On this page, I keep track of ongoing personal “projects” I’m currently working on. Think of these as temporary experiments where I test something out in my life and report back on how it went. Hopefully, some of my projects will get you thinking about what you’d like to work on in your life.

Decluttering My Mind Project (Started: October 29, 2023; Completed: December 2, 2023)

In Cal Newport’s helpful 2019 book, Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused life in a Noisy World, he advocates (& quotes social media pro, Jennifer Grygiel) for having a “careful plan for how use use different platforms, with the goal of ‘maximizing good information and cutting out the waste'” (pg. 235). Instead of mindlessly surfing social media or the web for what catches your attention (and usually wastes it, too), he encourages you to focus on the best of the best and also controlling “how and when this consumption occurs” (pg. 241). So, for my first project, I would like to declutter my mind and redeem some time by giving more thought and care to what I am watching / reading online. Here’s a few things I’m hoping to do in the next few weeks:

• Now: Delete/Disable Feedly, Discord and Email on my phone.
• Sunday: Look through Feedly, forums and YouTube channels I enjoy to see what new content popped up. Save interesting-looking articles, posts & videos (Pocket for articles / posts; Watchlist for YouTube videos)
• Monday-Saturday: Read saved Pocket articles. Watch watch-listed YouTube videos. Check Email & Discord once a night to see what messages I missed or would like to respond to.

Update: December 2, 2023 – For almost a month or so, I removed Feedly, Discord and Email on my phone. On Sundays, I also attempted to save some articles to the Pocket app that I wanted to read during the week. On Sundays, I also tried to watch-list some YouTube videos I wanted to watch, so I wouldn’t be constantly browsing for what videos to watch (though this happened from time to time). Although I often accessed Discord on my computer at night (if at all), I sometimes checked my personal email during the day on my laptop. Overall, I felt like this project freed up my mind during the day to focus more on work or other activities and less on “just checking my email” one more time. I also enjoyed saving some articles to Pocket and watch-listing some YouTube videos. It often gave me something to look forward to reading or watching during week, and I found I wasted less time aimlessly browsing. However, as the month went on, I found not having my personal email on my phone a cumbersome restriction. Toward the end of my time, I reinstalled Gmail (but not Feedly or Discord) back to my phone. I feel like the break helped dull the desire to constantly check my email during the day, but the pull is still there. I just installed the AppBlock app and created restrictions for Gmail (and one other app) to help maintain some moderation of usage. Finally, as I am able, I plan to continue my Sunday saving of articles and YouTube videos. Overall, this project was a success and something worth building on!