-
What I'm Doing
-
My GTD Tool of Choice - Try it!
-
Vote for Topics
-
Recently Written
- My Son Teaches Me about Professional Communication
- How I Use Evernote
- Thing to Remember When Your Kids Are Driving You Frickin’ Insane
- I Have a Ton of Beta Invitations - Want One?
- The Secret to Mastering the iPhone Keyboard
- Parents: You are Their Best Friend
- Web Warrior Tools - Get Your Smart On
- Productivity vs. Social Media
- Friday Fun: Flip Video
- Brand New Site by Cranking Widgets
-
Categories
-
Archives
8 Ninja Uses for Binder Clips
I would be willing to wager that most people, during their first office supply shopping trip after having read Getting Things Done, pick up some binder clips. This is probably because they happened across the Hipster PDA at some point during their GTD travels and thought, “man, that looks like something I could really get into - and for like $5, tops…”. Hell, you could build Hipster PDAs for a small village for like $20, who wouldn’t be tempted by such a small admission price? I know I wasn’t - I’ve got a whole tub of probably 30-40 binder clips of varying sizes that has been very busy gathering dust for many months now.
If you find yourself in this boat, have no fear, for I have compiled some seriously hacky uses for all those binder clips. They may not all have mass appeal, but they are examples of how to take your productivity gear to places it was never intended 
Getting Things Done with 37signals’ Backpack - Why I’m Switching Back
As some of my twitter friends noticed this week, I’ve made the switch back to Backpack as my primary GTD tool. Some found this surprising, given how heavily I’ve pimped Remember the Milk. This post will outline why I left RTM and why Backpack makes so much more sense (for me, anyway).
Let me get one thing out of the way - this post (and my aforementioned switch) is in now way an indictment on RTM as a service. They have an outstanding product and the sheer number of users they have will attest to that. Having said that, here is the main limitation I found with RTM as a digital tool for Getting Things Done:
Sandy v. Remember the Milk: The Web-Based Reminder Cage Match
Within this little GTD cult of ours, there are an alarming number of battles fought over the best tool, notebook, web application, etc. In my mind, it’s a little silly - just use what works, right?
Well, sometimes there will be two “competing” services/devices/things that both offer a compelling solution to a common problem. Today, that problem is reminders and the two services I’ll be covering are Remember the Milk (hereafter referred to as ‘RTM’) and Sandy.
Now, before everybody starts frothing at the mouth about how the service they use is better than both of those, let me reiterate - I don’t really care what you use. If a stack of cocktail napkins, a set of soap crayons and a shoebox get the job done for you, then that’s great. My point here is not to decide on the all-time greatest way to remind yourself to take the pizza out of the oven or pick up your kilt from the dry cleaners. I’m simply going to compare the capabilities of these two services and tell you which one I like best. Mmkay? Mmkay.
The iPhone as a GTD Swiss Army Chainsaw
I have to be honest - this past Christmas, the item at the top of my wish list was the completely drool-worthy Amazon Kindle. I had watched the video intro a dozen times and was completely smitten. And while I had been secretly longing for an iPhone since they were released, I simpley never thought of it as a plausible reality due to my current cell phone contract, the new T-Mobile Sidekick I had just bought, etc. But, thanks to my terrifically perceptive wife, a shiny iPhone found its way under our tree. I seriously haven’t been the same since.
Obviously, I’m a little late to the game when it comes to this little piece of technological magic. It’s been out for well over 6 months now, has been hacked, jail-broken and otherwise futzed-with to seemingly endless degrees. But, it was new to me and I was in heaven. And, as with most Apple products, it did exactly what I expected it to, and did so (almost) flawlessly. Without rehashing what thousands of people have already said, let’s just say that it’s the single coolest piece of techno-gear I’ve ever owned.
Coming Up: Somebody Interviews Me
I thought this might be a cool thing to mention, especially since I haven’t ever been interviewed for this productivity stuff. This weekend, my new buddy Mike from Effing the Dog and I will be having a friendly conversation that will go out on his podcast at some point in the near future. Should be a good time, hopefully you all will enjoy listening!
