For example, simple to-do list app Ta-da List lacks some of the functionality of its more full-featured competitors, such as the ability to add due dates to tasks. To compensate for this, some users add the due date to the item itself. An alternative, which I use, is to create a new list for each week and add the day to each list item (see below).

As we all have different needs and habits, we’ll find different ways to work around limited functionality. In a blog post about Ta-da List’s “missing” features, a reader commented that he doesn’t add due dates because he sees it as a form of procrastination.

Another example is the “Canned Responses” feature from Gmail Labs. My first impression was that it would just be good for pre-written emails, such as vacation responses. But after seeing how other users made the most of it and by testing it myself, I quickly realized that Canned Responses has more potential uses, including setting up “smart” autoresponders and creating multiple signatures. So instead of needing to search for a complex email app that allows for that kind of functionality, creative use of a simple plug-in will do.

Why go through all this trouble rather than looking for the perfect tool with all the features we want? First, there’s rarely a tool that has everything you’re looking for. Each app has its own pros and cons. While you can make a table listing all the features you want, comparing each app side-by-side, this kind of analysis takes a lot of time and effort. Second, we can often live without many of the features that we think we need.

Finding our own workarounds may take a bit of creativity, but it’s often preferable to switching to a bloated tool that takes more time to learn, download, or get used to. In many cases, it’s more important to find a tool with an easy-to-navigate interface and a quick learning curve that you can start using right away. Instead of spending a lot of time searching for the perfect tool and trying to learn it, wouldn’t you rather start on the work that you need these tools for in the first place?

Have you found creative solutions to deal with some “missing” features in your favorite apps? Share them with us in the comments below.

Related GigaOM Pro content (sub. req.): Report: The Real-Time Enterprise

But what do we really know about how music affects our work? Probably not much beyond our personal perceptions and experiences. The good news is that there are some studies out there that can help to give us a better understanding of what’s happening when we listen to music while working.

Research from University of Windsor in Canada showed the effect of music on the work performance of software developers. According to the study, without background music the designers’ quality of work was lowest and it took them more time to complete tasks. With background music, participants reported positive mood change and enhanced perception while working. Plus, the researchers noted that this positive change in mood correlated with increased curiosity — an excellent thing to have when doing creative work.

However, the same research showed that listening to music at work doesn’t provide automatic benefits. For those people who don’t usually listen to music while working, it takes a bit of time for them to get used to it and reap the rewards. At the same time, once you’re used to having “work music,” your productivity and work quality are slightly diminished when the music is taken away.

The paper also cites a study on air traffic controllers where their personality may have a role in determining how music affects work. Extroverts felt reduced anxiety whenever music was playing, while there was no measurable effect for introverts. In a previous article, Anne Zelenka discussed personalizing your work music. She was right — the effect of work music depends on several factors, among them your personality.

The type of music you listen to also matters. In a study published in the Journal of Music Therapy, excitative music tends to increase feelings of vigor and tension, while sedative music eased tension. That may be stating the obvious, but here’s the interesting part: Listening to your favorite type of music, whatever it is, lowers your perception of tension. This means you don’t feel as stressed or tense. But your heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure is higher when listening to excitative music — even if you like it.

Given these facts, I guess the question of what kind of music you should play depends on whether you work better tense or relaxed. In his book “On Writing,” Stephen King wrote that he preferred to work while listening to hard rock music. Personally, I seem to work better and faster when I’m a bit tense, so my work playlist includes the soundtracks of heist films, Rhapsody in Blue, and The Toreador Song. If you’re unsure how to come up with tracks for your work music playlist, you can use tools like Pandora and Last.fm to get automatic recommendations.

So should you listen to music while working? Going back to the paper from University of Windsor,  the researchers state that “…over time music listening based on workers’ choice to listen ‘when they want, as they want’, is beneficial for state positive affect, quality-of-work, and time spent on a task.” In other words, go ahead. Don’t be afraid to experiment a little to see what works for you.

