An Idea That Stuck

Reverend Will Bowen of Christ Church Unity of Kansas City had an idea. The goal was to be complaint free for 21 days. Purple bracelets to wear until the goal is accomplished was the idea that made it concrete. It’s simple, unexpected, and has generated tons of interest and stories. The number of bracelets that have been requested world-wide so far?

4,

6

5

1,

9

6

0

It’s about focusing on what you want, not what you don’t want.

Discovery of the Day

Six More Reasons to Use a Paper To-Do List at Web Worker Daily.

Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath

Want to know how to communicate ideas effectively? In “Made to Stick” authors Chip and Dan Heath practice what they preach by providing concrete examples of successful messages that are understood, remembered and have a lasting impact. To design one, simply follow their SUCCESs checklist.

Simplicity gets right to the core idea and packages it in compact form. If there was time to communicate only one thing, what would it be? The curse of knowledge is that once we know something, we forget what it was like not to know it. We arrive at answers by reading data and arriving at conclusions, but sharing this information is not the effective way to tell others.

Gain attention and interest with the unexpected. Arouse curiosity by posing a question which points out a gap in knowledge. Then reveal one clue leading to another down a path to an answer we now want to know. 

Get concrete by converting abstract ideas into clear images of tangible, specific things.

Boost credibility with authorities, demonstrations, and details that symbolize the core idea.

Inspire emotions with imagination. Appeal to interests by spelling out the benefit of the benefit with why, not what. Identify on an individual level to create an emotional response. 

Stories involve us in the idea and invite participation. Stories remain in our memories. Be alert for stories with the potential to inspire, entertain, illustrate and teach.

With these ideas, anyone can make an idea stick.

Made to Stick Blog

Common Craft review

Separate and/or one

I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the Planet Earth series on the Discovery channel, as the fascinating beauty of nature and the animals that live in our world is revealed with amazing photography. We truly can see how we are connected to nature and life, how we are one. We can empathize with the struggle for survival as a predator seeks food, and the prey attempts to escape and live.

I have been puzzling over the word “ego” and what it means. It seems that a certain amount of ego is an element of human survival. At one end of a spectrum, ego is about the individual self that is concerned with it’s wants and needs. At the other end is the authentic self that is interested in awareness and serving others.

Sometimes we react to being at one end of a spectrum by swinging like a pendulum too far to the other extreme, when what is needed is a balance. I’ve also been reading a book called “Perfectly Yourself: Nine Lessons for Enduring Happiness” by Matthew Kelly. Number eight is “focus on what you are here to give.” And so it is that I ask to become a person with the ability to share the gift I am here to give.

I subscribe to Nic Askew’s film of the week at monday9am.tv-short films that do something. This week’s film is about “the absurd notion of one.” Interesting, isn’t it, that the universe brought this together?

Discoveries of the Week

Speaking of productivity, Zen Habits has been very busy with some excellent posts! Not only is there a full version and a minimal version of Zen to Done, but also a list of Top 50 Productivity Blogs (including yours truly!) Checking them all out is now on my list of things to do!

Productivity Cafe had some great ideas for ways to use timers.

One of the interesting points that I gained from our conference session on lifehacks was that communication is a very important productivity tool. I was glad to discover a post at Goals to Action with 8 Practical Tips for Improving Your Listening Skills.

I learned that Phil Gerbyshak of Make It Great! has a whole section of links to free ebooks, and also learned of a site that provides free book summaries called WikiSummaries.

Productivity501 provided statistics about How Much Information Is There? No wonder we’re overwhelmed!

If you want to see a fun workspace, check out HELLO, my name is Blog. Whew, it’s been a busy week for sure!

Session Notes

Session notes from “Lifehacks and Hipsters and GTD, Oh My!”, 13 April 2007, KLA/KASL/KAECT TriConference

Introductions

Rhonda - State Library, member of National Association of Professional Organizers

Rosemary - Ottawa Library, blogs on planning & time management at dailyplanit.wordpress.com

What do attendees hope to learn?

What type of handheld to get:

* make sure you love it - borrow before you buy

* check reviews in PC mag, epinions.com, ask friends

* essentials - calendar, contacts list, to-do

* no-tech alternative - hipster (index cards held together with binder clip) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipster_PDA; templates for calendar, etc. at http://www.douglasjohnston.net/templates/

* modified hipster - punched cards (like old catalog cards) held together with a binder ring

 

How to handle piles on desk:

* set aside uninterrupted time to sort through all; file or toss anything no longer needed in prime space

* use vertical space - stepped dividers, horizontal letter sorters, pendaflex pilesmart

* some people like ’stuff put away’, some people like ’stuff in view’ for current projects

* be careful using color - what happens if you run out of a needed color? try inexpensive, like sticky dots or magic marker before expensive like folders

 

Timely access to both personal & work info:

* planning tool needs to be portable/accessible

* try online tool like yahoo or google calendar

 

How to deal with multiple deadlines:

* build timeline with intermediate steps

* display timeline/project list over desk

* if projects coming from several different sources, ask them to prioritize

 

Efficient ways of handling to-dos:

* have ‘to-do’ folder in e-mail client to get stuff out of inbox - check regularly

* handle either in large uninterrupted chunks of time or small bits -

set a timer - can do anything for 5 minutes - depends on working style

* do immediately if it takes <2 minutes (GTD)

* use low-energy time, like end of day to review

 

Setting priorities:

* urgent/important matrix

* like to do/need to do matrix

o like to/need to “gems”

o don’t like to/need to “toads” - eat first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen all day

o like to/don’t need to “butterflies” - spend a lot of time chasing them

o don’t like to/don’t need to “gnats” - swat ‘em!

