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Archive for September, 2006

Started reading Zeldman’s Designing With Web Standards, 2nd Edition today… More about this later…

or.. How to Clean Out Your Sock Drawer

Right on the heels of reading Getting Things Done, a friend told us about FreeCycle.

Using the GTD method, you are encouraged to fill up your trash can every day. The inbox is your friend. The file drawer is your friend. The trash can is your friend. And now the FreeCycle re-cycling network is your friend. You can get lots of FREE stuff from FreeCycle and you can give away all your junk on FreeCycle.
Example: I was cleaning out my sock drawer and found I really had 3 sock drawers and way too many white socks. So I put a listing for 1 dozen pair of white socks (no holes, clean, almost new) – FREE.

My friend Cartrel had an expression for something that is quickly completed: “Boom. Done.” So easy to do, and so quickly completed.  Within minutes — 9 people contacted me who wanted the FREE socks. Boom, somebody picks up the FREE socks off my front porch. They are happy and I am happy. Boom. Done. Freecycle is cool!

I finished reading “Getting Things Done” on Sept. 5, and plan on reading (reviewing) it again in March 2007. Chapters 11 and 12 really summarized everything nicely.

My basement office is transformed. My bed-room is clutter free. My project list is longer than ever, but I’m getting that “feeling of relaxed control” more often than the feeling of panic.

All this is nice, and it’s more than just a 30 day expirement. Real change has happened in my life. But is there a downside to being so driven by lists? What good habits will slip (decay) in the next 6 months? Will any inbox get too full, neglected, and tossed into the “back room”? What buckets will spring a leak?

Note to self: Conduct a rigorous self-audit in March 2007.