blog to discovery

Complete: baby photo album (3 year duration)

2012-05-01T07:42:17Z

I recognised recently that to have more time to spend on things I want I need to either remove, complete or get quicker at my other tasks. Particularly, if I want to make my list shorter (and feel a whole lot better) I need to to complete the ‘problem’ tasks that feel they have been around for years. As I’ve recently completed one of these tasks and though I’d share what I learnt.

Introduction

When my daughter was born my sister personalised a photo album and printed the photographs I’d sent to her; this was all before she’d seen her niece. The idea was I’d continue the book with additional photographs of my daughter taken with different family members.

Although we didn’t know it at the time, I was pregnant when we visited my sister in Japan, so there was a Japanese theme to the book.

The details

Task:	Adding photographs to a baby album for my daughter
Why complete it:	A gift from my sister My daughter enjoys looking at the pictures of her and different family members
Duration to complete:	At least 3 years!
What needed to do:	Take photographs of daughter with family members (completed by 1st birthday) Select pictures Print pictures Stick in pictures
What caused delay:	Lots of pictures to sort throughprinting the pictures; our printer always seems to be either out of ink or the cartridges are blocked and the colours vary significantly between the monitor and printer so it takes a lot of ‘fiddling’ to get the photo printed as desired
Benefits of completing	Daughter loves taking it out from under the coffee table and looking at the pictures
Improvements	Sort pictures as they are taken so there are fewer to reviewWrite a list of things need to do to print the pictures ie what saturation levels to use. Or buy a new monitor.

After I’d stuck in pictures of other family members, there was one page left, so I was able to include the annual family photograph, showing how we have all changed in year since she was born.

Have you finished any major or long standing tasks recently? Have you learnt anything that will make it easier to complete other tasks in future?

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Learning about Mark Forster’s new time management system – Final Version

2012-03-13T09:32:17Z

Example of Mark Forster's SuperFocus

In my inbox this morning was an email from Mark Forster with the details of his latest time management system, called Final Version (because it is the last one he is developing). I’ve been a fan of Mark’s since reading his first book Get Everything Done and still have time to play and I am currently using the SuperFocus system.

I like Mark’s focus on simplicity, and how you can use different aspects at different times. For example I frequently use rotations (from Get everything done) when I have several urgent tasks to complete and daily initiative (from Do it tomorrow) when I need to focus on a big task such as preparing my house to sell. The new system is again simple and should be adaptable to paper or digital (I’m starting with paper).

If you would like to read about the system, sign up to Mark’s newsletter and he will email them out once a day to new subscribers. I will report back on my progress after I’ve tried it out for a week or so.

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Positive thinking; does it leave a realistic record?

2012-02-29T23:27:43Z

The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.

I’ve read repeatedly to use positive thinking to help achieve my goals and it is something I’ve consciously tried to do for many years after being given a copy of You can heal your life as a teenager; after almost twenty years I am much more aware of my words and thoughts.

“Your mind is a tool you can choose to use any way you wish.”- Louise L Hay

I’m hoping to encourage my three year old daughter to think positively. I always try and ask her to do something rather than not do something e.g. I ask her to walk at the swimming pool instead of not running (this is not always easy). Frequently when she is in bed I will ask her what she has enjoyed about the day, hoping she goes to sleep with happy thoughts.

Photo by rocket ship

I liked this method of closing the day so much that I’ve started keeping a positivity journal (expanding on writing a list of things I’m grateful for or were good about the day that I occasionally did in my main journal). I’m using a 5 year journal which only has six lines each day so I need to focus on identifying the real highlights of the day, but it is quick to write and I don’t resist it like my main journal. As it is a 5 year journal, it is nice that in future years as well as capturing new positive thoughts, I will be able to review previous years, hopefully establishing a virtuous circle with my thoughts and attitude getting more and more positive.

Is a positive journal a realistic record?

The other day my daughter had a huge tantrum and my son was screaming because he has started to teeth. Obviously neither of these are included in my positives journal, but they are not recorded in my main journal either because I don’t write it daily (perhaps I should call the positive journal my main one as I’ve written it everyday in 2012). So I wonder if I’m leaving myself a completely rose tinted record of my children, and if I write about these ‘less positive’ events does it undo my development through the positives journal? I guess I will only start learning the answer to these questions when I write the second year of my positives journal.

How do you encourage positive thoughts? Has it made a difference to your goals? Do you see a clash between positive thinking and recording reality?

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9 reasons why it is important to finish tasks

2012-01-23T13:40:48Z

Photograph by flickrtickr2009

I’m a big fan of “little and often” because it helps to reduce the resistance associated with big tasks and means you don’t work on one task to the exclusion of other tasks. However, I have realised recently that my task list is not getting shorter because I work on a task, cross it off and then add it on to the end of the list; if I want to reduce the length of my task list I need to actually complete some of the tasks. The oldest two outstanding tasks I can think of are a dress I was making for a wedding in 2006 and the thank you cards from when my daughter was born; she is now 3 and I’ve had a second baby!

I’ve been thinking about this over the last few weeks and compiled a list of reasons why it is important to finish tasks. In the hope that I’m not the only person with outstanding tasks I’m sharing the list to inspire you to finish tasks.

