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What Andy's Doing
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Recently Written
- Passionate People: Get What You Deserve, Become a Career Renegade!
- Featured Blog: Patrick Rhone and His Journal
- Ask The Readers: Can You Disconnect And Still Be Productive?
- Why Working Long, Hard Hours Gets You Behind (?)
- How to Help Great Productivity Blogs Get Discovered
- My Scandelous Confession and A Royal Rant About GTD
- On New Beginnings (And More About Your Host)
- Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow
- How to Use Basecamp and Backback In Perfect Harmony
- How to Chill Out
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Categories
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Archives
How to Help Great Productivity Blogs Get Discovered
It is my observation that writers of niche blogs have a fairly predictable shelf life. Most non-news-telling bloggers that see some early successes last a good 2-3 years before they stop posting. Most of the time the value posts are made within the first 12 months and it goes downhill from there. (Side tip: whenever you discover a new blog on a topic of interest that boasts a solid readership today, find the archives and start from the beginning. You’ll rarely be disappointed.)
There are only so many tips one person can have for how to make widgets, shave your body hair, make money online, collect monkeys, or whatever else may get a bloggers goat for a while. The symptoms are the same: deceleration of posting, the authors posts seem forced and/or repetitive, more guest posters, etc. My gut tells me we’re coming to an end of a cycle of higher-profile bloggers in the productivity world. I think its a shame because many were an invaluable source of inspiration and great ideas.
Here’s to New Blogs With Great Content in Need of Readers
A few weeks ago a fellow named Chuck Westbrook started a movement designed to give up-and-coming bloggers a chance to gain some exposure. Chris Brogan caught wind of the concept and tweeted about it to his ~20k followers on Twitter. Later Darren from Problogger and Guy Kawasaki tossed in some links and really gave the idea some legs.
Chuck is on to something, but my definition of an interesting blogger is slightly different that what has been selected so far. I like reading what helpful and/or inspirational productivity or personal development-oriented bloggers have to say. Since joining The Cranking Widgets Blog I’ve already been introduced to some new authors that I’ve found very valuable and are still loving their blogs. I’m confident there are plenty more out there that I’ve yet to discover.
I want to be introduced to other success-minded bloggers who are still excited about how to help others get more stuff done and reach their goals. I want to share the ones that are particularly valuable with you by giving a more in depth review or interview… Maybe even put something about them in the sidebar for a week or two. (If I get too many submissions, I’ll share my favorites on Twitter — follow me here.)
My Criteria
This one will be a moving target, but generally I’d say:
- I’m not interested in GTD calendars, notebooks or other productivity pr0n. I’ve seen some newer bloggers that appear to be all about trying to make a buck instead of helping others. I can’t blame them, but it adds too much noise.
- Insight and passion are key. That’s the beauty of blogs. “Ordinary” people can write about their passions and it actually shows! I’d like to give exposure to people who are passionate about helping people get more done and reach their goals.
- 5k RSS readers or less. I’m happy to promote the Zen Habits’ and Lifehacker’s of the world since they are definitely high-value, but I’m looking for smaller-scale. I realize 5k RSS readers is pretty significant already. The main objective is finding high-value blogs that aren’t already a “household name.”
How You Can Help
I would be grateful if you could help shine some more light on the quality bloggers that are out there. A couple options:
- Please share your favorite productivity or personal development oriented blog with our fellow readers via comments. Give us a link and tell us why you like it.
- If you have a blog and you feel like it fits the bill, writing up a detailed post that summarizes what you’re all about would be helpful. How do you like to preach productivity/reaching goals? Do you post tips? General concepts? Inspiration? What is your mission (following your passion is a perfectly good mission btw)? Highlighting your favorite articles that you’ve written so far would be value-added (I’m sure your readers wouldn’t mind either.) Include a link to your post as a comment below.
I have already selected the first blogger that I’ll be highlighting. He’s someone that Brett introduced me to a couple months ago and I’m grateful to be able to read what he has to say. I’ll be sharing his blog with you next week.
For now, please submit away! I’m really looking forward to discovering and sharing new blogs!
