Packing my bags for a simpler 2008

One of the things I am is a bit of a personal development pack rat. I have notebooks upon notebooks with notes in them, hundreds of books I'll probably never get around to reading, DVDs and audiobooks and other stuff that sounded good when I bought them, not to mention tons of printed articles, 8000 clips in my Bloglines account, tons of bags from conferences, about 10,000 pens, pencils and other office "essentials" and more other stuff in my office than I care to think about.

See if any of these tips might help you get more organized, and start fresh with some new bags. Like the old saying goes, you can't put new wine into old skins, and I'm finding you can't put old clutter into a new year. :)

I'm going to unpack all my bags full of junk for a simpler 2008, and start fresh with new bags, and I encourage you to do the same.

• Find a new feed reader (maybe Google Reader will be the one, though it's WAY too slow for me so far)   
• I'm going to buy only 10 books this year. I've already cancelled my subscription to Audible, almost every podcast I subscribed to, and every magazine I read.
• Clean out my office and shelve all my books.   
• Commit to throwing out at least 50% of my paper articles.   
• Give away all save 2 of my bags, one for the gym and one for work.   
• I'm also going to read Ariane Benefit's Neat & Simple Guide to Organizing Your Office, for I know I can't do it alone.
   

Now if I could just find that bag where I kept my thumb drive with all my files on it, I could get started.

Comments

[Steve Sherlock]

I wish you all the best with this list. I started to use Google Reader but haven't been able to make the switch from Bloglines yet.

I hope you find your thumb drive!

[Phil Gerbyshak]

Thanks Steve. I hope so too :)

[Bjorn Tipling]

Hi Phil,

Do you have any suggestions about what might we make simpler in Bloglines? Have you tried our new beta? Thanks for using Bloglines! I hope you don't really switch. This is a nice blog, I went to (graduated from) UH Hilo and I lived on windward O'ahu for a bit. I miss Hawai'i a great deal. :)

Bjorn Tipling
Bloglines Engineer

[Phil Gerbyshak]

Bjorn - thanks for your note. I LOVE Bloglines, and would love to stick around.

Here's a few things:

1) Let me "wipe" my account and start over. I've got clips and savings and subscriptions since I opened my account several years back. I'd love to start over. If there's a way to do this, I couldn't find it.

Along those same lines...

2) Make it easier to uncheck all the clipped articles at once. I have over 10000 saved for later, and going through each sub-folder is tedious, to say the least.

3) Let me share via e-mail more easily, like Google Reader interface, instead of the pop-up box that doesn't always size correctly.

I looked at your beta, but it only works with Firefox. I use Firefox *most* of the time, but if you could make it work with IE too, that'd be best.

Thanks for asking!

[Phil Gerbyshak]

Thanks Steve - I hope so too :)

[Ariane Benefit]

Ah Phil, You are not alone! Information and the quest for knowledge is a wonderful thing, but we are soooo overloaded and bombarded with it today, it can become ridiculous! Sometimes we have to just be.

Learning that we are good enough as we are and don't have to be learning and improving ourselves every minute of every day is such a freeing lesson. I think 10 books a year is a fine goal!

But I'm so glad you are going to read mine! LOL Honestly, I would totally understand if you didn't...no worries there. I'd be honored if you even just gave it a 5 or 10 minute glance to decide if anything in there is actually worth the read.

I applaud you making the sacrifice and just starting over. I have not gotten that brave yet with my email. But over the last few months I've been getting really good at using my shift - delete keys - The PERMANENT email deletion! I feel so powerful - like such a risk taker! LOL

p.s. I love Bloglines too....whenever I actually go there. : )

[Bjorn Tipling]

Thanks for your comments and suggestions. As for the Beta not working with IE, it does work with IE7, and we are working IE6 functionality. Thank you for your patience!

Bjorn

[Joanna Young]

Phil, I was with you until you got to the books! Mine are strewn about me, and I suspect always will be (though it's true I haven't dipped into Ariane's book yet...)

Joanna

PS I'm very impressed that bloglines are listening. I love them too, but I only clip a few things at a time and try and ditch them as I go... plus I've only been there a few months so haven't had time to build up such an archive...

[David Zinger]

I like bloglines for packing my reading. I subscribe to about 270 blogs right now and every so often I love to hit the link: "mark all read." Very liberating when I have other things on the go. Sure I miss things but part of life is focusing on some things while knowing you are missing other things.
Anyway, that is my shallow thought for the day.
David

[Phil Gerbyshak]

Ariane - I've got some traveling to do soon, and will be including your book in the bags I pack. I can't wait to hear your voice in the book.

Joanna - Mine have always been strewn too. We'll see if I can clean it up or not. I at least want to get them on shelves.

David - You're right about marking all as read. From time to time, that's great to do. Still wish I could remove all checkboxes on Bloglines. It's cool to see them listening.