New Year Digital Purge Challenge
Originally Published: December 26, 2018
Do you tend to end the year with a purge so that you can start fresh in the new year?
You do a deep clean of everything from the pantry to your wardrobe, donating, gifting, and/or tossing as needed, and when you're done you feel freer, lighter, and excited that you've made room for all new things.
BUT WHAT ABOUT A DIGITAL PURGE?
Think about how much digital clutter we hoard between our computers & phones, especially if you’re a business owner and/or entrepreneur:
download folder (phone & desktop)
emails (inbox, spam, trash)
browser tabs
browser history & cookies
cloud based drive folders
photos (i.e. screenshots)
apps (phone & desktop)
unchecked reminders
texts & direct messages
downloaded podcast episodes
And that’s not even counting anything you might’ve accumulated for work… especially after nearly two years of most people being moved into working remotely. We're in a new era of technology, so that means most of us didn't grow up thinking about doing a digital cleanse — I know that it certainly wasn’t top of mind in my household as a kid — but how about we start a new tradition, k?
Today I challenge you to start taking the first step in making room for new projects, contacts, memories, etc. in the new year.
Delete something — ANYTHING! — starting with your phone. What you can’t delete, create appropriate folders for and save for easy ^ efficient access. This might look like folders on your device or it might been migrating files you won’t need for a while to an external drive.
Every day next week, commit to deleting something else, and you'll be amazed at how much you've freed up by the weekend!
Because we’re talking about a digital purge, it’s real easy to limit yourself to your devices — phones, computers — but since writing this post over 3 years ago, social media has only continued to have a more prevalent presence in our everyday lives & society. That said, clearing your follower/following lists, DMs, saved drafts, and whatever other clutter you might be hoarding in your social media accounts is just as important towards starting off the year with a digital clean slate.
So to recap…
start with your handheld/mobile devices — think phones & tablets
once complete, work your way to larger devices, like laptops & desktops
be sure to back up your devices to preserve files that are important but not urgent
do not be afraid to just let things go
After you’ve managed to get through everything — p.s. don’t be discouraged if this process takes you days or even weeks, depending on how many devices you have — try to schedule regular purges. Depending on what you do & the devices you have, monthly or quarterly will make the most sense. I am LONG overdue for a digital purge across my devices and may be taking the last week of the month to tackle mine (I don’t operate on a typical reset schedule).
