Dealing with Gadgets

I have to admit.  I’m a gadget lover.  I like playing with phones, cameras, personal organizers and all kinds of electronic devices. I’m not quite as much an addict as I use to be, but I still like mobile electronics. 

Some of these gadgets can be really big timesavers.  Other gadgets are great fun to use, but the time they save is offset by the time the cost.  Then there are the gadgets that make you think you are being more productive, but actually make you waste time.

Here are some of the things that I look for in a gadget to help make me more productive:

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Your Locus of Control

Locus of control is something studied by psychologists to determine how people perceive their ability to change events.  Someone with an internal locus of control believes that they have a strong ability to influence the events around them.  Someone with an external locus of control believes that external forces (people, fate, luck, etc.) control events in their environment.

There were some studies done in the 60s that showed locus of control to be a personality variable not a situational variable.  In other words, if you put two people in the exact same situation, their perception of their ability to control the situation can vary wildly.  Their perception of how much influence they can assert in their environment is a product of their personality–not the situation.

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Borders

My wife and I moved to Mexico in 2006.  We have been back to the US for Christmas and are now making our way through the ice storms back down South.  As we’ve talked to people over the holidays, I’ve been struck by how different people perceive the US Southern border. To some it is a definite line, something you don’t cross without much fear and trembling. Other people see the border as a soft separation.  It is the crossing point to another culture, but something that you can easily cross and return.

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Tuesday’s Tip: A Bell for Your Dog

We got a Yorky puppy about 5 years ago. We had resolved that she would be a very well trained animal, etc. etc. She isn’t. She is sweet and we love her, but she is spoiled and thinks she is a person. However there was one thing we did that was turned out wonderfully and made our lives much easier.

When we first got her, we bought a small bell and hung it from the door in our apartment where she could reach it with her nose. Every time we took her outside, we’d ring the bell with her nose. She learned to ring the bell when she wants to go out and this has proved to be even more convenient than we thought it would be.

Whenever we travel, we can just take the bell with us and hang it on the door. This also works great if we need to leave her with someone else for a few days because they don’t have to try to learn how to understand what she needs. If you hear the bell ring, the dog needs to go outside. If you ignore her when she rings it with her nose, she will grab it in her mouth and shake it to get your attention.

So basically our dog has us trained to perform when she rings a bell…

Four Important Folders on my Computer

Here are four folders that I have in my Documents on my hard drive that I’ve found save me time.

Receipts - When I buy something online that I need to keep track of, I’ll print a copy of the receipt page to a PDF and save it in this file. Usually I’ll save it with the date as part of the file name. For example: 20071012-cell-phone-order.pdf This makes it easy to find records of purchases.

Rebates - Rebates are awful. Basically companies are betting on the fact that you won’t take the time to fill out the paper work and send it in. I’ve found if I keep everything in a single location it makes it a lot easier for me to gather up all the pieces of info I need and it is easier to make sure I get all the checks I’m suppose to. The scanner obviously makes this easier, but the real workhorse is Acrobat Standard. I can use it to fill out the forms and then save them. This works well on most forms, but it isn’t worth the trouble on those forms that have a separate box for each letter.

Backups - I use this directory to keep backups of various things I might need. Granted, my entire computer is backed up as well, but this gives me a place to keep things where I need to do a backup before making a big change. For example, I backup my financial software to this directory before doing global changes that could be difficult to recover from. I also backup my address book to this folder before syncing to a new cell phone or before making large scale changes.

To File - This is a newer folder for me, but so far it seems to be working well. I created this when I decided to keep all documents out of my top level Documents folder. It now contains only other folders. I still needed a place to put something when I don’t have time to find or create a proper folder for it. The “to file” folder fills this function.

We Have a Winner!

This week we reached the 250 mark for email subscribers and randomly selected one individual to receive an iPod Shuffle engraved with www.productivity501.com on the back. The winner was Conrad Zhuang and he should be getting his iPod in the next week or so.

Thanks to everyone who entered the contest.  If  you subscribed just for the contest, feel free to unsubscribe now. :)  In the coming months we’ll probably do another contest to encourage people to subscribe to the RSS feeds.  If you have any suggestions of something that would make a good giveaway and would cost less than $100 please leave them in the comments.

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Intellectual Diet

Take a few minutes to reflect on what you’ve read over the past year.  Now assume 2007 will consist of a similar "intellectual diet".  Will you feel like you’ve adequately invested in yourself at the end of 2007?

If you feel that you’ll be pleased with your personal growth in 2007 based on this exercise then you are in good shape.  You already place an adequate emphasis on your personal development. However, for me, this shows how much I fall short of my ideal personal investment.

Our health is determined by what we eat on a daily basis.  It doesn’t really matter what we do as part of a 1 week diet.  Our intellectual health is determined by what we do every day on a regular basis.

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