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Comment by jhickok | Hacker News Reader

>Information hoarding, distraction and FOMO

You know, I used to jump from one thing to the next never giving anything enough time. I would attend digital conferences, watch PARTS of courses on Pluralsight, LinuxAcademy (RIP) and youtube, hoard books, bookmark websites etc.

Something happened a few years ago where I was able to just turn it all off. I deleted all my pdfs and removed all my bookmarks. I began focusing on single thing at a time (usually in reference to certifications or new skills), and it made such a difference.

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It's funny that you say this, I've been meaning and trying to go through the various pdfs and other ebooks I've stockpiled. I usually look at a book's title and go "oh, that looks incredibly useful" after having briefly skimmed the contents and unless I'm immediately working with it, I shelve it.

It's peace of mind that I have the material, but I've noticed that various items in there are either old or not as good/useful as I had thought prior. Your comment has given me a bit more impetus to try to focus on deleting stuff (pdfs, ebooks, bookmarks).

I did the same thing.

Used to hoard data, bookmarks, pdfs, etc.

Then I put all my data on an external drive and into some bin in the garage, deleted all my bookmarks and stopped saving them. And then realized... I don't need any of it. It's all just mental baggage.

Nowadays if I find an interesting article and don't have time to read it I might leave it open for a day, but then I just close it. I discover new interesting things to read every day, no need to bookmark something I probably won't ever get to.

Yep, I agree with your last point especially. I try to read the thing right away now but I don't save something unless it's necessary. It's a mental tax that I never end up paying off.

I actually got the motivation to delete everything except what I need daily. I had more than 19000 e-books: more than 280GB. I've decided that I will now download a book or an article only if it is part of a larger project instead of junk collecting.

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