Your GTD tools: David Allen on how important they are
http://www.gtdtimes.com/2013/04/14/your-gtd-tools-david-allen-on-how-important-they-are/
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Was talking to Lindsay this morning about a recent podcast discussing positive psychology and remembered really enjoying the TED Talk below. A very dense talk and found the explanation of the framing of success and happiness very interesting.
A very enlightening article, will change the way you look at the Settings > General > Accessibility settings on your iOS device.
RE-ENABLED
iOS’s impact on those with impairments isn’t just a marketing slide;
it’s profound.
By Steven Aquino.
The precision of the laser welding is incredible
(Source: https://twitter.com/ForbesTech/status/298603643760934912)
Autofocus: Autofocus is a linear, list based system that simplifies everything you need to do into steps. It's great for people who like a simple system that keeps them on track with minimal management.
I see AutoFocus it as a useful method for "memory dumps" but not as an actual "system".
Source:
Lifehacker (@lifehacker)
2013-02-01 1:11 PM
Productivity methods are great, but deciding if you really need to implement one is tough. Here's where to get started: lifehac.kr/ndMvFCI
Reading more about OmniFocus 2 is making me wish even more that I worked in a
Mac environment during the day. See SimplicityBliss post for additional details http://simplicitybliss.com/blog/2013/2/preview-of-omnifocus-2-for-mac
In particular, I can see the Forecast view being incredibly useful in estimating timelines, an area that can always use improvements in accuracy.
(Source: https://twitter.com/simplicitybliss/status/297407213641801729)
Thought this was a great overview of the Tesla Model S. Learned a few things watching the video:
- Around 7000 mini cells make up the battery - individual cells didn't look much bigger than an AA battery
- The 17 inch center console display is really impressive, I had never seen in use before. Having a map on a 17inch screen should be great.
- Engine redlines at 15 000 RPM!
How The Official Getting Things Done App Will Free Your Mind And Empty Your Inboxes | Fast Company (via Instapaper)
I am very interested to see how this evolves. Some of the things I will be looking for:
- Cross Platform Sync: Using a PC at work and iPad / Mac this is very important to me
- Nested Hierarchies: Nested hierarchies is a feature that has kept me from using services in the past such as Wunderlist and has recently found me loving Workflowy
- Quick Entry: Easily one of the most missed features of Omnifocus when I'm working on my PC is Quick Entry. For the non-mobile versions of whatever is developed, the ability to press a key combination from within any program and have a Quick Entry window appear to enter text into your 'inbox' would be very useful.
I've been reading The Magazine by Macro Arment for a few weeks now and below are some thoughts:
- Enjoy the clean and simple interface
- Have found the articles to be both informative and entertaining
- Low fee subscription model ($1.99 / month) keeps the articles ad free
I read the Foreword and the first four articles on a flight a few weeks ago. After i was done, found myself wishing there were more articles and looking forward to the next issue.
Here's hoping this turns out to be profitable for Marco and his team and it lives past the first couple of months. Either way, will be some great reading ahead.
Some very useful new tips in this article
http://gizmodo.com/5961006/ten-tricks-to-make-yourself-a-gmail-master
Already setup the Gmail Labs feature for the Preview Pane with a vertical split.
Also refreshed my memory on the following keyboards shortcuts:
- j and k to move the "selector" up and down and then x to select a message
After recently subscribing to a new podcast by 5by5 - The Crossover decided to take a few minutes and think of my current Top 5 Podcasts. Some things I considered putting together the list:
- How much I look forward to new shows
- How useful and applicable I find the information presented
- How likely I would be to recommend the show to friends and colleagues
1. Foundation
2. Back to Work
3. You Look Nice Today
4. Mac Power Users
5. Build and Analyze
Honourable Mention
- The Crossover (based on first show)
- Hypercritical
- The Rich Eisen Podcast
- This Week in Google
- This American Life
*links above to iTunes Store
Reading about and implementing the principles of Getting Things Done (GTD), a work-life management methodology pioneered by David Allan (details), has been a hobby of mine for a few years now. A long time ago I wrote this post, but as I'm re-starting my blog I decided to publish the post. David Allen's 'Making it All Work' (Amazon) is the companion to his highly successful book 'Getting Things Done - The Art of Stress-Free Productivity' (Amazon). There was a section in the book that resonated with me and wanted to share as I feel it is a great excerpt to highlight what attracts me to GTD and may lead others to be interested as well.
...The key concept to keep in mind here is that staying in control will ultimately be a function of how you mange to allocate your physical resources - quite simply, what action you are talking now, and how comfortably you are relating to that.
Are you in alignment with your choice? Is reading this book or listening to me or someone else narrating this sentence absolutely, positively, with a doubt the thing you should be doing at this moment If you think it's not , or are afraid it's not, of i you don't know whether it is or note, then to some degree you're out of control. If you assert confidently, yes, indeed, this is the best thing for me to doing and the best place to put my attention right now, your probably ins your zone. You will experience, at least in the existential moment, no sense of time, no feeling of overwhelm, no gnawing sense of amorphous pressure on your psyche. You won't be concert about life/work balance, or even making a distinction about whether you are in "work" or "life" mode. You're just doing what your doing, appropriately and without internal distraction.
Inspiration video
Cool visual effect
Here is an excerpt from my recent post on academiPad
Let me begin with words to consider for all academiPad readers: It is not a matter of if technology will fail you, but a matter of when. And unless you enjoy rewriting your dissertation or journal submission from scratch, you must have a backup strategy in place.
Sure it is possible that your devices will never have a hard drive failure or be stolen. For the lucky, you will never leave your phone in a taxi or accidentally drop it in the washing machine. But for most, you will be faced with at least one type of “crash” in your future. After recovering from a hard drive crash on my work computer recently, I thought a two part post dealing with the dreaded “crash” was in order.
The goal here is to spend some time thinking about a “crash” so that when one happens, you will be off to races recovering as smoothly as possible.
For the full article click here and encourage you to explore academiPad for other great articles.
Looks like a great classroom environment
Students work in groups, and when they have a question, they call him over. He arrives with iPad in hand and records his voice and his writing on the iPad, which he immediately uploads to the class website so other students can benefit from the explanations instantaneously. (This, by the way, is another form of flipped teaching, he says.)
http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/05/how-teachers-make-cell-phones-work-in-the-classroom/
The ability for these moving stacks to remain stable by counter balancing the rotation of the robot with the rotation that lifts the platform is really impressive. Some very smart engineers.
A great TED Talk