Stop Drowning in Digital Clutter: Spring Cleaning for Your Business
You know that feeling when you sit down at your computer with good intentions—you're going to work on your marketing plan, finalize that client proposal, or batch content for the week—but instead you spend the entire day sifting through emails, scrolling social media, and clicking through browser tabs? That's digital clutter fragmenting your attention before you even start your real work.
Tomorrow is the first day of spring, and if your desktop looks like a digital junk drawer, your email inbox has 10,000 unread messages, and your bookmarks bar is a graveyard of links you'll never click again—this episode is your intervention. But this isn't the "clean your inbox once and watch it explode again by Tuesday" version. This is CEO-level digital spring cleaning: the actual systems that keep your digital workspace as clear as your mind needs to be.
Digital clutter is sneaky. Physical clutter stays in one place—you can close the door on it. But digital clutter follows you everywhere: every device you open, every browser tab you click, every time you unlock your phone. Every unread email is a tiny decision your brain has to process in the background. Every cluttered desktop icon registers as unfinished work. Every chaotic bookmarks bar whispers "you need to organize this." It fragments your attention, drains your energy, and keeps you in constant low-level overwhelm whether you realize it or not.
These lessons come straight from what I teach inside Chaos Detox—because you can't manage your time effectively when your digital workspace is chaos. You have to declutter your digital life before you can create the white space and breathing room your brain actually needs.
In this episode, you'll learn:
Why digital clutter demands your attention constantly (even when you're not actively looking at it)
How to declutter your email inbox like a CEO: unsubscribe ruthlessly, stop checking mornings first, use labels strategically
The bookmark management system that keeps only what you actually use (not the 80% you'll never click again)
How to maintain a clean desktop with one simple 5-minute weekly habit
Why unfollowing people on social media is self-care, not selfishness
Email decluttering strategies: The ruthless unsubscribe method (00:07:51)
Why checking email first thing puts you in reaction mode instead of CEO mode (00:10:13)
Bookmarks bar cleanup: One folder per day without falling into content rabbit holes (00:18:00)
Desktop decluttering: What "save for later" actually means (00:23:22)
Social media curation: Unfollow without guilt to protect your mental clarity (00:29:00)
Building digital decluttering habits that stick beyond spring (00:34:00)
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Want to read the original blog post that inspired this episode?
CLICK HERE → Digital Spring Cleaning - How To Clear The Clutter Like A CEO
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Full Episode Transcript
(45) Stop Drowning in Digital Clutter: Spring Cleaning for Your Business
[00:00:00] Tomorrow is the first day of spring, and if your desktop looks like a digital junk drawer, your email inbox has 10,000 unread messages and your bookmarks bar is a graveyard of links you'll never click again. This episode is your intervention. Welcome to Ditch the Chaos. I'm Cara Chace, and this is your space to figure out how to run your life and business without running yourself into the ground.
[00:00:25] Today I'm walking you through digital spring Cleaning, CEO style, not the clean your inbox once and watch it explode again by next week version. The actual systems that keep your digital workspace as clear as your mind needs to be so you can focus on your priorities instead of searching for files while you're getting pinged with the notifications.
[00:00:46] Quick note before we dive in. This is a long episode because we're covering a lot of ground email bookmarks, desktop files, and social media. If you need to break this up into chunks, no [00:01:00] problem. When you hear the transition sound between sections, that's a perfect place to pause and come back later.
[00:01:07] Take this at whatever pace works for you.
[00:01:09] So here's the thing about digital clutter that I think makes it so much worse than any other kind of clutter we deal with. When you have physical clutter, like that pile of papers on your desk or the laundry you've been avoiding, you can at least see it. You know it's there. You can make a conscious choice to deal with it later or ignore it completely and honestly, sometimes you just need to ignore it because you have other things to do.
[00:01:33] But digital clutter doesn't work that way. It's sneaky in a way that physical clutter just isn't. That pile of papers on your desk doesn't follow you to the grocery store. It's not in your pocket. The stack of books you swear you'll read someday isn't popping up while you're trying to have dinner with your family.
[00:01:50] Physical clutter stays in one place. Digital clutter is everywhere you go. Every device you open, every browser tab you click every [00:02:00] time you unlock your phone to check something real quick. Okay, and here's what most people don't realize. Every single piece of digital clutter is pulling at your attention, even when you're not actively looking at it.
[00:02:13] Every unread email sitting in your inbox is a tiny decision your brain has to process in the background. Every icon cluttering your desktop registers in your nervous system as unfinished work. Something you still need to deal with. And every messy bookmarks bar is whispering. You need to organize this.
