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I currently carry around a messenger-style bag Monday through Friday to work and wherever I happen to be directly after work. In the bag is a bunch of stuff, normally a book, lots of cables, my laptop, netflix envelopes I haven’t returned, pens, bus schedules, etc. Lots and lots of stuff that I use (or should use) very little.

This poses a few major problems for me:

1. I feel limited in what I can do directly after work, because I feel tied to my stuff and burdened by it.
2. My laptop is always with me at the office, where it provides a very shiny distraction from the things I need to be doing for my full-time job. This usually means I work late to make up for it.
3. I stay at the office late to work on side-projects and goof off instead of going home, keeping my apartment clean and spending time with my cats and goofing off there. You know, where I pay rent to be able to goof off and do more than sleep and store my stuff.

My plan after the jump…

Starting next week I’ll be limiting the things I carry to and from work to:

• Keys (I’ll need to get rid of these membership tag things)
• Wallet (I’m already as minimal as I can be in this area)
• iPhone & Earbuds
• A Pen
• Business Card Holder
• A USB thumbdrive (which I don’t actually *have* at the moment - I’ll need to pick one up)

I will allow myself to make an exception if there is some work-related or gig-related need for me to have my laptop during or directly after work, or if I am traveling directly after work.

I think all this stuff will comfortably fit in my pockets and make me feel less weighed down throughout the day, as well as remove some annoying distractions that I apparently don’t have the willpower to eliminate myself.

Should be an interesting experiment to see if I actually need this stuff I carry around, and how effective I can be without it. The only real problem I foresee is that I won’t have a book with me all the time, but I really haven’t been reading books during my commute as of late. I’ve been listening to podcasts, and/or reading the newspaper. I’ve also got an Audible subscription that I should probably use more.

I’ll report back.

Anyone have recommendations for reasonably-priced USB thumbdrives?