Happy end-of-year, and a short collection of ideas, both serious and trivial

(A relatively short post, as I'm in recovery.)


Five things that are easier with crutches

I broke a leg bone in half a week ago[1], so I have some tips for you should you need crutches.

• Palm calluses useful for chandelier-swinging.
  
• Improved ability to re-slip on ice. Advantage: Already have crutches.
  
• Like some kinds of work (e.g., writing), slow and steady is often more productive than fast and reckless.
  
• Can use to point and press buttons.
  
• Hyper-developed right leg more impressive than pre-accident, and draws attention away from shrunken chicken-stick broken leg.
  
• Increases pan handling donations, esp. when combined with weary slouch.
  
• And finally, children just love to play with them!

Three things you didn't know about me

• One of my teeth is rotated 90 degrees from normal
  
• I was raised by a family of wild cats. While they treated me with love and like one of their own, I have some residual bad habits like using my tongue to clean myself, and an aversion to toilets - I prefer a litter box. Thank god for my portable litter box!
  
• Ezra Cornell, the founder of Cornell University, is my great-great uncle. Sadly, family scholarships were dropped before I graduated high school. (This one's actually true.)

How to actually take time off during your holiday

In Holiday Hacks: 12 Radical (and Slightly Naughty) Ways to Stay Productive the author suggests ways to work during time off. Here's what I said:

The real question is how you want to use your time "off" from work. Without a recharge, it's arguable that you've squandered an important opportunity to make your brain work better.

I recommend treating it like a vacation: Don't work! Like taking a vacation, prepare before it starts by getting caught up, verifying projects are in a happy state, and dealing with anything that you know will come up during the break, e.g., bills, party planning, buying gifts, etc.

Also, I want to acknowledge the people who have to work while many of us take breaks, e.g., people who work in hospitals and provide health care, fire and police workers, 24/7 customer support reps, etc. (Please add yourself in the comments - I know I'm skipping lots of other important work.)

You might also enjoy A few thoughts on vacations & GTD, used time management books, a few productivity tips, and heroes - both super *and* real.

(BTW, I've been on a superhero kick, and enjoyed reading Soon I Will Be Invincible: A Novel and Hero. Guilty pleasure, but while laid up I've not been up to reading one book, each day, one hour each.)


Places where our cat throws up (with solutions)

While I am concerned about genetically modified foods (apparently tomatoes are common), there's one creature I'd be perfectly happy seeing modified: felis domesticus. Why? Because the thing's digestive system ain't there yet. I love our 15 year old animal, but it pukes on everything. Examples:

• The floor - most common. Best choice: Wood floors. Worst choice: Carpet. Disadvantage: Usually found when stepped on in bare feet. Solution: Daily hosing-down of all walking surfaces with bleach/fluorohydric acid mixture.
  
• Beds - also common. Best choice: None. Advantage: Usually caught in the act, allowing prompt action. Solution: Sleep on floor.
  
• And finally, a new one: The vacuum cleaner! A twisty, somewhat self-referential target that gave me a chuckle. Left in place for holiday humor.

Finally, even if you don't celebrate the arbitrary point in our planet's orbit around the sun, I'd like to wish you a good new year. Thanks to you all for reading - I'm humbled and grateful.


References

• [1] Prognosis: 6-8 weeks to start walking on it, 3-4 months before it's healed and I'm mountain biking again. Thank goodness I have tele-coaching and local consulting during the next month or so! I'd be very unhappy leading one of my workshops sitting down. (I move around a lot, have many activities, and generally we have a lot of fun.)
  

Bloke redux, the 15 minute emergency office, and a short automation experiment

A little grab-bag post today.

First, yesterday in Western MA, USA, we had a beautiful, exciting, and hazardous ice storm. The latter I experienced first hand (first foot, actually) when I slipped on a near-frictionless driveway and broke my leg (fibular fracture). This is three months on the heels of a broken thumb, so I feel a bit like warmed-over poo. And yes, there's some self-judgment involved as well.

So this week some short, but hopefully high-value mini entries [1].

