Editor's note: Today, we're excited to welcome Chad Torgerson to our Tech Talk team! We've long been a fan of his writing at New Evangelizers, and his Waking Up Catholic is a delight. We look forward to tapping into his wisdom and experience during his Tech Talk columns.

Over time, your computer's hard drive can become full of fragmented files that can begin to slow down your computer's performance.  Likewise, your life can become full of scattered tasks and obligations that can stop you from performing at your peak.

When this happens, it becomes necessary to defrag your life.

First of all, let's begin with a few computer basics.  As you save files to your computer, you are storing them to your hard drive.  You can think of your hard drive as your computer's long-term memory.  In the process of saving new files and deleting old ones, your hard drive can become a mess of scattered, fragmented files.

Sooner or later, your computer's performance will begin to suffer.  The fragmented files become difficult for your computer to access, and normal processes will take longer to run.  When your computer tries to save a new file, it has to squeeze it into whatever space is available.  Luckily, the built-in defragmenter (defrag for short) on your computer can fix all of that.

A defragmenter works by analyzing your hard drive, creating a plan to clean up the mess, and then reorganizing the files into a more manageable system.  This simple process can help to keep your computer running more efficiently for a long time to come.

Like our computer hard drives, our lives can become fragmented, as well.  Late nights at the office, soccer practices, ballet recitals, volunteer work, and other obligations can make our lives more difficult to manage.  We begin trying to squeeze in new obligations in what little time we have available.  We spend less time with God, and our spiritual lives suffer.

When you get to this point, it is time to defrag your life.

The first step in defragging your life is analyzing your current situation.  Are you trying to do too much?  Is there any room for more tasks and obligations?  Could you possibly reorganize your tasks to accomplish them quicker and more efficiently?  More often than not, you will find that your life is full of fragmented activities that could be better organized.

After you have analyzed your situation, it is time to come up with a plan.  Instead of doing one task for thirty minutes a day, you might save time by working on it from start to finish in one afternoon.  Other times, you might find a way to fit in a fifteen minute jog before the kids get up for school.  Coming up with a plan to defrag your life is the most important step.

Finally, now that you have a solid plan for moving forward, you have to put it into action.  The defrag process can take some time to work, but you will find yourself reenergized and performing better.  The effort that you put in will be paid back in dividends.

In my own life, I struggled to find time for my favorite hobby: writing.  I love to write but found it difficult to make it a priority.  Eventually, I decided to defrag my life and make time to write.  Realizing that I had a few spare hours each morning, I wake up early before work to get it done.  Now I start my day doing what I enjoy the most.

Of course, you're now wondering how to defrag your computer's hard drive.  If you own a PC, simply go to the start menu (or the Windows icon in the bottom left of your screen) and type “defrag” in the search box.  You should see the Disk Defragmenter in the results.  From there, just analyze and defrag.  It's that simple.

Defragging your life, like defragging your hard drive, is something that you should do regularly.  Every couple of months, take a moment to analyze your situation, come up with a plan, and put your plan into action.

After you make time for the more important things in life, your body will thank you, your family will thank you, and most importantly, your God will thank you.  Do you need any more reason than that?

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Copyright 2012 Chad R. Torgerson