Less Stress and Clutter - Commit to being paperless in 2018

The Story

In 2015, I committed myself to being completely paperless. I did so because I got tired of the constant clutter of paper in my life. I used paper for everything, from document storage to my to do list. Sticky notes. It actually got to the point where I spent more time managing my sticky notes than accomplishing my to dos. Yeah, that bad. In fact it got so bad that my colleagues decided to sticky note my entire office. As seen below,

A Wake Up Call

This was my wake up call. I asked myself, why do I use so much paper? And in 2015, my new year's resolution was to rid myself of paper.
 At that point, I began to actively remove paper and by the end of 2015, I had printed less than 20 sheets of paper. In 2016, only 12. Last year, I relapsed a little and printed about 75. But still this is far less than anyone I know.

 The Benefits

Going from thousands of pages a year to only a few has tremendous benefits. While there are many benefits, the benefits that resonate with me the most include:

• Improved Productivity - How much time do you spend sorting through physical documents? I can find something in few seconds with search.
• Saving Money - Paper costs more money than we think. The biggest cost is organizing and storing it. Paper takes up a lot of space.
• Freedom - I can access my information from anywhere at any time. I am no longer tied to my desk and can work from anywhere with an internet connection.
• Less cutter - My house and office used to be covered with crap that has little to no value. It's all gone.
• Less stress - I no longer have to remember where I put that piece of paper or worry about losing data.

Keep Sharing

Since becoming paperless, I have been sharing these benefits with those I come in contact with. About 50% look at me and think I am crazy. Another 40%-45% look at me and say that might work for you, but no way it's for me, and then there is about 5% that really grab a hold and change their life.

 My Commitment to You

Here we are three years later from my original paperless pledge. I have been getting a few people here and there to commit to being paperless. But that is not enough for me anymore. I need to do better. We need to do better.

My 2018 new year's resolution is to spend my nights and weekends helping everyone I can become completely paperless. I want all these benefits that I have received over the last few years to be experienced by others. I want all the benefits to help you in your life.

 My Plan

I am committing to sharing all my successes and failures with you all over the next year. I am committing to posting on a weekly basis something that will help you along your journey to becoming paperless. It might be a tip to help you eliminate paper, it might be someone else's paperless story, in may be just an interesting article I came across. But I want others to join me in the journey and understand the benefit of a paperless lifestyle.

Remember it’s a journey and every single day, we can work to make ourselves more digital and use less paper.
Will you join me?

If you enjoyed this post, consider liking it and commenting on the following:

• If you have become paperless, why did you decide to become paperless?
• If you have not become paperless yet, what is holding you back?