Notes on Productivity: How To Get More Things Done - Do Fewer Things

My good friend Patrick has be writing a lot about productivity lately, including a very nice article over at To Done!. Productivity has always been a favorite topic of mine and for the past few years, a career as well. My day job is doing the marketing for a calendar and contact management company, Now Software.

Over they years I've used many tools including Franklin Planners (before the Covey years and I still have the beautiful and extremely large black leather zippered binder that held many years of schedules, to-do lists, and address books). I've been using software calendars for almost as long, including Meeting Maker, Lotus Notes, and of course, Now Up-to-Date & Contact. I was an early adopter of the Palm (yes, an actual U.S. Robotics Palm Pilot, thank you) and stay on the technical edge of computer/web/portable device calendaring. And with all of the high tech, I still fall back on 3x5 note cards, which I keep in a Pocket Briefcase from Levenger.

So, what have I learned?

Just this, really. Multi-tasking is a crock.

If I want to get something big done, I have to clear the decks and do just that thing. For example, if I need to write up a new marketing plan, I need to carve out big blocks of time to do the research, the thinking, the writing and re-writing. I can't get it done if I'm trying to do it in-between phone calls, meetings, and emails. And I certainly won't do a good and thorough job if forced to crank it out while dealing with many other distractions.

The same goes for my personal interests and hobbies. Sure, I'm interested in an amazing number of things. But to do anything well or to enjoy something properly, I can't do them all at once. I'm a compulsive, obsessive, completely gluttonous reader. But I also love movies - so much so that I spent a year building a movie theater in my home. And I love to cook.

But I am also a writer. I can't read everything I want, watch all of the movies and TV that I want, and research and cook and have any time to spend time with my family or make it into work. So I have to make choices. Family comes first. And we've got to eat, so I make plans for cooking that are less time consuming, but fun. And to get my writing done, even posts like this one, I have to focus my desires for entertainment and education into paths that will be useful. I have to cut down on my omnivorous reading and read what I need for my current project. For the past several months, with only a few deviations, I've been reading everything I can find on James Thurber, John McNulty, and the early part of the 20th century that may have touched on these two men. Now that I'm starting the writing (stage play and screen play), I'm tempering it with a bit of Mark Twain to I don't become lost in the powerful language and rhythms of Thurber and McNulty.

And I save the movies and TV for when I'm too exhausted to work any more. Probably around an hour or so at the end of the day.

Here are a few productivity tips from Captain Randy:

• First thing, every day, before you check your email or look for phone messages, review what stands before you, what you really want to get done.
  
• Next, review your email and respond to what you can quickly and efficiently. For things that require thought or other work, schedule time for them on your calendar and respond to the email indicating that you received the message and when you plan to have a response.
  
• Do the same with your voice mail.
  
• Now, if you can, quit from your mail, put your phone on Do Not Disturb, and do your work.

If you can actually follow these instruction, you're a better man than I am, Gunga Din.

Most days I get started this way, but before long the sirens are wailing and I step into my boots and put on my helmet and grab my trusty axe. I've come to accept that I won't get nearly as much as I wanted or needed to do on any particular. But as each fire is dealt with, I can repeat my little mantra, "review the email, check the phones, back to work".

And I'll be damned if things don't get done.

Bush: 'I fake responsibility'

I, however, fake headlines.

CNN.com - Bush: 'I take responsibility' for U.S. failures - Sep 13, 2005

So what, exactly, does taking responsibility mean? So, "Katrina exposed serious problems in our response capability at all levels of government . . ." And why was that, exactly? I'm betting we won't see him tell us, "You see, I put a political supporter and crony in charge of FEMA because I thought it didn't matter. From now on, FEMA will only be staffed by emergency disaster professionals and we'll put it back to the cabinet level."

"Oh, and this whole 'homeland security' thing. That ain't work'n out neither. Sorry about that, too."

Someone is having too much fun as a writer

This quote, although true, sounds like someone is just this side of giddy about the new iPod nano.

TIME.com: Stevie's Little Wonder -- Sep. 19, 2005 -- Page 2: "For a device ostensibly created to be listened to, it is suspiciously good-looking. It's so teensy and glossy and perfect, you want to put it in your mouth like a hard candy. For that, blame Jonathan Ive, 38, the affable Brit who heads Apple's industrial-design department. Ive is about as obsessive-compulsive as you can be without being hospitalized, and his wild enthusiasm for detail is what gives iPods the aura of sleek, otherworldly perfection that has helped make them the quintessential 21st century accessory."