How does music affect your work performance? Do you have a work playlist you can share with us?

Photo by stock.xchng user ugaldew

Related GigaOM Pro content (sub. req.): Enabling the Web Work Revolution

Does the above paragraph sound familiar? If it does, then we have something in common:  self-handicapping. It’s finding excuses and obstacles that explain why we’re not responsible for our mistakes, failures, or poor performance. Most of us start experiencing it as students during our first few years at school, but the habit also tends to stay with us even when we turn into capable professionals. An article from The New York Times cites a study where, in workplace scenarios, people’s “…impressions of a character began to sour after the second time the person cited a handicap.”

To avoid self-handicapping at work, we need to recognize it when it occurs. Here are some behaviors associated with self-handicapping:

• Decreased effort. Sometimes, this comes in the form of procrastination, especially when you expect to be evaluated. Self-handicapping also shows when you spend less time preparing or practicing. Research shows that giving in to self-handicapping in one task may lead to having less motivation to complete a succeeding task, too.
• Setting unrealistic goals. Aiming high or having ambitions is a good thing, but it helps to be aware of your true motivations. Sometimes setting unattainable goals is a form of self-handicapping.
• Creating or emphasizing physical or psychological handicaps. We sometimes tell ourselves that we don’t have the right training, state of mind, experiences, and other traits that would make us perform well for a certain task. We make excuses — even flimsy ones — just so our mistakes will be the fault of some external force instead of our own.

The bad news is that like most qualities deeply ingrained in us, there’s no magic pill, no one-size-fits-all cure for self-handicapping. But there are a couple of new mindsets that I’m trying out:

• Praise our own effort rather than talent. While it’s OK to recognize innate skills, acknowledging effort, practice and hard work as the source of your success has greater benefits. This kind of attitude leaves us less afraid of failure, more inclined to try again, and even to have better performance.
• Accepting pain as part of the job. Not physical pain, but the painful idea that you won’t always be as good as you want to be, that sometimes you’ll fail. Self-handicapping is all about protecting your self-image, so one way to “hack” it is to come to terms with the fact that failing is normal. It comes with being human. A few mistakes won’t make you less of a good worker or even a good person. It’s rare that you’ll fail hard enough that it’s irreparable or unforgivable.

Do you experience self-handicapping or self-sabotage? How does it affect your work and how do you deal with it?

Photo by stock.xchng user somadjinn

While it’s easy to say “get enough sleep,” it’s not always easy to achieve. Here are some ideas:

• Listen to your body. Though I was raised to believe that we should get around eight hours’ of sleep each night, the National Sleep Foundation claims that there is no “magic number.” Apparently, sleep needs vary depending on your age, gender and other factors. Though seven to nine hours is a good guideline, you need to find out what works for you.
• Sleep debt can be repaid. No matter how diligent you are, it’s possible that some days you might not get as much sleep as you need. The good news is that this “sleep debt” can be repaid. This doesn’t mean that you can sleep for  three hours during the weekdays then spend your entire Sunday sleeping as a way to make up for it. According to the this article from Scientific American, you can add an hour or two of sleep each day until your body catches up.
• Nap during the day. There might be very busy days when you’ll tire easily or need an extra jolt to get you through the rest of the day. But before you reach for that cup of coffee, know that the best way to combat tiredness is through  napping. Taking 20-minute power naps during the day is known to improve productivity and can recharge you better than caffeine. It’s also much easier for teleworking professionals to pull this off compared to their cubicle-dwelling peers.
• Sleep after learning something new. “Sleep may allow the brain to reprocess newly learned information so that memories of it stick. Research that uses technology to peer inside the brain supports this idea,” according to this article from the Society for Neuroscience. This means that the best way to commit new skills to your long-term memory is to sleep after learning new skills.
• Finally, don’t worry about it. It turns out that not everyone who feels sleep deprived is actually sleep deprived. This article suggests that our worries about sleep are affecting the quality of sleep we get. According to the author, “one of the surprising disadvantages of trying to get enough sleep is that you can be hypersensitive to those times you don’t get enough — and that the hypersensitivity alone can depress and distract you.”

