ADHD Computer Organization: How to Sort by 13 Organizational Pillars (Email, Notes, Desktop, Photos)

Summary

Jenna Redfield's YouTube video offers a comprehensive guide to computer organization, inspired by August Bradley's system. She discusses her '13 Organizational Pillars' for categorizing everything from business projects to personal life aspects. The video covers organizing Apple Notes, Google Chrome bookmarks, Google Photos, email inboxes, desktop folders, and Canva files, emphasizing the importance of a structured approach to maintaining digital order.

Takeaways

• 😀 Jenna Redfield is passionate about organizing files on her computer and shares her strategies on her YouTube channel.
• 📂 Jenna uses a system of 'organizational pillars' inspired by August Bradley, which she has adapted for her personal use beyond Notion.
• 🏢 The first pillar is 'Business Projects', which includes any projects Jenna is working on without a direct client, such as writing a book or creating an online course.
• 👥 'Clients' is another pillar, which is essential for those who have a business or even a job, to organize work-related interactions with clients or colleagues.
• 🎥 'Content Creation' is a pillar for organizing all types of marketing content, including YouTube videos, podcasts, and other media.
• 🎬 'Entertainment' is a unique pillar Jenna added to organize her leisure activities like movies and TV shows, showing the importance of balancing work with personal interests.
• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 The 'Family' pillar is used to organize emails and notes related to family matters, highlighting the significance of family in Jenna's life.
• 💡 'Mental Clarity' is a pillar dedicated to mental health, including therapy and ADHD management, emphasizing the importance of self-care.
• 💰 'Personal Finance' is a pillar for managing all financial matters, showing Jenna's approach to keeping finances organized and accessible.
• 📚 'Mind Expansion Learning' is about continuous learning through books, podcasts, and experts, underlining the value of lifelong education.
• 🗂️ Jenna organizes her Apple Notes, Google Chrome bookmarks, and Google Photos using the same pillar system, demonstrating a consistent approach to digital organization across platforms.

Q & A

What is the main topic of Jenna Redfield's YouTube video?

The main topic of Jenna Redfield's YouTube video is organizing your computer, including various apps, files, notes, photos, and emails.

Why is Jenna passionate about organizing files on her computer?

Jenna is passionate about organizing files on her computer because she finds it exciting and has built up systems that she believes would be helpful for others.

What are Jenna's 13 organizational pillars?

Jenna's 13 organizational pillars include business projects, clients, content creation, entertainment, family, friends and social, health and fitness, home and household, mental clarity, mind expansion learning, personal finance, sales and marketing, and travel.

How does Jenna categorize her Apple Notes?

Jenna categorizes her Apple Notes by her 13 organizational pillars, creating folders within folders for more specific topics under each pillar.

What is the purpose of the 'OneTab' extension Jenna mentioned for Google Chrome?

The 'OneTab' extension Jenna mentioned for Google Chrome helps to manage and declutter open tabs by consolidating them into a list, which can be expanded when needed.

How does Jenna organize her bookmarks in Google Chrome?

Jenna organizes her bookmarks in Google Chrome by creating folders for each of her 13 organizational pillars and using subfolders for more specific categories.

What app does Jenna recommend for organizing photos?

Jenna recommends using Google Photos for organizing photos, as it allows for easy syncing, uploading, and categorization of images into albums.

How does Jenna organize her emails in her inbox?

Jenna organizes her emails by creating labels and assigning colors to each of her 13 organizational pillars, which helps her to quickly identify and categorize incoming messages.

What method does Jenna use to keep her desktop organized?

Jenna uses a backdrop created on Canva to organize the folders on her desktop, labeling them by color and using tags within the Finder to categorize the contents.

How has Jenna adapted her use of Google Drive?

Jenna has adapted her use of Google Drive by moving most of her files to Notion and Google Photos, using Google Drive mainly for sharing and storing original documents like Google Sheets that can't be placed in Notion.

What is the new feature that Canva is launching that Jenna is excited about?

Canva is launching a new feature called 'Projects' which Jenna is excited about, though the details of the feature are not specified in the script.

