tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46257742871711651192024-03-13T01:40:38.908-07:00The Pragmatic AlternativeThe Pragmatic Alternative ever seeks new ways to do essential workJHepCat "72"http://www.blogger.com/profile/17516930555182237506noreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4625774287171165119.post-15830739737349619342010-06-15T09:52:00.000-07:002010-06-15T11:18:46.190-07:00Browsing Switch: How To Change Things When Change Is Hard by Chip and Dan Heath<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY3_uBLLP5Kk_iNw8zmt96V5EnEOcSDaIxGcyIrxYWbhZUAGcD4WSjIyfQMoL_6EUYm_zeS9NQqncEiTZHDn4gzD1Qx0lZNcoFrnaGgL4oq4zWqIUd-cbfD5Yq05tJd34p49ihu7ysTlf9/s1600/Swithch+book+image+from+Amazon.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY3_uBLLP5Kk_iNw8zmt96V5EnEOcSDaIxGcyIrxYWbhZUAGcD4WSjIyfQMoL_6EUYm_zeS9NQqncEiTZHDn4gzD1Qx0lZNcoFrnaGgL4oq4zWqIUd-cbfD5Yq05tJd34p49ihu7ysTlf9/s320/Swithch+book+image+from+Amazon.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5483066056902004594" border="0" /></a><br />pic courtesy of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Switch-Chip-Heath/dp/0385528752">Amazon.com</a><br /></div><br />The Heath Brothers, authors of <i><b>Made to Stick</b></i>, on why some ideas, companies, etc. stay in our minds and others don't, in <b><i>Switch</i></b> posit the idea of a rider on an elephant trying to stay on a path.<br /><br />The Rider is analytical logic. The Elephant is feeling, based on empirical evidence. The Path is all goals.<br /><br />The Heaths suggest directing the Rider via crystal clear instructions. These include finding what's already right, scripting critical moves, and pointing to the destination. Motivating the Elephant to stay on the Path happens by igniting/finding the feeling, shrinking the change, and growing your people. Shaping the Path means tweaking the environment, building good habits a bit at a time, and rallying the herd.<br /><br />Teacher, Bart Millar, had two attendance problems. As a former teacher, I can relate. Boy, can I relate. Anyway, he needed to make some changes to get these kids to class on time. He could have attempted a rational approach appealing to their rational riders to control their emotional elephants, which wanted to show up whenever they felt like it, by letting them know their grades would suffer, and with them, concomitant opportunities. He could've asked for their empathy for his position, "Hey, you know how hard it is to teach effectively when I can't use all my class time for teaching?" Effective? Not so likely.<br /><br />What Miller did was genius. He brought in some old couches, put them in the front of the room, and allowed early birds to sit there if they wanted to. Tardiness problems solved.<br /><br />That's tweaking the environment.<br /><br />Amazon has changed the environment for book buying, and now book reading with the Kindle.<br /><br />Instead of confronting the hard change problem: How do we persuade people to buy more? They did what Chip and Dan Heath call shrinking the change, and building new habits, by asking an easy change problem: How do we make it easier for people to buy?<br /><br />Voila! How many of us now buy differently than we did 10 years ago? Likely everybody reading this blog. Amazon led the way.<br /><br />The Heath brothers say their favorite story in <a href="switch:%20How%20To%20Change%20Things%20When%20Change%20Is%20Hard">Switch: How To Change Things When Change Is Hard</a> is that of Jerry Sternin.<br /><br />Little wonder, as Sternin is famous for making change with the attitude: <a href="http://blogs.bcccc.net/2008/12/remembering-jerry-sternin-father-of-positive-deviance/">“You cannot think your way into a new way of acting, you have to act your way into a new way of thinking.”</a><br /><br />Sternin went to Vietnam to save children's lives. He found many intractable, systemic problems. Poverty, lack of education, lack of clean water. Jerry Sternin had no chance to change those. What he did have a chance to impact were individuals. He got mothers in one small village to study lack of nutrition there. He then asked if they knew any childeren who, despite the endemic malnutrition, seemed to be doing fine? Any who were perfectly healthy despite their environment? Yes, said the mothers, there were some children like that.<br /><br />Next, he had the mothers of the malnourished children ask the mothers of the healthy children what they were doing right. they found little differences made big changes. Malnourisehe stomachs are smaller so some mothers fed 4 smaller bowls of rice a day, rahter than one or two larger ones. Tiny shrimp and crabs, thought to be adult food, were added, along with sweet potato greens, giving kids more protein and vitamins. Then Sternin got those mothers to teach the other mothers.<br /><br />With the help of those with the most to gain, Sternin managed to make a dent in na big problem, without changing any of the underlying systemics.<br /><br />This is what the Heaths call Finding the Bright Spots: Ask What is working? And make that the focus.<br /><br />You can hear a fifteen-minute podcast interview with Chip and Dan <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Switch-Chip-Heath/dp/0385528752">here</a> at Amazon.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Switch-Chip-Heath/dp/0385528752"><i><b>Switch: How To Change Things When Change Is Hard </b></i>by Chip and Dan Heath</a><i><b> </b></i>is worth picking up on, and passing along to co-workers and bosses.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com"><img src="http://static.technorati.com/pix/fave/btn-fave2.png" alt="Add to Technorati Favorites" /></a></div>JHepCat "72"http://www.blogger.com/profile/17516930555182237506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4625774287171165119.post-43181012922909318332010-03-24T23:21:00.000-07:002010-03-24T23:41:44.488-07:00It was 28 years ago today . . .<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC7KCrMQkIgId47tB2wX8JXs7Jrq4XaqbFiNyOr2-2oe3hUg9-q8jYMPfXEKyL6WeNPul11fj-f0yrdqqq75cyWbKsZoMX2wfZgmtDPzJl__XJpvvKF3CfIrUG43jheMEB7YLk5DY7WPVR/s1600/Emily's+pic+of+me+at+Yurko+reunion,+7+4+09.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC7KCrMQkIgId47tB2wX8JXs7Jrq4XaqbFiNyOr2-2oe3hUg9-q8jYMPfXEKyL6WeNPul11fj-f0yrdqqq75cyWbKsZoMX2wfZgmtDPzJl__XJpvvKF3CfIrUG43jheMEB7YLk5DY7WPVR/s320/Emily's+pic+of+me+at+Yurko+reunion,+7+4+09.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452457943289607362" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />I earned my most honest dollar ever. Playing a Neil Young song.<br /><br />Go figure.<br /><br />And read about it <a href="http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com/2009/10/hey-hey-my-my-aka-most-honest-dollar.html">here</a>.<br /><br />And don't forget to read the follow-up post <a href="http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com/2009/10/not-just-coolest-best.html">here</a>.<br /><br />Was free-writing about it this evening. Here's a little of that:<br /><br />. . . finding it there and then, as that guy--likely 3 to 5 years less than my "24 and so much more"--purposefully striding across the square, looking me in the eye, and HANDING me the DOLLAR, not just tossing it off in the case or even humbly placing it in, as at an altar, but handing it to me, eyes up and locked, all a purpose, handing me that dollar in exact appreciation.<br /><br />The most honest dollar I've ever earned.<br /><br />One of the great moments of my life.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com"><img src="http://static.technorati.com/pix/fave/btn-fave2.png" alt="Add to Technorati Favorites" /></a></div>JHepCat "72"http://www.blogger.com/profile/17516930555182237506noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4625774287171165119.post-16714279534795473222010-03-10T10:24:00.000-08:002010-03-10T12:09:48.614-08:00The Pragmatic Alternative recommends. . .<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTOv4_LQphJ5L-d6TNwa4Z3KXGpfZncd0a4GrygyRhBAh5f793F35C4-pKMXp1ocd-sBX9cw9S76gsklAZsz1kSPeduiLljPMX3LvHcG8DIV3B8JQE7cHIPZ9uAAsXiilhwfeEziHsuf-9/s1600-h/Business-of-Happiness-Front-Cover_120px.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 120px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTOv4_LQphJ5L-d6TNwa4Z3KXGpfZncd0a4GrygyRhBAh5f793F35C4-pKMXp1ocd-sBX9cw9S76gsklAZsz1kSPeduiLljPMX3LvHcG8DIV3B8JQE7cHIPZ9uAAsXiilhwfeEziHsuf-9/s320/Business-of-Happiness-Front-Cover_120px.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447073283291732274" border="0" /></a><br />pic courtesy of TedsTake.com<br /></div><br />. . . Washington Capitals owner, <a href="http://www.tedstake.com/">Ted Leonsis's</a> new book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Business-Happiness-Secrets-Extraordinary-Success/dp/1596981148/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268250848&sr=8-1">The Business of Happiness.</a><br /><br />Leonsis, whose famous <a href="http://www.tedstake.com/2006/01/06/my-101-list-the-story/">101 List</a> is a model for anyone, spent years studying the mechanics of happiness.<br /><br />What makes someone happy? Relationships, Community, Self-Expression, Giving Back, Pursuing a Higher Calling. <br /><br />Everything we're doing at Brazen Careerist.<br /><br />Hear Ted speak about all these, here: <a href="http://fora.tv/2010/02/24/Ted_Leonsis_The_Business_Of_Happiness#fullprogram">http://fora.tv/2010/02/24/Ted_Leonsis_The_Business_Of_Happiness</a><a href="http://fora.tv/2010/02/24/Ted_Leonsis_The_Business_Of_Happiness#fullprogram">.</a><br /><br />I've had a personal email correspondence with Ted Leonsis for over ten years now. <br /><br />Since 1999, when he bought the Washington Capitals from Abe Pollin--philanthropist, pillar of the community and <span style="font-style: italic;">mensch</span> himself--Leonsis has dramatically raised the fortunes of his team, above all by connecting with fans, customers and clients alike, actively seeking input.<br /><br />He asked fans for complaints about the team: about the game day experience, prices, parking, concessions, bathrooms--everything.<br /><br />He compiled a list of 101 things fans didn't like, then systematically attacked those flaws, one by one.<br /><br />That kind of enlightened ownership does more than sell tickets. After all, if the team weren't any good, there'd be empty seats every night.<br /><br />What it does is gains permission. It gets buy-in. It buys patience and time and trust. Trust that things will be done right, that things will steadily improve. That these are shared values.<br /><br />That "It's always about team, and there's always better."<br /><br />And I <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">never</span> say "always."<br /><br />So buy a copy of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Business-Happiness-Secrets-Extraordinary-Success/dp/1596981148/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268250848&sr=8-1"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Business of Happiness</span></a>. Ted's idea of "the double bottom line" is crucial.<br /><br />This one's for you, <a href="http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2008/02/12/the-big-secret-about-happiness-its-really-about-self-discipline/">Penelope.</a><br /><br />Oh, and <a href="http://capitals.nhl.com/">Go CAPS!</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com"><img src="http://static.technorati.com/pix/fave/btn-fave2.png" alt="Add to Technorati Favorites" /></a></div>JHepCat "72"http://www.blogger.com/profile/17516930555182237506noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4625774287171165119.post-86788544152308522862010-03-09T10:47:00.000-08:002010-03-09T21:20:56.949-08:00Why I Haven't Been Ready For Anything Recently...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLkqLEIKQxSZZWi5qDsHD8GkluC2hWxfeo_pQppiHqd2DquiK0_T8AvuYqyyXDYhv5sMbxVUgESr1vO_UO_4Et3N0LaqHAA9W90QQLHGq1XyXRw5uCJ_Il7q44VAMDMIQgwZPECzNmsoFu/s1600-h/Geting+Things+Done+03+09+10++from+inkmesh.com"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 215px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLkqLEIKQxSZZWi5qDsHD8GkluC2hWxfeo_pQppiHqd2DquiK0_T8AvuYqyyXDYhv5sMbxVUgESr1vO_UO_4Et3N0LaqHAA9W90QQLHGq1XyXRw5uCJ_Il7q44VAMDMIQgwZPECzNmsoFu/s320/Geting+Things+Done+03+09+10++from+inkmesh.com" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446705723833321474" border="0" /></a><br /><br />...I'm still getting things done! Working at it--hahd--as they say in N.E.<br /><br />So, that series I was working on for several weeks has hit a bump, and will return when I get a real system of CoPORDing in place and working daily.<br /><br />Getting much better, but still re-working.<br /><br />I find, in contrast to what David Allen suggests, that a top-down approach helps. I'm all too easily distracted by minutia, so his instruction to write it <span style="font-style: italic;">all<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span> down, in no particular order, and then rearrange later hasn't been working.<br /><br />So, it's projects first. Ultimate goals on top, and priorize, organize and review in accord with them.<br /><br />Goal here is to post more regularly, which will mean shorter posts, and will constitute a more active review process.