What’s your sleep schedule like and how does it affect your workday?

Photo by stock.xchng user scataudo

Related GigaOM Pro content (sub. req.): Enabling the Web Work Revolution

As we change over time, our work strategies have to be flexible enough to accommodate these changes. Your work strategy is your plan of attack, the arsenal that helps you get through each workday with as much efficiency and motivation as possible. Your work strategy may include tools, productivity techniques, work processes and other important elements that are vital to your job.

But how do you know when things need to change? Here are some symptoms you might want to check for:

• A change in your job description, regular tasks, or responsibilities. Were you promoted? Did you suddenly realize the importance of social media, leading you to spend more time on it? If you track your time once in a while it might be easier to spot these changes.
• Lowered productivity. What is your output like compared to last year’s? Don’t worry if your output has lessened (you spend more time on tasks than usual) if it’s been offset by an improvement in quality. However, be concerned if there’s no change in quality or if you find your overall performance declining.
• Your good ol’ motivators have a lesser effect. Whatever you use as motivation, whether it’s a snack after a difficult task or the thought of a job well done, gauge if it’s still as effective now as it was last year.
  
• New concerns. Long before you establish long term goals, they are born at the back of your mind as “concerns” — little things that you ponder often but haven’t recognized as something that requires more action. This could be a new niche you want to get into, or a new skill you want to learn. Or you could be thinking about family and friends more often, not yet recognizing the need to socialize more with them. If you find a recurring thought at the back of your mind, it’s time to pay attention.
• Thirst for experimentation. From trying out a standing work station to hiring a virtual assistant, it doesn’t hurt to explore and experiment with new ways of working — even if you think you’re already doing well. As long as it’s not too disruptive to your current routine, of course.

Unsurprisingly, I find that I’m experiencing many of these things as I evaluate my performance from the first half of the year. This means it’s probably time for me to go back to the drawing board, experiment — as well as carry over the things from my routine that are still working for me today. It may take effort, but we all have to change and adapt.

How often do you evaluate your performance during the year? Do you find yourself changing your work strategy regularly?

Photo by stock.xchng user bury-osiol

I find that since we’ve started this new working relationship, my output has become more consistent, and I’ve also had the time to work on side projects that I was “too busy” to try before. On her end, she tells me that my encouragement helped her start work on a stagnant project. Apart from improving productivity, here are the other benefits we’ve experienced as “work buddies”:

• More creative problem-solving. When you’re too close to a problem, it’s hard to find outside-the-box solutions. This is no surprise since you need some amount of psychological distance to see the problem in a new light. Your work buddy might have the right amount of distance from the problem to help you find new solutions you wouldn’t have been able to think of yourself.
• Obstacles seem easier. Even the biggest project can seem easier to achieve with the right work buddy. According to one study, social support from a friend can make hills seem less steep. So don’t be surprised if your to-do list seems shorter with the right person supporting you.
• Collaboration. Apart from providing you with emotional support, your work buddy can also give you more opportunities to collaborate on exciting projects – no matter how informal they may be.

If you’re going through a rough time professionally, or if you simply need your own personal support group, finding a work buddy might be a good solution for you. It’s just a matter of finding the right person. Ideally, your work buddy should be:

• Someone you respect. For me, this is the most important criterion for choosing a work buddy. By choosing someone you respect, both professionally and personally, you are less likely to waste their time and more likely to make the most out of the relationship.
• Someone who understands your work. As Dawn pointed out in a previous post, explaining most web working jobs to the uninitiated can be difficult. Your work buddy should understand enough of your work to give you constructive feedback, make suggestions, listen to your complaints and recognize your accomplishments. Someone who knows your work well is more likely to engage you in more meaningful exchanges, rather than just blank stares or insincere one-liners.
• Someone who knows how to deal with you. Your work buddy should also be someone who knows the right things to say or do that will motivate you to keep working. He or she should know how to push you when others are telling you to take it easy.
• Someone who also needs your help. For this to work, the two of you have to need each other, or else the relationship is going to feel one-sided. This could be someone who needs your skills, experience, network or even just your unique insight.