It is important to finish tasks:

so you don’t waste time working out where you were
so you don’t forget your intentions for the tasks e.g. what you were going to write in the letter
to get the wonderful glow when you know you’ve really completed a task
because the time spent on an unfinished task is lost time as could have spent it on something else
to reduce the build up of negative feeling each time you remember you haven’t completed a task
to reduce the length of your task list enabling you to spend more time on the things you really want to do
to reduce the likelihood of mislaying things, for instance where did the photograph go you were planning on posting to your Aunt
to reduce the possibility of pretending you are progressing a task when you are really just procrastinating
to feel more in control

So, the synopsis is, if I complete more tasks I will have more time to do things I really want. It sounds so good from now I’m going to focus on completing tasks.

If you are looking for advice on how to finish tasks, here are some interesting pages:

How to finish all your tasks

How to Finish Tasks and Projects Once and for All

How to finish what you start

How to finish what you have started

Do you struggle to complete tasks? What is your oldest outstanding tasks (can you beat my 6 years)? What helps you complete tasks?

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How the technology in my life has changed during the past three years (birth announcement)

2011-11-25T13:11:49Z

Two weeks ago I gave birth to my son, almost exactly three years after my daughter; arriving the day before her birthday. It was a very different experience as he arrived within 3.5 hours of the first contraction and within 17 minutes of arriving at the hospital!

So far, I’ve been surprised to notice how my use of technology has changed in those three years. In most cases the technology was previously available, but just hadn’t made it in to my life.

we made the initial birth announcement by group text message as opposed to email (this is partly down to having a phone I can manage to text from and being on an inclusive package)
showing off our son on Skype to my sister in Japan within 5 hours of him being born, last time although I was registered on Skype I only got a webcam the following Christmas
my smart phone enables me to keep up to date with friends, family and news through email, facebook and news apps, and I can use it one handed so it is easy to use while I’m nursing, previously I had to find a bit of time to use my computer
again I can use my ebook reader with one hand enabling me to read books while nursing, with my daughter I gave up on books and usually watched television

So now all I need to do is find some technology that will enable me to write blog posts while feeding…

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Looking forward or backwards?

2011-09-26T20:59:09Z

Why do you keep a task list? Have you really thought about why?

At work it is fairly obvious, I’m expected to accomplish certain things as part of my job; therefore I need to be aware of my tasks and ensure I complete them. But what about at home, why do I have a task list there as well?

For some of the tasks it is because something needs doing and my husband and I have decided that I’m responsible e.g. booking the car in for a service. However this does not explain the majority of my task list. Many of the tasks are associated with me sorting or completing tasks e.g. reading my backlog of magazines. The aim being, once they are done I will have more time to spend on my chosen activities. This is the forward looking aspect of my task list; helping me create the future I want.

However, during some recent sorting (to make room for a new baby) I discovered several old task lists. There were two notebooks I used for AutoFocus, a diary I used for Do it tomorrow, and a folder containing lots of print outs from a method I’d created using Access as a collection and prioritising tool. Many of these were from 2008.

So why did I keep old task lists? Did I really think I was going to look back at them and wonder what tasks I’d completed on a specific day?

It suggests to me I’m naturally backwards looking (perhaps supported by my journal writing). Or maybe I’m trying to leave lots of information for my future biography writer!

I would prefer to be looking forward and building the future I want. But I’m not sure there is anything wrong with keeping a backwards view if it is useful or interesting; and if space is not at a premium as it will be for us in a few weeks! I’ve made the decision that old task lists are neither useful nor interesting and therefore recycled all the lists and hope in the future I can continue with that approach.

Do you think you are forward or backwards looking? Do you think it offers benefits? What do you do with old task lists?

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What do you need for hotdesking?

2011-09-11T11:50:20Z

These days hotdesking is not necessarily about moving desks within an office, it could be working between several offices, hotels or at home. It is unlikely businesses will move away from hotdesking or mobile working so it is important to make it work for your advantage. I’ve previously given tips on successful hotdesking, but thought it was worth expanding those ideas.

My first comment is to develop your own method; what works for other people may not be the most effective for you. Secondly work out what you need and thirdly assess how you can use what is provided by the company most effectively (these last two will be covered in a later post).

What do you really need?

I believe you need your hotdesk kit to be lightweight and simple. When you’ve had a fixed desk it is easy to accumulate things that you believe are essential. Even if you are already hotdesking you may have collected items, for instance looking at my desk I can see I’m currently carrying a project file to my desk each day even though the project was completed several months ago, plus my pencil case should contain just ten items, but over time it has increased to about twenty.

It can be hard to assess what you use regularly so here are two methods I’ve used in the past

as you use an item mark it e.g. sticker and after a week or two you’ll easily tell what is used regularly. Using this method I learnt I don’t use scissors or calculator very often so I no longer carry them with me, but as I need to know I can access them they are stored in my cupboard with my project files
put everything away and only get things out as you use them, again after a few weeks you’ll have learnt which items are used everyday. I tend to do this with paperwork every now and again so I only carry the bits I need; obviously I’m due to do this again.

What to do with the items you need?

Stationary

If you are used to having a pen pot or a drawer with a wide choice of stationary it can be hard to change to just the pieces that you can carry. However, once you’ve really thought about what you use regularly you’ll realise you don’t really need too much. For example, I carry a couple of biros and highlighters, a few post it notes, a pencil, ruler and rubber. Everything else is used so infrequently I don’t think it is worth the effort of carrying it or the space it takes up. Besides post it notes, the only stationary I use often is my notebook so I don’t need to carry other paper or envelopes.

