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100 Awesome Quotes on What It Really Takes To Innovate

2011-10-31T03:48:46Z

1. "I want to put a ding in the universe." - Steve Jobs

2. "Ideas won't keep. Something must be done about them." - Alfred North Whitehead

3. "Intuition will tell the thinking mind where to look next." - Jonas Salk

4. "If you have always done it that way, it is probably wrong." - Charles Kettering

5. "Security is mostly a superstition. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing." - Helen Keller

6. "If you can dream it, you can do it." - Walt Disney

The Ultimate Offsite

2011-11-01T03:48:29Z

Just in case you've been in a coma these past few years, allow me to break the news to you: the spirit in the workplace movement is rapidly gaining momentum.

Untold thousands of dissatisfied US workers are making their way to ashrams, retreats, and yoga centers for something they just can't seem to find at work -- peace of mind.

Overworked, under-appreciated, and newly inner-directed, they are looking for something far beyond the next quarter -- something timeless, sacred, and completely immune to credit default swaps.

That's the good news. The bad? Many of our peace-seeking brothers and sisters seem to be falling prey to the "Starry-Eyed-Syndrome" -- that curious set of behaviors that surface whenever a well-intentioned, but time-crunched person unknowingly associates a place with an experience.

How to Write a Year’s Worth of Posts in 30 Days

2011-10-28T20:01:07Z

This guest post is by Kelly Kingman of eBook Evolution.

Last year, I took part in a writing challenge called National Novel Writing Month, which is also known as NaNoWriMo. The challenge? Write 50,000 words—all during the 30 days of November. Until then, my personal length record hovered around 10,000 words for a single project.

Amazingly, I did it. And instead of fiction, I wrote a memoir. Which is why this all matters to you, dear bloggers.

On the NaNoWriMo forum, there’s a section just for the “NaNo Rebels”—those of us whose work doesn’t qualify as lengthy fiction. On the site’s FAQ, the party line is it doesn’t technically matter what you write: “We just want you to be excited about writing.”

If I could use NaNoWriMo to write anything, why not blog posts?

If you average 1,000 words per post, you could write 50—just two shy of a post per week for an entire year. Of course, you can’t anticipate everything you’ll want to blog about—but core content? Sure. Write shorter posts and add ebooks, guest posts, sales pages to the mix—the possibilities are endless.

So I decided to use this November to generate 50,000 words of raw, unpolished content in 30 days. I’ve started calling my parallel challenge Contentpalooza. Friends and readers have enthusiastically chimed in with support and their own content-creation goals.

38,000 people completed NaNoWriMo’s challenge last year. There are two primary reasons the structure works so well. First, it’s a sprint. We can push ourselves harder, writing far more than we’re used to (1,666 words per day, including Thanksgiving) because we know it’s temporary. Second, it’s a crazy goal, and sometimes they are more effective than “sensible” ones, they excite us and motivate us to go beyond our comfort zone.

Should you also choose to hack NaNoWriMo this year in order to boost your blogging, I offer the following advice to help ensure your success.

Find your formula and tracking tool

50,000 words is a lot of written content, but what if you want to create podcasts, videos or graphics? My goal formula this year is: 50 blog posts (about 700 words = 35,000) plus an ebook (approx. 15,000 words) and then the balance of words with guest posts. You don’t have to decide on everything in advance, but I suggest you decide what your equivalencies are if you’ll be venturing into other media.

It’s also important to have a way to keep track of your word count from day to day. This helps you stay motivated, see your progress and plan. This could be a simple word processing document that you pile everything into, or a website like 750Words.com. If you want to recalculate the daily minimum you must write, try WriteTrack and yes, there’s also an app for that.

Stock up on idea seeds

So many of us get hung up on coming up with high quality ideas before they begin writing, when really you just need idea seeds. Half-formed thoughts, hunches and questions are all seeds that you can grow by exploring them through writing itself. You don’t need to know exactly what you’re going to say or the point you’re going to make. In fact, writing is a great way to figure out what you think.

Capturing your idea seeds is critical—in a notebook, on your smartphone, wherever. Just don’t let them get away and keep them in the same place so you can grab them during November as needed. I love Evernote for this. I have clipped over 150 items—other posts, articles, and other content that I can use to seed my own thoughts and opinions.

Remember to write, not edit

We often forge that writing and editing are distinct activities, a lot of us write and polish as we go. But the lesson of NaNoWriMo is that to achieve the sheer quantity necessary, you must bind and gag your inner perfectionist. Don’t tempt yourself into fixing spelling and grammar, finding images, brushing up the formatting. Embrace mistakes and false starts (don’t delete them — they count towards your goal) and press on. Polishing is for December or later.

Find a buddy or two (or more)

Our chances of success at anything go up dramatically when we find others who share our goals. Writing, especially blogging, is too often seen as a solitary pursuit. But we absolutely need other people—to bounce ideas off of, to cheer us on, to convince us we don’t need that much sleep anyway. Trust me, this is crucial. Do not go alone. Find others in your area via the NaNoWriMo forum, get on Twitter, and find people who are participating (search #contentpalooza) or recruit them yourself.

What could you create for your blog in 30 days? Why not start now?

Kelly Kingman is a content visionary and the co-creator of eBook Evolution. If you want to join her in the quest for 50,000 words, follow @kellykingman on Twitter or connect with her on Facebook where she’ll be providing daily pep talks and tips.

Originally at: Blog Tips at ProBlogger

How to Write a Year’s Worth of Posts in 30 Days

Five New Features That Google+ Should Really Have To Be Appealing

2011-10-30T01:14:23Z

Do you know anyone who uses Google+? I have used it periodically, but not frequently enough to have it replace Twitter as my main social engagement service. Besides me, I think quite a few people use it. Sure, it’s become the fastest growing social network, but in the pursuit to get members to sign on and actively use it, one of the things that seems to be missing are a few great features that would certainly make it more useful to the masses. Of course, one would imagine that these features are forthcoming, but it doesn’t hurt to list out some key things that would help, right?

Before we begin, let me say that while Google’s social network has become rather polarizing (let’s face it, you either love it or you hate it), I think that there’s definitely room for improvement. After all, no one has ever produced a product that hasn’t needed to scale or be updated. Of course some of these things may be in the Google pipeline, but I wanted to express my thoughts here and get them out for the record.

1. Better integration with other services

One of the things that I hate about producing content is sharing it multiple times across several different locations. Granted, Google+ came out of the gates as a brand-spanking new social network, but what I’d like to do is be able to share specific tweets or posts between networks that I constantly use. Sure, the one thing that is a no-no is having companies say internally that they won’t want to have anything to do with their competitors, and that’s a fine statement, but what the consumer wants is a way to tie Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Instagram, PicPlz, SoundCloud and Foursquare in with Google+. In fact, it would be great to have photos that I take using my mobile device, I would surely like to push the photos there into a special album. And yes, I know that the Google+ mobile app will allow you to upload photos to your account, but what about with the other guys like PicPlz, Hipster, Instagram, Camera+, etc.? The point here is that I’d surely like some more tie-in so that it would streamline the effort that people would need to do in order to help maximize reach.