Other, more specific traits may depend on what you need. For example, you might need someone who works as a logo designer or has experience in leading a team. Be aware of these specifics so that you can come up with a clearer picture of who your ideal work buddy should be like.

Have you ever had a friend or colleague who helped you become more productive? What was your experience like with that kind of relationship?

Photo by flickr user vek

The good news is that with a simple strategy in place, it won’t take much effort to return to your normal productivity level. Here are a few tips:

Pre-plan your schedule. Plan your post-holiday work schedule even before the holiday reunions, celebrations and other activities take over. This is the primary reason why I easily got back to my regular workload. As soon as Jan. 3 hit, all I had to do was look at the schedule I prepared two weeks earlier to see what I needed to do. Without it, I would’ve probably spent a day or two regrouping.

Work a little during your downtime. In a previous post, Darrell talked about how he uses the holidays to work. I have to admit that I agree with him. In fact, I found myself working harder than usual for a few days. If you feel that’s being too much of a killjoy, choose to work on light tasks — perhaps checking your mail or brainstorming. The point is to avoid work being overwhelming after the holidays.

Now, this doesn’t mean you’ll get up in the middle of a family gathering and start typing away in your laptop.  I waited for my family to be asleep or for the activity to die down before I started working. This allowed me to be part of the festivities, while getting some work done during times when less was happening.

Stick with your normal body clock. I know that this is easier said than done, but one of the reasons that many people feel sluggish post-holidays is that their body clocks have adjusted to a later waking-up time. If this has happened to you, make sure to try and reset your body clock back to suit your ideal sleeping hours before the regular workweek starts.

Don’t forget to relax. As Dawn recommended before, it’s important to relax. I know some people who actually spend the holidays being completely stressed out preparing gifts and celebrations. The irony is, they don’t end up enjoying their supposed “vacation time” from work. Avoid falling into that trap and catch up on your sleep.

How easy is it for you to work after a long holiday? What techniques do you use to get your productivity back to normal?

Image by abcdz2000 from sxc.hu

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

Spend some time discussing the tools and process. Before you get to work, be sure to lay out the process as well as the tools that you will be using. This sets up everyone’s expectations from the outset. Without this discussion, your team might have different ideas about how to tackle the collaborative process.

Illustrate the benefits. What could happen if everyone finished their work on time, or even earlier? While there are obvious benefits such as client satisfaction, this isn’t motivation enough for some people. You should point out how finishing a job early benefits team members. Will you be able to take a few days off? Will everyone get paid earlier? Is there an early completion bonus?

Always explain the “why.” Some members might disregard the tools or process you’ve recommended. Although they may just be more comfortable with their own system, it might be at odds with the way the rest of the team is working.

For example, a designer I work with didn’t use the Google Group I set up for the team. He sent e-mails to individual members, even if the content of the message affected everyone. It wasn’t because he was hardheaded, but rather that he’d never used it before and didn’t see the reasoning behind it. After I showed him a tutorial and explained that the Google Group was for transparency, he got on board.

Everything has to be justified — from your collaboration tools to the division of labor. This is a good way for you to ensure that there are no superfluous tools or steps.

Public accountability. Being publicly accountable for your goals makes it easier for you to achieve them. If you and the members of your team announce your daily or weekly goals to one another, this makes all of you feel more motivated. By sharing this way, each member commits to specific tasks. This makes it easier to tell which members are really working and which ones are merely talking about it.

Accountability can be made even easier with the use of project management and collaboration software. We’ve covered several of these here at WWD. Alternatively, you can use an internal project milestone sheet.

