- Welcome to the most exciting video that you are ever going to watch. Yes, it is. And what will we be covering you ask? Sports cars, explosions, the top 10 most dangerous bees? Even better, file organization. Oh yes friends. Buckle up because this is
going to be one wild ride. And especially I have access
to all this explosion footage which I am going to apply
liberally throughout this video. (explosion) Now I should say that
this is 1/2 of a wild ride because there are in fact two
halves to your file system. The files that exist in your computer, and the ones that exist
here in the real world. And if you're anything like me, most of the files exist digitally. And we're gonna cover
exactly how to organize them in the next video in the series. But due to my very intense study on game design principles, I have learned that it is best to start
off with the easier stuff. So today we're gonna focus
on your physical file system. Now my personal physical
file system is pretty small and that is because whenever
I get a piece of paper, my first instinct is to
either recycle it immediately or digitize it and then
of course recycle it. And later on on this
video, we're gonna talk all about digitization
and how to do it easily. But sometimes you're
gonna have physical files that you just need to keep
for one reason or another. Perhaps, it's your birth
certificates or your passport. Or that clipping of a newspaper
article that mentioned you back in the eighth grade. Gotta keep that for posterity's sake. Whatever it is, it is time to organize it. So when it comes to
storing physical files, I use a simple system that
consists of three locations. The main file box, the inbox and a portable file folder. The main file box is the
place where the majority of your physical files
should eventually end up, if you're not going to digitize them. And if you have a lot of
papers you need to store, you could buy a
multi-drawer filing cabinet for this purpose. However, I find that a single file box is more than enough for me. And this is what it looks like. And now you know why the
continuity arrow was there. Now this file box, and
pretty much every single other one like it is built
to store hanging folders, each of which gets a label. And that's how you can
easily see what's in them. Now when you're creating
your structure here, I think it's a good idea to try to adhere to a tree structure where
you have a top level of organization, which
is essentially your root and then for which you can create multiple, deeper sub-levels or branches. And personally, I use
these hanging file folders as the top level of my
organization system. I don't really have a whole lot of files so that's really all I need. Though there are ways
that you could go deeper if you need to. The first is to simply put
multiple, regular folders within your hanging folders. And I actually do have an example of this because my landlord left
this entire file box with the house that I'm renting because she is supremely organized. And honestly, she should be
making this video instead of me. But within her box,
each hanging file folder is actually just a repository
for multiple, regular folders. And each of these folders
in here is a place to store all the manuals and instructions
for all kinds of stuff in the house. So things like the air conditioner, the dryer, the hose reel. Now if you don't wanna use the
folders within folders method 'cause you don't wanna buy tons of folders or you don't want 'em
take up so much space, there are other methods such as using a piece of printer paper as a divider between different sections within your hanging folders. And to make sure that you
can easily thumb through and see where your dividers are, you can use these little sticky flags. I often use these for
taking notes in books and making sure that I can see
which page I took a note on. But if you just take
one of these off of here and then sort of you know stick it right on your piece of paper. Then that sticks up and you can put that into your file folders and be easily able to thumb through them. And if you wanted to, you
could use construction paper instead of normal printer
paper so it's a little bit, you know, different feeling
from the rest of the documents. But either way, it's pretty easy. Now aside from the ones I just mentioned, there are other methods such as the one that you can see in this picture where they're actually using
the colors of the folder labels as an even higher level of organization. But let's move on to the
next location in the system. The ice box. Wait, that's not right. The inbox. So be honest with me here. When you get a piece of
mail that needs to go into your file box, how
often do you immediately open up that file box and
put it in the correct spot? I'd wager a guess that it's
not a 100% of the time. And that your kitchen table is often used as a convenient place to toss things that will get dealt with later. Here's the thing. The first part of that is fine. And you probably shouldn't be opening up your file box and finding the
exact folder every single time you need to file at the
exact moment you get it. It's a lot more efficient
to have a specific time blocked out for processing
all of your unorganized files, mail and of course, cryptic
messages nailed to your door, written in cut out magazine letters. But your kitchen table does not deserve to be a dumping ground
