The Cranking Widgets Blog

Why I Sometimes Choose Living Over Sleeping

I’ll tell you right now, I rarely get enough sleep (assuming “enough” sleep is 8 hours per night). On the average night, I’ll get 5-6 hours of sleep, and sometimes it’s less than that. And It’s not because I can’t sleep – I hardly ever have trouble falling asleep. No, whenever I [...]

Off-Topic: Defining Irony

So yesterday I got this book from Amazon called “Never Eat Alone” by Keith Ferrazzi (which I bought with an Amazon gift certificate I won from Blingo – yay!). It’s about building personal relationships and how it’s your network of friends and colleagues that will really make the difference between success and failure. [...]

5 Things You Need to Know About Having a Toddler

A big part (perhaps the biggest part) of many peoples’ lives is being a parent. Some of you are probably seasoned parents, some new parents and some not even thinking about that sort of thing yet. Well, for the latter two groups, I have a few things you might like to know. [...]

5 Slick Ways to Abuse Lifehacker’s Texter Application

For those who aren’t readers of the venerable Lifehacker (and if this includes you – for shame ) – Adam wrote a little windows application awhile back called Texter that allows you to create hotstrings that expand to longer pieces of text. For example, when I type ‘cwb’ and hit Tab, it replaces [...]

Productivity Infused with Style: Behance Action Products

(Disclosure: Behance is a sponsor of Cranking Widgets – but that doesn’t mean I am obligated to give anything but my honest opinion regarding their products. The following review is comprised of my untrammeled thoughts and reactions – nothing more, nothing less)
The first thing I noticed about the sample product I received from Behance [...]

Friday Fun: What’s Playing on My iPod

For this edition of Friday Fun, I thought I’d let you in on a little more personal information about yours truly. I’m something of a music nut (though I have virtually no musical talent whatsoever) and my job affords me the opportunity to listen to my iPod for the better part of most work [...]

Another Way Index Cards Completely Rule

Index Cards Make Decent Funnels

Originally uploaded by inkedmn.

So, this morning on my way to work I realized that my car was running a bit funky and needed some transmission fluid. I stopped at 7-11, grabbed some napkins for wiping the dipstick and realized – I have no funnel…

The Two Types of Web-Based GTD Systems

I have a confession to make. I get way too enamored with new and fancy ways of getting my crap in order. Which means I’m regularly transitioning between GTD implementations (and this frustrates me to no end, I assure you). I’m not kidding – when a new GTD app shows up on [...]

The Single Biggest Enemy of Workplace Productivity

If you asked 100 people what keeps them from accomplishing their goals, completing tasks at the office, etc., I imagine you’d hear answers like “procrastination”, “interruptions” and the like. And while those things are definitely formidable foes in their own right, I believe there’s a single object that, for all the benefits it brings, [...]

Announcing the LifeDev Tools Blog!

As I’ve been wandering down the merry path of the GTD/Productivity blogosphere, I’ve made a few friends along the way. One such person is a fellow named Glen who happens to run the uber-awesome LifeDev.net productivity blog (and I’m sure all of you are already subscribers).
Glen and I have plans to collaborate on several [...]