Encouraging increased productivity within a team doesn’t have to be difficult. By establishing expectations, justifying the process, and maintaining individual accountability, you might be surprised at how efficient your team can be.

Have you ever found difficulty working within a team? What do you do when the other members aren’t as productive as they should be?

Image by scol22 from sxc.hu

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• The Future of Work Platforms: An Overview
• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era

Not often, but it happens. Sometimes I get so intimidated by work that I end up procrastinating online. I started my workday at 6 a.m. last Monday hoping to get the week off to a good start, but I found myself reading a Wikipedia entry on the many versions of “Blade Runner” three hours later.

While these incidents are few and far between, I’d rather avoid them altogether. Every time I catch myself returning to bad habits, I take the following steps to get right back on the wagon:

Step One: Identify where your attention goes. The best way to identify time sucks is to track what you do with your time. For many people, there’s a gap between what they think are their time wasters and what their actual time wasters are. Having accurate data on your hands bridges this gap and gives you the facts.

We’ve covered several applications that do this, but there’s nothing wrong with auditing your time using pen and paper. The disadvantage to this analog approach, though, is that you might not remember to do it the entire day. It might be helpful to keep the pen and writing pad always in plain sight.

Step Two: Block them. While there are paid apps you can download to make site-blocking easier, I prefer free methods because you spend less time worrying about the pros and cons of each app. It’s better to just install the first free option you can find and see if it works for you. After all, you just need something that blocks URLs. It doesn’t have to be feature-rich.

If you’re often using Firefox, you can automatically block certain domains using add-ons such as Leechblock and Invisibility Cloak. For advanced users, there’s also a manual way to do this.

But what if your time suck isn’t a web site? It could be a game or an instant-messaging app. If it’s something you can live without, take the plunge and uninstall it. Alternatively, you can remove easily accessible shortcuts to the program, blocking impulsive access.

Step Three: Know why you’re doing this. For any of this to work, you need to know why you’re taking such drastic measures to eliminate time sucks. This will be your primary motivation. Are you trimming your schedule so you can spend more time with your family? Or do you want to use it to work on personal projects?

Also, apart from simply knowing the reason, you need to have a visible reminder. I like to keep a sticky note near my monitor. On the note is an arrow pointing to the screen, with the words “Is this really what you want to be doing right now?”, which is based on an undistraction created by Merlin Mann.

Step Four: Set goals. It’s hard to quit aimless Internet surfing all at once, so start with modest goals to avoid feeling frustrated. I started with a goal of spending one work hour each day avoiding Internet fiddling. After I found this acceptable and easy, I raised the bar a bit and went on two hours. Whatever your goals are, write them down to get your commitment on paper.

It also helps to schedule these blocks during times when you’re performing high-attention tasks such as writing, rather than low-attention tasks like checking email or scheduling your week. This gives you a better chance of focusing on the task at hand rather than letting your attention drift.

Step Five: Reward yourself. You should have something to look forward to after you’ve reached a milestone or goal. This can be a special home cooked meal, an extra hour of sleep, or going out with friends. As for me, I prefer to keep things simple. Spending more time working on my fiction and comics is enough.

Once you’ve taken control of your compulsive web fiddling, it doesn’t mean that the process is over and you’re completely cured. As I mentioned earlier, it’s easy to fall back on bad habits, particularly if you’re scared or if you lack the motivation to do the things you have to do.

Do you find yourself compulsively surfing the web no matter how productive you usually are? What do you do to avoid it?

Image by ugaldew from sxc.hu

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

However, after the initial adjustment, I found that I was actually more productive when I wasn’t connected to the Internet. This happens every time my connection goes out, which is more often than I’d like. If this is the case, maybe I should consciously disconnect myself from time to time? Especially since many other bloggers have recommended it.

Why Disconnect?

