I don't have a lot of time tonight, as you can tell I have been a little busy this week with this little crazy out of control Wellness Day. In fact, right now I'm writing this blogpost in between work, dinner, and my Sisterhood Board Meeting. My wonderful husband has been nice enough to make dinner so I can blog to you all - thank you Aaron - you are a man of many talents, running, cooking, you name it!
So anyway, today I was trying to take a break from Wellness Day Crazies and enjoy some of the blog posts that I have been that missing out as I run frantically around trying to get ready for the big day on Sunday. So you know how this story goes, I sat down at my computer, open the normal posts I liked to read, and then turned to my trustee Google Reader. That is where my wonderful little break turned stressful!
My Google Reader Was Out Of Control!!!
Blogs were everywhere and I could not find anything. I did not know which blog was which, it was a MESS! Not knowing where to turn, I tried to just start at the top and work my way day. That worked for oh, a moment - I came across blogs I had not read in a while, blogs that had moved, and just could not find the blogs I wanted.
A few weeks ago, a similar event occurred. I was overwhelmed by Twitter, Daily Mile, Facebook, Google Reader, and all the other cool ways to stay in touch with your friends that you have never met. So Aaron suggested that I make folders in my Google Reader, one for each day of the week. I would only read the blogs for that day - Monday blogs on Monday, Tuesday blogs on Tuesday, etc. Sure, I would not get read every blog, every single day, but it let me keep up with many of them without getting completely and utterly overwhelmed. It also allowed me to continue going to the blogs I go to every day since I have those memorized anyway.
This seemed like a perfect plan to me. But fast forward to today and it did not seem to work as well as I had hoped. I guess my failure was twofold - one I was not honest with myself and two I was not organized enough. In terms of honesty, when I categorized the blogs, I felt unjustifiably guilty about deleting some blogs or told myself I would read some blogs eventually and put them in a folder instead of deleting them. This was a mistake. It was nothing against these blogs, it was not that I did not like them anymore, but things change, it happens - the blogger might have stopped blogging or we were just not as close or life happened. I apologize. Either way, I did not delete them and that was my first problem because it just led to me becoming overwhelmed down the line.
My second mistake was making a "catch all category." I had categories for every day of the week but also had a catch all category to read whenever. This was a mistake. There were too many blogs that ended up here, I would put new blogs in here, I could not find anything in this folder, and things got lost in the Google Reader. Sigh, I'm exhausted just writing this lease
Ultimately today I ended up feeling quite overwhelmed. I tried to read a few random blogs, but that did not work. Then I tried to go through my days of the week folders, but it was still too cluttered with blogs I no longer read or did not recognize. I eventually gave up and went back to Twitter - much more manageable, right?
Does anyone feel like this your Google Reader stresses you out? Considering, that the fire alarm just went off in my house, I know who is stressed out! Actually I just ran downstairs and Aaron is cooking up a storm he is woking stir fried vegetables, tofu, edamame, and making veggie egg rolls! I should be stressed out more often.
Okay, back to the point! What am I going to do about this Google Reader situation? Blogs are supposed be fun, like running! They are not supposed to be stressful, thus I am resolving to try to organize my system again. After the Wellness Day, when my life is back to normal, you know, before I take on some other big project, it is time for Spring Cleaning a.k.a. reorganize my Google Reader.
Steph and Aaron's Google Reader Organization Guide
1. Create folders
2. Label each folder a day of the week Monday through Sunday
3. Go through each blog in your Google Reader and be honest! Decide which ones you want to read and which ones you are no longer reading. For the ones, you are longer reading, delete them, unfortunately.
4. Place each blog in a day of the week. Decide which day of the week you have the most time to read blogs and put the majority of blogs in those folders.
5. Be easy on yourself and do not stress. If you can't keep up, don't freak out. Know they will be there tomorrow or the next day.
6. When you find a new blog that you like, put it in a "day of the week" folder, no catch all category.
7. Try to check in with your Google Reader ever regularly and do some "cleaning."
So there you have it folks, this may be a little controversial, but it is the best plan that I can think of for now that will make me a happy, less stressed, well organized blogger.
Am I alone out there? Does your Google Reader stress you out? Do you have any tips?
No comments:
Post a Comment