Category: GTD

Getting Things Done – A concept by David Allen.

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10 Ways GTD Knowledge Lifehacks Productivity

2. Get in the Zone | Ten Ways to Improve Your Quality of Life

This is the second in a series of 10 articles that give suggestions meant to improve the over-all quality of your life.

2. Get in the zone. This is also called “achieving flow.” There is a lot out there on what it means to ‘get in the zone’ or how to achieve it–it’s something you have to discover for yourself. Look for the formula that lets you ‘get in the zone’ by experimenting and once you’ve found it, apply it to your work or play every day. Not only will these be your most productive moments in life (the 20% of the time where you accomplish 80% of the results) but it will be a boost to your confidence that will alter the decisions you make elsewhere in life.

The concept of Flow was introduced by a scientist named Csikszentmihalyi. Here is a simplified list (adapted from the Wikipedia article) of the conditions that help achieve a state of flow and how you’ll know you’re in the zone. Your results may vary.

To get into the zone:
1. Have clear goals for what you want to accomplish
2. Create an environment where you can concentrate completely
3. Make sure you can get immediate feedback. You should be able to tell what is working or what isn’t so you can adjust your behavior quickly to keep in the flow.
4. The activity shouldn’t be either too easy or too hard.
5. The activity should be intrinsically rewarding.

You’ll know you’re there when:
1. You experience a distorted sense of time–“has it really already been 2 hours!”
2. You have a sense of complete personal control over the activity
3. You have a loss of the feeling of self-conciousness, the merging of action and awareness.

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10 Ways GTD Knowledge Lifehacks Productivity

1. Think Daily | Ten Ways to Improve Your Quality of Life

This is the first of a series of ten articles that are written as a follow-up to a previous article on this site. In that article written a year and a half ago I gave 10 suggestions for ‘jump-starting success.’ This is a continuation and improvement on that list.

Once a day a post will be published containing a new step offering a suggestion of something that can be done every day (or as often as possible) that will improve your over-all quality of life. This means that if you put these suggestions in practice you’ll be happier, smarter and more fulfilled than you were ten days ago. If you continue after that, I believe these simple suggestions will be life changing.

I’m not an expert on the subject–in fact, my only qualifications are that it’s something that I’ve thought a lot about, read about and tried. If you’re only here for the software and tech articles, bear with me as I wander off into the realms of self-improvement, this will only last 10 days… that having been said, here’s the first:

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1. Think daily. Meditate. Call it what you will but spend time each day alone with your thoughts. This surely isn’t the first time you’ve heard that advice, there’s a reason for that! There’s also a reason that this is the first step in the list. Doing the other things in the remaining nine suggestions without taking some time to reflect almost negates any benefit gained elsewhere.

When you schedule your thinking time, bring a pen, this is when your best thoughts and ideas will unfold. Things previously confusing will be clarified in your mind.

I’ve tried various ways of doing this–meditating with an ’empty mind,’ meditating with a mantra, praying, just sitting and thinking or even lying in bed thinking. They all work to varying degrees, and it’s interesting to try different styles of thinking to see what results from each.

With the amount of entertainment with-in easy grasp (cell-phones, tv, audiobooks, radio etc.) it is so easy to constantly stay in a state of either stimulation (when learning and doing new things) or vegetation (watching tv). It’s easy to go through several days, weeks or years at a time without truly pondering life, exploring your mind and seeking for meaning. Making it a point to think daily will prevent you from losing chunks of your life to the routine and mundane.

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GTD Lifehacks Productivity Software

A Year of Shareware

I think before this year I’d probably purchased 4 or 5 shareware programs, this year it’s been a different story! I’m not sure if it’s that the quality of the available shareware has gotten that much better or if I’ve just started buying more of it, but in any case, here’s the list of Shareware apps I’ve been using:

  • Ecto (ok, I’ve probably had this for more than a year, but I’m listing it here since I’m typing this blog entry in it and it’s great.)
  • TextMate – There’s nothing I can say about TextMate that hasn’t already been said. I love it.
  • MacGourmet – This one was for J, she loves it.
  • PulpMotion – Wow. Aquafadas just raised the bar on photo/video slideshows. Great price too.
  • CSSEdit – I can’t imagine editing CSS without this application anymore. Beautiful.
  • Cha-ching and iBank (reviews forthcoming)
  • Parallels – Wow. Parallels has completely eliminated the old Dell laptop I had hanging around.
  • Disco – I hardly ever burn CD’s, but I’m a sucker for a good (and/or fun) UI.
  • Delicious Library – This came with MacHeist. I was pretty skeptical about it since for my book cataloging needs, it’s almost useless (I use LibraryThing), but I’ve found it pretty fun to use nonetheless.
  • DevonThink – Another MacHeist, I’d been using the trial for…well too long, great program.
  • Enigmo2 – Macheist. The first Mac game I’ve ever bought and I admit, I love it.
  • In addition, I got a few other apps from MacHeist that I doubt I’ll use much, but are kind of cool – ShapeShifter (I actually already own a license to this and really enjoyed it, but haven’t used it for a couple years), RapidWeaver looks nice, but I’m a Rails head… who knows, maybe I’ll use it, Newsfire is also nice, but I can’t give up Google Reader for a desktop client, FotoMagico and iClip – I haven’t used them yet, but who’s to say I won’t.
  • Inbox – Review forthcoming

In addition, there are a few shareware app’s I’ve got my eyes on:

Hopefully you’ve found some good ones in this list, if you like the program, why not support the developers buy purchasing it? What Mac Shareware did you buy this year?

