The world seems to be bent more and more on input. The internet company sells you almost exclusively on the download speed they provide, and couldn’t care less about the upload speed. Heck, we don’t care about upload speed much. We are migrating towards devices that don’t have physical keyboards. The whole idea of tablets is as media consumption devices, designed to bring data to our fingertips, where ever our fingertips may be. (My favorite place – more on this – seems to lying down somewhere….).
It’s never been easier to dial up a TV show or movie and watch it. Shoot, you can even pick specific episodes for your viewing pleasure. You can track the every move of your favorite celebrity. You can buy almost anything to want without getting up off the couch. You can watch replays of ever game and every highlight. You can read the thoughts of millions of 14 year old girls. Advertising is customized to your specific interests. It all comes at you in a slickly packaged, conveniently laid out format.
And all you have to do is (as the airlines seem to be required to say) sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight.
So this gets me to my New Years Resolution: To produce more and consume less. First, I have to give full credit to Scott Hanselman for inspiring me. He posted this on Google Plus last night: “#1 Productivity Tip: Spend 10% of your time consuming and 90% of your time producing. Make more stuff. Watch less. Read less. Do.”
And it hit me that this was exactly what I needed to do. I spend a lot of time consuming. A lot of time. I watch a lot of TV shows on Netflix that I don’t need to watch. I read a lot of RSS feeds that I don’t really need to read. I poke around on the internet way too much. Along side of all that consumption, I feel like to don’t do a lot of the things I want to do. I have a million ideas for blog posts, but I never seem to write them. I have a ton of ideas for writing code, but I don’t write it. I have a lot of ideas for trainings and presentations, but I don’t prepare and give them. I sit on my butt instead of walking the dog. Generally, I just consume and I don’t produce nearly as much as I could be.
So that is my resolution for this year. To produce more and consume less. That means, specifically, I’m going to:
- Write a substantive post on my blog once a week. At least. Probably more. I want to get my “Blog Post Ideas” list down to zero and keep it there. This blog post is the first of hopefully more. No one might care what I have to say, but hey, at least I said it.
- Find an open source project and work on it. I’ve made some furtive efforts to support the Delphi Spring Framework project, and I intent to renew that effort at producing value for the Delphi community.
- I’m going to get off my butt and walk. Once I lose weight, I’m going to start running again. I’m going to produce some better health for myself. And my dog, too.
- I’m going to write a book on coding in Delphi. I’ve got it outlined, and I’m going to write it. I think it will be good. It’s been hard to get started, but that is the “big goal” for the year. If I can produce a book in 2012, that will be a big win.
- I’m going to be deliberate and purposeful in what I read. I’m going to read less (I have a lot of writing to do!) but I’m going to get more bang out of the time I do spend reading. I’m going to focus on business books and development books.
- The same is true for movies and TV shows. I’m going to be deliberate and plan any watching I do. No more just dialing something up on Netflix because I am bored. I will be purposeful in managing my Netflix queue.
- I’m going to remove FreeCell from my phone. We all have that app that we use when we are – ahem – “indisposed”, and I’m going to replace FreeCell with my Bible Reading plan. A little thing, but hey. Out with the bad and in with the good, right? (Sorry, couldn’t resist….)
- I’m going to spend time selling stuff on eBay. I have a lot of stuff I don’t need but that is still valuable to somebody. I can produce a little wealth for myself and my buyers by selling on eBay. Last month, my awesome wife turned a bunch of stuff in our basement into over $1000 cash. This is a productive endeavor.
That should keep me busy this year, and that is sort of the point, right? I’d love to hear from you guys about what you are doing to produce more and consume less.
I’ve gotten lazier over the last few years as I’ve gotten older, and it is time to reverse that trend. It’s a gorgeous day here today in Pennsylvania, so I’m going to post this and go walk the dog.