Oh, and just because I like being straight with you folks, I’ve made Mike promise to pull the plug on the audio bit if I feel like I’m sounding like a tool But don’t worry - in that event, we’ll still do a print interview for your reading pleasure.
The next post should be a doosey - I got an iPhone for Christmas and it’s turned my notion of “digital” GTD upside down. Stay tuned!
Technorati Tags: gtd, interview, etd, productivity
Superstar Interview: Lifehacker’s Gina Trapani Talks Beer and Productivity
When somebody first start digging around for GTD and productivity-related websites, it won’t take long before they arrive at Lifehacker.com. A fine mixture of links to quality articles and products, as well as full-length features, how-tos and all sorts of other goodies. Like it or not, it’s hard to deny that LH is a force to be reckoned with.
Behind the behemoth sits Gina Trapani. Powered by a staff of stellar writers and a love for all things lifehackery, she keeps the music playing. And being such a fan of their site, I was especially excited to get the opportunity to ask her a few questions. Enjoy!
Something You Should Know Before Using a Cashier’s Check
At my house, we pay almost every single one of our bills using our bank’s online bill payment service. It’s fast, easy and I don’t need to buy stamps or deal with the disgusting flavor of envelope glue in my mouth.
However, there are a couple of bills we must pay through the mail - our monthly rent being the most prime example. We rent our house from a normal family that doesn’t see the need to take Visa or Mastercard, so we send them a check every month. Pretty lo-fi, but people have been doing it since mail was invented.
Well, about six months ago or so, we ran out of personal checks. We hadn’t ordered any in a dog’s age (because we probably only use 15 per year or so), and we didn’t exactly keep track of how many checks we hand left. So, we started using cashier’s checks instead (and yes, I know it’s cheaper to just order more personal checks, but let’s just understand that we didn’t and let me finish my story :). A few days before the end of the month, one of us would waltz over to our bank, get the cashier’s check and mail it off to the landlord. Easy as pie. Until this month.
Your GTD System Isn’t the Problem
Since starting my current job about 7 months ago, I’ve garnered something of a reputation for being “the organized guy”. A couple of the higher-ranking people there had attempted to embrace GTD (with varying degrees of success) and were ecstatic to have somebody on-board who could attempt to convert the rank and file. I got a chance to talk one-on-one to a handful of them to see where they were in terms of “implementation effectiveness”, etc. It was a rather eye-opening experience.
Much of what I saw sort of mirrored what I regularly read about on other GTD-related blogs and websites. People really like the idea of GTD and could definitely see the benefit, but were really having trouble making it work across the board (at work as well as at home). In my experience, these types of situations stem from one of the following two symptoms:
Free Software: Two Minute Timer for OS X
Better late than never, I suppose
Many, many moons ago I wrote a tiny little two minute timer application for Windows as a free alternative to the $10 offering from the David Allen Company. I got more than a few emails asking for a Mac version. Well, ask and you shall receive!
This is a little different than the Windows version - it’s actually an Automator workflow converted to an application. Here’s what you’ll need to run it:
So, You’re Not Using Jott?
I spend a good deal of time in the car every day. Not as much as some, but it’s typically somewhere around 90 minutes round trip on a given work day. And being one of those people whose brain is pretty much always going, I tend to have many thoughts and ideas during that time. It’s easy for my mind to wander around during what amounts to 75% of my “alone time” and I obviously can’t be scrawling notes down whilst operating a motor vehicle. Enter Jott…
If you’ve never heard of it, whoa nelly are you in for a treat. Essentially, it uses your cell phone as a gateway to all manner of applications, websites and services. Some of the more notable mentions are your Wordpress blog, Sandy (my secretary), Twitter and Remember the Milk - all accessible from your cell phone. Oh, and let’s not forget that you can import your entire address book and email/text virtually anybody directly from your phone. Intrigued?