Outlines

00:00

🖥️ Organizing Your Computer with 13 Pillars

Jenna Redfield introduces a video on organizing computer files, inspired by August Bradley's system of pillars, pipelines, and vaults. She emphasizes her passion for organizing and shares her personal system of 13 organizational pillars, which she applies to various aspects of her digital life, including emails, notes, photos, and more. The pillars range from business projects and clients to personal areas like health and fitness, mental clarity, and entertainment. Jenna's approach is to categorize every incoming item into one of these pillars, streamlining her digital organization.

05:01

📝 Organizing Apple Notes and Google Chrome

The second paragraph delves into the specifics of organizing Apple Notes and Google Chrome bookmarks. Jenna explains her method of organizing notes by creating folders within folders, corresponding to her 13 pillars. She also discusses the use of hashtags for quick organization and retrieval. For Google Chrome, she uses the OneTab extension to manage multiple open tabs and organizes bookmarks by pillar, with the possibility of nesting folders within folders for further categorization.

10:01

🌐 Google Photos for Photo Organization

In this paragraph, Jenna extols the virtues of Google Photos as her preferred method for organizing photos. She describes how she uses albums to categorize her photos according to the same 13 pillars, providing examples of how she organizes various types of images, from business projects to personal memories. She also expresses a desire for Google Photos to have a feature for folders within folders, similar to other apps she uses.

15:02

📧 Inbox Management and Desktop Organization

Jenna discusses her strategies for managing her email inbox, using labels and colors to categorize emails according to her organizational pillars. She explains how to create filters to automatically label incoming emails. Additionally, she shares her method for organizing her computer's desktop, using a backdrop created on Canva to categorize and label folders. She also mentions her practice of regularly cleaning up screenshots and other temporary files by uploading them to Google Photos and then deleting them from the desktop.

📁 Transitioning from Google Drive to Notion

The final paragraph addresses Jenna's shift from using Google Drive to Notion for file organization. She explains that while she still maintains a Google Drive account for certain purposes, such as sharing Google Sheets, most of her files are now managed in Notion. She organizes her files in Notion by pillar and color, similar to her other systems. Jenna also mentions the upcoming 'Projects' feature in Canva, which she is excited about, and hints at a potential video on Google Photos due to her enthusiasm for the app.

Keywords

💡Organizing

Organizing refers to the process of arranging items in a systematic way to make them easier to find and use. In the video, the main theme revolves around organizing digital spaces, such as files on a computer, notes, emails, and photos. The script mentions various systems and applications used for organizing, illustrating the importance of a structured approach to managing digital clutter.

💡Notion

Notion is a productivity tool that combines note-taking, project management, and database functionalities. The script discusses using Notion for organizing files and projects, highlighting its versatility in managing different types of content and tasks. It is presented as a key part of the creator's organizational system.

💡ADHD

ADHD, or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by difficulty with attention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. The script mentions the creator's personal experience with ADHD and how organizing can be particularly beneficial for individuals with this condition, as it helps manage the challenges associated with the disorder.

💡Pillars

In the context of the video, 'pillars' are categories or areas of life that the creator uses to organize their digital and physical space. The script lists 13 organizational pillars, such as 'Business Projects' and 'Health and Fitness', which serve as a framework for sorting and managing various aspects of life and work.

💡Apple Notes

Apple Notes is a note-taking app developed by Apple for iOS and macOS. The script discusses the process of organizing notes within this app by creating folders based on the pillars system. It is used as an example of how to declutter and make sense of digital note-taking.

💡Google Chrome

Google Chrome is a web browser that is also mentioned in the script for its bookmarking feature. The creator organizes bookmarks into folders and uses the OneTab extension to manage multiple open tabs, demonstrating how browser organization can contribute to overall digital organization.

💡Google Photos

Google Photos is a photo sharing and storage service. The script praises Google Photos for its ability to organize and sync photos across devices, using the pillars system to categorize albums. It is presented as an effective solution for managing digital photo collections.

💡Inbox

In the context of emails, 'Inbox' refers to the default folder where received messages are stored. The script talks about organizing the inbox using labels and colors to categorize emails, which is part of the creator's strategy for maintaining an orderly email management system.

