You may be wondering what tire maintenance has to do with your downloads folder. How could those two things possibly have anything in common?
Oh, but they do!
You see, tire maintenance and file management are both simple things you can create a habit of that will bring a small, almost unnoticeable (but useful) improvement to your day-to-day life. But their real value lies in the more significant catastrophes they will help you avoid.
The other thing they have in common is that people don’t usually take up either until they’ve lived through the consequences of not doing them.
Tire Maintenance
So what are the consequences of not doing regular tire maintenance?
- a bumpy ride
- lower gas mileage
- poor handling (like trouble stopping)
- increased wear on your tires (and needing to replace them sooner)
- overheating, blowing a tire and causing an accident
Notice how those range from minor-but-helpful, to expensive or dangerous? Scary, isn’t it?
But the preventive solution is rather simple. Every time you fuel up your car, check your tire pressure, and tread depth. It’s simple, and what are you doing while you wait on the gas pump anyway?
What we have here is a simple habit that, when done regularly, not only prevents something terrible from happening but also provides a nice day-to-day improvement in your drive.
So how can we apply the same thing to file management?
File Management
If you don’t have good file management habits, then you’re already familiar with the consequences. On the “minor annoyance” end of the spectrum, you have the daily wastes of time spent looking for a file that you can’t quite remember what you named it or where it’s stored. On the “oh crap” end of the spectrum is losing an important file completely or having your computer crash and losing everything.
Once again, the preventive solution is rather simple. Spend just a few minutes deciding on a naming convention and stick to it. And then spend a few minutes each week sorting your files into their proper homes. Round that out with a one-time setup of backups, and you’re completely covered.
Day-to-day, you’ll waste less time looking for things, and over the long-term, you won’t be at risk for losing anything important. These are easy habits to build, and once established, take less than 15-minutes per week—an easy task to do while you’re stuck on hold or waiting for something to load.
Final Thoughts
Can you imagine being able to pull up any file you have with a quick search on any of your devices? It’s not that hard to get there. It’s the file management equivalent of a smooth ride and good gas mileage. And all of that is within your reach without a whole lot of effort. All you have to do is get the right tools and build a simple habit of using them regularly.
And for the love of everything, do it now. Don’t wait until that blowout or crash to realize you should have been doing it all along. It’s not worth it.
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