Two Second Poll: How do you like my new blogging style?

For three weeks I've been experimenting with shorter, looser, and more frequent posts, that have - gasp! - images. Do me a quick favor? Vote on how you like this style. Comment below if you want to share more detail. Thanks!

Time, Space, Objects, and Interrelationships. Plus: FastCompany.TV Goodies

I stumbled across the FastCompany.TV interview IBM's "brain" guy: Dharmendra Modha with Robert Scoble. While I didn't finish it (mainly due to the terrible interviewer) an idea jumped out: An Ontology for perceiving the world: Time, Space, Objects, and Interrelationships. Since I love categories, what's the translation to time management? Let's play with it.

• Time: Well that seems clear; it's the fixed currency to which we are budgeted. I and my commenters explored this in What Are The Laws Of Work?, especially time's special qualities (expensive, precious, perishable, etc.) What else can we say about time? Clocks count it, calendars represent it linearly, task lists capture intentions to use it (as does the calendar), and "someday" lists represent the opposite (things I'm not doing).



• Space: For workplaces, physical space is what we occupy, including desks, files, shelves, etc. It's where we put ourselves and our things (next). And according to The Power of Place, it has a big influence on our thoughts, emotions, and actions. Mental space is required to do creative thinking (and by creative, I mean all jobs), and it's where we hear the voices of intuition and direction. It's also where genuine listening takes place, and where we begin to break habits, such as multitasking and procrastination.
  



• Objects: The things we manipulate to get our work done. Inboxes capture and files organize them. Also, this is the category of tool.



• Interrelationships: I loved it when Modha included this one. Of course! The people we work with, the connections between projects and tasks, the flow of work between us, they all follow channels, mostly communicative ones, I'd argue.

Just for fun, below is a table in which I mapped the GTD organizing categories to these four "universal" ones. Also, here are a few FastCompany.TV videos you might like:

• David Allen On "Getting Things Done"



• The 10 Secrets of Highly Productive People



• Timothy Ferriss and The 4-Hour Workweek



• WorkFast TV interviews Mark Bernstein of PARC



• Jeff Bezos - "What's dangerous is not to evolve"



• As a bonus, check out the GoogleTechTalk YouTube Channel

I'm curious: What are your ideas of this perspective? How do you interpret time management from this high level? Any "big impact" videos you'd like to share?

Share Your Inbox Delights!

On my birthday last week I received a wonderful surprise in the mail: A lovely assortment from of TCHO chocolate from a client and entrepeneur. Yum! (Side note: I was turned onto great chocolate when my wife dragged me into one of Larry Burdick's cafes and got me to try a few bon bons and a cup of drinking chocolate. No kidding, It changed my life; see How To Make The Ultimate Cup Of Hot Chocolate from four years ago.)

This got me thinking about the emotional impact of incoming items (attention tokens as I called them in These Are The Inboxes Of Our Lives). As an anxious person, I especially appreciate these. It's why I still Use Gmail's "star" To Highlight Good News.

What about you? I invite you to share some inspiring things that show up in your inbox, that is, things that made you take a relaxing deep breath. Paper or "physical" things - either way! To the side are a few recent ones that motivated this post: The chocolate and a children's harp that needs a new string (the note was priceless).

I'm curious: How often do you get something uplifting in your inboxes (email, paper, or voicemail)? What sources (i.e., people) have the highest signal-to-noise (uplift-to-??) ratio? Do you create delight through the things you give out?

Check Out the Productivity501 "Where Did My Day Go" Daily Planning Contest!

Check Out the Productivity501 "Where Did My Day Go" Daily Planning Contest!

Over at Mark Shead's Productivity501 we're running a Where Did My Day Go Contest in which a luck reader will win a copy of my daily planning guide, "Where the !@#% did my day go? The ultimate guide to making every day a great workday". I won't tell anyone if you slide over there and enter by making a comment ;-)

You might also check out the many ways people manage have come up with to plan their days. I cover the majority of them in my guide, and at the same time I enjoyed reading their ideas and stories. I was gratified to see mentions good of treating getting more productive as experiments taking place :-)

Finally, a little badly delayed catch-up on Mark's and other sites:

• You might enjoy Interview: Technology Investments : Productivity501, which has answers from me and other bloggers to the question, "How do you decide if a new technology is worth investing in or whether it is a waste of time?"



• Mark's Biggest Productivity Challenge question (I listed "discipline"), and



• CIO Magazine's brief interview of me in How to Handle Negative Online Comments, Hold a Concise Meeting and Decline an After-work Invite.



• I had a delightful conversation with Sam Carpenter, author of Work the System: The Simple Mechanics of Making More and Working Less. If you like my "no-nonsense ex-NASA engineer" approach to productivity, you'll want to check it out. His perspective of "Each thing we do is a component of a system." jibes with my "Everything in life is an experiment" approach. I love this passage: You must stand outside of it if you are to see how you are a part of it.



• Blog honors: I was pleased to see that I'm in the top 25 in Blog Rank's Getting Things Done category, along with sites like 43 Folders and Lifehacker. I'm also one of the "World's Top GTD Blogs" according to The Daily Reviewer. Thanks so much for reading!

What gets better with age?

Some things improve with age (wine is a common example). What else has that characteristic (or the opposite) in time management, or in life? Phrased positively,

• Foods: Cheese, wine, for example. And a continuation of the previous, bread mold, though not all are created equal.



• You: I know you, and you work to make yourself more mature, more resilient, and more knowledgeable. And I deeply respect that. As I get older, my goal is to continue the practice so that, on my last breath, I will still be asking questions. (Like __?) The risk: Getting comfortable and stuck. Tip: If you're used to being the smartest person in the room (a variation on worst musician in the band), you need a new room!



• A project: You know those efforts that flow (yes, you should actually read the book) and gather momentum as they progress? I love them! My goal as a writer and consultant is to help clients have more of those. The risk: Things getting out of control, resources dropping out, and unexpected/unpredictable events. To protect yourself: Evaluate as you move it along, and be willing to change direction. (Hmm. TTL, anyone?)



• A task: Hmm. I'm having trouble thinking of a task that improves the older it gets. If it's paused waiting on something else, then it's not executable and goes on your workflow Waiting For list. If you don't want to do it right now, but don't want to drop it yet, it goes on your Someday/Maybe list. Risk: If it sits around too long, you'll get discouraged or start skipping over it, and be less happier. Tip: Try dating your tasks (not just your Waiting For items). Getting stale? Make taking care of it itself an action.



• Science! You gotta' love an approach to understanding the world that's self-correcting.



• Memories: Fond ones that give you pleasure are a gift; relish them.Risk: Not pruning the negative thoughts that intrude on your mental realm. I struggle with this in particular. (In my case there's a biological component, but I'm always on the lookout for behaviorial tools. Suggestions welcome.)

I'm curious: What else is better old, new, or changes between them over time?