The last week of the year is always one of my favorites. Why? Because it's the ideal time to peel off that old chapped, scaly skin that's been wearing on you over the course of a year and replace it with a shiny new set of plate mail armor!
It's the ultimate time for course correction and behavior optimization. Sort out those many seemingly "little" things in your life that add up to significant amounts of overhead and hassle that distract from what's really important -- to live the good life.
This process works differently for all people, but its important, in my opinion, that everyone spends some time to evaluate what's working and what's not and make some adjustments - even tiny ones that can make a positive difference.
Here are five key things that I am doing -- oh and it's feeling sooo good!
1. Cutting out low value online services and limiting time spent on all social media in general. After years of early adoption and deep usage on the web, I've seen nothing but diminishing returns lately. I'm not sour or a hater on social media -- just trying to take back some of my valuable time that I can use for higher value activities. Here's my simple "golden rule" for using tech products or services.
Unless a product or service immediately or imminently makes me smarter, wiser, more efficient, more productive, more attractive, happier, or richer I will not use it (and definitely not pay for it)!
Facebook - In the early days, Facebook was a great medium for me to rekindle old relationships and build my personal brand. Now it's become nothing but a carnival of nonsense for me that's a massive drain of time. I'm not leaving it, just significantly curtailing its use. I'll accept new friendships (if they are truly 'friends'), but will be making very few (if any) new status updates or burning valuable time perusing photo albums or an increasingly silly stream of friend updates and postings. Basically, facebook now becomes my online photo repository for remote family members and friends to keep up with what I'm doing with my life. FB, it's been real...
Gowalla - As an early adopter of this service, I had high hopes and wanted to support the local startup. These hopes have been dashed for me because I'm yet to see one iota of value for the paces that I've put the service through over the past eight months. I've topped the leader board at Caffe Medici since I started using Gowalla and not once have I received even a nickel off the double espressos I consistently order. Not good business- both by Gowalla and Caffe Medici. If there's no value to me, it's no use to me and doesn't deserve my time. Bye for now...
Others - I use too many other online and mobile services to list. I'm in the process of evaluating the main offenders of low value (they know who they are) and will systematically cut or curtail usage in the coming weeks. I'm feeling like "less is more" in 2011, especially as my professional life will necessitate more distraction-less focused time, that was all too often pirated by a host of web browsing, notifications, and alerts in 2010. My "free" time is too valuable to me now...
2. Pruning my closet and revamping my wardrobe. As one of the original early participants of the Six Items or Less challenge, I quickly learned the value and relief that having less choices and clutter in my closet brought me on a daily basis. It's taken a bit of time, but last week I purged at least 1/2 of my closet and will be making a massive Good Will delivery to ring in 2011. From this point on I will scrutinize every garment I consider for purchase and ensure that it fills a real need and fits the profile of what I want to put on my body.
3. Career version 4.0! I have not been this excited about my career since I joined Opera Software in Oslo, Norway back in 2000. This will now be the fourth major version of my 17-year career and its shaping up to be another very pivotal shift. I'm looking at everything from working as an independent consultant to being a key player at an exciting local Internet or software startup. My heart is still in technology after all these years, and knowing what I know now about business, design, and human needs, there are so many amazing opportunities to deliver great user experiences that make a difference in people's lives. There is one Austin-based startup in particular that I am very excited about and look to make a decision on soon after the new year. Either way, I'll be doing what I love in 2011.
4. Philosophy of life and business. Nobody really likes getting old, but one of the true benefits to aging, is the wisdom and insight it brings. The value of wisdom and insight is the ability to hone a solid philosophy of business and life that helps guide you through key decisions of what to do and what not to do. It also provides you with the confidence and strength to appreciate everything you have accomplished and posses in life. Especially when it comes to material things -- which are by themselves fleeting -- you can easily avoid the trap of spending too much time and effort worrying about collecting & consuming more and more stuff and the overhead that it takes to manage it all. In 2011, I aim to make this philosophy an even richer part of my daily life and will focus even more on acting on the opportunity, rather than the "good" or "bad" of life's events.
5. Mandate of Authenticty. For the first time in my life, I feel like I know who I am, what's truly important to me, and what I want to spend my time doing. This is an exciting development because I feel like up until now, I've been living the lives of other people or what others wanted of me. Now that I have a daughter, its important to me that she knows her father in full and understands what drives me. That will hopefully also transform the perception of others (including family members, colleagues, and friends) - many of which, I don't feel, know the real me. My present and future relationships mean so much to me and hinge on the firm understanding of who I am and what I want as a human being. 2011 is going to be my coming out party in this regard.
Happy New Year to all and best wishes for a healthy, fulfilling, and prosperous 2011!!
Thinking a lot about all the social media outlets/ sites I use on a daily basis. My goal is to make some big changes in the coming days and weeks. I'd like to find a way to scale back the overhead to maintain this footprint and find a happy balance. Wish me luck.
How much mobile technology in our lives is "enough"? And what's an optimal mix?
I define "mobile" as any electronic device connected through a cellular radio or wifi link.
We as technology users have a great challenge before us to choose the right physical and digital components of mobile technology. It's a daunting task to not only choose from a huge variety of global options, but then manage the overhead of maintaining and becoming proficient with them.
In my opinion, the endless consumption of 'technology', just for the sake of it, is a losing proposition for humans.
Which philosophies must technology companies and consumers adopt to find the right balance of value and reward and help safely guide them towards impact (and happiness)? How do we put mobile technology to work for us rather than the other way around?
Please submit your answers here. Thank you for your thoughts on the subject.
