From late 2019 to May 2020, I spent my free time working on a large personal data management project. The first stage was clean up, which took the longest. It began with deleting social media and ended with cleaning out my online storage. I never imagined clean-up would take a focused three months of work, but it did, and if it hadn’t been for a pandemic that forced me to stay indoors 24/7, it would have taken even longer.
The second stage was proactive – creating plans, and developing processes for all new incoming data and information, to avoid the need for future clean-up. I created a data management plan, including estate planning.
The steps I took:
- Turned the phone back into a tool
- Stopped being social
- Un-Googled my life
- Did better with passwords
- Stopped being a document hoarder
- Tackled 40,000 digital photos
- Created a data management plan
After spending too much time looking down, I sought to recalibrate my relationship with my iPhone. Like any negative habitual behavior, it was a process to build new habits, but I succeeded in changing the phone into something I was using, instead of it using me.
I use the list-making app To-doist to keep track of and accomplish all the obligations, plans and to-do tasks from my life. As a person who appreciates good organization, I recommend it for its easy interface, basic functions, and customisation features. I have finely tuned it so it serves to free up my mind while simultaneously keeping me organized and focused on the things that are important. On my mind? On the list. Off my mind.
To free up use of the phone even further, I deleted all the little app alerts (badges, banners, dings and clicks) except for text and phone, for which I retained only the badges. Constantly being alerted causes anxiety, and I already know I have stuff to do (it’s on the list!) so I don’t need a reminder. I’ve kept the calendar nudges so I know what’s coming next, which when I had a ton of clients all over town, saved me more than a few times.
I’ve also started responding to email only once a day. I delete all the things I won’t read as I notice them, and later in the day after all the North Americans have woken up and sent their initial emails, I go mailbox by mailbox and address everything that needs addressing. It’s not visually inbox zero, but it feels like it, and that is the point.
Finally, I took all the social media off my phone (eventually deleting all personal accounts – see part 2). I followed some over-the-top SilVal guy’s phone editing suggestions and organised all the apps into one folder.
I have just two screens now, one is the home screen, and the other is the widgets screen. The home screen is blank except for a cool photo of land art from one of my happy places, and on the widget screen, are upcoming events, phone favorites (so I can call right from the screen) and calendar. The toolbar at the bottom includes my three top used apps – text, camera, music and all the other apps are in the other square organised by use and purpose.
Now I’m on the phone a lot less and I’m happier when I am.
MmePrice 