Now I want to help you clear even more digital and mental clutter by letting go of subscriptions to podcasts and email newsletter subscriptions that aren’t helping you.

This might seem ironic, given that you’re consuming this content right now either in the form of a podcast episode or an email newsletter. Obviously, you find this helpful or you wouldn’t be here.

But what about all those podcasts and email subscriptions clogging up your podcast player and inbox? You know, the ones you might get to someday… but probably won’t? You should let go of them.

I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity we have as content creators today. Anyone with a computer and internet connection can be a writer, author, or podcaster.

That also means, however, that there is far more content being produced than you can ever consume. So rather than trying to consume more and more, I teach that you should only consume things that you find really compelling, or that are helping you right now.

Here’s a simple way to decide what you should keep. I call it the “six-week test.” If you have read or listened to it in the last 6 weeks, or if you plan on reading or listening to it in the next six weeks, then keep it. Otherwise, unsubscribe from it.

I just went through my podcast app and unsubscribed from 15 podcasts using this method! Now, I feel less stressed when deciding which episodes to listen to.

You might ask, “What if there’s something good in those emails or podcasts that I’ll miss if I unsubscribe?”

Good question. I believe if something is important and is meant to be in your life, it will come around again at just the right time. Plus, since it’s digital, it will always be there to consume anyway.

Your time is limited. You only have so much bandwidth for email newsletters and podcasts. Let go of the ones you’re not using so you can focus on the ones that are truly valuable for you right now in your journey.

Today’s Challenge: Look through your inbox and podcasts, then delete the ones you’re not using. Don’t overthink it. It needs to be a clear “yes” in order for it to continue taking up space in your life.

The post Clear the Clutter: Podcasts & Email Subscriptions appeared first on Daily Writer | Essential Habits for Impact & Influence.

As a writer, you don’t want to spend all your time looking for files and information. You’d rather be writing! Here are five simple tips to clear your computer clutter and help you be more productive:

1. Clean your computer desktop.

Whenever I take a screenshot on my Mac, it goes onto my desktop by default. Sometimes I drop other files there as a handy reference in the short term. Move these files to their proper home in your filing system, or delete the files if you don’t need them.

2. Organize your files into a few big folders.

This keeps things very simple and uncluttered instead of having a long list of more specific files you have to search through constantly. I have major folders for the following areas: Clients, Daily Writer Club, Daily Writer Podcast, Writing, Business, and Personal.

3. Use numbers in your folder titles to create a hierarchy.

The folders I access most frequently are Clients and Daily Writer Club. I label these “00 Clients” and “01 Daily Writer Club” so they appear in that order. And so on for the rest of the files, in order of how often I access them. Keep your most frequently used folders on top. You can also use an asterisk in front of a folder name to move it automatically to the top of the list.

4. Delete files you don’t need.

I used to have a long list of free PDFs I had downloaded from various websites and email lists over the years. I’ve deleted most of these because I’ll never get to them. Most of them aren’t relevant to what I’m doing now anyway.

5. Back up your files to both a cloud drive and a physical drive.

I keep all my files both on my MacBook hard drive and Dropbox. I also use the Time Machine feature on Mac to back up all my files to an external drive every day. Backing up your computer never seems urgent… until it is!

BONUS TIP: Use a “holding space” for notes and ideas. I use the Notes app on my Mac and iPhone. It syncs instantly so it’s always updated on both devices. I use it for quick voice notes, ideas, some meeting notes, and other odds and ends. Then every month or two, I organize these notes and put them into Evernote (my digital brain), Scrivener (my main writing app), or wherever they belong.

Since we spend so much time on our computers and devices, it’s important to de-clutter occasionally. The word of the day is “simple.” When you keep your files and organization simple and clutter-free, you can spend more time on writing and building your business.

Today’s Challenge: I hope you follow through on all these tips, but the most important one is keeping your files backed up. If you don’t already do that, sign up for a cloud-based backup service like Dropbox or start using an external drive.

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