It all started to really hit me around that first week of October, 2024. Man, I was just spinning my wheels, you know? For months, maybe even a year, I’d been trying to wrangle all my stuff – sketches, notes, half-baked ideas for projects, client feedback… it was a nightmare. Everything was just spread out everywhere. Different folders, different apps, some scribbled on paper, some lost in old email chains. Every time I needed to pull something up, it was a scavenger hunt. I’d waste hours just looking for things, not actually doing anything productive. My head was buzzing with frustration, honestly. I felt like I was drowning in my own digital clutter.
I remember this one Sunday morning, sipping my coffee, staring at my desktop which was just a jumble of icons, and then at my pile of notebooks, and I just had this… snap. This can’t go on. This is not how I want to operate. It was a real “aha!” moment, like the stars aligned or whatever, and I knew I had to make some big changes. Right then, right there.
Starting with a Clean Slate
So, I started with a clean slate. My main goal was a single source of truth for everything. No more guessing where I put that one crucial note. I decided to dive deep into a new system. I’d dabbled with a few before, tried a bit of everything, but nothing stuck. This time, it was going to be different. I was going to commit.
First thing I did was just stop. I stopped trying to add new stuff to the old mess. I blocked out a whole week, canceling some non-urgent meetings and pushing back personal commitments. I told my family, “Look, Dad’s going into the digital wilderness for a bit, don’t worry.” Then, I just started collecting. I went through every single digital folder, every old hard drive, every cloud storage account. I opened every physical notebook. I didn’t organize yet, I just pulled everything out. It was like emptying a hoarder’s house. Mountains of files, bits of text, images, screenshots, audio clips. It was overwhelming, truly.
The Sorting and Migrating Grind
Then came the sorting. This was brutal. I created broad categories first:
- Project Ideas
- Client Work
- Personal Stuff
- Learning Resources
- Admin & Finance
Within those, I started making sub-categories. For every file, I had to make a decision: “Keep or Delete?” If “Keep,” then “Where does it go?” This part took forever. I found so much duplicated stuff, so many outdated drafts. I was ruthless. If I hadn’t touched it in a year, and it wasn’t critical, it went into an “Archive – Review Later” folder, which eventually just became a “Delete” folder. Good riddance.
As I was sorting, I also started migrating. I picked one main application – a robust note-taking and knowledge management tool – and started actively moving all the “keepers” into it. This wasn’t just copy-pasting; it was re-formatting, re-tagging, creating connections between related ideas. I built a system of tags, backlinks, and templates. Every note had to have a purpose, a place, and a clear set of metadata. It felt like building a whole new digital brain.
Pushing Through the Doubts
There were days I wanted to throw my computer out the window. Seriously. I’d hit a particularly messy folder, or find a critical piece of information I needed but couldn’t quite remember its context, and the frustration would just boil over. I doubted myself so many times. “Is this even worth it? Am I just wasting time rebuilding something that’s just going to get messy again?” But I kept pushing through, remembering that Sunday morning feeling of dread. I wanted that clarity, that efficiency.
The Payoff: Clarity and Flow
And then, slowly, things started to click. The system began to take shape. I could actually find things. I could follow a train of thought through linked notes. I could see all my project ideas in one consolidated view. The sheer mental load that got lifted off my shoulders was incredible. I felt lighter, more focused. My work started flowing better. I wasn’t spending precious time hunting; I was creating.
Now, months later, that system is my backbone. It’s not perfect, no system ever is, but it’s a living thing. I maintain it. Every week, I dedicate an hour to review and tidy up. It’s become a habit. Those “big changes” I started making around the first week of October 2024? They absolutely transformed how I work and, honestly, how I think. It was a tough journey, but man, it was worth every single minute. It changed everything for the better.
