I just purged hundreds of pieces of paper from my life. Here they are, pre-combustion in the wood stove.
I burned all of this down
I went through my filing cabinets and removed all unnecessary pieces of paper. Old bank statements, old balance transfer offers, old medical bills. It felt incredible.
I enjoyed it so much, I obsessed over it, I exulted in it. Productivity porn. It was so cleansing and refreshing to get rid of old files and make those overstuffed filing cabinets roomy again.
I still want another filing cabinet, and plan to buy one in Atlanta (see pic at right), so that I can spread the files out even more. Each folder should have its own sleeve, for example. But going through and cleaning things out is so therapeutic.
I also started our taxes, finalized our 2013 budget, and made sure every user on our Mac desktop had updated software.
Finally, I went through realtor.com and found every house for sale in the Atlanta metro area and saved my favorites (there were 52) and rated them on a scale of 1 through 5.
I am a nerd. It’s that simple.
What separates me from normal Connecticut nerds is that I the words that formed my thoughts as I conducted this cleansing. I didn’t say to myself: “Let’s clean out these filing cabinets.” I said: “Let’s cleanse this station.” I called my desk a “station.” Like a battlestation. Where I got to do battle.
I cannot wait to move to Atlanta and have a proper office. I don’t need dark wood-paneling, though it would be nice, I just need a dedicated room which I can outfit for productivity. A place to wake up at 5 am and go to. A place for solitude and writing and bill-paying and generally doing the things I enjoy doing when I’m not working and not playing with my children.
I would love a television in there, and it needs a door, and it would be awesome if it had a safe (for passports and other documents).
My current desk in in the corner of the family room, a great spot when you’re hanging with your family but not great for working from home (I use the guest bedrooms upstairs for that).
My workstation.
This was a fun day for this damn Yankee lad. While my new Southern neighbors enjoyed 70 degree weather by riding in swamp buggies and hunting for game and watching the NFL playoffs, I was cleaning out my filing cabinets (and watching Baby Einstein).