[00:02:31] Every time you open a new tab, it fragments your attention, it drains your energy, and it keeps you in this constant low level state of overwhelm, whether you realize it or not. So how does this look in your day-to-day life? It could look like an email inbox with thousands of unread messages. Promotions you'll never open from that one order you wanted 15% off on newsletters you signed up for three years ago and haven't read since.
[00:02:59] [00:03:00] Subscription confirmations from apps you're not even using anymore. It could look like a social media newsfeed packed with content that makes you feel behind, distracted, not good enough, or just straight up annoyed every time you scroll through it. It could also be a browser bookmarks bar, so cluttered that you can't find anything, so you just end up googling it anyway, which totally defeats the entire purpose of saving A URL in the first place.
[00:03:25] It could also be a desktop screen covered in random screenshots, old downloads, PDFs you've saved just in case and files you've completely forgotten about. Does any of this sound familiar? Here's what happens when you're drowning in that digital clutter. You sit down at your computer in the morning with really good intentions.
[00:03:45] You're gonna work on your marketing plan today, or you're gonna finalize that client proposal you've been putting off, or maybe you're gonna batch your content for the week so you can feel ahead for once. But instead of doing any of that, you start sifting through emails because they're [00:04:00] right there demanding your attention.
[00:04:02] Then you scroll through social media for just a minute to see what's happening. Then someone mentions a webinar and a group you're in. So you jump on that and then you remember you need to make a few phone calls. Oh, and you should probably design those graphics you've been thinking about. And wait, there's a YouTube tutorial you wanted to watch about that thing you're trying to figure out.
[00:04:21] And before you know it, your day is gone. You feel like you've been super busy, like genuinely productive. But when you look back at what you actually accomplished, it's not much. At least not much that actually moves your business forward in a meaningful way. Now let me paint you a different picture.
[00:04:39] Imagine opening your computer in the morning and your workspace is just clean. Your inbox only shows you high value messages, the ones that really matter. Your desktop has one folder, maybe two. Your bookmarks bar is actually useful and it only has sites you use daily and weekly.
[00:04:56] You sit down and you know exactly what to do [00:05:00] next. There's no visual noise pulling at your attention. No mental clutter telling you to deal with 17 different things before you even start your real work. Just clarity, just focus. And that's what digital spring cleaning will give you. And since tomorrow's the first day of spring when this podcast drops, there's no better time to make it happen.
[00:05:20] Before we get into the practical how to steps, I wanna dive in a little deeper into why digital clutter is so uniquely disruptive to your productivity and your mental state. Because I think if you understand why it's messing with you, you'll be way more motivated to actually deal with it and notice it instead of just living with it like most people do.
[00:05:40] Physical clutter is annoying. Yes, but it's contained. It's in one place. You can walk away from it. It doesn't demand your attention unless you're physically in the same space with it. Digital clutter though demands your attention constantly, and the worst part is you don't even realize it's happening most of the time.
[00:05:59] [00:06:00] Every time you open your inbox and see 47 unread emails staring back at you just from today. Your brain has to process that information. It has to register that there are things you haven't dealt with yet. Even if you're not gonna read those emails right now, your brain knows they're there, and that takes up a huge amount of mental bandwidth.
[00:06:20] Every time you glance at your desktop and see 200 icons scattered across it.
[00:06:25] Your nervous system registers that as unfinished work. It's visual noise that your brain has to filter through, even if you're just trying to find the one specific file. And every time you scroll through your social media feed and see content that doesn't serve you, whether it's triggering comparison, feeding negativity, or just wasting your time, you're leaking focus and energy that you could be using for something that actually matters.
[00:06:50] That focus and energy is finite. It is not an endless, well, all of this keeps you stuck in what I call multitasking distraction [00:07:00] mode instead of focused priority mode. And here's the really sneaky part. You think you're being productive because you're busy. You're checking off things, you're clicking through things, you're responding to things, but you're not actually moving your business or your life forward.
[00:07:14] You're just managing the noise. So that's why we're doing this digital spring cleaning, not to be perfectionist or to have some Instagram worthy desktop screenshot, but to be intentional with reclaiming your focus and your energy so you can actually spend them on what matters.
[00:07:32] If you are more of a visual person, I totally get it. This podcast episode was inspired by a blog I wrote, and I have tons of screenshots about how to do a lot of the things I'm gonna tell you to do step by step. I will link that original blog in the show notes.
[00:07:51] Okay, let's get into it. Starting with the biggest culprit email. Oh my gosh. Email. The bane of every modern business [00:08:00] owner's existence, right? Let me guess what your inbox looks like right now. You've got thousands of unread messages, promotions, you'll never click on newsletters. You signed up for years ago when you were in a completely different phase of your business and you haven't opened a single one since.