for all these things in the meantime. Because that is a job for your inbox. So an inbox is a simple
tray, or a stack of trays if you really wanna get fancy, that sits on your desk. And whenever you get something
that needs to be processed later on, you put it in the inbox. And then at least once a
week, you wanna go through everything that's in this inbox. And decide what needs to be done with it. If it represents a task
like paying the water bill, then you wanna deal with it. Otherwise, you might wanna
digitize it or recycle it. Or put it in your main file box. Pretty simple. And that brings us to the final piece of your physical file organization puzzle. Which is the one that travels with you. So when you're out of the house, and you're away from your
file box and your inbox, you still need some way to
store any papers you get from work or class, and of course, from the guy outside
your local coffee shop holding the End is Nigh sign. He's got some pretty interesting pamphlets and you should probably take one. Now depending on the type of work you do and the classes you attend,
your portable file folder can function either as a portable inbox, which you wanna clear on a regular basis. Or as a mini file box
that actually holds papers for a significant amount of time. Now if you are anything like me, then you probably don't
have any physical papers that you need to carry with you. You might have like a physical notebook, or be carrying a novel. But you're not actually
carrying worksheets or other papers that
you actually need to use on a regular basis. And if that's the case, then I recommend just keeping a single folder in your bag. This gives you a safe
place to temporarily store any papers that you get
when you're out and about. And it doesn't take up a
whole lot of space at all. And then when you get home each day, you can move any papers and
End of the World pamphlets that you've received on
all of your adventures to either your inbox for later processing or into your main file system if you have a decent amount of time. But what if you're a student
who needs to carry around assignments and handouts. Or what if you're a high powered, slick-haired business person
who needs to carry around well, you know, your business papers. If this is the case, then I think a single file folder probably isn't going to cut the mustard. Actually, hang on a second. Anna. Do you have any mustard? - [Anna] Yes. - [Man] Where's the mustard? - Why? - [Man] Science. - Uh, okay. You're worrying me a little bit. - That's enough. Okay. Oh my god. Okay I stand corrected. The edge of a folder is more than capable of cutting mustard. But you still shouldn't use it. Instead you wanna look
into getting a portable accordion folder. These give you several folders in one slim compact package which means they act as a portable file box that
you can actually work out of. And you can easily separate and organize all the different papers, for your classes or very
important business deals and unlike old school binders with a hard spine,
these expand or contract based on how much you're carrying. Now before we move on, I wanna briefly mention a
couple of other locations that you may wanna add
to your file system. The first is what I call a manual's box. And for me, it's just a
regular old cardboard box where I put things like my piano manual or my TV manual because I
don't like keeping these things in my main file box since they're bulky. But they're really aren't enough of them to warrant a whole new folder system. Which brings me to a point
that I wanted to mention here. Sometimes, over optimizing
one tiny part of your life ends up taking so much time
that you kind of de-optimize your life as a whole. So sometimes letting something
be a little bit messy or a little bit, you
know, unorganized is fine because it really doesn't
matter in the long run. So that being said, the second one that I'm gonna mention here
is a safety deposit box. And you can rent these at banks, and they can be a safe
place to keep things like the original copy of
your birth certificate, or your passport and the
rest of your John Wick coins. Now I don't use one of
these, since I can just store all of my John Wick coins
under the concrete floor in my basement and because
well, they cost money. But I do wanna mention them because I know a lot of my viewers live
in dorms and apartments with roommates who don't always take even simple security
matters, like not leaving the front door wide open, seriously. So you can consider it. (upbeat music) All right, to round out this guide, I wanna talk about
something that's even better than properly storing and
organizing your paper files, namely, digitizing them. That's right, it's time
to start adopting the, mostly, paperless lifestyle. So digitization is the process of scanning your physical files and turning them into electronic images or PDFs. And then from there, you
can easily slot them in to your beautifully constructed
computer folder system where they no longer take
up any space in your home or backpack, but more
importantly are backed up and no longer vulnerable
to fires, bullies, or the random escaped zoo gorilla. Personally, I try to digitize
almost every paper I get, because it takes very
little time to do so. (explosion) And this
is especially true now that almost everyone has
