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Michael Schechter
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Homepage: http://www.lifehack.org
Posts by Michael Schechter
2×4: An Interview With Brett Terpstra
Apr 8th
2×4: One series that examines two topics, creativity and productivity, by asking those who make things on the web the same four questions on both subjects.
There is a day in every Apple geek’s life that leaves a permanent mark; it’s a day we all remember. It’s a moment in time where things change, and get better. Tasks that once seemed complicated become easier. You discover new tools that make your work on and for the web more efficient.
That day is the day you discover Brett Terpstra.
To discover Brett is to want to learn more about what you can make for your Mac. You start going down rabbit holes that you never imagined yourself going down. For the uninitiated, Brett is the developer of Marked, the Senior Dev at AOL, he is a frequent blogger on both his own site and TUAW and as Brett it himself said, “I create elegant solutions to complex problems.” He also creates exceptionally useful tools such as nvALT and helpful resources such as his library of TextExpander tools. Brett is generous with his time and his creations and even though those of us who are not deeply technical will occasionally find ourselves in over our heads, his creations are useful for all levels of geek, including all of us productivity and “lifehack types.
Without any further ado, here’s an inside look at how Brett Terpstra manages to do in a week what many of us would find to be impossible in a lifetime.
Creativity
Have you always considered yourself a creative person?
Not really, but not for lack of desire.
My younger brother is an amazing artist; even his toddler scribbles were always fridge-worthy. In my single-digit years, I was a bit competitive and constantly assured myself I was just as creative as he was. It wasn’t true, at least not in the fine arts disciplines, but I maintained a shaky confidence for a while.
In a parallel story, my father brought home a PC Jr. when I was six. I started experimenting in Logo and BASIC and solving Kings Quest games. I didn’t realize at the time that these were creative pursuits.
After coming to terms with the fact that drawing and painting were not my fortes, I pursued my technical interests. I built my own PCs, started a BBS and continued programming. I also acquired a used Tascam 4-track, a keyboard and an acoustic guitar and began piling up cassettes full of compositions. Once again, I didn’t really piece together the connection between all of these things.
I went to college at the University of Minnesota for Computer Science, failed Calc 2 and–for some reason– decided to try art school. I went to the Minneapolis College of Art and Design for a BA in Interactive Multimedia. It was there that I finally came to understand that my technical and creative sides were tightly intertwined; I realized I’d been creative all along.
What mediums and inspirations do you gravitate toward to realize your creative goals?
Computers. My peers often espouse starting on paper, but my creative flow is much smoother when I have a keyboard and trackpad in front of me. I brainstorm in digital mind maps, record in DAWs, outline and build solutions in text editors and design in vector and photo-editing applications. I know that more analog mediums are better for some people, but they don’t click for me the way that digital solutions do.
If you had to point to one thing, what specific posts or creations are you most proud of and why?
I think an app I wrote in 2006 called MoodBlast would be my pride and joy. MoodBlast was a way to update 6 of the most popular micro-blogging services simultaneously from a HUD you could pop up with a keyboard shortcut. Everyone’s forgotten about it by now, but it was the attention that it received that made me start thinking that some things that came easily to me were less obvious to others. It may not have been the best work of my life, but it was a turning point in my awareness of my own capabilities (and limitations, but that’s another story).
Any suggestions for those who feel they may not be creative enough to unlock their inner artist?
I think the takeaway from my own story is that you might not be creative in the areas you initially want to be, but by examining the things you are good at (or at least drawn to), you might find that you’re already creative— and exceptional. Embrace those talents and constantly explore and develop them. All creativity comes back to solving a problem, whether it’s putting ideas on paper or canvas, making physical objects do something useful or beautiful or making bits and bytes ease a workflow???.
Productivity
Can you describe your current personal and professional responsibilities?
I head up the team of developers behind tech blogs including Engadget, The Unofficial Apple Weblog and Joystiq. I work mostly on front-end code and design, and provide a communication bridge between the platform developers and my team. I also develop and support Marked and other Mac applications in my “spare” time.
How do you go about balancing the personal, professional and digital?
I ran my own business for a few years, freelanced for a bit and have worked from home for quite a while now. The one thing I’ve learned is that areas of responsibility need clear time divisions. I won’t say I’m the best at it, or that I always honor the time slots I set for myself, but when there’s no geographic division between home, work and play, I need specific times–and often physical spaces–to keep things separate. Failing to do so typically leads to an imbalance for me. I’m good at quitting my day job around five, but when it comes to the rest of the day I tend to be less precise. I have a very obsessive personality; I’ll stay up all night working on a project that I’ll often discard by morning. That was a waste of time I could (should) have spent with my family (my wife, our two dogs, three cats and a parrot) and a lack of sleep that will affect my productivity for at least the next 24 hours.
Creating obligations is sometimes the only way I enforce those separations. I hate flaking on promises, so making plans to be somewhere with someone is usually the motivation I need to stop what I’m doing and switch modes. Even if it’s just a plan to watch a movie in the living room with my wife, it’s usually enough to force that division.
What tools and techniques do you find yourself counting on to get through your workload?
I use plain text for a lot of what I do, from writing to note-taking to programming. I even use plain text for certain task management purposes (TaskPaper), but I rely on OmniFocus to handle my overall daily todos. My text editor is the tool that gets the most use on any given day. That’s always been TextMate, but I’m really starting to love Sublime Text 2 as well. When writing, I usually use Byword and always work in Markdown.
My own applications are often designed to fill a specific need in my own workflow, so a good portion of my toolset is of my own design. nvALT (a fork of the incredible Notational Velocity) is in constant use and all of my projects rely on notes and lists stored within it. Marked is a major part of my writing workflow. Launchbar and FastScripts, along with a slew of my own AppleScripts and shell scripts, fill in the missing holes. Working without these tools is slow and tedious for me.
As far as techniques go, I’m a fan of the Pomodoro technique. I find it works well with my need for allotted times for specific tasks, and it provides the structure I find important in my time management. A grid to work within. I don’t use it religiously, but whenever I sense the need for it, I pull up a Pomodoro timer (usually on my iPhone).
What is the best starting point for the unproductive amongst us, who are looking to get more organized?
Outlining and planning is important, but it doesn’t really produce anything. I always think it’s going to be the best way to get rolling on a large project, but it’s a “fiddling” stage. I’m not advising against it, just don’t depend on it to help you actually begin accomplishing the work part. The most important step for me is writing the first paragraph, coding that first function, drawing the first lines on a blank page. Then things start to fall into place. For me, outlining and mapping can eventually become an avoidance of actual work.
I’d attribute most of my own productivity to being fortunate enough to get paid for doing what I love, and often having the flexibility to work on what I’m in the mood for at any given moment. That’s a luxury that I don’t think many people have. If you have the option, though, allow yourself to work on what you feel most motivated to accomplish right now. It’s far easier than concentrating on a task while thinking about another project entirely.
