Living. Minimal.

Reduce your digital footprint in 5 steps

Martijn — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 21:08:19 +0000

Two weeks ago I wrote a little piece on my need to reduce screen-time. Saying so might be step one but a more important step is doing so. Here are 5 things I did to reduce my digital footprint:

1. Limit your social activity on the web.

Roaming the social networks like Facebook, MySpace or Hyves (if you don’t know it, you’re not Dutch) can take up a lot of time. If you wish to limit that time you can do two things: Self restraint or delete your account. Deleting might be though initially but is the easiest way in the long run. I did that for every network except Facebook. It’s not that I’m weak or something (or maybe I am) but the benefit of location-independent interaction with friends overshadows the extra time I get not being on Facebook. So how do I restrain myself from being there 24/7? Simple… I’m there to connect with my friends, not to Farmville the crap out of my life. When you block out all the nonsense Facebook is easily done with a one (or twice) check per day.

2. Empty out your newsreader

I used to follow at least 30-40 blogs though their RSS-feeds. If every blog creates an average of 1 articles per day gives you a workload of 250+ articles to read every week! How many of those articles are worth your time? Half? 10%? Once you subscribe yourself to a blog, you are the only filter between the blog and you as a reader. If you stop paying attention you might fill your time with below-par information. So I started to delete blogs. One by one, simply by looking for the least interesting blog. At the end of my deleting frenzy I ended up with 9 blogs. For the rest of my need for information I use Twitter.

3. When on Twitter create lists

Twitter is awesome. It’s fast, it’s full of promise and is the fastest way to get information. But when you follow more than, let’s say, 20 people you are looking at a 100+ of messages to read through every single day. That’s where the lists come in. Instead of reading every tweet I only read tweets from a selected group of people. The general list I only skim. The really good articles are usually retweeted a lot.

4. Stop using the internet as a hub of mindless entertainment

There are millions of websites dedicated with games/pictures/videos with funny/mind-numbing/boring stuff in it. Just stop doing that. Before “surfing” the net, think about what you wish to do. If you wish to just spend some time, go talk to a neighbour or a colleague. If you wish to have a laugh, do something funny. If you must browse the internet, do so consciously. It will free up a lot of your time.

5. Go with your flow

A decision you made last week is not necessarily the best choice for today. This is also true when it comes to your existence in the digital world. I might use my newsreader more intensely in the future. I don’t know. But if I do I will have a good reason for it. The same goes for the blogs I read or stop reading, the social networks I use and the amount of time I’m behind a computer each day. Reassess your digital existence everyday. The only way you can decrease your screen time is by realizing what’s important.

Picture by L.C.Nøttaasen (flickr)

A bad example to keep you cool

Martijn — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 19:58:47 +0000

“Stercus accidit”

David Hume

For those who didn’t have Latin as a subject (like me) or haven’t googled it yet, the quote translates to:

Shit happens.

It happened to me while commuting to work. Let me explain in two words: public transport. I’m not saying that public transport is invented to annoy people but there are these times that I wished I had a driver’s license (and a car). Last week could have been that kind of week:

Monday: 90 minutes delay due to extra transfers

Tuesday: 30 minutes delay due to overcrowding

Wednesday: 30 minutes delay due to overcrowding

Thursday: 30 minutes delay due to a broken train

Yes, that’s 3 hours of delay. Three hours of waiting to get where I wanted to go. (And yes, I only work 4 days of the week :) This can, and it did, make people tired and angry. And thanks to one single person on Monday I didn’t get aggravated or anything.

What? One person? How enlightened was that person and how can I meet her? Well, let me say it this way: she could have popped a vein while yelling at the train attendants. I immediately felt sorry for those attendants. As if these attendants had the mystical power to add an extra wagon. No, she was annoyed and needed to react. Those poor people were just an excuse for it.

She helped me realize that you have only one healthy choice when it comes to delayed trains: Stercus accidit.

Photo by Ryanrocketship (flickr)

Can you resist the screen?

