http://www.MyPersonalProductivity.com/ Discussion of the theory and psychology of personal productivity en-us MyPersonalProductivity webmaster@MyPersonalProductivity.com webmaster@MyPersonalProductivity.com http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/topics/viewt/47 Tue, 18 Sep 2012 03:27:03 GMT http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/messages/viewm/226
I use the Google Talk app to send IMs to my "other" Google identity. Instead of typing on my Android Keyboard, i tap the microphone key and just start talking ... it works pretty much as shown in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBj43iS7DE8

The nice thing is that you can verify as you speak that your speech is being transcribed properly.

(This shows Android 4.1 (Jellybean) while I have Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) on my phone)

Later on I can go into Gmail, look for messages tagged with "chats", and there I will find a transcript of my voice notes, with each note being timestamped. From there I can cut and paste the notes to whereever they need to go.

Don't know if another app might work better for the purpose, but the Google Talk works well. ]]> http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/topics/viewt/40 Wed, 27 Jun 2012 17:37:20 GMT http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/messages/viewm/115 http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/topics/viewt/40 Mon, 28 May 2012 00:21:59 GMT http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/messages/viewm/113
I haven't gotten into it, but I'm always open to your suggestions. ]]> http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/topics/viewt/40 Sun, 27 May 2012 18:25:55 GMT http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/messages/viewm/112 http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2012/05/04/a-technique-for-producing-ideas-young/

The steps may sound like common sense in this forum, but worth noting nevertheless.

Step 1: Gathering Raw Material

Step 2: Digesting the Material

Step 3: Unconscious Processing

Step 4: The A-Ha Moment

Step 5: Idea Meets Reality

And, lest not forget, God is in the details.
]]> http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/topics/viewt/36 Tue, 01 May 2012 15:44:31 GMT http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/messages/viewm/108
Among other points, Neil mentions the following example:

"In 1983 R. W. Montgomery, the owner of a chemical plant in Detroit, instituted Transcendental Meditation with fifty-two of the company?s one hundred workers. These ranged from managers to employees who worked the line. A program was implemented where each meditated for twenty minutes before coming to work and again for twenty minutes in the afternoon on company time.

The results were well recorded. In three months, employees stated they had more energy and were able to handle stress better. They also had fewer physical complaints and lower cholesterol levels. Over the next three years these results improved and expanded. It was confirmed that absenteeism fell by 85%, productivity rose 120%, injuries dropped 70%, and profits increased by 520%."

I admit that my own experience with meditation and spirituality has been two-edged: yes, I do tend to be more creative and less stressed --in fact I have found nothing better than meditation to deal with really stressful situations- but I also tend to care less about the outcome! ]]> http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/topics/viewt/30 Mon, 23 Apr 2012 00:46:26 GMT http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/messages/viewm/102
might be worth a glance. ]]> http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/topics/viewt/29 Fri, 20 Apr 2012 07:05:27 GMT http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/messages/viewm/101
I was going to say that Baroque music is good, as is classical guitar, but yes, Symphonic music is too distracting - especially if you are listening for the good parts with half an ear :)



Susanne Ramharter wrote:
>Agreed Alexander, I find it best to work with something that is not quite as monotone as
>most ambient music, but not too 'active'. Electronic music is pretty good for that.
>Also much of Baro ]]> http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/topics/viewt/29 Fri, 20 Apr 2012 07:02:36 GMT http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/messages/viewm/100 http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/topics/viewt/29 Sun, 01 Apr 2012 08:02:26 GMT http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/messages/viewm/99
This brings to me the concept of music and productivity and I was wondering whether others listen to music while working, and what that music would be.

I have personally found that instrumental music --in my case mostly 'Berlin school' electronic music, Tangerine Dream and the like-- is quite conducive to clearing my mind. I have _not_ corroborated the 'Mozart effect', in fact I find that the many dynamics of symphonic classical music divert my attention; lyrical piano pieces, Satie, Grieg, seem to work better for me. Cinematic music also can do the trick, again, as long as it is does not have too many alternating dynamics.
]]> http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/topics/viewt/24 Sat, 25 Feb 2012 18:41:07 GMT http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/messages/viewm/94 I've copied the post below from www.outlinersoftware.com because it speaks to personal productivity as much as it does to specific software. My belief is that many of us have been hampered in our adult years because we have not learned how to learn. For example, I recall about two years ago feeling liberated by a passage in Paulo Freire's The Pedagogy of Hope, which described how a student, ie anyone who is a learner, regardless of station, reads a scholarly work - taking time, rereading, processing, etc. As much as what he wrote was common sense, it was not common to me - now when I struggle with a passage, I remember what Freire wrote, and assure myself that struggle is expected, and it is ok. Referring to the post pasted below, as a former journalist, I know of what E H Carr and Manfred Kuhn are writing and, indeed, I first read Carr's book What Is History many years ago. Yet seeing the Carr quote Manfred used, and his commentary on it, has left me with a feeling similar to the freedom I felt when I came upon Freire's quote.

