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Everything I know about cleaning routines I learned from two people: my mother and Danny Tanner. From the 80s-90s television classic, Full House, Danny gathers his “troops” in the iconic sitcom living room, prepping everyone for his version of Christmas morning: Spring Cleaning. While he diligently practiced these cleaning tasks year-round, this event was met with every possible opportunity to whine and skive off by every other Tanner.
“Once a year, I ask you to roll up your sleeves and really do a job on this house. You all take as much pride in a clean house as I do. Now, let's get back out there and really clean! And when you're all done, I've got a special surprise for you… I'm putting shelf-paper in each and every one of your closets!” - Danny Tanner
Herein lies the problem: To properly cultivate healthy habits, tasks cannot be done in one binge. While it may be on our minds in Spring, healthy sorting and organizing are year-round tasks that require just a few moments of your time each day.
An inbox is a conveyor belt; not a storage unit.
“Decision fatigue” is when making a good decision is difficult due to the number of decisions we need to make at any given moment. Storing, rather than filing, leads to tens and eventually hundreds of unread messages. This makes it nearly impossible to find important information. To reduce the digital clutter, look to the four D’s of the conveyor belt inbox:
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Delete - Be brutally honest about what you actually need
- Delegate - Forward emails onward to the right department or teammate
- Do - If it takes less than 2 minutes, do the action now
- Defer - Utilize snooze features, Tasks, and tools like Google Keep to track your future moves
Think of opportunities to streamline the names of folders and labels. Maximize your productivity by setting up automatic filters. Make use of checkboxes to select all that apply to impact massive change in few clicks. Reduce the clutter to free your thoughts. “Cut… it… out!”
Sorting is for humans; Searching is for computers.
For years, I have preached the benefits of overly-organized Google Drive folders. I have folders inside of others, making the perfect flow chart of thousands of files. But, this also comes at a great risk to time spent and future findings. Let’s say it takes three seconds to find and open a folder in your drive. If the item you’re on the hunt for is six layers deep, you have now just wasted 18 seconds of valuable time. Over the course of a school year, this becomes hours. If you misplace a file in a deep hierarchy, it is effectively gone if you can't remember which branch it’s on.
Therefore, I have embraced a flat file naming structure that prioritizes broad categories that leverage search bar superpowers. Go no further than three layers deep:
- Layer 1: Broad Category (e.g., "Biology 101")
- Layer 2: Sub-Category (e.g., "Unit 01_Cell Structure")
- Layer 3: All related files (Lessons, Labs, Quizzes, Slides)
This type of contextual clumping helps you see the full instructional arc at a glance. Think to yourself: “When I am searching for this file in a few months, what terms would I use?” Use those words in the file or folder name. If your file is named “2026-03_Bio_Cell_Quiz,” you can find it in 2 seconds by typing "Cell Quiz" into the search bar, regardless of which folder it's in. “Have mercy!”
How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
Most educators fail at organization not because they lack a good system, but because they lack a reset button. We make time to organize so we can find everything. This ritual isn't about being perfect; it's about making sure your 'Future Self' doesn’t scream “Oh-mylanta!” when you log in tomorrow. Just like your physical muscles, this is a micro-habit that you can strengthen over time.
Think of this like a "clean sweep" at the end of a school event. This will signal your brain that the workday is over. This should happen in the last few minutes of your contract time and is a transition ritual that will help you leave work at work. Embrace your inner Danny Tanner! Establish this five-minute reset to cleanse your computer each day:
- Set a timer: Give yourself a literal time limit of 5-10 minutes
- Organize & Answer: Organize and rename files. Close tabs. Delete. Delegate. Defer. Do.
- Stop: When the timer ends, permit yourself to stop.
An organized inbox, file drive, and desktop will reduce visual noise, decrease anxiety, and minimize mental fatigue while allowing you to switch from Work Mode to Home Mode. Small changes and microhabits will pay off in the long run. “You got it, dude.”
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