Martijn — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 20:29:18 +0000

Three weeks ago I started my first job as an environmental consultant. I’m loving it! It’s a lot of experiences, new people and awesome responsibilities. It’s given me a lot of energy and is making me sleep a lot deeper and earlier. There is however one little snag in all of this. I’m behind a computer screen for at least 80% of the time.

I don’t mind being behind a screen. As a huge movie fan and former gamer I’ve had continuous days behind screens. And 6,5 hours of work related screen-time is something I can accept. It’s the extra screen-time while at home I’m worried about.

For many people the computer, or better said the internet, has become a part of the way they spend their free time. I’m no exception to that. Checking my email, news feeds, Twitter, Facebook and casual browsing will take at least an hour everyday. Combine that with the time I use for watching movies and tv-series gives me at least 3 extra hours of screen-time per day.

This gives me 9,5 hours of screen-time every Monday till Friday! That’s over 60% of the hours that I’m awake looking at a digital box. That isn’t healthy! Or in other words: I need less screen-time!

So my question to you readers is: How can you reduce your screen-time while being a movie fan who doesn’t want to commit digital suicide? I’m all ears!

Picture by VirtualErn (flickr)

Not good enough, try again!

Martijn — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 13:43:05 +0000

There is one thing you just don’t wish to hear when being on the verge to finish a large project. That thing is:

Not good enough, try again!

At the end of June that simple sentence shattered my world.

Ok, shattering of worlds might be a little dramatic but that was how it felt when I heard that my final thesis wasn’t good enough. At the moment I was already planning vacations and thinking about that terrifying but exciting new future. When the bomb dropped I was angry at the world, sad for myself and very, very lost. Great way to start your summer right?

What actually did shatter my world was the next step. The realisation that failing my thesis was my own doing. I had worked toward that doomsday and I didn’t realize it at the time.

It started around January 2010 (yes, I’ve been oblivious for long time) with the realisation that within six month I stopped being a student. The student lifestyle, one I had treasured for eight years, would come to an end. This was so much a conscious realisation but more feeling of uneasiness. It was with that feeling that I started working on my thesis. Not the ideal state of mind to begin proofing your worth as a scholar. Looking back now it wasn’t much of a surprise that I failed at the first try.

So what did I do the last three months while picking up the pieces? A lot of things but most important I started reworking my thesis. It’s not finished yet and it’s going slowly but there’s progress. I also started working four days a week as an environmental consultant for a drinking water company. Balancing work and study is tricky but exciting. And as from today I started writing again. I’m not certain how much I will be writing and if the topic will stay the same but it is a beginning. And in that part of the sentence lies one of the most hopeful truths:

There is always time for new beginnings as long as you still believe in yourself.

With that I end this first after-summer post. If you have any questions, advise or anything: don’t hesitate to comment!

Picture taken by Михал Орела (Flickr), painting by John McInerney.

How to recharge your inner battery

Martijn — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 10:51:09 +0000

Anyone remember that scene in the Matrix where Morpheus shows Neo a battery as an explanation to what humans truly are to the robots? This week I was that battery. Only the culprit that was stealing my energy wasn’t any robot, it was myself. During the finishing touches on my final thesis I was proud, energized and on the top of the world. One hour later I was completely drained.
Looking back I saw two or three weeks in which I felt supercharged. I even wrote about it in my previous post. (Sorry for the hiatus of between the posts!) I was riding this huge wave of creativity and I loved it. With handing in my final thesis that wave came to a screeching halt and I came tumbling down. I realize that after 5 months of research and these three uberweeks this was inevitable. Why?

You need to take a break after finishing a big project.

Especially the ones that you are emotionally involved in, have scary deadlines and need your total focus. Allowing yourself a break relieves the stress exerted on your body and mind while being on the project. You can compare it with physical exercise. If you train something too long and too hard it starts to get cramped. You can do two thing at this moment: take a rest or continue in the hope that the cramp disappears. You guess which option has the highest chance of injury.

So what am I doing during this recharge period? I sleep more, I spend extra time with my girlfriend, do extra yoga and read a lot. What do you do while recharging your battery?

Photo taken by Scalespeeder (flickr)

The Blogroll – Be ignorant and work your ass off!

