't know what's going on, you don't know what's left on your to-do list, it's just all in your head and you have no way to look at it outside, you know, that's when it becomes a big issue. So taking that time at the beginning, or, you know, if you're already too deep in, taking that time to restructure everything and make it organized is really what will help you succeed.

[Speaker:SHAUN] Now you were able to develop your own system for your to-dos using our Trello system, which we use for projects, and I actually liked the easy way that you did it, that I'm starting to do that instead of just making different cards for it. So if you're not familiar with Trello, basically it's a Kanban-style board system. You make little cards and elements, but you use the checklist feature. Tell us, what you've done and why you do it and how it's actually working for you.

Yeah, so I've always been a big checklist person, having my to-do list, but you know, when you make a to-do list of a project, you know, it can feel very overwhelming. So I like to break it down into parts. And the way that I do that, the simplest way, I just do it by day, right? So what specific aspect of this project do I need to get done today? And write that down, and when I finish it, give it a check. Every single little task that comes out throughout my day, writing that down and having a space for it so it doesn't just leave my mind and I forget about it, but also that feeling of accomplishment, right? So yeah, I just kind of took the approach of having a checklist per day and, you know, I get to see what it is I'm accomplishing throughout the day, how much stuff is realistic, and then, you know, what's left over. Because let's be honest, I don't finish everything on my to-do list every day. I just copy that checklist and move it to the next day, and then I can add on whatever is left. And, you know, I am guilty of not doing this, but, you know, something that I try my best to do at the end of the day is go through my checklist and have tomorrow's checklist ready to go.

Yeah, and there's something to be said about just offloading that from your brain and having it there, and then be able to clearly focus on the tasks at hand that you're doing and not be like, I gotta remember to do this, because that takes energy and you will forget other things. So just having a system to write it down. It doesn't have to be Trello, it could be, you know, a notepad, right? And just, but have a system whether whatever's not done there before you leave for the day, you copy that to a new page for the next day. So it's there.

Yeah, and I mean, the good thing with having it all written out too, and especially in Trello, is you can easily prioritize, right? So what I like to do at the beginning of the day or at the end of the day, depending on when I make my list, is actually organize it in the order that I want to have it done. You know, so those things that absolutely have to be done, you know, having— even if you're writing your checklist on paper, writing a due date by it and saying like, what time do I want to get this done? Or what time does it need to be done? And organizing it in that sense makes it a lot more doable and a lot more kind of categorized and clearer in your head of what needs to be done and when.

Yeah, for sure. And one of the things I want to kind of get back to is organizing your workspace. You know, several years ago I had a a friend who had a sleep apnea clinic. And one of the things she would have is these tons of files that she had to do the paperwork for. And we know how much everybody loves to do paperwork. So she would procrastinate and it would just build up on her desk. And then when she sat down to do it, she was saying, you know, I just can't focus, I can't get it done. And I said, why don't you take that whole stack off and just put it behind you on the floor somewhere else and just bring one at a time over to your clean desk? And I threw that idea out there and she started doing that, and she said she was able to be way more productive because she was focusing on the single task at hand and not looking at all the other ones that were there thinking, oh, I have all this to do, or thinking of something that's in there and jumping around, right? And it's just focusing on that one thing, and the checklist allows you to do that. It's like, okay, this is what I'm working on, right? I'm not working on the whole list. I'm working on one thing at a time.

Yeah, exactly. And I mean, you know, there is that sense of satisfaction as you cross something off, but there's also that actual physical representation of, okay, moving on, right? And you know, what's the next thing? What's the next thing? What's the next thing? And that's always, you know, been effective for me.

And when I was building the latest blog post that, you know, if you're listening to this episode in this blog post, then you would have read this, but it was the importance of lists. And getting in that habit of creating them. And one of the things that was mentioned in there was the fact that you get a sense of gratification when you cross something off a list, right? And one of the recommendations that we made was creating, you know, a to-done list, right? So at the end of every day, you know, starting out by the habit of writing out everything you did and completed, right? And then that will just get you in the, you know, it's a feel-good list, right? It's like, look at all the things I did. And then you just get in the habit of doing it. And then you can actually get into the process of creating the ones for the things you need to do.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, definitely. Now I do want to ask you, because, you know, separating it from like the day-to-day, like personal, what, you know, simple to-do lists, how do you go about organizing your business to-dos, right? So, you know, you've said time and time again you're an ideas guy and you have all these different projects on the go and all these different clients and there's just so many different aspects to your business. So how do you categorize that and then stay organized in that sense?