2. Enhanced way of filtering Circles

As with most efforts, the more you post interesting content, the more people who want to follow you will be. As of this writing, my Google+ community consists of over 13,000 people. In addition to that, I probably have a few hundred folks that I’ve added into Circles and eventually I’d like to utilize filters a bit more to organize the people that I follow. Unlike Twitter, I think there’s more value and personalization in me adding folks to specific Circles. Facebook filtering is a bit unnecessary for me, especially since we’re only allowed to have 5,000 friends on Facebook without resorting to a fan page. And I would imagine that most people would want to have Facebook be more personal and closed off instead of a content faucet. So that leaves us with Google+ and their Circles.

A while ago, I found myself going through the enormous number of people who have added me to their Circle. Which one I was added to is irrelevant for me, but what I would like to do is an easier way for me to filter through the unorganized individuals. Surely there can be a more helpful way for me to know why I’d want to add them to a specific Circle. Wouldn’t Google have the necessary algorithm in their search engine to tell me why I should add them and who we both might know? I suppose I’m asking for a very individualistic Suggested User List (SUL) that could tell me what to do with this individual. Are they fellow photographers? Do they have their own startup? Are they a venture capitalist/investor? Are they a celebrity? These are things that would help me better organize people. And yes, we all have our own “cliques”, so it’s no surprise that a bit more granular control would help to make sure that the right people are in the right circle.

But then again, could I be considered an edge case here? I suppose Google+ might not have wanted to apply this feature, if they were considering it at all, because who would realistically have 13,000 people following them? Would the normal average person?

3. Enhanced threaded control

One of the things that I felt was good about FriendFeed (wait, did I say that?) and that Google+ “seemed” to carry over was the threaded conversations. It allowed for much more controlled conversations and that’s probably a good strength that Google+ has over Twitter when it comes to this feature. After all, imagine that you’re in a crowded area (say a concert), and you start to talk about the band playing. Well how would you realistically keep track of the entire conversation when thousands of people crammed into a arena are having several hundred different discussions. That’s kind of what you see with Twitter. And yes, you could have hashtags to do it, but let’s face it…Google+ seems to have better handling.

So a few past instances took place where I thought about creating a discussion/live-blog on Google+. Unfortunately as soon as I started, I found it a bit limiting…and there are a few reasons why and that’s what leaves me with this third feature I’d like to see. First of all, as messier as this might make the system, it would be nice to have some sort of format control that people could have that would control bolding, underlining, ordered and numerical listing, etc. Why? Because a bit more style helps convey information in such a more meaningful manner. Now, yes, I KNOW it’s a social network and not a term paper, but it would help make things easier to read, wouldn’t it?

Next up, why would you limit the amount of text for comments and posts before having that “Expand this post >>” javascript link thing? I know it would help make things a bit more condensed and there’s less scrolling, but wouldn’t it be easier on the News Feed to have the full post displayed and then have the comments viewed when someone clicks on the headline. Viewing it as a separate browser window would be cool too. Comments on blogs aren’t censored in this manner and neither should posts, in my opinion. But I’m sure there’s design considerations to be had here.

But back to my live-blogging experiments. During the most recent TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco and when President Obama had his town hall in Silicon Valley, I tried out Google+ and wanted to share my thoughts in near real-time. Aside from the fact I was “live-blogging” during work time, what I felt was a bit constrained in not being able to embed multiple links into my original post nor able to add new photos or media to supporting comments. If I wanted to make a conversation something more meaningful besides for posterity, it would be good to have it be more archival and conversational. Comment fields should allow people to share thoughts, questions, and media related to the original thread.

4. More mobile photos to be uploaded per album

Maybe this is a bit of a stretch because you technically can have more than eight photos in a photo album on Google+, but that’s only if you upload it from the web interface, NOT from the mobile app at a given time. I suppose it’s because of a bandwidth issue or maybe because they never would have expected people to do it? But if people start using Google+ more than Facebook, they’re going to want to upload their vacation photos, event and conference photos and all around other things en masse. Sure Google+ has Picasa, but with more people practically living off of their mobile device and the camera on phones being touted as the most used phone (surpassing the point & shoot and SLR cameras), it would be nice for the system to be able to scale and handle these massive (in number) photos.

5. Google Dashboard integration

When it’s all said and done, what do we have from Google+? Another place for us to log into and have as an extra window open on our computer? With Google having so many features and even revamping some of their old, but good ones like Google Reader, it would be really great to also do a bit of a home remodeling on the ol’ favorite, Google dashboard. In fact, with lots of businesses rolling out their emails using GMail, communicating using Google Talk, uploading videos using YouTube, sharing files using Google Docs, scheduling with Google Calendar, and tracking web traffic with Google Analytics, wouldn’t the icing on the proverbial cake to tie it all together be Google+? I’d like to see a new Dashboard formed so that all my GMail accounts are tied into this central location along with Google+, YouTube, Google Docs, and a whole slew of their products and viewed in a very interactive, integrated, and design-friendly service. Consolidation is good here…because we all hate having too many windows and tabs open on our computer…it just makes things more difficult to find. Convenience will help people find information and may make people more prone to using the services more.

How to Get Started with Location-Based Marketing

2011-10-28T13:00:00Z

Three tips for combining a consumer's interests and location in your mobile marketing efforts to help give your revenues a lift.

Desk Escapes: The Quest for Quiet

2011-10-28T03:17:01Z

A sign like this at your desk just doesn't cut it.

While distractions come at us every day, the moments of silence get fewer and fewer. Noise is everywhere, while quiet is almost nowhere. Fittingly, quiet moments have gotten really quiet in promoting themselves, while the noisiest places seem to blast their locations out louder than ever.

If there’s one thing you most certainly need when you’re trying to get stuff done, it’s quiet. And since there’s so little room for quiet in the world these days (or so it seems, with 24 hour news cycles and a firehose of information optimized for anytime access known as the Internet), it’s no wonder that productivity can slow to a crawl.

There are several ways to take back those moments of quiet – some can be done from the realtive comfort of your desk, while others require an escape from the everyday. You may only need to step back from the barrage of noise for a moment to see marked improvement in your productivity or you may need to remove yourself from the environment altogether.

But what if you need some quiet while working? Here are three ways that can get you closer to the sound of silence – and much closer to getting what you want to get done…done.

Use Headphones

I used to work with a colleague who placed headphones on his ears for a great deal of the day, especially when he needed to focus. But he never played any music in them. He put them on his head to get the quiet he needed (and craved) and unless you knew his work habits, you assumed he was listening to music all the while. It was a clever tactic and it kept external noise – and people – at bay.

