How do you avoid this cluttered mess of misplaced files, cluttered workspaces, and low productivity? The answer is to realize that your computer is not only used by you; you share your computer with yourself!

While figuring out how to organize all my files, folders and programs I said to myself “I cant get rid of that I need it there” then it occurred to me. I share my computers between 3-4 different versions of myself. I live different lives at different times. Think about this for a minute and I think you’ll agree that at least 30% of the stuff you have on your computer or desktop is used for a very specific, goal oriented task that you would otherwise do nothing with. For me I broke my lives into categories. I am a student, an employee, myself, and I also own my own websites and podcast. So what am I going to do with all this newly found information?

Well I realized that the only thing to do when you don’t want others (or yourself) clogging up your desktop, and allowing your lives creep together at the wrong times (think producing a website and suddenly playing counter-strike) is to give those people their own user accounts. So today I created myself a “School and Podcast” user on my Macbook and started transferring files. While transferring all the appropriate files over I found that the often inconvenient lack of being able to switch between users and keep programs open on a Macintosh machine became perfect for the need to compartmentalize my life. I cannot go play games or watch my movies unless I want to completely drop everything I’m doing and log into another account.

So I went from this:

To this in less than an hour and had done a little bit of work to make myself a more productive, organized individual.

So what do you do to help fight back a crazy desktop? What do you think about the idea that you lead several different lives on your computer? Please share your stories tell me what steps you have taken or are planning to take to make your life and your computers life that much easier!