My good friend Ryan over at Brassing Adds Character has a good little series of posts going right now about cheap fountain pens. How cheap? Well, yesterday he highlighted pens that can be had for .00 or less. Looking to spend a little more? How about a great budget writer for $30.00 or under? There are some fantastic suggestions, short reviews and tips in this series. If you are looking to get into fountain pens without breaking your piggy bank, these are must read lists. Be warned though, nice pens are addictive and that piggy bank will likely be broken into sooner rather than later.
Category: post
Dash/Plus in Action
Almost two years ago to the date, I wrote a Productivity Whitepaper describing my complete GTD/Notetaking/Staying-on-top-of-stuff system at that time form top to bottom. I described a number of tools, applications, processes – Basically everything I could think of that got me through the day. Of all that I included in the post, nothing has seemed to catch on and resonate with people the way that my dash/plus Markup System has. Merlin Mann even referred to it as “sexy” in a post featuring my whitepaper on 43 Folders. Not a week goes by when I don’t see it mentioned in a post on someone else’s blog or I see it in actual use by a friend or co-worker. Here are some examples of how others have put it to use:
* Joe Ely posted about how he uses it for A Simple Index Card GTD System over at GTD Times. A nice little HPDA system he has set up for himself.
To save you the jump, the dash/plus system works a little like this…
In all, it really makes me feel all proud and puffed up to know that I started something that has proven so useful to many. If this blog were to get hit by a bus tomorrow, I would be satisfied with this accomplishment alone.
Are you using dash/plus? Do you have a blog? Have you posted about how you are putting it to use in your system? I encourage you to link it up in the comments.
Boo!
Life has been kind of a whirlwind lately. Although I have several items in process for this site, my little experiment in blogging, I really have not had the time to sit down and put the finishing touches on a full post. Then again, if I don’t post for a while, those that follow me here, and don’t catch me at the several other places I peek my head out on the internet, start to make up stories about my horrible demise ( The incident with the meat grinder and the Shriner go-cart resulted only in a minor scratch. Honest.).
All is well, I promise, and new posts will be coming soon.
(Re)Introducing Machine Methods
Just wanted to take a brief moment for some self promotion. This weekend, I launched a redesign of the website for my technical consulting business, Machine Methods. Once again, a tip of the hat goes to my web design partner, friend and all around code ninja, Michael Armstrong.
For the design of the Machine Methods site, the idea was “one page, many purposes” . The majority of the information is on a single page – who we are, what we do, and how to contact us. Not only would this design function as a web page, when printed it would become a one sheet (8.5 x 11 single side) brochure that could be part of a promo packet. Then, when folded three way letter style and slipped into an envelope, when removed, the top of the page (as seen below) will be the first thing people see…
…Then, when unfolded, the page would be there in front of them appearing in the real world almost exactly as it does online. One page, many purposes.
As you can see, this site may be minimal and, therefore, may look easy to throw together, the idea I am going for and the execution of that idea are often complex. Because I often design for myself with a fairly limited and rigid constraint (i.e. only using text), a lot of thought and planning goes into how to make it look good and work well. It should not just be text thrown onto a page. And while the design may be minimal, the functions this design can serve are quite a lot. For instance, I could easily see a slightly modified version of the image above working as a quarter page advertisement in a newsletter or magazine.
So there it is, a little peek into my strange design brain. Take a look and, if you need some technical consulting, give me a jingle.
Getting Real With Your Lists
Here is what I want you to do…
Take out your lists. This may be one single big list of to do items like Princess Bethany likes to keep. If you are a Getting Things Done practitioner, you probably have several lists – all broken neatly into contexts, a someday/maybe, etc. For you, the someday/maybe might be a good place to start… But, I am getting ahead of myself. Go ahead, take them all out. Get them all spread out where you can see each and every task/project/hope/dream/etc.
OK, do you have them all out? Good. Now, take a long look at that pile. Really soak it all in. Got it? Great. Here is what I want you to do next. Go through each and every task and ask the following question:
“Am I really going to do this?”
Seriously. Be honest… Get real.
If there is even a question in your mind about it. If it is something that would be better done (and actually done) by someone else get it to them like the hot potato it should be. If it is something that sounds good in theory but you know, deep down, will never happen, then kill it. Kill it dead.
Your to-do list should be a sacred place. It should be filled only with the things you really plan on doing, are consistently evaluating and are taking active steps move items forward and to get those things done.
Now I know what you GTD folks are thinking…
“But that is why I have a someday/maybe list. It is for things I maybe, kind of, would like to do someday.”
Um… Well, yes, maybe that is what you think it is for. You would be wrong.
Here is the deal, if you are not including that Someday/Maybe list as part of a regular review (weekly or otherwise) and going through each item regularly, evaluating it, tying to figure out how and when to move it forward, put it into an active project state, or otherwise getting it done – it should be gone. If you are indefinitely deferring things there and are always saying “maybe”, “not now”, “someday” to those items – they are your weakest link. Are you really going to learn Chinese? Learn how to ski? Buy that big fishing boat? What are you doing to make those things happen? Is it possible to Call to enroll in a Chinese language class at the local community college? When? Today? Then do it. Don’t dream it. Don’t defer it. Don’t try to “hope” it into reality. Do it. Pick up that phone and make that call.