All Thoughts Lead to Rome

I've been watching the new HBO series "Rome" and this week on the History Channel it's been Rome week. I've also been looking over the photos my daughter took in Rome this summer (yes, I'm jealous) while touring with the Columbus Youth Jazz Orchestra.

So naturally, I've been obsessed with all things Roman.

There are many unpleasant and downright nasty things about these people, but there are also more than a little that I stand in amazement at. And through it all, I can't help thinking exactly how far civilization collapsed, right along with them.

I refuse to call the period after their collapse the "Middle Ages". It wasn't the middle of anything. It was a dark, dark time. Back to living in mud huts and digging in the ground with sticks. And it gives me a little twinge when I hear the current Pope wishing for a time where "the Church" had a more prominent roll in Europe's daily life. Yes, things were much better when the Catholics were in control of most everything (OK, most of what we refer to as "the West").

I've always been a fan of ancient Greece - probably my theater training, but wow, those Romans could build!

And yes, it's painful to think on how they lost their republic. It makes one think that such things are possible still today. Look how quickly it happened to them. Look how quickly it happened to the French with Napoleon. The Germans certainly tossed of their republic quickly and efficiently (It's a joke, son).

Ah, but that could never happen in the good ol' U. S. of A. Could it?


In case you miss my point, take a look at the Insurrection Act

I'm afraid you underestimate the American public

Harvard Gazette: Using chili peppers to burn drug abusers: "Imagine snorting an extract of 50 jalapeno peppers and you get the idea," Woolf says. "On a one to 10 scale, the pain is about a thousand. It feels like a mininuclear explosion in your mouth. It does not harm you, but you never want to experience that feeling again."

Come on, Mr. Woolf. Do you think a little heat is gonna keep people (like Rush Limbaugh, for instance) from getting high?

In fact, I could see it as a new macho cred. You have to suffer before you get the benefit. Snorting OxyContin could become a virtuous act.

On a serious note, I am very concerned and personally committed to making sure that pain management and control is available to all that need it. Doctors in this country largely under treat pain. It's not good to suffer. And many with chronic pain have very few options. I get very worried when the government tries to control access to useful medications for fear that someone, somewhere, will abuse it.

Pharaoh! Let my people grow up!

Nano Nano

So, Apple taunts Sony and the other nameless MP3 player manufacturers by introducing the iPod Nano. Ah, but it's small!

I myself prefer the iPod Glactica - my 60 gig iPod photo. Yes, I wish it were smaller, but I use it to carry ALL OF MY MUSIC (over 40 gigabytes) and ALL OF MY DIGITAL PHOTOS (nearly 7,000) and all of my documents. And I still have 5 gig of space left.

When you can do all that and store it in my watch, along with my phone, call me. On my watch/iPod/computer watch. I'll be watching on my Virtual Light sunglasses.

Finally: The Press Grows A Backbone

Brilliant and eloquent.

Boing Boing: Oh, Keith Olbermann, how I love thee.

Here's the transcript: Bloggermann by Keith Olbermann

Enough Blame to Go Around

CNN.com - House cancels hearings on Katrina response - Sep 7, 2005: "Tempers flared Tuesday during a contentious closed-door meeting between House members and Cabinet secretaries in charge of directing Katrina relief efforts. A Republican representative stood up and said, 'All of you deserve failing grades. The response was a disaster,' CNN was told by lawmakers emerging from the meeting.But DeLay countered that assessment later in a news conference by saying that the onus for responding to emergencies fell to local officials."

From Karl Rove's play book: Keep everyone on message. Talk about everything we've done right. Admit no fault. And blame the locals - it's all their fault. And try out these themes: "No one knew this would happen." "No one knew it would be this bad." "It was a slowly unfolding disaster. We applied the right resources as we learned at each stage." "All these people will be able to make a fresh start - they'll be better off." "All of these people should have left anyway." And don't forget, "We're enforcing law and order out of chaos." That plays big in the sticks.

But everyone in the world with access to a TV knew last Tuesday morning that New Orleans was in serious danger. I new it by 7 A.M. and I'm no disaster planner. Everyone else in the world knew it too.

And now we're humiliated in the face of the world. We can't take care of our own people, can't deal with this level of disaster. Not quite the super power we made ourselves out to be, are we?

george bush hates black people

I had the biggest laugh I've had in a long time while watching the NBC broadcast of a telethon for hurricane relief tonight. We were watching mainly because I'm a fan of Harry Connick Jr. and Wynton Marsalis. Interspersed between the music were pleas from celebrities for contributions to the Red Cross.

At the mid point, Mike Meyers and a rapper I never heard of took the stage. It was obvious that the rapper was nervous and not following the cue cards. Meyers looked nervous.