[00:08:17] Tons of free challenge email series, or lead magnets from people who you don't even remember who they are in the first place. Subscription confirmations from apps, software, you're not even using anymore. Client emails mixed in with spam mixed in with random notifications from platforms. You forgot you were even on.
[00:08:36] Whew. Does that sound about right? Before I even tell you how to fix it, I wanna tell you a story you're probably familiar with from just a couple months ago. A famous person on YouTube who's in the productivity space, whose content I do genuinely love was running an online summit the first week in January about planning and business.
[00:08:57] It seemed right up my alley, and I filled out the [00:09:00] registration form with the best of intentions. And then over the next several days, his email marketing poured into my inbox, like cheap beer from a keg at a high school party out in a field somewhere. By the time I unsubscribed to that chaos, he had sent me 22 emails in 14 days.
[00:09:21] No, thank you. I was so irritated. Not only did I unsubscribe from his emails, but I sat down and took an hour to unsubscribe from almost every email list, newsletter and business in my inboxes, both personal and business. And that hour of effort freed up hours of time for future me to not be distracted or exhausted by open loops in my inbox. And while I can't guarantee that you can do this in an hour, if you have thousands of emails to sift through, I can tell you making this effort will free up so much time for you in the future.
[00:09:55] So here's how we're gonna fix this, and I'm gonna walk you through this step by step because I know it feels [00:10:00] overwhelming when you're staring at an inbox with thousands of unread emails. The first step, and this is the most important one, you need to start using that unsubscribe button like it's your new best friend.
[00:10:13] Thanks to privacy and consumer protection laws, unsubscribing from marketing emails is easier than it's ever been. There's literally a button at the bottom of almost every single email now, so use it. If there's not a link at the bottom of the email. Gmail usually has their own unsubscribed feature at the top of the email and Gmail just released a managed subscriptions link on the left sidebar of your inbox that makes this process even faster. Here's my rule. If a newsletter sits unopened in your inbox, it's time to unsubscribe. I don't care how much you like that person. I don't care if their content is valuable. If you're not actually reading it within a couple weeks, you need to let it go.
[00:10:55] And if an email isn't adding value to your business or your life right now, not someday, not in [00:11:00] theory, but right now, unsubscribe from it. Now, if you have hundreds of subscriptions and the thought of manually unsubscribing from all of them makes you wanna close this episode and pretend you never heard me, there are tools that can help.
[00:11:14] Unroll me is one of them. If you don't use Gmail, it lets you batch unsubscribe from multiple lists at once, which speeds up the process significantly. There are other services, both free and paid. Just make sure you know what data those services are collecting and selling if that matters to you. And here's another example from my own life, because I want you to know I'm not just telling you to do something I haven't done myself.
[00:11:38] I love Gary Vaynerchuk's content. I think he's brilliant and I've learned a ton from him over the years. But his emails, they were too much like every single day, sometimes multiple times a day. There was something new from Gary in my inbox, and I realized one day that I wasn't actually reading any of them.
[00:11:56] I was just seeing them pile up, and every time I saw them, I [00:12:00] felt this little pang of guilt, like, I should be reading them, I should be keeping up. I should be implementing what he's teaching. And it was a major open loop that I was creating this guilt driven mental clutter problem. So I unsubscribed. And here's the thing, I can still access all of his content whenever I want.
[00:12:19] I can check his YouTube channel when I have the bandwidth for it. I can visit his website when I actually need that kind of strategy and advice, but I'm not letting his emails schedule dictate my attention every single day. And that's the key insight here. Just because someone's content is valuable doesn't mean you need it delivered to your inbox daily.
[00:12:39] You can still benefit from their work without being on their email list. The second piece of email decluttering, and this is the one that's really hard for people, but it's actually critical.
[00:12:50] If you wanna take back control of your day, stop checking your inbox first thing in the morning. And I know, I know you're probably thinking, but Cara, [00:13:00] I have to check my email in the morning. What if a client needs something?
[00:13:03] What if there's an urgent issue I need to deal with? And here's what I need you to understand. When you check your email first thing in the morning, you're putting yourself in reaction mode. Instead of CEO mode, you wake up, you grab your phone or your laptop, you check your email, and suddenly, before you've even finished that coffee or gotten dressed or thought about what you actually need to accomplish today, you're responding to client requests, you're putting out fires, you're answering questions that honestly could wait till later in the day. And just like that, other people's priorities have become your priorities for the entire morning or even the entire day.
