The Simplicity Habit

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.