rmgr's wiki

A system to organise your life • Johnny.Decimal (johnnydecimal.com)

Description

Johnny.Decimal is a system to organise your life. Find things, quickly, with more confidence, and less stress. It's free to use and the concepts are the same at home or work.

Content

{.astro-ccnm5bgk}

[{.astro-ccnm5bgk}](#Irene){.astro-ccnm5bgk}

](/10-19-concepts/11-core/11.01-introduction/){.astro-ccnm5bgk} {#section .johnnydecimal .astro-ccnm5bgk}

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11.01 Introduction ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

─┐

┌─

─┐

- [A system to organise your life](#a-system-to-organise-your-life){.astro-foco2zza}

- [The problem](#the-problem){.astro-foco2zza}

- [The solution](#the-solution){.astro-foco2zza}

- [I like it! What next?](#i-like-it-what-next){.astro-foco2zza}

└

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

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A system to organise your life

Johnny.Decimal is designed to help you find things quickly, with more confidence, and less stress.**

You assign a unique ID to everything in your life.

$A diagram showing the structure of a Johnny.Decimal number. The number is 15.52 and it explains how the \'1\' is an area, which groups related categories in sets of 10. The \'15\' is the category, in this case \'travel\'. And \'52\' is just an ID; they start at 01. The title of this, our 52nd travel thing, is \'Trip to NYC\'.$ {.no-caption .astro-3zw7efbj width="500" height="304"}

These IDs help you stay organised. They impose constraints that make it harder to get lost. And you create your own index to link everything in your life together.

The system is free to use and the concepts are the same at home, work, or that club you manage.

The problem

In real life, if you stored your stuff in piles of badly-labelled boxes you\'d never find anything again.

If you put *those* boxes in boxes, in boxes, you\'d never know which box to open to find the next box. It would be chaos. But this is how you save your computer files.

$A screenshot of a MacOS Finder window showing a bunch of folders, nested terribly, all named similarly. It\'s a confusing mess.$ {.astro-3zw7efbj width="314" height="263"}

FIGURE 11.01B. A CHAOTIC FILE SYSTEM WITH MANY LEVELS OF FOLDERS.

The solution

Here\'s one way to think about how a Johnny.Decimal system works. In this simple analogy, an area is a shelf, a category is a box, and an ID is a manila folder.

Step 1: Buy ten shelves

Imagine a computer is a garage. We can\'t put everything on the floor, so we buy ten shelves. Then we dedicate each one to an area of our life \-- `life admin`, `home business`, and `tennis club`.^[1](#user-content-fn-room-to-grow){#user-content-fnref-room-to-grow #user-content-fnref-room-to-grow footnote-ref="" aria-describedby="footnote-label"}^

$A line drawing of three storage shelves. Think your classic Ikea \'Billy\' bookshelf. At the top they\'re labelled \'life admin\', \'home business\', and \'tennis club\'. They\'re empty.$ {.astro-3zw7efbj loading="lazy" width="1312" height="918"}

FIGURE 11.01C. A SHELF FOR EACH MAJOR AREA OF OUR LIFE.

Step 2: Add some boxes

Each shelf has space for ten boxes, so we categorise what we want to store. In life admin we decide on five and label them: `me`, `house`, `money`, `online`, and `travel`. Our boxes have space for a number, so we add that too.^[2](#user-content-fn-startat11){#user-content-fnref-startat11 #user-content-fnref-startat11 footnote-ref="" aria-describedby="footnote-label"}^

$The same shelf and boxes, but now the labels have numbers at the front. The shelf is labelled \'10-19 Life admin\', and the boxes are labelled \'11 Me\', \'12 House\', \'13 Money\', \'14 Online\', and \'15 Travel\'.$ {.astro-3zw7efbj loading="lazy" width="224" height="407"}

FIGURE 11.01D: OUR LIFE ADMIN SHELF ENDS UP WITH FIVE BOXES.

Step 3: File your stuff in folders

We put our documents in manila folders. Each folder gets a number starting at `.11` so we can track them. In this case, we\'ve put some insurance policies in `15.23 Travel insurance`. Then put the folder in a box.

$Line drawing representing a manila folder. It\'s labelled \'15.23 Travel insurance\' and contains 3 documents, labelled \'Claim form\', \'Payment receipt\', and \'Policy document\'.$ {.astro-3zw7efbj loading="lazy" width="626" height="217"}

FIGURE 11.01E. WE PUT OUR DOCUMENTS IN NUMBERED FOLDERS AND STORE THEM IN THE RELEVANT BOX.