[00:13:40] So here's what I do instead, and I want you to try this for a week and see how it feels. Set a dedicated email time for later in the day. For me, that's usually after lunch, like one or 2:00 PM I'll sit down and go through my inbox in one focused batch. If that's too much of a stretch for you, try 10:00 AM which will [00:14:00] at least give you a good block of focused work in the morning first.
[00:14:03] You also need to turn off all email notifications. I mean completely off. No badges on your phone, no popups on your computer, no dings or buzzes or anything that pulls you back into your inbox when you're trying to focus on something else. And then batch process your emails during that dedicated time so they don't take over your entire workflow.
[00:14:24] When you start your day by working on your priorities first, the things that really move the needle in your business instead of immediately jumping into other people's priorities, everything changes for you. Your energy is different, your focus is sharper, and you actually get done what matters. Okay, so once you've unsubscribed from the noise and you've stopped checking email first thing in the morning, it's time to organize what's actually left in your inbox.
[00:14:49] This is the same thing as decluttering physical junk before you attempt to organize what's left into containers. So here's how you do that. First, use labels or folders in [00:15:00] your inbox, whatever your email platform calls them to categorize the important stuff. But please keep it minimal. I have labels for clients, finance, marketing, basically the main buckets of my business.
[00:15:12] So when an email comes in that I need to keep track of, I can label it, archive it, and find it later without it cluttering up my main inbox. View. Second archive emails instead of just leaving thousands of them sitting in your inbox, taking up space. Most email platforms have really good search functions now, so if you need to find something later, you can just search for it, but it doesn't need to be sitting there front and center demanding your attention every single day.
[00:15:38] Third, empty your spam in your trash once a week. I know they're technically hidden and maybe they empty themselves after 30 days, but it's still taking up space. Even if you don't see 'em constantly, just clear 'em out and move on. Make it part of your weekly cleanup routine.
[00:15:55] Finally, use the filter messages feature. If there are newsletters you're currently [00:16:00] reading that provide value right now, filter them to a label or folder for newsletters and keep them out of your priority inbox. Then you can go through and read them at the end of the day or once a week instead of them distracting you constantly.
[00:16:13] Now, here's what I want you to imagine, because this is what's possible when you actually commit to this process. You open your inbox and the only emails you see are high value messages. Client inquiries that you actually wanna respond to. Sales notifications that mean your business is working.
[00:16:31] Collaboration opportunities that excite you. That's it. No noise, no clutter, no guilt about the 47 newsletters you haven't read, or the free challenge you haven't done. When you do this at first, it's gonna feel strange. You'll open your inbox and wonder where the rest of the emails are.
[00:16:48] You'll refresh it a few times. And then you'll realize that the emails you get each day that are truly important are only a handful, and the rest, were all just distractions. That's the [00:17:00] power of digital decluttering, and it's completely achievable if you're willing to put in the work upfront. One more thing before we move on to the next section.
[00:17:08] I make this a daily habit now.
[00:17:10] And it took practice at first. I'm not gonna lie, to unsubscribe from emails immediately when I realized they're not providing value or aren't for where I'm at in my business right now. This also helps you stay on top of your inbox priorities. This isn't something that you fix once, and it'll be perfect for that inbox.
[00:17:28] Creep will still happen. It's inevitable, but you'll know how to deal with it. It's like cleaning the counters every night and then deep cleaning your house a couple times a year. Remember what served you six months ago might not serve you today. What was helpful when you were first starting out might be completely irrelevant now that you're at a different stage in your business, and that's okay.
[00:17:49] You're allowed to change. You're allowed to let things go. You don't owe anyone your inbox space just because their content used to be useful.
[00:17:56] All right, next up your bookmarks [00:18:00] bar. And I need you to be really honest with yourself here. How many bookmarks do you currently have that you never really use? If you're someone that doesn't use your browsers, bookmarks feature, this part isn't for you. But for a lot of us, including me, this can definitely be a clutter trap.
[00:18:17] So I'm gonna tell you this story about my own bookmarks bar, and I'm sharing this because I want you to know that if yours is a complete disaster right now, you're not alone. Mine was absolutely ridiculous. I had so many old and pointless bookmarks saved that I couldn't even find anything when I actually needed it.
[00:18:35] We're talking links that didn't even work anymore because the website had changed or shut down old articles and blog posts that I had saved to read later, and then never went back to. Subscriptions to apps or software that I wasn't even using anymore.
[00:18:49] Like I had canceled the subscription, but the bookmark was still there. Client files from projects that ended years ago. Research I had saved for something I was working on at that time. But that project was [00:19:00] long done and the research wasn't relevant. I mean, does all of that sound familiar to you? And here's the worst part.