You know, if there's been a system out there to do it, I've tried it. You know, I've been through the process of putting a huge whiteboard on the wall and having Post-it notes and doing that. And you know, there's studies that prove that you can't actually focus on more than 3 things at a time, right? Or have that mind space for it. So I had that process of doing that. And it worked really well. And, you know, and then I moved into other systems like, you know, Trello to checklist systems to apps and all that kind of thing. And for me, what actually works well is, you know, a notepad, right? Having a notepad on the desk, and that is to write it down when I think of it. And then at the end of the day, if I haven't completed that, then it goes into the Trello card for the next day. And then I start to work from that. And as things come up, it's just easy to write it down right away. As to what ones I'm going to work on, it's coming down to, you know, the deadlines. When do they need to be done, right? Obviously there are some tasks and projects that are more important, and then, you know, working on those first. And then I went to using my calendar. So I guess to put, you know, what I'm going to work on, which project, in the calendar so I know, oh, today I'm working on this. This client or that client. So I kind of have a hybrid approach for both, and I don't think anybody can truly say, okay, this is the number one system is going to work for everyone. You got to pick what's going to work for you. You have a system works for you. I have one that works for me. And if you're listening, you probably will develop one that works for you.

Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, just touching on what you said, having that notepad like easily accessible, I think that's That's one of the biggest things for me. I used to be a notepad person, but since the Trello thing, I've kind of switched over. And you know, as simple as it may sound, just having my tabs open all day so it's convenient for me is what has like hands down helped me the most. So, you know, I have my calendar open, I have my email open, and I have my Trello board open at all times throughout the day. So if I think of that thing that I have to do really quickly, or I'm going through my email and I'm like, oh, I have to do that. Flip over to my, you know, Trello board super quickly, type it up, and it's ready to go. Um, you know, same thing with the calendar. If I'm like, oh shoot, I have a deadline, just flip over to that really quickly and, you know, I'm able to put it in. And, and, uh, it takes that kind of mental pressure off to remember it. Um, and because you have it written down and you have it where it needs to be and where you know you're going to be to check it and make sure it's done on time.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm I'm the, the worst for those squirrel moments. So I've been working on something and an idea will pop in my head, or I should do this for this person. So it's just easy to write it down than actually, for me, switching over to the program I'm in to visibly have something different, right? So the notepad's there, I write it down, I continue on, right, that way. So, so just choose what's going to work for you. But I mean, the key takeaway from this is if you feel disorganized, you feel like, okay, I'm just spinning my wheels, right, there's something there that's that's causing that. And it might just be, you know, as silly as it sounds, you know, rearranging your workspace, right? Turning your desk, cleaning it, you know, doing that kind of stuff kind of reinvigorates and gives you kind of a fresh start to that and starting to get reorganized.

Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, I think the two big takeaways here are, you know, making sure you're sticking to a system, but also making sure that that system is that's, you know, specific to you, but also easy to implement and convenient. Because if it's not convenient and it's not realistic, then you're not going to stick to it and you're not going to, you know, be consistent with it. Because if it's a pain in the butt, you're not going to want to stay organized that way. So you have to kind of play around, find your, your solution that works for you specifically and makes the most sense for, for your lifestyle and the way that you choose to work, and then just make sure you make it a habit and include it in your routine.

Yeah, and the reason— just the last part— the reason I like Trello, for one, it's free. You can get a paid upgrade for other stuff, but for most people, the free version works really well. You can access it on your desktop, download the, the program to your computer, and you can get on your mobile phone. So, you know, you're not stuck with just a mobile app, you know, to-do list where things you have to have your phone with you every time you're on your computer. This is all cloud-based, it interviews.