Before he could be cut off, the rapper proclaimed, with a straight face, "George Bush doesn't care for black people."

They quickly cut away, but we didn't hear a word Chris Tucker said. We were laughing too hard. There hasn't been a funnier moment on Saturday Night Live in 20 years.

Ah, live television.

george bush hates black people - Google Search

Continuing to Underestimate The Problem

From here, safe and dry in Columbus, things look very bad in New Orleans. But I fear that things there are far worse than the authorities have imagined. From stories like these, it's clear to me that there may still be 100,000 or more people stranded there. And uncounted thousands of dead.

CNN.com - Stranded Spain MP describes Katrina chaos - Sep 1, 2005: "The journalist, Montserrat Boix of Spain's state television TVE, said Muoz told her the situation at the center was steadily deteriorating and that authorities were unaware of the magnitude of the problem."

I am not criticizing the selfless people that are trying to help. I'm only pointing out that our civil authorities need to respond with thousands more troops and prepare for a refuge problem of nearly a million people that may be out of their homes for over a year. To wait will mean much more death and suffering.

Wooosh!

Take a moment and watch the Messenger flyby movie (view the large one if you've got the bandwidth).

MESSENGER Earth Flyby

MESSENGER Earth Flyby movie


The stars are our birthright. It's sad and more than a bit depressing that we've wasted 30 years, turned our back after our first brief steps outward.

Ah, but home is so beautiful, alone there in the dark.

Roll Call!

Now that I have the visitor log working (see the link at the right) I'm seeing that readers of the blog are coming from all over.

For example, a quick peak tells me I've got readers in

• Sacramento, California
  
• Redmond, Washington
  
• Lisbon, Lisboa
  
• Columbus, Ohio
  
• Houston, Texas
  
• Jupiter, Florida
  
• Los Angeles, California
  
• Portland, Oregon
  
• Reynoldsburg, Ohio
  
• Mountain Home, Arkansas
  
• Seattle, Washington
  
• Florissant, Missouri
  
• San Francisco, California

To mention a few.

So, if you've got a minute, click the little comment down here and say hi!

Show Your Faith!

Flying Spaghetti Monster Emblem for your car!

And here's my argument today against intelligent design: if we were created by a superior alien intellect, why does my back hurt? Pretty piss poor design, if you ask me.

And how do I go about getting an extended warrantee?

Another One For The Legions

This story left me shaking my head and wondering what could be done with such a screwed up kid.

Man, 19, accused of desecrating Civil War corpse - The Boston Globe: "NEWBURYPORT -- A 19-year-old man from Salisbury was supposed to be cleaning up a cemetery last week as part of court-ordered community work after he broke into an apartment building last fall.

Instead, officials said, Neil J. Goodwin Jr. invaded the tomb of a Civil War veteran, pulled apart the 142-year-old skeleton, and then played with the bones, balancing the skull on his shoulder and posing for pictures"

Well, here's a thought. If the good old US of A is going to be the new Roman Empire, perhaps instead of an army we should set up our own Legions. We could empty out the prisons, ship them over to one of our "client" states (or "fledgling democracies" as they like to call them) and whip them into the fiercest fighting force on the planet.

Just don't let them back on US soil.

So, where exactly is our Rubicon?

Missing the Point on Home Theater

Chicago Tribune | ENTERTAINMENT CENTERS EVOLVE : "'It's going to appeal to the consumer who doesn't want their living space to look like a home theater,' Stout said."

I'll admit it. I'm a complete home theater bigot. Yes, I can see that Ethan Allen is jumping on the bandwagon for flat screen TV storage, but hey, if you're watching a TV, you're not doing home theater.

We in the hobby have long, often heated debates over exactly what home theater is. The term is in danger of becoming useless.

So, here's my definition: a home theater is a dedicated space specifically designed for watching movies and high-definition television broadcast. The minimum requirements include surround sound (5.1 at a minimum), acoustic treatment, light control, and (here's the critical part) a very large PROJECTED image.

So, if you're watching a TV, even a big TV in a living room, it ain't a home theater. If you bought everything you need at Walmart in a box, it ain't a home theater. I'm not saying it's bad or you shouldn't do it, just that it isn't a home theater. And even with my definition there are a very wide range of theaters possible. I've seen them in garages, in attics, even in mobile homes. There's literally no limit on how much or little you spend as long as it's a room dedicated to the purpose, with a projected image and surround sound.

Many of us in the hobby call ours "screening rooms". I typically say, "I have a movie theater in my home."

I Was Touched By His Noodly Appendage

Do you know what bugs me most about the entire Intelligent Design movement? It's the complete hypocrisy and dishonesty of its proponents. At least when the same bunch were pushing Creationism they were clear on the "because it don't say nothing about evolution in the Bible" message.