<br /><br />Biggest goal for this month: create a shirt a day--like this one<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEtqDfHZdoyLOpdN0MOWTvjpdPBvsMscIic5a1AECj0B5A13F8jRFeFwacD4GOJ1UsTZVQS0f4DaSvYHZ-KvRedmJwG4b_rLVscZAo0-j3O557ra_4EpdJ8XllTPN2kpWdT7ahSujhlX2x/s1600-h/Color+Original+Prototype+Largest+of+Dinky+States+03+04+10.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 221px; height: 166px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEtqDfHZdoyLOpdN0MOWTvjpdPBvsMscIic5a1AECj0B5A13F8jRFeFwacD4GOJ1UsTZVQS0f4DaSvYHZ-KvRedmJwG4b_rLVscZAo0-j3O557ra_4EpdJ8XllTPN2kpWdT7ahSujhlX2x/s320/Color+Original+Prototype+Largest+of+Dinky+States+03+04+10.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446708117159002738" border="0" /></a> front<br /><br />and back<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwgBduUoZd-LSm7HccpSYT9ufbg2bScBVe10VpKkkNym_PzLHJWrQjUTxGVOs3BdXwLB9By-DM_s3XRyQxn2hpmABbyLeLRe4f2a2-sM4qZ1o_U0hFYy_UbKs1eCgCXX4V_Lmm4lN9wt8_/s1600-h/It's+an+American+fact++JH+01+31+10.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 241px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwgBduUoZd-LSm7HccpSYT9ufbg2bScBVe10VpKkkNym_PzLHJWrQjUTxGVOs3BdXwLB9By-DM_s3XRyQxn2hpmABbyLeLRe4f2a2-sM4qZ1o_U0hFYy_UbKs1eCgCXX4V_Lmm4lN9wt8_/s320/It's+an+American+fact++JH+01+31+10.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446708468529504338" border="0" /></a><br /><br />-- for the month. Starting late, so let's see if I can catch up.<br /><br />At least a shirt a day every workweek day. That'd be 23 for this month.<br /><br />And they won't be all about MD. I've got DE, NJ, MN, and CA lined up, along with the usual off-beat hilarity you've come to expect from the good folks at HepCatIndstries.<br /><br />Stay tuned. . .<br /><br />Meanwhile, I need a drawing board.<br /><br />Literally...<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com"><img src="http://static.technorati.com/pix/fave/btn-fave2.png" alt="Add to Technorati Favorites" /></a></div>JHepCat "72"http://www.blogger.com/profile/17516930555182237506noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4625774287171165119.post-75603278815323142602010-03-07T07:57:00.000-08:002010-03-08T00:18:45.319-08:00What The Pragmatic Alternative Has Always Been About<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzfVehA_t50sX2OqI4Zt2QUFHDjEuUmMiO7I_cowl7DMe4NqpttqqVj4cP996i950gUI-uCgtS-VBB7PVrSaT_GgZ914NU1XBxETk_2z2f57HBWKt3-9xRiA-sH_zO8TY1VwniI1kweY8k/s1600-h/2010-01-24-CBS-FTN-Schieffer+from+media.eyeblast.org+3+7+10.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 180px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzfVehA_t50sX2OqI4Zt2QUFHDjEuUmMiO7I_cowl7DMe4NqpttqqVj4cP996i950gUI-uCgtS-VBB7PVrSaT_GgZ914NU1XBxETk_2z2f57HBWKt3-9xRiA-sH_zO8TY1VwniI1kweY8k/s320/2010-01-24-CBS-FTN-Schieffer+from+media.eyeblast.org+3+7+10.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446174164021059762" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">pic courtesy media.eyeblast.org<br /></div><br />Check out today's <span style="font-weight: bold;">Face the Nation<span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span>, featuring Sens. Lindsay A Graham and Evan Bayh, along with a compelling question from Bob Schieffer about yelling "Fire!" on a crowded Internet:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/07/ftn/main6275271.shtml?tag=contentBody;featuredPost-PE">http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/07/ftn/main6275271.shtml?tag=contentBody;featuredPost-PE</a><br /><br />Pragmatic <span style="font-style: italic;">and<span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span> alternative. <br /><br />That's the <span style="font-weight: bold;">idea!<span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com"><img src="http://static.technorati.com/pix/fave/btn-fave2.png" alt="Add to Technorati Favorites" /></a></div>JHepCat "72"http://www.blogger.com/profile/17516930555182237506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4625774287171165119.post-51251905388793474532010-02-18T19:51:00.001-08:002010-02-19T00:10:03.739-08:00Happy Birthday, Huck Finn!<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheZoSdz7btxJzFIm92UIsg3R1JurVgNYlx8FzmkIW8L3Xf37MEIPjm4GZq7ohHtVBEEq7lN0nIVKVr-R1GN50Duf0jugHrFBFH0Nn72haKFNm95NZSLnTA7Z6S5VnlytdYBnbNfJvU9T92/s1600-h/huckleberry-finn-with-rabbit-799260.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 207px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheZoSdz7btxJzFIm92UIsg3R1JurVgNYlx8FzmkIW8L3Xf37MEIPjm4GZq7ohHtVBEEq7lN0nIVKVr-R1GN50Duf0jugHrFBFH0Nn72haKFNm95NZSLnTA7Z6S5VnlytdYBnbNfJvU9T92/s320/huckleberry-finn-with-rabbit-799260.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439798813723868290" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" class="body">"All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">"<br /><br />Ernest Hemingway<br /></span></div><br />On this day 125 years ago, February 18, 1885, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=huckleberry+finn+facsimile&x=0&y=0"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn</span></a> by Mark Twain was published by Charles L. Webster and Company, New York.<br /><br />How do I know it was published by Charles L. Webster and Company, New York?<br /><br />Well, since 1982, an analog of this Year of Superior Vision, 2010, I've been the proud owner of a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=huckleberry+finn+facsimile&x=0&y=0">facsimile First Edition of this Greatest American Novel.<br /></a><br />And very proud of it I am.<br /><br />I've read this book since I was in Second Grade. I've read it 15 - 18 times, and I started reading it again tonight.<br /><br />I love this book. It is the quintessential American Novel. It examines the essential American conflict: freedom vs slavery, and without doubt the noblest character, the most human, the most loving is the slave, Jim.<br /><br />Few moments in literature rival Huck's resolution in Chapter 31 to stand by his friend.<br /><br />Motherless Huck, whose father is an abusive drunk, accepts on faith that his entire adventure down the Mississippi with runaway slave, Jim, has been sinful. He may not have good or proper breeding, but he knows right from wrong, and absconding with someone else's property is unequivocally wrong.<br /><br />And Jim <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">is</span> property. Not a man. An asset. Capital. Physical plant. A factory.<br /><br />Certainly not a father.<br /><br />Though Huck knows nothing of karma, he's feeling bad about not having spoken up long ago. He's been carrying and protecting stolen merchandise, and finally resolves to clear his conscience by writing to Miss Watson, Jim's rightful owner.<br /><br />Of course, he hasn't felt guilty until he learns "the king" and "the duke," two All-American confidence men, have sold Jim to a local farmer, and made him a slave again "and amongst strangers, too, for forty dirty dollars."<br /><br />But Huck's feeling it now, acutely, and fears, "It would get all around, that Huck Finn helped a nigger to get his freedom; and if I was to ever see anybody from [my home]town again, I'd be ready to get down and lick his boots for shame . . . here was the plain hand of Providence slapping me in the face and letting me know my wickedness was being watched . . . whilst I was stealing a poor old woman's nigger that hadn't ever done me no harm . . . ."<br /><br />The misplaced modifier is crucial.<br /><br />Faced with the prospect of "everlasting fire," Huck resolves to pray. "But the words wouldn't come. . . . because my heart warn't right; it was because I warn't square; is (sic) was because I was playing double. . . deep down in me I knowed it was a lie--and He knowed it. You can't pray a lie," Huck concludes.<br /><br />So he writes a simple, one-sentence letter to Miss Watson telling where Jim is and where to send the reward money to get him back, and immediately feels better.<br /><br />Then Huck begins to pray for his eternal salvation.<br /><br />But not right away. First , he sits and thinks.<br /><br />He thinks of how close he has come to going to hell. Then he thinks of the ease and joy of his life with Jim on the raft on the river. And he thinks of Jim looking out for him, and caring for him. And he remembers Jim saying Huck was the best friend "[he] ever had in the world, and the <span style="font-style: italic;">only</span> one he's got now. . . ."<br /><br />Then Huck looks down at the letter, and thinks:<br /><br />"It was a close place. I took it up, and held it in my hand. I was a trembling, because I'd got to decide, forever, betwixt two things, and I knowed it. I studied a minute, sort of holding my breath, and says to myself:<br /><br />'All right, then, I'll <span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;">go</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span></span>to hell'--and tore it up."<br /><br />If you've never read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=huckleberry+finn+facsimile&x=0&y=0"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn</span></a>, start today.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF6bDMBfgjWV3N3T5YWPXkRLOat-GJiAovj03UM77HC-HPGC3SFCtIZwopDxnRHVsnKoRoHWQZyGTVT7-tWr8tOO2TLY4hhRPnnnJ_P9Bon86aJIKj5qqX7AEU_ymN3nlnUwHe6WWHAZvg/s1600-h/Huck+Finn+Facsimile+pic+02+18+10.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 245px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF6bDMBfgjWV3N3T5YWPXkRLOat-GJiAovj03UM77HC-HPGC3SFCtIZwopDxnRHVsnKoRoHWQZyGTVT7-tWr8tOO2TLY4hhRPnnnJ_P9Bon86aJIKj5qqX7AEU_ymN3nlnUwHe6WWHAZvg/s320/Huck+Finn+Facsimile+pic+02+18+10.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439855559567278274" border="0" /></a><br />If you've read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=huckleberry+finn+facsimile&x=0&y=0"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Huckleberry Finn</span></a>, read it again.<br /><br />I hear you can <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Huckleberry-Finn-ebook/dp/B000ZIMBH2/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2">get it on Kindle for a quarter</a>.<br /><br />There's no finer story in any language.<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrNOwV1-jhfD-YNAEt2qQcF5jfBqDuVSznFrMauxJ0YUdzvwyJkPMw9y54IDveFOuSOOyN1vYwt9J5rCde6IW2pBZR4JUOjhaTwtCcL6yctZiDmKd6YZpAvrFjzSEEnzTbnTXJcsScAGQH/s1600-h/Huck-and-jim-on-raft+02+18+10.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 206px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrNOwV1-jhfD-YNAEt2qQcF5jfBqDuVSznFrMauxJ0YUdzvwyJkPMw9y54IDveFOuSOOyN1vYwt9J5rCde6IW2pBZR4JUOjhaTwtCcL6yctZiDmKd6YZpAvrFjzSEEnzTbnTXJcsScAGQH/s320/Huck-and-jim-on-raft+02+18+10.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439861812638665618" border="0" /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com"><img src="http://static.technorati.com/pix/fave/btn-fave2.png" alt="Add to Technorati Favorites" /></a></div>JHepCat "72"http://www.blogger.com/profile/17516930555182237506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4625774287171165119.post-47114000843817807082010-02-11T09:29:00.000-08:002010-02-11T12:58:45.180-08:00Ready For Anything: Chapter 10 -- Creativity Shows Up When There's Space<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVAIYAWHiCSE3_L65TWo6e84T_YP3WZegoHXP7XquGfRGL3kFkuAcb_XFU69GuFwahBTJVriGct059lwGCJhx7BhvPZ-EsV3Dr9u1fZzB5Y092QGYV7l_B6ZFVYtpVX4YN35SjiZIzT_rd/s1600-h/FLOW+aka+Challenge_vs_skill+02+11+10+from+Wikipedia.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 306px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVAIYAWHiCSE3_L65TWo6e84T_YP3WZegoHXP7XquGfRGL3kFkuAcb_XFU69GuFwahBTJVriGct059lwGCJhx7BhvPZ-EsV3Dr9u1fZzB5Y092QGYV7l_B6ZFVYtpVX4YN35SjiZIzT_rd/s320/FLOW+aka+Challenge_vs_skill+02+11+10+from+Wikipedia.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5437066090294435874" border="0" /></a>