💡Desktop

The 'Desktop' in the script refers to the computer's main screen where shortcuts to files and folders are typically placed. The creator discusses organizing the desktop by creating a backdrop with labeled folders, illustrating the importance of a clean and organized workspace.

💡Canva

Canva is an online design platform used for creating visual content. The script mentions organizing Canva folders using the pillars system, similar to other organizational methods discussed in the video. It shows how the creator applies a consistent organizational strategy across different platforms.

💡Google Drive

Google Drive is a cloud storage service. While the creator mentions using it less frequently, preferring Notion and Google Photos, the script still includes Google Drive in the discussion of digital organization. It is organized by pillars and color labels, consistent with the creator's overall organizational approach.

Highlights

Jenna Redfield introduces her passion for organizing computer files and discusses various organizational systems.

She emphasizes the importance of keeping systems up-to-date and the time investment required for maintaining organization.

Jenna shares her 13 organizational pillars inspired by August Bradley, which she uses to categorize different aspects of her life.

The pillars include categories like business projects, clients, content creation, and personal finance, among others.

Jenna explains how she uses the Friday app as her homepage for a more organized start to her digital day.

She recommends using OneTab to manage and declutter numerous open tabs in Google Chrome.

Jenna demonstrates how to organize bookmarks in Google Chrome using her pillar system and folders within folders.

She discusses the use of Google Photos for organizing photos with albums and the app's automatic syncing and duplicate detection features.

Jenna's method of organizing Apple Notes by pillars and the recent addition of hashtags for quick organization.

She shares her process for organizing her inbox with labels and colors to efficiently manage emails.

Jenna talks about creating a backdrop for her desktop to organize folders and files visually.

She explains how to use the 'stacks' feature on a Mac to organize screenshots and temporary files.

Jenna's strategy for organizing Canva folders using the same pillar system and the upcoming 'Projects' feature in Canva.

A discussion on her transition from Google Drive to Notion for organization, and how she still uses Drive for certain file types.

Jenna provides tips on organizing Google Drive with color-coded labels and the pillar system for an efficient workflow.

She concludes by emphasizing the importance of a consistent organizational system and how it has positively impacted her life.

