As George Carlin opined – we all have stuff. Today that stuff is more than old textbooks, collectibles, souvenirs, clothes, watches, cuff links, ties and scarves. Today ‘stuff’ includes volumes and volumes of data.
How much data do you deal with every day?
How much data do you need to have available?
How much data do you want?
How much data do you want to discard?
I have moved several times in my life. Every time I have made a place of residence move I have discarded lots of stuff before the actual move date. Then, and I am not alone in this, after a few days in my new location the discarding process starts up again. This means that I moved stuff that I did not want and I went through the efforts and costs of moving it anyway.
Let’s focus on data stuff. How much data is stored on your hard drive(s)? You may need to actually look at the contents of your hard drive to see. Have some fun – sort the contents of a few folders by date. How much is in there from _______ (you fill in the blank).
Sure there are photos and the first emails from your children and grandchildren. How much of the documents, images, PowerPoint presentations, early drafts and so on are still there taking up space in your computer’s closet? If you are a keeper, the first step of this program is to admit how much you keep. Go ahead, be honest, you are either a public or private keeper.
Accumulate translates to suffocate. Memories, pictures, family archival information is important. Just because you have a 1 terabyte drive, does not mean it has to be filled with stuff from the 20th century. The retention of all this extra will slow down any search through your files, add costs to online storage, and bother you when you cannot remember anything about the file by its name.
Your goal is to make life better for yourself. Consequently, at least annually, make the effort to go through your hard drive files and let go. Your mantra – documents, programs and leftover junk be gone. Keep what you must or think you must. Do not get stuck in the quicksand of superfluous data.
Your getting unstuck coach
Richard Oppenheim
Richard Oppenheim helps individuals and companies get better. His effort is to deliver short term actions that will serve as the foundation for achieving long term goals, such as getting unstuck. He maps what is desired with what can be accomplished and then help create a personal road map for going forward.
As a CPA, Richard was an early innovator of computer based resources. Over the years, his efforts have integrated lots of business processes, personal actions, technology resources and decision making. He has developed computer based professional education courses and co-founded a company providing on-line education courses covering the areas of security, management and control over IT operations.
As an adjunct professor at NYU’s Graduate School of Business, Richard served as a Director with NYU’s Management Decision Laboratory. He graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and did post-graduate work at New York University.
His writing includes books, magazine columns, computer product reviews, feature articles, trade association pamphlets, book editing and ghostwriting.
His journey continues as he endeavors to guide and illuminate the path that others need to take.
