Summer 2005

Here’s a very short newsletter about time management, efficiency, working through what’s slowing you down, and, this month, travel.

In another drive towards minimalism, I thought I’d just toss out a few quick things this month and work on getting some feedback from readers. Below are a few links to some different projects, products, and one other website that continues to give good, inspirational advice. Let me know what you think.

Packing
a tale of one bag.
This is the main message for this month, so consider this the ‘meat’ of the newsletter. After all, it’s summer, and people are traveling.

Resources
Death by Meeting

A small point for our managers and business leaders on the list. If you haven’t already been to my resources page, now’s a great time to go: If you’ve looked at your schedule and see that meetings are eating your productivity, get this book, and take a quick day or so to read it. The most important thing about this philosophy is to realize there’s different kinds of meetings.

Kick Start Sucess
Attitude adjustment and business plans

I just keep liking what these folks are doing. Much of time management ends up being about attitude, goal setting, and (lack of) procrastination. Check out their newsletters.

Breathe deep, have fun,
Tys

Spring 2005

Greetings Philosophers!

Here again is the newsletter from Idea Mountain, sent to you filled with philosophy, ideas, and occasional confessions designed to be read in two or thee minutes and filed away, or better, forwarded on to others.

Realization
Or is it confession?

Less exact, but possibly less frivolous.

As our regular readers will probably note, this is the first newsletter in a couple of months. I decided that instead of forced punctuality, I'd wait to send out a newsletter until I had enough quality content to make it worthwhile. I guess I decided that when being in the simplicity business, one shouldn't create a lot of stress creating lame stuff just to meet an artificial deadline.

Does this have any application to your work? I don't bring it up as some wise lesson, just letting you in on my own thinking.

Tip
Automation
Set your Computer to do things while you’re away

One big part of time saving is having your computer run as efficiently as possible. (excuse me Mac users while I once again speak directly to the PC people) Did you know that besides things like your anti-virus software updates and scans that should be set to run automatically (from weekly to daily, depending on your paranoia level) you can also set windows to do things like disk defrag, or a disk clean up? I would suggest you set those up on a monthly basis, which will help your system run more smoothly, saving you miniscule amounts of time, every minute you’re at the computer. Go to your start button, programs, accessories, system tools, scheduled tasks, and chose what you want to run and when.

New Tool
The upgrade to the Treo 650

Well, I've finally made the leap to a new device, the phone/PDA/camera/email/internet browser all in one, the Treo 650. The judges are in: It's a nice tool. I spent a long time defending the old Palm Vx, and everything I said then still holds: it's small, cheap, has great battery life, integrates perfectly with a keyboard, and takes a beating well. I finally had to upgrade my mobile phone, and the Vx was beginning to show signs of wear. Best part of the new device? Actually, not a ton, but enough that I'm happy:

• I don't have to carry both a phone and a PDA
• It has Bluetooth technology, which allows me to us wireless add-ons, like my new Treo brand wireless headset. Very nice.
• I now can use my entire contact list in my PDA in my phone. I never got around to putting more than 30 numbers into my mobile phone.
• In the process of the upgrade, I switched from AT&T to Sprint, which, while including email and internet and my wife's (free) phone and account, I'm saving $35 a month.
• I do really like the camera feature, specifically the video camera, which allows for 3 minute movies with sound.

Everything continues to integrate with Outlook on my desktop, and I still feel that email is best answered at your desk, not on the fly. I have had the ability to cruise the internet while away from home come in handy though. As I learn more, I'll publish more tricks and opinions.

Manifesto
Paper is the Enemy!

I believe that if people felt that paper was something to be saved, recycled, and avoided, we’d all be more organized. Try and think of the paper in your life and workspace as the problem. You shouldn’t let more in if you can help it (open the mail over the pail), you shouldn’t store it flat (that’s called a pile, not a file), and if you have some laying around, it’s probably bugging you and needs to be put into a task list or filed away. Work to get the paper out of your workspace.

Gold Mine advice
'Found money'

Every so often, say about every six months or a year, review your accounts with different providers, and do a quick scan to see if another provider might save you money.

I just mentioned my phone plan, and by the time I send this, I should have a new web hosting account. On a monthly basis, if you can save $10, $20, $50 on some of these 'commodity' type services, that starts to add up. This review process also allows you to make a decision and start something, instead of always waiting until the perfect deal comes along. (I’ve “found” $55 this month – that translates to $660 saved for 2005.)

Regular Practice
Back up your files

I have task in my outlook to back up my data once a month. Many would say that's not nearly enough, but I think other would confess that it' much more often than they manage to get around to it. Set up a reminder right now. Enjoy that smug satisfaction of knowing you're organized and prepared for emergencies.

Reading and Learning
Ecological Design and integration

I’ve been doing a lot of reading of sustainable building and design literature lately, and finding that my perspectives can be altered and improved by these thoughtful practices. One I’ve been particularly enjoying is Art Ludwig, of Oasis Designs. He sells his writings digitally and in print at http://www.oasisdesign.net/catalog/index.htm . One of the fundamentals of all of those philosophies fits, I think, with Idea Mountain as well. It’s the idea of examining the difference between “how much you make” vs. “the degree you want what you have.”

