One of the easiest ways of implementing icon customization is to color-code your folders. Come up with some sort of key and then assign the colors to specific folder types. Personally, I color-code my client’s folders to differentiate between leads, research, working and finalized. This is a very simple means to get an instant snapshot of your pipeline.

I’d recommend using Folder Maker. They have a few different versions – but the free editions features all of the basic folder customizations that you need.

Over the past week, I have been experimenting with my own system. Basically, I have moved all of my bookmarks to the Firefox toolbar from the original bookmarks menu. Although this seems like it’s no major change, I have found that the constant access and visualization of these folders allows me to sort my bookmarks instantly. Let me explain a bit more . . .

I have divided my links into three main categories:

• Favorite Links
• GTD Moded Action Folders
• Topics of Interest

My favorite links include classics such as pandora, wikipedia and digg. The GTD moded folders are pretty slimmed down (Items to read today, read later, media later, ’somedays’ and venture actions). It might not be completely GTD kosher – but organization is all about personalization. Finally, I have found that I can narrow my topics of interest into a few broad categories and then sub-category folders from there.

Integration into the system requires a bit of sorting at first – however, I have found this strategy to be much more efficient than other systems out there.

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