One observable benefit of disconnecting from the Internet for a time is that it allows you to better rank tasks according to importance, and even drop tasks that aren’t necessary after all. Many online workers might be able to work like this all the time, but I’m not one of them. Luckily, one hour without Internet access seems to help.

Limiting my time on the web also seems to help prevent me from taking too much time with random surfing. Additionally, if I complement Internet-free time with computer-free time and use pen and paper instead, it’s much easier on the eyes.

Time-based Zones

One way to do routine disconnection is by specifying a block of time without Internet access. I’ve decided to disconnect from the Internet for one hour each workday. I’ve set this hour at 1:00 pm, after I’ve eaten my lunch. This allows me to take a nap for half an hour and then use the remaining time to brainstorm using a paper and a pen, so that I’ll be ready when I get back to writing.

You could also schedule an no-Internet day each week. For me, this is harder to implement simply because I always need to look up something, whether it’s a recipe for chicken enchiladas or a map to a place with which I’m not familiar. Still, I prefer to use the Internet less during weekends, unless I’m scheduled to work on a project.

Here are some alternative ways to schedule Internet-free time:

• 10-15 minutes in between timeboxing tasks (usually in 15-30 minute blocks of non-stop work);
• An hour or more before going to bed, which you can spend on relaxing tasks such as reading a book, talking to your family, or writing letters; or
• A half-day in the middle of the week to check how far along you are with your weekly goals or to take a break from hectic projects.

Location-based Zones

It’s also useful to have physical zones where you shouldn’t be online. For me, this includes the dining table and the bedroom. When I’m sitting in front of the dining table, the only thing I should be doing is eating and talking to my partner. In my house, meals are meant to be quality time spent with the family. Doing work tasks during meals — no matter how urgent they may seem — tends to get in the way of that. As for the bedroom, I find that I sleep much better if I don’t access my email or do random browsing directly before I go to bed.

If you’re going to implement these Internet-free zones in your work, remember that you should always do what works for you. While some readers out there are probably less prone to impulsive web surfing, those who find the need for more drastic measures should consider disconnecting. Disconnecting from the Internet from time to time could allow you to connect with new processes and ideas that you wouldn’t have come across online.

Do you decrease or restrict your Internet access to improve productivity? Does it work for you?

Image by abeall from sxc.hu

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks

Image by sxc.hu user blu_arim

One of the things that I struggle with most when I’m working from home is wrapping up and finishing for the day. Quite often, I’ll mean to finish at, say, 6:30 pm, but then another email drops into the old inbox, or I’ll move onto “just one more” task, and before I know it it’s late into the night and I haven’t even started thinking about dinner.

When working from home, separating “work” and “home” is one of my biggest challenges. I’ve developed a few strategies to try to deal with this over the years.

Here are the three strategies that I’ve found work best for me:

Have a clearly defined end time and stick to it.

This is an important one for me because if I don’t, I’ll tend to find myself working later and later. Having a goal end time also means that I try to get all my tasks done for the day by that time which makes my afternoon more productive. Of course, sometimes an emergency will pop up that needs dealing with there and then, but I try to make sure that I only extend my working time for emergencies.

If you need to use the Internet after the work day is finished, don’t open your work email.

If I open my work email and see an important email, I’ll be tempted to want to open it and deal with it. By making sure that I don’t open my work account in the evening, that temptation is removed. Another tip: if you have two computers, it can be a good idea to designate one as your “work” machine and one as your “home” machine.

If possible, have a home office in separate room designated for the purpose of working in.

If you have a separate room (a study or office) that you can set aside for working in, it means that you can leave the room, shut the door, and be done with your work for the day. It also have the benefit of meaning you don’t get distracted by home chores during your working day.

Unfortunately, my current apartment is too small and doesn’t have a separate room that I can use, so I’ve got a couple of methods that I use to delineate “home” mode and “work” mode:

Use a drop leaf-table as a desk and fold it away at the end of the day.

This means that when the desk is folded away, the work day is done. It also has the benefit of saving some space in my small apartment.

