The Cranking Widgets Blog

How to Not Screw Up Your New Job

Photo Courtesy of uafcde

It’s one of the best feelings in the world, heading in for your first day at a new job. Everything feels fresh and new, you feel like you’re starting with a clean slate and that you’re really going to ace this one. You’re just so positive about everything, especially if [...]

Trick Out Your iPhone with These Smart Playlists

As I mentioned previously, i received an iPhone for this past Christmas. While I really love it, having to go from a 60gb iPod which held all of my music to having only 8gb of space took some getting used to. I started out by hand-picking various albums and tracks and changing the [...]

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. [...]

6 Websites That Will Certainly Make You Smarter

Photo by Vit6

Ah, the Internet. It’s one of those things that regularly inspires awe in me, even though I spend several hours a day interacting with it (both professionally and recreationally).
But with such an immense amount of information, it’s difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak. While [...]

How to Work Effectively for 24 Consecutive Hours

Photo by afsilva

In my line of work, having to stay at the office through the night in order to meet a deadline is a reality (albeit an occasional one for most of us). Well, my number has come up a couple times in recent weeks. A work project fell behind and required a [...]

The Magic of the Dumb Guy Principle

Photo by jimoconnell

We all face challenges. I’m not talking about having to make a touch decision or anything like that – I’m talking about challenging tasks. Things like changing a diaper for the first few days of having a new baby, or learning how to change the motor oil in your car by [...]

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. [...]

How to Drink Like a High Roller in Vegas Without Going Broke

Being born and raised in southern California has its benefits. I can be at some of the most beautiful beaches in the country in less than an hour by car. I can also (during winter) spend a couple of hours on the road and be in just the right spot for some pretty [...]

A Roadmap to Spectacular GTD Failure

It’s rather funny to me that I write all this stuff about productivity, GTD and the like – the truth is, I’m probably one of the poorest practitioners of this stuff that there is. My system is constantly a mess, I’m always trying new little tricks and whatnot to get things working better (which [...]

How to Make Your Outgoing Voicemail Message Not Suck

I have a handful of friends who, despite numerous pleas and death threats, refuse to carry their cell phone with them. They’re perfectly willing to leave it in the car while out somewhere, or leave it in their bedroom while watching television in the living room. Personally, these are stack-blowing, what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-you-types of behavior, [...]