Problem: Article: Pull your books off the shelves and out of storage. As you sort through your entire collection, divide the items into three piles: a keep pile, a donate pile, and a sell pile. Reasons to keep a book: It is rare or collectable It is by your favorite author It is a book you have not read yet It is a good fit for your personal collection You have space to keep the book Reasons to donate or sell a book: It is old or damaged You will not read it again It contains outdated information You do not have room to keep it It is a textbook that you will not use again Bring the books you want to donate to a secondhand store, a local library, a daycare, or a nearby school. Contact your local used bookstore to inquire about the books you want to sell. Alternatively, you could try to sell the books online. If you donate your books, don't forget to ask for a receipt to file for a tax deduction. You may also recycle paperback books. Sort the books you want to keep into stacks, piles, or rows that correspond with your organizational method. For example, if you want to alphabetize your books by author's last name, place all of the "A's," "B's," "C's," etc. into their own pile. If you want to sort the books by genre, create a pile for history, literature, etc. After you have sorted your entire collection once, systematically organize each pile. For example, if you sorted your books by author's last name, grab the "A" pile and put the stack in alphabetical order. If you separated the books by genre, grab the history pile and organize the books into sub-genres (American History, Women's history, etc.) or by author's last name.
Summary: Set aside books to donate or sell. Box up the books you want to donate or sell. Complete an initial sort of your keep pile. Finalize the order of your books.

Problem: Article: . There's no question about it: wherever you go, you're going to be in some serious uncharted area. You'll likely be alone in a type of situation you've never experienced before. How will you manage? With survival skills, of course. Learn the art of camouflage. In many situations, you'll need to blend in if for nothing else than to keep the wildlife from scurrying away from you so you can study it (in addition to protecting yourself!) Master how to build a fire. This one is pretty basic: you need heat and you need to cook food (at least to keep up your morale). You can also keep wild animals at bay if need be with fire. Be able to collect water. If your stash runs out, you'll be in dire straits unless you're able to collect water naturally. Knowing you have this as an option will let you breathe easier. Learn how to build shelter. To keep away from animals, bugs, and bad weather, you'll need a shelter. It will also be nice to have a place to call home. Master basic first aid. Whether it's a cut or a broken ankle, you are your own doctor. Master basic first aid, learning when and how certain medications are useful, in addition to learning how to splint or sterilize as need be. It doesn't matter if you're in your own backyard or paddling through the islands of Papua New Guinea a good explorer is always on the lookout. If you're not, you'll go through the time spent on your trip not coming back with a thing. This project is all about being attentive. If you're going with a team, make sure you're utilizing numbers as much as possible. Everyone should have their own area they're covering to make sure no stone goes unturned. In exploring, it's a good idea to have a plan. However, will you stick to that plan? Likely never. When you notice something intriguing that takes you away from it, go for it. It's sometimes the littlest of things that lead to the biggest adventures. This is where your mapping and tracking skills will come in handy. When you go off course, you'll need to be able to get yourself back on it. Be sure you leave a trail you can take back, and/or plot your new course on a map as accurately as possible. What good is exploring if you come back and can't fully remember what you've seen, heard, and done? You want to keep your memories as vivid as possible so write it down! You'll need these for the project when you get back. Make charts, too. They're vivid and more illustrative of what it is you're experiencing and they're quicker than writing out an essay about every little detail you're seeing. You can also reference these later to look for anomalies and patterns. Take time out of the day (or night) to do this. You don't want to constantly have your head stuck in a book or you might miss exactly what it is you went looking for. Take a broken branch on the ground. On the outside, it's pretty insignificant. But if you actually think about where it came from and how it got there, it can lead you to a number of conclusions. Is a wild animal nearby? Was there a fierce storm recently? Is the tree dying? Take even the smallest things, put them together, and you may find answers. This trip, in the end, will be about conclusions. You'll need to take everything you've seen and piece it together until it becomes one giant, coherent puzzle (ideally, of course). In piecing it together, you'll be able to see what sticks out and deserves attention. In addition to going out there with gusto and taking the world by storm, sometimes you just have to sit back and let it take you by storm. Be still. Observe. What are you starting to notice that you didn't before as the seconds creep by? Use all of your senses. Think of them one by one. What are you feeling on the bottoms of your feet, on the palms of your hands, and everywhere in between? What can you see, from the ground to the sky? What can you hear in the distance? Smell? Can you taste anything?
Summary:
Be a survivor Always be looking. Alter your course on a whim. Take notes on your findings. Think about origins, patterns, and connections. Sit back and just observe once in a while.