Lifemuncher

Rob Long is a GTDer

2009-05-14T08:01:00.000-07:00

Thought it was cool to hear producer and writer Rob Long, of "Cheers" fame, talking about GTD in his most recent podcast.

A couple of interesting time-management/motivation links

2009-04-27T15:15:00.000-07:00

The Pomodoro Technique. (via Mark Forster)

The Gift-Card Economy. (via Reason Magazine)

Checking in

2009-03-19T10:33:00.000-07:00

Just a few tidbits:

I got about 100 pages into David Allen's new book, but it seemed like a rehash of GTD and I got bored and stopped reading.
For the past couple of months I've been using Mark Forster's deceptively simple Autofocus system and finding it very helpful.
I adore my new Kindle.
You can follow me on Twitter, though I'm not really talking about productivity much these days.

That is all.

Interesting articles on procrastination

2009-01-26T15:54:00.000-08:00

Why people procrastinate | Motivating minds | The Economist

Procrastinating Again? How to Kick the Habit: Scientific American

Why Computers Can't Kill Post-Its - Forbes.com

2009-01-23T11:58:00.000-08:00

This is an interesting take on how we manage information. The paper mentioned in the story is even better.

This is for Merlin Mann

2008-09-25T16:46:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been playing around with some publications at work, putting my rudimentary Photoshop and InDesign skills to use, and it occurred to me that one thing that makes a good designer is the ability to pull all the little bits together -- making sure all the fonts are consistent and go together, reducing the size of the text where appropriate, positioning the images in just the right place, adding a border or a graphic element here and there. All those things come together to make a good design, and separate the amateurs (like me) from the pros.

Now stay with me here, because this is a bit of a stream of consciousness post and I'm not sure what it all means. In one of Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea books (sorry, I can't remember which and Wikipedia is no help), the main character Ged (or is it Tenar) stays at a castle with his companion, a little animal that I picture as being like a squirrel. Within moments after they get settled in their room, a servant quietly brings a litter box and unobtrusively places it on the floor. Reading that tiny detail the first time, that someone was thoughtful enough to provide a potty for the little animal, practically made me weep. The way LeGuin engaged with the mundanities of life and included them in the picture she was painting, brought the entire scene to life and pulled me into the story.

In Everyday Zen (I think), Joko Beck tells the story of some her students, whom she was teaching about mindfulness and paying attention. She notes how one of the students gets up from the table and walks away without pushing in his chair. How could he really be mindful if he didn't notice the chair?

These are the things that came to mind when I read Merlin Mann's recent meditation on arcs and The Wire.

The single most memorable part of the Wire for me is Snoop -- her accent, her clothes, her voice, her androgyny. She made the series for me. To my whitebread eyes, she seemed strange, and charismatic, and scary, and absolutely real.

To me it wasn't the intersecting story arcs that made The Wire, it was the details. The nails in the nailgun that boarded up the houses full of murder victims and eventually gave them away to Lester. The way the cops threw beer cans on the roof of the station. The fact that Mr. Pryzbylewski washed Duquan's clothes for him because he was homeless and the other kids at school made fun of him because he stank. Those touches are what's missing in most television shows, and in most writing.

Maybe it's because I'm a girl, but to me, the blogs that matter are the ones that give me a glimpse into someone else's life. The promise of personal blogging is the chance to connect with a total stranger who's a good writer and observer, who's honest and generous with their life. See Tenuous At Best for an example. I've never met her, but I look forward to hearing from Not Very Anonymous Mom, and I care about what happens to her and her family.

In On Writing Stephen King compares writing to telepathy. He has a picture or idea in his mind, writes about it, and by doing so gives me the chance to see it too. Unfortunately, bad writers, whose thinking is fuzzy and whose writing is vague, just send me static and make my brain hurt. Most of today's bloggers are unfortunately of the second variety, and their collective cloud of white noise creates a background of anxious, meaningless, vague nonsense that is destroying our ability to pay attention to what matters. For god's sake people, let's cut it out.

Le Sigh

2008-05-21T08:13:00.000-07:00

No Schedules, No Meetings--Enter Best Buy's ROWE | The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss:

"ROWE stands for Results-Only Work Environment. In a ROWE, each person is free to do whatever they want, whenever they want, as long as the work gets done. Currently, there are two authentic ROWEs—Fortune 100 retailer Best Buy Co, Inc. and J. A. Counter & Associates, a small brokerage firm in New Richmond, WI. At both organizations, the old rules that govern a traditional work environment—core hours, “face time,” pointless meetings, etc.—have been replaced by one rule: focus only on results.

