Drinking from the Firehose
Posted by Jered | Filed under Choice
On his other blog Michael asked how do people keep up with all of the inputs in their lives, specifically the open loops, like Twitter and RSS feeds. I initially responded with this:
The issue is in the balance. I don’t check myspace, I have it send me an email if have a new friend added or a direct message. The same can be said of facebook. As for the rest, they are essentially casual:
Twitter: great when i remember,
Voicemails: come in via email,
Instant messages: only if absolutely necessary,
RSS feeds: 3 times a day,
Mail: Twice daily,
Calendar checking: 3 times a day.
List checking: constantly.
So really I only have one open loop and everything get thrown into that bucket (OmniFocus, for those interested).
I was not happy with my own response, and I have been thinking about the “open loops” particularly in regards to all of the new social news / media, like Facebook and Twitter. After listening to Clay Shirky’s presentation Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations and listening to This Week in Tech: 138, I have figured out how to deal with the “open loops” of social networking.
Take in what you want and can, but don’t worry about the rest. It is impossible to keep up with everything, so don’t try.
It is difficult to come to terms with this concept. We, a people, are somewhat driven to complete, to have the fullest picture, to catchup on things we have committed to following. I found this to true when I was subscribed to 600+ RSS feeds, I find it true subscribed to 30 RSS feeds.
The funny thing is, people will leave hundreds of unread messages in their inbox, but pull their hair out when they aren’t completely caught up on their RSS feeds, blogs, or tweets1. Learning to let go, to not be attached to drinking from the firehose, can be a liberating experience.
Notes
- ↑1 Twitter posts
Tags: completion, letting go, social media, social networks
Craphacks and the paradox of choice
Posted by Michael | Filed under Choice, Craphack
On the looooong drive to work this morning I was contemplating ways to filter out the craphacks” or the lifehacks that make grand promises of greater efficiency and productivity, but in the end are (sometimes exceedingly complex) practices that add yet another layer of management into our already complicated lives.
Unfortunately, this process of filtering isn’t easy. I contend that, in part, we are asking ourselves the wrong question. Most of us begin our search for simplicity by asking ourselves “Which lifehacks are right for me?” and quickly find ourselves drowning in the flood that quickly ensues.
Enter Barry Schwartz’s idea of “the paradox of choice
While growing up, I was troubled by the question of what I wanted to do with my life. Along the way, my Parents told me that it’s often easier to decide what I DON”T want to do, and in so doing, to narrow the field of options to something more manageable. This process also requires a deep understanding about myself, something that I am still figuring out.
In turn, couldn’t this same practice apply to filtering truly useful lifehacks from the sea of craphacks? What simple techniques and questions can we ask ourselves to systematically narrow the field of lifehack options based on what we know about ourselves?
