A lot of paper crosses my desk. Some of it is and always will be important. Some of it is temporarily important. Some of it is irrelevant. Deciding which category a paper falls into can be difficult, and the simplest solution, I have always found, is to file all of the paper away. That way, if you need the paper, it’s there. And if you don’t need it, at least it’s out of your way.
That approach works for a long time. Years. Decades. Until one day you realize that your once neat files have grown into a wild paper jungle so massive and disorderly that you can barely open up the file drawers let alone find what you’re looking for inside.
The fix for that is to have a Shreddapalooza, and that’s what I did today. I shredded tons of paper, most of which I probably never needed. In my enthusiasm, I may even have shredded some paper that I do need. I filled up two trash bags and a recycling bin, and I’m not done yet. Tomorrow Shreddapalooza will continue!