Transcripts

hey everyone my name is jenna redfield

and welcome back to my youtube channel

today i'm so excited because i'm doing a

topic that

i feel like covers a lot of different

things and that is organizing your

computer now i've done a lot of videos

on notion as well as like adhd stuff

around your house but what about all of

the other apps that you need to keep

organized i want to talk about those

today we're going to be talking about

everything from your desktop of your

computer to your notes maybe apple notes

your photos your emails how the heck do

we keep all this organized now i will

say i am actually really good at this

like this is the one thing that i feel

like i really have a passion for is

organizing files on my computer i do it

also in real life i'm very organized

when it comes to like i don't know like

there's something about it that just

makes me excited to organize files and

so i've definitely built up some systems

that i think would be really helpful for

people and you know keeping it up is the

hard part for me you know i built the

system and it works for the most part

everything has a home but actually going

through and updating it does take some

time um some other things that i

organize are like my canva folders or

different ways to prepare things uh for

work so we're just gonna get into it i'm

gonna run it to my computer make sure to

subscribe to my channel for more videos

for adhd as well as notion and other

topics as well as join our facebook

group um community we'd love to have you

let's get to it

before we get started i have to talk

about my 13 organizational pillars so

these are things that i have set up for

myself

using specifically august bradley has

inspired these he has the pillars

pipelines and vaults but i have moved

beyond notion with these so i'm going to

walk through the 13 and how i use them

in everyday life so the first pillar is

business projects so this means whether

that's my notion templates or an online

course anything that i'm making that's a

business project so it doesn't have a

direct client it's specifically a

project i'm doing whether that's writing

a book or doing something in the future

i would put that under business projects

could be an event could be whatever it

is

the next category is clients so this is

really helpful if you have a business

but it could if you even if you have a

job as well this could be your jobs

business projects your clients at your

work whatever you're doing for me this

is the people that i'm working with as a

coach so i have an entire uh you know

folders for clients individual clients i

actually organize it by year um who i

work with

the next category is content creation so

if you're doing any type of marketing

this is youtube uh

when i had my podcast um any content

that i'm making i put that in a pillar

the next one is entertainment so this is

um movies i go to tv shows you know that

kind of stuff i if i you know have

something that i'm trying to organize i

put that in entertainment then there's

family so if that's emails from family

notes about your family that's its own

category i've got friends in social this

also includes like relationships and

dating

this can also include networking so this

kind of has like an overarching friends

and social the next one is health and

fitness so this is food and working out

so anything that goes into those goes

into health and fitness the next one is

home and household so this goes to

cleaning chores

buying things for your home

anything in the home and household the

next one is mental clarity so this is

really more for my mental health whether

that's therapy adhd anything that's you

know getting through some of the issues

that i have to be more mentally clear

the next one it's different than mine

expansion learning that's really more of

learning whether that's reading books or

listening to experts listening to

podcasts getting more information into

your brain that's how you organize that

stuff then there's personal finance so

this is anything to do with money so

whether that's personal admin things

that you have to do with money the next

one is sales and marketing so this is

specifically for to market the content

creation so how are you getting out

there to actually um you know provide

for yourself if that's something you do

for your business and then the last one

is travel i don't do this one as much

because i'm not a big traveler but i

know a lot of people are so i thought i

would include that as well um some other

categories that you might want to add

are like kids that could be part of

family so it's like you know there might

be individual things you think of but

they probably fall under one of these 13

pillars so basically why i'm showing you

guys this is this is how i organize

everything in my life

everything from my email folders to my

notes folders to um google drive to

google photos i literally have it

organized under these pillars so this

was

game changing for me as a person because

this is how i think and having this laid

out in a way that i'm like this makes so

much sense to me and i know that one of

these things whatever comes into my

inbox i know it fits into one of these

13 categories so i just wanted to say i

don't think august bradley had

entertainment in his i added that

because i was like that doesn't really

fit anywhere it's there's not like a

purpose for entertainment but that is a

huge part of my life i love you know

going to movies and stuff so i needed a

way to organize that as well so i just

wanted to share these 13 different

organizational pillars before we get

started into organizing so i just wanted

to run through that

okay so

one of the first things people asked

about was apple notes

so

i have you see over on the left hand

side have organized it by these pillars

so let me just show you for example

mental clarity i have some things about

my therapy sessions um whether that's

you know something to do with that and

you can literally search your notes for

different things now my notes were

chaotic when i first started organizing

them there were notes that had made no

sense i actually posted a picture of

some of my notes in a facebook group and

it was it made everyone laugh because

they made no sense so like to me my

apple notes is just like quick thoughts