Moving offices

Because my office is upstairs, I needed to set up one on our first floor. (What - Matt stop working!?) With my dear wife's help, we got it done in 15 minutes. I think this is remarkable. All it took was moving down:

• Action system (already portable; and remember, it's only a calendar and three lists - Projects, Actions, and Waiting For)
  
• Laptop computer and headset
  
• Portable phone
  
• Stacking shelves (inbox, action support, working project folders [2])
  
• Desktop supplies (many in one place - my spinning organizer)
  
• Mail-related items (envelopes, stamps, and thank you cards)
  
• Printer
  
• Legal pad (supports my collection habit)

(For how much such a system simplifies moving the entire office, see Another GTD Plus - Moving offices made much easier.)

Windows text automation tools experiment

Over the last month I've been trying a few tools to automate my computer workflow on Windows [3]. In the productivity blogosphere, reviewing and using tools like text expansion and auto-completion is common, so I thought I'd give some a whirl. I looked at two categories: Text auto-completion (in which the program figures out the word/phrase you're typing and types it for you), and text expansion (in which you tell the program which word/phrase it should type). In other words, programs where it decides vs. when you decide. (Note: This separation is fuzzy - there's crossover between the two.)

The verdict: The latter class is much more useful and flexible, and

For auto-completion I tried these programs: LetMeType, IntelliComplete Professional, As-U-Type, and AutoTyping. My conclusion: Increasing typing speed would provide more benefit, due to completion not being 100% (which is probably impossible). Put another way, it was slower cycling through completions searching for the correct one. That said, of the ones I tried, LetMeType was the most usable.

(Side note: Interestingly, I had trouble finding one that was under active development. Makes me think either a) it's a dead end, or b) no one's created a great tool yet. Opportunity?)


For text expansion I looked researched a bunch of them [4], and ended up trying AutoHotkey first. It is free, powerful, under active development, and has a supportive user community. My conclusion: It's pretty darn neat, passed the "I'll keep using it" test, and was good enough to not try any others. And its scripting library can do about anything. I haven't integrated it deeply with Firefox yet, but I hope it will replace CoScripter (I like tool consolidation if possible). It supports UI macros as well (click here, etc.) There's a nice introduction at lifehacker: Hack Attack: Knock down repetitive email with AutoHotKey.

Note that I used the geeky edit-a-text-file approach, and did find the syntax to be a bit confusing at first. I believe there's a graphical front end, though. If you want a friendlier UI, definitely check out ActiveWords - it is pretty, but still has a large scripting library.


Mac users may want to check out this Spell Catcher vs. TextExpander vs. Typinator vs. TypeIt4Me, etc..


So tell me: What's your experience around this been? Got a favorite you can't live with? Do tell!


Resources

• [1] Yes, I realize that most blogs are only entries like this. I look at it a competitive advantage - more depth, but fewer posts.
  
• [2] I am very careful about recommending this to clients. Before working with me, most people have tried some kind of system for managing working files - either stacked on surfaces or sitting upright in step folder stands. The main problem with these is using them as action reminders. Why? Because when they have 10 minutes, it takes far to long to find the next action. Just determining the action from one folder could take 10 minutes! Instead, the best practice is to have a centralized action list from all projects. This frees up folders to do what they're meant to: hold project-related materials. This changes the nature of having folders on desks from action reminders to support - it's merely a convenience to save a few seconds looking through their (A-Z!) filing drawers.
  
• [3] I would *love* to switch to a Mac - Windows' instability and inefficiency (and this is on XP, not Vista) drives me nuts. What's holding me back? One-button laptops, and PowerPoint and Quicken compatibility. I realize the latter can be solved by virtualizing Windows, but that seems like missing the point. I'm open to convincing, though...
  
• [4] The top candidates seemed to be ActiveWords, AutoHotkey, and Texter, but there are many other worthies as well.
  

A nice surprise: A short email interview with UK productivity expert Nicholas Bate

One of the great things about my series of interviews with top productivity consultants [1] (along with lots of new ideas) is discovering thinkers I've not previously heard of. I'm pleased to share a short email interview with Nicholas Bate (site, blog), who came to my attention when I received a surprise box of books and playing cards [2] from London, including Being the Best: The A-Z of Personal Success, JfDI! Just Do It: The Definitive Guide to Realising Your Dreams, and Get a Life: Setting your 'Life Compass' for Success.

