It’s likely that most Ensight readers have realized that in the last year my posting level has gone down. I used to blog 3-7 times a day. Now I barely blog 3-5 times a week.

This is because in the last 6 months I’ve taken on a campaign to become more “healthy” and “balance” in my blogging, my work and even my life. To be honest, I’m still a long way off from healthy or balanced in my work and life, but it seems like I’ve hit a measure of balance in my blogging. I do wish I blogged more, but I’m okay with my current volume.

So, it’s with some amusement, that I read Scoble’s meltdown at being called an edge case. His argument is that being an edge case isn’t bad, because most of the cool “features” in software are due to edge cases. Which may, or may not, be true. But he’s still an edge case. And I’d argue that 99% of the features that edge cases request are never useful to anyone else.

This whole issue came about because people have begun dismissing Scoble for his “I read x number of feeds” line. He feels he’s being characterized for it. As he should be, really. After all, it’s he that is characterizing himself by the number of feeds he reads, so it was only a matter of time before the inverse happened. Be careful what you wish for, eh? ;-)

The truth is that there was a time that I “read” 600+ feeds. One day, I decided to trim the ones I wasn’t reading, and I got down to 500. Then I decided to trim the ones I didn’t actually tend to in any way get value from, and I was down to 400. Then I decided to delete ALL of my subscriptions and start from scratch. Now I’m at about 100 feeds.

And you know what? I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything. At least nothing important. And I end up saving about 2-3 hours per day in reading / blogging / emailing / commenting that didn’t have any real value.

In fact, if I wanted to, I could probably bring my reading list down to about 50 and not miss anything. I’d check Memeorandum once or twice a day for any major news, I’d read 50 blogs, and I’d check Scoble’s and Doc’s blogs once or twice a week to see if there was some major shitstorm brewing that mattered to me.

And instead of reading 2-3 hours of feeds, I’d read 20 minutes.

Yes, being hyperconnected is nice. But y’know what? Having time to do valuable things is nice too. Having time to build companies, having time to speak at conferences without feeling like the world is slipping away from me, having time for my family and having time to help friends who are a little swamped.

Time is precious, and I’d much rather spend it on things I value than on the imaginary luminosity that comes from being an “edge case” or “bleeding edge” person or “industry leader”. After all, in generations to come, I’m more likely to be remembered by my family than by the industry. And even if I was remembered by the industry, unless I end up being Bill Gates, it’ll likely be as some footnote somewhere.

Yeah, I’ll follow my passion. But I’ve decided I’ll follow it my way. If it means getting “there” 5 years slower, but with 5 more years of experience, knowledge and wisdom – well, I’ll choose the slow route. Because I’ll probably enjoy “there” and be more useful doing whatever it is I’m doing when I “arrive” with those years under my belt anyways.

Yeah, rambling thought. Sorry. When you have a few extra minutes, it’s alright to have them because they aren’t taking away too much from other things that matter ;-)