How many queues of crap do you have in your life? These lists are things that you intend to do at some point. But really if it’s been sitting for a few weeks is it going to get done?
I sit here looking at my Instapaper queue of 95 articles and I have no doubt that there are some awesome reads in there. I also know that there are at least 30 articles that have been sitting for months.
If I haven’t made the time for them in months are they really that important?
Hell no
That list is just something that sits there imposing a bit of guilt on me about promises. Each thing I added is a promise to myself that I’m going to read it. When I don’t get to them for months I’ve broken that self-contract.
Well I’m just about to set a timer for 25 minutes (a typical Pomodoro cycle) and the plan is to make a new promise with myself. Go through the whole queue and get it down to 30 articles that are really worth my time.
That means those technical things I wanted to read are hitting Evernote. Almost everything else is just getting removed.
My new contract is that if my Instapaper queue is more than 30 articles I need to cut it down.
I’m tired of making promises to myself that will just never get done so I’m going to try and be a bit more realistic.