[00:19:07] The thing that made me finally decide I had to deal with this was I would try to find a specific bookmark. I knew I had saved somewhere, but then I'd get so overwhelmed by how many I had cluttering up my browser that just give up and Google it instead.
[00:19:21] Which completely defeats the purpose of bookmarking something in the first place, right? The whole point is to save things so you can find them easily. But if your bookmarks bar is so cluttered you can't actually find anything, then what's the point? So I decided I needed to tackle this too, and I was legitimately overwhelmed with where to start, and here's why.
[00:19:41] I was afraid that if I opened up my bookmarks and started going through them, I would get completely sucked into a content rabbit hole, like clicking on an article to see if I should keep it, and then I'd start reading it, and then I'd click through to something else and three hours later I'd still be reading instead of actually decluttering anything.
[00:19:59] I'm sure you [00:20:00] can probably relate to that fear. I think that's why a lot of people never deal with their digital clutter. It's not just the overwhelm of how much there is, it's the fear that dealing with it is gonna suck you into an even bigger time. Suck. So here's what I did instead, I ate that elephant one bite at a time.
[00:20:17] As the saying goes, every single day, I would tackle just one folder in my bookmarks bar. Not the whole thing, not even multiple folders, just one. And if it was a huge folder, I would just set a timer for 15 to 20 minutes. And for each bookmark in that folder, I made one of three decisions.
[00:20:35] Keep it. Delete it or save it for later. But I had to actually think about why I was saving it for later. It couldn't just be a vague, I might need this someday. I had to have a specific relevant reason. That was my system. One folder per day, or 15 to 20 minutes, one decision per bookmark.
[00:20:53] That's it. And after a couple weeks of doing this for maybe 15, 20 minutes a day, I had gone through [00:21:00] every single bookmark that I had saved. And the final result is I ended up keeping less than 20% of my original bookmarks, less than 20%. That means more than 80% of what I had saved wasn't actually useful or relevant anymore.
[00:21:16] That's the Pareto principle in action right there. The 80 20 rule turns out the vast majority of what I'd been saving and cluttering up my digital space with wasn't serving me at all. And here's where I took it even further. This is totally optional but I'm gonna share it with you because it did make a huge difference for me.
[00:21:35] After I went through all my bookmarks and deleted most of them. I made a decision I wasn't really gonna keep any bookmarks in my browser anymore. Okay. Instead, I created a table in notion where I save only truly important leaks that I know I'm gonna need for reference regularly. And here's why I did that.
[00:21:52] By forcing myself to manually enter a bookmark into a spreadsheet or a database, instead of just clicking the little [00:22:00] star icon in my browser, my threshold for what's actually valuable became much, much higher. Because it's so easy to bookmark something. You read an article and you think, oh, this is interesting.
[00:22:11] I should save this. And you click that bookmark star and boom, it's done. It takes two seconds. But if you have to open up a spreadsheet or a notion table and manually paste in the URL, give it a title and maybe a little note about why you're saving it, that takes more effort, which means you're way more intentional about what you save.
[00:22:31] So now the only bookmarks that live in my browser are things I literally use every day. My business dashboard with what I use to run my business, a folder for all the links I use when I do my bookkeeping once a month, a folder for any current courses or communities that I'm in. That's it. Yeah, everything else is in my notion table, organized by category and easy to search for when I need it, but not cluttering up my browser.
[00:22:57] And here's what that gives me In my [00:23:00] day-to-day work. When I open up a new tab in my browser, I'm not staring at 50 links. I never use. I'm not scrolling through folders trying to remember what I saved and why or where that link is. I'm looking at a clean, intentional workspace that only shows me exactly what I need right now.
[00:23:17] It is such a small thing, but it makes a huge difference in how focused I feel when I sit down to work.
[00:23:22] Okay. Let's talk about your desktop screen next. I know what this probably looks like because mine used to look the same way. Just like with bookmarking URLs, it's way too easy to download files and save everything to your desktop.
[00:23:37] It's the default setting on most computers. And when you download something, unless you actively choose a different location, it just goes straight to your desktop and before you know it, you can't even see your carefully selected wallpaper anymore.
[00:23:50] You have no idea where anything is. You don't even know what files you have because there's just so many icons scattered everywhere. Have you ever downloaded the same file multiple times [00:24:00] because you had no idea you already have it and it was saved somewhere else on your computer? I've totally done that.
[00:24:05] Like I'd need a specific PDF or a graphic or something and I'd go looking for it, and I'd get so overwhelmed by the chaos on my desktop that I'd just give up and download it again for wherever I originally got it, which of course, just added more clutter to the problem. So if your desktop currently looks like a complete mess, I get it and I'm gonna walk you through how to take control of it without getting overwhelmed in the process.
