I realize I am not the only one who lets papers get stacked up over the years. I periodically go into a files clean-up mode although not nearly as often as I should. There is an absolute level of risk if you try to do too much at one time because it tends to start to blur together or you think, “I’ll never need that again”, and yet if you toss it, sure as the world something will come up that requires it. As has been discussed in other blogs, when you have to clean out another individual’s files, it gets really tricky. With digitization ability, there are some things I can do, but then you have these legal sheet size papers that can’t be scanned by a normal scanner. (Well, maybe they can be and I don’t know how to do it.)

As you might can guess, I’m having to seek out some old files which I did find. They were of course in the box that was one of the most difficult to get to. In the process, I naturally found all these others as I think, “I need to reorganize and get caught up with stuff I’ve never filed.” The reality is because I work on so many different projects, I have far more files than I’d like and physical space does become an issue. Plus, two filing cabinets that I like from an aesthetic point of view aren’t as functional as they could be. This was a situation where I allowed the decorator part of me to outweigh the practical side. That really is something I can resolve, but it isn’t high on my priority list. The simple fact is this, like so many  things, is a matter of priority. The mental energy required to properly work the files can be put to better use most days and therefore I choose to do other tasks. In all fairness, deadline-driven tasks do have to be completed first. I suppose I could set aside a little time over the next couple of weeks and see how much I get accomplished. I’ll give it some thought at least.