Four Benefits of Customizing Your Computer Desktop and Making it Personal

Bring Goals, Values and Motivation to Your Desktop

What would motivate you in your digital life? What would make you feel good? What would inspire you? In your working day or in your personal time?

Perhaps a picture of a loved one? An image from your latest vacation? A picture that your child or grandchild drew? A photo from your latest get together with your friends? Would a gorgeous picture of Paris remind you of your dream to travel to Paris? Would you feel motivated by a picture that reminds you of your values, goals and dreams?

Perhaps a beautiful picture from nature? A photo of that glorious, pink orchid that you took great pride in when it flowered so abundantly? Or a solid colour that helps you shut out distractions and focus on your work?

A desktop picture or color can bring you a certain mood, like feeling peaceful, focused, energetic, happy, invigorated, analytic, creative... It can bring back memories or remind you of your values, dreams or goals and help you stay motivated. It can have a huge impact on your digital life!

Bring Personality and Beauty To Your Desktop

Just like we tend to enjoy personalizing our homes and offices with photos, pictures and colours, we can get great pleasure out of decorating our digital environment. So why not make your desktop a display of your individuality?

Getting that spreadsheet ready for the meeting, sorting out your e-mail inbox or going over the specifications of that new project might not be the most fun task you ever had to complete, but at least it can feel more relaxing and motivating if you can perform the task in a beautiful environment that you created yourself.

By customizing your desktop you can create your own digital room! Leave those generic, boring, bland desktop icons and generic wallpapers behind by customizing your desktop to show off your personality and enhance your computer experience! Are you a minimalist or a maximalist? Do you enjoy change or do you enjoy a consistent style? Let it show!

Make your computer be personal and not an anonymous tool for work, make it yours. Be in control of your environment! Make an active choice about the look of your digital life! Make your digital environment personal and unique. Like you. Let your digital landscape inspire you!

Increase Your Productivity Using Computer Icons

Your computer productivity is directly influenced by the ease with which you are able to locate and launch your favourite applications, find the projects you are working on, your important files and folders or find, organize and retrieve your internet downloads.

A cluttered desktop will make you feel overwhelmed and you will lose time and focus trying to find the folders and files you are looking for.

A quick and easy way to make your desktop more productive is to use a set of folder icons to colour code your projects.

As en extra bonus, you get an overview of your projects when you customize your desktop icons which also helps and motivates you to keep your desktop uncluttered and tidy.

This example with an icon of a vintage filing cabinet would make an excellent choice for a folder with archived projects. The symbol is easy to understand and the icon stands out on the desktop making it easy to find. This technique to visually label files and folders is often preferred by people who have an analytical and organized mind.

Others prefer a less literal and more inventive method of using computer icons. They would, for example, prefer to let an icon with a flower, a Star Trek symbol or a piece of sushi symbolize their folder for, lets say, archived projects. This way of giving folders and files a visual label is often preferred by people who have a creative and individualistic personality.

The point is, that you give the meaning to the icons or symbols of your choice, making it work for you. Beauty and functionality, or form and function, lay in the eyes of the beholder! It is your desktop and you decide what works for you.

Increase Your Productivity Using Desktop Wallpaper

Your desktop picture or wallpaper is the most high profile item on your computer, so if you customize it to reflect your goals and dreams as mentioned above, that will have a high impact on you for all of the time you spend on your computer.

Imagine what it would do for you, to see your goal, your dream come true, every time you start up your computer! Every time you glance on your desktop or spend your time actively on your desktop!

When you customise your desktop wallpaper, you are likely to enjoy your time at your computer more which will in its turn, boost your productivity.

As an extra bonus, you are will most likely want to keep your beautiful desktop tidy and free of clutter so that you can enjoy the wallpaper you have chosen as a background for your digital desk.

Closing Thoughts

Creating a desktop you love to spend time in, will help you enjoy your computer time and focus on your projects rather than feel overwhelmed by desktop clutter. You can bring any emotion, idea, aesthetic value or thought you want to your desktop environment.

An individualist myself, I love how customising your desktop works so entirely different for each and every individual! And I would love to hear how it works for YOU!

Related Articles and Tutorials

Make Your Desktop Personal
Four Benefits of Customizing Your Computer Desktop and Making it Personal
Create A Beautiful, Functional and Productive Desktop With Wallpaper
Creating A Beautiful, Uncluttered And Productive Desktop Environment With Icons

Tags: productive, declutter, photography, folder icons, desktop customization, feel-good, motivation, usability, gui