Martijn — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 19:26:31 +0000

image by Ginnerobot

Week 23

This is one of those weeks where everything extra seems like too much. That’s how busy I am at this moment with finishing my final thesis. Didn’t I finish that thing last week? Actually I did but regrettably my university and my mentor have never heard of the Done Manifesto. Don’t get my wrong, version 2.0 of my final thesis will be a 100% awesome but it would have been nice if all these changes weren’t last-minute.

And now for the twist…

Despite all that extra work from my final thesis I seem to have written more for my blog than ever. I’m still not sure how I’m doing it but being busy seems to bring out the best in me. I think it has something to do with what Henri Junttila calls selective ignorance.

Selective Ignorance: How to Be Okay With Following Your Passion

So read his article, be ignorant and work your ass off!

Rest of the blogroll

Self reflection is a bitch… once in a while.

Martijn — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 09:42:47 +0000

image by Eli

This Monday I came to a saddening realization. It happened as I went to work. As the environmentally minded person that I am I go to work by train. That of course has nothing to do with the fact that I don’t have a driver’s license. As usual I pick one of the free newspapers at the entrance of the train station. Media manipulation or not, I like to be informed about the things that are playing on a national and international level.

However this Monday I didn’t get my usual brand but a different newspaper. It was a slim free version of a newspaper that you usually have to pay money for. A newspaper I knew from the times that I still lived with my parent and read their subscribed newspaper. A rather good newspaper. Being rather content with this “present” I stepped on the train and started to read it.

From the moment I laid my eyes on the first page I felt something was wrong. At first I couldn’t put my finger on it but after a couple of pages I realised it only had good news in it. Still curious though I kept read. I seemed to be right. On the last page they explained that it was a newspaper with fictional news written by a couple of environmentally conscious NGO’s. While putting away the paper I was quite upset. I was not upset that they deceived me with false articles, they were actually very nicely written. No, my inner turmoil came from the realisation that the news felt fake since it didn’t bear bad news.

Are we so accustomed to receiving bad news that good news seems like a fairy tale?

3 Reasons Why Anyone Can Exercise

Martijn — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 07:00:11 +0000

image by Aarmono

To keep the body in good health is a duty, otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.

~Buddha

When it comes to a healthy lifestyle most, if not all, agree that you need a healthy body. Regrettably a healthy body doesn’t come free. It needs maintenance in the form of exercise. But when it come to exercise we seem to have a lot of excuses for not doing it. The most used excuse is that we just don’t have the time to add exercise to our busy schedules. In a life filled with work, a household to maintain, our social obligations and all sorts of entertainment there are just doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day to exercise. I personally think that we are bullsh*tting ourselves. Everyone can exercise. Why?

1. There is no such thing as extra time. You make time or you don’t.

If you have enough time in your life to watch your favourite TV shows, you also have enough time to exercise. An agenda filled with appointments is just a list of choices of how you decided to fill up the 24 hours of the day. Pick one moment and schedule it for exercise.

2. What you must do and what you have done are usually two different things.

Look back at the things you did today.

How many of those things were so essential that you were the only person to do them and you had to do them today?

This will differ for everyone but probably not much. You created an excuse for yourself that you “had” to do all the other stuff. Don’t feel bad about that. It’s only human nature to give meaning and some sort of urgency to our daily actions. Just try to let go of a few of those things so you can make time for exercise.

3. People dislike that first step of exercise.

I know that this doesn’t count for everyone. For the people who love exercise: please stop reading this article and go outside for some exercise! For those who do have problems to get to the point to put on your running shoes or get all your sports gear. I have one advice:

Just do it.

You can probably think of a thousand excuses why it is just not the right time for you now. But that’s all they are, excuses. All to keep you from that single truth. That once you put on your stuff and take that first step it doesn’t feel that bad. It might even feel great!

These three reasons also give me no more excuses. I am used to a schedule of running twice a week and yoga once a week. I’m upping the dose to at least 30 minutes of exercise per day. Even if it is just a stroll down the park while enjoying the scenery.

What do you think? How much and what kind of exercise is needed for a healthy lifestyle?