My Scandelous Confession and A Royal Rant About GTD
I have a confession to make. Actually, I’m pretty sure most lovers of GTD have a similar confession, but first I need to start by expressing some assumptions about most of us who are reading this right now (and feel free to challenge any of these via comments).
Most of Us…
Most of us have read Getting Things Done by The David and most of us loved it immediately. Most of us injected the principles into our work flow as quickly as possible. Most of us felt a sense of peace and control as a result.
Most of us found Merlin Mann (how couldn’t we?) Most of us bought 3×5 index cards to capture thoughts and created Hipster-PDAs to hold the cards. Most of us bought Moleskine notebooks to manage our lists because that was the cool thing to do and that’s what Merlin Mann liked best.
Then most of us went digital and bounced between Omnifocus and Remember the Milk and Things and Backpack for a while because this software was supposed to help make managing our lives digitally a lot easier. Most of us realized that bouncing between each of these pieces of software was a huge time investment just to trade one problem for another, yet most of us ignored it and kept switching anyway.
Most of us have tried our best to regularly process our inbox, maintain our project lists, maintain our to-do lists by context. Most of us saw the GTD honeymoon period come to an end and became frustrated by the overhead it took to keep our GTD system happy. Most of us got annoyed that the stuff had to go from our different inbaskets, like paper, Gmail, rss or Evernote, to Google Calendar and Remember The Milk or Things or Omnifocus or Backpack for doing. Most of us got fed up with needing to use 4-5 different systems to in order to follow GTD.
And then at some point most of us found ourselves procrastinating. Most of us stopped being diligent about promptly processing every last piece of stuff in our inbox. Most of us stopped doing the weekly review because it was really just too hard to find the time to sit down for an hour without distraction to evaluate our lists and our lives every week. Most of us know we should be processing and reviewing regularly. Most of us replaced the forgotten feelings of stress and being overwhelmed with guilt.
Most of us sung the praises of GTD to anyone who will listen, then secretly found it to be a pain in the ass in practice. Most of us want an easier GTD and/or a better way to productively manage what life throws at us.
My Confession…
On New Beginnings (And More About Your Host)
Now that Brett has officialy retired from productivity blogging, I’m sure long-time readers are wondering what will come of The Cranking Widgets Blog. The short answer is easy: CW is, and will continue to be, mainly about productivity. There is, however, a long answer.
What a blogger blogs about and the spin they put on topics will always be driven by their own experiences, interests and values. For Brett, this often led us outside of the realm of productivity, as evidenced by his insightful and entertaining posts about parenting, posts about tattos and posts about drinking games.
The range of topics that I discuss will most likely morph a bit while I find what feels most comfortable. So far all you’ve really learned about me is that I love productivity. If my interests and values will play into what I write about, then the only fair thing to do at this juncture is share more about who I really am and what makes me tick. After much reflection, I’ve come up with a list of 8 things that will have the greatest impact:
I am Productivity (And So Can You!)
Hello, My name is Andy and I’m the new guy here at The Cranking Widgets Blog. While I hope to share far more valuable information in the months and years to come, I’d like to kick things off by getting some answers to the obligatory “who the heck is this guy?” out of the way.
I’ve been interested in getting as much done as possible with the least amount of effort for as long as I can remember. I guess thats the definition of productivity… Work smarter, not harder! However I’m embarrassed to say that I’m a GTD late bloomer. In fact, we only need to travel back in time about a year to discover my roots…
As the Saying Goes, “Many Hands Make Light Work”
Well, as you’ve probably noticed, posting around here has slowed practically to a crawl. There are several reasons for this, many of them good ones, many of them attributable directly to the laziness of yours truly. I’m not happy about it, but this little blog has been the victim of what a database administrator would call a “process deadlock” - when having to choose between various responsibilities and obligations that I have, the old CW has been passed over on several occasions. For that, I apologize.
But, this here cloud has a silver lining. I’m happy to announce the addition of a contributing author here on Cranking Widgets. My good buddy Andy is a serious GTD practitioner, not to mention a hell of a smart and savvy guy in general. He brings many areas of expertise to the table (most of which I, frankly, lack the brain cells to handle), so I think he’ll be a refreshing change from my usual dry-witted drivel. I’m excited that he’s going to be helping me out, and I’d appreciate it if you would all treat him as kindly as you’ve treated me these past years.