In the 4-Hour Workweek, you helped people understand that because of technology, people don’t have to defer living until retirement. They can design their own lifestyle. Now imagine what would happen if the entire culture of a workplace went through the same transformation. That’s what a ROWE is. A ROWE is a work culture that gives people the power to take control of their lives. As long as they get their job done, they’re free."

Dave gets all Buddhist on us

2008-05-19T10:24:00.000-07:00

David Allen: Control Or Spontaneity: The Paradox - Living on The Huffington Post:

"There is a freedom that is only approachable by the sacrifice of our attachments to anything, including our organization and commitments."

Bravo! I heartily concur.

But what if I read lots of blog posts about productivity?

2008-05-14T09:50:00.000-07:00

Letter to a young procrastinator. - By Seth Stevenson - Slate Magazine:

"Understand that this will never, ever change. You will always be lazy, and you will always procrastinate. I know it's tough for you to hear, but it's a harsh truth that you need to internalize."

You mean everyone's not out to get me?

2008-05-14T09:05:00.000-07:00

SMILT NON-FICTION - Reviewing Reviewers--Kluge:

But before you despair that humans are doomed to a life of lost keys, irrational beliefs and false memories, Marcus does supply us with a whole host of ways to trains our brains to act more rationally. My personal favorite is his first, “Whenever possible, consider alternative hypotheses.” He recommends forcing yourself to come up with a list of alternatives even if you are absolutely certain that your husband is breaking drinking glasses out of spite and not because the sink is a little too deep for its intended purposes. Some of his other tips also involve forcing your brain to get out of the habit of relying on its more instinctual (and less reliable) thought processes and practice using our more conscious frontal lobes. This kind of advice may seem obvious when you read them but try and think about the last time you actually took advice such as, “Whenever possible, don’t make important decisions when you are tired or have other things on your mind.” Or “Always weigh benefits against costs.”

Explains a lot

2008-05-09T11:51:00.000-07:00

The Science of Thinking Smarter: A Conversation with Brain Expert John J. Medina:

"...the brain isn’t interested in reality; it’s interested in survival."

Still reading...

2008-05-09T08:28:00.000-07:00

Comprehension Climbs When You Slooooow Doooown:

"It should take you two and a half seconds to read this sentence."

This must have something to do with neuroplasticity

2008-05-08T16:14:00.000-07:00

Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset: Which One Are You? - Michael Graham Richard:

"People who hold the Growth Mindset believe that intelligence can be developed, that the brain is like a muscle that can be trained. This leads to the desire to improve."

$835! The hell?

2008-05-07T15:35:00.000-07:00

David Allen Company : David Allen Collection

I really want to read this book - Kluge by Gary Marcus

2008-05-06T08:39:00.000-07:00

Los Angeles Times: Does your brain have a mind of its own?:

"Consider, for example, the difficulty that most people having in sticking to abstract goals like 'I intend to lose weight' or 'I plan to finish this article before the deadline.' Nice thoughts, but not formulated in terms that your ancestral, reflexive brain might understand. The work-around? Translate those abstract goals into a form your ancestral systems -- which traffic largely in dumb reflexes -- can understand: if-then. If you find yourself in a particular situation, then take a specific action: 'If I see French fries, then I will avoid them.' As Peter Gollwitzer, my colleague in New York University's department of psychology, has shown, even simple changes like these can markedly increase the chances of success."

Amazon.com: Subscribe & Save

2008-04-28T08:59:00.000-07:00

This seems really cool. You just pick out items you order regularly but not weekly, like coffee or shampoo, and they send them to you automatically. I'm off to sign up...

Improve your typing.

2008-04-24T17:24:00.000-07:00

My best score was 86 wpm. Could it possibly be true that someone types 511 wpm?

TypeRacer

Alan Watts and the South Park guys explain it all

2008-04-19T07:29:00.000-07:00

Life & Music

Thanks to A brood comb for the link.

Something to make you cry

2008-04-18T14:18:00.000-07:00

http://www.stservicemovie.com/

Minimal Achievement

2008-04-17T10:54:00.000-07:00

This paper, "Strive for Minimal Achievement" by Barry Moltz, talks about something I'm learning more and more as I get older:

Stop planning, stop analyzing, stop asking questions, and to see what comes next. Go out and get it done. Only experience builds true confidence. So in our business strategy, we need to outlaw premeditated business. Stop waiting for the perfect moment, enough capital, the right team, the right market conditions, reliable customers, or desperate competitors. Forget about the “only if” game. It is delusional.

