Making My Stack a Little Shorter

Eighteen months ago my wife and I moved. The move was to a neighboring town that was closer to her work but further from mine. Where I’d been commuting only five minutes at a slow drive I’m now 50 minutes at a hard clip. Good situation gone bad for me, right? I wouldn’t agree with that statement.

I look forward to that hour and a half each day. That mindset came a few months after the move, when I purchased an IPod, FM Tuner, and power adapter for my car. Not for music, although I have on occasion used it for that, but for listening to audiobooks. Now when I see a book I want to read, I first search for as an unabridged audiobook. I can listen to two or three books each month during my commute and retain about as much as if I’d read them.

As Kathy Sierra stated in her The myth of “keeping up” post on “Creating Passionate Users” that many of us “have a stack of books, journals, manuals, articles, API docs, and blog printouts that you think you’ll get to.”

I’ll admit that I still can’t keep up, but by using this bit of time wisely I’ve gained a sense of accomplishment and have lessened my “to read” stack considerably. I’ve also lessened the pressure and guilt from being behind and have made a necessary hour and a half commute into production time I look forward to.

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