Having said all that, keep your eyes out for new content and other goodies as Andy and I start getting this blog back to being the productivity powerhouse that it once was - or something like that 
Thanks a ton, everybody, for understanding and for sticking with me as I slack. You all are awesome and I’m privileged and humbled to have you as an audience for my little backyard puppet show.
Here’s to the future!
My Son Teaches Me about Professional Communication
One of my favorite things to do with my kids while my wife is at work is to take walks around the neighborhood. We usually have a destination, but if the weather is especially nice and we’re having a good time, I won’t exactly rush home.
Recently, we were on just such a walk on a very mild summer afternoon. My son was sipping on a cold chocolate milk and asking all sorts of questions about the various cars and houses we passed as we walked. It wasn’t until we were getting close to home that we happened upon this, sitting in the grass near the street:
Thing to Remember When Your Kids Are Driving You Frickin’ Insane
Watching a small child slowly grow into an actual, real-live person is an interesting thing. They watch you so intently when you speak, drinking it all in. This gives way to imitation as they take on your specific habits and behaviors (which they’ll then mold to fit their own personalities and such). There are times when I’m blown away by how much my son acts like me, enunciates words as I do, even the slightest mannerisms look like mirror images of myself. It’s one of the first times as a parent that you truly realize how heavily you influence your kids, down to their very essence as people.
Now, all that touchy-feely crap aside, there are times when the whole “learning everything” bit can get a little exhausting. The most common example is the “Why?” phase that hits right around 3 years old (I’m hip-deep in it as I write this). Just for those of you who either don’t have kids or have forgotten how this tends to go, I’ll give you a short example of the kind of thing I mean:
Parents: You are Their Best Friend
As many of you know, my wife and I have two wonderful kids. Our oldest will be 3 years old next month which is crazy. And as most parents of toddlers will tell you, they can be a bit of a challenge (to say the least). They can be defiant and stubborn, and the word “no” will escape their lips way more often than you think. Love them like we do, toddlers can be a great deal of work.
Another thing most parents will be able to tell you is just how tiring this parenting business can be. By the time the late afternoon rolls around, it’s not uncommon to be completely devoid of energy. This lack of energy can lead to crankiness and a “short fuse” on the part of the parent, which can then lead to snapping at your kids or not wanting to really get involved in spending quality time with them.
My wife was telling me about a quote she read in a book on disciplining children, which said something to this effect:
Cranking Widgets Theme Updated!
I hope everybody is doing well, and thanks for hanging in there during the last few weeks.
Just wanted to invite everybody (especially those of you reading this via your favorite RSS reader) to come by and take a gander at the new look. I’ve completely redone the layout for this site, the goal being simplicity and a more minimalist feel.
At any rate, I will be posting soon - I promise. For now, I’d love to hear what you guys think of the new theme!
Happy Monday: Odds, Ends and other Minutiae
I hope everybody had a fantastic weekend! I’ll start by apologizing (again - seems like I’m doing this an awful lot lately) for the slowdown in posting over the last week - some personal events had most of my attention during non-work hours. Thanks for hanging in there, I’ll be posting new and exciting crap this week, cross my heart.
But this post is just to let you know about a couple other exciting things happening in the world of old CW. First, I’m honored to have been included in the Lifehacks section of Guy Kawasaki’s newest venture, Alltop.com. The idea is that it takes the last few headlines from all of the top blogs/personalities on the web and gives you a birds-eye view of what everybody is up to. Check it out at alltop.com, it’s pretty sweet.
I got a chance to chat with Dustin Wax of lifehack.org over Skype last week for their Lifehack Live podcast, which was released into the wild today! Though, I must warn you, I tend to ramble a little bit when I get nervous, thanks for understanding You can listen to the episode here, and I highly recommend adding the podcast to your favorite podcatcher - definitely some great stuff happening over there.
That’s all for today, kids. Have a happy St. Patrick’s Day, and we’ll meet again sometime this week for more fun, forest and fantasy. Cheers!
