Life Admin System

In 2024 we realised that it would be helpful to create pre-built systems. That is, entire Johnny.Decimal systems, ready-to-use.

While you may positively enjoy the process of building-your-own -- as we describe in the Workshop and Workbook -- being organised now is the priority for many.¹

And, as we've found, these pre-built systems serve as inspiration and guidance for those of you who still want to build your own system, but don't want to start from scratch.

This page describes a product that we sell, for money. This is how we make our living. So I'll explain what this system is, and how we created it. But if you want it, you need to buy it. I didn't want you to get all the way to the end before you discovered that. :-)

System scope

'Life admin' is the stuff that we all have in common. When working this out, our goal was to give a space to 90% of the stuff that 90% of us might do.

The idea was to take away the 'tedious, repetitive' stuff. We all have legal documents and medical appointments, a mortgage or rent, a car or a bike or a bus pass, taxes and insurance, computers and online subscriptions, and we all go out to the movies and on holiday. And we all need somewhere to store this 'paperwork' -- of course now in the form of computer files, but still anachronistically referred to as if it were printed.

Out of scope

So if 90% of everyone's life admin was in scope, we specifically called out of scope the stuff that makes you unique: your hobbies; your job.

Because, to build a system, Lucy and I need to understand its contents. We'll never make a thing that we don't have an expertise in. (How could we?)

And so the Life Admin System can't contain a place to manage your band or the fact that you're a wedding celebrant or treasurer of the brew club or insert other interest that makes you unique.

This is why we limited it to a single area, 10-19 Life admin. You have the rest of this Johnny.Decimal system, areas 20-29 and up, to fill with your own life.

You won't use it all

Worth noting that while the system covers 90% of what 90% of us might do, you surely won't use 90% of it.

Case in point: there's an ID, 11.42 My kids. We don't have kids. Nor do we currently own a 12.31 Motor vehicle or hold a 13.52 Mortgage and neither of us cares much for 15.35 Sport. But that's okay! Just don't use what you don't need.

A side-note on efficiency

It's amazing that we have computers to help us through life, but I find it a bit weird that we're all expected to figure this out for ourselves. You go to school and you're taught how to do calculus and read Shakespeare. But then you're thrown in to the world and you're just expected to know how to create a folder structure to organise your tax returns?

So we all invent this ourselves, every time! It's ridiculous. I have this dream that I can make the world 1% more productive just by taking away this overhead. And think of the time you'll save. I guarantee that it'll be more than the money you spend.

Design process

It took us about 2 months to design this thing. No AI, no shortcuts. We deconstructed our own lives, trawled years of questions from my forums, and worked it out by hand. Our goals were:

Completeness

See above: 90% of 90% and so on.

Consistency

Just as important, we worked really hard to make sure that there's only one place a thing can be.

Much of the confusion we all feel from our computers is the fact that they allow us to create anything, anywhere. (I wish that it cost money to Create new folder, but alas.)

So this is a place of no confusion. Everything is internally consistent. Where there might be ambiguity, we documented those exceptions. And there are simple guidelines: for instance, if in any doubt, you use the first place you find.

We have a space for your 11.11 Birth certificate, and another for 11.16 Legal documents & certificates. Isn't the former also an instance of the latter? Of course. But 11.11 comes before 11.16, so you put that stuff there.

The entire system is very deliberately designed in this way.

Stability

When you have questions about where a thing should go -- we can't possibly have thought of everything -- it helps that there's a community of people who all use the same system.

This has been incredible to watch. The Discord and the forum are amazing resources. For the first time, we have a common language that links our life admin.

Central to this is the idea that this thing doesn't keep changing. The numbers are stable: we take changes very seriously. Also, who wants to keep re-organising their files? The point of this is that you do that less, not more.

We've made one major change, in August 2025. This added a couple of new IDs, that the community had identified as gaps, and realigned the 13 Money category so that it matches Small Business.

Familiarity

Those of you who use the Small Business System will find the two deeply familiar. You and your business both handle money. Those categories reflect each other very closely. So 13.12 Financial insurance & claims is the same across both, for example, as is the broad structure.

This structure itself reflects the standard accounting flow: earn, spend, save, and owe. Because, again, familiarity. Your accountant will love it.

JDHQ

For its first year, the Life Admin System was a static download. You got a zip file full of folders and Markdown files for your JDex.

I want to be able to build tools and functionality around this system, so in 2025 I built my own platform. It took 3 months, and I did it all myself. Now I have a place that I control, where I can create custom tools to help you be more organised.

You'll find the system at JDHQ.

I build what you need. My skills do not yet extend to mind-reading. So: tell me what that is.

What exactly do I get?

Most obviously, you get this structure as a download of empty folders. You move this to your own documents folder (or cloud storage, or wherever you want), and that's where all your stuff goes.

You also get a bunch of Markdown files that you can import in to any Markdown-compatible software. This builds your JDex, a Johnny.Decimal feature that I consider more fundamental than your filesystem.²

JDHQ is your online JDex. There are 10,000 carefully-crafted words of descriptions and examples. I can make changes and have them reflected immediately: so if there's any confusion about where a thing should go, we can add keywords that will help you search, or clarifying text, examples, or anything else.

We also have the new Support Centre, a whole bunch more words about what the system is and how to use it. I see this website that you're reading as the formal 'system specification', and the extra stuff at JDHQ as the 'guidelines for use'. Over time we'll fill that up as questions arise.

A 60-second trailer

Here's a little video which should give you a bit more of an idea of what's in it. This was made before the system was in JDHQ, so the general idea still holds, but it's even better now.

The community

You also get access to the same community that non-members have access to. Wait … what?

Have you noticed that everyone sells a 'private community' as a feature of their memberships? I tried it for about a week before realising that it's a terrible idea. I want more ideas contributing to this thing, not less. So all of my communities are open.

No subscriptions

We also made the decision not to charge ongoing subscriptions for access. You buy it, you've got it, with updates forever.

I want to run the sort of business that would have me as a happy customer. When we released JDHQ, I migrated everyone's old purchases, going back 2+ years.³ Because I never want you to feel like you made a mistake in trusting me.

Pairs beautifully with the Workshop

Yeah yeah, I'm upselling you. But it's true! Get the Workshop and Life Admin. Use Life Admin for all the common stuff, and learn from its patterns. Use the Workshop to organise your hobbies and job and local tennis club.

The sense of calm you get from being this organised is really nice. And just wait until a colleague asks 'hey … how did you find that so quickly?'

Closing words

I hope by now it's obvious that what you're buying isn't a bunch of empty folders. It's two months of careful deliberation by two meticulous humans.

I hope that's given you an idea of what this thing is, and why you should give it a try. One last note: I have a no-questions 14-day money-back guarantee. So there's no risk. I'd much rather you gave it a go and asked for your money back than never tried it at all.

I quit my job in 2023 to do this full time. I do this because I love it. I do it because of the satisfaction of seeing people be more organised, and less stressed. Trust us to help you -- me and Lucy both do this full-time -- and I promise we will not let you down.

Sign up at JDHQ.