Maybe whizdumb is learning from the mistakes of others?
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PRODUCTIVITY: learning from the mistakes of others
Sunday, November 18, 2007
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Posted by reinkefj
PRODUCTIVITY: aging in place
Wednesday, November 14, 2007http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2007/11/word_of_the_year.html
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aging in place: the process of growing older while living in one’s own residence, instead of having to move to a new home or community
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There’s a lot to be said for this strategy. I always rant that “two moves equal one fire”. And, the old neighborhood is a well known turf. To pull this off, there will have to be changes in the property tax meme in New Jersey. And, you have to drive everywhere, so that’s a problem later in life. And, and, and, … sigh, there are a lot of issues with the strategy. Nothing insurmountable, but issues to be dealt with. But, then nothing is ever perfect.
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Posted by reinkefj
PRODUCTIVITY: have a life plan
Monday, November 12, 2007http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/110707-10-career-killers-to.html?t51hb
10 career killers to avoid
By Thomas Hoffman, Computerworld, 11/07/07
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1. Failing to have a life plan. “This is the No. 1 biggest mistake that I run into with my clients. I work with a number of clients in IT, many of whom are in C-level roles. A life plan is a business plan, in the same way that a company leader creates an annual business plan for what the future is going to bring from a corporate perspective. Three life aspects to focus on include one’s career, personal and family, and financial goals.
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Great advice.
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Posted by reinkefj
PRODUCTIVITY: common vocabulary
Wednesday, November 7, 2007http://www.emailjoke.com/page52.html
TOP1050. Two Priests…
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Two priests died at the same time and met Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates. St. Peter said, “I’d like to get you guys in now, but our computer’s down. You’ll have to go back to Earth for about a week, but you can’t go back as priests. What’ll it be?”
The first priest says, “I’ve always wanted to be an eagle, soaring above the Rocky mountains.”
“So be it,” says St. Peter, and off flies the first priest.
The second priest mulls this over for a moment and asks, “Will any of this week ‘count’, St. Peter?”
“No, I told you the computer’s down. There’s no way we can keep track of what you’re doing.”
“In that case,” says the second priest, “I’ve always wanted to be a stud.”
“So be it” says St. Peter, and the second priest disappears.
A week goes by, the computer is fixed, and the Lord tells St. Peter to recall the two priests. “Will you have any trouble locating them?” He asks.
“The first one should be easy,” says St. Peter. “He’s somewhere over the Rockies, flying with the eagles. But the second one could prove to be more difficult.”
“Why?” asketh the Lord.
“He’s on a snow tire, somewhere in North Dakota.”
***End Quote***
Here’s a funny reminder to get agreement on a common vocabulary. More mismatches occur than you can believe. It’s a common human failing.
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Posted by reinkefj
PRODUCTIVITY: do think them there silver bullets grow on trees, me bucky
Sunday, November 4, 2007FROM AN EMAIL INQUIRING ABOUT BULLETS
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I actually have another side question. I am a big fan of David Allen’s “Getting Things Done.” I recently was looking over a recommendation that you made of someone mentioning an encoded value you put next to someone’s number which told you “to return the call, regardless of rain or shine.” I was curious about your thoughts on personal work flow and automation. What silver bullets do you have in your arsenal that you would be willing to share?
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Ahhh, so it’s some of me silver bullets ye want, argh, do think them there bullets grow on trees, me bucky?
I haven’t found anything in the way of silver bullets. I too would love if GTD was easier than it is. Nothing is organized for GTD.
One think that I do is in LookOut, in the FileAs field for a contact, which you can’t see, is your name field says “XXXXyour last name,your first nameXXXX [LKDN] [HH3] [UNK] [ZO] [ZE]”. Now if you’ve read my stuff, you’ll know that “HH3” has special meaning (The codes all do but that extraneous for this email.):
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HH1 Gold (got interviews – the gold standard of hunters),
HH2 (Did great but never delivered an interview),
HH3 Average,
HH4 Below Average (talks a great game but delivered nothing while waste copious amounts of time),
HH5 Don’t bother (In some way really annoyed me, dropped the ball, does NOT play nice).
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You’d also see things like LKDN1-5, MCALUM1-5, and all sorts of other strange initials usually with 1-5 after them. The absence of a 1-5 means I haven’t formed an opinion.
I have played with all sorts of software. None has done thinks “my way”.