Towards the end of the day, try to get out of the house and work at a coffee shop.

That means that when I finish at the coffee shop and return home, I shouldn’t be doing any more work.

Following these methods, I find that I am more productive during the day and don’t find myself working late into the night as often.

How do you clearly define “work” time and “home” time? What strategies do you use to make sure thatyou finish on time?

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• The Future of Work Platforms: An Overview
• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce

While RSS feeds give us the latest news, blog posts, and site updates through a single interface, it’s not farfetched to think that they can also be a major time suck.  If you notice that this is happening, that you’re spending more time on your feed reader than you want to, then perhaps it’s time to quit your feed reader altogether.

Or you know, you can just fine-tune your subscription list

Do a review. Whether it’s every month or every quarter, you should review your feed subscriptions regularly.  Without a review, it’s easy to overlook “dead” blogs and sites that are no longer relevant to you.  If you don’t review your subscriptions once in a while, the best time to start is now.  Don’t worry, you don’t have to put it in your calendar or anything – just do it when you feel like it’s time.

What value does each feed give? When doing your review, it’s important to evaluate what makes each feed valuable.  Does it give you a daily dose of how to further your career?  Were you given ideas that allowed you to lessen your home expenses?  Does it make you laugh?

Also consider how frequent you get something valuable from a subscription.  Is every update valuable?  Is it valuable at least once a week?  Is it valuable every few months?  For some subscriptions, you might be saying to yourself “Well, it hasn’t been valuable yet…but it might be later on.”

For cases like these, I refer to an ancient Sumerian saying goes “Get it only when you need it.” Okay, maybe I made that one up, but it’s a rule that applies to kitchenware, packing, and yes, even RSS feeds.  If your reason for buying fondue forks is “You’ll never know when we’ll have a fondue party”, then odds are these forks will gather dust for several months until you need to use them – if ever that actually happens.

The same goes for RSS feeds.  “You’ll never know when they’ll post something I can use…” is a very flimsy reason for subscribing to something – and I know this from experience.  If there’s particular information you need, then that’s the time you go out and look for it, rather than hoarding useless feeds in the hopes that something useful might come up.

Remove blogs that seem to parrot each other. I used to subscribe to over 10 interior design and architecture blogs – until I realized that they just crossed-link to each other and posted the same pictures anyway.  Remember that in these cases, the Unsubscribe button is your friend.

For blogs with frequent updates within the day, subscribe to the weekly or monthly feed instead.  There are many blogs which post several times each day.  Included in that group is one of my all-time favorites, Lifehacker.  Listen, I love Lifehacker.  I believe it’s an invaluable resource to me. But if I subscribed to their regular feed, which has 8 to 12 new items on most days, that’s a lot of time taken away from my work, especially if I love a post and feel the need to file it somewhere.

The good news is that they offer a variety of feed options.  They offer a feed for top stories only, a monthly feed (which I subscribe to), and several tag-specific feeds as well.  If some of your favorite blogs have these options, take advantage of them.

I wish some of my other favorite blogs would have tag-specific feeds as well.  While there are many bloggers whose work I love reading regularly, I really don’t want to know what’s going on in their love life and what they had for dinner.  Other blogs, especially those which offer real-time news, should also consider these multiple feed options if they don’t want readers to get turned off by the massive amount of content they publish, no matter how great the content is.

I know that having a feed reader has made my online reading life much simpler, since I can go through my favorite blogs in one go.  But without the occasional review, I know I’ll be committing an extra couple of hours each day just going through new items that don’t give me anything back for the 10 minutes I spent reading them.

How many feed subscriptions do you have?  Do you review them once in a while to delete the ones you don’t really need or want?

Image by Svilen Mushkatov from Sxc.hu

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

• Why iPad 2 Will Lead Consumers Into the Post-PC Era
• The Near-Term Evolution of Social Commerce
• Content Farms: The Players, The Benefits, The Risks