Either I was in denial or my brain was playing tricks on me. I estimated that we had about 40-45 bankers and file boxes in storage or around the office awaiting the trip to storage. Nope, not even close. I was taking a load of papers to the basement to await shredding and on a whim I started counting. Then went room to room in the office leaving out my father’s offices and as the number climbed higher and higher realized that I was mentally minimizing the problem My estimating versus counting total came out to be 95 boxes that will need to be reviewed. I estimate a majority will be shredded but then again my estimation skills are in question at this point. Great news I had already taken one box of mutual fund prospectuses and related literature from 2005 to the recycle bin. No, I have no idea why they were boxed up. The box was on the bottom row and was recently uncovered so I started the year at 96 boxes.
My initial plan was to review a box a week and by the end of the year I would be done. I don’t want this project to take two years so my father who occasionally stops by the office will have a surprise on his desk as I am gifting him one box of his records to review and when he is done with a box he will get a new one. I am sure he will be overjoyed to be able to get rid of something. He has recently discovered the joys of getting rid of stuff instead of just keeping it. My wife believes it is a genetic trait among my family to keep to much stuff that should just be thrown away, donated, or recycled. My dad and I are no longer in denial and are trying to get better as we are both actively getting rid of stuff. It will just take time to reverse decades of accumulation and a well entrenched habit at that.
Still reading? I’m not writing this just to give you a glimpse of my glamorous office life but to point out that we often underestimate the amount of stuff that we have. We keep putting off dealing with it because (insert your excuse here). Now, last year I had the pleasure of being invited to hear motivational speaker Dr. Kevin Elko. He has a saying “let go of your need to be right.” OK, that isn’t the one I wanted but it is a good one; try “You will take ownership of every problem and you will have the best year of your life.” The stacks of boxes are a problem. Not a pressing problem but one we have put off dealing with. I’ve stopped putting it off. Now, I can’t fix every problem immediately. I didn’t put on all those pounds I’m trying to lose in one day and they all won’t go away in one day. I am acknowledging problems when I see them. Keep in mind though we humans are awful at self assessment so if you think I have a problem I am not acknowledging please let me know. I am writing them down if they can’t be fixed immediately and I am putting them on my to do list so they don’t pile up to the ceiling awaiting a time to deal with them. My to do list is getting long and longer every day as I see problems that are mine and that I need to deal with. What is a resolution other than a desire to get better.