Shadowing Practice: This Simple File Management System Changed My Life! - Learn English Speaking with Video

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When I first entered the workforce, this is how my file management looked like.

And since then, I've tried everything from, bro, it doesn't matter if it's messy, just search for it, man.

All the way to, have you heard of the Johnny decimal system?

Okay, so first you just need to memorize this totally not complicated numbering structure, and then you have to define your categories,

and wait, where are you going?

And I found the correct answer to be a healthy balance between form, how neatly organized everything is,

and function, how to name your file so you can quickly search for the information you're looking for.

So in this video, it will first go over the simple framework I use to organize and name my files,

then dive into five specific file management tips that I found to be absolute game changers.

Let's get started.

From a file hierarchy standpoint, I limit the number of folder levels to a maximum of five,

meaning the sixth level can only be files and documents, no more folders, but each level can have up to 99 folders.

So five levels deep, 99 folders wide.

For example, this is what I see at level zero in my Google Drive.

We'll go over why I chose these in a bit.

This is level one, level two, level three, level four, and level five, and files.

Obviously, you don't need to have five levels, but more than five, we tend to just get lost.

The reason each level can have up to 99 folders is simply because of the numbering, zero one all the way to 99.

But as you can see, I rarely go above zero nine.

The folders I access most frequently have lower numbers, 01, 02, 03, because they're closer to the top, right?

And 99 is always reserved for an archive folder I throw outdated or inactive files into.

Coming back up to level zero, the 01 folder has all my personal stuff, 02 work -related.

03 are documents I reference on a regular basis.

For example, a gym membership card I pull out on my phone or templates I use every single week.

The 04 quick share folder is something I came up with myself and it works like this.

Let's say I have a planning deck with confidential information meant only for myself, but a colleague needs a few slides from the same deck.

Instead of creating a new file, copy pasting the slides over and then sharing, what I would do is simply select the slides my colleague needs,

file, make a copy, select the slides,

and save this new file in the 04 quick share folder before sharing it with my colleague.

So basically 04 quick share is a temporary catch -all folder.

This way, the confidential slides are kept safe, the original folder is not cluttered with a duplicate,

and I don't have to constantly annoy my colleague to make a copy

so I can delete the duplicate because it's already organized in my QuickShare folder.

I have a backups folder at level zero,

making it super convenient for me to drag and drop files I know I should back up on a regular basis.

And last but not least, the 99 archive folder files I'll probably never use again, but I just can't bring myself to delete.

Moving on to how I name folders and documents.

There are two ways I go about this.

I either include a date or leave it to be sorted alphabetically.

Going right into date naming examples, for some documents, the year is enough.

2025 budget spreadsheet.

If we want to be more specific, we can add a quarter.

2025 Q1 QBR, quarterly business review.

One more level down, add a month.

2025 May monthly presentation with director.

And the most granular 2025 0505 inbox zero training for the sales team.

As you can see, the date naming convention depends on the type of file.

As a rule of thumb, including just a year or quarter makes the file more searchable.

I think we talked about that in the Q3 presentation.

Let me quickly search for it.

Versus the more granular you go with a month and date,

the more you need to know where the parent folder is so you can find the specific file.

For example, I run a lot of workshops and although I don't remember the date for each one,

I know they're all within my Jeff's sharings folder.

Another example is for invoices and receipts.

You're not going to search for an individual one, but you should know exactly where they are.

For all folders and files that are not time -related and are equally important, so no 010203, I leave them to be sorted alphabetically,

but the rule is to be consistent in your naming so the documents are as searchable as possible.

For example, most of my files have one of the following keywords, doc, meeting notes, working tricks, briefing slides, and form.

So 90 % of the time, if I put the project name and one of the keywords, I end up finding the exact file.

A viewer of mine, Matthew, he's awesome, has a slightly more complicated naming convention,

but it works for him because he follows the same structure for all his files.

He knows PM represents the file type, 01 stands for the main file, and if this were 04, it would mean it's a presentation file.

So there's no right or wrong way to do this.

As we declutter our digital space, I also want to talk about the products I've been using from Okiewood to declutter my physical space.

They are sponsoring this video, but I would I've talked about them anyways, mainly thanks to their latest MagSafe lineup.

I absolutely love their shelf mount.

I have two because you can basically clip them on anywhere with an edge and hide the cables underneath the surface.

I have one right by the front door along with the Apple Watch stand.

So super convenient, obviously.

And I have one right on my desk so I can have my phone close by without it taking up desk space.

It also doesn't hurt that all their products are FSC certified, meaning the wood is sourced from sustainably managed forests,

and it guarantees that no other materials are getting accidentally mixed into the final product.

But for now, back to the digital world.

The first and most game -changing file management tip comes from David Allen.

Organize information by where you will use it, not by where you found it.

For example, if you own multiple projects at work, you should not have a separate folder for all your project meeting notes,

even though it looks super nice and tidy.

Instead, you should have the project A meeting notes document within the project A folder itself

because that's where you're most likely to use it.

You open the project folder and all related documents are inside, right?

And second, this makes it super easy for you to share the entire project folder with someone else.

File organization tip number two, make use of your file manager's native features.

For Google Drive, this means I can use search operators like type presentation, to quickly search for Google slide files, or if that's not your thing,

perform a basic search, then use the filter chips down here to quickly narrow your search results.

Pro tip, to quickly find a file you know was shared with you, go to the shared me tab and under the people chip,

input the owner's name or email, because we generally remember the person who shared the file with us.

For Mac users, I highly recommend installing Alfred or Raycast, they're both free and an entire tutorial on how to use Alfred.

For Windows users, I've never tried these, but I heard everything Listery and Wox are all great file management apps.