All I am trying to say here is be really honest with yourself about your intentions. If you have an item (or several) on that list that you always glance over, perhaps it should not be there in the first place. Don’t set yourself up for failure. If there is something you really want to do or need to do, then don’t half commit to it by parking the idea somewhere and never really looking at it again. Define what it will take to get that item to the next level and try to commit time to do just that.
Thoughts on “The Pleasures of Uninterrupted Communication” (and managing expectations)
Boing Boing’s Cory Doctorow, wrote a great article for Internet Evolution recently – The Pleasures of Uninterrupted Communication – detailing his strategy for dealing with interruptions and not having to deal with the mountain of e-mail one encounters after having returned from and extended break or vacation – “email apnea” as it has been coined.
So I eliminate the mountain: when I go away for an email fast (usually coinciding with a holiday), I set up an auto-responder advising correspondents that I’m away and that I “won’t be reading their email” when I get back, asking that they re-send anything urgent after my return (I make sure a few key people, like my business-partners, parents, and agent know how to reach me by phone). When I sit down at my desk again after the break, I download all my mail while I have a little walk or tidy up my desk. Once it’s all downloaded, I select every last message and delete them. No email apnea.
Cory does not delete the e-mails because he does not care about the people who sent them, he does so because he cares too much to not be able to respond due to the sheer volume.
You see, I love communicating too much to be interrupted. Whether I’m writing an essay or a novel, composing an email, or chattering with someone by voice, the last thing I want is to be given a jolt of useless adrenaline every time something new lands in my queue. Indeed, the oppressive weight of the knowledge that the queue is lengthening is enough to stress me out — any time I go away for a day or a week, all I can think of is that mountain of mail accumulating on my server.
One of the many things I love about this is that it is yet another wonderful example of managing others expectations, through simple and compassionate communication, in order to achieve your own freedom. Compassionate? Well, you see, if you let people know what to expect from you – that you only check your e-mail twice a day and at particular times, for instance – then they will not be disappointed that you did not respond to their e-mail as soon as they sent it.
For those of us old enough to remember, there was once a time when this kind of access and availability did not exist. Leaving a phone message is a good example. Once upon a time if you called someone, and they were either not home or on the phone, your only option was to call them back later. The responsibility was placed upon you to remember to take action at a later time, not upon the person you were trying to reach.
Now, all of this has changed around. Now, because there are so many ways for people to place the responsibility of follow-up upon us, even while we are “not available”, it adds up to increased workload and stress placed upon us. I think one of the many dangers of our growing “always connected” society is the idea that license is given to others to always have a way to interrupt others at anytime. The expectation has already been set by the sheer existence of tools that provide ever increasing ways to get our attention. People naturally assume that everyone treats these tools as they do. If they prefer (or are conditioned to) jumping on their email, mobile phone, “crackberry” every time it buzzes or blinks, then they, somewhat naturally, assume the same of you. The onus is therefore upon each us to manage those expectations to fit our needs.
Here is an idea, how about sending an e-mail to your coworkers that goes something like this?
Dear Comrades,
Because I value my communication with you and would like to make sure that I respond to your needs with the appropriate level of action, I have set up some basic criteria for handling my e-mail and mobile phone.
I check and respond to e-mail twice a day. Once in the morning at 9am and again in the afternoon at 4pm. I do this in order to give my responses complete attention at those times. Because of this, I would prefer all non-urgent communication to be e-mailed to me and it will be acted upon at those times.
If there is something that requires my immediate attention, please call me on my mobile phone at 555.555.5555. I assume that anything coming to me via phone is urgent and requires my immediate attention. Therefore, as a courtesy to those that truly require urgency, please do not call my mobile for non-urgent items.
To recap:
Urgent = Phone
Non-Urgent = E-mail
Thank you for your cooperation in helping me provide you with the service you desire.
Sincerely,
Patrick
As I have said before, Be Pavlov, not the dog…
Remainders 04.07.2008
Here are more random whisperings I picked up in overheard conversations in the crowded and overpriced pick-up bar that is called, The Internet:
There are some new and updated GTD Apps that may be of interest to you.
First off, if you live in GMail and have yet to give GTDInbox a try, now may be a good time. This Firefox extension converts GMail into a “productivity and personal management powerhouse”. It has recently been updated to version 2 and contains a bunch of new features.
If GMail is not your thing, maybe you want to give GTDAgenda a try. It is a new GTD based web application that is aiming to be the solution to all of your GTD needs. It contains it has all the tools required for getting your Org-fu on, like goals, projects and tasks, contexts, next actions, checklists, schedules and calendar.
Then again, maybe you have a Mac running Leopard (Mac OS 10.5). Well then, Dennis Best says that you really don’t need a specific GTD application – you have all of the tools you need right there in Leopard. He makes a pretty convincing argument for using iCal, Mail.app, smart folders in the Finder, and many other default tools to string together a pretty workable system.
