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Protect your inbox (2): Scrub your RSS subscriptions


«Pipeline Perspective» © Michael Kelley«Pipeline Perspective» © Michael KelleyRecently, SpiKe of Organize IT sounded a bit worried, asking: Simplifying Our Lives: Is It A Lost Cause? Looking at RSS feeds, he said:

imagine that your job requires you to be knowledgeable on a subject, are we not potentially skipping useful information and therefore losing out to those who are able to take in dozens of feeds?
(SpiKe)

Today, in my mini series on protecting your inbox, I'll present more techniques how to deal with RSS feed overload. They are based on having your RSS feeds processed, that is: feed items get scrutinized and (sometimes) filtered out, to improve your reading experience.

The tool I'll use is Yahoo Pipes, a graphical editor that allows you to have any news item grabbed from your feeds, checked and even modified, if you wish. Yahoo Pipes looks a bit techy at first, but relax: I'm providing ready-to-use filters that you may use out of the box and even clone and manipulate, too.  »

Protect your inbox (1): RSS feed frenzy and blog carnivals


 

The Great Wall, by Herbert Ponting (1907)The Great Wall, by Herbert Ponting (1907)

The Great Wall concept was revived again during the Ming Dynasty following the Ming army's defeat by the Mongols in the Battle of Tumu in 1449. The Ming had failed to gain a clear upper-hand over the Mongols after successive battles, and the long-drawn conflict was taking a toll on the empire. The Ming adopted a new strategy to keep the Mongols out by constructing walls along the northern border of China. Acknowledging the Mongol control established in the Ordos Desert, the wall followed the desert's southern edge instead of incorporating the bend of the Huang He.

Unlike the earlier Qin fortifications, the Ming construction was stronger and more elaborate due to the use of bricks and stone instead of rammed earth.

As Mongol raids continued periodically over the years, the Ming devoted considerable resources to repair and reinforce the walls.

(from: Wikipedia article on The Great Wall)

Are you devoting considerable resources, too, to protect your time? Are you getting more and more sophisticated in your fight for an empty inbox?

And does it turn out to be as futile as the Great Wall ultimately proved to be? Do you have to retreat, step by step? Too many hordes of spammers and other time wasters raiding your northern schedule territories, establishing strongholds in regions that belong to you, at least in theory?

Well - what if actually they aren't raiders, but came at your invitation?

In this mini-series on inbox protection, I'll describe how you possibly opened the gates to some time-wasting scourges - and how you can close the gates again.

RSS feed frenzy

You're subscribed to many (many!) RSS feeds. No big deal?  »

My favorite 5 personal development blogs


Priscilla Palmer tagged me to contribute a list of my top 5 favorite personal development blogs to her Personal Development List. Her list is already very comprehensive and I've found several pointers to great sites I did not know yet.

Well then, here's my list:

  • Problogger, by Darren Rowse
    Darren is blogging about - blogging. Doesn't sound like «personal development»? It is, due to his laid back, factual style of writing that is skipping the common hard selling lingo.
  • zen habits, by Leo Babauta
    Leo is a father of six, a busy guy and a phenomenal blogger. I wonder how he manages to get that many high quality postings per week out of the door. One day, I may discover that secret...
  • Made to Be Great, by Alan Torres
    For a moment, forget that worn out and ironic appeal of the word and let me say that Alan is nice, really. Besides his own insightful postings, he compiles the Made to Be Great Personal Development Carnival.
  • Steve Pavlina's Personal Development Blog
    Steve's site contains a tremendous wealth of articles. His style is energetic and straightforward, almost like a steamroller. You may not like everything he writes, but everything is genuine, for sure.
  • The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin
    In short, Gretchen is about the only blogger I know who can post both about household chores as well as about sex tips - and not lose credibility.

That's it, for now. Google Reader tells my that I'm subscribed to about 100 feeds now, so take this list with a grain of salt.

[2007-09-05 Update: Priscilla's List has stabilized meanwhile, so here it is:

and these collaborated sites:

]

Stephen R. Coveys «The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People»


Stephen R. Covey's «The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People» isn't a quick read. It doesn't want to be either. For Covey, success is based on habitual formation of the character - comparable to the cycle of sowing and harvesting and about as time-consuming.

Series: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

This series of postings gives you an overview on what «The 7 Habits» are, exactly.

In case you speak German, how about having a look at our freshest 7Habits links to german sites?

Evolinks, English


Here's my link roll / link stream - everything worth reading that I collect for Evomend EN.

If you understand German, how about visiting the freshest links to German sites?

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