I’ve had some computer issues lately.
While on hold for technical support last week (Actually, I called, sat on hold, selected the “call me back” option, waited a while, got impatient, called back, and put myself on hold again), I used the down time opportunity to clean out my file cabinet.
I was fairly shocked to see that I didn’t have any files past 2006. Funny thing, as it shouldn’t have been that shocking to me because I can’t remember the last time I opened that drawer.
And that, my friend, is exactly the point.
Why do I hold on to all this stuff?
As I looked through the files, there were very few things that I felt compelled to keep.
Did I really need a rough draft of a San Diego venue’s reception floor plan from 2006? Or notes from a weekly team meeting two years ago?
Not so much.
So again – why do I hold on to all this stuff?
I purged and purged, till I could purge no more. Well, until the tech support guy picked up the extension, anyway.
It felt good to clean out the old files and free up space (for more stuff?) last week, but today as I went to defrag my dogging computer I realized my job was not done.
My paper files may have stopped in 2006, but they lived like wild, out-of-control animals on my computer’s hard drive. In fact, I wasn’t able to start the defrag because I only had 11% of free space and the defragmenter needs 15%.
Again – why do I hold on to all this stuff?
I grabbed my external hard drive and started the transfer (Appalled to see that my last file back up was August 1, 2008. What if something had happened to my machine in the last year and a half? What if I lost all my stuff???), moving everything except my last year of work off the computer and onto the drive.
As I write this post, my computer is 3% defragged (is that even a word?) and I’m wondering how many other web-based things I can work on so as to not upset the defragmentation process.
I’d like to say that I’m reformed and will be more astute in future file management, but that’s likely not the case.
I will, however, enjoy the new-found speed on my computer and the extra room in my file cabinet…until a few years pass and I’m once again stuffed.
Loading ...