and sometimes it makes sense in the

moment but sometimes it doesn't so going

through you can see i have 1700 notes

i'm still going through them and

organizing them some some of them i

don't need anymore some of them i move

into notion um but i'm really trying to

pare that down this is really my brain

dump area is apple notes so i just want

to say that you can actually make

folders within folders let me go into um

content creation

because you can see that i actually have

more categories within that so whether

that's apps blog posts backgrounds in

clubhouse uh quotes that i have um you

know the podcast seo youtube so anything

to do with content creation i organized

my apple notes under that as a folder so

they just added folders and folders

recently so i just wanted to let you

guys know again these are my main

pillars and then i have folders or like

topics within

another thing that they recently added

um let me just like find let's see if i

go to hashtags let's just find this okay

so this is like a hashtag

thing that i do and obviously if you

update it it goes the top

but they actually added an option let me

see if i can find another

um example see some of these i do some

of these are not organized correctly um

let me find an example

uh

let's go back into quotes some of these

okay just just think about okay so this

is a quote people say they want

character they always follow clarity i'm

gonna put a hashtag um

uh quote

and now that gets added to the quote

area now if you scroll all the way down

where it says tags

you will see

that they now have the option to

organize by hashtag so that's pretty

cool so if you click on quotes now

you will find other quotes that it's if

you don't want to organize it by folder

you want to quickly just add a hashtag

it gets added that way

so i just wanted to mention that for

notes that's how i organize my apple

notes let's move on to

google chrome folders let's go

okay so when you go into my google

chrome you will see that i start with

the friday app that is actually my home

page so you should definitely check it

out it's friday.app um they have a lot

of really cool things that you can add

to this as the first thing you open one

of my biggest pieces of advice when it

comes to organizing your chrome say you

just like open a bunch of windows so

let's just go to like google.com

let's go to facebook.com let's go to

pinterest uh pinterest.com

let's just say we have a ton of tabs

open

like this um

i have installed something called one

tab

and what it does is if i click it

all the tabs go away and they come over

here on the left hand side isn't that

cool so that way if you have tab

overwhelm that is how i do that

so let's go back to google chrome now

you'll see here on the top i actually

have organized again my

different

um

pillars right

so i've got mind expansion mental

clarity so if you go into a bookmark

manager some of them i haven't updated

but you'll see that's how i have it

because i'm on my personal gmail account

i only have personal stuff

on my business account i have like

business uh clients let's see if i can

switch over to that tab

if i go to

so now you'll see on the

um

on my other one that i actually have my

business projects as well in my

this is my business email so i only have

bookmarks on whatever uh

account is open so that's the difference

between my email and you can see if you

even drop down like if i click on

mental clarity you'll see i have

additional

folders within that

so that's just something that you can do

i'm a big proponent of folders within

folders and the one app that i really

wish had them is google photos which we

can talk about next but that that drives

me nuts i love google photos and it's

the one thing i really wish that they

had so that's how i organize my

bookmarks on chrome

okay so some people asked about photos

now my absolute favorite way to organize

photos is using the app google photos

now this is a free app

you do have to have a google account in

order to use it i am a mac user

but i use google photos what's cool is

you can just drag and drop any photos

from your computer from a hard drive

into google photos it'll automatically

sync and upload them to the cloud and it

will know if there's a duplicate it

won't upload it it is amazing i pay for

google uh

for the like one program so i actually

get about i think it's like 100

gigabytes of storage so i definitely try

to make sure i shrink any files i have

anyways so the way that i organize

google photos is by albums and what i do

is i use those same pillar concepts so i

have business project and then a colon

and then i even have additional

information so i'm going to kind of just

quickly scroll through this i tried to

organize them as much as i could um but

you'll see that i have different

business projects that i'm working on i

also have different clients and

different um you know content creation

uh things that i enjoy i actually save a

lot of tick tocks that i like and

organize those as well

i started mixing them in with just

regular content another thing that i

have so if i click into one of these if

i click into like

elements textures this is literally just

every single texture background i've

ever purchased or downloaded

takes a second to load basically that is

the thing that i have done

to organize all of those things for

myself

and then i have like head shots and i've

got all of my um old podcast stuff i

also have then i move into entertainment

so you can see how i kind of organize it

i have family stuff i've got um fg

funnels which is a course so all the

courses i've taken uh friends and social

so this is literally stuff throughout my

life i then move into health and fitness

i've got you know different things home

and household i've got some um props

from the business i used to have so

sometimes i don't always organize by the

pillars um but you know mental clarity

i've got adhd stuff

mind expansion is basically any you know

graphics that i found that makes sense

um

i've got some and then tcc is my

business uh twin cities collective so i

have stuff for that and then i have

travel so trips that i've done um and

then you know i worked at a summer camp

so that's really um what i do for google

photos um i absolutely love google

photos i might do a full video on it

