For a while now, I have been reading zenhabits.net. I’ve been trying to eliminate as much unnecessary junk in my life and this blog has helped me out. I don’t have many possessions, so physical clutter isn’t much of an issue. However, work always clutters my thoughts.

I jumped onto zenhabits.net just in the hope that something there would open my eyes. Luckily the home page post was about reducing administrative tasks, something I have much of and much difficulty doing.

How does this help me get off-line and off-the-grid? I gotta strip down to next to nothing before building up again.

Here’s the post:

Frictionless Work: How to Clear Your Life of Non-Essential Tasks

“It’s not the work which kills people, it’s the worry. It’s not the revolution that destroys machinery it’s the friction.” ~Henry Ward Beecher

Post written by Leo Babauta of zenhabits.net

How much of your day is spent doing administrative tasks, and not creating or doing other important work?

How much time do you spend responding to emails and IMs and social networks, making payments, doing paperwork, filing, sitting in meetings, driving, doing errands, and so on? How much of that could be cleared up for more important work?

Imagine this for a moment: you have no administrative tasks, only the core work that you love doing. Your day has been cleared for creating, building, doing high-impact projects. Isn’t it lovely?

Is this a pipe dream? Perhaps for some, who have little control over their work. But if you have a larger degree of control, let’s explore the idea of “frictionless work” or even “frictionless living”.

If you have little control, consider a change. Get all the goodness »

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I love walking. If I had my druthers, I’d walk an hour in the morning and another hour in the evening. But druthers and responsibilities make strange bedfellows.

The walk (on a one of Las Cruces’ most beautiful days of the year) allowed me some time to look around at a step-by-step speed. We miss a lot when we travel by car at 35 mph. Walking lets us witness life around us at the speed of us – our actual non-mechanically enhanced speed. Though I could drone on about the minutia of observations, suffice to say I enjoyed myself. I especially enjoyed the breathtaking architecture of a new Federal Courthouse being built that was designed by world renowned architect Antoine Predock.

There was also time to take in the beauty of a tree-lined path in the midst of a cemetery. Morbid as it may sound, cemeteries are quite peaceful places. I don’t feel death but rather rememberence. There is a strange harmony of nature in the cemetery mentioned. I walk it often.

What does this have to do with being off-line and off-the-grid? Well, simply taking a step back slowing down allows us to reflect in a natural way; a way we just can’t do with the hustle and bustle of the information super highway. Taking a walk away from all that speed lets us focus on things that matter most in life.

In short, taking a stroll lets us stop and smell the roses. And, yes, contrary to popular belief, the cemetery does not stink. Nor does the new Federal Courthouse. Kudos Mr. Predock!

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What's left of my once-vast CD collection of which I listen to only a few.

organizations: Digital Rights Media (DRM) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The instructor clams that these two organizations have received the right from the US government to access your computer if you happen to input digital media with it’s tags (for lack of a better term).

Is it true? I’m not sure. I spent a few minutes looking at a couple of different websites but there was way too much information for the few minutes I had allotted for research. Basically, I didn’t really want to look into it at all. The mere thought of it just pushes me further from digital media.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that digital media in and of itself is a bad thing. Just like anything it is amoral. It’s how we use it or, better (worse) yet, how we become attached to it. And the thought that we can purchase a CD, input it into our computer and, by just doing that, we grant access to some organization to view all our files give me pause. Just because we buy something doesn’t mean we have to let the producers of the product into our homes. When I buy a pizza, it doesn’t give the delivery guy the right to come into my place and see if I’m sharing my pizza with anyone. Maybe that’s a silly comparison but it’s along the same lines.

Do I pirate music? No. I rarely even listen to music anymore. There are some good internet radio stations, there’s also Pandora, there’s the old faithful radio, and, of course, there’s silence.

My vinyl record collection. I pulled out my favorite of the bunch. And yes that is Englebert Humperdinck in the background

And that’s where I’m headed: silence. If these companies are so concerned about who is listening to their music and if they have the right to listen, fine. I just won’t listen so I don’t get into the whole mess.

But I’ll still have my music. I have a bunch of vinyl records, I’ve got radio, and, best of all, there’s live music all over the place. That’s a good switchback: head to the corner gathering house and take in some live folk. Such a novel idea, eh? Let the digital overlords keep their digital insecurities and let’s all head down to the coffees hop for some real-life human, non-invasive, pirate-free fun!

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