Michael Schechter is a Mac geek who rambles about how technology impacts our productivity, our creativity and our lives. You can connect with him over on his blog Schechter or as @MSchechter on Twitter.
2×4: An Interview With Brett Kelly
Mar 25th
2×4: One series that examines two topics, creativity and productivity, by asking those who make things on the web the same four questions on both subjects.
We all want to change our circumstances; we want to make more money or get a better job. For most of us, it’s simply a fantasy, something we’ll imagine ourselves doing, something we may even try for, but more likely than not, it’s something that will never happen. Why? We don’t do what it takes to make that happen. Brett Kelly of Bridging The Nerd Gap made that happen when he got his job at Evernote.
Many of us sit around and scheme. We try to find any easy route to improve our circumstances. What most of us don’t do: the work. We don’t do what it takes to get ourselves noticed and get in the door. Brett did. Brett wrote the user guide that was missing, Evernote Essentials. It was downloaded 12,000 times and caught the attention of the team at Evernote so much so that they hired Brett full-time to write and maintain their user documentation. It was a chain of events that enabled Brett’s wife to be a full-time mother, empowered him to work from home and helped them get to a place where Brett was no longer working two jobs (or when he is, it is now in pursuit of his own projects).
Brett’s story is more than a bit of hard work or a spot of good luck; it wasn’t just about writing the right book at the right time. It’s about consistently looking for ways to make things that matter and delivering the goods. Evernote Essentials is a great resource and the site he created to support it, “Bridging The Nerd Gap” is consistently a useful site. Brett is a hell of a writer, especially for those of us who enjoy our Mac geekery. He brings the goods, but he is also grounded in a way that is rare amidst us Apple and GTD fanatics. Look no further than his recent take on minimalist writing apps. Where most of us get excited and exuberant, Brett finds clarity and makes sense.
Without further ado, here’s a look at how Brett Kelly consistently does what it takes to make things happen.
Creativity
Have you always considered yourself a creative person?
No, not really. Though, when I was growing up, “creative” was a word used to describe poets, musicians and sculptors. I’ve enjoyed writing in some form or another going back to high school, but it wasn’t until many (many) years later that I saw it as a creative pursuit on par with the other, more obviously “artsy” endeavors I mentioned a second ago. Now, I would say that I’m certainly a creative person, but I don’t necessarily think that makes me terribly unique. The lesser-sung outlets for creativity, I think, are things like problem-solving. My six-year-old son isn’t going to be writing sonnets anytime soon, but he can certainly figure out a way to eat the last cookie without technically breaking the rules.
What mediums and inspirations do you gravitate toward to realize your creative goals?
My creative expression can be wrapped up in precisely two gerunds: writing and programming. I can’t paint, draw or play a musical instrument. I deal in words and characters (the kind you access via the Shift key, not the kind you develop as a novelist) because the parameters are fairly well understood and agreed-upon, particularly when talking about software. All the creativity in the world isn’t going to save you if your program doesn’t compile or generates three screenfuls of error messages. You’re working in a known universe. I like it that way. English is arguably quite similar, though there’s definitely more flexibility. When I’m writing, my goal is to say something that the reader can understand. If I fail at that, then it’s time to re-examine the execution a bit and figure out where things went south.
The inspiration part is easy: people who are better craftspeople than I am. Thanks to the Internet, you can hardly swing a dead eCat without hitting somebody who is a hell of a lot better than you at just about everything. Having ready access to the works of my heroes—both writers and programmers—is like looking out toward what I may become one day, if I work hard and take every opportunity to improve.
If you had to point to one thing, what specific posts or creations are you most proud of and why?
I guess I’d have to say my eBook Evernote Essentials is my current front-runner for the achievement of which I’m most proud. This is mostly because it’s far and away the longest single work I’ve ever produced and, well, it’s earned me some money. Plus, lots of people really like it, which helps.
Any suggestions for those who feel they may not be creative enough to unlock their inner artist?
Creativity isn’t about being able to paint or write or make music; it happens every day on a much smaller, less glamorous level. When I discover that I can use a binder clip to hold my iOS charging cable firmly to my desk, that’s creativity applied to problem solving (except people don’t usually use the world “creativity”).
You’re a unique little snowflake of a person that’s walking around having had different experiences than everybody else. These experiences combined with your personality give you a particular take on any number of problems or topics. After all, a butcher’s apprentice is going to be a very different hunting partner than a taxidermy student. Use your specific brain and emotional makeup to take a look at existing situations/problems and see if you don’t have different spin on it (because that’s exactly what creativity is — a different spin on the stuff we all see/feel/use).
Productivity
Can you describe your current personal and professional responsibilities?
By day, I’m the Technical Communications Manager for a startup called Evernote. The title is a little ambiguous, but my duties include generating user documentation and doing a bit of programming—some things for the web, some internal tools. If you’ve ever used the Evernote Knowledge Base, you’ve probably read words that I’ve written.
Personally, I’m the undeserving husband to my first wife and we have two great kids. I also write a blog called Bridging the Nerd Gap where I talk about all sorts of different things, mostly relating in some way to technology or productivity. I also co-host a weekly podcast with my good buddy Myke Hurley called Cooking with Brett and Myke where he and I talk about anything and everything that happens to tickle our fancy on a given day. Lastly, I’m the one-man show behind my little ebook business where I handle everything from marketing, customer support, product development and—most importantly—the office coffee equipment.
I’ve got other self-imposed responsibilities in the form of unannounced projects and such, but those are the biggies.
How do you go about balancing the personal, professional and digital?
This is one area where I could definitely use some work, but I’ve got a reasonably good handle on things. Every day I eat a quick breakfast with my family before walking down the hall to work (I work at home). I don’t usually take a real lunch break, but having taken a couple of strategic breaks to hug my wife and kids, who are also usually at home, I knock off around dinner time and have dinner with the family, followed by family hang-out time until my kids go to bed a couple hours later. Then, I’ll either spend time writing, reading or working on something. I’ve got far more ideas than I have time to execute on them, though, and that’s hard.
The more tactical parts where I need help involve getting to bed at a reasonable hour and doing a better job “defining my work” (to borrow an expression from David Allen). I’m routinely bitten in the ass by a poorly defined project or task, so I’m trying to make fewer mistakes there and spend less time tuning my task manager (which will lead to knocking more tasks out in the time I’ve got and not crawling into bed at 1:30am).
What tools and techniques do you find yourself counting on to get through your workload?
I’m a big proponent of GTD. We’ve had a rocky relationship in the past, but it’s definitely how I like to roll. The best part about it, I think, is that it makes it possible to move everything forward, even if it’s only a little bit.
As far as tools, you’ll almost always find me in one of these applications: OmniFocus for tasks on my Macs and iOS devices, Evernote for all sorts of different things, Vim for writing code and prose and Apple’s Mail. Without OmniFocus and Evernote, I’d probably be 40 pounds heavier, single and in therapy.
