December 11 – 11 Things. What are 11 things your life doesn’t need in 2011? How will you go about eliminating them? How will getting rid of these 11 things change your life?  (Author: Sam Davidson)

In no particular order the 11 things my life doesn’t need in 2011 . . .

  1. A set of Encyclopedias. Wait, no . . .  an incomplete set of Encyclopedias.  I’m missing 2 volumes already.  Anyone want the rest?  To see how I’m going to eliminate them, please see the footnotes.1
  2. Junk mail. There’s apparently a red sticker trick thing you can try.  I have a red sticker (somewhere) so I just need to remember to put it in my mail box.  This is contingent on me remembering to go check my mail too.
  3. Conventional desktop computing. We’re in the process of turning my old desktop into a server for media & file storage.  My husband’s desktop is going to be built into his next arcade machine and we’ll use laptops.  My desk may be re-purposed for our workshop in the garage.
  4. Insomnia. Regular exercise, meditation, journaling, limiting caffeine & rich food, reducing screen time, etc.
  5. Our dirty stinky garbage can. But seriously, how do you throw out a garbage can?  The garbage collectors just keep putting it back at the curb.
  6. Cavities. I just got 2 more fillings done and I’d rather those be my last 2.  So, I’m stepping up my flossing regime to twice a day.
  7. Freeloaders. I don’t enjoy taking care of everything for everyone and I’ve realized the world is not going to implode if something is less organized than I know it could be/should be/would be.  So I’m giving notice as of today that I’m stopping.  Please adjust your expectations accordingly.
  8. Buying lunch at work. I need to get back into the habit of being organized with meals & grocery shopping. A little bit of work once a week should be all it takes to make sure the house is well stocked and that I’ve got yummy things to bring for lunch.
  9. Perfection. Read my comments on eliminating excuses in the #reverb10 writing post.
  10. My extra weight. I know exactly what I need to do and the first step is going to be regular weigh-ins.  Then picking a target and slowly working away on it with healthy eating and increased activity.  I miss my treadmill and am looking forward to getting back to it regularly.
  11. Crappy goals. The kind that are so vague and wishy-washy that you can’t tell when you’ve achieved them or measure any progress toward them.  Part of what made this prompt so hard was that it lent itself to picking things that are difficult to make smart, measurable goals about.  Things like fear, stress, negativity, etc.  How do you set yourself up for success when you can’t really measure progress?  Plus, I don’t think that we necessarily need to eliminate things like fear and stress from our lives all the time.  They can be beneficial for us if they push us towards growth or tell us when something is going wrong.  I don’t make many of them, but everyone can use a review now and then.2

How will getting rid of these things change my life? They’ll increase my general wellness of being.  Give me energy, more time, and more space.  Streamline my life a little and help set up some boundaries for my general state of being.  Reinforce my self-identity and strengthen the values I choose to guide my life with.  And hopefully my garage will smell better too.

  1. Congratulations!  Your prize for reading the footnotes is an incomplete set of Encyclopedias.  Just stop by my place and pick them up ASAP! [↩]
  2. And since the end of the year is approaching, you can probably expect some posts giving a review of last year’s goals and some more about setting goals for 2011. [↩]

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  2. #reverb10 let go
  3. #reverb10 community
  4. #reverb10 try
  5. #reverb10 One Word