Daly

Steve, I?ve long enjoyed Manfred Kuhn?s blog. While reviewing it pursuant to your reference to his CT article (which is very good), I came across a delightful post he made about the relationship between reading and writing. If the points in that post were made more often - if indeed they are made at all - in high school classes we would have people who are better readers, writers, and thinkers.
Here?s the link: http://takingnotenow.blogspot.com/2012/02/reading-and-writing.html
Manfred begins his post with a very eloquent quote from E. H. Carr?s provocative book What Is History?
If I try here to summarize the post I will do a disservice to both E. H. and to Manfred, so instead, I hope readers here will use the above link to read the post.
Daly
Stephen Zeoli wrote:
>I do agree. In case you didn?t see it, Glen Coultard (who I contributes to this
>forum) put together a video showing how he uses CT for academic purposes. You can find
>it here:
> >http://www.connectedtext.com/movies.php
> >Also, Manfred Kuhn, who
>blogs at Taking Note, has a long article about using CT for research, which you can find
>here:
> >http://www.connectedtext.com/manfred.php
> >Either of these resources
>can be a little intimidating, because of the advanced CT features they talk about, but
>they are both interesting. And remember than you don?t need to dive into the power
>features right away. At its most basic, CT is a note card filing system.
> >Steve Z. ]]> http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/topics/viewt/23 Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:40:12 GMT http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/messages/viewm/93
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/01/everything-about-learning/

The highlights:

INTERLEAVING: The strategy suggest that instead of spending an hour working on your tennis serve, you mix in a range of skills like backhands, volleys, overhead smashes, and footwork. [...] Bjork explains that successful interleaving allows you to ?seat? each skill among the others. ?If information is studied so that it can be interpreted in relation to other things in memory, learning is much more powerful,? he said. There?s one caveat: Make sure the mini skills you interleave are related in some higher-order way. If you?re trying to learn tennis, you?d want to interleave serves, backhands, volleys, smashes, and footwork ? not serves, synchronized swimming, European capitals, and programming in Java.

LOCATION: Similarly, studying in only one location is great as long as you?ll only be required to recall the information in the same location. If you want information to be accessible outside your dorm room, or office, or nook on the second floor of the library, Bjork recommends varying your study location.

SPACING: If you study, wait, and then study again, the longer the wait, the more you?ll have learned after this second study session. Bjork explains it this way: ?When we access things from our memory, we do more than reveal it?s there. It?s not like a playback. What we retrieve becomes more retrievable in the future. Provided the retrieval succeeds, the more difficult and involved the retrieval, the more beneficial it is.? [...] Along these lines, Bjork also recommends taking notes just after class, rather than during ? forcing yourself to recall a lecture?s information is more effective than simply copying it from a blackboard. You have to work for it. The more you work, the more you learn, and the more you learn, the more awesome you can become.

STORAGE vs. RECALL: ?Because humans have unlimited storage capacity, having total recall would be a mess,? said Bjork. ?Imagine you remembered all the phone numbers of all the houses you had ever lived in. When someone asks you your current phone number, you would have to sort it from this long list.? Instead, we forget the old phone numbers, or at least bury them far beneath the ease of recall we gift to our current number. What you thought were sworn enemies are more like distant collaborators. ]]> http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/topics/viewt/21 Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:17:00 GMT http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/messages/viewm/91
http://www.exuberanteclectic.com/2012/01/neat-approaches-to-new-years.html

Happy new yea all!

Daly ]]> http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/topics/viewt/8 Sat, 03 Dec 2011 12:43:09 GMT http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/messages/viewm/80
http://www.aquatic-ape-diet.com/blog/2011/12/03/circadian-control-with-free-running-sleep-using-vit-d/ ]]> http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/topics/viewt/8 Fri, 02 Dec 2011 09:15:16 GMT http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/messages/viewm/79
The Harvard Medical School Guide to a Good Night's Sleep (Harvard Medical School Guides) (9780071467438): Lawrence Epstein, Steven Mardon: Books

http://amzn.com/0071467432 ]]> http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/topics/viewt/10 Tue, 29 Nov 2011 03:33:22 GMT http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/messages/viewm/78
Seems to be a credible method.

I'm sure we've all seen n-back before, however this guy actually tested persistent results and describes subjective effects.

It's the best sell I've seen for n-back. ]]> http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/topics/viewt/9 Mon, 28 Nov 2011 10:40:32 GMT http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/messages/viewm/77
I just put up a post that details my current setup with Synergy, VNC and a KVM to achieve a high degree of integration between Windows and Ubuntu boxes.

http://www.cyborganize.org/clarity/2011/11/28/synergy-permits-dual-pc-integration/ ]]> http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/topics/viewt/8 Sun, 27 Nov 2011 05:55:25 GMT http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/messages/viewm/76 http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/topics/viewt/8 Sun, 27 Nov 2011 05:54:43 GMT http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/messages/viewm/75
You could also set an alarm, wake up early, take Vit D, go back to bed, and reset your clock that way.

Vit-D is far more effective than Melatonin at resetting your entire clock. Be careful or nausea and depression can result (temporary - lasts one day) if you're creating 12 hour swings. ]]> http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/topics/viewt/7 Sun, 27 Nov 2011 05:51:29 GMT http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/messages/viewm/74
Food doesn't matter. Most supplements don't matter. I recommend taking calcium with Vit-D, in the same pill. If you're magnesium deficient, take some of that too.

The fat soluble vitamins can interact with each other. I'd avoid taking A and E together with D.

Supplements are just that. Diet is primary. If I were depressed, I'd start by cutting to the elimination diet my site describes. But I'd also include Vit D, which is not so much a supplement as a replacement for missing sunlight.

In your case, I hope that D alone will be enough to fix the depression. Be aware that many food intolerances can create depression unrelated to sunlight. ]]> http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/topics/viewt/5 Sun, 27 Nov 2011 03:07:05 GMT http://www.mypersonalproductivity.com/messages/viewm/73
TwistedByKnaves wrote:
>Curse you, Daly! I'm ensnared in another one!! ]]>