After four great years at frog design, I have decided to move on to new adventures. My last day was yesterday. I'm happy to say after ten years, I've outgrown the business development role and look forward to greater challenges and responsibilities.
Currently, I'm working on two projects with startups here in Austin, and have some other interesting opportunities in the works. Exciting stuff that will allow me to flex my creative as well as business muscles and continue to grow as a professional, and more importantly, a person.
I will miss working with my clients and colleagues -- and nothing beats collaborating and employing design thinking & doing as a means to create innovative products and experiences that improve the lives of end users. That's something I'll take forward in life and continue to apply to all I do.
The last three companies I worked for: Opera Software, Macromedia, and frog design, preceded by 8 years as a product engineer, have all given me such amazing and rich experiences with new people, places, and products. It's all led to who I am today as a person and business partner. I trust that the next stop will bring even greater challenges and outcomes.
Thanks for being such great clients, colleagues, and friends. Thanks for working with me through thick and thin, and most importantly, putting your trust in me to meet tough objectives. I look forward to continuing that honor next time we meet.
Please do stay in touch! I'm always only a click away.
+1 512.577.3326
kakridas@me.com
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Why do I enjoy my job at frog design so much? Because to work there is just as much a lifestyle decision as a career opportunity. I've never been paid to live before and that changes everything.
kk
There are all kinds of designers in this world. The best ones live slow--in the human collective--with their eyes, minds, and hearts open wide.
kk
Do you ever hear yourself saying "I just don't have time" yet find yourself plopped in front of the TV for the better part of every evening?As our to-do lists grow so does our stress and anxiety over getting everything done. While we can't add any more time to our day (unfortunately) we can use the time we do have in a more productive manner. Let's face it watching TV isn't that interactive or demanding. Below are 30 simple little ways to make the most of your TV watching time.Things you can do while watching TV:
Excellent article! I always have intentions to be more productive while I sit in front of the tube, but this piece articulates some really great ideas that I think I'll try during Mad Men.
I'm so obsessed with time and what it really means. Ever since I read 'The 80-20 Principle' by Richard Koch -- especially the chapter about Time Revolution -- I've been on a quest to resolve the meaning of time and how to manage it effectively.
I highly recommend the book as a solid starting point with a warning that it may spark further investigation and obsession around the topic.
What a week, and what a month! What many of us, including the founders, thought was going to be a cute little experiment, has morphed into somewhat of a international 'fashionation'. Who knows where any type of fascination may lead?
First off, I wanted to warmly congratulate and thank the SIoL founders, Heidi and Tamsin, for their thoughtfulness and time in making this all a reality. It's one thing to come up with ideas, it's entirely another to take it to the house. Very. Well. Done!
And the community... What a cool bunch of guys and gals from around the world! It's been real fun getting to know you all. Such articulate thinkers and writers. Let's stay in touch and discover new ways to fight the good fight.
The last few days have been a lot of fun for me personally. Seeing all the publicity that the 'experiment' has received and the thinking that it has stirred up is precious in my world. Nearly a dozen frog designers stopped by my desk on Friday to voice their thoughts and ideas around SIoL, the concept of 'dressing ourselves', and how today's clothing industry often does a poor job in guiding us to make the right decisions. Reading the scores of insightful comments from the NYT article and other articles that covered SIoL around the web, it's clear how emotional and electric the subject is to people of all types. In my business -- the business of innovation and fostering positive behavioral change -- this is a unique opportunity to apply passion to a collaborative process that ultimately defines new concepts to drive compelling improvements in the way the fashion industry designs, manufactures, markets, and sells clothing to the masses.
In short, I could not have hoped for a better outcome when I signed up a little over a month ago.
So, building from my mid-term report, here are my final observations, quips, and takeaways from the SIoL experiment extraordinaire:
- As I observed in Week one my belief is that one's 'total public presentation' is largely made up of a combination of clothing, skin, and attitude. Of the three, I am more convinced than ever that clothing is the least important to spend time precious thinking about and optimizing.
- Nobody really cares what you wear unless it negatively effects work performance or visually offends. So just cover those two areas without fail, and wear whatever makes you effin' happy!
- You don't necessarily need to dress for the job (or social status) you want, but you sure as hell need to present yourself appropriately (see point #1 above) for the task at hand.
- There's only about 12 or so garments in my closest I would consider wearing now. I will be making a massive donation to Good Will next week. Then I can reconstruct very carefully. Brands are officially on notice.
- I am scared to death to go shopping and have no real desire to buy anything right now. I have less of an affinity for brands now and more of an expectation that designers need to get to know me better before they try to sell me clothing (or anything for that matter). Also, I won't be buying anything online, sight unseen (and untouched) anymore (sorry Rue La La, Guilt Man, etc.).
- I notice what everyone else is wearing far more than before. I try not to judge them for it, but often think about why they chose the brands, the garment, the color, the fit - why?
- I am now hyper-aware of my 'total' presentation to people and make better eye contact and communicate better. I think this is a byproduct of wanting to make a more memorable impression from the inside rather than outside.
- I rethinking my workout regiment to be more of a "sweat once per day" consistent routine rather than "when I can find time". Fitness always has and will always need to be a big part of who I am.
- Grooming is a key part of presentation. No amount of clothing or brands can hide lackluster grooming habits.
- I take better care of my clothes now. If you want them to last and look good for the long term, then you have to handle them with care (washing, hanging, folding, eating, etc.).
- I haven't yet defined the 'uniform' I hoped to suss out of the experiment. I feel that I need to learn more about fabrics, cuts, mfg. process, colors, materials, and other key data before I'm able to make an educated decision there.
- My wife no longer thinks I'm nuts.