Online Streamlining: lowering the stakes

There are myriad avenues for storing your various things online (or on devices in general)…

  • Your email inboxes and folders

We all keep — or metaphorically chuck — Stuff into our technological cubbyholes. Such as:

  • those documents you had to download as part of that 2-day online team-building thing your boss told you to do

Those online spaces can feel like passive vacuums of infinite capacity (whether we choose to pay for the clever-timed paid-extra space offer or not) and so, when we approach the door to our online storage —be it to have a sort out, look for a specific item orrr try to cram one more thing in— the stomach can lurch at the thought of it all falling out or, heaven forbid, telling us there is no more room.

So, let’s lower the stakes when it comes to shape space in our online worlds. When it comes to online storage sortage, lowering the stakes means:

  1. moving more data with fewer choices

Filters are your friend for the majority of these Streamlining options. I am yet to find a storage space or inbox that does not have some form of filtering element, so though you may need to have a little look, it’s going to be worth it.

Disclaimer
The aim is not to let go of as much as possible, but to notice what you have and to make a conscious choice, even if that is to keep it.

It’s important to add that you do not have to Streamline everything in one go. It’s all been there for however long, and that’s ok. I promise. You aren’t failing or succeeding. It’s just true. You get to start and stop whenever you want. You do not have to keep going until you can no longer go on. This, believe it or not (you may want to sit down for this) gets to be fun……

Jim Carrey, delirious and fainting — from Liar Liar

I know. It’s all going to be ok, just take some deep breaths. And I’ve got you. Ready to give it a try? Here we go (using the order I listed above)

  1. Use your filter to show only videos (mp4s and the like are the claimers of most space per file on average) even if you like to take tippy-top-quality photos. Start with Streamlining these files. You may not even need to watch the whole thing to know whether you want to keep it or not.

Pick one of the options; try them all; you get to choose. You always have the choice, and…wait, are you still sitting from last time? No? You may want to sit down again for this one…

I’ll wait…Ok…

You always have the choice, and you always get to make a new choice

Read that again.

Now, make a choice.

You’ve got this! One item, one file, one choice at a time

Let me know how the tips work for you in practise (if you choose to try them, of course)

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A silly & sensitive storyteller; a word reframer. I am a fierce advocate for Shame- & Scarcity-free choice. 🍦 inspires me: https://ko-fi.com/paulsockett

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Paul Sockett

A silly & sensitive storyteller; a word reframer. I am a fierce advocate for Shame- & Scarcity-free choice. 🍦 inspires me: https://ko-fi.com/paulsockett