Information / notes

It can be hard to decide what to do with information kept on noticeboards or all the bits of information collected on post it notes. The first thing is to assess

how much of the information do you need to have to hand and how much is easily accessible elsewhere e.g. intranet (however it is important to ensure it is quick to access otherwise you’ll become frustrated).
Can you store the information electronically e.g. Word document or in searchable software like Evernote. Can you store it in hard copy format within the relevant folder, for instance having processes stored within the relevant project file.
how about setting up a small folder with plastic pockets to carry it. I used to have one I called my portable wall and it contained information on how to use the phone system and finance systems. I don’t refer to either of them very often now so one I access through the intranet and the other is in my cupboard so I refer to a copy annotated with my notes.

Personal items

Having personal items is more tricky and maybe dictated by company policy (in the office at least). My thought is if it motivates you or makes you smile and does not delay you in the morning or evening go for it. I currently have two items; picture of my daughter as my laptop desktop and a drawing she did that is stored in my laptop.

Identifying items that may help you

How do you discover what would benefit you that you don’t currently have? Firstly don’t assume you need anything specific, but equally don’t close your mind to new ideas.

watch other people; what do they use, is it relevant to your work. What are the benefits and the disadvantages?
notice when you get frustrated. What causes it? Can you reduce it by changing the way you work or introducing new equipment. What are the advantages and disadvantages? Are there alternatives that may not be quite as quick but reduce the frustration without increasing your hot desking stuff e.g. bookmark pages on intranet. My frustration was access to a hole punch so I found filing annoying and tended not to do it. I went through my stationary from when I was at university and I now carry a flat two hole punch in my pencil case.
look at the stationary supplies and think if there is anything that would help. Several people have found it useful to use large box files where they can store the things they want on their desk each day, but only have one thing to carry to their desk each day.

How have you made hot desking work for you? What are the essential items for your desk? What items have you discovered you keep despite not using them?

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Learning about achievement from my daughter

2011-07-25T12:02:28Z

Many fine things can be done in a day if you don’t always make that day tomorrow

As a two year old at nursery it is not uncommon for my daughter to come home with art work in the evening. However, recently she gave me a brilliant demonstration of the above statement.

While I was talking to the carer about how she’d been overnight and things to look out for during the day, she had sat down at the drawing table and used the stencils to produce a drawing before I’d finished my 5 minute conversation. As I was on my way to work, it now resides inside my laptop to act as a reminder that to achieve things I have to start, and as soon as possible.

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Why I didn’t choose an Amazon Kindle

2011-07-01T12:33:47Z

There are some products that become linked to a particular brand name, in some cases the brand replaces the generic term e.g. Blu-tac, Sellotape, Biro. This appears to be occurring in the electronics market with people wanting to buy Ipods instead of digital music player, Iphones instead of smart phone and more recently Kindles instead of ebook readers.

I don’t follow this trend and have a Creative mp3 player, HTC Android smart phone and Sony ebook reader. This is not because I’m against any specific brands or because I don’t want to own the same product as everyone else, but because I do my research to find the product that best meets my requirements and this is rarely the ‘easy purchase’. I’ve had my Sony ebook reader for six months now so I feel I am experienced enough to provide an explanation of why I didn’t buy an Amazon Kindle and what I think about the decision.

My requirements

After starting my research into ebook readers I wrote a post in listing my requirements and asking people for their opinions. Having continued with my research I narrowed down my requirements further to:

available in the UK
have note taking functionality
be able to borrow ebooks from the library
be able to share ebooks with my husband (if he gets a device in the future)

The choice

These requirements basically narrowed down my choices to Sony Readers as these were the only devices available in the UK that work with the Overdrive library software (the Kindle doesn’t). There was another interesting possibility e.g. Bookeen Opus, but there was no guarantee it would work with Overdrive. I chose Sony PRS-600 with the larger screen and expandable memory.

More recently Kobo have released at least a model (Kobo ereader) that is compatible with Overdrive. Although when I considered it as a gift for my sister in law a few months ago I decided the other features weren’t as good e.g. no touch screen.

My thoughts

I love having an ebook reader much more than I’d expected. I thought I’d miss holding a book, but it is so easy to read the screen and turn the pages; plus the inbuilt dictionary accessible by simply tapping a word is extending my vocabulary. As I tend to have mixed reading taste it enables me to carry many more books than I could ever read for no extra space, enabling me to make a choice based on my mood at a specific time as opposed to what books I have available.

Screen

The touch screen makes it quick and easy to navigate. I’ve also found the note taking function useful when I’m reading some non fiction books.

Computer Software

I am using Calibre as my ebook software and it is fantastic; significantly better than the Sony software that comes with the device. Not only is it flexible, it enables you to convert files into different formats, such as html to epub. It also allows you to tag the books, list them in series, rate them and even add your own fields, for instance I’ve added one for whether I’ve read the book or not allowing easy filtering and searching. Although you can’t use it open DRM protected books it will still transfer protected books to the device.

I also have Adobe Digital Editions software that enables me to read protected books I’ve bought or borrowed from the library. The protection rules enables the books to be read on several computers or devices so my husband would be able to read them if he wanted. However it is an annoying piece of software as it does not allow you to choose where the files are stored. It installs a My Digital Editions folder in My Documents and it is not possible to move it.

