Build the Business of Your Dreams

Welcome to the Cranking Widgets Blog. We exist to help you get more done by showing you ways to be more effective and let go of the stuff that doesn't make you awesome. Be sure to subscribe to our feed and follow us on Twitter here.
20 Dollars

I’ve had several requests come my way for some tips on how to implement GTD on the super cheap. After all, not everybody can afford a super-fancy PDA or even a spiffy Moleskine notebook – especially college students. So, after doing a little research, I’ve figured out a way to make your very own GTD setup for around $20 (USD). Remember – my goal here was to find the absolute cheapest items (and even some DIY solutions), so I’ll be cutting a few corners.

First, there are a few things I’m going to assume you already have (or have access to). If you don’t have these things, well, you may have to adjust the bottom line a skosh:
(more…)

ShareThis! buttons goes here
continue reading
 

Blogging machine Leo over at Zen Habits (I’m not kidding – I have no idea how that guy is able to crank out as much quality content as he does) has posted his Top 50 Productivity Blogs, and he was kind enough to include the my little blog here! Be sure to check out the [...]

ShareThis! buttons goes here
continue reading
 

(This post is part of a series called The Mind of GTD where I examine the thought processes and attitudes that make up a “mind like water”) Obviously, your support system is the heart and soul of GTD as you see it. It houses all of your information, tracks all of your objectives and dutifully [...]

ShareThis! buttons goes here
continue reading
 

One of my favorite authors – Rest in peace, sir. Source: Google News Technorati Tags: memorial, kurt vonnegut

ShareThis! buttons goes here
continue reading
 

Of all the possible uses for a computer, email is probably the most pervasive (perhaps second only to regular web browsing). From Bill Gates to your Aunt Betsy, everybody’s got an email account these days, possibly multiple accounts. It takes very little effort or know-how to get an email address, and there are literally hundreds [...]

ShareThis! buttons goes here
continue reading
 

Since posting WinStikker awhile back, I’ve had a few requests for the source code so people could monkey with it themselves. Well, ask and you shall receive. This probably won’t interest most of you, but to all the C# hackers and stikkit enthusiasts out there, here it is. I’ve created a subversion repository and imported [...]

ShareThis! buttons goes here
continue reading
 

As I’ve previously mentioned here a couple times, my wife and I are expecting our second child this June – a little girl named Nora. And being the technophile you all know I am, we decided to chump out the bejamin for one of those new-fandangled 4D ultrasounds (mostly so we could be sure of [...]

ShareThis! buttons goes here
continue reading
 

bagel to go Originally uploaded by rodrigo piwonka. Not much to say about this, except that it’s totally awesome and I’ll be doing this in the very near future. Just gonna need some bagels… Source: Lifehacker Technorati Tags: lifehacks, bagel, cd spindle, ingenious

ShareThis! buttons goes here
continue reading
 

(This post is part of a series called The Mind of GTD where I examine the thought processes and attitudes that make up a “mind like water”) In the previous post, I talked about the notion of “reflexive capture”, or the training of one’s brain to automatically record (in some fashion) anything that needs recording, [...]

ShareThis! buttons goes here
continue reading
 

(This post is part of a series called The Mind of GTD where I examine the thought processes and attitudes that make up a “mind like water”) One of the most basic tenets of GTD is the requirement that “stuff” be out of your head and recorded somewhere you’ll look later (and regularly). Being able [...]

ShareThis! buttons goes here
continue reading