Another strategy would be to actually play music through the headphones. Music can be a great motivator for some, so using it to keep you on track and singularly focused is a great way to get the quiet you need and deserve. Classical music or soft jazz can be a form of “quiet” for people, as it keeps distractions away. Sometimes quiet is just less noise. Headphones gives you the chance to get as little noise – and as much quiet – as you want.

Use the Door

If you’ve got one, use it when you feel the need. A closed door is the universal sign of “don’t disturb me”, and you can further that meaning by explaining to your co-workers that when your door is shut that they shouldn’t even bother knocking.

Now…if you keep your door closed much of the workday, then this tactic won’t exactly cut it. Pulling off this kind of escape from noise usually requires you to have an “open door policy” for much of the time. It’s hard to tell your colleagues to refrain from knocking on your door when you have it shut so often. You may want to try opening your door more often in this case – you may find that you can get work done with an open door that doesn’t require a lack of noise. And when you close your door you (and your colleagues) will know that it’s time for you to get down to some really focused work.

Kill Alerts

Turn off every single notification you’ve got. Mute the phone. Turn off the visual notifications. Silence your computer. Don’t let anything detract you from the quiet atmosphere you’ve created. Get rid of the audible clutter (removing the visual clutter isn’t a bad idea, either) and you’ll find that the noise you’ve got in your workday may be bearable going forward. Bearable enough that it seems quiet by comparison.

How do you grab a much-needed break from the noise while at your desk? Share your ideas in the comments below.

Mike Vardy is an independent writer, speaker, podcaster and "productivity pundit" who also dishes the goods at Vardy.me. You can follow him daily on Twitter, listen to him weekly on ProductiVardy, and read more from him eventually at Eventualism.

How to Nip Procrastination in the Bud Once and for All

2011-10-28T09:00:44Z

Ironically, procrastination is a problem that we all seem to put off dealing with. Many people will keep putting off their obligations for as long as they can, even if they are fully aware that their lives would be so much easier, if only they were able to do everything they want to do on time.

Procrastination is something that affects people of all ages. Many college students put off studying for an exam or writing a paper for as long as they can, and then they have to pull a ridiculous all-nighter to compensate. Office workers set aside boring paperwork and avoid it until their bosses demand it at the end of the month, making them spend extra hours in the office for no good reason.

This type of behavior is not only unhealthy, but it also negatively affects the quality of your work in most cases.

Procrastination plagues us all, and in today’s world it is especially pronounced. Have you ever sat down at your computer to get some work done, but instead, ended up spending four hours commenting on your friends’ Facebook statuses and watching funny Youtube videos? With so many distractions begging for your attention on the Web, you need to be more adamant than ever these days about avoiding procrastination.

Remedying this behavior is of the utmost importance, not only for the sake of your time and sanity, but also for the sake of your success. Not getting your work done on time and handing in sloppy work to your teacher or your boss after you’ve rushed to get everything done last minute does not speak kindly of your work ethic or your ambitions. Procrastination can even affect your personal life. How many times can you cancel a movie date with your significant other because of work that has piled up without annoying them?

Procrastination is just like any other problem in life — you need to first admit that you have the problem before you can fix it. And once you admit your problem, you must remain steadfast in your intentions to change your ways.

Here’s what you must do if you want to nip your procrastinating ways in the bud, once and for good.

Weigh the Pros and Cons

This is the simplest and easiest way to get rid of your procrastinating habits. Once you sit down and see what you gain and what you lose from this behavior, it should be clear as day that procrastination is not doing anything to make your life easier or better.

The only pro of procrastinating is that you are not doing any work – you are relaxing. However, that does not negate the fact that this work needs to get done. When you are not doing the work, you are not actually freed from the work; you are just avoiding it and putting it off for another time. So, this pro of procrastination is not really much of a benefit, outside the temporary satisfaction of relaxation and not doing work.

What you might not realize is that the less you procrastinate, the more time you will have to relax. The cons of procrastination heavily outweigh the pros. When you are putting off doing work during the time in which you are supposed to be getting work done, that means that you are not only wasting that time, but you are also cutting into your relaxation and enjoyment time, which will now have to be used to get this work done.

Sitting in the cubicle and reading Twitter posts all day might seem more fun than working, but now you are going to have to make up that time. So even though it seems that you have more time to relax when you are procrastinating, the truth is that the more you put off things, the less free time you actually have.

Get Organized

Now that you have realized that nothing good can come of this, it is time to get organized and change your ways. Whether you have regular working hours or you are a student, you have a schedule. Make sure that you are aware of this schedule and map out your obligations. If you are working 9 to 5, get all of your work done in that period.

If you have two hours to study after classes, make sure that you use this period of time to study. Recognize when it is that you should be working and then make sure you are ready to work at those times.

Make a Plan

Once you are aware of what portion of your day should be allotted for getting work done and what part of the day should serve as your free time, now you have to make a plan for the constructive use of your work time. Making lists is a very good thing to do. Map out all of the obligations that you have for the coming week.

Once you have all of these tasks on paper, take a look at them and figure out how much time you will need to do each of them. This plan serves as a reminder and it should be followed as closely as possible. By now, you should be fully aware that sticking to this plan is what you need to do in order to improve the quality of your work and the quality of your life as well.

Reward Yourself

Sticking to the plan is made easier by giving yourself rewards for reaching your goals. For example, you are a blogger and you need to write two blogs today. You know that it takes you two hours to write one blog, so you will need four hours of continuous work to finish what you have to do for the day. If this is the case, set aside five hours.

Finish one blog post, then reward yourself with an hour of off time for surfing the Web and relaxing. In this off time, call a friend and ask them if they want to grab a drink at the bar in three hours. Now you have obligations, a plan and a reward looming in the distance once you have finished. Get the second blog post done in time to meet your friend, and then reward yourself with a night out.

–

By realizing the benefits of getting work done on time, making a plan, completing your work on time, and then reaping the rewards of your hard work in the end, you are conditioning yourself to expel procrastination from your life forever. Now get back to work.

How do you deal with procrastination? Share your tips with us.

Photo by SuperFantastic.

How to Do a Simple Productivity Audit

2011-10-28T11:00:26Z

A Simple Productivity Audit

Do you ever feel overwhelmed or have too much to do? Have you been known to move around like a headless chicken? If so, maybe it’s time to do a Productivity Audit.

Here are a few questions that will help you decide if it is time to audit your efficiency:

Do you feel in control of your workload?

Is your email inbox regularly emptied?

Are you a distraction free zone?

Are you as efficient and productive as you know you should be?

If you answered “no” to any one of those questions it may be a good idea to stop and take an impartial look at your current systems. By taking an objective look and making informed decisions about your personal efficiency, you will be one step closer to stress free productivity.

Here are a few simple ways you can assess your current systems to see if you are working as efficiently as possible.