Reader software

Although the software on the reader is functional, I’d expected better interconnectivity between the computer and reader; I would like to be able to change information on the device and have it sync to the computer, for example my tags and ratings. I’d particularly like to be able to set up an ‘auto play list’ using tags so files are transferred or removed to the reader based on information in the software. For example I have a tag of recommended books which I update with new recommendations and to remove ones I’ve read, but I have to manually match the tag in the software and collection on the reader.

I would also like better access to information about books on the device. I tend to carry ~200 books on my device and I can’t always remember all the details for them, so from the list of titles it would be nice to view a synopsis of the book, tags, position in the series.

There are alternative firmwares available, but I haven’t tried installing them as I haven’t thought they offered me enough advantages to justify the effort; PRS+, ebook applications (although this does not look like it is compatible with my reader).

Purchasing Books

Obviously the first place to visit is Project Gutenberg to download favourite classic books for free. I’ve used the site for years when I first read books on my Palm, but it has been significantly improved since, so you can download books in your choice of format.

There are several places in the UK to buy compatible ebooks e.g. Waterstones, WHSmith, Book Depository, Books on board although I have been frustrated with the price and availability of books I’d like. They are often only available in USA and if they are available they are frequently the same price of the paperback (and occasionally the hardback). A useful site for price comparison (although it may not cover all the above shops) is Luzme.

I suspect Amazon are trying to tie people into their own file format (although I have heard they may soon accept the open standard epub) and with their brand and purchasing power I expected them to be selling books cheaper than other sellers, but for the few I’ve done a comparison this hasn’t been the case.

I’d like to see something like Audible where you pay subscription and get a discounted ebook each month, although I would probably buy many more books than I read that way!

Connectivity

The Sony device doesn’t have 3G or Wifi unlike the Kindle. This feature is not a problem for me; as I don’t transfer books on to the reader too often doing it by cable is not a problem. Plus if I could buy books straight to the device I imagine I would buy more books than I actually want, so it is probably saving me money! Plus by purchasing books through my computer I ensure I have a backup copy. The only time I’ve thought it would be nice was after reading a book to put a review or rating straight on to Goodreads or Amazon.

I can understand the benefit of being able to sync bookmarks and being able to read your book across multiple platforms, but I have not had a reason to miss this feature, so if I knew it was available I’m not sure how often I would want to use it.

File formats

The Sony devices support more file formats than the Kindle. Although I’m not too bothered about having lots of formats, the fact that Kindle does not support epub files was a big issue for me. I can’t help but be suspicious of a company who ignores an international standard to use their version; I wonder where this will end up in the future.

Conclusion

I really enjoy my Sony ereader and have no problems recommending it. However I get the impression Sony are not serious about the ebook market, for instance their prices are not competitive and, for the features provided, appear ridiculous compared to the Kindle. I bought mine second hand from ebay and the one we gave as a present was a refurbished model. I don’t mind the lack of connectivity that I would gain from a Kindle, particularly as I feel I gain more from other features (access to library books and touch screen) but I would really like to see the firmware updated as it feels so out of date.

What do you think about your ereader?

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How I plan my day – update April 2011

2011-05-03T10:54:00Z

My personality means I like to learn and make improvements, this means I usually have an interest in new things (although I consider if they offer worthwhile improvements to my current methods or items before investing time or money in them). This has resulted in changes to how I plan my day since I last wrote about it in June 2007. It has actually been a gradual process for me, but compared to four years ago the differences are significant.

1. Review my notebook / daily log

My first task is to review my notes from the previous day. This enables me to add missing information to my notes (for instance I was interrupted and didn’t finish what I was writing), identify actions for other people as well as myself and categorise my notes. This provides a real sense of control that I am not going miss anything.

The actions are:

read through notes and in left hand column write a category for notes and actions (in red)
transfer actions for me to my task list
transfer actions for other people as future follow up reminders in Outlook
add the category and page numbers in the notebook index.

2. Review Outlook tasks

My Outlook tasks list is a reminder system including repeating tasks, reminders for tasks in the future, tasks I’m waiting for from other people and tasks associated with emails (these are also on my paper task list, but I find it easier to find the email if I drop it in to a tasks called the same as the task).

I’ve set my tasks up according to Micheal Linenberger’s Total workday control using Microsoft Office system, so new tasks appear at the top and are underlined. This means it is easy each morning to identify new tasks and transfer them to my paper task list.

3. Start work using paper task list

My paper task list is my ultimate task list bringing together tasks from my notebook and Outlook, as well as tasks I pick up during the day. To manage my task list I use Mark Forster’s latest productivity system SuperFocus.

If you’ve read my blog before you’ll know I’m a big fan of Mark’s ideas on productivity, as provided in his books Get everything done and still have time to play and Do it tomorrow. Over the last 18 months Mark has been releasing his new methods on his website for free and these have culminated in his latest SuperFocus. I’d recommend you read the instructions on his site as I’m going to talk about my use of the system and not explain the methodology here.

I like the simplicity of the system as you create one long task list written on the lefthand of the page with all new incoming tasks , for example from steps 1 and 2 above being added to the bottom of the left hand side (the right hand side is used only for urgent / important / unfinished tasks). You then move through the list working on tasks that ‘jump out’.

There are two features that make it different to a normal tasks list and means it works for me

right hand column is used for urgent or important tasks meaning you reach them earlier than if they were added to the bottom of the left hand list. Tasks you start and don’t complete are also added to the right hand column of the next page ensuring you don’t lose momentum even if you practice little and often. As you have to complete everything in the right hand column before changing pages it means you focus on these tasks helping you complete tasks.
Dismissing tasks can be a problem with most tasks list as you add tasks quicker than you complete them so the list keeps getting longer. In Superfocus there is an inbuilt review to assess whether you still want to do tasks you haven’t completed and if not they are removed ensuring the list remains relevant to what you wish to achieve.