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name="Bibliography"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" qformat="true" name="TOC Heading"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:1; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Getting ready to write this latest post in the series, a further reinforcement of <a href="http://www.davidco.com/">David Allen’s</a> premise that the mind is truly open for business and cleared for takeoff--aka creativity--only when it is first relieved of its standard job as office space, I realized, “You know, I haven’t actually CoPORDed in a while.”</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Yeah, it’s been at least a week, maybe a couple.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>I can rightly attribute this to my focus on several key ongoing projects with multiple next actions, but the truth is, in so doing, I’ve neglected to write down <b style=""><i style="">everything </i></b>as Allen instructs from the beginning.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>And, as a result, some of the little stuff has been falling through the cracks.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>So, before I go any further, allow me to <a href="http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com/2009/12/ready-for-anything-chapter-2-you-can.html">CoPORD</a> right here, right now.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Finish pulling up the rugs in bedroom.<span style=""> </span>Too dusty.<span style=""> </span>Must get rid of.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Call in prescription refill.<span style=""> </span>Hey, wait, I’ve done that!<span style=""> </span>But waiting on follow-up from pharmacy as to pickup/delivery instructions.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Dig out car from under latest 15” of snow.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Congratulate self for waiting till today to do so, when it’s above freezing and snow is beginning to melt anyway, making preceding job easier.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Call about <a href="http://www.facebook.com/fabulousglass?v=info">Barbara’s</a> gifts.<span style=""> </span>I wonder if she’s reading this.<span style=""> </span>Hey Babe!</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>This just in: help out neighbor downstairs in wake of snowfall.<span style=""> </span>This falls into the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743269519/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0671708635&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=11EE5ADFW15X5VV7CKWA">urgent <b style=""><i style="">and</i></b> important</a> quadrant; won’t take less than 5 minutes, but needs to be done now.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Organize for yard sale in May.<span style=""> </span>Designate other clothes for Goodwill.<span style=""> </span>Get clothes, house wares, etc. to Goodwill.<span style=""> </span>Throw out trash.<span style=""> </span>Buy more trash bags.<span style=""> </span>Plan dinner.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>OK, you get the point.<span style=""> </span>And this is just the beginning.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>But I appreciate your indulgence in the utterly boring minutia of the warp and woof of my daily decisions-making.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>What David Allen brings up in Chapter 10 of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Anything-Productivity-Principles-Work/dp/0143034545/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263069039&sr=1-1"><b style=""><i style="">Ready For Anything</i></b></a>:<span style=""> </span>Creativity shows up when there’s space, is that getting it all down intimidates a lot of people because they fear there won’t be anything really there.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>“Is that all there is?” is a pervasive angst among far more people than you might think.<span style=""> </span>The worry is that with all one’s responsibilities, projects, even simple daily to-dos out and in the open, “Is that all there is?” will resonate and echo deafeningly.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>So we insist on keeping it all “up here” with a smile and<span style=""> </span>a tap of the forehead, convinced both that<span style=""> </span>we’re managing just fine, and that we <b style=""><i style="">could</i></b> be great, and will be eventually, once our awesome burdens ease up a little and we have time to see clearly again.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>No, says David Allen.<span style=""> </span>CoPORD!<span style=""> </span>Get it all out.<span style=""> </span>Review it all regularly. Manage it all in a completely integrated fashion.<span style=""> </span>Only then will we be operating at the top of our game.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>David Allen’s point in this chapter is again:<span style=""> </span>Get it all on paper.<span style=""> </span>A mind is a terrible thing to waste on office space.<span style=""> </span>Holding it in clogs the pipes.<span style=""> </span>Getting it out clears the pipes.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Clearing the paths is liberating and almost instantly puts the mind in flow, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29">flow</a> is where you want to go.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Allen asks this question at chapter’s end: <span style=""> </span>Are you ready for a bigger parade?</p><p class="MsoNormal">Well, <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">are</span> you?
<br /></p> <div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com"><img src="http://static.technorati.com/pix/fave/btn-fave2.png" alt="Add to Technorati Favorites" /></a></div>JHepCat "72"http://www.blogger.com/profile/17516930555182237506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4625774287171165119.post-54937962304627177942010-02-05T11:15:00.000-08:002010-02-07T20:12:44.900-08:00Ready For Anything: Chapter 9 -- If It's On Your Mind, It's Probably Not Getting Done<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWEIEsnRpNyg4wBjjrhjljnCIq0vsDdBsm7eoJhtIU9BUroOlhTd4O3BfoH4CIxB3-HGy_J6GeonstbS6jzDzAWo4ZU-rDnYFRYefYgbDt3ZkZqoGDQoMNeyPElA-wwJigfGb9fAMGCszF/s1600-h/homers++brain+from+malefis+u_strasbg.fr+02+07+2010.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWEIEsnRpNyg4wBjjrhjljnCIq0vsDdBsm7eoJhtIU9BUroOlhTd4O3BfoH4CIxB3-HGy_J6GeonstbS6jzDzAWo4ZU-rDnYFRYefYgbDt3ZkZqoGDQoMNeyPElA-wwJigfGb9fAMGCszF/s320/homers++brain+from+malefis+u_strasbg.fr+02+07+2010.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5435654810160999538" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><br />"To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end in life."<br /><br />Robert Louis Stevenson<br /><br /></span></span><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.davidco.com/">Allen</a> comments on "mental karma." That goals as disparate as buying groceries or buying a company, when left in the same storage bin--one's mind--interfere with each other in importance, immediacy, real need vs imagined want.<br /><br />Allen's solution is, as ever: "Write it down."<br /><br />Process it. Review it.<br /><br />Decide, "Do today." Or, "Maybe later."<br /><br />But get it out of your head and onto paper, where you can reliably review the same data every day, even as you move projects to long-term or even not-at-all status.<br /><br />Because doing so will be just as reliably moving forward the most immediate, most meaningful projects forward.<br /><br />And the bigger reason: Maintaining a system that stores information reliably, so your mind is free to spend less time on pure processing and prioritizing, and more time on vision and creativity.<br /><br />Allen's last point is that it takes adults years to fully incorporate his CoPORD model, but kids seem to take to it immediately.<br /><br />It's true that the younger the mind, the more easily it learns huge masses of new information, so it stands to reason that younger minds will quickly adapt to Allen's methodology.<br /><br />But learning is always preceded by motivation, and putting David Allen's good ideas and models to work must be proceeded by it.<br /><br />Let's hope, not only that David Allen's ways get incorporated into curriculum, and that students quickly recognize its value, and so are motivated to practice it.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">"The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled."<br /><br />Plutarch</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></span></div><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com"><img src="http://static.technorati.com/pix/fave/btn-fave2.png" alt="Add to Technorati Favorites" /></a></div>JHepCat "72"http://www.blogger.com/profile/17516930555182237506noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4625774287171165119.post-56022629707006690702010-02-04T01:50:00.000-08:002010-02-04T02:22:45.426-08:00Monthly MeetUp Goals -- Feb 2010<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPKIbFm1gOlqabPuwZSQceIHOOv2GtwLLxKFGlOqjeqKDC-AMZ8O9sqdqkCliNIivmHkwPxmXq947DTEvsGeh9I_crrR_ZyCc8fvX8mA6UwXoJnYcUpYTl47jgaaBpn_KB3viHCGtAIiEb/s1600-h/Feb+2010+calendar+for+monthly+meet+up.jpeg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 136px; height: 117px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPKIbFm1gOlqabPuwZSQceIHOOv2GtwLLxKFGlOqjeqKDC-AMZ8O9sqdqkCliNIivmHkwPxmXq947DTEvsGeh9I_crrR_ZyCc8fvX8mA6UwXoJnYcUpYTl47jgaaBpn_KB3viHCGtAIiEb/s320/Feb+2010+calendar+for+monthly+meet+up.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434331703289245858" border="0" /></a><br /><br />In case you didn't notice, I skipped the monthly meet up goals for January.<br /><br />Must be some anti-establishmentarianism stuck in my craw, resisting the norm of New Year's Resolutions, having my <a href="http://www.davidco.com/">David Allen, Getting Things Done, CoPORDing</a> well in hand.<br /><br />At least, as a guiding hand.<br /><br />Whatever. I didn't post goals for Jan, because I felt I really hadn't accomplished too many of my December goals, and frankly, was a little embarrassed by all that.<br /><br />And I thought of posting in mid-Jan, and almost did, but have been busy with other things, and so, said to myself: Let it go. Post again in Feb, and keep on going.<br /><br />"When you're going through hell / Keep on going..."<br /><br />Therefore, herewith my Feb 2010 Goals:<br /><br />1. Keep working on AOAYA. I've written / drafted three chapters, and have an outline for 72. Outline will be a-revising, but there's a modality, some framework, and I need to press on.<br /><br />2. Keep developing <a href="http://letsplaysat.blogspot.com/2009/12/adjectives-and-adverbs.html">"Let's Play SAT!"</a> Sometimes tedious, but needs doing. I've got some good tips, not only for succeeding in the SAT, but also for developing better problem solving skills, better critical/analytical reading skills, and better reasoning skills, especially in the context of the SAT, but which are also transferable in all academic areas, as well as interpersonal and business.<br /><br />Need to keep tips shorter and to point. On the other hand, Content is King!<br /><br />Yeah, Content is King!<br /><br />3. Hand make more t-shirts! Have made one so far, but problems uploading picture files have prevented me from presenting this beauty online. Look for regular production from <a href="http://hepcatindstries.blogspot.com/2010/01/take-1-aka-b-c.html">HepCatIndstries</a> this month, once the pic uploading problem is solved.<br /><br />4. Also, look for a weekly <a href="http://8tracks.com/">8Tracks</a> song mix each week at <a href="http://hepcatindstries.blogspot.com/2010/01/take-1-aka-b-c.html">HepCatIndstries</a>.<br /><br />5. Last, but not least, develop a copywriting blog--Yeah, yeah, I know: I don't have enough blogs yet. But this month I pledge to get really serious about my copywriting, so I'm putting that out here.<br /><br />6. That's enough, don't you think?<br /><br />7. Till next month...<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com"><img src="http://static.technorati.com/pix/fave/btn-fave2.png" alt="Add to Technorati Favorites" /></a></div>JHepCat "72"http://www.blogger.com/profile/17516930555182237506noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4625774287171165119.post-77836923529873396662010-01-30T09:58:00.000-08:002010-02-04T01:47:08.070-08:00RFA: Chap 8 -- Closing Open Loops Releases Energy<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBQ4lvqRxj7MDlPZFA_HsrvlpN4zm0mag81xpxtjQVGxN5P3Yj0aDaLrB3uydWL-EH0Emiz3ji4zMytNvnV4VcBg89gq-FkZ9VBYlVlx5LRpIwr4TiKek1MLfYPWgo7-4LtIrdcTIl5tWg/s1600-h/SF+Receipt+2+10+08.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 170px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBQ4lvqRxj7MDlPZFA_HsrvlpN4zm0mag81xpxtjQVGxN5P3Yj0aDaLrB3uydWL-EH0Emiz3ji4zMytNvnV4VcBg89gq-FkZ9VBYlVlx5LRpIwr4TiKek1MLfYPWgo7-4LtIrdcTIl5tWg/s320/SF+Receipt+2+10+08.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5434321630800091218" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Just read a fascinating <a href="http://blogs.hbr.org/bregman/2009/05/two-lists-you-should-look-at-e.html?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a38:g26:r11:c0.067012:b29985738:z6">article by Peter Bregman</a> that dovetails nicely with this one. Bregman is one of my faves over at <a href="http://hbr.org/">Harvard Business Review</a>. Check it out.<br /><br />Meanwhile, let's change this up a bit, shall we?<br /><br />My most devoted readers and the rest of you Astuties out there, will duly note the one week delay on this post. Was pretty sick last week this time, and though drafted this piece on Sunday last, well, it's been a procrastination-fest for some reasons this week.<br /><br />Did also preliminarily draft this week's piece, too, so there'll likely be a few following here in short succession, including the piece for the <a href="http://www.brazencareerist.com/network/monthly-goal-meet-up#comment-167753">Monthly Goal Meet Up Goal Brazen Careerist Network</a>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.davidco.com/">Allen's</a> point in this <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Anything-Productivity-Principles-Work/dp/0143034545/ref=tmm_pap_title_0">chapter</a> is simple: PHYSICAL ENGAGEMENT, I.E. ACTUALLY DOING what's in your TO DO list creates a synergy and unleashes new energy.<br /><br />It's like fusion.<br /><br />No, fission.<br /><br />Intention and action collide with HYPERFORCE--OK, MAYBE NOT HYPERFORCE.<br /><br />But the collision itself is enough to effect entire new projects , new ideas, new bridges, among old ideas.