This article* got me thinking. If you were to become a great public figure, what would you leave behind that people would point to as illustrative of your early thought?

I think for most of us, it's all electronic. But there's something to be said about the personality embodied in the physical. It's somehow a lot more intimate than the bits we leave in our wake.

Although many people think electronic paper management is the way to go, I haven't been able to separate myself from my quirky and complicated filing system. I used to be married to huge three-ring binders that stored everything, until I realized the possibilities of filing. I can move things around to suit my current projects and my current thoughts. Of course, electronically, I could do this too (and have my cake and eat it too, as it were). However, something about the physical representation of papers makes it easier for me to think about things. I get great satisfaction from knowing everything is in its place.

There's also the feeling of knowing what's important to me. What I choose to keep does not reflect everything I do; yet I know what I save are the important bits. Every time I stash another thing away, I have a mental reminder of what is going on, the parts I've forgotten, the things I'm doing too much of. Were a perfect stranger to stumble upon my boxes of files, he would know immediately what I was interested in, what I've done, and what I'm doing. A quick peek inside my folders would reveal both my influences and my personal thoughts.

Perhaps it's not that this sort of physical record is necessary, but some way of designating significance is. Then again, can little flags and intricate naming systems for your folders ever give the kind of import that physical objects do? I can tell how important a letter is by the weight of the paper and the ink I used. An email with a priority flag just doesn't contain that gravity. The physical act of filing (especially with the circular file) ensures that whatever you've retained does have some sort of significance. Perhaps it's not just the lack of physicality that makes electronic files less important, but the fact that it's so easy to keep everything.

And, let's face it, a little notebook full of jottings is just cooler than a big mess of Word documents.

Just something to think about (and a reminder to tackle my "to file" box).

*p.s. this is a really old link!