[00:24:28] This is the same principle for your downloads folder. If you use that as your default download space, or if you use Google Drive or desktop or whatever file system you have, if your files are such a mess that you can't find things, you're gonna waste your precious time looking instead of being able to grab what you need immediately.
[00:24:47] So here's how to declutter your desktop or any files that are running rampant in your online folders without losing your mind. The strategy here is the same as what I did for my bookmarks bar. Don't tackle everything at [00:25:00] once. Pick one folder per day. Or if you don't have folders yet, pick one section of your desktop and go through it systematically.
[00:25:07] For each file, you're gonna make one of those three decisions. Does it stay 'cause you're actively using it? Does it need to be deleted because it's outdated, unnecessary, or you already have multiple copies? If so, then delete it immediately. Or does this need to be saved for later, but with actual intention behind why you're saving it?
[00:25:26] If it does move it to Google Drive or an external hard drive somewhere that's not on your desktop. Now let's talk about that third category for a second, because this is where people get stuck and end up keeping way more than they actually need.
[00:25:39] Saving something because it's just in case you need it for later, is not the same as saving what you actually need. There's a big difference. Let me give you an example from my own business to show you what I mean. I used to run planning challenges every fall to help people map out their digital marketing strategies for the next quarter or the next year.[00:26:00]
[00:26:00] That was the previous focus of my business, and it was part of my business model. So when I came across articles or PDFs or lead magnets that related to running challenges or helping people with planning, I would save those because I knew that I would use them when I ran my next challenge. However, and this is the key, I did not save lead magnets or resources about starting a membership site or DM selling strategies or any other marketing strategy that I was not using because those weren't on my radar.
[00:26:29] They were not part of my business plan. They might be great resources, they might be valuable for someone else, but they're not relevant for me right now. Do you see the difference? One is intentional saving based on what I know I'm actually going to use, and the other is just in case saving based on some vague idea that I might possibly, maybe need someday.
[00:26:51] Be really honest with yourself about what you're actually going to use versus what you're just collecting outta fear or obligation or that productivity guilt [00:27:00] feeling of, I should keep this because I might need it and maybe I want to later.
[00:27:04] And when your business changes or your marketing strategy changes as mine has and yours has too, make sure you set aside some time to archive those files that are no longer useful or relevant. So here's what my desktop looks like right now after going through this whole decluttering process several times over many years.
[00:27:23] I have one folder on my desktop. That's it. Uno, a single folder. It's called Software and Apps, and it has shortcuts to the programs I use for work. There are no other icons except the recycle bin. No random JPEGs, no screenshots from 2019 that I was definitely gonna use for something important, but then forgot about everything else lives in one of two places. Google Drive for files I need easy access to from any device or an external hard drive for long-term storage of things like old project files or archived content. And here's how I keep it that way, because [00:28:00] the decluttering part is only half the battle. You also have to maintain it so you don't end right back where you started in three months,
[00:28:07] I do this every Friday afternoon as part of my end of the week wrap up. I check my desktop for any stray downloads or files that are still sitting out. And I either delete them if I don't need them, or I organize them into the proper places in Google Drive or my external hard drive if I do need them.
[00:28:23] That's it. It takes me maybe five minutes once a week, and it keeps my desktop completely clean. And I'm telling you, there is something incredibly empowering about opening your computer in the morning and seeing a clean workspace instead of a bajillion icon staring back at you. It genuinely sets the tone for your entire workday.
[00:28:42] It's like the difference between walking into a freshly cleaned office versus walking into a room where there's a pile of stuff everywhere. One makes you feel focused and ready to work. The other makes you feel stressed before you even start.
[00:28:54] Alright, now we're getting into what might actually be the biggest source of [00:29:00] emotional and visual clutter for a lot of people.
[00:29:02] Your social media feeds and this applies to all social media platforms which use scrolling algorithm based feeds with that pull down to refresh function that mirrors slot machines. Social media has become a minefield over the years, and I'm just gonna be completely frank with you.
[00:29:20] I'm tired of being inundated with nonsense and overly opinionated bs. Every time I open an app. I know some of you are saying, Cara Social media is part of my business. I have to be on there. I have to see what's happening in my industry and stay connected to potential clients. I get that. I don't necessarily agree with you, but I get where you're coming from.
[00:29:43] I have social media accounts too for my business, even though I don't use them heavily. And here's what I've learned. You can use social media for your business without letting it become this constant drain on your energy and your focus. And the way you do that is by being absolutely ruthless [00:30:00] about what you allow into your feed just like your email inbox,.