What is the best starting point for the unproductive amongst us, who are looking to get more organized?
I’ve probably bought more copies of David Allen’s Getting Things Done for desperate friends than I care to remember, but that’s what I tell just about everybody to do. Yeah, I know it’s become cliché and lots and lots of people won’t shut up about it, but it’s really such a great antidote for the stressed out everyman (or “everylady”, if that’s a thing).
Tactically, do what David Allen calls a “mental sweep”; essentially, sit down with a big stack of paper and a pen and completely empty your head of every single thing that’s got your attention, one item per sheet. You can read his seminal book for more info on what to do after this, but the point is that your brain is really good at solving problems and creating things, but it positively sucks at holding information such that it can be called back up on command.
If I’m ever feeling overwhelmed, I’ll sit down and do exactly this mental sweep activity until I’ve cleared everything out of my brain and it can relax.
Michael Schechter is a Mac geek who rambles about how technology impacts our productivity, our creativity and our lives. You can connect with him over on his blog Schechter or as @MSchechter on Twitter.
2×4: An Interview With Stephen Hackett
Mar 11th
2×4: One series that examines two topics, creativity and productivity, by asking those who make things on the web the same four questions on both subjects.
Many of us appreciate the devices in our hand, on our laps and upon our desks. Few understand their heritage. Now heritage may seem like a strange choice of word for describing technology, but as the industry of personal computing matures, its history becomes more and more important, as do the people who truly know and understand their evolution. One such writer, a man so dedicated that he has Clarus the Dogcow tattooed on his ankle, is Stephen Hackett of 512 Pixels fame. The site that is named after the number of pixels across on the original Macintosh (which boasted a 9-inch, 512×342 monochrome display for those of you who aren’t running to Wikipedia).
Now with heritage and history often comes with an air of pomposity. Hackett has none of this. In fact, in both his writing and his various podcasts, the guy is relatable, inventing and often outright hilarious. He has the knowledge, but not the airs. His passion for technology encourages you (or at least me) to learn more about the devices I take for granted on a daily basis. If you’re at all interested in technology, journalism or design, you won’t do better than his 512 Pixels blog. Or the newly created 512 Podcast along with fellow 2×4 alum, Myke Hurley of the 70 Decibels network for that matter. His passion for knowledge also goes beyond technology and into a variety of (often unusual) topics on his podcast, Ungeniused.
Without further ado, here’s a look at informative look at the world of Stephen Hackett.
Creativity
Have you always considered yourself a creative person?
I have. As a kid, I always was writing or sketching.
What mediums and inspirations do you gravitate toward to realize your creative goals?
Sometime between 7th grade Art Club and giving up on my art degree two years in to it, I thought I could become some sort of artist as a living. You know, a hip graphic designer who could draw and paint, too.
It turns out while I am pretty handy with a Wacom tablet and Adobe software, I can’t draw or paint. Not even a little. I can, however, write. So I suppose my mediums of choice are the pixel and the written word.
If you had to point to one thing, what specific posts or creations are you most proud of and why?
2011 marked the first time I ever really wrote a lot of personal posts on 512 Pixels. That said, I am super proud of Two Years and The Fifth Floor, which are both posts about my wrestling with the fact that my three year old has brain cancer.
Any suggestions for those who feel they may not be creative enough to unlock their inner artist?
While I’m sure most people would say “Don’t give a shit about what others think,” for me, not caring what I think is more important in many ways. I often find myself dismissing one of my own ideas before I act upon it, censoring myself. Sometimes, that can be good, but for me, it often means that I don’t do things that I probably should.
Productivity
Can you describe your current personal and professional responsibilities?
Sure. First and foremost, I’m a husband and the dad of two small kids. With our son still in and out of the hospital for various tests and things like physical therapy, we’re busier than the average 4-person family, I believe.
From 9-5, I work for The Salvation Army as the IT/Multimedia Director for The Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center. The building is currently under construction, and is slated to open late this year. I oversee all of the IT, audio video and multimedia stuff. If it involves data, pixels or electricity, my department is there, ready to work.
How do you go about balancing the personal, professional and digital?
I get it wrong all the time. I am late to work because I can’t tear myself away from breakfast, but I check work email before bedtime. The system I outline below helps, and I’m trying to be more intentional about separating work from home.
What tools and techniques do you find yourself counting on to get through your workload?
I say this often: my life is in OmniFocus. I have folders for home, work and the website. Inside those folders, I have dozens of projects, with lots and lots of tasks.
For capture, I use Field Notes notebooks. There’s always one in my back pocket. A couple times a day, I take any tasks and move them in to OmniFocus. When in the car, I use that Siri-on-the-keyboard feature to get things in to my OmniFocus Inbox without crashing my truck.
Notes and reference information live as plain text files in Dropbox. I get to them via nvALT on my Mac and Notesy on my iPad and iPhone.
What is the best starting point for the unproductive amongst us, who are looking to get more organized?
Something like OmniFocus isn’t going to help you get off the ground. Get some colored index cards, assign a color for work, home and other and go to town writing stuff down.
Michael Schechter is a Mac geek who rambles about how technology impacts our productivity, our creativity and our lives. You can connect with him over on his blog Schechter or as @MSchechter on Twitter.
2×4: An Interview With Gabe Weatherhead
Feb 26th
Run an interview series long enough and you start to see trends emerge. In the case of these 2×4 interviews, a clear, recurring theme has emerged. Those who tell me that they “aren’t all that creative” when I request the interview end up offering some of the best perspective of the series. Today’s interviewee, Gabe Weatherhead of Macdrifter, is no exception.
I first learned of Gabe’s work through fellow 2×4 participant David Sparks’ Mac Power Users podcast. He tends to focus in on an app and learns how to make the most out of it. It was his impressive efforts with Keyboard Maestro that caught David and his co-host Katie Floyd’s attention. When they wanted to do a full episode on Keyboard Maestro, they decided to bring him in to guide Mac users through the application. Gabe is not only knowledgable, but he excels at making things clear in a way that even the code-free amongst us can benefit.
I’d go on, but frankly, I’m just keeping you from some excellent answers to some rather straightforward questions. So without further ado, here’s one of my favorite entries to date in this series courtesy of Gabe Weatherhead from Macdrifter.
Creativity
Have you always considered yourself a creative person?
I think everyone is a creative person. It’s what defines us as human beings. We can’t escape it. Anyone that has found themselves stuck in a bathroom without tissue knows how creative they can be.
In all seriousness, it’s my opinion that, as we become adults, we become more effective at pushing down creativity in exchange for efficiency. Occasionally those two aspects are mutually exclusive but some of us lack the ability to know when. I think when I am enjoying my work I am more creative because I’m not looking for a quick resolution. I’m looking for a better resolution. I have a good sense of my limits and no problem telling people “no.” The shorter my task list, the more freedom I have to be creative.
What mediums and inspirations do you gravitate toward to realize your creative goals?
