Here's to a Society Full of Less

There was a time,in the not so distant past, that I used to keep file folders filled with important papers and documents. These file folders were stored in filing cabinets and bins that generally took up more space than I was happy to give them. I had a real love-hate relationship with these files, folders, and cabinets. Actually, it was much more hate than it was love. If I wanted to find something inside of all of those files inside of all of those folders inide of all of those cabinets, I had to physically dig through them until I found what I need. It could take hours, and frequently resulted in multiple paper cuts.

Then, circa 2002 I joined the rest of the industrialized world and discovered the organizational joy of storing as much stuff as I possibly could on a hard drive. Things like utility bills, bank statements, pictures, work proposals, personal journals, all got introduced to their new incarnation - life inside of the machine. That's right, the files that had for so long been quietly gathering their forces around my house, as if to one day rise up in office supply war against me, were tamed and subjected to the new rule of the almighty PC and it's Hard Drive storage cell. Here they could be quickly and peacefully organized, sorted, searched, and filed away - all at the expense of a physical space about a thousandth the size of the area they used to occupy.

Since that time (what I like to refer to as the "Great Migration of 2002") I have been constantly looking for new and interesting ways to minimize the clutter in my life. I began to realize the potential of a new world view, brought about by technology, that goes way beyond documents and files. Show me a way to keep all of my music in one place and get rid of the need to store physical CDs? Done. Give me the ability to have faxes come to my email inbox, rather than getting printed out on some boxy, bulky machine sitting beside my desk? Done. Let me shoot home videos directly to a hard drive, and eliminate the need for mini-disk-foolishness or even DVDs for that matter? Done.

Therefore, I would like to officially and publicly announce my campaign for the most creatively efficient, the most un-cluttered and tidy, the most "Less" society possible.

Will you join me? Together, we can make life easier for everyone. Here's to having more of less.