The Decimal Workbook
In this step-by-step workbook, I’ll guide you through the entire process of setting up your own Johnny.Decimal system.
This 130+ page PDF has been distilled from more than a decade’s experience using Johnny.Decimal, and helping other people with their own setup.
If you follow its instructions, I guarantee your success.
I wrote it after identifying the common problems that people had in setting up their systems.
So it was designed to be a methodical guide: it tells you what to do, when to do it, and what results to expect.
There are worksheets to help you track your progress.
And at the end, there are videos where I share examples from my life and provide templates to get you started.1
If you get stuck, you can contact me directly. And if your system still isn’t working, you can have your money back.
Lucy and I have spent hundreds of hours putting it together. We’re really proud of it.
Is it meant for home, or work?
Both. The concept is the same whatever you’re organising, and we’ve included a range of examples from home and work.
Why isn’t this free?
Because neither is my rent. :-)
I hate being a salesman. It’s not in my nature; I really don’t want to be another site on the internet trying to get you to buy a thing.
But the simple fact is that to be Johnny.Decimal full-time,2 I need to earn money.
I try to do this as honestly as possible. This site does nothing nefarious: no trackers, no ads, nothing to block, no popups to decline. Most of my content is free.
So this is an honest trade: you get the best possible help, and my personal support, in exchange for $37 $19.3 And I get to keep doing this.
What do I get?
Following the Workbook is like having me in the room with you. I designed it to be a complete start-to-end guide to organising your stuff.
We start with a clean slate, and I ask you to define your system. This helps provide clarity around exactly what it is that you’re organising.
Next you perform a thorough discovery process to ensure that nothing is forgotten. I share all of my experience in building systems over the previous decade.
After that we proceed to create your areas & categories and then build your system. By now you’re pretty organised: that chaos that you started with has been tamed.
And then the secret sauce: the index. One of Johnny.Decimal’s most powerful features, I show you how I organise my life using simple apps that you already have.
Do I need to be a computer nerd?
Absolutely not. I wrote this with my partner Lucy, who is not a nerd. In fact, she used to be a copy editor. So the Workbook is really tight: 130 pages of content, not filler.
Too much of the ‘getting organised’ internet assumes you’re a database engineer. Not here: we were careful to make this usable by everybody.
I don’t assume any special knowledge or complicated tools. You don’t need to learn some fandangled new application. What you’ve already got will work.
Is it worth $37 $19?
Honestly, I wondered that myself. So when I sent out the latest workbook update, I asked my customers: do you think the price was right?4
Of the 59
responses received:
- 🟢
21 (36%)
responded ‘I think it’s worth more than $37’. - 🟡
27 (46%)
responded ‘Just right!‘. - 🔴
09 (15%)
responded ‘I don’t think it’s worth $37’. - ⚪️
02 (03%)
didn’t respond as they haven’t used it yet.
I am convinced that you will save $37 of your time by being more organised.
I can’t afford $37 $19
Is it accessible?
Yes. Your purchase includes a text-only (Markdown) version. This version references the workbook images, which are included as a separate PDF: each image on its own page, with descriptive text.
All of the videos are subtitled, and have been checked/corrected by Lucy.
Tell me what’s in it
Here’s the index: click the image to expand, then click each image to see the next and finally to return here.
Welcome to the family
This is just me and my partner Lucy at home with our chickens.
We take this personally. We are here to help you be more organised.
We’ve met a bunch of you already: we’ve experimented with group Zoom calls (more to come in 2024), and I’m open to all other suggestions.
Welcome to the Johnny.Decimal family. And thank you.
Footnotes
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These are the start of a ‘template library’ that will expand over time. If there’s something specific you need, just ask. ↩
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I quit my job in May 2023. If I hadn’t done that, this guide wouldn’t exist. ↩
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Plus sales tax in the EU, UK, Australia, and Singapore. Gumroad collects and remits this to your local tax authority. I have no control over this. (Sorry, UK. I know VAT is outrageously high.) ↩
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Anonymously, so hopefully they felt that they could be honest without hurting my feelings. ↩