3 steps for taming your digital files

I know this topic sounds super boring, but hear me out.

Over the last few years I have made a MESS of my Dropbox folders. Sure, I at least had the foresight to have a Dropbox, which allowed me to keep all of my teaching resources and digital sheet music in one place that I could access from any device, but that's where my forethought ended.

Does this sound familiar?

When I first started teaching I started following a few blogs and teachers who would offer up cool resources from time to time.

Every time I saw a new free resource, I'd download it and save it to Dropbox. If I didn't have a folder that it seemed to fit in, I'd create a new one.

A few years go by. Now I'm following about a million blogs that all offer the most AMAZING resources, many even for free! I see some really cool free resources, and I download them. If I don't have a good file for them, I create a new one.

As time went on, I was filling my digital file folders with hundreds of awesome resources, but I NEVER USED THEM!

There are a few reasons for this:
1. I didn't know what all I had.
2. I couldn't find things that I was looking for.
3. I never downloaded anything with a purpose.

So what did I do?

Three things:
1. I went through every single file folder and deleted everything I'd never used, and never planned to use.
2. I made a Master List for every file with brief descriptions of each resource, for easy searching. (This is an idea I got from the Upbeat Planning Academy!)
3. I made myself a promise: I will not download anything that I doesn't currently fill a need in my studio.

If I see something really cool that I don't have use for, it goes on my "Cool stuff I don't need yet" list. Sure, I run the risk of it not being there when I want it, but if I don't have a use for it now, there's a possibility I never will.

So how does this work for me practically? Let's consider the following example:

I have an intermediate-level student who is working on left hand accompaniment patterns, and wants something more modern-sounding than her classical repertoire.

I open my Digital Sheet Music Master List, sort by level, and browse through the "Teaching Points" column to see if I have anything that fits the bill.

Want to try creating a Master List of your own? Download my Master List Templates for Excel and Numbers here:

master_list_template.numbers
File Size:	138 kb
File Type:	numbers

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master_list_template.xlsx
File Size:	496 kb
File Type:	xlsx

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