How does it compare to my old system

Pros	Cons
quicker simpler built in review all in one list all tasks are captured	no concept of expected working day more difficult to see incoming task load as can spread over several pages no clear record of tasks that come in urgent sometimes can progress slowly through the list due to right hand column

So although there are some advantages to my old system I like the control and simplicity of my new one. However I don’t find it perfect in all situations and on days with lots of urgent tasks I tend to return to another of Mark’s methods of rotating through specific tasks.

How do you plan your day? Have you noticed it changing over the last few years?

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My new favourite productivity tool – paper clip bookmarks

2011-01-31T13:07:32Z

Sometimes you stumble across an item or idea that increases your productivity. Recently for me, it was a gift I was given for Christmas that I understood would be useful, but did not appreciate how it would help my productivity until the last week.

The official name is Multi-Reference Bookmarks, but they are essentially small bookmarks that work like paper-clips, holding the edge of the page. Originally, I had two plans; bookmarks and reference points within my journals as I reread them. For some reason I put a packet in my handbag and it ended up on my desk at work. In a moment of inspiration I realised they would help me prioritise my tasks.

I currently have a long task that I work through using the rules of AutoFocus by Mark Forster. I use these arrows to highlight the three tasks I want to work on during the day, either because they are urgent or important. They are colourful so they stand out, the little cut out means not all the text is hidden and it is clear when I’m on a different page and not working on my key tasks because the edge of the arrow sticks out slightly.

The only two negatives I’ve found so far are the green and yellow arrows don’t stand out on my list as I use green ink and yellow highlighter to cross out completed tasks, and I sometimes knock the arrows when I put (squeeze) the book into my bag as they are wider than the book. However, these do not detract from how useful (and enjoyable) I am finding them.

What similar ‘stumbles’ have you experienced that have helped your productivity?

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Is it time to stop writing this blog?

2011-01-21T13:51:14Z

As often happens at the start of the new year I’m thinking about my commitments and what I want to achieve during the next twelve months; one activity that has been frequently on my mind is this blog. I’m approaching my fourth anniversary, but starting to question whether I should continue.

The statistics

There is nothing great about my posting trend; in fact if the trend continues I will be writing a negative number of posts this year. Even taking into account that several of my posts in 2007 and 2008 were copies of book reviews I’d previously written or journal extracts, there is still a definite decline which, perhaps not surprisingly, started about the time I announced my pregnancy in 2008.

Interestingly though, the visitors to my site are starting to increase, despite this reduction in new posts. I haven’t discovered the reason for this yet, but maybe my site is improving its search engine ranking or perhaps it is all down to the interest in labelling keyboard keys (my most popular posts).

The downside of the decline in my posts is the reduction in comments as I always found it exciting to get comments and learnt a lot from what people wrote. Comments have continued to trickle in but, I suspect many of the ones over the last year are actually cleverly disguised spam. Of course, it is not surprising that the number of comments closely follows the number of published posts, but if I want more comments, is it as easy as just writing more posts? Or has it been too long and the people who used to comment regularly have found different blogs to read? And if I had more comments would that encourage me to write more often?

My problems

I had two revelations about why I wasn’t writing blog posts a year ago, and I think one of these is still valid. I love processes and they help me complete activities efficiently, but I have very few for writing blog posts. In fact, I have only one; reviewing the statistics each month to create a list of ideas for possible future posts, meaning I have a long list of unwritten posts.

The actual writing is not much of a problem, instead it is adding it to the site and adding pictures that takes me a long time. For instance, the images in this posts are copied from Excel, saved as jpg from PowerPoint, cropped externally and then uploaded and added to the post. I assume there is a much quicker method that would provide better quality images.

Is there a solution to this without getting caught up in ‘blogging’ again? I don’t know, but I worry if I spend time researching other people’s blogging methodologies I will allow myself to be distracted by reading about other aspects of blogging.

Conclusions – Is it time to stop writing this blog?

I would prefer to make a decision to stop writing this blog instead of letting it dwindle out through inactivity. Although I would feel less ‘guilt’ if I decided to stop now, I’m just not ready to let go. I like having a blog, writing post, thinking of ideas and communicating with people. So, if I’m enjoying writing does it matter if my posting schedule is varied and erratic? I know it is not ‘good blogging’, but if it is something I enjoy doing do I need to follow the rules other people suggest?

Over the next six months, I intend to compare the enjoyment and guilt I feel in association with this blog and maybe then I will be ready to make a decision one way or other.

Additional posts on this topic

How to know when to stop blogging

Ten reasons why I should stop blogging

Should I stop blogging? 20 questions to ask yourself

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Why do we ignore life essentials?

2010-10-15T14:49:31Z

Image by kaneda99

I have to admit that I’ve felt sluggish over the last few months and found it difficult to get going. I’ve looked at this from several different angles such as having the wrong tasks or working at the wrong times of day, but I’ve been missing the obvious; I’m lacking good quality sleep.

Adequate sleep is crucial to proper brain function – no less so than air, water, and food …Any amount of sleep deprivation will diminish mental performance The human brain

I’ve know for several years that getting more sleep would make me feel happier, but I suspect I’m now getting less than previously because I get so absorbed in the book I’m reading I forget to put it down (sometimes for hours).