<br /><br />Me, I find it inordinately hard to let go of literally the smallest scraps of paper.<br /><br />Every receipt tells a story.<br /><br />Chronologically organized as my mind is, I find it difficult to impose other order -- hence this series -- but more to the point, I find it difficult to toss these bookmarks of my history, nor to organize them in any kind of display/collection.<br /><br />Then there's any of my daughter's schoolwork, which I'm loath to give up. And there's a bunch of it.<br /><br />Not to mention every scintilla of brilliance I've ever put on card stock, parchment, papyrus or refined wood pulp.<br /><br />Notebooks, too. Lots of notebooks. Dating to '75.<br /><br />And, of course, the organizing of the small treasures: photos found in an old notebook, book, box, bag, etc. I have containers w/in containers and putting things wanted in some order continues to challenge me.<br /><br />I'd like to close a lot of these open loops and release that energy.<br /><br />I've got books, clothes, cassette tapes, housewares and more. Free to good homes.<br /><br />Contact me at this blog.<br /><br />But my papers are priceless.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com"><img src="http://static.technorati.com/pix/fave/btn-fave2.png" alt="Add to Technorati Favorites" /></a></div>JHepCat "72"http://www.blogger.com/profile/17516930555182237506noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4625774287171165119.post-57278111187640013002010-01-26T23:10:00.000-08:002010-01-27T01:19:35.778-08:00Seth@CriticalMass<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQyKDMeq83CRRBbeupC0o5CK2uH5LAkGmBZQhQGSbkJSeFxd8s4pP5pcHuCJONe2bXx_oq8vzL3H8uQ7KxSTTbc0ZUuMxBxIXcN2-E-E8iRYPMkfU4TPAyY1sWSpBITdOPblxHDnR7k1cD/s1600-h/Linchpin+from+bestellers+about+com.jpeg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 89px; height: 135px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQyKDMeq83CRRBbeupC0o5CK2uH5LAkGmBZQhQGSbkJSeFxd8s4pP5pcHuCJONe2bXx_oq8vzL3H8uQ7KxSTTbc0ZUuMxBxIXcN2-E-E8iRYPMkfU4TPAyY1sWSpBITdOPblxHDnR7k1cD/s320/Linchpin+from+bestellers+about+com.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431315418292076866" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>I'm no dispassionate reviewer.<br /><br />I'm a fan.<br /><br />Bought my first Godin book in '96, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Guerrilla-Marketing-Handbook-Seth-Godin/dp/0395700132/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264576360&sr=1-1"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The Guerrilla Marketer's Handbook</span></a>, co-written with the original Guerrilla Marketer, Jay Conrad Levinson.<br /><br />These are only three sentences that show why you should buy Seth Godin's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Linchpin-Are-Indispensable-Seth-Godin/dp/1591843162/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264576441&sr=1-1"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Linchpin</span></a>:<br /><br />1) "It's OK if i get fired because I'll have demonstrated my value to the marketplace. IF THE RULES ARE THE ONLY THING BETWEEN ME AND BECOMING INDISPENSABLE, I DON'T NEED THE RULES." (Emphasis mine.)<br /><br />2) "Emotional labor changes the recipient, and we care about that. That's why emotional labor is so much more valuable than physical labor."<br /><br />3) "Thinking About Your Choice: And it is a choice...to buy into the fear and the system, or to chart your own path and create value as you do. It's your job to figure how to chart the path, because charting the path is the point."<br /><br />OK, OK. So these are three <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">excerpts</span>, not sentences.<br /><br />My point is -- Seth Godin gets it, gets it, gets it.<br /><br />In <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Linchpin-Are-Indispensable-Seth-Godin/dp/1591843162/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264576441&sr=1-1"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Linchpin</span></a>, he gives it to you.<br /><br />It's a gift.<br /><br />Pick it up.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com"><img src="http://static.technorati.com/pix/fave/btn-fave2.png" alt="Add to Technorati Favorites" /></a></div>JHepCat "72"http://www.blogger.com/profile/17516930555182237506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4625774287171165119.post-64049569260491448702010-01-20T11:29:00.000-08:002010-01-21T10:45:44.108-08:00Ready For Anything: Chapter 7-- Priorities Only Function at the Conscious Level<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWX0W9uDr65iqjvBpVP7HUBOuu4dhCKOGYsY2JEUlUM7v2LbLloKV5fwaq3fQrpsgs5ha84cZJPYhRmgISldlFTlw1rFq1PfYSf6gbyziYdTBU_FNjz8I2vp4gHzGcXBHM_pYACxqcxCRb/s1600-h/Hyundai+Elantra+2002+Chianti+Red.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWX0W9uDr65iqjvBpVP7HUBOuu4dhCKOGYsY2JEUlUM7v2LbLloKV5fwaq3fQrpsgs5ha84cZJPYhRmgISldlFTlw1rFq1PfYSf6gbyziYdTBU_FNjz8I2vp4gHzGcXBHM_pYACxqcxCRb/s320/Hyundai+Elantra+2002+Chianti+Red.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5429263074853419170" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><br />Lots of folks confuse bad management with destiny.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Kin Hubbard</span><br /><br /></div><span style="font-family:verdana;">Speaking of "open loops," those projects that require more than one next action to close, <a href="http://www.davidco.com/">Allen</a> opens <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Anything-Productivity-Principles-Work/dp/0143034545/ref=tmm_pap_title_0">Chapter 7</a> with a reminder of how deleterious they can be to one's "psychic RAM."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Allen says that when things of secondary importance stay there, and aren't constantly reviewed and updated, we lose track of them.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Then there are they are, double-demanding our attention, threatening to three alarm, to ICU. All because we "didn't have time" for the secondary.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />Now they're all we have time for, and everything</span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" > </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">else is secondary.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Allen says: "This syndrome does not self correct--it self perpetuates."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">The reason, Allen suggests, is that current thinking in organizational management is very "ABC." While he acknowledges that certain projects have a greater upside, and so deserve more time and effort, the down side remains: we tend to ignore the less important entirely, until we can ignore it no longer.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">That's where the "Someday/Maybe" file comes in. </span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />We all have responsibilities, in the form of ongoing projects that need completion to move the well-being of ourselves and our loved ones forward.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">But we need to remember the importance of PROCESSING our responsibilities at least daily.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />Remember, first we COLLECT: brain dump all projects / open loops.</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> Get 'em all down on paper</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">/word doc.<br /><br />Then, we PROCESS to the level of immediacy.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />The "Someday / Maybe" file is where we put open loops that we <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">may</span> want to act on, but DO NOT NEED to act on today, or even this month.</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> Things that may, in fact, fall away, to be superseded by others.<br /><br />Simply put, no "right here/right now" commitment.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />"Someday / Maybe."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Allen says:</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" ><br /><br />If it's on the projects list, you need to decide next actions equally on each one and review the status of each regularly. It's okay not to take action on them, as long as you know what the action is and as long as it's a conscious choice. But most people avoid involvement because they don't stop to think what the action is and then miss countless opportunities to move it forward before it morphs into crisis.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />Allen uses the example of needing new tires: "either you do you don't." There's not much of a slope there.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;">Problem is, a decision like this one on tires too often will go from "not needed" to "desperately needed."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">The difference between an effective and an ineffective approach to this open loop is the difference between "Call tire store for prices" and "Call AAA to fix blowout."<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">That's why my car has an appointment with my mechanic to check its timing belt.</span> <span style="font-family:verdana;"><br /><br />In closing <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Anything-Productivity-Principles-Work/dp/0143034545/ref=tmm_pap_title_0">Chapter 7: Prioriites Function Only at the Conscious Level</a>, Allen concludes:</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" ><br /><br />Clarify and define <span style="font-style: italic;">all</span> the outcomes you've committed yourself to accomplish, small and large, and the actions required to move on them. Then you're ready for the real efficiency game of getting them <span style="font-style: italic;">all</span> done as soon as you can, and feeling okay about how it's going with each one.</span> <div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; font-family: verdana;"><br />What lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do.<br /><br />Aristotle<br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com"><img src="http://static.technorati.com/pix/fave/btn-fave2.png" alt="Add to Technorati Favorites" /></a></div>JHepCat "72"http://www.blogger.com/profile/17516930555182237506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4625774287171165119.post-78470095356363259052010-01-15T15:15:00.000-08:002010-01-16T22:07:53.443-08:00Ready for Anything: Chapter 6 -- Two Commitments in Your Head Create Stress and Failure<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPNlO6pR7nirESlNsgqip7CHPCuPvuE_tC7KuVC3jp8kZSFEh4BxyA0nKwADB54R9bZkPDDBFWeC30NTotk7bdCWv7e5psWG_i69pMo0g7KmmCiuUkSFLNlxBFSNBPYPIti6NrG8LYM8oF/s1600-h/Open+and+closed+loop+systems+01+15+10.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 274px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPNlO6pR7nirESlNsgqip7CHPCuPvuE_tC7KuVC3jp8kZSFEh4BxyA0nKwADB54R9bZkPDDBFWeC30NTotk7bdCWv7e5psWG_i69pMo0g7KmmCiuUkSFLNlxBFSNBPYPIti6NrG8LYM8oF/s320/Open+and+closed+loop+systems+01+15+10.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427586529004922530" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Taking on new projects is not necessarily a positive change. It may be a sign of recklessness and non-fulfillment. But going back to all levels of non-completion and completing them is a sign of positive change.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">John-Roger</span><br /></span></div><br />There are a few things I'm learning as I'm writing this series.<br /><br />First of all, that it's tremendously therapeutic.<br /><br />Addressing (gerund, kids, gerund) my personal DIS-organization issues in this very public manner is slowly making me more organized.<br /><br />It's what someone I was reading recently--whose name's missing now--was saying about "hiring a Board of Directors" to keep you accountable.<br /><br />Now, it's well known -- or at least easily look-up-able--that this blog is not commented on by many.<br /><br />Still, it is in the public eye.<br /><br />I'm not much adept at determining how many discrete page viewers I have per week, and which posts they're reading, but I know people do read this blog, and that awareness helps keep me focused.<br /><br />Second, more than anything, the structure of David Allen's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Anything-Productivity-Principles-Work/dp/0143034545/ref=tmm_pap_title_0">book</a> keeps me focused.<br /><br />As mentioned in <a href="http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com/2009/12/taking-david-allens-advice-aka-happy.html">Post 1</a> of this series, the fact that <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Anything-Productivity-Principles-Work/dp/0143034545/ref=tmm_pap_title_0">Ready for Anything</a> has 52 chapters visibility than keeping me organized in a most constructive way.<br /><br />52 chapters in 52 weeks. Launched on the first anniversary of <a href="http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-favorite-commercial-of-all-time.html">Pragmatic Alternative</a>, looking forward--clearly--to the second and -- by implication -- beyond.<br /><br />The third thing is the nature of serendipity. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Anything-Productivity-Principles-Work/dp/0143034545/ref=tmm_pap_title_0"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"></span></a> <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Anything-Productivity-Principles-Work/dp/0143034545/ref=tmm_pap_title_0">Ready for Anything</a> </span>came to be the template for this year's posts because I couldn't put my hands on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0142000280"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity</span></a>, the first David Allen book. It was buried under a stack of books and other stuff next the bed.<br /><br />Knew I had it. Figured it was nearby, in a place of nominal importance. But could I find it?<br /><br />Not so much.<br /><br />Because I've committed to evaluating <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Anything-Productivity-Principles-Work/dp/0143034545/ref=tmm_pap_title_0"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">RFA</span></a> each week, I've been able to begin to integrate CoPORD into my life. In another four weeks I'll have a better big picture idea of all my roles responsibilities projects, and goals.<br /><br />Meanwhile, it's nice just to know where I put my copy of <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Getting Things Done</span>.<br /><br />Today I take great pride in having found an organizational template that works for me, and am committing to working that plan.<br /><br />It's a good thing.<br /><br />Because my lack of structure has stood in my way.<br /><br />It's not a strength.<br /><br />Enter David Allen and his <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">GTD</span> methodology.<br /><br />Kind of like Elvis's <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">"TCB." </span>Only different.<br /><br />In Chapter 6 of <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">RFA</span>, Allen answers critics who claim "getting things done" and CoPORD are "reactive" strategies.<br /><br />That by focusing first on minutia/trivia, the micro over the macro, don't we then run the risk of staying in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Habits-Highly-Effective-People/dp/0671708635">Covey's</a> Quadrant IV: Important <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">and</span> Urgent?<br /><br />"Hey, seeing the big picture, great idea!" says David Allen. "But might not the minutia, the trivia, the overflowing "In" box need to be reckoned with first? "Open loops," as Allen refers to them, must first be closed before we can hope to maintain effectiveness.<br /><br />What are "open loops"?<br /><br />Simply put, they're items on yesterday's "to-do" list that didn't get done.<br /><br />They represent commitments to yourself to do certain things.<br /><br />Things that didn't get done.<br /><br />As a result, they take up way too much space in what Allen refers to as "psychic RAM." Because we know we haven't gotten things done we'd planned on getting done, these "open loops" take up--and worse, FRAGMENT-- space in our psychic RAM.<br /><br />They slow down our operating speed by slowing down the speed of our processor.<br /><br />It's just that simple.<br /><br />And how do we close open loops?<br /><br />By CoPORDing: Collecting. Organizing. Processing. Reviewing. Doing.<br /><br />Over and over again, with a particular eye to closing open loops, or else putting them in the "Someday / Maybe" file.<br /><br />It takes time, but as I'm finding out--and betting you will, too--it's time not just well-, but best-spent.<br /><br />Then horizons -- now replete with mountains and oceans -- beckon.<br /><br />And the paths are clear.<br /><br />And you're positioned to choose effectively among them going forward.<br /><br />It's a good thing.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-style: italic;">If you know the point of balance, you can settle the details. If you can settle the details, you can stop running around. Your mind will become calm. If your mind becomes calm, you can think in front of a tiger. If you can think in front of a tiger, you will surely succeed.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Mencius</span><br /></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com"><img src="http://static.technorati.com/pix/fave/btn-fave2.png" alt="Add to Technorati Favorites" /></a></div>JHepCat "72"http://www.blogger.com/profile/17516930555182237506noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4625774287171165119.post-90110995064024507392010-01-09T12:04:00.000-08:002010-01-21T10:51:04.219-08:00Ready For Anything: Chapter 5 -- Infinite Opportunity is Utilized by Finite Possibility<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg14OXEwoB8pDPFEx3QhZvZuqBPVXMlyJN_KMR-q4vEccCfsk1oYnASiuZZ6TOR-cQuSoUn8Hde5i0xvZgzxBptRlAnUbCuCDV-K2QoeJiyVeXja6bJk-b3SesDQsMVFiTXvBGwgWk6PzdM/s1600-h/Number+5.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg14OXEwoB8pDPFEx3QhZvZuqBPVXMlyJN_KMR-q4vEccCfsk1oYnASiuZZ6TOR-cQuSoUn8Hde5i0xvZgzxBptRlAnUbCuCDV-K2QoeJiyVeXja6bJk-b3SesDQsMVFiTXvBGwgWk6PzdM/s320/Number+5.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5427589279548735698" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>OK, so four weeks later, how far have I come in my CoPORDing, <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Anything-Productivity-Principles-Work/dp/0143034545/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263069039&sr=1-1">Ready-for-Anything</a>, <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0142000280/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263069039&sr=1-5">Getting-Things-Done</a>, <a href="http://www.davidco.com/">David-Allen-run</a> New-Life paradigm?<br /><br />I know what I need to achieve and I know what I want to achieve, and my constant reviewing of these goals is keeping me focused on them.<br /><br />In addition, my openness and forthrightness here only serve to confirm these commitments.<br /><br />At least, I hope they do.<br /><br />As my good friend, <a href="http://www.neilyoung.com/">Neil Young</a>, once said, "I know you know."<br /><br />The thing I've least mastered is the filing system.<br /><br />Because the failure of any segment of the pentagonal construction that is Getting Things Done a.k.a. CoPORD, leads the entire mass of one's organizational structure to diffuse, dissipate, and otherwise disengage, in Chapter 5 of <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Ready for Anything</span>, Allen addresses, in an imagined 53-second radio/TV segment of a promotional book tour, the question:<br /><br />"What's the one thing we do that gets in the way of being productive?" and answers thusly:<br /><br />"It's not one thing but five things all wrapped together: People keep stuff in their head. They don't decide what they need to do about stuff they know they need to do something about. They don't organize action reminders and support materials and functional categories. They don't maintain and review a complete and objective inventory of their commitments. Then they waste energy and burnout, allowing their busyness to be driven by what's the latest and loudest, hoping it's the right thing to do but never feeling the relief that it is."<br /><br />The more I devote myself to studying Allen's methods, the more I realize how effective they are.<br /><br />Of course, my biggest stumbling block remains the heart of the matter: Organizing.<br /><br />The best news for me, and maybe for you if you're a regular reader of this column, is Allen's response to what needs to be done, i.e. "What are the five best-practice behaviors to ensure that Getting Things Done <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">gets</span> done?"<br /><br />Exactly those I listed in my Chapter 2 analysis, and which I lovingly refer to by the acronym, CoPORD.<br /><br />Here's Allen's repetition of that essential message:<br /><br />"It's a combined set of the five best-practice behaviors: Get everything out of your head. Make decisions about actions required on stuff when it shows up--not when it blows up. Organize reminders of your projects and the next actions on them in appropriate categories. Keep your system current, complete, and reviewed sufficiently to trust your intuitive choices about what you're doing (and not doing) anytime."<br /><br />Allen then offers an even simpler distillation: "Focus on positive outcomes and continually take the next action on the most important thing."<br /><br />Simple, no?<br /><br />But if it were easy, we'd all be great.<br /><br />David Allen seeks to make it easy, and all of us great.<br /><br />Me, too.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com"><img src="http://static.technorati.com/pix/fave/btn-fave2.png" alt="Add to Technorati Favorites" /></a></div>JHepCat "72"http://www.blogger.com/profile/17516930555182237506noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4625774287171165119.post-18920394291750105622010-01-02T12:19:00.000-08:002010-01-15T15:13:17.700-08:00Ready For Anything: Chapter 4 -- Getting to Where You're Going Requires Knowing Where You Are<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibq0jWLZ_COYD8f7-oBBoOSaNwTqVXtKc2Wix9E332zdRT3rELBLGOGGYxAje60wgByGIiweZSOPPsQwel-B-8Elw0F7uf2jMQTgqAHrf3ZZHvHBAHrz0lekazdEqBOS1FKCvjlN86spaT/s1600-h/sanjose+roadmap.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 265px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibq0jWLZ_COYD8f7-oBBoOSaNwTqVXtKc2Wix9E332zdRT3rELBLGOGGYxAje60wgByGIiweZSOPPsQwel-B-8Elw0F7uf2jMQTgqAHrf3ZZHvHBAHrz0lekazdEqBOS1FKCvjlN86spaT/s320/sanjose+roadmap.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5422427255705222034" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />"It takes about ten years to get used to how old you are."<br />Unknown<br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family:verdana;">You're gonna need a map, and you're gonna need to know how to read it.<br /><br />Sure, you can hire GPS to tell you where and when to turn. But be ready to put up with the sighing "Recalculating," when you get off Chatty Cathy's chosen path.<br /><br />Nope, you're gonna have to come up with answers to these six questions--<span style="font-style: italic;">then know them on a deep level, internalize them--</span>in order to best position yourself in your world of hopes, dreams, and daily to-dos.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">According to David Allen, in order to set your priorities, you're gonna have to understand that these six questions add up to one big one: <span style="font-style: italic;">What's your job?</span></span><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;"><br />1. What are your current tasks? Allen reminds us that these are those to-dos last mentioned, your current "next actions," and that the average person has "between a hundred and two hundred of these" every day.<br /><br />2. </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">What are your current projects? These are agreements with yourself about what you want to achieve in the relative short term. Getting the car ready for a 5,000 mile vacation. Getting your applications for grad school completed. Planning a wedding. Allen estimates most people have between "thirty and a hundred" projects.<br /><br />3. What are your current areas of responsibility? You have these both on the job (teacher, coach, liaison to PTA, Class of '13 sponsor) and at home (care and feeding, finance and investments, recreation, education). Ten to fifteen of these we each have, says David Allen.<br /><br />4. How are your job and personal affairs going to be changing in the next year? In other words: How will you be guiding your ship in the coming year? What are you trying to change? What needs to change in your business, home/family life, personal approach in order to achieve your next steps forward?<br /><br />5. How are your organization, your career, and your personal life going to change? What are your longer-range goals for achievement and personal growth? What projects will you need to undertake to get there?<br /><br />6. Why are you on the planet? What is your job as a human being? What do you need to accomplish before you die<span style="font-style: italic;">? </span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Who <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">are</span> you?</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /><br />These are big questions on big levels. They get to the heart of what you want to do or be.<br /><br />"Most people," says Allen, "want to do or be something in the future -- something different. But without a reality-based reference point of where they in fact <span style="font-style: italic;">are </span>on all levels of life, they're like the Flying Dutchman, doomed to drift."<br /><br />Clarifying your reality -- finding out where you are on your personal map of success -- tells you exactly where you are, and so, which way to turn next to get where you want to go.<br /></span></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com"><img src="http://static.technorati.com/pix/fave/btn-fave2.png" alt="Add to Technorati Favorites" /></a></div>JHepCat "72"http://www.blogger.com/profile/17516930555182237506noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4625774287171165119.post-10245850502525475762010-01-01T18:56:00.000-08:002010-01-01T19:21:53.745-08:002010: The Year of Superior Vision<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5zebLUaWzAmDLckRACT-sZdoHc-82dDQgZaT0Mer97RgWtvha9MwcgrKzQF3AlvU1dSXRNLPD9p8rfLGwXD3mmI-6xH5KO8U0S9KmH8bDRC46_g6idHNW7m_ugi0FXCAHUfycygjdlZbB/s1600-h/google+newyears10.