I am a scientist by training and view problems through that lens. The natural world provides an essentially infinite supply of inspirational solutions to problems.
When thinking about problems, I tend to anthropomorphize the inanimate. I’ve always done this. When I was a chemist, I related to chemical reactions as human interactions. For example, I think about how one molecular construct has a preference for another. Or how two molecules might be encouraged to react by the right catalyst. Now that I spend more time being a hack programmer, I think in the same way. I say things like “how would this application talk to this one?” or “who needs to talk to this method and what language are they speaking?” Personally, I think this is what enables me to deal with extremely abstract ideas.
If you had to point to one thing, what specific posts or creations are you most proud of and why?
My daughter is my single greatest achievement. But I have other things I like too. Oddly, I don’t really take pride in my posts at Macdrifter.com. I like writing there and try to do a good job, but I don’t think I’m particularly good at writing. What I do take pride in is making things people find useful. I really enjoy comments and emails where people share how they are using a small piece of something I’ve done. I do have a list of highlight posts but they are a list of things I had fun writing, rather than a list of what I think is good. I guess I just don’t respect my opinion much.
Any suggestions for those who feel they may not be creative enough to unlock their inner artist?
Get over it. There’s no such thing. Some people have a better perception of shapes and colors or a steadier hand. That’s just biology. There are very few humans that are truly and uniquely inspired and that quality usually comes at a high price. As far as I know, only a serious brain injury can suddenly change our innate skills. I’ll skip that option.
I have three suggestions to have more fun doing better work.
I try to take the time to really appreciate things around me. At one point in my life, I enjoyed painting and sketching. Through that experience, I learned to stop and think about the shape and colors of things. I would wonder how I could reproduce a particular color or shadow effect. Now I try to do the same. When I read a Gruber article or a Horace analysis, I try to think about what makes it so good. What makes a superior sentence or argument?
It’s hard but I try to get to the nut first and then elaborate. Too often I will ramble (like now) before getting to my point. I’m more effective if I outline first and then go in and elaborate the thought or project. Afterward, I go back and cut unnecessary material.
Relax and enjoy the work. Just as there are few people that are uniquely skilled, there are also few jobs or problems that are actually critical. We’ve been screwing things up throughout history. There are very few bad choices that really matter on a grand scale. If I’m not enjoying the work, then I’m thinking about it too much or I’ve chosen the wrong work.
Productivity
Can you describe your current personal and professional responsibilities?
I’m a dad and a husband first and I’m a “Lead Systems Engineer” second. I have no idea what that title is supposed to mean. My daily job is to plan, design and implement software solutions for research scientists at a pharmaceutical company. I focus on things like chemistry applications and electronic laboratory notebooks. My job is a hybrid between project manager, scientist and software engineer. My day consists of Gantt charts, chemical structures and code (mostly Python/SQL/JavaScript/VBScript).
I have far too many hobbies to list but I brew and collect beer and enjoy Mac hacking. I prefer to teach myself something new before I will pay someone else to do it for me. That means I do a bit of everything. I cook, make cabinetry and wire networks. I’m not great at any of them, but it makes me appreciate a master at work.
How do you go about balancing the personal, professional and digital?
I try not to over-think it too much but my family always comes first. I have organized my schedule so I can come home early (I’m up by 4:30am). After work I get about an hour to practice code or work on a personal project before I pick up my daughter from school. My wife is in law school so I carry a bit more load at home. That means making dinner, giving baths and lots of dancing with a 3-year-old.
I forfeited what I would consider a successful career as a scientist to make sure my life was constructed around things that are important to me. That includes family, hobbies and principles. It’s liberating to know that I’ve already done some of the scariest things I will do in my life. Either that or I’m blissfully ignorant. I’ll take either.
What tools and techniques do you find yourself counting on to get through your workload?
Here comes the nerdery. I use Markdown. A lot. It keeps my work structured but without making it overly complex or fiddly. I write emails in Markdown and I take notes in Markdown. It’s Markdown all the way down.
That leaves me plenty of time to fiddle with other applications though. I benefit from OmniFocus and the Reminders app with Siri. I’m forced to work in a locked Windows environment (read: NO DROPBOX) all day so I bridge that world with MS Exchange integration with iOS and Simplenote. So basically, I still rely on OS X and iOS even though 90% of my work is done on Windows.
I also think tinkering has received a bad rap. It’s disparaged as being unproductive or procrastination in some circles. I think it leads to discovery. It has provided me with a comfort and familiarity with my tools. It’s ok to sit and sharpen an axe if you intend to use it. I spend plenty of time writing little scripts to use while I write. It’s made me more comfortable in my chosen tools. Learning some amount of scripting has been incredibly valuable to me. Anyone can learn to write Python or Ruby. Not Perl though. That’s for the criminally insane.
I offload as much as I can to my iPad. Instead of keeping my mail open on my work computer, I use my iPad. It reduces the Pavlovian email response and keeps me focused on work. I occasionally take notes on paper but I always transcribe to my iPad. I also use my iPad for task management throughout the day. The iPad is the logical conclusion of the PalmPilot and OmniFocus is the pinnacle of task management on iOS.
What is the best starting point for the unproductive amongst us, who are looking to get more organized?
I’m no expert. I’m also not comfortable saying what other people should do. For me, I find the things I enjoy and incorporate those into my work. I get more done when I enjoy the work. Sure, a nice pen doesn’t write more, but it will make me hold that pen more which precipitates more writing or sketching. The same goes for a well-designed app or webpage.
The single best thing I have done to help keep me organized was to get married. The second best thing was to get a ScanSnap scanner and go paperless as much as possible. I try to avoid any paper and I prefer to buy eBooks whenever I can.
Finally, I don’t follow movements. I prefer to focus on what makes me happy. I don’t cut things out to achieve an ideal. I just spend more time with the things I like. I do the parts of GTD I like. I don’t clean my desk to be minimal. I don’t have inbox-zero. Movements and mantras are insidious and counterproductive to me.
Michael Schechter is a Mac geek who rambles about how technology impacts our productivity, our creativity and our lives. You can connect with him over on his blog Schechter or as @MSchechter on Twitter.
2×4: An Interview with Ev Bogue
Feb 10th
2×4: One series that examines two topics, creativity and productivity, by asking those who make things on the web the same four questions on both subjects.
Right after submitting his answers, former 2×4 participant, CJ Chilvers joked that he wished he had gone the Steve Jobs route and given one word answers. Ironically, this was followed by my receiving exactly that (well at least for the first question) from today’s participant, Ev Bogue. Answers to subsequent questions were also nearly as short, sweet and to the point.
I won’t lie to you…for an instant there, I was surprised. But then I realized that the exact nature of the answers is exactly why I asked Ev to participate.