[00:30:04] The first thing to know is you do not have to unfriend people or unlike business pages to stop seeing their posts. You can just unfollow them. When you unfollow someone on Instagram or Facebook, they have no idea. They don't get a notification. They can still see your posts if they want to, and you stop seeing their posts in your feed. It's such a simple feature and so many people don't use it because they feel guilty like they're being rude or mean or unsupportive by unfollowing someone.
[00:30:33] I think younger generations have this down more than us, gen Xers or even millennials, which feels really weird to say. But you have to let that kind of people pleasing, go unfollowing someone is not a judgment of their worth as a person. It's not a statement about whether their content is good or bad necessarily.
[00:30:52] It's just you making a decision about what you wanna see in your feed right now to protect your own mental clarity and focus. That's it. That's all there [00:31:00] is. So here's my rule, and I want you to adopt this same mindset. I do not hesitate when content, a business or a person no longer adds value to my life.
[00:31:11] If scrolling through my feed and seeing their posts breeds comparisonitis, that feeling of why am I not as successful as them, or I should be further along by now, I unfollow them immediately. If seeing their content brings up old hurts or triggers negative emotions that I don't need to be dealing with in the middle of my workday, I unfollow if they're posts, feed negativity, drama, outrage, or distraction instead of actually helping me or inspiring me or teaching me something useful, I unfollow.
[00:31:42] And this isn't about being cold or cutting people out of my life. Most of the people that I tend to unfollow on social media are still people that I care about in real life. I still text them. I still meet them for coffee. I can still support their business in other way as. But I don't need to see their posts every [00:32:00] single day cluttering up my feed and pulling up my attention when I'm trying to focus on my own work and my own life.
[00:32:06] This is about protecting your mental clarity. It's about being intentional with what you're consuming instead of just passively scrolling through whatever the algorithm decides to show you. In 2022, I was a keynote speaker at Craft and Commerce about consciously creating your dream business. There was a line in my talk that got an unexpected and spontaneous round of applause from the audience.
[00:32:30] It was unfollow everyone in your industry on social media. If you're interested, it's a 20 minute talk and I'll link you in the show notes to go watch it.
[00:32:39] And while we're talking about social media decluttering, let me mention one more thing I do regularly that makes a big difference. I go through my follower's list on Instagram and remove accounts that are clearly bots, spam, or completely misaligned with my content. Like if someone's following me and their account is all about cryptocurrency scams, or they're selling [00:33:00] followers, or they haven't posted in three years and there's no profile photo, they're clearly not a real active account, and I remove them because here's what happens when you let those kinds of accounts build up in your followers list, it skews your engagement metrics, and it makes it harder to understand who your real audience actually is, and it just clutters up your space with noise.
[00:33:21] I want my audience to be real people that are engaged and relevant, not filled with fake accounts and inactive users who are never gonna benefit from my content. So here's what I want you to walk away from with this section. Unfollowing people, muting accounts, and curating your social media feed with intention isn't just digital decluttering.
[00:33:42] It is a form of self-care. It's you deciding that your mental energy and your focus are valuable and you're not gonna waste them on content that doesn't serve you.
[00:33:51] Okay, so at this point you've learned how to declutter your email, clean up your bookmarks and your desktop, [00:34:00] curate, your social media feed, and maybe you're thinking, okay, great, but how do I make sure I don't end right back where I started three months ago? That's what we're gonna talk about now, because all of this is only helpful if it becomes a habit instead of a one-time spring cleaning project that you forgot about by summer.
[00:34:17] Here's the thing about habits. They require a bit, sometimes a lot of momentum to get started. There's that initial resistance where it feels hard and unfamiliar, like you have to consciously think about it every single step. But once you push past that initial resistance and you've done something consistently for a couple of weeks or a couple of months, it becomes a habit and it's automatic.
[00:34:40] It's like this subconscious decision instead of something you have to force yourself to do against the grain every single time. So how do you build that initial momentum and make digital decluttering a habit instead of just a thing you did once? Here's a few strategies that have worked really well for me and for my clients that I work with.
[00:34:57] First, create the systems [00:35:00] that make it easy to maintain your decluttered digital space. For example, if you're gonna use a bookmark spreadsheet, like I mentioned earlier, create the spreadsheet right now. Don't wait. Open up your Google Drive, or create a notion database or whatever tool you wanna use, and set it up so it's ready the next time you wanna bookmark something. If you're gonna use email labels to organize your inbox, take 15 minutes right now and set up those labels in whatever platform you use. Create the categories that make sense for your business and get them in place so that they're ready.