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 311px; height: 137px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5zebLUaWzAmDLckRACT-sZdoHc-82dDQgZaT0Mer97RgWtvha9MwcgrKzQF3AlvU1dSXRNLPD9p8rfLGwXD3mmI-6xH5KO8U0S9KmH8bDRC46_g6idHNW7m_ugi0FXCAHUfycygjdlZbB/s320/google+newyears10.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421975837639189858" /></a><br /><br />20/20 vision is what scientists consider normal. It means you can see at 20 feet what you should see at 20 feet if your vision is healthy, aka "normal." If you have 20/40 vision, you can see at 20 feet what someone with normal vision can see at 40. Not as good. Read more about vision <a href="http://www.howstuffworks.com/question126.htm">here</a>.<br /><br />But, if you have 20/10 vision, you can see from 20 feet what most normal people must be only 10 feet from. <br /><br />20/10 means superior vision.<br /><br />So, I hereby dub 2010: The Year of Superior Vision.<br /><br />A Happy, Healthy, Prosperous 20/10 to all my readers.<br /><br />How will you show your superior vision this year?<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com"><img src="http://static.technorati.com/pix/fave/btn-fave2.png" alt="Add to Technorati Favorites" /></a></div>JHepCat "72"http://www.blogger.com/profile/17516930555182237506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4625774287171165119.post-42577659841998193382009-12-26T11:25:00.000-08:002009-12-31T11:54:12.162-08:00Ready for Anything: Chapter 3--Knowing Your Commitments Creates Better Choices of New Ones<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhezUhBbfLNl0U0-WKDnR5xmIKbVr6ip9Fik29A6Nvkb5NenbKCfiR32VZFLH2wxcfvD9gMwOxJPQ7IMPyzhv-eBJiYmbINxoUzeel8yvisdaeFwJATTaPY36EGz2JhslWC1BoWePG5CJrA/s1600-h/matter+and+energy.jpeg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 137px; height: 137px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhezUhBbfLNl0U0-WKDnR5xmIKbVr6ip9Fik29A6Nvkb5NenbKCfiR32VZFLH2wxcfvD9gMwOxJPQ7IMPyzhv-eBJiYmbINxoUzeel8yvisdaeFwJATTaPY36EGz2JhslWC1BoWePG5CJrA/s320/matter+and+energy.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421488850487369410" border="0" /></a>
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<br />"Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in elimination of nonessentials."
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<br />Lin Yutang
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name="Bibliography"> <w:lsdexception locked="false" priority="39" qformat="true" name="TOC Heading"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:1; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-format:other; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:0 0 0 0 0 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0in; margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">By now CoPORD should be on its way into your daily life.<span style=""> </span>
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">But what if it isn't? What if you’re still balking at the structure of daily CoPORD? You're more of a once-a-weeker, you say, even a once-a-monther.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">"Say it ain't so, Joan!"</p> <p class="MsoNormal">On the other end of the rainbow, maybe you're so tightly controlled, everything so hyper-structured, that new ideas can't find their way in, or you sub-sub-bury them so from the start, you can't find later where they went. Or your ability to box things up quickly impairs your view of broader horizons.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">As Allen says, "Concentration is the key to power in physics and in life, and to operations is the lubricant for the efficient flow of that energy."</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Allen's only emphasizing the obvious in this chapter. The trick is maintaining the equilibrium between concentration and cooperation, between energy and matter.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Remember: Sometimes the obvious answer<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"> is</span> the answer.
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<br /><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com"><img src="http://static.technorati.com/pix/fave/btn-fave2.png" alt="Add to Technorati Favorites" /></a></div>JHepCat "72"http://www.blogger.com/profile/17516930555182237506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4625774287171165119.post-45562063154568184282009-12-18T03:38:00.000-08:002009-12-26T11:20:54.356-08:00Ready For Anything: Chapter 2--You Can Only Feel Good About What You're Not Doing When You Know What You're Not Doing<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2sQJEngl2Ch3M3Vy2i7MK8oU1QvOmX2z0doEqJVEIXUSCV7ehdohwhGFPb4LagKAS56r2-n1D_En2haNU9RRbs14ZYq-P0lWS9rtoE-2nsZNbC0PWUxi_NK9w39aMuh_k-LNc1u_2wo4s/s1600-h/David+Allen+Processing+and+Organizing+Workflow.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 281px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2sQJEngl2Ch3M3Vy2i7MK8oU1QvOmX2z0doEqJVEIXUSCV7ehdohwhGFPb4LagKAS56r2-n1D_En2haNU9RRbs14ZYq-P0lWS9rtoE-2nsZNbC0PWUxi_NK9w39aMuh_k-LNc1u_2wo4s/s320/David+Allen+Processing+and+Organizing+Workflow.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5416539467721049618" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:verdana;">This is second in a series of 52 posts using </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.davidco.com/">David Allen's</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" ><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Anything-Productivity-Principles-Work/dp/0670032506"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ready for Anything: 52 Productivity Principles for Work & Life</span></a> </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">as a prompt for reflection, writing, and ultimately, </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >action</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Since last week's post, I've begun to implement David Allen's </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Getting+Things+Done&x=15&y=17"><span style="font-style: italic;">Getting Things Done</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> principles.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I find Allen's principles can be remembered easily by using the mnemonic </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" >CoPORD</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">: </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" >Co</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">llect, </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" >P</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">rocess, </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" >O</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">rganize, </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" >R</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">eview, </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" >D</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">o!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">First comes the brain dump: </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" >Co</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">llect all your "need to dos" in a notebook, a file, word doc, etc. Just put them all down. Any and all goals, jobs, from taking the car in for an oil change, to changing the litter box, to re-purposing blog posts, to writing a new vocabulary list for my <a href="http://letsplaysat.blogspot.com/2009/12/what-college-board-doesnt-want-you-to.html">Let's Play SAT!</a> blog, to creating an innovative new reading program, to winning the Nobel Prize for Literature.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">But I haven't put down</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" > everything </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">I need to get done in the next, oh, 30 years or so, God willing. Still need to put down EVERYTHING. Allen hypothesizes that many of us don't do this because we're afraid we'll find too little in our inner lives.</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" ><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Not my problem: I simply haven't sat down long enough to get it </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >all</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> down, or to add new data to my old list. Think I'll give myself 5 full pages and see if that works.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Not to mention a couple more hours this weekend.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">And yeah, I don't </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-style: italic;">need</span> </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">to win the Nobel for Literature, but Allen doesn't distinguish between needs and wants. Just put 'em all down. Both ultimately come under the heading "to do," and come with concomitant "next actions."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" >P</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">rocessing refers to finding those next steps for every item on one's "To Do" list.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">When deciding which to do next, you first must figure out what the actual doing </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" >looks</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> like, a step most of us miss. Even as we begin to adopt these productivity principles, we'll miss.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">But figuring out just what the next step looks like for every one of our to-dos is liberating. It makes </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >O</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >rganizing</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> so much easier.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" >O</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">rganizing </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >what</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> to do next is the natural next step in any process of organizing oneself for greater productivity. Seems too obvious, but most of us organize before figuring out exactly what </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" >next actions </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">we're organizing. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Allen's insistence that we see our next actions for each goal </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">first </span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">is what makes his </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">principles so potentially galvanizing and liberating. Life changing. For by assessing what action attaches to each of our goals, we free our minds up to come up with our next great idea.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Don't forget to write it down then and there.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">This is an idea Allen emphasizes again and again, and the focus of the first 13 principles of </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >Ready for Anything. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Because many of us easily fall back into the modality of "Do something, </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >anything</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">! Just stay </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >busy</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">. Organize my daily "busy"-ness, sure, but perspective and reflection? Later. Tomorrow, 'at Tara'."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Which is fine as long as it </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" >gets</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> done</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">But what </span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" >needs</span><span style="font-family:verdana;"> to get done, and shows the importance of the first three steps most clearly, is </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" >R</span><span style="font-family:verdana;">eviewing your goals, next actions, and proposed order for doing them.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">At least weekly.</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/">Penelope Trunk</a><span style="font-family:verdana;">, whose</span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.brazencareerist.com/"> Brazen Careerist network</a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> I'm a proud member of, does it daily. I'm beginning to. But not only do the next actions get reviewed, the goals and next steps themselves are re-collected, re-assessed, reorganized and kept current, ensuring that one's most essential goals are the ones worked on first and most often.