Tag Archives: Personal

I'm taking the '100 things' challenge

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I’m sure you’ve heard of it already. If not, a bunch of people have vowed to give up everything in their life except for 100 “things” (loosely defined). This isn’t a new idea, Leo from Zen Habits talked about it almost a year ago and it’s been circulating around the web in blogs and forums before that (but thank goodness we have TIME around to popularize it).

I started cataloging all the items I have around the house and was quite surprised; I think you would be, too. But first, here are some of my initial thoughts:

  • You should define a “thing” at first. I did consider a collection as one “thing.”
  • Pay attention to all the things on all your shelves, in the closet, etc. You forget about things.
  • List your things in the room or area they belong, this helps recognize where stuff clutters.
  • That box sitting there that you haven’t touched since you last moved? Go ahead and get rid of it. No! Don’t even open it.
  • Make sure you’ve considered every part of the house. Food didn’t make it on my list.
  • I have nearly as many “things” in my office as my bedroom. But I only spend a few hours a week in the office!
  • As I went through and cataloged things I made a pile of stuff I don’t want on the list (and will get rid of immediately), this is immediate gratification!

Now the point isn’t to simply remove things from your life (even though that’s a big part of it). The point of the (arbitrary) number, 100, is to keep a sense of value in mind. What is it that makes it into my top 100? What can I limit myself to? How do I prioritize the “stuff” that is tied to my name?

After a couple hours of rummaging around this morning I easily dropped my list down to 108 items. Thaaats right. There are only 108 things in my house. These things include:

  • Bed
  • iPhone
  • Lint roller
  • Umbrella
  • Golf clubs
  • Big green fern
  • Spindle of CDs
  • 24″ LCD monitor

Once you get into it, 100 is a very reasonable number. What are some of the things I’ve done to minimize my “thing footprint”?

  • Digitize things! Documents, photographs, important receipts. Paper does not need to add to your list.
  • Keep the digital needs simple! One thing I’ve tried to do is decrease the number of gadgets / chargers / toys I own. The iPhone is awesome, it’s my phone, calendar, mobile internet device, etc. The Sonos is great, its my house-wide sound system (no need for PC speakers, for example).
  • Minimize the knick-knacks. I try to be very intentional about the things I put on ‘horizontal surfaces’. A lamp here, a fountain there. I had clutter and ‘simple’ is so much more pleasing. Some cool knick-knacks I’ve kept are from around the world (India, New Zealand, Mexico)
  • Clean out the desk. I found a lot of junk I don’t use (I don’t have a tack board, why do I have tacks!?) in the many drawers around my house. Don’t think, just toss. If you feel bad about it, throw it all in a box and check back in 6 months. Didn’t open it? Nuff said.
  • Turn your hangers around. To minimize the amount of clothing in your closet you don’t wear simply put all your hangers in backwards. Then when you wear something for the first time, turn it around (thanks Peter). Every few months I take the unworn to Goodwill. Easy.

Now its nice becuase, no, I don’t own my own place. My roommate is the owner of the plates, knives, forks, etc. But that’s fine, if you use the ‘collection rule’ you’ll see you’ve only got a dozen more things than I do.

I’m staring at my list. These eight things aren’t going to go without a fight.

Have you tried minimizing the ‘stuff’ in your life? How do you declutter?

Do you need a personal assistant?

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There’s a new lifestyle experiment circling the world right now: personal assistants (on the other side of the world). Tim Ferriss definitely popularized this concept with his book The 4-Hour Workweek.

As I sat and read the book I was in the mindset that “I’m a simple guy, I will never need an assistant.” In hindsight, I realize that was the wrong way to consider the idea. For some reason we’re of the thought that a lot of tasks we do are essentially “ours” that no one else could take over. That’s ultimately wrong.

Take e-mail for example: Tim has even outsourced (through a series of rules) his own email. You and I aren’t in the same position as Tim but think about other mundane tasks that can easily be translated to an assistant:

  • Booking travel (15 minutes)
  • Researching the iPhone and how to jailbreak it for T-Mobile usage (15 minutes)
  • Researching the pro/cons of upgrading to a Macbook Pro (15 minutes)
  • Researching the pros/cons of trying FireFox Beta 4 and if my addons will work with it (10 minutes)
  • Monitor my financial accounts weekly and pay credit cards monthly (15 minutes)
  • Write a nice thank you/nice to meet you note for people met at SXSW (15 minutes)
  • Contact a company to get a refund (10 minutes)
  • Contact another company to get a new download/activation code (10 minutes)

I created that list during the first two hours of my Friday morning. I put myself in the mindset: if I had an assistant right now, what would I ask them to do for me? I’ve already come up with almost 2 hours worth of work… during my two hours of work. That seems like a compelling reason to consider it.

