You may be wondering, why am I focusing on low priority items, when high priority items are more important? That’s because low priority items are the hardest to fit in. No-priority items are relatively easy. We eventually have to make time to discard or donate the no-priority items. But low? That’s the real challenge. This is going to be a personal case study using, as an example, my own parent’s slides. Mind you, this may only resonate with you if you are of a certain age. I was born at the tail-end of the baby boom in 1963 and for families growing up in my generation and gen X, way back before we’d watch family events on VHS tapes- we’d bore our parent’s friends with slide shows. My parents are no longer with us, but for all I know there may be some real gems hidden amid the less inspiring majority.
Pick your low priority project
Now, I like to honor the past, but I certainly don’t like to dwell in the past. In fact, my main interest in my parents’ old slides comes from wanting to make space in the present for new, evolving space needs. My mother passed away almost 6 years ago and I distilled her and Dad’s keepsakes from their very full basement down to a few banker boxes and one big tub of slides, which occupies a full storage shelf. Processing it will never rise to the top of my priority list. So for that reason, processing them will require more planning than high priority goals. In fact, this article will just cover the planning of a low priority project. So let’s get to it.
Choose a date with intention
As I suggested in my How To Organize Hard Keepsakes video, try to choose a date with a special meaning. I’m choosing June 13 because it was my parent’s anniversary. Also it’s on a Saturday. I will be honoring the memory of my parents, by distilling down the best images to preserve it.
Plan well in advance
Before the beginning of the new year is good. Then you can fit it in around higher priority goals. Block it off and safeguard it. It’s on my calendar already.
Recognize the difficulties
An obvious difficulty with reviewing slides is, how are you going to view them when the slide projector was discarded decades ago? I know there are slide scanner apps, but that’s more than I need to just prioritize them. I have a friend with a slide projector, which I could plan to borrow, but I’m realizing it won’t be easy to sort in the dark. So I found this viewer on Amazon, which will be perfect for my needs. The point is, whatever your low-priority project is, don’t wait for your specially reserved day to sort all this out.
Share with your family
I’m certainly going to tell my wife about my plan, so we don’t end up with conflicting plans for the same room. And I’ll definitely need a table to spread out on, so I’ll need to plan around the laundry.
Plan for speed
I can’t devote a whole week to distilling slides, so I need a plan to complete it in a day. My plan is borrowed from The Photo Managers and it is as easy as ABC.
There are just 3 essential classifications for photos. A is for album-worthy pieces. B is for the photos that may not be exceptional, but are just too good to throw away. C are the ones that are not good enough to keep.
When you have singular focus, you can move faster. Don’t think about how you are going to showcase the keepers, just sort- fast. You will probably be driven by the same goal I am, which is to create space- in the present, so the main focus is seeing what “baggage” you can free up from the past. So because I had so much ground to cover in the planning, I won’t be able to cover the doing in this blog. I should have that for you in July. But right now, at the end of the year, is a great time for you to plan your low priority projects.
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