Take the Over-Connected Challenge

I am reading The Networked Nonprofit by Beth Kanter and Allison Fine, and I happen to be in the chapter titled, "Making Nonprofit Organizations Simpler." Actually, the info applies to any business or organization, and Kanter and Fine really make a great case for the idea that less is more. They say:

"A common refrain within organizations is, 'How can I make my life simpler when I have so much to do?' The answer is, well, simple: You have too much to do because you do too much."

It is a sad-but-true fact that social media can make our lives more complex if we don't exercise restraint, and complexity slows us down. In the mad rush to get in on every breaking social media trend, we joined every network, friended and followed everyone and adopted every tool that came along. Chris Brogan wrote an interesting post in January stating he was thinking about quitting LinkedIn. At first I bristled because LinkedIn really works well for me, but after I read the post, I agreed LinkedIn probably wasn't good for him.

In the blog he did an interesting exercise that I have decided to dub "The Over-Connected Challenge" in his honor: he made a list of all the online services and social networks he was actively engaged on. But in the next paragraph comes the epiphany: he made the same list "in order of how they make my life better." That gives you the freedom to start cutting away.

How many email accounts do you have? Blogs to read? Social networks to keep up on? Posts to write? Calendar tools? Meeting tools? Project managing tools? Fantasy sports teams? Ouch.

I challenge every one of you, as I have myself--work on simplifying. Make those two lists. This weekend I am going to start with my RSS reader--it has grown into a behemoth. I hope to pare it down and adopt the "no adding without subtracting rule." Every time I want to add a blog or another RSS feed, I have to drop one. Email is next.

Are you willing to get rid of some of the "stuff" that clutters up the Inbox?