Spring Cleaning 2.0 Week, Days 3 and 4: Trimming my browser

I started noticing and complaining about the number of tabs open in my browser a couple months ago, and posted this picture of "42 tabs in Opera" on tumblr last month. Clearly, my internet use was out of control.

The goals for day 3 and 4 go hand-in-hand: Minimizing tabs by utilizing a bookmarking tool.

The initial task of minimizing tabs was simple. First, I chose one browser. I decided to let go of Opera because of its incompatibility with too many sites, and return to Firefox. Next, I created a homepage by revitalizing my iGoogle, and added some of the features I previously kept open in separate tabs, such as Gmail, CNN, and Facebook. Lastly, I made a commitment to myself:

If you open a new tab, act on it immediately. Complete it, read it, or bookmark it for later.

This brings me to bookmarking and why it's so critical to maintaining a lean browser. If nothing else, bookmarking gives me the assurance that nothing will be lost. The tool isn't as important as the commitment to utilizing the tool effectively. I've tried del.ic.ious in the past and it didn't stick, but I was ready to give it another try before I was reminded of my Evernote account by a positive review from Mashable's Kristen Nicole. Yesterday, she said:

...the thing I like most about Evernote is that there’s a flexible organization to your saved content that works in a timeline reflective of your own brain’s thought processes.

Intriguing, right? Well, it's working for me. I love the ease and flexibility of adding bits and pieces or an entire webpage, and the ability to search everything I archive. A search function is a critical feature of all my tools because it's much more efficient than manually searching and sorting through files and folders. If you're interested, I have a few Evernote invites. Email or direct message me.

Please, take a minute to count your open browser tabs or (gasp) windows. I now consider mine maxed out at 10, but my goal is to maintain it at 3: homepage, RSS reader, and whatever I'm reading or working on at the moment. Spring Cleaning 2.0 Week is all about prioritizing and productivity. The number of open tabs represents the number of things you are trying to simultaneously focus on, but in reality, you only have one set of eyes. Productivity requires focusing on one thing at a time, then moving on to the next.