Travelling with loads of crap
Perhaps when I see stuff like this, it irritates me more than it should. But ultimately, each of us has our own tendencies and weaknesses. After growing up in a household filled with a lot of Stuff, I’ve developed a strong aversion to clutter.
There’s no doubt that desktop or home clutter is bad and has negative productivity effects. 43folders and Franklin Covey have made hundreds of thousands of dollars convincing us of that.
Forgive me if I rant, but I stumbled across this post and realize that I sometimes do this and we all do at some point: overpack. It’s kind of the necessary evil of really learning about oneself. Do we really need 3 pairs of sunglasses for the long-weekend getaway? 6 pairs of shoes? Travel and Leisure once tipped me off, by writing a how-to saying that travellers should place everything they want to bring on a trip on a bed, and then get rid of half of it, THEN pack. I swear by this tip.
But what could be said of our work bags? I would argue that much of the modern-day clutter and complexity that strangles our freedom in everyday life transcends into our work bags rather readily and rather easily, unfortunately.
I typically travel with my laptop satchel stuffed with some extras that aren’t always necessary: the iPod (3rd gen & Shuffle), Canon Digital Rebel, Canon D300 video camera and all of the chargers associated with these items. Along the way, after lugging this bag around the country and stopping through numerous airport security lines, I did a firm workthrough of how much of the stuff I was actually using. I jettisoned the 3rd gen iPod, the Palm Pilot, and the video camera. I ultimately have the laptop, the shuffle, and the Digital Rebel to suffice my music and image capture fixes. The number of chargers, adapters, and cables is drastically reduced and one doesn’t find oneself carrying 30+ items in carry-on baggage.
What do you usually travel with? And does this disturb anyone else including me?