Ev is direct, clear and to the point. You can see that in his regularly email newsletter, you can see that in his posts on Google+. He’s also not a fan of the superfluous. He sheds the unnecessary even when it comes to things like a thriving blog and an active Tweet stream. Ev clearly puts as much, if not more time into choosing what he does as he does actually doing them. His words, as you will see below, are also as carefully chosen as his actions.
I could go on, but I doubt that would be in the spirit of today’s guest, so without further ado, here’s an inside look at Ev Bogue.
Creativity
Have you always considered yourself a creative person?
Yes.
What mediums and inspirations do you gravitate toward to realize your creative goals?
Right now I’ve been experimenting with writing for inboxes, and publishing to Google+.
If you had to point to one thing, what specific posts or creations are you most proud of and why?
I’m the most proud of working towards telling from experience this year. As a writer, this has strengthened how my work lands with my readers.
Any suggestions for those who feel they may not be creative enough to unlock their inner artist?
Show up every day. Be honest. Ask permission to contact people who are interested in your work.
Productivity
Can you describe your current personal and professional responsibilities?
I write every single day to a group of readers who are interested in what I write.
How do you go about balancing the personal, professional and digital?
I don’t balance anything. I’m 100% invested in my work as a writer online. I’ve tried to take time off, but I don’t know what to do with myself.
What tools and techniques do you find yourself counting on to get through your workload?
I write with an 11” Macbook Air. I write in Scrivener. I deliver my work via Mailchimp. I connect with my readers through Gmail and using Google+.
What is the best starting point for the unproductive amongst us, who are looking to get more organized?
Hit publish on the work you’re compelled to do every single day.
Michael Schechter is a Mac geek who rambles about how technology impacts our productivity, our creativity and our lives. You can connect with him over on his blog Schechter or as @MSchechter on Twitter.
2×4: An Interview With CJ Chilvers
Jan 29th
2×4: One series that examines two topics, creativity and productivity, by asking those who make things on the web the same four questions on both subjects.
C.J. Chilvers is a photographer on a mission… A mission to awaken those who are more focused on equipment than images. A desire to get those who obscure their shots with filters to get back to basics. A drive to stop us from taking yet another “me too” image that can be found on a thousand different dime-store postcards. C.J. Chilvers is a man who wants us to rediscover the role of our own creativity in the art of photography.
I was fortunate enough to discover C.J.’s and his amazing (and free) “A Lesser Photographer” manifesto through Patrick Rhone’s patron’s newsletter. Not only was I enamored by his approach to his work, but I realized how true it was for my own casual photography. Like many geek fathers, the birth of my first daughter was the ideal crap rationalization to get the obligatory DSLR (that I barely understand how to use) and a few lenses (because one couldn’t possibly be enough). It chronicled the big moments of her first years, but all of our favorite pictures happened at random times and were often taken with a camera phone. Now with our second child as the DSLR sits on the shelf collecting dust and the iPhone becomes the go-to tool for capturing life’s moments.
It doesn’t matter if you are an amateur, a professional or even just a casual photographer, C.J.’s minimalist philosophy can help any amongst us understand just how little equipment is needed in order to unlock our creativity. And as you’ll see in the interview, that philosophy of less extends far beyond the photographic and into his approach for both writing and task management. Without any further ado, here’s a snapshot of how C.J. Chilvers approaches his craft:
Creativity
Have you always considered yourself a creative person?
Sort of – I fancied myself a scientist.
When I was little, I asked for microscopes and telescopes for Christmas instead of toys. My parents were smart enough to give me toys instead.
I was into quantum physics when I was a teen. My friends were smart enough to start a metal band with me.
My degree is in biology. That’s about the time I became smart enough to realize I’m a really just a writer.
A newspaper columnist once told me, when I was 12, that I was a talented writer and it pushed me to learn everything I could about writing. I got kicked off the high school newspaper for writing something “controversial” about Slash. That issue sold out. I found the combination of writing chops and the natural controversy of my inner voice were a winning combo.
Photography came later, but it’s all just a part of the greater skill of storytelling.
What mediums and inspirations do you gravitate toward to realize your creative goals?
I used to write paper books. In 1994, I put up my first site and it’s gradually taken over everything I’ve published. I recently had a flirtation with paper books again, but gave it up when I decided it was more important to be read by more people than paid a pittance by a few for the privilege of flipping pages. I’m completely over the book scene and I’ve ripped the elbow patches off my blazers. I’d rather make a difference.
If you had to point to one thing, what specific posts or creations are you most proud of and why?
I suppose my books would be the best things to point to (and we’ll pretend they’re collectively one thing). There’s been about 7, but here’s the ones that are I’m actively updating right now:
The Van Halen Encyclopedia was an ode to my favorite guitar player. It took two years of research to complete the first edition in 1998 and at least another year for the follow-up edition. It’s now a website, with an iPhone app in the works.
My most recent book is tiny by comparison, but packs a punch: A Lesser Photographer. It’s the result of two years of blogging on minimalist photography.
Any suggestions for those who feel they may not be creative enough to unlock their inner artist?
Yes, move to Williamsburg, grow dreadlocks and spend your days searching for the perfect artisan tool to create whatever art you’ve been told is anti-establishment these days.
It’s not hard to act like an artist, just be a nonconformist… in exactly the same way as everyone else.
Anyone can be creative if they can figure out how to fight their brain’s need to avoid the pain of creation. If you’re not feeling that pain, you’re not pushing yourself enough.
Productivity
Can you describe your current personal and professional responsibilities?
I write for the intranet of a hyper-mega-global company of 400,000 employees for 8 hours a day, then I write for fun for as long as possible after.
I have an impossible number of ideas and projects to put out there in the world, but we’re expecting our first baby in about a month and that’ll mean most of those projects will be abandoned or given away – rightly so.
How do you go about balancing the personal, professional and digital?
I’ve given myself permission not to try to make money or be productive online. The less productive I become, the less I find needs doing.
What tools and techniques do you find yourself counting on to get through your workload?
I work on a variety of platforms, quarantined from each other because of the confidential nature of my work, so I can’t count on any tools. Even paper.
I tend to attack the workload itself as suspicious. I edit and edit until the workload doesn’t need any special tools or elaborate systems to manage.
The greatest artists and craftsmen in history never needed tags or contexts or 50,000 foot views to create. I think we all take our jobs too seriously. A true master craftsman may rely on tools and techniques, but I would bet they have nothing to do with a productivity system.
What is the best starting point for the unproductive amongst us, who are looking to get more organized?
Ask why. Then, keep asking why until you realize: a.) you probably don’t need to be more productive or b.) there are some things so important, their importance alone will drive you to do what’s necessary. Don’t worry about it too much, though. Productivity often just gets you going faster in the wrong direction. We could all do with a bit less productivity in our work and a bit more attention to the people in our lives.
Michael Schechter is a Mac geek who rambles about how technology impacts our productivity, our creativity and our lives. You can connect with him over on his blog Schechter or as @MSchechter on Twitter.