Whither Productivity
The Growing Life is a recent favorite new blog of mine. One of the things I have enjoyed in the past few weeks of checking it out is the often “alternate” takes on productivity Clay, the author, offers. He often counters many of what has become accepted ideas about productivity and lifehacking – sleep hacking for instance – with reasoned, and well researched, counter arguments.
Recently, Clay laid down the gauntlet, by making this “Alternative Productivity” the main focus of the site – “Anti-Hacks” if you will. I love some of the ideas he is trying to express here:
Albert Einstein correctly started that “problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.” Anti-hacks attempt to solve problems by approaching them at a higher level of thinking. For example, while David Allen says that peace of mind (i.e. mind like water) comes from creating exhaustive todo lists and getting everything out of your head, an anti-hack might involve meditation, because all the list-making in the world will not bring you to a meditative, mind-like-water state. An anti-hack might also involve quitting your job or taking the inefficient but nevertheless effective high road.
I think there is really something to this and am excited to see a different angle taken on the productivity/lifehack meme that I consider myself a member of. I recently posted about the trend I have noticed of productivity/lifehack bloggers becoming increasingly interested in Zen, Buddhist and Mindfulness practices. Some might argue that these ideas are in fact the opposite of what we in the western world have come to accept as “productivity”.
Then, there is the idea of asking the question – To what end are we desiring greater productivity? I often wonder if there would be less need for productivity and lifehacks if we did not feel the need to do so much. If such demands were not put upon us (expected of us) by the society we live in, the companies we work for, and the people we are accountable to. Some more food for thought – How is it that Americans work more, take less vacation, shorter breaks, yet still do not best many countries (Japan, Europe) in “productivity”. Is it because, perhaps, by doing more we are actually so stressed that we get less done?
What if, as the metaphor of “Atlas Shrugged” suggests, we simply give up on the weight of our worlds on our shoulders? What if we commit to going the other direction? This means doing less, not more. Doing it all slower, with greater attention and mindfulness, and, perhaps, actually getting things done.
Link: On Alternative Productivity and Anti-Hacks for Living | The Growing Life
The Today Page Experiment
In a post last week, I discussed my strategy for using a Today Card. That is, an index card with three tasks that I would like to accomplish with some room left for additional tasks, notes, and scratchpad items that come my way. One of the things that I find fascinating about blogging is that, sometimes, the real interesting things said are in the comments, not in the original post itself. That was very true in this instance and it spurred a new iation of this idea that I am experimenting with. It was mentioned by Damon in the comments and I am calling it the Today Page (I have a picture of it posted here).
Instead of an index card, I use one of my Cornell Ruled Circa pages. Title and date go at the top, then I divide it thusly:
* Action – These are the same three items as on the index card before. Three things I would like to try to accomplish that day.
* Agenda – I write down any and all calendar items that I may have going on that day. Even though they are on the calendar, I use a web based calendar and that tab is not always front and center in my browser. Writing them here helps to keep them front and center so I am mindful of them.
* Notes – This are is for anything I need to jot down for the day. It ends up being both scratchpad and short form journal of the day.
So far, this is working out very well. Some of the advantages are that, due to the left hand whitespace, I have an area for metadata. Also, by collecting everything together on one page, at the end of the day I have a pretty good top level view of the course of my day and how the time was spent. While not as small and portable as an index card, I have my Circa on my desk anyway so why not use it and ditch the card?
I would love to hear your thoughts on this, if you have tried anything similar, and how it has worked for you. Special thanks once again to Damon for spurring the idea.
Ben Willis | The Remarkable Simplicity of Online Connectedness
Ben Willis recently wrote a short, but thought provoking, post about how the power of our connected world makes meeting, connecting with and reaching out to new people – complete strangers – very simple. He believes that while it certainly does not trump the quality of a face-to-face communication, the power of the ease and simplicity of it can certainly be powerful…
Three times in the past two days, I’ve made new connections with people (One through Twitter, another through this blog, and another through e-mail) who I would consider highly respectable, and would have likely never had contact with otherwise. Are they high quality interactions? Not necessarily, but they were simple and as powerful as they needed to be.”
I think that there is something to this. What struck me is the fact that several of my online acquaintances have quickly grown into real friendships and professional relationships largely because of the ability to communicate quickly and regularly via the electronic medium.
I will also mention that Princess Bethany is a member of an online forum for women and that has resulted in several close friendships for the both of us. Members of this forum who are also local have become some of our closest friends as a couple.
As with any relationship, it is all about the time and attention you are willing to put into it. I would also say that the sheer amount of communication and interaction methods available to us all in this day and age makes it all the easier for those with a desire to foster and grow these otherwise casual interactions. When we approach a request to “friend me” as more than a desire to expand some popularity credits, but a real desire to interact, we open the potential to make new, honest, fruit bearing connections.
Link: The Remarkable Simplicity of Online Connectedness