</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:verdana;" ><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">Longer term projects are put into separate folders. They're incorporated into the big picture, because some things can't be accomplished in two minutes, Allen's plus or minus time-frame for taking immediate action on a to-do. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">I give myself 2-5 minutes, because I know myself well enough to know there aren't too many things I can do in two minutes, but keeping administrivia under 5 minutes per action is a goal worth pursuing, while at the same time keeping the concomitant pressure to perform each in under 2 minutes at bay.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">Cut yourself some slack. Know yourself. but make </span><a style="font-family: verdana;" href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Getting+Things+Done&x=15&y=17"><span style="font-style: italic;">Getting Things Done</span></a><span style="font-family:verdana;"> in a systematic way a goal of yours.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:verdana;">'Cause step 5 is </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" >Do!<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:verdana;">So do</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" > <span style="font-style: italic;">Do!</span> </span><span style="font-family:verdana;">your</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:verdana;" > Co<span style="font-weight: bold;">PORDing!<br /><br /></span></span><span style="font-family:verdana;"><span><span>When you're really doing it everyday, trust me, you'll be very happy with your new perspective on it all.</span></span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com"><img src="http://static.technorati.com/pix/fave/btn-fave2.png" alt="Add to Technorati Favorites" /></a></div>JHepCat "72"http://www.blogger.com/profile/17516930555182237506noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4625774287171165119.post-39585357809386322062009-12-14T10:39:00.000-08:002009-12-14T10:50:10.283-08:00Seth's New eBook<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAn0y3ZwpiEIzKCZxTTSAgNfV3kNJs_hrRfXAZHOhvgCWihOjRm3-qL-sRJBOo8005W95kQL-RknCDkIKCCI8Hbd-5zdDS1nHjAQCZjCIz2G94w4lBMxqM0y8s8zE4JMzHuy_0DS6WKd6V/s1600-h/sethgodin.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAn0y3ZwpiEIzKCZxTTSAgNfV3kNJs_hrRfXAZHOhvgCWihOjRm3-qL-sRJBOo8005W95kQL-RknCDkIKCCI8Hbd-5zdDS1nHjAQCZjCIz2G94w4lBMxqM0y8s8zE4JMzHuy_0DS6WKd6V/s320/sethgodin.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415165246348474738" /></a><br /><br />Download it here:<br /><br /><a href="http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/12/what-matters-now-get-the-free-ebook.html">http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/12/what-matters-now-get-the-free-ebook.html</a><br /><br />Features reflections by some of today's most ahead-of-the-curve entrepreneurs and business leaders, such as Penelope Trunk, Dan Pink, Tom Peters and Gary Vaynerchuck. Even Seth himself.<br /><br />Pass it on:<br /><br /><a href="http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/12/what-matters-now-get-the-free-ebook.html">http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/12/what-matters-now-get-the-free-ebook.html<a href="http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/12/what-matters-now-get-the-free-ebook.html"></a></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com"><img src="http://static.technorati.com/pix/fave/btn-fave2.png" alt="Add to Technorati Favorites" /></a></div>JHepCat "72"http://www.blogger.com/profile/17516930555182237506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4625774287171165119.post-71821469232666863412009-12-11T00:20:00.000-08:002009-12-11T01:02:09.571-08:00Taking David Allen's Advice: aka Happy Birthday, Pragmatic Alternative!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKHKRVAT4YsO9OEwSehvQoDNF2PqLE2w0kl7gsanQ8MIibgApo_B0ZwhnRedrsLrehFc417I0gpLIYtQpAvBKxGLqngiomzMFggza3uyoIFvXzAc_PRArJeP7s-gEyLUGVqNMjzMYavRJG/s1600-h/David+Allen+Processing+and+Organizing+Workflow.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 281px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKHKRVAT4YsO9OEwSehvQoDNF2PqLE2w0kl7gsanQ8MIibgApo_B0ZwhnRedrsLrehFc417I0gpLIYtQpAvBKxGLqngiomzMFggza3uyoIFvXzAc_PRArJeP7s-gEyLUGVqNMjzMYavRJG/s320/David+Allen+Processing+and+Organizing+Workflow.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5413895999697485074" border="0" /></a>
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mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} .MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} /* List Definitions */ @list l0 {mso-list-id:1863934749; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:-1587120344 67698705 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715;} @list l0:level1 {mso-level-text:"%1\)"; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in;} ol {margin-bottom:0in;} ul {margin-bottom:0in;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--><p class="MsoNormal">52 weeks ago I began this blog.<span style=""> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal">Tonight, to celebrate the first anniversary of this blog, I’m starting a series entitled, “Taking David Allen’s Advice.”</p> <p class="MsoNormal">In case you don't know, <a href="http://www.davidco.com/">David Allen</a> is the world's leading personal productivity expert.<span style=""> </span>His book,<i style=""> Ready for Anything</i>, has 52 chapters, just enough to provide a prompt for the next 52 weeks.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">And I turned 52 in ’09.</p><meta 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.MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} /* List Definitions */ @list l0 {mso-list-id:1863934749; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:-1587120344 67698705 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715;} @list l0:level1 {mso-level-text:"%1\)"; mso-level-tab-stop:none; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in;} ol {margin-bottom:0in;} ul {margin-bottom:0in;} --> </style><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} </style> <![endif]--> <p class="MsoNormal">And now you know . . . the rest of the story.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Page 2!</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Although these 52 chapters started out as random observations, they’ve been re- arranged by Allen himself, and ORGANIZED into four parts: </p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=""><span style="">1)<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Clear Your Head for Creativity</p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=""><span style="">2)<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Focus Productively</p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=""><span style="">3)<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style=""></span>Create Structures That Work, and </p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=""><span style="">4)<span style=";font-family:";font-size:7pt;" > </span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Relax and Get in Motion.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Chapter 1, “Cleaning Up Creates New Directions,” begins with the admonition to get your house in order.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Does he know me or something?<span style=""> </span>I’ve been called everything from a hoarder to a clutterbug.<span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>Neither of these quite captures the truth, and I do own many valuable forms of media: from books to magazines, to old copies of the Washington Post.<span style=""> </span>From CDs to cassettes to LPs.<span style=""> </span>I’ve probably got a few old 78s lying around somewhere.<span style=""> </span>OK, maybe not, but you <i style="">know</i> I’ve got 45s.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Keeping a house--or car, or desk, or any open space, really—free of extranea or “stuff” just isn’t my thing.<span style=""> </span>I see open space, I see a place to put something.<o:p>
<br /></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Now I like the look of open space. I really do. And I like having open space--I really do. But keeping a space clear and open has long been a challenge.<span style=""> </span>Realistically, it always will be.<span style=""> </span>There’s always something more interesting to do than tidying up.<span style=""> </span>And really the problem is much deeper than that for me:<span style=""> </span>I can draw a connection from one thing to any other thing.<span style=""> </span>The shortest distance between two points may be a straight line, but that doesn’t mean a more circuitous path doesn’t connect the two points.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">We call it the scenic route.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">And while I understand the organizing principle of “like with like,” thanks to my investment in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/dp/0764553003/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=4240916259&ref=pd_sl_48bkl1p37e_e"><i style="">Organizing for Dummies</i></a>, it is never going to be a primary skill.<span style=""></span><o:p>
<br /></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Yet, Allen insists that clearing the way, literally, opens the path to creativity.<span style=""> </span>With the physical clearing of space comes clarity of vision, says Allen, so when you see various paths, he argues, you can quickly decide which one is best.<span style=""> </span>“The more you sweat in peace,” he quotes an ancient Asian proverb, “the less you bleed in war.”</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Allen suggests “cleaning up, closing up, and renegotiating all [our] agreements with [our]selves and others . . . weekly.”</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Or, as I put it, “It’s not enough to think outside the box.<span style=""> </span>You still need to know where the box is.”</p> <p class="MsoNormal">To this end, Allen suggests using some sort of idea catching device, whether Blackberry or 3 x 5 cards (my preference).<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Whatever.<span style=""> </span>When ideas hit, be prepared to catch them and cage them in your idea storage device, so you can harness their power when you have more time.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Allen’s chart for information/time management is at the top of this post.<span style=""> </span>Well worth printing out and keeping in front of you until it becomes second nature.<span style=""> </span>Even following his guidelines 4 days out of 7 will be a big improvement for lots of people.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Or maybe that’s just me.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">What about you?<span style=""> </span>Are you organized to the point of anal retentiveness?<span style=""> </span>Or is your style <i style="">laissez-faire</i> to the point of, “Don’t clean my space!<span style=""> </span>You’ll ruin my organization!”</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Whaddya think?<span style=""> </span>Speak up!<span style=""> </span>Weigh in!<span style=""> </span>Come on, don’t be shy.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">And, if I do say so myself, Happy Birthday to <i style="">The Pragmatic Alternative</i>:<span style=""> </span>All of One / And we’re still not done!</p> <p class="MsoNormal">PS Special birthday shout out to <a href="http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/">Penelope Trunk</a>!<span style=""> </span></p> <div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com"><img src="http://static.technorati.com/pix/fave/btn-fave2.png" alt="Add to Technorati Favorites" /></a></div>JHepCat "72"http://www.blogger.com/profile/17516930555182237506noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4625774287171165119.post-30741074121255183602009-12-06T20:28:00.000-08:002009-12-06T21:22:37.895-08:00Monthly Meet Up: December GoalsWasn't feeling too well for much of month, so relatively little accomplished.<br /><br />Let's review:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Monthly Goals for November '09</span><br /><br />1. Primary goal is now developing the <a href="http://www.cafepress.com/hepcatindstries">HepCat Industries</a> blog and brand. At their best any of my blogging efforts are entertaining, insightful and, ah, educational.<br /><br />HepCat Industries encompasses and incorporates those three strengths best. Need to further reach out to the graphic design community in an effort to create visually interesting t-shirts and net presence, and need to trust my own design capabilities, my own ability to flesh out my vision, pick up the tech pieces later.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">OK. Did start the new blog. Dropped the "u" in Industries, to match the link to cafepress store. <a href="http://www.cafepress.com/hepcatindstries">www.cafepress.com/hepcatindstries</a>. Planning on producing hand-drawn and hand-colored shirts for holiday wear and moving forward. Put at least 10 on line here, at HCI blog, and via Facebook.