After just one night without sleep, concentration becomes more difficult and attention span shortens considerably. With continued lack of sufficient sleep, the part of the brain that controls language, memory, planning and sense of time is severely affected, practically shutting down. In fact, 17 hours of sustained wakefulness leads to a decrease in performance equivalent to a blood alcohol level of 0.05% (two glasses of wine). This is the legal drink driving limit in the UK. BBC Science

I read I can make you sleep a six months ago and found it effective, so I think it maybe time to start implementing some of the suggested actions again; no television or computer an hour before going to bed, no reading in bed and no caffeine after 2pm.

So why do I keep ignoring that I require sleep? I don’t know. However, I can say I am not alone in ignoring things that essential for life; for instance, how often do you think about water availability? Probably not very often because you are used to turning on a tap and water appearing, but water really is essential for life; without it you are unlikely to live longer than 5 days.

The human body is anywhere from 55% to 78% water depending on body size. To function properly, the body requires between one and seven liters of water per day to avoid dehydration. Wikipedia

: Image by Tom@HK

The problem is only 3% of the Earth’s water is fresh water and the majority of that is tied up in glaciers and ice caps (see the distribution of Earth’s water). The amount of water on Earth doesn’t vary much, but the human population has increase dramatically; doubling between 1927 and 1974. This means there are more people accessing the same volume of water.

The UK has less available water per person than most other European countries. London is drier than Istanbul, and the South East of England has less water available per person than the Sudan and Syria. Waterwise

My job involves advising businesses on water efficiency and encouraging them to invest in water efficiency technology and it can be difficult to get them to consider their water. I believe there are two main reasons; water is not yet high on the media’s agenda and water is cheap. In the UK, there is no market driven price, in fact the price is agreed for five years at a time, and many households pay for their water based on the size of the house instead of how much they use.

So, if the financial cost is low, it is important to show the value of water in other ways. How about thinking of the impact if water was not available? For a business water is essential; for instance it is used for cleaning, as an ingredient and cooling as well as usual domestic purposes. A business can’t exist without water, and with restricted water it can only do restricted business – either way it has an impact on available products and jobs. With less water for irrigation, food production is likely to be reduced or crops changed to once that require less water. Plus at home there will need to be a reduction of water usage such as showers and car washing. However you look at it, there will be a significant impact on society.

Just like sleep, water is essential for life and it is only through action that a difference will be made. I’m going to take action to increase my sleep, but if we all take action to use water efficiently we will make a difference globally.

This post was written for blog action day. If you would like more information on water you can read other posts written for blog action day or visits some of these sites:

Water map shows billions at risk of ‘water insecurity’
Hidden Waters: Embedded Water & Our True Consumption
Rippleffect free water efficiency support for English businesses, sign up closes today 15th October 2010

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Ask advice – which ebook reader?

2011-07-01T13:07:28Z

UPDATE: I bought a Sony Touch, read my thoughts after six months.

Photograph by goXunuReviews

An ebook reader is the latest gadget I want and I’ve been offered one for my upcoming birthday; I had the same offer last year and turned it down, as I didn’t think it was worth purchasing any of the available models, but I’m hoping it is different this year.Part of me wonders if I’m just after a new toy, however as I’ve read ebooks on my Palm Tungsten E and my HTC Desire I think it is a device I would certainly use, I’m just finding it difficult to select a model.

The easy solution will be to get an Amazon Kindle now that it is available in the UK, but having done some research I’m not sure it is the device for me, but equally no other device is standing out.

I’ve been here before when I bought a new mp3 player last year. I had been happy with my Creative Zen Micro until the battery connections started failing; I didn’t want to just buy the upgraded model, but wanted to see what had changed in the market since I’d bought my first player so started my research. I had assumed I would be spoilt for choice, but I obviously have unusual requirements and in the end only found one player, the upgrade to my old player that satisfied them all.

I think the ebook reader is the same situation. There is a model out there for me, among the many available, I just need to find it.

My requirements

I don’t think my requirements are very difficult, but I guess the market for ebook readers is still new and the sellers are still working out what they can get away with, plus I think my options are restricted because I live in the UK. My requirements are:

available in the UK
fit in my handbag
have note taking functionality
have wifi functionality
be able to borrow ebooks from the library
be able to share ebooks with my husband (if he gets a device in the future)
to be able to purchase ebooks at a reasonable price

The options

Note taking and wifi seem to be present on most models I’ve looked at so they are not decision factors. The biggy is the file format and particularly the Digital Rights Management used. The impression I’ve got is that Amazon have personalised their file format so much the Kindle is not compatible with borrowing ebooks from the library.

The DRM format that seems to meet my requirements is Adobe Digital Editions as this is used by libraries and I can register my account on up to six computers and six devices. Helpfully Adobe provide a list of supported devices but I’m not sure that this is up to date as there are some devices missing that say they are compatible e.g. iRiver Cover Story or Sony Touch.

I’ve found a few lists that compare ebook readers, but none of them are up to date, so although they are useful they do not provide definitive information.

10 best ebook readers for the UK

6 inch ebook reader comparison matrix

6 inch ebook reader matrix

Buying ebooks

The other part of the decision is knowing where I can buy ebooks from. There seems to be a large variation in price and I don’t want to buy a reader that means I can only buy ebook from a site that is more expensive than paperbacks. From the quick look I’ve had, the prices seem to be lower on sites tied to specific devices e.g. Amazon Kindle books. Although I know there are plenty of free ebooks available from places like Project Gutenberg, I still want the option to buy newer books at a reasonable price.