Check Your Hardware

Is your PC or Mac slowing you down or holding you back? Maybe a larger monitor or a dual screen setup would enable you to work more quickly. If your current system is slower than you would like it to be, take a look at boosting its performance. There are many ways to do this, such as doing a hard drive defragment or by buying more RAM. The other option is to replace it completely. If you bought your computer 10 years ago and you are reluctant to say goodbye, take note of how long it takes your PC to boot up. Think of the seconds, minutes and hours over a year that you spend waiting on your programs to load and walk away without looking back.

Reassess Software Programs

Are the programs you use the best ones for what you need to do? Are you using a spread sheet program to store your customer database? Are you using your email program to the best of its ability? Are you using a calendar and syncing it with your phone? There are many ways to do things, but reassessing your goals and requirements is a good place to start to see if you have all the programs that you need to do your job well. The software that met your needs five years ago may no longer be the right one to fit your requirements today.

Share Documents

There are a couple of solutions when it comes to sharing documents. You can either install a wired or wireless network or you can avail of many of the “cloud” solutions such as Google Apps or Dropbox to share common files. Without these types of solutions you are at risk of having different versions of the same file in different places. Dropbox and Google Apps are useful even if you want to share your files with yourself. If you want to access your files on the road, these solutions can be ideal.

Do a Time Audit

How do you spend your working day? Do you work flat out from 9 until 5 or do you mess around and jump from task to task? Do you know how the hours in your day are spent or do you fool yourself into thinking that you only spent one hour yesterday between Facebook and Twitter? There are many programs that can be used to record how you spend your time on your PC, or if you are honest with yourself you can take a sheet of paper and write down exactly what you are doing and how long you spent on different tasks. Awareness is a powerful attribute to have on your side; only when you know how you are spending your time can you know if the things you “busy yourself with” are getting you closer to your goals.

Eliminate

From your time audit you will probably identify time spent on time wasting activities. Once you identify the time-wasters, you can eliminate them. Simplify to become more productive. There may also be work that you do that you think is of value, like browsing Linkedin, Twitter or other social networks. Again, an objective view is necessary. Are these activities adding value to what you are trying to achieve or are they just helping you to avoid the big ugly tasks on your list that you are procrastinating on?

Conclusion

A simple productivity audit can help you to make your systems more efficient — and save you a lot of time and stress. Give it a try…and let me know in the comments what you discovered.

Ciara Conlon is a Personal Productivity Coach and author. Her mission is to help people achieve their best through working efficiently and being positive and present. “With Productivity and Positivity there is little you can’t achieve” Find out more about Ciara and sign up for her tips, articles and links at Productivity & Positivity

Why I Write With My iPhone

2011-10-28T14:00:13Z

I write more than the average bear and I try to write every single day no matter what. Whether it be a couple of sentences or my 750 words habit, writing is something that I enjoy doing.

With the release of the iPad in 2010 there have been a slew of writers taking to its portable and sleek design. It can easily be taken anywhere and is quick to hook up to a Bluetooth keyboard, open a writing app, and go to town.

Because of this we have also seen a ton of new writing apps hit the iOS App Store in the last year or so. We have outlined some of the best iPhone writing apps here on Lifehack and I have to say that every month or so there is something new that tends to impress and leads me to purchase.

But, typing on the iPad isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. In fact, I do most of my mobile writing on iPhone. Here’s why.

Portrait, fast keyboard, small screen

There have been recent improvements to the iPad’s keyboard on the new version of iOS allowing the user to slit the keyboard and touch type. It’s pretty awesome and works OK in practice. But there is nothing like flying on a portrait iPhone keyboard. I can even “fat thumb” my way through an article and iOS is smart enough to know what I want to say 90% of the time.

The small screen of the iPhone limits me to a small portion of text in the window that I can view. This helps me not think too much about what I am writing and focus more on getting ideas down fast. I can go back later and change things up. The reduced amount of text on my screen helps me concentrate on the act of writing.

The portrait keyboard on the iPhone is spaced almost perfectly for my hands and allows me to type much faster than on my iPad, even with the new split keyboard. Some say, “well then use a Bluetooth keyboard, you jackal”. To that, I speak my next point.

Anywhere I go

The iPhone is the most ubiquitous tool I have ever used in my life. Maybe second only to a piece of paper and a trusty Uniball Vision RT. But, my point is that the iPhone is glued to my hip all the time. When I’m in line at Starbucks. At my desk. With Siri and a headset in my car. Everywhere I go.

And because of this ubiquity, I can jot down a couple of sentences for a post anywhere. Now, with Siri and voice dictation I can “write” while driving. The iPhone is truly a “write anywhere” type of tool and because of that I prefer it over the iPad or even my home PC (because I can lay down in bed while writing).

When a tool for writing and getting thoughts down is with you anywhere the resistance to create is lowered and the excuses of why you aren’t doing it are turned into bullshit.

How to do it for yourself

OK, so maybe I have convinced you that your iPhone is the way you should write. If so, here are some tools for your iPhone writing that can help you out.

TextExpander Touch

This is downright the best tool for text expansion on any platform. Give TextExander something long that you normally type, even longer words, assign a “snippet” to it (a shorter piece of text) and type away, friend.

Evernote

If you want to talk about ubiquity of writing and note taking then Evernote can’t be left from the conversation. I have had some qualms with Evernote in the recent past, mostly because of data portability, but after listening to a recent Mac Power Users I have decided to give Evernote another look and try. In fact, I am writing this sentence in Evernote on my iPhone.

Notesy

If you are a plain text, Markdown kind of animal then Notesy for iPhone is what you want to work with. It’s simple, fast, has Markdown previews, integrates with TextExpander Touch, and syncs with Dropbox. What more can you ask for?

A wired headset

If you want to dictate with your shiny new iPhone 4S or even use Dragon Dictate for your “lesser” iPhone to get text down on the go, then all you need is a decent wire headset. The one that comes with the iPhone is OK, but I “upgraded” to the Apple in-ear headset. The results are great.

So, to keep my writing habit alive I find that writing on my iPhone is one of the most pleasurable and frictionless ways to do it. It helps me stay focused and allows me to do it anywhere. Give it a try and see how your iPhone can help in your writing habit.

iPhone 4S Battery Problems May Be a Bug with iOS Location Services [In Brief]

2011-10-30T20:00:00Z

British news site The Guardian reports that a large number of people have found that the Setting Time Zone update is operating even when there is no chance the user would have moved to a different time zone. If true, this could explain the poor battery life of the iPhone 4S. More »

How to Reboot Yourself

2011-10-19T03:11:21Z

Photo credit: Juan Ignacio Sánchez Lara

“Alright everybody…back to ones.”

This is what you’ll hear if you’re working on a film set and they’re going to reshoot a scene. I’ve been an extra in several films, and the more times I heard that phrase meant the more hours I was going to be spending on set that day. It wasn’t the greatest sentence to hear, but deep down I knew that the intent behind it was to get the scene completed just right. Going “back to ones” time and time again rebooted the scene until it worked.

