Getting Nagged and Throwing Away Old Journals

Getting Nagged and Throwing Away Old Journals

Just thought I’d post about something a little different today. One blog I really like (no surprise) is Unclutterer.com. There is a great range of posts on a lot of different topics.

A few recently caught my eye:

Could your productivity benefit from a professional nagger? talks about one situation where nagging is a good thing: when a pro does it! We all know how bad procrastination can be, and we all do it. What if you could have a neutral third party step in and give you the push we all need from time to time.

I honestly can’t say I have ever heard of nagger as a profession (though I can think of a few people that would excel at it…).

Ask Unclutterer: What should I do with old journals? polls the crowd about that old stack of journals or diaries that is taking up space in a box or at the back of your closet. Keep or trash?

Both are interesting posts that I had never thought too much about before. How about you? Would you ever hire a professional nagger? Do you hang on to your old journals or did you have a diary-burning party? Let us know in the comments.

About the Author

Brooks Duncan helps individuals and small businesses go paperless. He's been an accountant, a software developer, a manager in a very large corporation, and has run DocumentSnap since 2008. You can find Brooks on Twitter at @documentsnap or @brooksduncan. Thanks for stopping by.

Leave a Reply 4 comments

Heather G.M. - April 19, 2020 Reply

Finally combed through everything from most current to the oldest. Found some neat stuff on your site. I’ve just recently begun going paperless, and have disposed of a 4″ stack of papers from one year of College. It just doesn’t make sense to hold onto all those papers “just in case” when the ability to search them is what I need. I want to attempt to make some copies of a few textbook pages too, then I don’t need to lug them around, and can sell them off at the next buyback.

Anywho, in the midst of all this digitising documents, I do find my thoughts wandering to that little chest full of partially-filled journals tucked in the closet. I think digitising will be the way to go, especially since the ink, and especially pencil, degrade over time, but I just don’t know yet how I want to go about it, or if I have the heart to rip the spine off and go to town. Feels strange tearing books apart, but that chest takes up space, and it is certainly not light. *sigh*. Project over the summer?

tjcarter - April 14, 2009 Reply

That was intended as a bit of a joke based on the paper document workflow of scan it, process it, shred it, and back it up. That said, I did just invest in the recommended 47lb shipping weight monster that is the Powershred SB-97Sc. It is replacing a mostly neglected Aurora AS1015CD, which has only one redeeming feature in that the thing hasn't burned out despite severe neglect on my part. A high end guillotine cannot be too far behind. Not this term.

Brooks Duncan - April 13, 2009 Reply

Ha good idea Joseph. You need to be really hardcore and get a paper cutter, get the binding off that sucker, and process away.

Wow procmail, there's a name I haven't heard in a while. Glad to hear your old journals aren't the #1 search result on Google for "oops".

tjcarter - April 9, 2009 Reply

C'mon, this is DocumentSnap! You're obviously supposed to cut the binding, shove the pages into your S1500(M), direct the manager to output to an encrypted database, and push the button. As batches finish, you shred them. Then finally, you ensure that your encrypted database is backed up to a dedicated networked hard drive for the purpose, and also remotely at Carbonite or Mozy. 😉

Ages ago, I kept an electronic journal in the form of a local mailbox and the venerable old mail processor procmail. One day I made a typo editing my .procmailrc and didn't notice for months. Needless to say, my journal entries went places I didn't intend. Thankfully nowhere archived by Google, but still.

Today I think the burning party is probably the best option. That way, I would only have to worry about the ways I've made a fool of myself *recently*.

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