2×4: An Interview with Myke Hurley
Jan 15th
2×4: One series that examines two topics, creativity and productivity, by asking those who make things on the web the same four questions on both subjects.
Myke Hurley is your worst nightmare. Living, breathing, walking, talking proof that you can create something meaningful in your spare time. He’s done what most of us convince ourselves we can’t: build something amazing in the hours in between his full-time job. In just over 18 months Myke took what started as his podcast, “The Bro Show” and has grown it into a full-fledged geek and tech-oriented podcasting network that now includes seven shows. The 70 Decibels network is home to several of my favorite podcasts including the aforementioned Bro Show, The App Orchard and Enough. It gets quite a bit of love, not only from us geeks around the web, but from the folks over at iTunes. Several shows on the network are hosted by well-known members of the Read and Trust network including Stephen Hackett, Brett Kelly and Patrick Rhone.
Oh yeah, and he’s British, which isn’t only inherently awesome; it makes things even more impressive as many of his podcasts span both timezones and continents. In fact, a recent episode of Enough with Lifehack’s own Mike Vardy simultaneously spanned three countries at once. Clearly I’m in awe of what the man has built, but rather than continuing to gush, I’m going to be quiet and let Myke do the talking. Or in this case, the writing.
Without further ado, here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the up-and-comer of tech podcasting, Myke Hurley.
Creativity
Have you always considered yourself a creative person?
I have. Throughout my life and especially over the last few years I have tried and failed to launch many creative endeavors. I have started and given up on many books and blogs. I never found that sweet spot until I began podcasting in April 2010, when we started The Bro Show.
Since then we have launched many shows and created the 70Decibels network that encapsulates them. The shows allow me to be very creative and I try to ensure we have a range of different shows to fit all tastes. This also allows me and my co-hosts to dip in to many different areas.
However, I have now caught the bug for podcasting. If I could, I would launch a new show every week and publish as many as I could. The only thing that stops me doing this is time and one day I hope to be able to remove most limitations and focus on the network full-time.
What mediums and inspirations do you gravitate toward to realize your creative goals?
Obviously my chosen medium is audio. I find it so much easier to speak rather than write. I enjoy writing and think I’m okay at it, but I’m far too critical. I agonize over every sentence and constantly go back over things to make sure they read well before publishing. With audio you cannot do that. Once something is said, it’s said and your immediate memory is the only record you have during the conversation. If I don’t remember the point I made five minutes ago then I cannot change it, so whatever is said, is said. Additionally I have a unwritten rule with the shows not to edit for content. I don’t cut parts of the shows out because somebody may have said something incorrect or not overly interesting. I feel that his damages the integrity of the overall product and harms the flow of the conversation. I discussed this more in a recent episode of my show Cooking With Brett And Myke.
I am heavily inspired by the pioneers of podcasting that came before me, Leo Laporte and Dan Benjamin. These men have created Empires, not just podcast networks. They are where I aspire to be one day, with a whole host of excellent shows that are produced full-time and broadcasted live to the masses. I also see Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht as an inspiration. Diggnation was the first podcast I had ever heard of and it was through their show that I became interested in the medium.
If you had to point to one thing, what specific posts or creations are you most proud of and why?
This is a really tough question for me. I love all of the shows and find it difficult to pick out specific episodes as I am always happy with what’s been recorded; I always feel good about what we commit to AAC.
However, some people have remarked to me some of their favourite episodes of some shows. Episode 6 – Money of 11 Minutes is a fan favourite, as is Episode 14 – Don’t Worry Do of Enough. I have a love for Episode 52 – Happy Birthday of The Bro Show. I feel that of our most recent shows, Ungeniused, Cooking With… and The App Orchard, I have not had enough time to really consider favourites. But they are all like children to me and I love recording every episode!
Any suggestions for those who feel they may not be creative enough to unlock their inner artist?
Just keep trying. It took me a long time to realize the thing I enjoyed the most. I tried so many different projects before I came to podcasting and now I don’t want to do anything else. Don’t be afraid to experiment and try new things out; you just don’t know what you might find.
Productivity
Can you describe your current personal and professional responsibilities?
In the day I have a real job at a real, big company. I manage a team of people in a retail/finance environment. Then at home I run a podcasting network called 70Decibels. We have seven shows that make up the network and we are looking to expand these next year. I am a host, producer and editor of these shows
How do you go about balancing the personal, professional and digital?
The balance can be difficult. I leave my day job around 5pm and travel home to start work on the network around 7pm. I record Monday-Wednesday and do general work for the shows throughout the week. My Friday-Sunday is time spent strictly with my better half, with no commitments from the network. I do occasionally have to work Saturdays for my day job.
Of course, sometimes emergencies or good ideas can creep up during my workday. I am more committed (long-term) to making a success out of the network, so I tend to deal with or capture these things whenever they come up. Obviously, this is provided they do not take up too much time; it’s my day job that allows me to continue running the network, and it’s the only thing that puts food on the table.
What tools and techniques do you find yourself counting on to get through your workload?
I have tried so many different GTD apps but as of yet none have stuck for me. I tend to use Simplenote/nvALT as a way to capture things and I even use it as an inbox for to-do items that aren’t particularly urgent.
I’m a big fan of pen and paper. I’m a Moleskine guy at heart, but think I could be converted to Field Notes in the future. I find paper to be the fastest, most efficient capture method. The only downside is that a notebook doesn’t sync to the cloud.
The network is produced and run from my MacBook Air. I use some built-in tools like GarageBand to produce it and add some others like Skype to help me get it done. I have documented some of the tools I use on my blog and am currently planning a new and more effective way of sharing my experiences in podcasting. Watch this space.
What is the best starting point for the unproductive amongst us, who are looking to get more organized?
Find an easy capture method. GTD won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. Just find something that works for you, something that you can have easy access to. Then build from there.
Michael Schechter is a Mac geek who rambles about how technology impacts our productivity, our creativity and our lives. You can connect with him over on his blog Schechter or as @MSchechter on Twitter.
2×4: An Interview with David Sparks
Jan 1st
2×4: One series that examines two topics, creativity and productivity, by asking those who make things on the web the same four questions on both subjects.
David Sparks does a lot. Like a lot, a lot. His Mac Power Users podcast (along with Kaity Floyd) can transform the way you use your computer, especially the two Merlin Mann workflow episodes. His blog, MacSparky is a wealth of geeky goodies, I’m especially partial to his magic trick with iThoughts HD and Scrivener that made writing large projects faster and easier. His books are ideal starting points for using both your Mac and your iPad at work. Oh yeah, and if that wasn’t enough, he has a family and a full-time career as an attorney. In other words, the man does more than inform, he inspires in the best way possible, with his work.
I’ve been a fan of David’s for a while now. Anyone even vaguely familiar with his work should expect an informative addition to this series (and I think you’ll agree that it is). What I wasn’t expecting is just how bold of an approach he takes to his creative work. I could continue to geek out, but without further ado, here’s David Sparks:
Creativity
Have you always considered yourself a creative person?