[00:35:31] When you start that process of archiving and labeling your emails, the easier you make it to maintain these new habits, the more likely you are to follow through with them.
[00:35:40] Second, and this is really important. Don't try to do everything at once. Dedicate just 15 minutes per day to tackle small decluttering tasks. One inbox folder, one desktop folder, one category in your bookmarks bar. You'll be amazed at how much you accomplish in 15 focus minutes when you're not trying to overhaul [00:36:00] your entire digital life in one sitting.
[00:36:02] And the benefit of this approach is that it doesn't feel overwhelming. 15 minutes is manageable. You can fit that even in the busiest day. And over time, those 15 minute sessions add up to a completely transformed digital workspace. Third, put a recurring event on your calendar for a weekly digital cleanup.
[00:36:22] I do mine every Friday as part of my end of the week wrap up is literally on my calendar as a task, and during that time I go through and put things back where they belong. I delete any files that are still sitting on my desktop from downloads during the week. I archive emails that I've already dealt with.
[00:36:38] I unsubscribe from anything that came into my inbox that I don't need. It takes me maybe 15 to 20 minutes once a week, and it keeps everything from building back up into the chaos I used to just live with. Set a calendar reminder. Make it recurring. Treat it like any other important task because maintaining a clear digital workspace is just as important as [00:37:00] any other work you do.
[00:37:01] And finally, be patient with yourself. You're building this habit. If you consistently follow these steps for a couple of months, doing small daily decluttering, doing weekly cleanups, being intentional about what you save and what you delete, you will completely rewire how and when you save anything digitally, your threshold for what's worth keeping will naturally get higher.
[00:37:26] You'll start automatically unsubscribing from things instead of letting them pile up. You'll think twice before downloading something to your desktop and before you know it, digital decluttering will feel automatic.
[00:37:38] It'll just be how you operate and you'll never drown in digital chaos again. And when you come across that social media posts that you know triggers you or immediately makes you feel bad, you'll feel just fine in unfollowing them. And one more resource I wanna mention before we move on, if you wanna go deeper on this whole concept of cutting out digital [00:38:00] noise and being more intentional with your technology use, I highly recommend the book Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport.
[00:38:07] It was life changing for me. It's full of practical ideas about how to simplify your digital life, even if your business is completely online like mine is. He talks about the philosophy behind why we get so cluttered digitally and gives you frameworks for thinking about what technology actually serves you versus what's just noise.
[00:38:28] It's definitely worth checking out if this episode resonated with you. Okay. I know this was the longest episode I have ever recorded, and there's a lot to do in here. So here's your reset and reclaim action step just for this week.
[00:38:43] I just want you to pick one area to tackle this week. Not all of them, just one. Maybe it's unsubscribing from 10 email lists that no longer serve you or aren't relevant to where you're at in your business. Maybe it's cleaning up one folder on your desktop and moving those files to Google Drive or [00:39:00] deleting them if you don't need them.
[00:39:02] Maybe it's going through your bookmarks bar and spending 15 minutes deleting links that don't work anymore, or you just know you're never gonna come back to. Maybe it's unfollowing 20 accounts on Instagram that make you feel not so great about yourself, or they're distracted and drain your energy every time you see their posts.
[00:39:19] Just pick one thing. Dedicate 15 minutes this week, and that's it. That's all I'm asking you to do. Then notice how much lighter your digital workspace feels by the end of the week. Notice how much easier it is to focus when you're not surrounded by all that visual and mental clutter. Start there and build your momentum, and then next week tackle another area.
[00:39:41] But for now, just one thing. 15 minutes, I know you can do it.
[00:39:45] If this episode hit home, I'd love to have you join the Productivity Rebellion. It's my free monthly guide for a woman who refused to choose between success and sanity Once a month, not every day or every week, you'll get one [00:40:00] productivity strategy that actually fits your real, chaotic and busy life.
[00:40:04] You'll get behind the scenes stories from my month, not Instagram. Perfect advice and the chance to ask me anything. I answer subscriber questions right here on the show. Think of it as your monthly reset when you're tired of holding everything together for duct tape and coffee. You can sign up for free at carachace.com/productivity-rebellion.
[00:40:25] Thanks for listening. If this helped you leave a review, it helps other women entrepreneurs find this show. I am Cara Chace reminding you to keep questioning the rules and making your own. And PS, if decluttering your digital life felt this good, imagine what decluttering your weekly schedule could do.
[00:40:44] That's what Chaos Detox teaches. How to create white space in your calendar and breathing room in your brain. Learn more at carachace.com/chaos-detox.
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