Check your Drafts & Clean Your Damn Desktop

The “Organizer” wallpaper from Veer.com

This is more for me than you.

That last thing that I published here on Medium was back in 2013. What was it? Writing fatigue? Certainly not. I checked my drafts today for the first time since then and I had a fair bit to say, my 2013 self. Why the hesitation?

  1. A mistake, I didn’t mean to create a new draft.
  2. It wasn’t ready (I wasn’t ready).
  3. I would be thought of as rude or ungrateful.
  4. It wasn’t good.
  5. The timing was bad.
  6. Fear.

Curious about my other unsent text, I drifted to my email. 312 drafts on my personal and 95 at work. My blog has 20 drafts. I’m just carrying around all of this digital weight. Sure, it’s free and unlimited, but it’s like the pile of moving boxes that I haven’t finished unpacking under the stairs since May. It’s not hurting anyone, but it’s there, taking up space that could be something else, something useful. I keep promising to get to it and once I open the first box, I wonder why I kept it at all.

I’m not going to get all Marie Kondo on you, but maybe we need to declutter our digital lives, too? Do these words spark joy? Do I feel better after it’s gone out of my system and to another? Does Newton’s third law apply to publishing in that there is an equal and opposite reaction?

When I was on Livejournal, I’d post my list of chores to do and would upload photos of the before and after. No one really said anything to me about it, they just watched, but knowing that made me feel accountable.

So I’m here, saying it out loud to you. Doing instead of hoarding.

Let’s not be precious and toil over things that aren’t such a big deal. I don’t have to “produce” this Medium post. If it’s not working, just delete it. If it was a really good idea, you’ll remember it and maybe will be inspired to finish it completely. I don’t have to do this, this isn’t my job, but I have this innate need to say …stuff.

Also, clean your fucking desktop. I’ll set up a Hootsuite reminder every Friday. You’ll thank me for being able to find shit again. Allow me to recommend the “Organizer” wallpaper from Veer.

This post will be published tonight, it will not sit in my drafts for two years. I’ll also be publishing the rest of my 2013 drafts along with some newfound 2016 perspective over the next few weeks.

Maybe my 2013 self will start living.

Maybe my 2016 self will build a shelf under the stairs.