an ultra high resolution camera built into their phone. Now in the past, the only
ways to digitize paper is to either to go buy a scanner or go down to FedEx, Kinko's or Staples and scan documents there. But now, you can just use your phone, which means that you
can digitize handouts, and receipts and other papers,
literally wherever you are. And additionally, if
you're using the right app, you can also automatically send your scans into your file system with no
manual choosing of folders. So here's how I digitize my files. And the first thing that I wanna mention is that for the most part, I send my scans into my Evernote account, instead of my computer's main file system. Why you might ask? Well all of my article research, my book notes, my
recipes, journal entries, and almost every other idea that I have goes into Evernote. So that's why I choose to
send scans there as well. But there is one other reason. Evernote makes your scans
searchable even if they're images. Now I tend to upload my scans as PDFs 'cause I often stitch
lots of things together and to like a multi-page document. But you can also add
pictures into Evernote and it's optical character
recognition algorithm will allow you to search any text in them, even if it's handwriting. That being said, I don't
actually use Evernote's built-in scanning tool to do this. Instead I use an app called Scanbot. I found that Scanbot's
ability to quickly detect the edges of a piece of
paper or a business card, a receipt, or literally
whatever it is that I'm scanning is a lot better than Evernote's. And you're also able to
scan multiple pages at once. And then once you're
done, then we'll stitch it into a PDF, which is exactly
what I just talked about doing. And these features makes
scanning much faster but there is one other reason
why I like Scanbot so much. The automatic upload feature. So within the app
settings, you can actually choose a destination
to which all new scans will be automatically uploaded. Moreover, you can choose
a specific upload folder or notebook for most
of these destinations. So in Evernote, I've set mine
to a notebook called inbox which is also the place where I create most new text notes. And that brings me to the final point that I wanna cover on digitization. And this is kind of verging
on the computer file territory but I do think it's good
to cover here anyway. If you choose to upload
your digitized files to your computer's native folder system, instead of an app like Evernote, then it might be a good
idea for you to create an inbox folder on your computer. And some people actually
use a digital inbox folder just like a physical inbox. They save all new files to it, and then they relocate them later on when they have more time. Now, I don't do this for a
couple of different reasons. One, most of my frequently
accessed folders are pinned to my quick access side bar, so opening them doesn't
really take much time and more importantly, number two, a lot of my work involves video editing and video projects are full
of references to footage, images, music and tons of other files and changing the file
locations for all these assets can really break a project. So I don't mess with the inbox folder. However, using an inbox
folder for your automatic scan uploads is a really good idea. Because it allows you to
scan a document in seconds and then move on with your life. You really don't wanna be standing around in the grocery store digging
through Google Drive folders trying to find the exact right one for that receipt you just scanned. Instead, just sit down once a week and process the inbox folder, just as you would do
with a physical inbox. And this is exactly what I'd
do with my inbox notebook in Evernote as well. And when you work this
way, you efficiently batch all of your sorting tasks, removing as much friction as possible from the multiple times during the week where you might choose to make a scan, which means you become
more productive overall. And this is something
that you wanna be doing in every area of your life. Looking for ways that you
can make things you do in a repeated basis, more efficient. Not only will doing this save you time but it's also a method of
thinking in an adaptive way. And of course, the more time you spend thinking adaptively,
the better you get at it and at solving the tough problems that you're gonna be facing
in your higher level classes and in your career. And if you're looking
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BRILLIANT.ORG/THOMASFRANK to start learning for free. Also, if you're one of
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for sponsoring this video and being a big supporter of my channel and thank you to you as well for watching. If you enjoyed this video,
you might wanna give it a like and hit subscribe right there, if you wanna see more on
this channel in the future. Otherwise you might
wanna click right there to get a free copy of my book and how to earn a better grades. Lastly, you can click either here or here to get more videos on
this channel right now and you might wanna check back next week or click right there to subscribe if you wanna get that second video in my file organization
series, which is going to be all about computer file organization. So I will see you in that next one. ♪ Da da da da ♪ ♪ Dara da da ♪