There are times in our lives where we need to reboot ourselves. We get stuck in a pattern, follow the wrong path for too long or simply need a jolt; that’s when rebooting can be the best thing we can do. Think about when you reboot a computer: you’re essentially changing how it is currently functioning (usually slowly and sluggishly) and getting it back to where it was when you first powered it up. You’re not changing the entirety of the computer, just the way it is currently operating. When you reboot yourself, you’re doing the same thing. You’re not changing the inner workings of yourself, you’re changing how you’re currently operating.

But rebooting yourself isn’t as easy as pressing a power button or holding down control-alt-delete. There’s more to it than that.

Remove Yourself

When you are going about the reboot process, you need to step back and steer clear of whatever it is that you’re doing that is causing the need to reboot. That may mean taking a day off of work mid-week or taking a trip to get away from it all so that you can get clear with yourself. Regardless, it has to be something that you would not normally do. Calling in sick mid-week or taking one of your vacation days to break the pattern of a steady work week is one method. Using paid vacation to go as far away from what’s got you stuck is another. This isn’t running away from the problem – this is putting yourself in a place where you can really look at it and decide what the next step is. The goal is to reset yourself and you can’t do that when you’re still “on”.

Rest Yourself

Once you’ve taken the time to get clear on your next move, take the time to enjoy that moment. When a computer reboots it takes a bit of time to refresh itself. You don’t press the power button and see it instantly turn back on. It spends time getting ready for what’s next. That’s what you need to do.

You need to reflect on what you’ve decided to do and why you’ve decided to do it – and then look forward to what’s next. There’s no clutter involved, no stress. You’re just warming up. You’re getting ready to go. That takes time and energy. So rest up…and then go.

Recognize Yourself

Now that you’re clear and rested, recognize what you’re going to do to keep operating at the level you need to without having to reboot again anytime soon. Rebooting slows you down initially but once you’re up and running again you start to progress rapidly – as long as you stay focussed on what your intention is. You need to recognize this and act on it, otherwise you’ll be rebooting yourself again far too soon.

If you do end up having to reboot yourself too often for your liking, then there’s a bigger problem. You’re worn out in the current situation and no reboot can sustain you for very long. That’s when you need an overhaul. Coming to this conclusion also takes recogintion on your part, so having the awareness to recognize yourself in the rebooting process can save you a ton of time, enery and suffering in the future. As with a computer, there’s nothing more frustrating than having to constantly be rebooted. Recognize when a reboot works and when an upgrade is in order. It’s not just a time-saver – it’s a lifesaver.

Yourself…Rebooted

Just as being stuck can be a stick in the craw of your productivity, so can not knowing how to get yourself unstuck. The next time you feel that you’d be better off just trudging through your difficulties, think about giving yourself a reboot. It may just be the wake-up call you need, and now you’ve got the tools to get it done.

Don’t quit on yourself and your situation. Take a page from technology and “force quit” what’s going on and fire yourself up again. You may find out a lot more about what’s going on inside you and whether or not you need to refresh your life – or if you need to upgrade your life.

Coworking: Sharing How We Work Part I

2011-10-19T09:00:23Z

In the past, when trying to find places to work, independent workers, small businesses, and organizations often had to choose between several scenarios, all with their attendant advantages and disadvantages: working from home; working from a coffee shop, library, or other public venue; or leasing an executive suite or other commercial space.

Is there a better way to work? Yes. Enter coworking.

Coworking takes freelancers, indie workers, and entrepreneurs who feel that they have been dormant or isolated working alone at home or who have been migrating from a coffee shop to a friend’s garage or languishing in a sterile business center — to a space where they can truly roost.

“We can come out of hiding,” a coworker tells us, “and be in a space that’s comfortable, friendly, and has an aesthetic appeal that’s a far cry from the typical cookie-cutter office environment.”

What Makes Coworking Better

For many, it might be puzzling to pay for a well-equipped space teeming with other people, even with the chance of free coffee and inspiration. You might ask yourself, “Well, why pay for a place to work when I’m perfectly comfortable at home and paying nothing?” Or, “Isn’t the whole point of telecommuting or starting my own business a chance to avoid ‘going to the office’?”

Coworking may sound like an unnecessary expense, but let’s consider what you get from being a part of the space.

At its most basic level, coworking is the phenomenon of workers coming together in a shared or collaborative workspace for one or more of these reasons: to reduce costs by having shared facilities and equipment, to access a community of fellow entrepreneurs, and to seek out collaboration within and across fields. Coworking spaces offer an exciting alternative for people longing to escape the confines of their cubicle walls, the isolation of working solo at home, or the inconveniences of public venues.

The benefits and cost-savings in productivity and overall happiness and well-being reaped from coworking are also potentially huge. Enthusiasm and creativity become contagious and multiply when you diversify your work environment with people from different fields or backgrounds. At coworking spaces, members pass each other during the day, conversations get going, and miraculously idea-fusion happens with everyone benefitting from the shared thinking and brainstorming.

Differences matter. Coworking hinges on the belief that innovation and inspiration come from the cross-pollination of different people in different fields or specializations. Random opportunities and discoveries that arise from interactions with others play a large role in coworking.

Coworking and Google

To see this in action on a large scale, think about Google. Google made the culture of sharing and collaboration in the workplace legend. It deployed “grouplets” for initiatives that cover broader changes through the organization.

One remarkable story of a successful Google grouplet involved getting engineers to write their own testing code to reduce the incidence of bugs in software code. Thinking creatively, the grouplet came up with a campaign based on posting episodes discussing new and interesting testing techniques on the bathroom stalls. “Testing on the Toilet” spread fast and garnered both rants and raves. Soon, people were hungry for more, and the campaign ultimately developed enough inertia to become a de facto part of the coding culture. They moved out of the restrooms and into the mainstream.

Keith Sawyer, a professor of psychology and education at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, has written widely on collaboration and innovation. In his study of jazz performances, Keith Sawyer made this observation, “The group has the ideas, not the individual musicians.” Some of the most famous products were born out of this mosh pit of interaction — in contrast to the romantic idea of a lone working genius driving change. According to Sawyer, more often than not, true innovation emerges from an improvised process and draws from trial-by-error and many inputs.

Unexpected insights emerge from the group dynamic. If increasing interaction among different peer groups within a single company could lead to promising results, imagine the possibilities for solopreneurs, small businesses, and indie workers — if only they could reach similar levels of peer access as those experienced by their bigger counterparts. It is this potential that coworking tries to capture for its members.

–

Do you agree? Let us know if you’ve experienced coworking and if so, how did it go?

Read Part II of the series here.

Photo by Werkheim.

Google+ For The Workshifter

2011-10-19T14:35:36Z

Google+, the latest and greatest social network, hit the Interweb about 4 months ago in a limited field trial. A select group of, oh, 25 million people or so were invited to poke around and check things out. Last month, Google+ opened its doors to the public at large, so now you only need a free Google profile to get started.

