So, I kept hearing about this “Ben Daves” method, you know? People in some online groups I’m in were buzzing about it, saying it changed their whole workflow. My desk, both the physical one and the digital one, was a complete disaster zone at the time. Files everywhere, emails unread for weeks, just chaos. I figured, okay, what have I got to lose? Let’s give this Ben Daves thing a real try.
I started by trying to find out what the core of it was. Seemed like a lot of it was about extreme minimalism and ruthless decluttering, especially for your digital life. The idea was to only keep what you absolutely need, right now. Sounds simple, but man, putting it into practice was something else. I decided to tackle my email inbox first – that thing was a monster. Ben Daves, or at least his followers, talked about “Inbox Zero” like it was the holy grail. So, I waded in. Started deleting. Agonized over every single email. What if I need this later? That was the voice in my head, screaming.
Then there was the whole file organization part. Ben Daves apparently had this super strict folder system. I tried that too. Renamed folders, moved files, created new structures. For a couple of days, my computer felt alien. I couldn’t find anything! It felt like I was spending more time organizing than actually doing any work. I was getting pretty frustrated, ready to just call it quits and go back to my comfortable mess.
You know, this whole intense focus on structure and rules, it reminded me of this one time, years ago, when I tried to learn to bake sourdough bread from this really famous, really complicated book. The author had all these precise timings, specific temperatures, techniques that felt like they needed a science degree. I followed everything to the letter. Weighed my flour to the gram. Timed my stretches and folds with a stopwatch. And you know what? My bread was terrible. Flat, dense, basically a brick. My neighbor, old Mrs. Peterson, she made the most amazing sourdough. I asked her once what her secret was. She just chuckled and said, “Oh, I just feel it, dear. The dough tells you what it needs.” No fancy books, no strict rules, just experience and intuition.
That sourdough disaster came back to me while I was wrestling with the Ben Daves method. I realized I was trying to force myself into his system, just like I tried to force that bread recipe. And it wasn’t working because, well, I’m not Ben Daves. My brain doesn’t work like his, probably. Mrs. Peterson didn’t ignore recipes entirely, she learned the basics, then made it her own. That’s what I needed to do.
So, I started to ease up. I didn’t aim for Inbox Zero anymore. Instead, I went for “Inbox Manageable.” I’d clear it out, but I wasn’t afraid to leave things there for a bit if I knew I’d get to them. With the files, I kept some of Ben Daves’ ideas about clearer naming, but I made a system that made sense to me, not one that looked pretty in a blog post. It wasn’t as ‘pure’ as the Ben Daves way, I guess.
What I found was that some of the underlying principles were actually pretty solid. Thinking about what I truly needed to keep, being more intentional about digital clutter – that stuff was good. But the rigid, one-size-fits-all application? Not so much. It’s like any tool, right? A hammer is great for nails, but you wouldn’t use it to stir your coffee. You gotta use the tool the right way, for the right job, and sometimes you gotta adapt the tool a bit.
So, yeah, my journey with “Ben Daves.” I wouldn’t say it revolutionized my life. But it did make me think. It made me confront my own digital habits and find a system that, while not perfect, is at least my system. It’s a bit Ben Daves, a bit my old messy ways, and a whole lot of just what works for me now. And honestly, that feels a lot better than trying to be a perfect copy of someone else.