Eight-minute lessons are key to grades - JournalLive

2008-04-11T08:47:00.000-07:00

Heard about this on The Productivity Show (see below). I thought it was faskinatin'.

Eight-minute lessons are key to grades - JournalLive:

"So youngsters at his North Tyneside school are receiving lessons lasting just eight minutes.

Then they have a 10-minute break.

Then the eight-minute lesson is repeated."

The Productivity Show

2008-04-11T08:40:00.000-07:00

If you haven't listened to it yet, I highly recommend that you add Tony Goodson's The Productivity Show to your podcast subscription list. It's an entertaining and thought-provoking show that I especially love to listen to on long drives. Thanks for the entertainment Tony, yeah?

That damn left hemisphere

2008-03-19T19:11:00.001-07:00

Experiment - Intermittent Fasting

2008-03-10T16:19:00.000-07:00

Report:

I read about intermittent fasting on Tim Ferriss's blog the other day and thought I would give it a try - for the sake of science, let's say.

Monday:
I had already eaten breakfast when I read the post, but I skipped lunch and ate a fairly sensible dinner at 6 pm. I decided I was going to try the schedule where you eat breakfast and lunch one day and dinner the next. I didn't find that I was particularly hungry, and I enjoyed the burst of energy I got from not eating.

Tuesday:
I ate breakfast and lunch as planned, but work intervened and I got roped into a business dinner at the last minute. So that day was shot. I knew I had another work dinner coming up later in the week so I decided to change to a dinner-only schedule.

Wednesday:
I fasted all day and ate dinner only. I felt great all day. A little hungry in the afternoon, but it was ok.

Thursday:
I fasted all day and ate my business dinner. Everything was good, except I noticed that I was more hungry that afternoon. I hadn't been very good about weighing myself, but it seemed like I'd dropped a couple of pounds - probably water.

Friday:
Fasted all day. By 3 pm I was bloody starving and counting the minutes until dinner. Even though dinner was a little larger than it should have been, I was still hungry when I went to bed. Maybe because I ate at 5pm?

Saturday:
I woke up starving and couldn't take it anymore. The fasting experiment was over. My weight quickly returned to where it began.

Conclusions:

Sure, I know this wasn't exactly scientific, but here are some thoughts anyway. Take them for what they're worth. I actually liked not eating and having extra free time at lunch and breakfast. However, I don't think I could do the dinner-only schedule every day. In future experiments I might try a late breakfast/dinner schedule, or a three-days-on, one-day-off scheme. In terms of weight, I think fasting was a good way to clear my head and get myself out of the snacking pattern I was in. Even though I'm not fasting this week, today I have been more careful about the size of my daytime meals. When it comes down to it, I really felt great when fasting, at least at first.

Bottom line, it's good to remind yourself that hunger is ok now and then.

Feed reading and blog posting

2008-02-15T08:09:00.000-08:00

Thought I would share my current system for evaluating new posts in my RSS feeds and deciding whether I want to use them for my blogs. I have folders in Google Reader that group posts according to which blog they're related to and how valuable they are. ("Read for Lifemuncher", for example, or "Lifemuncher Second Tier".)

For the top-tier feeds, I go through folders in expanded view, starring the ones that look interesting. I use the keyboard shortcuts J (next) and S (star). I find that I need to see them in expanded view to know if they're worth reading or not.

When reading the second tier folder, I usually use list view, because I know that most of them aren't going to be interesting. I go right by things like "Use Linux to wash your dishes" or "17 Ways to Find Eternal Happiness." C'mon. Really?

I then go through the starred items folder for a second look. If it looks like something I want to read, I open it in a new tab and quickly go to the next post. If my first instincts say that the post is promising, I leave the star, but if it seems like it might be boring, or something I will be able to post immediately using the Firefox BlogThis extension, I take the star off. I leave the star on more interesting articles so that I can find the article easily if I decide to write about it. The fact that it stays in my starred folder serves as a reminder as well.

When I have a few open tabs, I go to them to look at the post directly. If it seems boring, I close it. If it looks like something I could post about right now, I do so. If it's a long article that I'll probably sit down to read on the couch, I print it out. Then I go back to the starred items and repeat the process as time allows.

What do you think? Any suggestions?