The Blogroll – How we wrecked the ocean

Martijn — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 19:28:52 +0000

(image by René Ehrhardt)

Week 22

Everyone in this planet probably has realised the scale of the environmental disaster that is happening at this moment through the oil leak by BP. (If you haven’t, please google BP and see for yourself) As an environmental science student, minimalist and human being I am really abhorred that this is even possible in our civilization. Haven’t we learned anything from Exxon Valdez, Bhopal or Lake Victoria? We as a race are so powerful when it comes to manipulating our environment that we sometimes forget that “with great power comes great responsibility”. I know, it sounds kinda corny but it is nevertheless true!

This week’s blogroll I’ve highlighted two video’s from the TED website. If you have never heard of this website take a couple of hours of your free time and just go browsing over there. There are hours and hours of interesting speeches on all kinds of subject on that website. The two videos I like to point out are from coral reef ecologist Jeremy Jackson and sea life photographer Brian Skerry. They both portray a picture of beauty, destruction and finally hope.

Brian Skerry reveals ocean’s glory and horror

Jeremy Jackson on how we wrecked the ocean

A small part of Jeremy’s talk really resonated with me as a minimalist:

“…the thing we really need to fix is ourselves. It’s not about the fish; it’s not about the pollution; it’s not about the climate change. It’s about us, and our greed and our need for growth and our inability to imagine a world which is different from the selfish world we live in today.”

I see a place for minimalists as role models, leaders and teachers for these kind of socially problems. What do you think, can we minimalist make a difference when it comes to environmental disasters caused by human activity?

Rest of the blogroll:

Going paperless is all about hunting the bad guys!

Martijn — Mon, 31 May 2010 15:05:22 +0000

(image by Quinn Anya)

As I have might have mentioned in a couple of post I have almost finished that part of your life where the question of your occupation is answered with a grin and the word student. In little more than a month from now I’ll (hopefully) be getting my bachelors’ degree in Environmental Science. This will be the end of an era for me. I started university at the age of 18 and now at 26 I’ll join the workforces of the world. Sound creepy doesn’t it? It is… a bit. It is also an opportunity to try new things. Like going paperless. I’ve already tried to diminish the amount of paper in my dorm room (and my room at my parent’s place for that matter) but somehow the stacks of paper seem to replenish themselves. Time for some serious action!

Before I start writing about going paperless I must admit from the start that going paperless is impossible and for me undesirable. It is impossible to go paperless in a world that still thrives on paper and maybe even more important: I love paper! I love its touch, its smell, its flexibility and its ready to use kind of attitude. I’m not and will not go paperless! I’ll settle for paper-poor if that is OK with you. So… going paper-less/poor…

I found myself a very nice article by Gianpaolo Pietri from the Optimalist going 95% paperless. Sounds like the paper poor attitude I’m willing to achieve. In this article he makes a nice distinction between temporary and permanent kinds of papers. Everyone with the willingness to get rid of paper can make that distinction.

We must deal with no remorse or regret when it comes to temporary kinds of paper. Because it’s the one that is always coming back. It’s the brochures that falls on doormat every day, the post-it that stays on the fridge after its usefulness, the magazines you already read months ago. Get rid of them. It’s just clutter and like I wrote two weeks ago we need to act merciless when it comes to useless clutter. When it comes to the permanent kind of paper I have only a few tips: buy a good scanner, read Gianpaolo’s article and if you can’t scan it but you still want to keep it, keep it!

But I found out that there is a still unspoken third kind of paper. It’s these ninja’s that we need to pay attention to. It’s temporary kinds of paper that looks like permanent kinds of paper. They come in many disguises: books you will reread someday, that report you wrote ages ago and never opened again, the financial documents dating back to the year you were born. It’s these bad asses that in the end will hog up all your precious space.

But how do you spot those masters of disguise? By re-examining and re-evaluating the papers that you kept. Is this book/this report/this piece of paper from ten years ago still important to me? Do I need it? Am I sure? It’s these kind of questions that in the end will unmask the villains.

Go as far as you are willing to go. The interrogation can become quite though/emotional/long/boring. Nobody will look down if you only go for 5% less paper. Whatever your personal goal is, good luck hunting!

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