For a taste of his thinking, check out his free ebooks (I found the first, Boost Your Productivity, stimulating):

• Boost Your Productivity
  
• Life Balance
  
• Rainmaker
  
• The Rules of Life

Two things about Nicholas: First, his knowledge seems both deep and wide, something I admire. Second, his blog is in the category of brief, frequent, and high-value, something I also admire. (I'm regularly tempted to switch to that approach to free up time for other projects. Not yet, though.) His post How to Think Like Albert Einstein is one of the funniest and shortest ones I've come across in a while, with You were there: invention of the light bulb, 125 years ago.. running a close second. :-)

Here's another characteristic post, this one on productivity: 6 Ways to be More on Top of Things:

1. Have a definitive list of what 'things' are: the master list.
   
2. Review that list once per day. (Re-) prioritise.
   
3. Prioritise by pay-off. Not who's shouting, what's easy nor what's urgent.
   
4. Say no to low value tasks otherwise you say no to high value stuff (such as your Life).
   
5. Take time out every day to think. It's the unique distinction of humans.
   
6. Regularly scan the diary for what is coming up.

I'm continuing to line up interviews, including some big names you'll definitely know. Now on to Nicholas's interview.

How did you get your start?

I just started. I had no guaranteed clients, but I did know this was something I really wanted to do. If you have a strong passion within you to do something, I encourage you to do it. It may not be easy, but it will work out eventually. Passion leads to ability. Ability leads to competence. And people want and will pay for competence.

What were the biggest factors in your success?

Becoming special. Identify a few things you are really, really good at and then become awesome at those. Don’t try and do everything. Don’t be too concerned about your competitors and be careful about responding to the customer; lead the customer!

How did you build your clientele?

I really believe there is only one way: word of mouth. You can accelerate that of course in many ways, but essentially you must have a product which people tell others about with sufficient enthusiasm that they wish to buy it.

How do you to ensure (as much as possible) that clients "get it," i.e., that it sticks?

Two main approaches: on seminars and in my books I do a lot of "pattern-breaking." Secondly I help maintain momentum through my blog.

What's your market focus/niche?

Business/commercial. Work/life balance. Productivity.

How do you summarize your method, and how did you develop it?

A concept called "personal compass." The metaphor being of course to decide your direction, etc. Most productivity methods I believe are too tactical; without a big enough why, people cannot keep their motivation. I encourage people to discover and set their compass; that then keeps them motivated.

How do you stay on top of the field (reading, tools, assistants, outsourcing)?

I read books and increasingly blogs. I used to go on workshops, and have attended those of the many thought leaders I respect.

How did your books come about? What's your muse?

The desire to capture my teachings and ideas so that students who wished could study them in more detail.

What were your biggest influences in developing your method?

Practicing managers who were effective: I noticed what they actual did, a process known as modeling excellence [3].

Who were your mentors?

None really. I simply read anything and attended anything of those I admired/respected.

What products and services do you sell?

Workshops and keynotes.

How do you apply the 80/20 principle to your practice?

I attempt to do a very few things astonishingly well.

How did you decide pricing? Is it fixed, or more like Value-Based Fees?

Value-based. This is important as you cannot double the time you have but you can double the value you offer.

What role did networking play, and how do you stay on top?

A small part for me.

What strategic partnerships did you form?

None so far.

How do you delight and surprise your clients?

I work at a higher standard than they ever expect!

Who are your competitors/peers?

Everybody yet nobody!



Update: For Pascal - here's a little blurb from Nicholas:

After a career in sales and marketing in the IT industry, culminating in leading sector marketing for Research Machines, Oxford, UK Nicholas launched Strategic Edge. His clients include Avanade, Barclays, BBC, BG Group, Lilly, Marks & Spencer, Microsoft, MSN amongst others.

Nicholas carried out research in the field of Molecular Biophysics at Magdalen College, Oxford University and is an NLP Master Practitioner, MBTI (levels 1 and 2) accredited and a qualified (PGCE) teacher. As well as instigating the Strategic Edge research programme, he has spent time studying with many of the recognised practitioners in the fields of business and personal development.


References

• [1] Previous interviewees (tagged interviews) include Sally McGhee, Chris Crouch, Laura Stack and Mark Forster.
  
• [2]How can I resist someone who uses playing cards for promotion and education? I'm actively working on a set of Personal Productivity Playing Cards, starting with a recent LinkedIn question (How do I go about producing custom educational playing cards?).
  
• [3] Modeling Excellence