STOP TRYING TO MANAGE YOUR TIME. START CRAFTING IT.

When I got my MacBook Air, I did the migration of many of my apps. I’d have liked to have had more time to prepare better and ensure that my MacBook Pro’s contents didn’t come over to the new machine in such a wholesale manner, but my Air had to be picked up sooner than planned due to some intermittent logic board problem with my Pro. So everything came over, whether I was using it all or not.
Now that I’ve had the Air for a while, I’m starting to drop some apps. It hasn’t been easy, but it is happening. That said, I’m also adding apps that I have had recommended to me. This makes slimming down the contents of my Mac that much more difficult.

Here’s the apps that I’ve dropped since moving over to the Air because my computing habits no longer suit having them on board.

1. Final Cut Studio: I’m not doing any real video editing that requires it anymore. For what limited stuff I do, iMovie is plenty.
2. Final Draft: I never liked it. But I do like scripts. The fact that my version wasn’t supported under Lion gave me an excuse to drop it. I use Celtx instead now.
3. Money Applications: Things like Moneywell and iBank are gone. I am using Mint now so that my wife and I can track stuff between platforms (she uses a PC at work and having access there is helpful). Although YNAB looks compelling.
4. Adobe Creative Suite: Acorn does everything I could possibly need to do.
5. Aperture: I don’t do a lot with my photos. iPhoto works for me.

Here are the apps I’ve added:

1. MarsEdit: I think it’s time that I start using a desktop weblogging application. This is the one that many trusted folks have said I should have in my arsenal.
2. Max: The replacement for the late, lamented AudialHub.¹
3. Espresso: For the rare moments I have to dig deep into web editing.
4. Keyboard Maestro: I’m digging into this one starting next week, thanks to this great post from Michael Schechter. I think it will be as much of a productivity asset to me as TextExpander.
5. BusyCal: Exceedingly helpful to connect my wife and I in terms of scheduling (and now’s the time to buy it as it’s part of a great bundle right now).

I’m not done removing apps from the Air. As I wrote this, I scoured my Applications folder and removed several. I probably won’t be adding many more, either. I figure that if the machine’s hardware is as lightweight as it is then I should try to match up the software inside of it to suit.

I guess I should get back to the decluttering…

¹ Hold on. Wait a second. Maybe there is life left in the “hub” apps.