</span><br /><br />2. Re-frame <a href="http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-favorite-commercial-of-all-time.html">Pragmatic Alternative</a> as a once a week blog, or at least a couple, three times a work, instead of an every day blog, which it hasn't been for a while. A better way to grow that brand, as well as the <a href="http://www.cafepress.com/hepcatindstries">HepCat Industries</a> brand, which is inherently more umbrella-like.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Little work done on PA in November. Laid up in bed. And not in the good way.</span><br /><br />4. It's <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/">NaNoWriMo. National Novel Writing Month</a>, for you neophytes.<br /><br />First attempted this in '06, for few words. All still there, but that story's for another day. Or year. Not too much to incorporate into AOAYA, but many tangents. They're both all about sex, death, politics, and love.<br /><br />It's <span style="font-style: italic;">all</span> about sex, death, politics, and love.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Bought Eric Maisel's <span style="font-style: italic;">What Would Your Character Do? </span>to aid in the construction of characters for novel. Wrote a few 100, maybe 2000 words near beginning of month, but again, not feeling well, and so, not much accomplished. 1,000 word the other day had some value, though drafty. Will carryt on here. Have organized a few trusted friends to critique. That's a positive.</span><br /><br />5. Keep 'em (monthly goals) all integrated best by focusing on HCI as the central organizing idea.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">HepCat Indstries will see growth in December, due to production of hand-made, hand-colored t-shirts offered for sale. There will be more production.<br /><br />Spending extra time on Let's Play SAT! brand and blog is the most important goal for December. Continue to write book and make regular entries on blog. Write new word list, and publish first list in pdf form.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">6. </span></span>Not sure how I overlooked this one: Score at least 2100+ on the <a href="http://www.collegeboard.com/">SAT</a>.<br /><br /><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);">Managed this one just fine, in fact, should have been 2200 even. Official SAT Study Guide indicates an essay score of 10/12, paired with a multiple-choice score of 48/49 in Writing = 790. They only gave me 770. When I wrote asking why, College Board gave me the run around, offering to re-score my test for another $50.<br /><br />I wasn't questioning the number right out of 49--I remembered answering them all correctly<br />; ^ ) --but the discrepancy between their official "guide" to scoring, and their actual scoring. When I pointed this out to their representative, she simply repeated the offer to re-score, again avoiding the simple question: Why does The Official SAT Study Guide show a result of 790, while my score remains at 770?<br /><br />No matter. Be nice to get a straight answer, but 770 is still a 99th percentile score. Scored 800 on Critical Reading, also a 99th percentile score. Broke 600 on Math, 610, a 77th percentile score. When I scored 620 in high school, <span style="font-style: italic;">that </span>was a 95th percentile score. Goes to show how many more are intensively prepping for SAT these days. Total = 2180.<br /><br />Will redouble efforts to develop Let's Play SAT! blog, and keep working on SAT prep book.</span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com"><img src="http://static.technorati.com/pix/fave/btn-fave2.png" alt="Add to Technorati Favorites" /></a></div>JHepCat "72"http://www.blogger.com/profile/17516930555182237506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4625774287171165119.post-89226554378657220252009-11-30T22:45:00.000-08:002009-12-02T10:54:32.877-08:00Hermeneutics, or "You're a nudist" . . .Whatever he said . . .<br /><br />Happy Birthday Mark Twain, Jonathan Swift, Roseanne McGeehin, Billy Idol, Bo Jackson, Andrea Newness Brito, et al . . .<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirmh7ozSuzyeYvDwQA6cQ9M-Itz8VVULq48kIVBETOxoH-93Dzsg1yhQ3kCI3Lx0ZHkQorqyJZ5MRdmi2kthlldZAnU0cMWOeJw-dL5IiLPVQT7aveCHJPjGwoW7vDn5oGw50UN9o-Y1h6/s1600/marktwainloc.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 270px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirmh7ozSuzyeYvDwQA6cQ9M-Itz8VVULq48kIVBETOxoH-93Dzsg1yhQ3kCI3Lx0ZHkQorqyJZ5MRdmi2kthlldZAnU0cMWOeJw-dL5IiLPVQT7aveCHJPjGwoW7vDn5oGw50UN9o-Y1h6/s320/marktwainloc.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5410157765213389298" border="0" /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com"><img src="http://static.technorati.com/pix/fave/btn-fave2.png" alt="Add to Technorati Favorites" /></a></div>JHepCat "72"http://www.blogger.com/profile/17516930555182237506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4625774287171165119.post-84301617419276328542009-11-06T19:02:00.000-08:002009-11-06T19:17:25.470-08:00Late-Breaking November Goal!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdZYoXKEZ-UPYgZzeSeK_chgk3cpSffAJoIkMgo1NKRiBqqKjXW8Ath4ddqTmIz-aIp-TYiko338ULJW99LHkh2RuKisLx0_S-w1WjT6UCP_TBipA7znH-hk58heE0alebHiD59Iorqdl6/s1600-h/The+Blue+Book.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 243px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdZYoXKEZ-UPYgZzeSeK_chgk3cpSffAJoIkMgo1NKRiBqqKjXW8Ath4ddqTmIz-aIp-TYiko338ULJW99LHkh2RuKisLx0_S-w1WjT6UCP_TBipA7znH-hk58heE0alebHiD59Iorqdl6/s320/The+Blue+Book.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401194803093361010" border="0" /></a><br />Not sure how I overlooked this one: Score at least 2100+ on the <a href="http://www.collegeboard.com/">SAT</a>.<br /><br />Oh, Boy! Then I can get into MENSA!<br /><br />Taking it manana, for first time in 35 years.<br /><br />You do the math!<br /><br />Any help on putting a tilde on that first n?<br /><br />Functions, concatenations, combinations, repercussions, and dingbats are all conspiring against me. Them and the clock.<br /><br />Wish me luck!<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com"><img src="http://static.technorati.com/pix/fave/btn-fave2.png" alt="Add to Technorati Favorites" /></a></div>JHepCat "72"http://www.blogger.com/profile/17516930555182237506noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4625774287171165119.post-38828528871848823162009-11-06T08:56:00.000-08:002009-11-06T09:33:58.860-08:00Check out OwlSparks<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYqVGkQ6vsmFiidRcyygwZ9CjD6hkoKTV4sE3LRZ8lCrvSG28r45etE_24Okhok9P1-uP9KVsaKJL2zPGtcIYlWw3BFOjufC5gloJk0H4vXH0P_4Sbn33laZA7KHKc36yB9eNFxxXSJATR/s1600-h/Great+Horned+Owl.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYqVGkQ6vsmFiidRcyygwZ9CjD6hkoKTV4sE3LRZ8lCrvSG28r45etE_24Okhok9P1-uP9KVsaKJL2zPGtcIYlWw3BFOjufC5gloJk0H4vXH0P_4Sbn33laZA7KHKc36yB9eNFxxXSJATR/s320/Great+Horned+Owl.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5401045191922286898" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.owlsparks.com/advice/how-to-avoid-echo-online/">Carlos Micelli's OwlSparks</a> is an incredibly forward-looking blog dedicated to the dual propositions:<br /><br />1) It's always about team.<br /><br />2) There's always better.<br /><br />He's welcome to disagree, or better yet, add value, aka "the lagniappe."<br /><br />And don't forget to visit the new <a href="http://hepcatindstries.blogspot.com/2009/11/hepcat-indstries-is-hiring.html">HepCatIndstries blog</a>! We're hiring, and we pay EQUITY! Come on over and be the first to comment! Get a free HepCatIndstries sticker! More lagniappe.<br /><br />Go, go read <a href="http://www.owlsparks.com/advice/how-to-avoid-echo-online/">Carlos's post</a>. You'll get a comment from me as lagniappe. Not to mention a definition of "lagniappe" (lan - YAP), and a link to Ben Casnocha's "Making Time to Think."<div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com"><img src="http://static.technorati.com/pix/fave/btn-fave2.png" alt="Add to Technorati Favorites" /></a></div>JHepCat "72"http://www.blogger.com/profile/17516930555182237506noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4625774287171165119.post-34445136066225609202009-11-01T20:30:00.000-08:002009-11-05T23:06:52.347-08:00November '09 Montly Goals<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkQPNuRYgohIt3Y90NtcnrBRj1GRO3R3PtkhmxMK5qxqAXTYvnmHEzmMC87T3zRaC9Z4yHultbtmdkNl1fBU4Z9sqmepH_EFod12-LlDGGl4yPkutk05Z9NzF2wJwErbo7fGWK08cKFrFm/s1600-h/nano_09_red_participant_120x240.png.png"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 120px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkQPNuRYgohIt3Y90NtcnrBRj1GRO3R3PtkhmxMK5qxqAXTYvnmHEzmMC87T3zRaC9Z4yHultbtmdkNl1fBU4Z9sqmepH_EFod12-LlDGGl4yPkutk05Z9NzF2wJwErbo7fGWK08cKFrFm/s320/nano_09_red_participant_120x240.png.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5399394072822364466" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Analyzing last month's goals, it's fair to say, they were only partially realized.<br /><br />1. Can't say I consistently "wrote faster." Wrote some.<br /><br />2. As yet, no "overhaul" of <a href="http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-10-reasons-you-should-blog.html">Pragmatic Alternative</a>. Work in progress. Am learning from <a href="http://www.andywibbels.com/">Wibbels</a>. Smart move: He's a tremendous resource.<br /><br />3. <a href="http://www.cafepress.com/hepcatindstries">HepCat Industries</a> blog still to be realized. But a major goal for this month. Whoops! That's for later.<br /><br />4. Let's Play <a href="http://www.collegeboard.com/">SAT</a>! blog and brand. Not much accomplished on blog, but some progress made on SAT prep study book, and more to come. Worked on it today. All in all, made most progress in this category of monthly goals.<br /><br />5. Some work accomplished on <span style="font-style: italic;">Autobiography of a Young Adult</span>, aka AOAYA. Some. A difficult work. Lots of sadness in search of a joyful ending.<br /><br />Oh, was that too honest?<br /><br />Dag!<br /><br />Oh Well (Pts. I & II) . . .<br /><br />6. And in terms of that final goal: keeping all the others straight and effectively inter-connected. Not so good. Not so easy to balance all these goals, and integrate them seamlessly into a strong and effective whole.<br /><br />Not without a few 1099s . . . Or at a minimum, a reinforced, more robust network. Need that support system.<br /><br />And now, without further ado,<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Monthly Goals for November '09</span><br /><br />1. Primary goal is now developing the <a href="http://www.cafepress.com/hepcatindstries">HepCat Industries</a> blog and brand. At their best any of my blogging efforts are entertaining, insightful and, ah, educational.<br /><br />HepCat Industries encompasses and incorporates those three strengths best. Need to further reach out to the graphic design community in an effort to create visually interesting t-shirts and net presence, and need to trust my own design capabilities, my own ability to flesh out my vision, pick up the tech pieces later.<br /><br />2. Re-frame <a href="http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-favorite-commercial-of-all-time.html">Pragmatic Alternative</a> as a once a week blog, or at least a couple, three times a work, instead of an every day blog, which it hasn't been for a while. A better way to grow that brand, as well as the <a href="http://www.cafepress.com/hepcatindstries">HepCat Industries</a> brand, which is inherently more umbrella-like.<br /><br />4. It's <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/">NaNoWriMo. National Novel Writing Month</a>, for you neophytes.<br /><br />First attempted this in '06, for few words. All still there, but that story's for another day. Or year. Not too much to incorporate into AOAYA, but many tangents. They're both all about sex, death, politics, and love.<br /><br />It's <span style="font-style: italic;">all</span> about sex, death, politics, and love.<br /><br />5. Keep 'em (monthly goals) all integrated best by focusing on HCI as the central organizing idea.<br /><br />As Lindsey opined in that great '79 nugget on the even greater '79 LP <a href="http://fleetwoodmac.fanfire.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Store.woa/wa/artist?sourceCode=FMAWEB&categoryName=Music%2FVideo&artistName=Fleetwood+Mac">Tusk</a>, "That's enough for me!"<br /><br />Talk to you next month.<br /><br />Uh, tomorrow. Later this week. Soon.<br /><br /><script type="text/javascript"><br />var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");<br />document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));<br /></script><br /><script type="text/javascript"><br />try {<br />var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-11463058-1");<br />pageTracker._trackPageview();<br />} catch(err) {}</script><div class="blogger-post-footer"><a href="http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&add=http://pragmaticalternative.blogspot.com"><img src="http://static.technorati.com/pix/fave/btn-fave2.png" alt="Add to Technorati Favorites" /></a></div>JHepCat "72"http://www.blogger.com/profile/17516930555182237506noreply@blogger.com3