Sticking with Google Drive though, tip number three is attaching a keyword to a file or a folder.

For example, someone shared this folder with me so I can't change a name to whatever I want,

but I can press D to bring up the details tab, scroll all the way down and add a keyword in the description field here.

Now, if I search for this keyword, Grad Empower, only a few results show up.

If I search for Empower, which is part of the name of the folder, a lot more results show up.

Thumbs up if you didn't know this before.

Pro tip number one, I love keyboard shortcuts

and the two I use the most in Google Drive is P to preview a file without opening it

and N to rename the file instead of right click rename.

Pro tip number two, Mac users can bring up the details view for file

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or folder by pressing command i

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and you can add a keyword in the comments field here

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and now you can search for it directly using alfred raycast

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or spotlight i'm sure

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there's something similar for windows as well windows users let me

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know in the comments file management tip number four ruthlessly prioritize

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which folders to star

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or flag for all platforms there's a way for you to star a file

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so you can access it quickly from the sidebar in order for a file to make

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it on here it's got to pass three tests.

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First, I need to use it every single day.

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Second, it's something I need to quickly access on my phone since there's a start tab there as well.

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And third, I can only have five start files maximum at any given time because if everything is start, nothing is start.

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File organization tip number five, know when to create a shortcut.

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Whenever a file or folder is shared with you on a cloud storage platform like so, you should immediately take one of three actions.

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Make a copy, add a shortcut to the original file, or do nothing.

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Doing nothing is the most common action to take if the file is just a one -off request.

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You go into the file, input something for your colleague, then forget about it.

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You make a copy of the file

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if you either want to use it as a template or to reference it in the future.

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But you have to remember all new edits made to the original file will not show in your copy.

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Which brings us to the action we should all take more often.

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Add a shortcut.

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To illustrate, imagine your manager creates a one -on -one meeting notes document and shares access with you.

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You want to immediately create a shortcut

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because this allows you to organize a file any way

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you want under your own file management system without moving the document from its original location.

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Your manager has organized it their way, you have it your way, and the arrow icon here makes it clear that this is a shortcut.

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As you can see, there is no perfect file management system, but two things I can confidently leave you with.

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First, over optimizing leads to decreased productivity, so don't overthink it.

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Second, pick one system, one naming convention, and stick to it.

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If you enjoyed these tips, you might like this video on my top productivity tips for work.

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See you on the next video.

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In the meantime, have a great one.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This speaking lesson is built on the video “This Simple File Management System Changed My Life!”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: file, folder, tip, search, document. This video has 133 sentences and 1900 words to shadow. The speech runs for 9:24. The speaker talks fast, about 202 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. Only 81% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
folder noun	/ˈfoʊldɚ/	An organizer that papers are kept in, usually with an index tab, to be stored as a single unit in a filing cabinet.
slide noun	/ˈslaɪ̯d/	An item of play equipment that children can climb up and then slide down again.
organize verb	/ˈɔɹɡənaɪz/	To arrange in working order.
colleague noun	/ˈkɒliːɡ/	A fellow member of a profession, staff, academic faculty or other organization; an associate, a workmate.
presentation noun	/ˌpɹɛzn̩ˈteɪʃn̩/	The act of presenting, or something presented.
complicated adjective	/ˈkɑm.plɪˌkeɪ.tɪd/	Difficult or convoluted.
select verb	/sɪˈlɛkt/	To choose one or more elements of a set, especially a set of options.
desk noun	/dɛsk/	A table, frame, or case, in past centuries usually with a sloping top but now usually with a flat top, for the use of writers and readers. It often has a…
deck noun	/ˈdɛk/	Any raised flat surface that can be walked on: a balcony; a porch; a raised patio; a flat rooftop.
input noun	/ˈɪnpʊt/	The act or process of putting in; infusion.
chip noun	/t͡ʃɪp/	A small piece broken from a larger piece of solid material.
delete verb	/dɪˈliːt/	To remove, get rid of or erase, especially written or printed material, or data on a computer or other device.
convenient adjective	/kənˈviː.niənt/	Serving to reduce a difficulty, or accessible with minimum difficulty; expedient.
productivity noun	/ˌpɹɒdʌkˈtɪvəti/	The state of being productive, fertile, or efficient.
thumb noun	/ˈθʌm/	The shortest and thickest digit of the hand that for humans has the most mobility and can be made to oppose (moved to touch) all of the other fingers.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
bring up verb	To mention.
go over verb	To look at carefully; to scrutinize; to analyze.
show up verb	To appear, arrive, or attend, especially suddenly or erratically.
come up with verb	To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it.
end up verb	To bring to a conclusion.
take up verb	To pick up.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is always reserved · are kept · be sorted
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	I've tried · I've never tried · has organized
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	person who shared · Empower, which is

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 22 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I've, they're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “th” sounds: thumb /ˈθʌm/, sixth /sɪksθ/, underneath /ˌʌndɚˈniθ/, ruthlessly /ˈɹuːθ.ləs.li/
The “sh” and “zh” sounds: presentation /ˌpɹɛzn̩ˈteɪʃn̩/, confidential /ˌkɔn.fɪˈdɛn.ʃəl/, workshop /ˈwɝk.ʃɑp/, shelf /ʃɛlf/, shortcut /ˈʃɔːtkʌt/
Long words — get the stress right: complicated /ˈkɑm.plɪˌkeɪ.tɪd/, productivity /ˌpɹɒdʌkˈtɪvəti/, confidential /ˌkɔn.fɪˈdɛn.ʃəl/, temporary /ˈtɛmp(əˌɹ)ɛɹi/, operator /ˈɑpəˌɹeɪtɚ/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like folder, slide, organize.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: This Simple File Management System Changed My Life! - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?