As you can see I’m a little confused about my options and would appreciate any advice you have. Do you have an ebook reader? How do you use it? Have you found the file formats limiting? Where do you buy your books?

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Immersing yourself in your dreams

2010-09-15T16:31:32Z

Working towards your dreams is a gradual process, moving there action by action. It is also good to prepare your mind through methods like saying your goal several times a day and spending time with people who have already achieved your dream.

One of my husband’s dreams is to own a sailing yacht. His grandfather owned yachts so Ed has sailed since being a baby and to him it is a normal part of life.

He is taking several actions towards his goal. Firstly, he is introducing me to sailing, so we can sail around the world together! Secondly he is making sure we charter yachts regularly so he can retain his skill, we can try out different makes and models and sailing is integrated into our family life.

However, today is the day when he can get fully immersed in sailing; at the Southampton boat show. It is the biggest boat show in the UK and this is the 4th year in a row we’ve visited. You can buy anything boat related, but the key thing for us is looking around the yachts.

During our week sailing in the summer we developed a list of desired features in our yacht and have used it to narrow down the list of models we may think of purchasing. It has knocked out several boats we had considered in the past. Now the next step is getting the money to purchase one.

So my husband has had an enjoyable day, spending time with sail boats and has moved closer to his dream. What are you doing to reach your dreams?

Posted from WordPress for Android

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A new look

2010-09-13T12:29:58Z

It is widely recognised that content is the most important aspect of a blog, however it is the look that is first noticed; and just like with people, first impressions do count. So unless all your readers use a feed reader they will gain thoughts about your site from the first few moments of visiting. Now I have to admit I didn’t really like my theme, but stuck with it until I could develop a new one; I just didn’t think it would take three years.

The reasons for wanting a new theme

I read it was important when starting a blog to pick a theme with the structure you like and not to spend time changing it too often so you concentrate on writing content. Therefore I picked my previous one because it had a three piece sidebar (a wide sidebar on the top and two narrow ones underneath). However, over time I found myself using the top section more and more and realised that the structure was no longer working for me.

I also thought the navigation was difficult. I had previously introduced a tabbed widget to include more information in the sidebar e.g. recent posts, top commentors, but think this actually hid the information more! Then there was also the minor details of the dark background and the standard header.

Designing the new theme

Again I looked for a structure I liked and selected techicon theme by blog oh blog because of the boxes at the top aiding navigation. I wanted to have a personal header and went through our photographs and picked this one taken from Worth Matravers, Dorset looking out towards Winspit and selected an appropriate sized header. To get the colours for theme I used an colour scheme tool to select a blue from the header to get complimentary colours and I was very keen that they were light in colour.

I then started adapting the code. Unfortunately my knowledge is not as high as my desires so this was tricky. I cut, paste and fiddle the code, relying on information in forums and blogs when I get stuck. However, I was just about there when WordPress 2.7 came out. I wanted to include features such as nested comments so changed the code, and WordPress 2.8 came out and at that point I gave up as I realised I would not be able to keep my code up to date with the updates to WordPress.

Redesigning the new theme

While browsing for something else recently, I came across the idea of framework themes and realised they solved my problem with keeping the code up to date with WordPress, as the theme changes are kept separate from the framework so when WordPress or framework is updated it is completely separate to your theme. I downloaded Thematic to give it ago and was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to personalise. I don’t want to suggest it was completely straight forward as I still needed to look for help and ask questions in the forum, however, it only took two weeks to convert the standard Thematic theme into a theme that was very close to the theme I created previously.

Improvements still to make

I think the site looks much better and is much easier to navigate, however I know its not yet finished, for instance I’d like to remove the numbers in the header boxes for number of comments and views and the code around the header is not as neat as it could be. Plus I suspect I will discover other features to tweak after using it for a while.

I am excited at finally having a new theme, although there is still a feeling of disbelief that it has finally gone live. Please let me know what you think; does it work on your browser? What features do you like or what would you change? I’m also hoping my new theme will encourage some more comments as I haven’t had any since April and I’m feeling a bit lonely

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Tips for using wheel of life exercise

2011-01-16T11:23:25Z

Photograph by PatCastaldo

A wheel of life aims to highlight the areas of your life that you need to give more attention (or areas where you need to give less) so you can work towards a balanced life. I like the approach because it is a simple graphical representation, so I started using the method on a monthly basis to track progress on my goals.

I started giving scores based on how I felt about each area, but thought this was too variable, so started counting up the number of times I worked on tasks in each area. Although this was tricky to track it did give unambiguous figures to plot. However, on reviewing after a few months, I realised I was measuring the wrong thing; I was plotting how many times I worked in each area not by what I achieved, for example I could spend a lot of time sorting out my address book, but it isn’t as satisfying that I was developing relationships as much as if I had a long telephone call with a friend .

