My friend Jon Dale was accepted into Seth Godin's "Alternative MBA". It is worth taking a look at the program. I think we will see more of this type of education in the coming years. Seth gets a bunch of free help and the students get an education and networking opportunities that would be hard to come by elsewhere. By the way, Jon is looking for a room to rent in Hastings on Hudson New York. If you have any suggestions or recommendations that might help him out, please drop him a note. … [Read more...]
Imaginary Voice in my Head
Someone unsubscribed from my mailing list today and their reason was: You can't spell and it offends me. Someone unsubscribing isn't a big deal, but I do try to make sure everything is spelled correctly. For most posts, I write it and then have my assistant proof it just to make sure I didn't make any glaring mistakes. The "asides" that I post (one paragraph without any pictures) usually don't get proofed. I think I found the offensive word that caused this person to unsubscribe. I had used the word "there" instead of "their". I catch myself doing this on a regular basis--substituting words that sound the same. I know which word to use, but somehow my brain writes the sound … [Read more...]
Boxing Things Up
I've previously talked about how the size of your blocks determines how productive you are. In a nutshell, someone who builds a shed by planting trees to grow into lumber and mining the ore to make nails is going to be much less efficient than the person who buys a kit and assembles it from Home Depot. In this piece, I want to look at the size of blocks from a process design or work-flow standpoint. This is probably going to be a little abstract because it can apply to a number of different areas on many different levels. Regardless of what you do, you are responsible for creating processes and work-flows. These may be as simple as working out the process for cooking dinner or as … [Read more...]
Smart Shopper
Smart Shopper sent me their interesting grocery list device yesterday. Basically it is a box that does voice recognition on grocery items and then prints them out when you are ready to go to the store. At $79 it isn't cheap, but it might make a unique present for a gadget lover who seems to have absolutely everything. I haven't had much of a chance to play with it, but the idea is very interesting. We are going to try using it for our grocery lists for awhile. I'll let you know how well it works. … [Read more...]
How To Simplify Your Life Links
Simple Living Simplified: 10 Things You Can Do Today to Simplify Your Life - Leo Babauta This article provides information regarding the simplification of a person's everyday life and tasks. The author points out that this can seem to be a daunting task early on, but that the process can be taken in small steps. Breaking the simplification of your life at home and at work into these smaller tasks will make this process seem do-able. How To Simplify Your Life With Technology - Rob Witham This article provides some insight on the topic of whether technology really simplifies our lives, or whether it complicates them even further. The author explores some of the ways that technology can … [Read more...]
Personal Development: Continual Improvement
We asked a number of bloggers: "How do you make sure that you are continually growing and learning new things?" There answers provide some great starting points for creating your own personal improvement plan. (3638) Have an open mind and lose the foolish ego. No matter how talented or knowledgeable you think you are as far as a certain field is concerned, you can rest assured that there is always room for improvement. In the end, you will be the only one losing out if you choose to live in denial. Alan Johnson from TheRatingBlog (rss) Ego also tends to make people not like you--even if you are every bit as good as you think you are. The best way I know to continue to grow … [Read more...]
Laptop Contingency Planning
If you have a laptop, there are three things you should plan on happening: Theft Dropping Data Loss If you are not preparing for these situations, you are asking for trouble. There are three main things you need to do to handle these areas: Security - If someone steals your laptop, what information will they have access to? All of your data? Damage - If your laptop is damaged, how long will it take you to get back up and running? Data - If all of the data on your laptop is gone, do you have a way to recover it? Security Your laptop security could be as extensive as encrypting your entire hard drive. The big thing you need to do is think about what would happen if … [Read more...]
Going Paperless – Other Resources
There use to be serious technical hurdles to creating a paperless office. That isn't the case any more. The components of a paperless office are readily available and not particularly expensive. Read on for some great resources that will help you "go paperless". 8 Tips for Going Paperless-Sheila Riley Now that technology offers so many different options for organizing documents and facilitating communication, using telecommunication instead of regular mail is a good option for many people. This article gives some ideas that were developed and used by the Blue Valley school district in Overland Park, KS. The Perils and Perks of Going Paperless-James Champy As technology … [Read more...]
Productivity Magazine
An article from Productivity501 was featured in the debut issue of Productivity Magazine. You can download a PDF for free here. … [Read more...]
The Problem With Media
One evening I'm reading a hard cover book. The next morning when I get in my car, I start playing the audio version through the car stereo at the point I left off. While waiting for a lunch appointment, I read a few more pages off my cell phone. Later on at gym, I listen to 15 minutes of the book on my iPod. The next morning, I finish off the book on my eBook reader while on a long train ride. If you haven't figured it out, the paragraph above is pure fiction. It represents the way I want to consume media. While all of this is technically possible, publishers' view of how people will read books doesn't allow for this type of usage in any cost effective manner. They will want to sell … [Read more...]
