Catching up
The Lake! We had a really beautiful Saturday at the lake cabin with family this weekend and then a nice Easter brunch Sunday (though the weather was obviously not nearly so nice). It was great to be back to the lake. I dipped my toes in, but it was still far too cold to think about going in. I read a lot–magazines, books–and looked after our niece and nephew as they played in the sandbox. All in all, exactly the restful recharge I'd wanted. My Google Reader Experiment A couple weeks ago I posted that I'd removed Google Reader and Read more…
Morning projects
I've got some work projects I'm working on that require a few hours of uninterrupted time to really hammer them out. I'm trying to create a morning schedule to help me find the time and really get some good work done: Wake up and make coffee. Pet the cat. Read (or write) a book for 1/2 hour to an hour. Work on the project for an hour to two hours. Only then, check email. This gets me a great start to the morning. It's nice to start the day with coffee and book. But it's really nice to start the Read more…
Where did that last hour go?
I’m trying to get better at using my time consciously. For me the difficulty in doing this is usually in front of the computer, not the TV (where it used to be, in high school and college–“wait, how many reruns of Friends did i just watch in a row?”). Now, I just keep clicking. Clicking on Google Reader, Twitter, Facebook, newspapers, Wikipedia … and at some point I look up and I say, “Whoa, where did that last hour go?” Sometimes it will happen when I’m supposed to be working. A page will be slow to load, and so I’ll Read more…
How true is this for you?
via laughingsquid.com For as often as this is true (and it is fairly often) there are plenty of cases where Twitter and Facebook have been huge assets to my work and productivity (and Gmail is absolutely essential. All my email accounts route there). On January 19th, I’ll be interviewing Andrew Fry from UWT’s Institute of Technology about social media for City Club’s lunch. The three main topics will be its effect on business and productivity, privacy, and social media. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. I hope you’ll join us! http://www.cityclubtacoma.org to register.
Looking Ahead to Twenty Eleven
These past few days I've been in Madison WI and St. Louis for some New Years cheer with Mary's family. I haven't posted much here because I've been finishing off a lot of thinking and a lot of reading. The reading and thinking has primarily been around 3 main topics: technology, creativity, and innovation. In pursuit of those topics, I've been reading a bunch of books, watching a bunch of TED talks, and then thinking about what it means for my own life and work. I have come to realize that I really really like creating things. These "things" could Read more…
A Maker’s vs. Manager’s Schedule
There's an idea I've read about when it comes to how different kinds of people schedule their day. It's Maker Vs. Manager. Managers schedule in one hour blocks. There's usually not a question about whether or not there's a meeting at 2:00, it's a question of who that meeting is with. Makers think in half-day blocks. Three, four, or more hours for a single task. Writing, coding, creative problem solving, etc, are all done best with a lot of hours put toward them all at once. Most of the article above deals with how these two kinds of people can Read more…
GTD: It’s all work
I still write every so often for GTDTimes, the official Getting Things Done blog. One of my last posts got quoted in Britain's "Globe and Mail" newspaper! I have a more philosophical post up this time, as opposed to a practical guide, if you will. But it still turned out pretty well and got good buzz and comments on Twitter. Check it out here.
Priority Overload
Gmail's touting a new feature called Priority Inbox. You can see their (kind of funny) video about the product here: [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nt3gE9dGHQ?wmode=transparent] I understand where they're coming from, but this is still the wrong solution to the problem. Allow me to pull out a little GTD here … The problem with sorting by importance, as Priority Inbox does, is that the reason people feel stressed is because so much is important. And, by deferring the less important stuff to later, there's a greater likelihood it will become important down the line. If you only deal with emergencies, then … you'll Read more…
RR is getting all GTD
via i.feedtacoma.com RR Anderson is using Google Spreadsheets for his Getting Things Done action item manager. He was inspired by my 4 page practical guide for GTD. I’m honored. Of course, being RR, the lists include some pretty wonderful things. Check out this video I shot of him for Exit133. It’s about a year and a half old, but I think it still holds up.
^