Often, people see Idea Mountain as a solution to work faster, or harder, to get ahead. I strive to point out to my clients that the reason I’m concerned about efficiency and effectiveness is *not* to simply make more money, but in fact, to work less and enjoy life more… make the same amount of money. I won’t go on and on preaching, but just think about that perspective: concerning yourself not with how much money you have/make, but with how you can be happy with what you have already.

Keep in touch, smile when you see someone frown, or when you see a smile, breath deep, and work well,

Tys

Winter 2005

Greetings Philosophers,

Here again is the newsletter on efficiency, time management, and living purposefully, sent to you because you requested it at some time or another, and designed to be read and filed in two to three minutes, so you can get on with your day.

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Trick
Do Now File

I like to have one file that contains the various random pieces of paper that fall into that crack between 'able to deal with now' and 'file to work on at X'. Sometimes something will happen like I don't have a stamp for a letter to go out, or I need to do a little research on something before it gets filed or tossed. This file actually sits out, on top of all my other files, yet still in the drawer so my work area looks uncluttered. Every so often, something will come up (writer's block, I'm on hold, etc) and I swing over, looking for something to do with my hands, and here's this file. It's really, I suppose, my own in box. The most important factor with this file is that you can't let it get bigger than a few sheets. If it starts to grow too thick, plan some time in your calendar to work through it.

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Philosophy
Making decisions

Most piles are simply decisions that have been put off. When I'm working with clients, the phrase I hear most often is, "I have to go through that" meaning 'there's a bunch of stuff I don't want to deal with but I know I have to'. The more we do this, the more stuff piles up, the more we feel we need to have bigger desks, store more stuff, and the more we feel unorganized. SO, how do we make better, faster decisions?

To start with, the fundamentals I've talked about with the 'martial-arts' type practice in past writings... doing what we do until it becomes automatic, until it becomes second nature allows you to see that which is 'outside' our regular sphere more quickly. Once you feel that there is a blank field you work on that you have mastered, the new decisions easily show themselves. An example of a blank field is driving. Most of us feel we can sustain at least listening to the radio while driving. We don't *just* have to think about driving. Work to get your daily routine --sales calls, customer relations, cooking dinner-- to that masterful habit. When the goal is to get back to that blank plane again, dealing with the new things that pop up--things that you used to sit in a pile-- becomes a priority, a priority with a goal.

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Habit
Monthly newsletter to friends

Every month, I send out an email to about 250 of my friends and relatives around the world, letting them know what I'm up to and how things are going. I tend to make it a bit funny, and make sure that it 'plays for all audiences'… much like many people's annual holiday letter. I feel this keeps me organized in my personal life, so I don't retell stories, people know where I'm at, and also feel like they are still connected to me.

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Idea Mountain Goal for 2005
I'm looking to do work in businesses!

As my consulting services grows here in the San Francisco Bay area, I've started to form some goals on how I'd like work with small to medium sized businesses. While some efficiency issues are based on a single person's needs, often it's the workplace and process as a whole that needs changing. Companies are starting to examine how bringing Idea Mountain to help organize and 'speed up' one employee could easily be turned into process examination and site visit/coaching for the whole team. If your workplace could use something like that, decide if you have any budget for improving efficiency and balance, and let me know.

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Suitable for Framing
Golden Rules of Getting Things Done

The Idea Mountain golden rules:
Do a Daily and Weekly Review
of calendar, tasks, and goals

Decide Now

If it takes less than 2 minutes... .Do it Now!

Don't save it if you can find it somewhere else

Put it in the PDA - Don't print it out!

To Organize things:

Keep like with Like

No more Piles!

If you haven't used it in 12 months, get rid of it

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Personal, and vital, Organizing
'I'm unconscious/dead' list

Every time I fly out of the country, I email my best friend my 'how to run my life if I'm unconscious or dead' note from my PDA. This is not only password protected, but has codes built in that my buddy knows how to crack, but don't make sense unless you know me. This list has everything from my passport and credit card numbers (in case I lose my wallet on a trip) to the different investment agents phone numbers.

I learned that these lists are important as I had to sift through my parents' paperwork, not knowing what I was looking for.

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Typical Techie Rant
Get off aol

As I check on the many different people who sign up for this newsletter every week, I see so many aol email addresses… I know this is some sort of 'computer snobbery', but if you're using aol, it's like you're trying to take nature photographs with an oil painting kit from the deck of cruise ship. You're not able to organize your data because you're using an old tool for a complicated, modern job… and the data you're able to interact with is being filtered by a giant corporation... remember of course, that if you switch providers, let me know. I'd had to have given the suggestion and then lose contact with you.

Finally, in the spirit of the new year, I thought I'd point out an article I wrote a while ago that is published on various sites that talks about how to get started on the road to organization. Here's a link I found today: Online Article

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Keep in touch, breathe deep, and work well,
Tys