This is how we structure our file system

Let\'s return to our computer. The shelves have become our area folders. The boxes are category folders. And the manila folders are the IDs where we save our files.

$Screenshot of macOS Finder. It shows a parent folder \'10-19 Life admin\', labelled \'SHELF\'. It contains folder \'15 Travel\', labelled \'BOX\'. And it contains \'11.53 Travel insurance\', which is labelled \'FOLDER\'.$ {.astro-3zw7efbj loading="lazy" width="324" height="261"}

FIGURE 11.01F. A NEAT FILE STRUCTURE WITH AREAS, CATEGORIES, AND IDS.

enefits of the Johnny.Decimal ID {#benefits-of-the-johnnydecimal-id}

Each of our storage folders now has a number, the ID. It always has two digits, a decimal, and two digits. For example, `15.23` `22.11` `31.17`. This number is really useful.

It provides structure

The ID tells us exactly where a thing is. The numbers before the decimal are the item\'s category, and they define the structure of your system.

At a glance, you know what sort of thing the item contains. You\'ll be astonished at how many of your category numbers you remember.

They\'re easy to communicate

They\'re short, memorable, and can be spoken out loud. Say it like \"sixteen oh-two\" or \"thirty-one dot seventeen\".

This is really handy when you want to tell someone (including your future self) where a thing is.

Things stay where they are

If you use the alphabet to name folders, they move when a new one is created. So you never get a chance to develop muscle memory.

Numbers solve this problem. In the example above, `11 Me` comes before `12 House` because the folders sort by number. If we made a new folder, `16 Aardvark collection`, nothing would move.

It imposes limits

The \'no more than ten\' concept is at the heart of Johnny.Decimal.

When you start looking for something, you have no more than ten area folders to choose from. Select one and ignore the rest. Now you have no more than ten category folders to choose from. Repeat the process.

You then arrive in a folder with no more than one hundred IDs. If the ID was created recently it will have a higher number. If not, lower. And things created together, stick together. The alphabet isn\'t around to ruin the party.

I like it! What next?

Welcome to the Johnny.Decimal family, there\'s plenty to go on with:

- Explore the site to [learn more](/11.02/) about the system.

- If you\'re a small business owner, head over to [the just-announced small business system](https://smallbusiness.johnnydecimal.com).

- Get organised fast with the \'[life admin](/14.11/)\' pack. Check out the [workbook](/14.21/) or [workshop](/14.22/) for more comprehensive guidance.

- Follow the [blog](/22.02/) or sign up to the [mailing list](/21.02/).

- Ask for help in the friendly [forum](https://forum.johnnydecimal.com) or [Discord](/23.02/), or [email me](mailto:hello@johnnydecimal.com) (I answer every message).

ootnotes {#footnote-label .sr-only}

1. ::: {#user-content-fn-room-to-grow}

We don\'t try to use all ten shelves \-- there\'s room to grow. [↩](#user-content-fnref-room-to-grow){.data-footnote-backref footnote-backref="" aria-label="Back to reference 1"}

:::

2. ::: {#user-content-fn-startat11}

I\'ll explain later why the first box isn\'t number `01` or `10`. [↩](#user-content-fnref-startat11){.data-footnote-backref footnote-backref="" aria-label="Back to reference 2"}

:::

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•

[Areas and categories](/10-19-concepts/11-core/11.02-areas-and-categories/){#backnext-areas-and-categories .astro-psda34iq}

[ ▶](/10-19-concepts/11-core/11.02-areas-and-categories/){.astro-psda34iq}

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┘

------------------------------------------------------------------------

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─

Pre-built JD systems

┐

``` astro-vu6owgat

Life Admin: the stuff we

all manage day-to-day. How

Johnny organises his life.

Small business: stop losing

important files. Focus on

your business; let us be

your in-house admin.

Save hundreds of hours.

We figured it out so that

you don't have to.