To be honest, I think I was expecting too much from wheel of life. It is a very useful tool, but a monthly review is too often, because there is not enough time for your thoughts on the analysis to settle, let alone develop. Based on my previous review and my current thinking here are my tips for using wheel of life exercise

Select categories that are relevant to what you want to measure; I started with generic categories but found it much more useful when I used my goals (although it did result in some tasks being classified under strange categories)
Decide if you want to use the wheel to measure your current position or the progress you’ve made since your last wheel (it may sound a little thing, but if you decide this up front it will prevent confusion when you put together your scores at later reviews)
Develop descriptions for each score point on the axis e.g.1 – made a very small step forwards on this, 10 – achieved this
Decide how often you will do the review; I recommend three months as a minimum time between reviews, but feel that six months could be optimum
Consider doing an overall wheel and then separate ones to get more detail in specific areas e.g. you may be interested in how balanced your work life is, but you are unlikely to want to go into this detail in an overall review of your life where you might be considering if you are working on your life goals (including work life balance)

What is your experience of using Wheel of life? Do you have any tips to share?

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39 keyboard key purchases

2010-08-21T11:17:35Z

Every month one of my most popular posts is Ask advice: how to label keyboard keys so in response to this interest I’ve put together a list of different keyboard key related items you can buy.

Clothing

Notebooks

Bags and wallets

Home

Jewellery

Mousemats

Keyboards

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Places where I’m social

2010-07-09T13:35:35Z

One of the benefits of web 2.0 is being social and there is an increasing number of sites enabling you to interact with people local to you or with similar interest. Plus with the increased ownership of smart phones you can interact almost anywhere (I’m looking forward to trying it on a yacht off the south coast of Great Britain later in the summer with my new HTC Desire).

The facility I use the most is Twitter as it is integrated into FireFox using the Echofon add in. It is also the easiest to follow on my Desire. However, as most of my school and university friends use Facebook it is usually an interesting read, when I log in.

The site I’m most grateful for is Bookmooch. It has enabled me to clear out books knowing they are going to a good home and also to get many books off my wishlist. I love getting books in the post

Places where you can find me online

Social

Books

Bookmooch
Bookcrossing
Goodreads
Librarything (Haven’t used this in a while, but haven’t decided which I prefer this or Goodreads – what is your experience?)

Music

Last.fm

Maybe this list will help me integrate the different aspects of my online life. Are there any places I don’t use that you’d recommend? Where do you spend most of your time?

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Why are ‘bad’ habits so easy to form?

2010-06-15T12:28:48Z

In a simplistic view, habits define your life. They are the little things that you do each day without thinking and enable you to focus on other things. Think how much less time you would have if you had to focus on breathing, driving or typing. Therefore it is essential that your habits connect with your goals, otherwise you are going to find it very difficult to meet them and it will frequently feel that you are fighting against yourself.

Recognising the ‘bad’ habits

The difficulty with habits is, by their nature of being a subconscious activity, is you don’t always recognise them as habits; and certainly in my life I’ve recently noticed several ‘bad’ habits have formed without me even realising.

“He who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes habitual.”

Thomas Jefferson

My husband and I usually go food shopping together, so when he was ill and I went on my own I bought a Wispa as a treat. The next time I went on my own I did the same and before I knew it I was buying a Wispa every time I did the shopping on my own. The purchasing of the Wispa was no longer a treat but a habit. A few weeks ago I felt tired at work so bought a can of Dr Pepper to give me a caffeine boost (I don’t drink tea or coffee). A few days later I was tired again so I bought another can and it wasn’t long before I was buying one every week day.

Once I recognised these habits I had a choice to make; was I happy with them or did I want to stop them. An additional chocolate bar occasionally and 1 can of drink four days a week is not too bad, but when I look at my goals they are not compatible with “feel good about myself, by being healthy, fit and looking good”. Plus it would be better for my finances if I saved that money each day (looking at my goals with that in mind, I’m surprised I don’t have anything in about financial position, just income).

Stopping the ‘bad’ habits

Recognising a habit that doesn’t help achieve your goals is the first step, but the second is taking action. There is plenty of advice on how to stop or change habits:

For me the best approach is cold turkey. I have to just stop. In the example of Dr Pepper, the habit I want to change is not stopping Dr Pepper, but not drinking it at work. Therefore for the last 6 days I have not bought a can and have got to the point where I can talk my self out of being one as I would have to start again (along the lines of Jerry Seinfelds’ breaking the chain that was popular on the internet a year or so ago). But if I go somewhere Dr Pepper is available, such as my parents’ house, than I can have some. This makes it easier to stop as its not a complete stop, but there are clear boundaries to when I can and can’t have it.

Developing ‘good’ habits

Unfortunately it is harder to develop ‘good’ habits as they rarely seem to form unconsciously. The most common piece of advice to develop new habits is to do the habit every day for 30 days. However, I know this doesn’t work for me.

I used a tick box approach to remind me to floss my teeth. After 30 consecutive days I stopped using the list and instantly stopped flossing as well! I admit my flossing is probably better than it was before tried to instill the habit, but on average it probably works out as once a week rather than every day as I’d hoped.

Again there is plenty of advice about developing habits like these posts from Zen Habits:

So my plan is to

identify habits that will help me move towards my goals and make the link very clear in my mind how the habit contributes, for instance eating the fruit in my lunchbox that tends to go home at the end of day will help me feel good about myself, by being healthy, fit and looking good
develop associations and triggers that remind me of the habit I am wanting to develop, for example I am keen to write more frequently on my blog than in the last year, so now on the days I don’t go to work I am working on posts as soon as I get up
develop mantras to help if I feel myself weakening, I do a lot of talking in my head so hopefully this will have a high impact

“First we make our habits, then our habits make us.” - Charles C. Noble

What habits have you formed without realising it? How do you consciously form new ones?

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