185: The Digital Cleanup Show (Ep109)
Preview of Ep109 of Mike Murphy Unplugged Podcast
Episode 109 is to help you clean up your digital and online world (computer, iDevices, social media and online platforms) to improve productivity, focus and give you peace of mind.
My Podcast:
Mike Murphy Unplugged (to subscribe)
Listen to Episode 109 (Part 2):
Listen to Episode 108 (Part 1):
Topic: Home & Studio Cleanup
I share what I have been doing to achieve focus and clarity in my online business and life.
aka: Getting rid of stuff I do not use or need
Ep109: The Digital Cleanup Show
LInk to Podcast:
http://mikemurphy.co/ep109
Episode 109 is about cleaning up your computer, iDevices and your online world.
Distraction Diet
Reducing dings and notifications and things that distract us from getting things done. When your phone lights up or a drop-down notification animates or a ding sounds, how long can you go before you reach for it? Even if you hold off for what seems like an eternity (a minute or more), you cannot focus until you find out what made that ding. Was it a new follower? Did an influencer re-tweet your latest podcast episode? Most likely it was just Gary Vee starting his 12th Instagram Live of the day.
I have followed Gary Vee on and off since his early Wine Library TV days, but I recently turned off notifications from him because they took time away from things I was working on. I love his content and many other content creators like Casey Neistat, but if you are building your own brand and business, you have to get control over your time and get focused. Any distractions, big or small, add up and prevent you from getting the most important things done and we do not want that.
The goal is to only have things take our attention if important.When your phone or computer alerts you, it should be a positive event, not another annoying ad or promo from a brand or business you do not use.
THE DIGITAL CLEANUP:
Why De-Clutter? To give you some space to breathe, reduce stress, increase productivity and make you smile more and who doesn’t like the sound of that.
This exercise is strictly a mindset hack to trick you into introducing some positive new habits that carry over to all parts of your life and business. The less things you have to think about, the more things you can enjoy.
START WITH COMPUTER
Email Management. The goal is to achieve Inbox Zero. My inbox is my todo list. Once I reply or follow up I archive the email.
Photo & Media. Organize and backup photos. Delete junk photos. Export all photos from iPhone and iPad to computer/external drive. Use Lightroom or Photos to organize and clean. Use simple folder structures to catalog photos/media. I use one folder called Photos. Inside master folder I organize by Year.
Backup Plan
I keep all of my data on two external drives that are exact clones of each other. Know what is on your external drives. If your computer is stolen or your hard drive crashes, can you recover 100% of your digital life? Get there.
My data is backed up 24/7 automatically using Backblaze
Clean Up Desktop & Folders
Desktop clutter causes stress. Do not use it as your organization folder.
Clean up and purge your documents folder, downloads folder and empty the trash on your computer.
Clean up your downloads folder filled with useless zip files and dmg installers (you know who you are).
Clean up your web browsers (empty cache, clean up favorites, bookmarks, extensions)
Delete Apps & Software Programs
If you do not use an app, delete it. All of that HP Crapware and old Adobe versions and everything else that is not important.
IOS DEVICES:
Reduce dinging and popups and notifications is one of our major goals. .
Clear Unread notifications (those little red numbers all over the place)
Clear Mail, Messages, Twitter, Software updates, etc.
iOS Apps. Delete or offload every app on your iPhone and iPad that you do not use at least once a week or month.
Unsubscribe
Unsubscribe from as many email subscriptions, YouTube channels and even podcasts. We’re trying to reduce the amount of notifications that fight for our attention. Peace.
Social Media Cleanup.
Clean up all of your social media accounts and unfollow all of the accounts that you do not know or have no idea why you follow them. Twitter & Instagram especially.
Unjoin Facebook groups, Unfollow people who you do not interact with and audit your friend’s list.
PRODUCTIVITY TOOLKIT
Contacts List
Consolidate and cross-reference your contacts and make sure you only have one master list and it syncs across all devices.
My Contact Manager:
iCloud Contacts with Gmail clone
Calendar.
Understand how it syncs and what is your main calendar. Be confident when you add an event from any device you know it will sync everywhere and you will not miss appointments.
My Calender:
Google Cal
To Do Apps:
Consolidate all of your business tools into one simple system. I deleted ToDoist, Evernote, etc. They are all cool and fun and easy, but if you don’t use them or don’t have an easy system, they are hurting more than the help. Delete!
My To-Do:
I use Apple Notes App (it’s getting pretty awesome)
Bottom Line:
Cleaning, purging, de-cluttering has snowball effects. Start small and before you know it, you will be on the hunt for things to toss or delete. It becomes fun but more importantly you feel good and become more productive.
Be ruthless I say and delete. I had 10 screens of apps on my iPhone at one point. I have 3 pages now and one page is all Adobe mobile apps.
Less is more.
Cheers,
Mike
Can I Help You?
I create content and help people figure things out.
I make podcasts and videos that teach people how to make better content.
Check out my YouTube Channel
My name is Mike Murphy, I’m a one man band and podcaster.
Learn. Create. Move Forward.
@mikeunplugged on Twitter or Instagram
