Mass Traffic Attack: Mass Traffic Attack - Part 8. An Organized Computer

An Organized Computer

Now to dealing with your computer. Whilst almost everyone will agree with the previous points about having an uncluttered work space, quite often they will wonder what the fuss is about when it comes to organizing their computers. After all, there is no physical mess or untidiness on a computer as such is there? When you're done for the day, you just close everything down and your computer looks the same from the outside doesn't it?

Well, getting your digital “tools” organized is just as important as keeping your “physical” tools - your office work space - clear from clutter. Generally speaking those with untidy desks with papers strewn all over the place will have an equally untidy computer. For a long time I was guilty of that myself!

If you are by nature a very tidy person in your home and office, then you're probably the same with your computer so the following advice may not apply to you. However, you should still read it because you may learn something new.

There are two aspects to organizing your computer. The first is to keep everything in a
clear, logical manner so that you can quickly retrieve files and information without having to spend minutes and hours searching for them. Simply by organizing your computer, and how you use it, will save you a lot of time each and every day. The second aspect is to
remove the distractions that exist on our computers, and cause us to “play around” when we ought to be working.

The first, and most obvious thing to do, is to keep all your business related files together. If you haven't already done this, in the 'My Documents' folder create a new subfolder called 'Business'. Alternatively, if you prefer to use your Desktop, create the Business folder there.

I personally prefer to use the Desktop for this because I find it easier to access. If you
would rather use the MyDocuments/Documents folder that's fine. OK, nothing radical so far, in fact I would be stunned if most people reading this hadn't already done something similar.

However, if you have struggled to get yourself properly organized the next part will be of interest to you.

Create the following sub-folders:

Archive
Daily
Projects Current Projects Future Resources

All the files that you use will be inside this 'Business' folder.

Let's go through them one at a time.

Archive - This is stuff that you want to keep “just in case”. See after this section when we look at going through your folders to clear out the junk

Daily - The most important folder. Everything new gets created in this folder. Every
existing file, every article you work work on, you should move into this folder, and open it up from here. If you download files off the internet, download them into this folder. Now, here's the big thing. BEFORE you close down your computer at the end of your working day, you MUST empty this folder and move every single file into one of the other
categorized folders. In practice this will either be into 'Projects Current', 'Projects Future' or 'Resources'. Or if you have created some non-business related stuff, i.e. personal files then move them into your Personal folder. Keep your Business and your Personal files
separate. If any files, for example images of you that you want to use on a web site, fit into both Business and Personal then keep TWO copies of those files in TWO separate Business and Personal folders. This is important to keep you organized

Projects Current - These are all your current projects, obviously. Ideally you should
only have one project ongoing, but we all know the real world doesn't work like that. Create a separate subfolder for each project; to make things easier use abbreviations. For example when I was working on this 'MASS TRAFFIC ATTACK' project I used a subfolder called FTF. Everything to do with this project - ebook, notes, web site, affiliate promotion tools was kept in this one folder.

Projects Future - In here you would keep notes of projects you would like to do in the future. Maybe you bought an ebook about something that's given you an idea, but you don't have the time to do it now. Again, create subfolders inside this main folder with the different project names. Make a note in Microsoft Outlook to periodically check this folder to see if you are ready to start one of these projects. However, you should be ruthless with this - don't allow this folder to keep growing. If you lose interest in a future project, or something better comes along, either delete that project completely or move it to the Archive folder.

Resources - This is where you keep all those training manuals, courses and videos you have bought over the years (if that's the case!). Anything else you need to refer to as a reference goes into here. For example I once bought a huge graphics pack, I keep that in this folder for when I want to use a particular graphic on a web site. Anything to do with your business, anything that may be useful to your business, that isn't a 'Project' goes into here.

Get used to using those 5 folders and you'll be amazed at how quickly you'll be organized, and how much easier it is to get work done. It's a simple method but one that has worked very successfully for me over a long period of time. Of course you need to work this method in conjunction with a “To Do List” or “Task Manager”. That is something we will look at in greater detail at the end of this chapter.

Before you can get started with the 5 folder system, you may need to do some serious spring cleaning on your computer's hard drive. I say 'may'; that's for those of us who are naturally disorganized - if you're a naturally tidy person then this doesn't apply!

Go through all your various documents - in your Documents folder, on your Desktop and anywhere else you have created files. Anything that's nothing to do with your online business goes into your Personal folders. Everything else needs to go into one of the five folders we've just discussed.

If you don't recognize a particular file, open it up and take a look. It may be some free ebook you once downloaded titled “Newest Traffic Tactics for 1997”. Don't worry, that's happened to me too! Get rid of it, delete it.

Should you have a lot of this kind of unnecessary clutter you'll actually find it very therapeutic “throwing” this into the virtual trash can, and you'll also gain a lot of space.

Mass Traffic Attack - Part 1. Introduction

Mass Traffic Attack - Part 2. Why Write Articles?

Mass Traffic Attack - Part 3. Organization and Preparation

Mass Traffic Attack - Part 4. The Right Mind Space

Mass Traffic Attack - Part 5. How To Overcoming Procrastination

Mass Traffic Attack - Part 6. Gain An Efficient Work Space

Mass Traffic Attack - Part 7. An Efficient Work Space

Mass Traffic Attack - Part 8. An Organized Computer

Mass Traffic Attack - Part 9. Removing Distractions

Mass Traffic Attack - Part 10. Writing Great Articles

Mass Traffic Attack - Part 11. Structure

Mass Traffic Attack - Part 12. Research