When you take a sick day…

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…do you feel:

  • Guilty like you’ve gone and selfishly removed a day’s worth of productivity
  • Worried that you’ll have so much piled up when you come back
  • Anxious because you are so essential people can’t get by without you
  • Relaxed because you’re helping yourself get better
  • Semi-productive because you end up crawling in bed with your laptop and working anyway

or any variation of those? I’m sick today and have been all weekend. Luckily my firm is of the “don’t come to work when you’re sick, we’ll still pay you” mindset.

But, it makes me feel guilty. That guilt leads to semi-productiveness. And that semi-productiveness leads to me sending out emails and putting out as many fires as I can from the comfort of my home. I’m still getting rest. I have plenty of tissues at hand and I’m comfortable in my sweatpants.

Unfortunately, I know people who don’t get (free, unlimited, or any) sick days. Are you one of those? Do you have a laptop you bring home? My suspicion is you don’t. You’re not doing guilty work at home like me.

Do you set New Year’s resolutions?

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I’ve stopped. I’m of the school of thought that a resolution is an excuse to make small steps towards big goals, and then give up because it was too lofty to begin with. Plus, why does it need to be done at the arbitrary beginning of a year?

Okay, the holidays are over and you can stop eating poorly. That may be the one reason you resolve to eat better/exercise more/live healthier.

A year is such a long time (or should be, if you live your life the right way) and I’m not a fan of long-term goals. Sure, you want to have a direction to head (California vs New York) but you don’t need to know which path you’re taking (I-70 vs I-80).

Sure, you can be flexible with your resolutions but then we should just keep them in mind throughout the entire year, not just in January. Can you remember your goals from previous years? Do you monitor them?

Watching construction

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There’s a multi-story office building going in right next to my light rail station. It’s about 7 stories tall and the structure is largely complete. The light rail stand is level with the third floor.

Nearly everyone waiting at the station watches the construction workers build away. At any given point in time, nearly half of us are turned around, facing away from the tracks, to gaze at the new building. Why?

Is it because construction is fascinating? Definitely. It’s neat to see a collection of materials and labor turn into a tangible object.

Is it because we’re bored and would like to watch construction workers rather than highway traffic and a empty set of rails? Of course.

But I also think, deep down, a lot of us sit here waiting to ride 40 minutes to Denver, to start our 9-5, to do the work that only sometimes speaks to our strengths, only sometimes makes us feel fulfilled, and only sometimes produces something tangible that we can point at and say “look, that’s something I did!”

Something tells me I’m not the only one that envies the construction workers.

My 2007 in cities and celebrities

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I wanted to reflect on a few of those fun things, places, people and memories that entered my life this year this year. With no hesitation I present my year in cities and celebrities:

Cities

  • Boulder, CO (moved from here)
  • Denver, CO (to here)
  • San Francisco, CA (CommunityNext, birthday)
  • Bay Area, CA (San Jose, Sunnyvale, Palo Alto, Jelly Belly Factory)
  • Beijing, China (Spring Break, Great Wall, Forbidden City)
  • Shanghai, China (Incubator visit, Ex-pat panels, Pearl Tower)
  • Suzhou, China (tea garden)
  • Los Angeles, CA (training, bull riding, Manhattan/Venice/Huntington Beaches, Dodgers)
  • Cleveland, OH (more training, more bull riding, tequila, Indians)
  • Santa Fe, NM (visiting an old friend, culture)

Celebrities (they’re internet-famous)

…and so many more people. Some I didn’t even get to meet in person but had the opportunity to work with, talk to or cross paths (Ryan Healy and Ryan Paugh, Jeremy Wright, everyone at 9rules especially Scrivs, Tyme, Mike, seanrox, everyone from Startup Weekend (Micah, Michael, Charlie, John).

Anyway, a good year for new friendships and heres to many more!

Improving my fitness with traineo

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I’ve decided it was time to focus a bit more on my personal health including my diet and exercise:

  • First Step: Joined a gym since moving. I’ve paid for the membership which allows me M/W/F/Sun access. I also scheduled 9-10pm on my calendar so that I keep it on my radar.
  • Second Step: Paid attention to what I eat. I’ve created my traineo account in order to track my diet (both quality and quantity). I use FitDay to quickly reference what kinds of calories I’m really eating.
  • Third Step: Paid attention to my activities. I’ve never really been aware of how active I am but by using traineo I can start to chart and improve my weekly workouts.

It’s not revolutionary but I’ve realized just being more aware of something can help you on your way to improving it.