* ‘need to do well’ vs ‘need to do quickly’

 

Handling e-mail (handout)

 

GTD:

o Book “Getting things done” by David Allen

major focus is on getting to-dos, projects, appointments, etc out of

head and into a tool (PDA, calendar, hipster, etc)

o flow chart at http://www.flickr.com/photos/koolpal/8872491/

 

Lifehacks - any little tricks that make life easier:

o fold under end of package tape

o even better - put paper clip under edge

o use dryer sheets to dust tops of books - dollar store package lasts all semester, pass out to kids 5 minutes before period ends and let ‘em go at it. makes library smell nice, too!

o using magic marker, put a dot on student’s thumbnail to remind them to bring back overdues

o put on headphones when you don’t want to be disturbed - don’t even need to have music going

o always buy clothes with pockets!

o leave messages for yourself on home answering machine or send e-mails to yourself as reminder

o always keep calendar on same corner of desk so staff can find easily

 

Tools to try:
o google docs & spreadsheet for collaborative work

http://www.google.com/google-d-s/intl/en/tour1.html

o http://www.doodle.ch for scheduling meetings

o http://www.egroupware.org alternative to GroupWise; good for

scheduling equipment, meeting rooms, etc.

o post-it portable workspace for managing projects

http://www.tammycravit.com/blog/old/index.php?s=post-it

 

If you remember nothing else:

o make sure you choose tools you love; if you don’t love it, you won’t use it

o find your strengths and use them

o communicate with family, co-workers, those you report to and those who report to you

 

Vacation Recovery

The first part of April I went on a great trip to Seattle and enjoyed a wonderful visit with family in a beautiful setting that provided refreshing new views. There is a definite recovery time curve upon return from a vacation! There are many benefits from a break in routine, but getting back into a productive rhythm is a challenge. Not only do you have dig out from under the accumulation of information, new messages and piles of work, but the momentum that is built with regular work is lost and it takes time to get back up to speed. It is also necessary to make a mental switch from relaxed mode to productive mode.

Blog Barometer: Frequency of blog posting is a measure of productivity. When overwhelmed with too much to do, the result is lack of time for posting. When underwhelmed with a lack of fresh input to stimulate new ideas, the result is a lack of posts. It’s a delicate balance that seems to be critical to productivity success. It helps to have a system that allows us to keep track of what we need to do and gives us the control to Dial it up and Dial it down as needed.

Another Discovery of the Day

Via Psychology of Clutter, I learned of a post at the Neat Living Blog that challenges organizers to Show Us Your Desk! Not only is it great fun to see how they set up their workspaces, I learned of a whole new slew of great sites!

Discovery of the Day

Monica Ricci at Your Life. Organized. pointed me to this great Washington Spaces online article about getting your entire home organized. Very inspiring!

Lifehack Ideas

A colleague and I had the opportunity today to discuss lifehacks at a conference session. There was great audience participation and they shared some wonderful ideas! Here are the lifehacks they wrote on index cards for us:

Keep all elements of a small project in a gallon ziplock bag.

Use cheap dryer sheets to dust your books and bookshelves. They can be used over and over and it leaves everything smelling great. Swiffer dusters are great too.

Have a certain place to keep things to take home from work, and to work from home. Put items in front of the door or with your keys.

Sort mail at the trash can so junk mail goes directly there instead of in a pile.

Keep white-out in your top desk drawer laying on it’s side. Every time you open the drawer, the jar rolls and keeps the white-out shaken up.

In email, create a “deal with when time” folder for those things that aren’t critical, but you’re not comfortable deleting. If you don’t go back to it then it wasn’t that important.

Keep family birthdays on PDA with alarm set for 5 days in advance. When the alarm shows up, there’s time to buy a card and mail it in time to reach them.

To sort folders on the computer: name frequently used folders with “AA” at the beginning of the file name so they sort at the top of the file list.

Display files in Explorer/My Computer as details and sort by filename, date, etc.

When library cards are mistakenly put into the wrong slots like a copy card reader or a floppy disk drive, scotch tape can be used to retrieve them. Gently put the tape in and use another card to press it down, and it will pull the card right out.

Post-it computer sticky note program.

Pin socks together when taking them off. Wash, dry and roll-no lost socks! (plus no stress in the morning!)

Great job everyone!