As long as I can remember, I’ve been infatuated with the creative process. The act of transforming some nebulous concept from my mind to something feels like magic and still amazes me every time it happens. Whenever I get in a rut, creating something pulls me out.
What mediums and inspirations do you gravitate toward to realize your creative goals?
There really is no limit to the mediums I work in. I write. I play music. I design and build furniture. I do geeky things to Macs. I consider myself an artist in every aspect of my life (even my legal cases). My only limitation is my time. I just wish I had more time to explore more creative mediums.
As for inspiration, it really depends on what I’m doing. My two biggest musical inspirations are the ’50s jazz scene (Monk, Bird, Dizzy, Miles) and Impressionist era classical music. With furniture, it is the craftsman movement and on my Mac, I’m inspired by my very many brilliant friends. I wouldn’t even know where to start on all my writing inspirations.
If you had to point to one thing, what specific posts or creations are you most proud of and why?
Whatever I’m doing next is going to be my greatest creation. I’m not good at looking backward when it comes to my work. I move on quickly. When I was in high school I did these recordings with a Jazz Quartet that were pretty good. Several years later I threw them out in a fit of anti-nostalgia. That probably wasn’t a very good idea (and part of me really regrets that) but at the same time that behavior is completely consistent with my personality.
Any suggestions for those who feel they may not be creative enough to unlock their inner artist?
Wreckless abandon. Honestly, I don’t get how people can get hung up on this stuff. Turn off the TV and create something. You could write a song on an iPad without a lick of musical training. It is so much more fulfilling than sitting like a slug in front of American Idol. Put yourself out there. Life is too short.
Productivity
Can you describe your current personal and professional responsibilities?
I’m a husband, a dad, a lawyer, and a MacSparky something or other. Each of those jobs comes with their own special collection of joy, satisfaction, tedium, and tears.
How do you go about balancing the personal, professional, and digital?
Balance is the hard part. I find saying “No” helps. I am much more happy nailing a few things than screwing up a lot of things. The trouble is I have so many interests, picking those few things is really hard. To be perfectly honest, I suck at saying no. I am, however, trying to get better at this.
What tools and techniques do you find yourself counting on to get through your workload?
I find technology a big help in this regard. OmniFocus holds me together. I also use a rat’s nest of project planning, mind mapping, and outlining software to keep track of and on top of whatever I’m up to. The iPad and iPhone are, in my opinion, Grade A planning tools. They’ve really improved my game.
What is the best starting point for the unproductive amongst us, who are looking to get more organized?
Spend a little time figuring out why things are a mess. Sometimes it is not a question of getting organized but cutting crap out of your life you’re not passionate about. Next, make a plan. David Allen’s Getting Things Done struck a chord for me which is great, because there are some really fantastic GTD tools out there. Finally, don’t be so hard on yourself. Start small and be forgiving when you fall off the wagon. This stuff is hard and people are, in general, much too harsh on themselves.
Michael Schechter is a Mac geek who rambles about how technology impacts our productivity, our creativity and our lives. You can connect with him over on his blog Schechter or as @MSchechter on Twitter.
2×4: An Interview with Randy Murray
Dec 9th
2x4: The Interview Series
(Editor’s Note: Welcome to the first 2×4 interview here on Stepcase Lifehack. 2×4 is one series that examines two topics — creativity and productivity — by asking those who make things on the web the same four questions on both subjects. This regular series of interviews began on Michael Schechter’s site as a way to better understand how those who create for the web approach their work. Participants to date have included Eddie Smith from Practically Efficient, Gini Dietrich from Spin Sucks, writer Yuvi Zalkow, Social Media blogger Danny Brown, Lifehack.org editor Mike Vardy and more. Going forward, Michael will be offering up regular 2×4 posts from an array of developers, designers, writers and artists from around the web. To learn more about the series or to read the previous interviews, check out the archives.)
You can find just about anything on the internet. No matter what you’re interested in, chances are there’s someone out there telling you how you can do it better. What’s rare is someone who tells it to you straight, who says things you probably don’t want to hear, who makes you question things you’ve always assumed to be true. No matter what you’re looking to do, you need one of these people in your life. If you’re looking to write, you need Randy Murray.
Randy is a writing machine. In fact, this very interview came back the same day that I sent it (after an already impressive day of writing). He splits his time between several interests including his corporate writing, his books, a well-liked personal blog, his recently launched book publishing venture and his love of playwriting. In other words, the man has a passion for words and the way we use them.
I’ve only recently started to get to know him and could easily go on as to why you need to start following his work, but I’ll spare you and let Randy’s words do the talking. Without further ado, here’s a look at one of my favorite writers about writing, Randy Murray:
Creativity
Have you always considered yourself a creative person?
Yes. But it wasn’t always about writing. Some of my earliest memories are of singing. I’ve always had a strong, room-filling voice. I remember singing “She’ll Be Coming Around The Mountain” at a school assembly, probably in the kindergarten or first grade and being surprised at how astonished everyone was. Singing and music came naturally and performing followed. I was also a voracious reader and dreamed of a life filled with books, maybe even as a writer.
In high school I really blossomed as a performer, especially singing and acting. I even traveled with a Christian music group in the summers, not because of the religious aspects, but because I loved performing.
In college I started off studying biology and chemistry with the intention of becoming a doctor, but found myself spending all of my time in the theatre. So I switched programs and followed my heart. That lead to graduate studies, initially in directing, but morphing into playwrighting. I wrote some plays, one really decent one, and earned my MFA.
But earning a living as a playwright is somewhere between difficult and outright impossible. So I used my acting (auditioning) skills and landed myself a job as a technical writer and trainer at Bell Labs and spent the next 25 years in various roles in high tech, from writing thousands of pages of manuals, to running marketing, and eventually, as a Vice President of Operations. But the further away I got from writing, from creating, the less I enjoyed it.
For the last two years I’ve done nothing but write. I’ve got a play in production, I’ve published one book with a 2nd on the way, and I’ve created a successful business writing practice. It’s the creative that drives me and I can only really be happy when I’m in the middle of writing, creating, or building.
What mediums and inspirations do you gravitate toward to realize your creative goals?
I write every day, sometimes just for pay, sometimes for my web site, First Today, Then Tomorrow, and sometimes on creative projects. Plays, the theatre, is where I believe my true, core creative spirit lies, but I’m tempted to write both short fiction and novels.
If you had to point to one thing, what specific posts or creations are you most proud of and why?
My play, “Grimaldi: King Of the Clowns”. It’s almost like I didn’t create it. It was thrilling to see it performed in Texas earlier this year and I’m looking forward to going to Scotland to see a new version I’ve written performed (it’s a short, one act version designed for street performance).
And I’m digging writing and publishing on First Today, Then Tomorrow. One of the favorite pieces I’ve done there are “Look Up From Your Screen” and “Things You Cannot Convey To A Young Writer (Or Any Other Calling)”.
