Sorting Saturday or How Organizing Is Like Dieting

Over the winter break I did a splendid job organizing my digital files.They are beautiful and I can usually even remember where I put things. Next project - the actual paper files. For at least seven days running, I wrote on my "to-do" list - sort through one genealogy paper file. Finally, I changed the item to "pick one genealogy file to sort through." This was very easily accomplished, I took two files out from the file drawer and put them on the table and crossed it off the list. The two files I so proudly pulled from the cabinet then sat on said table, collecting dust, for several weeks.

Then on Monday a memory emerged from the depths of my brain and settled squarely on my soul. I remembered that here, on this very blog, I had quoted Lisa Louise Cook's idea of spending just one hour per week on genealogy. I believe I even bragged, "I can do that."  Apparently, I was mistaken.  Apparently, I can not find just one hour per week.  Apparently, I am a fraud.

After feeling pretty sorry for myself all day Monday, Tuesday I picked those two files up off the table and began going through them. I am happy to report that the two files are empty. How did I accomplish this amazing feat in a mere five days? By typing up handwritten notes I had already typed fifteen years ago, by putting some items in other files, by giving an article on some barely related family (Eprosons) back to my mother, and by putting many useless pages in the recycling pile. I did also type some notes that hadn't  been typed and found some things I had printed out on the Internet, so I just put the website address in OneNote.

Do you know why I procrastinated? Because my subconscious mind knew this project would be T-E-D-I-O-U-S. It would require critical thinking and decisions about pieces of paper. I knew I would feel despondent and vexed and talk to myself: "Is this list of cities and their locations which you made in 1991, really necessary to keep? Surely you can look up where Larvik is again?" Or "Do you really need a ancestry file that was printed out in 1997 with unsourced material?" I could go on.... Now that my conscious mind is now fully aware that my subconscious mind is much smarter, I'm not sure if I'll now get through the remaining files.

But if I want to proceed with my quest for ancestors, I must sort through and figure out what I already have. Otherwise, I will spend countless hours finding information that I have already found. This would be worse than typing notes that had already been typed. I suppose this whole organization project is like dieting - you must set obtainable goals, take joy in small successes, and not beat yourself up when you fall off the wagon.

For next week, I think I will sit next to the wagon and sort through a thin file marked "Articles." In between me and the wagon will be tea and biscuits.