because i love it so much but that's

really how i organize it using my pillar

system i highly recommend having all of

your photos in google photos because

it's absolutely the best way to organize

your images

so i wanted to also mention my inbox so

some of this is this is actually my

inbox um

so you can see i actually also have

labels so let me quick go back to canva

because i want to show you guys

i actually added colors to each

individual one

so business projects is yellow clients

is red content creation is light blue

entertainment's black family is purple

friends and socials like green

health and fitness is orange home and

household is pink mental clarity is dark

blue uh mind expansion learning is

silver personal finance is dark green

sales and marketing is like a orangish

red and then travel is a darker-ish blue

so that's how i organize by color so if

i go back to my inbox that is how i can

also label so i don't think you a lot of

people know this you can actually label

uh and change the colors so over here on

the left you will see that i have all of

my different categories if you click on

more i have them down here as well um

one of the categories i also edit is

archives so that's just like things that

aren't available anymore but i still

want to keep them and

so like for example within health and

fitness i have my chiropractor you know

co-vaccine stuff dentist dermatology

doctor fitness food menstrual health so

like those are the the things that i

have organized them by and then even

below that

like i have you know local fitness so i

have gyms that i used to go to

i have online programs that i've been

doing with food i have you know

different people that i subscribe to so

really it's just how i organize my inbox

there's different ways you can do this

um but basically if i wanted to you can

label

you can create new labels and then nest

them under a specific label but one of

the things you definitely want to do

is you want to

filter so you could do filter messages

like these you create a filter and then

you choose the label so that's how i

organize it so that when it actually

comes in it will actually label

something for you so that's how i

organize my inbox um i don't want to get

like too much into all of my stuff

because it's all my emails it's kind of

personal

but i just wanted to share that with you

guys

okay so i wanted to touch on another

thing which is the desktop which is

something that i have personally created

a backdrop for that can organize the

photo the folders within my computer so

i made this on canva you can i think i

probably have a copy of it somewhere

otherwise just make it yourself however

you want and you can see i've organized

the folders within my desktop i've also

labeled them so if you get go over to

the finder and you see all the different

tags you can see all the different

things that have been

tagged within those folders so like if i

open content creation you'll see all of

these are blue as well and they're just

tagged

so

one thing that happens a lot for me is i

tend to screenshot things and so if

they're just like a bunch of stuff on

your screen you can either do this you

can click use stacks and then they stack

it up again this is just on a mac

or what i do is i just drag it and then

i open google chrome

i can just drop it into google photos i

don't want to like show you my google

photos so i'm just like showing but

basically it takes like two seconds

you're uploaded you're good it's backed

up to the cloud and then i immediately

trash

so

so you can see i even have like

screenshots right here because what i

found is that i like to screenshot

things and it immediately goes to my

desktop and every day or so i try to

clean it up

that's really how i organize my desktop

and how i organize kind of my files on

my computer all of these desktop

is actually within icloud so everything

is backed up so that's the nice thing

about this if i go into any of these

like for brand assets i've got like

logos and stuff um sometimes it takes a

second to load um i've got like you know

just different things logo

just different things i need headshots i

have images that i need so i kind of

organize it that way i have a lot also

this in canva so

that's another thing i think i did a

whole video on that um maybe i'll try to

find the link but i organize canva

basically the same way

let me go open that real quick but

basically with canva i do very much the

same thing with my folders actually as

i'm recording this canva is actually

going to be launching something called

projects which i'm super excited about

so this will all be different by the

time

this video probably goes up but if you

click on all your folders you can

actually organize it the same way

business projects content creation etc

and then i have folders within folders

within folders just like i do

on my desktop on everything so for me

the pillars are everything it's how i

organize my life and yeah it's it's a

lot

the last thing i really want to talk

about today is google drive

so google drive is something i will be

honest i don't use a lot anymore

i have replaced google drive with notion

and google photos so like those two

combo like any photo video i have i put

it in google photos and any like pdf

any type of thing that i have i put in

notion right

but i still have it because there's some

things like for example i can't really

put like google sheets

um inside of notion and also just some

original things that i have so i still

have my google drive um and sometimes if

i do have to share something it is

helpful but again i'm really trying to

move everything into notion so a lot of

the stuff i've actually moved out of

google drive and into notion so but if

you are like an active google drive

viewer i wanted to mention this as well

so you can see the same thing that i did

within all of my other systems i have

organized by pillar as well as by color

so you can create you know so if i go

into i believe it's you know content

creation i have already labeled you can

go in and change the color so that

they're all the same so for me like i

like to label by color

that's really how i organize you can

have folders within folders

again going by that pillar system is

going to make your life so much easier

and be able to organize your systems

you