Now they've decided that a bit of clever misdirection could work. "We're not saying it was God. Maybe it was some powerful Alien force. Who knows? We're just saying somebody designed it."

That's why I, along with thousands of other enlightened people, have taken to the belief that if all life on Earth was created, it must have been from the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Let me be completely straight and honest: all you creationist/intelligent design folks - yes, we're making fun of you.

Coming Soon To A Theater Near You!

In my continuing quest for at least one good laugh every day: "A White Knuckle Thrill Thrill Ride!"

When There's No Good News

Rather than give in to despair from all of the idiocy and evil cloaked in righteousness (yes, you know I'm talking about you, Mr. Robertson), I turn to my friends, great writers and their works.

Today at lunch, for example, I pulled out a delightful little volume published by Konemann, Mark Twain's "A Tramp Abroad".

The other diners looked up from their burgers and fries as I laughed out loud. I simply couldn't help myself.

Here, see for yourself: A Tramp Abroad - Chapter VIII by Mark Twain

It's striking for me to note this: after reading much Thurber over the past few months Twain is still the undisputed master of American humor and keen observation.

So, where you from?

Now here's an interesting little toy powered by google: Visitor log mapping: Visitor log mapping.

Local, ain't we? Don't worry, although we know where you live, we have no idea who the hell you are.

Evil Idiots of the Month for August: Mark Helprin & Tim Goeglein

Metafilter turned me to this article and set my blood boiling: The Art of Telling Parties Apart

I've resisted the claims of cultural warfare, but if this is the dividing line, so be it.

"Goeglein recalled a dinner party that he and his wife recently attended in Northwest. Out of the six couples around the table, Goeglein and his wife were the only Republicans.As is inevitably the case, he said, the conversation soon turned to the couples' children -- most 5 or 6 years old -- and aspirations for their future occupations. One parent said editor; another, publisher; a third wanted the child to go into education.'I was intrigued by the question, and the answers of every one of our Democratic friends,' Goeglein said. Not one parent, he said, gave an answer that would be more typical of Republicans. 'Our party, in the way it is constituted, we think of medicine, we think of law, we think of business. We don't think, gee, I hope my son grows up to be a great playwright or painter or poet,' he explained."

That made me upset, but this makes me mad:

"But for Helprin, the divide remains. "The arts community is generally dominated by liberals because if you are concerned mainly with painting or sculpture, you don't have time to study how the world works. And if you have no understanding of economics, strategy, history and politics, then naturally you would be a liberal.""

Excuse me, but I'm going to use some strong language now. Thank god I've been watching "Deadwood."

Helprin, you cocksucker. You don't know what the fuck you're talking about. You goddamn, fucking, moron. Christ almighty what harm you do!

OK, feeling a little better now.

Helprin calls himself a writer and doesn't think liberals understand the way the world works? Who better understands the world, who studies, reads, and more importantly, gets out in the world to see what's really happening than those that study the liberal arts.

And as a parent, what do I want for my children? I want them to be safe, happy, and fulfilled. I do not want to perscribe a particular profession just because I think they will make lots of money. My eldest daughter is planning on studying music, the jazz string bass, and I fully encourage her to follow it as far as it leads her. My youngest daughter, too young to really know what she'll want to do later in life, is already a skilled and award winning artist.

As far as I can tell, they both will have more profitable and longer careers as artists than they might as computer programmers, for example. And they can use their old man as a roll model in this. I'm trained as a playwright and writer and have an advanced degree in theater. When people ask me what I am I tell them "a writer." And I've made a very good living in business, all based on my writing and theatrical skills. And now, in my forties, having some experience in the world, I'm ready to put those skills back where they belong: writing plays. How dare they declare that this is not a worthwhile occupation. How dare they saddle every activity with the necessity of economic benefit.

I'm sick and tired of the current administration treating the American public as if we just don't understand. Bush, with his smirking, talk down to me attitude, drives me insane, more than his policies. "If you only understood the world like we do. Let me explain it to you in simple language." God, how it infuriates me. We, the American people, do understand. Don't you dare talk down to us.

Well let me tell you, all of you right wing, low wage wanting, republican elitists, we artists and liberals understand the world more fully and accurately than you could ever hope to. Not only do you NOT understand the world, but you've gotten everything (actually, it's staggering how much) so completely wrong that we'll be decades in cleaning up the mess you've made.

What joyless, dry lives you must lead. What frustrated, troubled children you must raise. But don't worry. We artists will always be here. And we'll be remembered. What survives a great civilization, long lost? Its art.