```

└

┘

[↑ Back to top](#Irene){.astro-vu6owgat}

┌

─

Index

┐

1. [](/00-09-site-administration/){#jd-nav-00-09 .area .area-notInScope-P1-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

00-09

Site administration

2. [](/00-09-site-administration/00-index/){#jd-nav-00 .category .category-notInScope-P3-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

Index

3. [](/00.00/){#jd-nav-0000 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

00.00

Index

4. [](/00-09-site-administration/01-about/){#jd-nav-01 .category .category-notInScope-P3-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

About

5. [](/01.01/){#jd-nav-0101 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

01.01

About us

6. [](/01.02/){#jd-nav-0102 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

01.02

Licence

7. [](/01.03/){#jd-nav-0103 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

01.03

Privacy and ethics

8. [](/01.04/){#jd-nav-0104 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

01.04

Version

9. [](/10-19-concepts/){#jd-nav-10-19 .area .area-inScope-notActive-P5-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

10-19\

│\

│

Concepts

10. [](/10-19-concepts/11-core/){#jd-nav-11 .category .category-inScope-active-P8-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

└┤\

│\

│

Core concepts

11. [](/11.01/){#jd-nav-1101 .id .id-inScope-active-P11-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

└──┤\

│\

11.01

Introduction

12. [](/11.02/){#jd-nav-1102 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

11.02

Areas and categories

13. [](/11.03/){#jd-nav-1103 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

11.03

IDs

14. [](/11.04/){#jd-nav-1104 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

11.04

Philosophy

15. [](/11.05/){#jd-nav-1105 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

11.05

The index/JDex

16. [](/11.06/){#jd-nav-1106 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

11.06

Saving files

17. [](/11.07/){#jd-nav-1107 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

11.07

Keeping notes

18. [](/11.08/){#jd-nav-1108 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

11.08

The Librarian

19. [](/10-19-concepts/12-advanced/){#jd-nav-12 .category .category-notInScope-P3-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

Advanced concepts

20. [](/12.01/){#jd-nav-1201 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

12.01

Managing email

21. [](/12.02/){#jd-nav-1202 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

12.02

Other JDex methods

22. [](/12.03/){#jd-nav-1203 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

12.03

The standard zeros

23. [](/12.04/){#jd-nav-1204 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

12.04

Working at the command line

24. [](/12.05/){#jd-nav-1205 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

12.05

AC.ID notation

25. [](/10-19-concepts/13-system-expansion/){#jd-nav-13 .category .category-notInScope-P3-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

System expansion

26. [](/13.01/){#jd-nav-1301 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

13.01

Introduction

27. [](/13.11/){#jd-nav-1311 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

13.11

Multiple systems

28. [](/13.12/){#jd-nav-1312 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

13.12

Guidelines

29. [](/13.21/){#jd-nav-1321 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

13.21

Expand an area

30. [](/13.31/){#jd-nav-1331 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

13.31

Extend the end

31. [](/13.32/){#jd-nav-1332 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

13.32

Guidelines

32. [](/10-19-concepts/14-build-your-system/){#jd-nav-14 .category .category-notInScope-P3-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

Build your system

33. [](/14.01/){#jd-nav-1401 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

14.01

Do it yourself

34. [](/14.11/){#jd-nav-1411 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

14.11

Life Admin System

35. [](/14.12/){#jd-nav-1412 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

14.12

Small Business System

36. [](/14.21/){#jd-nav-1421 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

14.21

The Workbook

37. [](/14.22/){#jd-nav-1422 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

14.22

The Workshop

38. [](/10-19-concepts/15-patterns-templates/){#jd-nav-15 .category .category-notInScope-P3-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

Patterns and templates

39. [](/15.01/){#jd-nav-1501 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

15.01

Introduction

40. [](/15.02/){#jd-nav-1502 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

15.02

Creative pattern

41. [](/20-29-communication/){#jd-nav-20-29 .area .area-notInScope-P1-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

20-29

Communication

42. [](/20-29-communication/21-send-and-receive/){#jd-nav-21 .category .category-notInScope-P3-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

Send and receive

43. [](/21.01/){#jd-nav-2101 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

21.01

Contact me

44. [](/21.02/){#jd-nav-2102 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

21.02

Mailing list

45. [](/21.03/){#jd-nav-2103 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

21.03

RSS feed

46. [](/21.04/){#jd-nav-2104 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

21.04

Comms plan

47. [](/20-29-communication/22-blog/){#jd-nav-22 .category .category-notInScope-P3-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

Blog

48. [](/22.01/){#jd-nav-2201 .id .id-notInScope-P4-grid .astro-vr7qfdm2}

22.01