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Design GTD Lifehacks Software Technology Web Services

SlimTimer – The Best Timer for GTD

I’ve looked at several options for making sure I “use my time wisely” while I’m on the computer including:

None of them fit my criteria of being easy to use, easy to see where my time went (some type of reporting) and inexpensive. Then I went back to SlimTimer. The concept is simple. You open up a little window that sits on your desk all day (I open mine in Safari so tabs don’t accidentally pop up there from my default browser, Firefox) and click the name of the activity you’re doing at the time. That’s it. Here’s my window right now.

Screenshot 01

When you’re done you close the window, click another task or toggle the task you’re on. Then the cool part is the reports that are available on the main SlimTimer website. You can see where your time went specifically for the day, week month, per task, tag etc. Here’s a screen capture of a report:

Screenshot 02

SlimTimer is simple, powerful, quick and free. Can’t beat that.

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Business GTD Lifehacks Money Productivity

Ten Things You Can Do Today to Jump-start Success

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  1. Read or listen to something that motivates you every single day. If you don’t read another item on this list, take this to heart. Don’t let a single day go by without providing yourself external motivation.

  2. Keep a journal of your daily progress and carry it with you wherever you go. Change and progress will happen, but in order to recognize it, you have to record it. An example of a journal entry might be “Started tracking all expenses today, woke up 15 minutes earlier, set goal to read one book a month.” Some days you’ll do more than others, but the important thing is to do something every day and write down what you do.

  3. Make goals and re-write them every day. Your goals will change, don’t worry about making goals that right now feel unattainable or baseless. The hardest part of making big goals is starting. Start by recording between 5 and 10 changes you’d like to make or milestones you’d like to reach within the next three years and re-write the goals, along with a brief note of your current progress every day. Save the lists of goals as you go so you can see how they evolve and you progress. This idea is by no means unique to me, but I do it and I know it works.

  4. Keep track of every person you meet. If you don’t feel like you will remember their name, write it down, along with details of the conversations you had with them. Microsoft Outlook or almost any Personal Information Manager is great for storing this type of information. Keep it in a simple, but comprehensive system.

  5. Begin investing a portion of your income today. A great place to start is a high-yield savings account, an IRA or a 401k plan. Do not put off investing until you’ve found the ‘perfect’ investment. If you’re already investing some of your money, bump up the amount you invest a notch.

  6. Begin looking for opportunities to build passive income (money that you don’t have to work for once you’ve done the initial work) and write down or begin working on your ideas. The most important thing you can do is be aware of the ideas you already have. Focus on building assets, not more work for yourself.

  7. Only sleep as much as you need to. Sleep is obviously important, but don’t use the most important hours of your day dreaming. If you wake up at 7 and go to bed at 11, begin to wake up at 5:30 and go to bed at 10:30. Chances are there is an hour each day that you could use doing the above things that will make you more happy and successful.

  8. Look for opportunities to serve. If you are willing to help others, others will be more willing to help you. The benefits of service are real–you will find more happiness and peace through serving than through any amount of time or money.

  9. Keep track of every penny that you spend or save. Record every transaction in the back of your checkbook, in a spiral notebook or in accounting software. By doing it, you’ll begin to discover patterns you never would have found otherwise.

  10. Stop being a victim. Focus on what YOU can DO. Stop assigning blame, don’t look for excuses. Take the attitude of ownership. Don’t try to change others, make a decision then take action.

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GTD Lifehacks Productivity

Two Great Uses for PostIt Notes

Molesticky

1. Task focus tool. Before I sit down at the computer at home I take a sticky note and write on it what I plan to accomplish in that sitting.

I’ve found that despite my todo lists and best intentions, if I don’t have something phyically in front of me that I can check off as I go, I’ll often find myself aimlessly browsing the Internet and forget why I came to the computer in the first place. I try to make sure that what I write on the sticky is only as much as I can (and want to) accomplish in the time I’m sitting down. Once everything is crossed out, which is a great feeling every time, the aimless browsing can commence.

Sound simple? Try it. It works.

2. Goal keeping tool. I’ve decided to write my goals, along with a very basic estimate of my progress every morning on a sticky note and stick them on the most recently used page in my pocket Moleskine notebook. Each time I open it, I’m reminded of my goals.

An example goal might be:

“3/2007 – Earn $1000 passive income each month (600)”

Where 3/2007 is when I’d like to have it accomplished and 600 is the amount I’m currently earning a month. The last number could also be a percentage or other indicator of progress. Writing the goal down serves the purpose of reinforcing my committment as well as forcing me to re-evaulate–is this a goal that I’m working towards actively? How far have I progressed? Do I still think this is a worthy goal?

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At night, I take the PostIt note out and stick it in a folder. Reviewing past notes shows me how goals have evolved and progressed. Saving the notes is also motivation to do it every day–mentally I don’t want to break the record of writing my goals every day for so many days.

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