Comments on: 17 Things you Should Stop Doing

By: Mark Shead

Mark Shead — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:06:30 +0000

@Josephine - I can't speak to your school, but there are some very well done distance education classes out there. Obviously I'm not suggesting to take classes from a place without a good program. If you aren't limited to nearby locations you can take from a school that has really good online classes.

By: Josephine

Josephine — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 18:28:30 +0000

Sorry, but I have to disagree with item 9. Commuting to College. As a full-time student who has taken some online classes (and only because an onsite equivalent was not offered), as far as I can see, they are “watered-down” and a waste of my time and money.

By: Martin

Martin — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 17:58:52 +0000

Great tips! As a self-employed I often find myself wasting time on some of the mentioned things. I like to use this as an example: In stead of wasting 45 minutes on waiting for the bus I often take a cab (which are extremely expensive here in Denmark). It might cost me like 50$, but if I can spend that time on a client and earn 80$ I’d rather do that.

By: John

John — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 07:58:15 +0000

LOL arthur re clubbing:seal ratio. haha. Yeah this list was pretty week. useful reminders. fortunately do almost all those. except the two adapters one. not likely, but may look into that.

By: juice

juice — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 11:43:52 +0000

#9 is just ridiculous. One of the most important things I got out of my ocurse was the networking and brainstorming.

By: Mark Shead

Mark Shead — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 01:04:41 +0000

@Okey…

1. If you give an average computer user three computers, one running Linux, one OS X, and one Windows XP it is unlikely that they will all have the same amount of spyware and adware after a few months of usage.

2. It probably depends on what you are studying, but for many people once you’ve had the undergraduate experience, it makes a lot of sense to use distance education for your advanced degrees.

@Colin – I understand your point. I don’t listen to podcasts very often when driving in a town or city. However, on the highways I think podcasts help keep me more alert because I don’t “zone out”. It may not work that way for everyone.

@Tijl – Well I would be looking at a 23 hour commute for the classes I’m taking so the distance option is a huge timesaver for me.

By: oneighturbo

oneighturbo — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:33:06 +0000

Great list. In terms of backup, make it automated too. One less to worry about or take time doing. mozy, carbonite tonido + TonidoPlug, jungle disk, iDisk.

tons of external NAS HD options too plus drives are so cheap now. mobile drives are now in large capacities as well.

but remember the 3×3 rule. 3 backups in 3 different locations like home, work and safety deposit box.

By: Okay....

Okay.... — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 01:35:47 +0000

1. If there were such a thing as a computer that never got infected with spyware, adware, etc… then it would be the only one people would buy.

2. For most of my classes after first year, it would have been a complete waste of money to take them online.

By: Colin

Colin — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 21:11:04 +0000

I think 15 should be rethought. Focus should be on the road. Doing anything else reduces reaction time.

By: Anand

Anand — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 08:47:35 +0000

Great Post.
Already do 1,2,3,4,5.
Wish to do 6.
Plan to do 7.
Do not do the rest. But looks like I should start some time.
That’s me in a nutshell.
Cheers!
~Anand

By: Tijl Kindt

Tijl Kindt — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 07:17:40 +0000

I agree with Jeff Huber that class room instruction cannot be replaced. You will always learn less and it will take you much more time when you study at home than when you can educate and be educated by your class mates. Taking your classes online should only be done if a) it’s a light course, b) commuting would take you more than double the time the class would take, and c) you have the necessarily discipline to cover the lack of class hours.

I agree with the other points though. Especially regarding the phone numbers I’ll have to look into at some point. Not sure if I can sync my old phone…

By: reg4c

reg4c — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 05:10:33 +0000

I completely disagree with number 9 and 17. Baby seals are squishy

By: Melanie

Melanie — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 04:52:22 +0000

Re tip #13: I actually wasted so much more time using Google Reader than visiting blogs. GR was awesome, but I have a tendency to turn everything into work; I’d have to read EVERY SINGLE POST that came through the RSS feed, and that is quite overwhelming. Now I keep the blogs on a drop-down post in my Firefox menu bar and visit them leisurely. I also have a list on my blogspot (in a blog roll) that tells me how recently the blogs have been updated, so I’m not double-checking something that hasn’t been updated.

By: carla

carla — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 04:31:47 +0000

Jungle disk and Amazon Web Services work cross platform for offsite backup.

Other people smarter than I have noted if you’re not backed up in 3 places…at least one offsite, then you’re not backed up. What if something physically happens at your house (or both drives at the same time)?

By: Charley Forness

Charley Forness — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:56:02 +0000

Brilliant point about maximizing the car ride. I even take my bike to work on nice weather days to make the commute a little bit longer. I have a tremendous amount of non-fiction mp3’s that I listen to on the ride. University on Wheels as Brian Tracy used to say.