Any suggestions for those who feel they may not be creative enough to unlock their inner artist?
Get to work. If you love something, want to become an artist, go and hook up with those who are already doing it. Study, get training, do it. Suck a lot, but get better.
I have a friend that tell me “Every writer has a lot of bad writing they have to get through to get to the good stuff.” I strongly believe that applies to all of the creative arts. You have to work at it.
My oldest daughter is a jazz musician and my youngest is a visual artist. I’ve seen both spend literally thousands of hours practicing, experimenting, and learning. For years I hauled my daughter’s string base to lessons, listened to her play, badly, but slowly get better. And I’ve hung a lot of ugly pictures on the walls. Each of my girls started with a core drive and talent, but the artist was unleashed in them, as it was in me, through the work.
Productivity
Can you describe your current personal and professional responsibilities?
I’m an independent business writer. I work with clients, typically through marketing agencies, and write all forms of business materials, mainly marketing, web sites, books, white papers, and presentations. Over the last 2 years I’ve worked with businesses of all sizes, including the biggest telecom, retail, and software companies.
So basically, I write. I also consult, do speaking and training, and occasionally manage projects.
I’ve also started a small publishing company, First Today Press LLC. This last year we published two books, my own Writing Assignments and Patrick Rhone’s Keeping It Straight. This next year we’ll publish More Writing Assignments, Patrick Rhone’s Enough, and books from at least four other authors. I’m very excited about this and I’m hopeful it can bloom into a stand-alone business.
How do you go about balancing the personal, professional and digital?
It use to be more difficult, but it’s much easier now that I’m working on my own and a bit more, um, mature (older). I do client work no more than 4-5 hours a day, unless I’m under deadline pressure. The remainder of the working day is for my own projects, keeping connected digitally, and running about. I keep my weekends and evenings free for time with my wife, and when my girls are around, I take off all the time I like. It’s sweet.
I understand my situation is ideal. I make a good living, my wife works a regular job that had excellent benefits, and we’ve saved and invested wisely. Not everyone can do that. But if you can do it, even if it takes you twenty-five years like it took me, find a way to make it happen. I’m having the time of my life.
What tools and techniques do you find yourself counting on to get through your workload?
Solitude and quiet are my main tools. I can write with anything. I find I write best early in the day, at my desk, alone in my office, writing on my iMac. I am, and always have been, a complete Apple fanatic, although I can easily handle PCs, Linux, and Unix systems. I’m never more than a few feet from an iOS device, including my ever-present iPhone 4 and my 1st gen iPad. And I always have at least my Fischer Space Pen and a 3×5 card in my pocket, if not a full notebook or journal.
I am a practitioner of Getting Things Done, but I’m not a fanatic about it. I also use the strategic planning and management practice called Structural Tension to quickly build goals and plans and execute them.
What is the best starting point for the unproductive amongst us who are looking to get more organized?
Clear yourself a little space. That’s the best way to start any project.
Other than that, ask yourself what you really want. If you want to be entertained, that’s what you’ll be. But if you want to do something, prepared to be bored, to work hard, to become frustrated, and to make a mess.
I hear people say, “I want to write, but I just end up playing games all night.” Maybe that’s what you really want. If so, cut yourself some slack and play. But if you want to write, to do anything creative, put the games and distractions away. If you can be tempted away that easily, you don’t want it enough to actually do it.
Michael Schechter is a Mac geek who rambles about how technology impacts our productivity, our creativity and our lives. You can connect with him over on his blog Schechter or as @MSchechter on Twitter.
When More Is Less
Oct 25th
Image credit: ImJustCreative
Too often we look for a silver bullet, one app or one program that will solve it all. For some, this works. All it takes is a quick read of David Allen’s Getting Things Done and they are on their way. For most of us, especially those that tend to read these sites, there is no get-rich-quick approach to productivity. It just isn’t a one-size-fits-all proposition for us.
More often than not, prevailing wisdom and general laziness lead us to try and take powerful, albeit bloated applications like Outlook and attempt to make them work for us. We learn all the bells and whistles, ignore what we don’t want to use and try to manage our contacts, calendars, tasks and email all in one place. And if you are reading this, chances are that this approach did not work for you either.
Put Your Own Pieces Together
So much of what set the Mac apart was the decentralization, yet integration of everything. Address Book for contacts, iCal for calendars and tasks and Mail.app for email. Each one is highly focused, yet deeply entwined with one another. However even this was not enough. While these solutions are often perfect for casual users, many of these stock applications are just far too limited for power users (or even just for particular geeks such as myself).
Thankfully the idea of decentralization took hold with developers and what we’ve seen in the past few years is a renaissance of highly focused, highly polished applications. Apps that were built from the ground up to integrate with both stock and third-party software, enabling users to create their own personal tapestry of productivity.
And How Does One Manage To Do That?
In theory, the goal should be to find a few apps that solve your needs. Pick a calendar, pick a contact manager, pick a word processor and email client, learn them and move on with your life. But honestly, and I’m speaking from personal experience here, it’s the wrong (yet familiar) way to go about it. You are far better off working inside out. Start off by finding your biggest pain point and identifying the absolute perfect application for solving it (as long as that app plays nicely with others). From there go one problem at a time and slowly build your perfect system.
For me, that was email and my starting point was Inbox Zero, followed by a switch to both Gmail and Mailplane. For you, that could be tackling your writing projects and you may want to look at apps like nvALT or Scrivener. Perhaps it is constantly forgetting to add things to your calendar, causing you to miss key obligations. If so, quick entry apps like Fantastical can help. Just have an honest conversation with yourself, figure out where you suck and start there.
That Sounds Like A Lot Of Work…
This process will take more applications and take more time, but you’ll quickly begin to notice something. Even though you’re choosing to use more, it will feel (and likely look) like less. The applications only show you what you need, they integrate so seamlessly that you hardly notice switching from one to the other. Many, such as Dropbox, LaunchBar and TextExpander, run in the background and are ubiquitous across your system. Over time this more complicated system feels contoured to your life, to your unique challenges and is far better suited to attacking them. Strange as might sound, it will feel far more a part of you rather than something you are working (or likely fighting) with.
Consider Yourself Warned
There are some risks. Other computers can start to feel unfamiliar and frustrating; you’ll potentially have trouble shutting up about how there is a better way (e.g. this blog post and my entire blog for that matter) and there will be some pieces of software you just cannot avoid. There is also the very real fear that you will end up spending so much time figuring out how to get things done that you never actually get anything done. But as long as you are aware of the realities and the potential side effects, you’ll be fine. Combine this awareness with some brutal honesty about where you fall short and start building a computer that might include a lot, but is so personal that you’ll hardly care.
Michael Schechter is a Mac geek who rambles about how technology impacts our productivity, our creativity and our lives. You can connect with him over on his blog Schechter or as @MSchechter on Twitter.