But why join another social network, you ask? Well, that's not an easy question to answer, but the web is all about choice. Providing a new way to connect, share and collaborate might just be a good thing. With privacy and sharing features that differ from Facebook's and a posting format longer than Twitter's, Google+ is quickly becoming a contender in the social media market. I've been looking at G+ through the lens of a workshifter lately, and I'm finding all sorts of benefits for those of us who work in online offices.

Expand Your Network

I'm meeting all sorts of new people on G+. Whereas it can sometimes be challenging to follow the fast-moving Twitter timeline, G+ offers many neat filtering options that let me streamline the way I see folks - kind of like putting a magnifying glass on my social feed. By dragging and dropping people into Circles, I can surf by interest (adding people to lists on Twitter takes more steps than I'm willing to bother with). Most people on Google+ spend a lot of time sharing great content like links and videos, meaning there's an opportunity to get involved in some fun conversations. Google+ also allows long-form posts and displays comments pretty well, so it's easy to follow the real-time updates.

Search Socially

Since Google+ is owned by, well, Google, the search functionality is powerful (and even more powerful now that the site is public). For example, I can search for "fiction authors" and find posts where users are discussing writers, or I can search for people who actually are fiction authors themselves. Because Google profiles can be really detailed, they are extremely searchable. Think of what this means for connecting with others you're interested in and what it means for them being able to connect with you - powerful stuff. If you spend most of your time working alone, you are better able to reach out and network.

Organize Your Interactions

The Circles functionality is fantastic. You can create groups for any number of interests and organize your information streams any way you like. You can have a feed for close friends and another for book club buddies. Then, you can read and share information with just those people. Not everyone who follows me on G+ may be interested in my latest course development techniques or my veggie lasagna recipe. Google+ lets me have different conversations with different groups, which is great for connecting with people who share our particular hobbies or industry.

Hang Out

Want to meet up with friends but can't get everyone together in person? Dump them all into a circle and invite them to a Google Hangout, a multi-way video chat that holds up to 10 people. Google recently added some new "Extras" that allow you to name hangouts, create shared notes and sketchpads, integrate Google Docs and share screens. It's all nicely consolidated on one screen, too.

All in all, I think Google+ is one to watch, especially as a workshifter. It's robust, and for those of us who live online, it's got plenty of features. Why not give it a try?

Photo Credit: Magnet 4 Marketing dot Net

Being Happy at Work Takes Work

2011-10-23T15:43:35Z

You might not believe me when I tell you this, but I have one wish for my children, and it’s not that they are intelligent or successful. I want them to be happy. That’s it. If happiness is a challenge for you, you might understand where I’m coming from. And thanks to experts like New [...] Related posts:

TMN’s 12 Rules of Project Management

2011-10-20T12:55:59Z

Project management.

These two words bring thoughts of complexity, confusion, and even fear to many companies.

People believe that project management is some sort of secret art that few people can master.

I am here to tell you, it’s not that difficult.

It just takes hard work, discipline, and more hard work.

Unfortunately, many companies fall short in these areas.

Making Project Management Hard

Want to know why so many companies have problems with project management?

It is simple: They overcomplicate things.

Really.

If your corporate project has meetings with 15 people present and project updates that are mini-novels… then your project has gotten too complex.

If your project documentation is larger than the manual needed to start up a nuclear reactor… then it has gotten too complex. (I would know.)

If over half of your time is scheduled for project updates with various stakeholders… then it definitely has gotten too complex.

Why do companies do this?

For many, they feel that they have to “include” everyone before they make a decision.

For others, it is because they are incapable of making a decision. Sometimes it’s both.

Many companies confuse complexity with skill and work accomplished.

“Unless you are planning the next deep space mission, you don’t need a 48-page Gantt chart on how you are going to launch that new project.”

Oh, but your company doesn’t have issues with project management, you say?

Do any of these sound familiar…?

- Projects don’t finish on time (Sometimes they don’t finish at all.)

- Budgets are expected to be exceeded

- Deadline extensions are assumed

- Status updates are sent out more often than actual work products

The simple fact is that most companies are their own worst enemy when it comes to project management.

TMN’s 12 Rules of Project Management

In the name of simplicity, I am not going to provide a dissertation on project management.

Instead, here are my 12 thumb rules for project management:

Keep It Simple. – I wish I had something flashier as Rule #1. But, this is always #1. The most common reason projects fail is because they are made too complex. Often they don’t start that way, but they quickly become overrun by too many people, too many status updates, & too many documents. What begins as a 4 person project becomes a review by 24 people and the entire executive suite.
Bring the A-Team - Important projects aren’t done by one person. It takes a team of people with different skills and strengths. Allow team players to contribute their individual strengths. You may have a technical expert. A detail person. The get-it-done action hero. Each brings different skills needed to make the overall project a success.
You Don’t Have Time For Non-Participants - Every project has their share of critics, nay-sayers and non-participants. My recommendation: Don’t bother with them. If someone is not contributing or doesn’t want to be part of the team, remove them and be quick about it. Their presence will only to serve to obstruct and demotivate the other team members. The sports coach is swift to bench the player who is complaining and not giving 100%. Yet, in the corporate world, companies often feel like they owe everybody the chance to participate.
Have a Plan, Not a Thesis – Ah, the infamous project plan. You have to have one, right? Yes, you do need a plan. However, abide by Rule #1. Don’t make a NASA-sized plan for a simple project. Keep it simple, straightforward, and lean. It doesn’t have to be pretty, it has to be effective. Bloated, colorful project plans only serve to waste time and add unnecessary complexity. I worked with one company that was more concerned about the look and format of status updates than the quality of work being done on the actual project.
Use the Right Tools – What are the right tools? They are the tools that get the job done and that your team will use. It may be a white board or written status board. It may be project management software. Whatever it is, make sure that you and your team are using it religiously.
Speed is Key - Many projects get bogged done in the planning phase. They are slow to start and some never get out of the gate. Speed matters. It builds momentum. Haste doesn’t always make waste. Don’t underestimate the power of speed to get work done.
Keep Deadlines Deadly - Why is it OK to miss deadlines in today’s world? Make sure your projects live and die by their deadlines. Keep deadlines tight and do not be afraid to allot projects less time than initially estimated. Deadlines bring accountability, creativity, and hard work.
Make Decisions - Make decisions and make them often. A project without swift decisions is a research project. It isn’t going anywhere. Good project managers make good decisions with the information at hand. Good decisions now are always better than perfect decisions later.
Every Project Hits the Wall – Heads up, your project will have a crisis. Every project does at some point. Even the best of plans will hit rough spots. Be ready for them. Expect them and allow enough resources and time to deal with them. Every successful project has a low point, the key is pushing forward when it occurs.
Listen to the Doers - Want to know how a project is going? Ask those doing the work. Many projects derail because they start “listening to the sidelines.” That is, they begin listening to people not directly involved in the project. Don’t let sideline chatter change the actual work being done. Ignore it, and instead listen to the ones doing the work.
Beware The Fire Drill – Some projects are within inches of completion when someone pulls the fire alarm. This can stop a successful project in its tracks. Often this will be a minor detail that threatens to derail the larger effort. It can even be when a senior leader decides late in the game that they are going to try and influence the project at the last-minute. Avoid fire drills that do not serve the goal of the project. When the fire drill comes, stop and ask, “Is this something that needs to be addressed before the project completes?”
You Have to Finish to Win - Have you ever been on a project that runs out of gas within sight of the finish line? It never quite gets there. It doesn’t come to completion and loose ends abound. Unless there is a decision made to cancel the project, make sure that your project actually finishes.

