I am an avid notetaker. In college, I loved taking notes. Mainly because I wouldn’t have to look at the teacher and I could daydream and/or doodle to my heart’s content. A few years ago, I got all my old notebooks together, took out the notes and filed them in a filing cabinet. I just knew that if they were organized and I could easily get to them, I’d use them.
Who am I kidding?!
I have never, not even one time looked at those notes. I have never reread one of my papers. I have never looked through one of my notebooks because I needed to find an answer that related to a problem in my job.
What was the purpose of college?
My degree is in Christian Ministries which sounds completely like nothing. I took Bible classes and Ministry classes like Missions, Pastoral Care, Leadership, etc. These are all semi-practical classes. You would think I’d use the information every once in awhile.
Well, once again, Oprah shows her power. I saw the episode with the organizational guru from TLC’s Clean Sweep. He said if you haven’t used something in 6 months to throw it away. THROW IT AWAY. That filing cabinet is the first thing that popped into my mind.
I spent hours in those classes, thousands of dollars on tuition, years of my life experience at those schools (3 for me!) and he wants me to THROW IT AWAY? Well, today I did. I opened up that first file and didn’t even understand one thing on the page. The only interesting thing was my doodles. I always was good at imitating fonts on paper.
So, I’m taking Oprah’s advice–“this is the year” to declutter. Good-bye education, hello clean office!
