Camera: Kodak DC240

We’ll see how it goes; I don’t plan to write long posts, but rather document the pictures themselves and what I think of them.

It will be a photography blog (not just a photo blog) – and will, I hope, be updated a lot more frequently than it has been to date.

No, not the next day…

No, not next week…

No, not someday…

Take it out today!

Otherwise, two things will happen: 1) it again becomes clutter, and gets moved from here to there and back; and 2) it increases the likelihood that that stuff will wind up back in your home instead of going out the door.  Don’t think that just because you convince yourself you won’t take stuff back out, that someone else just might.

Get that temptation away and take it to the car to go to charity right then and there.

When you organize your workspace (or your home), the goal is to fill that wastebasket!  However, that should not be the only thing on our mind: keep that recycling canister close at hand, and fill the recycling bin as well.

One thing that is often missed by people is recycling their computers.  Most people do not realize that the components in a computer (or other electronic device) are hazardous to the environment and require special handling to recycle. Some used computer stores will offer to take computer equipment, cell phones, batteries, and other such electronic trivialities.  Unfortunately, due to the hazards and extreme care required to recycle monitors, there is almost always a charge ($10 in our neighborhood) to recycle used CRT monitors (that is, the big monitors that are like old TV screens…).

When your old computer is ready for the recycling center, why not take a moment and look for a computer that is energy-efficient, and set it up with the most energy-efficient settings possible?  This can reduce your electricity use considerably, saving you money and saving the environment at the same time. The EnergyStar label will help identify the most energy-efficient models.

Remember that Sleep Mode reduces your computer’s power usage to a minimal amount, while Hibernation Mode reduces your computer’s power usage to nil.  In Sleep Mode, the computer takes just enough power to keep the memory alive and keep the system at the state it was when it entered sleep mode.  In Hibernation Mode, the computer saves its current state to hard disk (permanent storage) and shuts off!  So you see, it is better to hibernate than to sleep (I imagine the bears must think so too…. heh).

Macintoshes in the past have not supported hibernation out of the box, but perhaps this has changed.

Lets get to work today!

Over at the Clutter Control Freak blog, there was an article about how the author keeps clear of too many books taking over. There are some good ideas there, but my methods are different.

For one thing, I could never reduce to one bookcase! I have not only fiction books, but many technical books, organizing books, religious books, and others. Currently I’ve four book cases – two bigger ones and two smaller ones.

My method of reducing in the past was to just go through all of the books collecting the ones to get rid of. Then I would go down State Street (the downtown shopping district in Madison, Wisconsin) – going from one bookstore to the next, selling books, ending up with donations to be given at the Goodwill store at the bottom of State Street (it’s about eight blocks long). Most bookstores will pay a certain amount for each book; however, the new crop (especially Half-Price Books) will give a set price for an entire box of books. Go to your hometown independent bookstores first if you want to sell books – the prices are better.

Anyway, here are some of the rules I use in determining to get rid of books:

Do I have a duplicate of this book? Yes, that happens sometimes – to me, anyway. Pick one of them, and dispose of the other.

Will I reread this book? Better yet, ask: Have I reread this book? This is especially useful for fiction. Much fiction I will not read again; if so, why is it taking up space in the bookshelf?

Is this reference material? This is an adjunct to the last question; if it is a reference, you don’t want to get rid of it unless you have unnecessary duplication. In my house, examples would be my Larousse French-English / English-French dictionary, the Mayo Clinic Family Health Book, and (perhaps) Black’s Law Dictionary. Important note: if it is reference material: Is it current? If not, it may be worth disposing of or replacing it. Also, for manuals: Do I own the product this manual is for? If not, dispose of it!

Is this book valuable or of sentimental value? Some books are just too valuable (in money or sentiment) to get rid of. Just don’t confuse sentimental value with love of the person who gave you the book. If Greatgrandma Josephine gave you a book on gardening (when you’ve never had a garden in your life) – feel free to get rid of it! However, if Greatgrandma Josephine gave you a book that has been in the family since the first settler on the Kansas plains bought it at the general store….. don’t get rid of it for goodness sakes!

Are you going to read it some day in the future? If the answer to this is yes, it is an almost undeniable signal that you would be better off without the book – and that you will never read the book any way. A follow-up question to hammer the point home (if the answer is yes) is: How long have I had the book? If you’ve had the book for many years – always wanting to read it “some day” – get rid of it! If you really do want to read it – mark it down on your list of todos as a book to read from the library and dump the book.

However, this is a different sort of a book from this distinguished author, describing his ideas for productivity and getting things done. DONE! was originally published as How to Have a 48-Hour Day.

The book has its good points and bad. The book is much more encompassing than just To Do lists, prioritizing and so on. It expands its view to the whole of life. For example, just how much time do we spend watching television? Or worrying about things we cannot change? Or muddling through our morning routines? There are some real nuggets here that are not even addressed in other productivity books. Here are some quotes from the book:

…we must never forget that tools are tools – implements, utensils, gear. They don’t perform – we do.

Not being able to find something we want or need … turns the next twenty minutes (or half the day) into pure unadulterated unproductive time.

Bearing grudges and nursing hard feelings is a real time- and spirit-waster … it takes lots of effort to keep score.

There are many more notable items like these. This book addresses life as a whole, not just tasks to be done or tasks at the office.

However, there are also some very dubious proposals as well. The worst is probably the one that suggests sleep is not a benefit, and getting up just a little earlier (and doing without some sleep) will be a positive influence.

Despite this, the book is worth looking into and reading. It is light reading, and will round out any other organization and productivity reading you have done.

So go there right now and see what it’s about. Take action!

Jerry Seinfeld is a comedian who made the big time, and related his secret of productivity to the writer (during a time when the writer was an aspiring comedian as well).

The central secret that Jerry related is this: take a calendar, and mark each day that your goal is acheived. Then your only job is to not break the chain. That’s it – keep the chain going.

Now the online service Joe’s Goals has introduced the capability of tracking this chain and its length – to help implement Jerry’s idea.

This sounds like one powerful idea.

Recently, Paul wrote his take on our stuff, and how to handle it. His essay, titled Stuff, is very good – go read it.

Before you buy anything, ask yourself: will this be something I use constantly? Or is it just something nice? Or worse still, a mere bargain?

(from Paul Graham)

Thanks to Lifehacker for bringing this to our attention!

If you let things go, and don’t keep up, then it will become overwhelming quickly. This can be avoided – or remedied – by cleaning, purging, organizing every day. Do a little bit every day, and even massive mountains can be moved.

It may not seem like much – but anything – even just a few somethings – can take the cleaning down a notch, and save you time later. Don’t give up.