A Dozen Rules, Plus One

I thought I would go ahead and make it a baker’s dozen… here is a bonus rule…

13. Beware the Buzzwords – You should be very concerned if you find yourself in endless meetings hearing words like: stakeholders, Gantt chart, gap analysis, and post-mortem. These are terms that are often bandied about by those trying to avoid work. Or covering up the lack thereof. Run… run the other way.

Remember, there are 3 things that get projects done: hard work, discipline, and more hard work.

What are you best project management rules? How is your company at project management?

Setting the Scene for a Productive Day

2011-10-20T00:00:00Z

Your desk setup and surrounding environment play a huge role in your ability to focus and produce great work. A look at how to "script" your space for creative success.

Ten Things You Need to Get Done Today

2011-10-21T10:58:28Z

I don’t want to alarm you, but I have been looking at your todo list.

And I see that you have a few things that you haven’t gotten to.

I just wanted to help you spotlight some things you need to do…today.

What’s On Your List?

Our todo lists can be our best friends.

They help us capture things and they have our backs when we forget them.

However, often there are things on our lists that we neglect or let linger for too long.

We put them off, procrastinate, or avoid them. Sometimes we are too busy doing other people’s work to do our own.

When we do this, we create more stress and friction in our lives. Undone tasks create more work for us down the road.

So, let’s take a look at the things we are not getting done.

Here are just a few things that are probably on your list today…

10 Things You Need to Get Done Today

Laundry – Is it done and put away? Or are you living out of laundry baskets?
Car Maintenance – Preventative maintenance prevents problems. Get that issue checked or that oil changed.
Doctor Appointment – You’ve been meaning to call the doctor, haven’t you? Do it.
Company You Need to Call – You know the one. The one with which you have the account or billing problem. The longer your put it off, the more difficult it will be to resolve.
Backup Your Computer – If your computer crashed today, what would you lose? Put a backup plan in place. It only takes a few minutes to protect your irreplaceable photos, documents and more.
Start That Hobby – You’ve been meaning to start that new hobby. You need to do it. Here’s why your hobby will make your more productive.
Spend Time With Your Spouse - Ask your spouse (or significant other) on a date. Make reservations today.
Learn That New Skill – We all have something we have been meaning to learn. Whether a simple skill or something for our job. There are many ways to easily learn new skills.
Exercise – Get to the gym. You have time. No excuses.
Clean Up the House - What area have you been meaning to clean? If you can’t devote a block of time to do it, try eating that elephant bit-by-bit.

Get It Done…Today

Are any of the above on your list?

Maybe a few of them?

I swear I haven’t been looking in your dayplanner or hacking your phone.

I just had a feeling that these things were on your list, too.

What’s on your todo list today?

Why you should stop obsessing about distractions during remote meetings

2011-10-21T18:36:20Z

In the minds of many managers, the tools that allow us to collaborate at a distance are a double-edged sword. Sure, your employee can get that last-minute email back to you from the check-in line at the airport using their smartphone, but what’s stopping her from using the same device to text message during meetings? Videoconferencing lets you connect with your team 24-7, but it’s hard to know if they’re listening intently or honing their doodling skills.

This fear of distraction may be understandable, but it’s also misplaced according to a recent post on Management Issues by Wayne Turmel. Among several tips to keep team members engaged when communicating at a distance, Turmel suggests simply acknowledging that being far away can make us a bit paranoid. We demand more reassurance and attention from remote colleagues than we would ever expect face to face:

Just because they do something else for a moment doesn’t mean they’re not hanging in there. If you’ve never “zoned out” during a face-to-face meeting, you’re a better man than I, Gunga Din. Few of us are so riveted by what’s going on that we can’t do something else for a brief period then re-engage. Unless you’re specifically asking for their input, they will probably be back.

Turmel makes a great point about the insecurity that is born of working via the web rather than in person, but there are other reasons to stop stressing about getting your team’s undivided attention during remote meetings. Simply put, harnessing “backchannel” communications such as texting or tweeting, may work better than prohibiting them, whether you’re presenting in person or from 10,000 miles away.

For example, SXSW presenters Christopher Fahey and Timothy Meaney have argued on A List Apart that the old expectation of a passive, silent audience is out of date and speakers should aim to engage rather than enrapture their audiences. They focus is on traditional conference speakers but the point holds for those presenting or speaking remotely:

Conventional conference wisdom is that speakers are fighting a war for the audience’s attention. On one side, there’s the speaker, armed with beautiful slides, succinct bullet points, a commanding stage presence, and a great speech. On the other side is Twitter, Facebook, e-mail, YouTube, etc. The audience is in the middle, torn between datastreams.

The backchannel irritates many speakers. But giving the speaker the power to cut audiences off from the backchannel would be, we think, the wrong solution…. It’s time to empower the audience…. We need to react in meaningful ways. Not just clapping or booing, but actually communicating and conversing…. The model of the rapt audience so enthralled by a speaker that you can hear a pin drop actually prevents this kind of meaningful reaction.

Their solution is a Twitter-like app to allow audience members react to the speaker and each others’ comments in real time. But managers looking to utilize rather than suppress backchannel interactions on a conference call, for example, don’t need to invest in any special technology.

As we’ve covered here on WebWorkerDaily before, experts like Seth Godin and veteran remote managers like Orange Business Services’ Mark Fitzpatrick both recommend simply allowing participants to use text chat as a second communication channel running under the main speaker during conference calls and remote meetings.

“When you put text chat in parallel with a voice conference call, magical things happen,” Godin says, suggesting this controlled distraction increases participation, enables real-time commenting and tracks the flow of later ideas for later examination.

When it comes to distractions during remote meetings are you a hawk or a dove? Should managers give tech-enabled (perhaps tech-engendered) distractible minds a channel to productively wander or crack down on the equivalent of high-tech doodling?

Image courtesy of Flick user DoNotLick.

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How to Make Productivity Fun

2011-10-22T03:00:28Z

Balloons are fun. Productivity can be too.

Having “lived” in the productivity realm for several years now, I know exactly how dry a topic it can be. For those that adopt and stick with a productivity system, there are even more that don’t stick with (or never explore) a system. Finding a productivity system that works for you is hard work – often trial and error – and sticking with one is even harder. But it doesn’t have to be that way if you look at how adopting a productivity system can benefit you over the long haul, rather than judging the proverbial book by its cover.

