When COVID-19 forced her classes to go remote, Austin, Texas-based pastry chef instructor Ellen Sternau scrambled to learn how to use an online learning management system to teach her classes, while also juggling a new digital platform for her daughters’ virtual learning. It’s been a blur of keeping track of student IDs, new iPad passwords, virtual assignments — for both her pastry students and her own kids — plus other important paperwork for work, school, and everyday life.
“It’s so hard to keep up with everything,” Sternau says.
For many of us, our lives are colliding not only in the same physical space, but on the same devices, creating a scenario in which important files can get lost in the digital shuffle, and sensitive information could be put at risk at a time when no one needs one more challenge to manage.
The sheer volume of files to wrangle as work, school, and home life overlap can be overwhelming for even the most organized among us, as about 42% of the US workforce continues to be fully remote and 65% of students are attending school online.
“Sometimes you don’t realize that not having things organized can add another layer of stress in what’s been in a challenging time,” says Alex Brzozowski, CEO of Be Organizing, a San Diego-based company that specializes in digital organizing.
Coming up with a better filing system, securing your documents, or even downsizing your digital photos, can make a difference, and taking a few steps to rein in some of the digital and physical clutter can make our new reality of a blended work, school, and home life more manageable. Here are a few ideas on how to keep the documents, photos, and data scattered across multiple platforms more organized and secure.
