Scott Hanselman

Psychic Weight- Life is Pending

May 17, 2006 Comment on this post [5] Posted in Musings
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HanselglutWow, this post really nailed it. Sometimes I read a post and wish I'd written it and this is one of them.

Here's a choice bit:

With the amount of crap being vomited up by his Ethernet connection -- all day, every day -- it's tough to walk away from the spigot for fear that he'll return to waist-deep water. Ethan reads his mail in real-time to avoid being greeted by a hundred-message pile-up when he gets back from lunch. Bringing the computer with you is the only way to keep up. [greg @ an entirely other day]

Here's my pending life:

  • Voice-mail messages at work: 2
  • Voice-mail messages at home: 9
  • Voice-mail messages on my cell: 3
  • SMS messages on my cell: 5
  • Hours of television on the DVR: 17
  • E-mail messages at home: 525
  • E-mail messages at work: 67 (I was at 0 last week...)
  • Items in my feed reader: 4929
  • Books on my nightstand: 23
  • Active Projects at Work: 6
  • Active Projects at Home: 9
  • Homes Pending Sale: 1

Go read the post, then, if you feel like it, change your life. I think it's time for a large garbage sack and a little Ctrl-A, Del action...

Now, to be clear Getting Things Done works, but one of the risks of gaining the ability to filter lots of information is the psychic weight of all the worlds information. Folks start a new personal system of organization into order to handle some amount, x, of life that is coming at them. When that number x becomes x^2 the need to filter and when singing the refrain Do It, Defer It, Delegate It, Drop It, the Drop It part becomes especially important. 

Don't lose track of what's important. As much as it may pain me, I think I'll have to miss this week's Grey's Anatomy and probably not read the pending feed items this week.

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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May 17, 2006 18:09
Here, I'll help you out. A three paragraph summary of the Greys Anatomy season finale.

http://televisionwithoutpity.com/story.cgi?show=162&story=9333

It wasn't really worth watching anyway. ;)

"Books on my nightstand: 23"

Dude, I think at that point, The books ARE your nightstand.
May 17, 2006 18:53
Scott,

Thanks for bringing this to my attention. This post really nails what I have been feelling lately, and you gave it a good title, Psychic Weight. It is time to clean some junk out, and I finally started recently by ditching World of WarCraft. That game will force you to let everything else pile up, and has its own Psychic Weight.

Now that I cancelled WoW, next time you see Scott S., say hi for me since we used to chat in WoW all the time. I worked for him at Vertigo, you and I met once at the PDC 2000.
May 18, 2006 5:37
I know the feeling. Technology is great and allows us to get more done but sometimes you feel you are too accessible and have too many means of communication. Its an art to prioritize and keep up with all of these gadgets.
Wes
May 19, 2006 18:08
>Books on my nightstand: 23

Scott I sure hope this represents 23 NEW books and not the same old ones you told me you already read when you shamed me by telling me "it was just a matter of how well you managed your time."

Gotcha. 3 points from the arc. Swish.

Signed - Bobbie Dooley -- (Phil Hendrie fans rejoice.)
May 19, 2006 20:47
Mr. Book - touche. In the interest of full disclousure, I've got 4 books from my previous list that I just can't seem to get through. They just aren't grabbing me, so I may have to punt on them.

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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are my own personal opinions and do not represent my employer's view in any way.