I’ve been able to dissect the various aspects of how productivity systems can be a huge asset to your life if you stick with them because of how long I’ve been looking at them. The reason most people adopt a system is because they want to find more time in their lives to do the things that they are passionate about; the things that fulfill them. It’s not about crossing things off of a list on a daily basis – that’s just what appears to happen on the surface. You try to be more productive because you are mindful about what you want. The problem with adopting a system for so many of us is that we get caught up in the “doing” rather than realize it is a means towards the “being” – getting closer to what we really want. And when we get caught up in doing stuff, we’re “doing productive” and not “being productive”. Yet we abandon the system before we allow the long haul benefits to really kick in, which happens after we escape worrying about doing stuff. The system starts to take care of itself more than the other way around. You just have to trust it.

Trusting anything is something that takes time, but if you can make it fun along the way then the time passes much quicker. But how do you make something as “dry” as productivity…fun?

Start With The Small Stuff

Change: it’s rarely fun. Human beings are averse to change, and throwing one into a productivity mindset is one of the biggest changes possible. So don’t do that.

Instead, tackle small items from within your newly-adopted system first. Things that seem as mundane as “take out the garbage” or “review phone messages” may be automatic to you at this point, but put them in your system. Check them off as you do them, and start to add other things in there as well that you would do almost without thinking. (Don’t worry, you’ll be able to rid yourself of those items from the system at some point if you choose, but by adding them you’re entering a mindset of using your productivity system in a manner that is as painless as possible.) As you see items get checked off, you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment as they start to add up. You’re rewarding yourself for things you used to do with no visual reward at all. Doing so will encourage you to build upon those successes and will create comfort inside the system. While it may not be incredibly fun for some, it definitely isn’t painful for most.

Use Fun Tools

Are you a fan of gadgets? Then use one to manage your productivity, like an iPhone or even a LiveScribe notebook. More of a paper person? Grab yourself a Moleskine and a writing instrument that is a pleasure to use to keep you on track.

By using tools you enjoy using, you’ll find that you’ll be better equipped mentally (and physically) to become more productive within a system you’ve chosen. And you’ll have fun using those tools while you do.

Think Beyond The Lists

Don’t just make up to do lists. Make up goals that you track. Create a “vision board” to give you a road map to what you want out of your life. Keep a journal of where you’re at each day and review it regularly.

The lists are there to ensure you have a record of what you decide to do and what you decide not to do. If you look at your to do lists, you’ll see that you accomplish some tasks and either put off or drop others. Essentially, you can use your lists as a reference for your journal of progress – in fact, it is that journal. The lists will evolve every day while the goals and visions will only do so as you and your circumstances evolve. Your lists can have a say in that evolution, so treat them as such. They can lead you to where you want to be or can lead you astray. Be mindful of that when you put them together and look at back at them.

Create some goals and some plans for the future – some things that go way beyond your usual lists. Don’t censor yourself. It’s not only a fun exercise, but it can be a real educational one as well.

The Perception of Fun

Adopting a system that enables you to be more productive can be a fun adventure. It’s all in how you look at it and the steps you take along the way.

“Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.” ― Wayne W. Dyer

Remember that by putting a system in place that creates a more productive you, you open the doors to channel the mindfulness that will bring you to where you want to be.

Once you’re there, that’s where the real fun begins.

How the web has powered work for 20 years

2011-10-22T16:00:12Z

2011 has been a year of milestone birthdays in tech. September saw Google become a teenager, email hit the big 40 in June, and even Twitter turned five back in March. Perhaps the most significant tech birthday this year, though, was the World Wide Web itself turning 20.

In 1991 British scientist Tim Berners-Lee posted a brief summary of the World Wide Web (or W3) project on the alt.hypertext newsgroup, writing:

“The WWW project was started to allow high energy physicists to share data, news, and documentation. We are very interested in spreading the Web to other areas, and having gateway servers for other data. Collaborators welcome.”

It’s safe to say that Berners-Lee’s invitation to potential collaborators went fairly well. That initial web page has expanded to more than 19 billion pages (at the last count) and there are millions and millions of workers across the globe who rely on the World Wide Web to go about their daily lives. In those 20 years, the changes to the workplace that have taken place thanks to the Internet are nothing short of remarkable. Email is as good a place as any to start.

You’ve got mail

Try to explain the workplace B.E. (before email) to someone under 30, and you could be describing life in the 19th century for all the relevance it has to their working day. Back then, we lived in a world in which quaint technologies such as the fax machine prevailed. With the fax machine, it was not unusual to wait days for a reply.

Later, when Web-based email began to grow in popularity, it transformed communication in the workplace. You could now receive a response to a question within minutes, especially once broadband connections became more commonplace. You could send information and documents to colleagues around the world at the click of a button.

Email overload

But technology was now developing at a pace that seemed astonishing even to those who worked in the industry, and email, after a honeymoon period, hit problems. “Too intrusive,” said some. “Too much of it,” said others. “Not quick enough,” moaned the rest.

When consumer-based instant-messaging technologies infiltrated the workplace – AIM launched in 1997 and Yahoo! Messenger (then Pager) in 1998 – users were suddenly able to communicate with co-workers in real-time. Years later, these tools would often be integrated into a platform that also included voice over Internet protocol (VoIP), shared whiteboards, video conferencing and file transfer features.

It was around this time that social networks also began to establish a presence. Some of these are undoubtedly more consumer-focused, but there can also be no denying that Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter have had a massive impact on working life, too. The ability to communicate and share content with your extended network (and beyond) has transformed many of our traditional working practices. As well as enabling businesses to engage in two-way conversations with their customers, these social networks are now a central part of the recruitment process. Last year, I wrote a piece on how Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter can enable you to find a team of peers without breaking the bank of recruitment agencies. You can tap into your workforce’s network and find like-minded, talented people to become part of your company.

Getting ready to collaborate

The net result of all the technological developments outlined above has been to change the very fabric of how we work. We now live in a collaboration economy. To share and communicate information, ideas and innovation has never been easier, or come more naturally to the workforce. The emergence of the Web has given rise to a global working village, with location and time zone utterly irrelevant. You can work as closely with someone in another country as you would with someone sitting opposite; work from home or on the move, and even send files from your mobile handset to someone on the other side of the world.

This has all been made possible by the World Wide Web. From Skype to smartphones and social networking to SaaS, it’s all underpinned by the internet and the changes to the workplace of 20 years ago are just extraordinary. With a global mobile worker population set to hit 1.19 billion by 2013, one can only wonder what the Internet will bring us next. Bring on the next 20 years!

Andy McLoughlin, Co-founder and EVP Strategy at Huddle, can be reached on Twitter@Bandrew.

Image courtesy of Flickr user thinknew.

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