You’ll also notice that I have a large number of email accounts — probably in the neighborhood of 200. Each “activity” has its own email account. {That’s how I know, for example, that an ebay message on a networking account is prima facie a spam or phish.} And in LookOut, I group inboxes into priority buckets. So PriorityOne is family, friends, my lawyer, my accountant, and my broker … AND all the people who are PRIORITY ONE. After that I I have different priorities reflecting my interests. So my Jasper Jottings activities are Priority Six. Any way, long and short. I can look at my LookOut inboxes and NATURALLY spend my time on higher priority activities.
I use a little utility note2email http://www.note2email.com/ to send myself email which in the subject line I put “keys” that sort into the correct email box. I also use a utility called texter http://lifehacker.com/software//lifehacker-code-texter-windows-238306.php to handle all sorts of keystrings (i.e., email addresses; key codes for subject lines).
So no “silver bullets” just trying to get by.
l8r,
fjohn
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Posted by reinkefj
PRODUCTIVITY: Knowing when to fold ’em
Tuesday, October 30, 2007http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/HomelandStupidity/~3/175170720/
TSA screeners fail most bomb tests
By Michael Hampton on TSA
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Transportation Security Administration screeners at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport missed more than 60% of bomb components which undercover agents attempted to smuggle through airport checkpoints, according to a classified report. The January 2007 report, obtained by USA TODAY, also said that screeners at Los Angeles International Airport failed to detect the bomb parts and fake explosives about 75 percent of the time. But screeners at San Francisco, who work for a private contractor under a pilot program, missed only 20% during a recent round of red team testing by the Department of Homeland Security.
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There’s an old wall street expression that says “when you’re in a hole, stop digging!”
Perhaps it’s time for us to dig the TSA a grave. With the best of intentions, it was supposed to keep us safe. I’d say it’s an idea who’s time has past. Long past.
Give the pilot and co-pilot a side arm. (They were packing for a while when they did mail runs.) Passengers are not going to stand idly by any more while someone drives a plane into a building. Return security to the airlines where it should have been all along.
Move on to real scary things, like the gooferment flying nukes over America.
Sigh!
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Posted by reinkefj
PRODUCTIVITY: Get routine ezines out of your email
Sunday, October 28, 2007***Begin Quote***
Why does Bloglines Offer Email Accounts?
Bloglines free email accounts allow people to receive email newsletter subscriptions within their MyBloglines page. This helps to reduce traffic through your primary email inbox and helps to contain the spam menace. A Bloglines email account gives you a trump card when a newsletter breaks the rules of opt-in marketing. When you unsubscribe from a Bloglines email subscription, the email address disappears. You never have to worry about trying to find the unsubscribe instructions for an unwanted mailing list.
***End Quote***
This is useful in that email ezines really shouldn’t be in your email flow. An rss reader is “better” imho.
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Posted by reinkefj
PRODUCTIVITY: Understanding what social networking is
Saturday, October 27, 2007http://www.commoncraft.com/transcript-social-networking-plain-english
Transcript: Social Networking in Plain English
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Networks get things done. Whether it’s sending a letter or lighting your home. Networks make it happen.
***and***
This solves a real world problem because your network has hidden opportunities. Social networking sites make these connections between people visible.
Like a map for a highway, they can show you the people network that can help you get to your next destination, whether it’s a job, a new partner, or a great place to live. Your network is suddenly more useful.
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One think that basic explanations do is force one to examine one’s thinking. The memes that we are operating under.
In this case, using a social networking website is NOT imho networking. It may facilitate networking, but it ain’t getting out an establishing that “weak bond” of mutual cooperation.
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Posted by reinkefj
PRODUCTIVITY: Have you “sung” your song?
Saturday, October 27, 2007FROM A NOTE I WROTE
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I think that sadly all too many people go to their grave and take their DIKW — data, information, knowledge, and wisdom — with them. Like the man, who dies, leaving his family without life insurance, is said to “abscond”. So to, those, who leave, taking their thoughts to the grave, have stolen from all of us. It our duty to humanity to point the way. Probably our mistakes are more insightful. Those tell people what didn’t work for us. Remember Edison’s “now I know 10,000 ways how NOT to make a light bulb”. Powerful advice.
***End Quote***
Steven Covey says the word ‘universe” means one song. I hope everyone “sings” their song on the inet where it will be captured hopefully forever.
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Posted by reinkefj
PRODUCTIVITY: When is Someday?
Friday, October 26, 2007http://lifecoachesblog.com/2007/10/19/when-is-someday
When is Someday?
Rick Cook, October 19th 2007
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Let’s see, there’s Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday… but when is Someday?
Show me Someday on the calendar. Point it out to me in your daytimer. How long is a month of Somedays? Even blue moons happen once in a while (second full moon in a month), but Someday? The closest day to Someday is Never.
***End Quote***
Excellent question!
Now?
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