Anyone declared 'project bankruptcy'? - Advice?

[xander3]

Hi,

I have had some hoarding tendencies when it comes to possessions but am steadily tackling them.

The next thing is a tendency to accumulate / create projects for myself.

I think I want to just clear out the projects and digital stuff relating to them: files and so on.

The thing is:

I am getting scared about deleting stuff that I may need later on; Even though with a 60 Gb hard drive I could accumulate files ad nauseum, I badly need to clear my mind to help me focus and stop procrastinating.

Anyone had regrets about dumping files or have advice about what kinds of things to definitely discard?

Thank you very much


Has anyone had experience

[firefly]

Xander3, how about moving the files off your computer instead of permanently deleting them? I use an external hard drive, but you could also burn them to CD/DVD or look into internet storage options. That way you wouldn't have the anxiety of losing possibly important data and you also have a hard drive free of distractions.

If that's too inconvenient you could always just move it all to a separate folder and bury that folder in a sub-directory you don't normally use. Anything to get it "out of sight, out of mind".

When I move these "someday/maybe" projects out of my workspace - whether it's computer files, reference papers or ideas I've scribbled down - I like to make a note on my calendar to "review someday/maybe projects" in a month or so. With an external reminder to look over those projects occasionally and see if I want to act on any of them or ditch them completely I can feel confident that nothing is falling through the cracks and focus better on the projects I do want to tackle.

I hope that helps. Your question has encouraged me to move some of my loose ends to a less distracting location so thanks for asking.

[xander3]

That's not a bad idea, Thanks: Out of sight, out of mind.