My favourites

In Finder on my Mac (the program that organises my folders and files … same as Explorer on a PC) the first thing you see is the list of my favourites.

This is top left, and any folders I put there I don’t have to navigate to. They are right there when I open Finder, or when I save anything.

There are always five or six folders there that are the main projects or domains I’m working on. The things I want to focus on. And they are quite fluid. If I’m giving a speech chances are that folder will be there … but of course once I’m done it disappears back into the labyrinth. And every quarter I review them as part of my planning process.

This does two things.

Firstly it tells my brain what’s important. Whenever I open Finder I get a little subconscious reminder of what I’ve decided is important right now.

And secondly (and more importantly I think) it reduces friction. When I want to work on one of those projects, everything is easy to find. It’s that little bit easier to get started … and sometimes that makes all the difference.