In the week leading up to my Christmas vacation I only glanced at my RSS feeds, saving the most interesting ones for later. I got giddy with the joy that came from telling myself that I’d have such a glorious wealth of free time that I could finally catch up on all the blog posts I’d been meaning to read. However, when the break came it turns out the last thing I wanted to do was sit inside all day and catch up on blogs. I didn’t read a single one of ‘em.
Press it, you know you want to!
Over time my archived unread count became increasingly bloated and thus increasingly intimidating. Which of Merlin Mann’s five posts about creativity should I read so I can finally get the inspiration to do something? Which friend’s flickr uploads are going to prove the most interesting? How will I avoid the inevitable awkwardness of complimenting Paul on his latest pics while failing to even notice Andy’s? The stress was insurmountable; anxiety is the last thing I need to be getting from the Internet. If I wanted to feel like that I’d play an MMO. At least then I could revel in my pretended magic abilities.
The solution to my problem was simple and scary: delete.
The reasonable side of myself concludes that I haven’t read any of this stuff and still, the world has gone on turning and I’ve still managed to have a great time. Subtracting, of course, the nagging feeling that I have to meet this wholly voluntary obligation for which I will be accountable to no one.
In opposition there is the sense that I am missing out on something good. However if examined, this thought process has little foundation. For instance, consider the tremendous amount of knowledge being transferred through the air and between electronic miracle machines via mystically named fiber-optic cable. Every day, every person, every second misses an incomprehensible amount of information; from Hawking to Uncle Hal.
I am thoroughly convinced that the work put into gathering information should be equal to, if not lesser than, the energy used in actually using that information. The essential root of it all is in the application. If Einstein never published his theories then nobody would know who he is.
Essentially, the key is to realize what is good information and what is bad information. Take in the good, ignore the bad, and then turn around and do something with all that quality stuff you learned. In reality though, developing the talent of sorting good from bad information takes time, and so the ability to start fresh, cleaning out your inbox, your to-do list, or whatever is a great blessing.
All this is why today I deleted all my unread RSS Subscriptions. It was liberating and I was able to take a step in the direction of actually accomplishing something (this blog post for instance).
So where is the backed up stockpile in your life? Are you going to delete it?
