Monthly Archives: May 2009

Productivity, Motivation, and Personal Development Links – 31st May 2009

Had another great but very busy week. I was in the Forest of Dean for two days this week and then took a long weekend to go camping with my family on the East coast of the UK.

We stayed in a traditional North American Tipi and had a great time. The weather was very kind to use, which is always a bonus in the UK!

Here are my collection of links for this week.

I have still got quite a lot to do before my work week starts tomorrow so I will leave you all here.

Wishing you all have a fantastic week!

Productivity, Motivation, and Personal Development Links – 24th May 2009

Had a great day out today with my family. Sun was shining and it was great to spend some quality time with my wife and children.

I have had another productive week. All my project work was completed on time and my trip to Dover was a great success. Next week I am at the Forest of Dean which is an area I have never been to so I am looking forward to that.

Here are my collection of links for this week.

  • My first link for this week is a link to a collection of 55 ways to boost productivity from the productivity pro blog. This is a great list that may just get your thought patterns buzzing!
  • My second link is a link to a review of how somebody handles the dreaded GTD review. We all know that the weekly review is quite hard to stick to and even David Allen, the creator of the GTD Methodology states that this is the biggest problem people seem to have. So, nice to read how somebody is getting their reviews done.
  • My third link is a link to the 10 Ways to Get Started in GTD from the great GTD Blog GTD Times. I have introduced a lot of people to the GTD methodology so this list is great to point new or inquisitive people to.
  • My fourth link is a link to an offbeat post titled 5 Productivity Tips from the Stand-Up Comedy World. I always love these posts that take lessons from one discipline and relate them to something new. Interesting stuff.
  • My fifth and last link is a link to a nice little post explaining GTD and Productivity with Gmail. The author uses the fantastic GTDInbox for implementing GTD within GMail and then he goes on to explain how he has set his system up. Good reading!

A nice warm bath calls so I will leave you here.

Wishing you all have a fantastic week!

Zig Ziglar on Twitter

I have been a massive fan of Zig Ziglar since hearing one of his CDs by chance a good 10 years ago.

The Ziglar Corporation are a training and development company that have really embraced the Internet and Social Media. The company is now headed by Zig’s Son, Tom Ziglar.

They have a great blog and do some really good Video Podcasts that are available from iTunes.

Below is a short video with Tom and his Father Zig where they talk about Twitter and the benefit it has brought to the Ziglar Corporation.

You can follow Tom Ziglar on Twitter.

Also, be sure to follow me on Twitter for some great productivity tips and advice.

Getting Things Done with MindJet

Regular readers of this blog will know that I am a huge fan of Mind Mapping and the tool I use is the Mac version of MindManager from MindJet.

MindJet

I do wish the Mac version had some of the cool functionality of the Windows version but still, the main aspect of being able to create awesome Mind Maps is there in the Mac version.

In my opinion, MindJet have really raised their game, especially since Michael Deutch (a regular reader of this blog) has joined the team and started writing for the blog.

I recently received an email from MindJet that provided a summary of some of their recent productivity and GTD activity via their blog and website. It is that good that I decided to repeat some of these great links here for the benefit of my blog readers.

So, here is the list of MindJet links to check out:

Be sure to Follow MindJet on Twitter and also Michael Deutch on Twitter.

I am a MindJet affiliate and do make money if you follow my links and buy MindManager. I love this tool and have been using and promoting it a long time before they launched an affiliate program!

As always, I would love to hear any other tips, tricks, or links you have regarding GTD and Mind Mapping!

Oh, and if somebody from MindJet reads this, get a move on with an iPhone application as I would really love to see MindManager on the Apple iPhone!

Productivity, Motivation, and Personal Development Links – 17th May 2009

I have just driven 270 miles to Dover, the closest part of the UK to France. I am down here for a few days with work.

The journey was not that bad. Remembered to pack my iPod and my FM Transmitter so I listened to a couple of podcasts that really made the journey shorter. I started with the latest MacBreak Weekly with Leo Laporte. This one covered some of the rumors about the new iPhone 3.0 and maybe(hopefully) a new version of the iPhone.

I then listened to the Net@Night show also from Leo Laporte and also Amber McArthur. The show I listened to was titled Evernote and contained an interview with Phil Libin, the Evernote CEO. Great listening, enjoyed it.

I then spent the last 90 minutes or so listening to How to be a Winner by Zig Ziglar. Great CD that I have listened to many times.

So, all in all quite a productive 4 hours 30 minutes in the car. Now I need food!

Here are my collection of links for this week.

  • My first link for this week is a link to the Net@Night show I listened to on the way to Dover. This contains a great interview with the CEO of Evernote. I really do like Evernote as a product and I am using it more and more.
  • My second link is a link to the author profile of Zig Ziglar. If you have not yet listened to Zig, make sure you check him out. I have some great video’s of Zig in action that I am going to post this week.
  • My third link is a link to the 100 Best iPhone Apps for Serious Self Learners. There are just so many cool iPhone apps that it is now impossible to keep uo with them all. This little post outlines 100 great apps for self learners.
  • My fourth link is a link from Thinksimplenow.com introducing the 4 Hour Workday. I presume you have heard of the 4 Hour Workweek, well take a look at this post that outlines a 4 hour workday. Sounds nice doesn’t it!
  • My fifth and last link is a link to a great little post entitled How to Live Life. I love little focus generating posts like this that help you to get back on track and remember what is important in life.

Well, hopefully my room service order will be here soon so I will leave you here.

Hope you all have a fantastic week!

Evernote for the Blackberry is Here

At long last, the awesome collection tool Evernote is available for the BlackBerry mobile platform.

I love Evernote and currently use it on the web, my Mac, and my iPhone. I used to be a Blackberry user and I know that a lot of Blackberry users have been waiting for this for quite a while.

This was announced on the Evernote Blog where you can find full release information.

I will leave you with a little video from Evernote about the Integration.

Productivity, Motivation, and Personal Development Links – 10th May 2009

Apologies for not much activity from me last week. I had to teach at college two nights instead of the usual one as well as the prep work I needed to do for a college assignment I delivered on Thursday. Combine this with a hectic work week and an office move on Friday and you can kind of see the week I have had 🙂

Luckily, all my tasks got done, just did not have a great deal of time to write the blog.

Here are my collection of links for this week.

  • My first link for this week is a great GTD Primer from Black Belt Productivity. I found this via Twitter and it is great for anybody new getting into GTD and productivity.
  • My second link is a post from Mr Self Development about the Science of Getting Things Done. Nice simple information that is worth a read.
  • My third link is a link to a post titled When GTD Goes Too Far: How To Avoid Productivity Paranoia from the Bizzy Women blog. I posted this via Twitter and had a ton of ReTweets as it was a post with a great title that drew attention from the productivity crowd. I do agree with some of the points here. Sometimes we can get too focused on the methodology and we all need to relax a little.
  • My fourth link is a link from John Morris about the Weekly Review. David Allen himself states that the Weekly Review is the normal part of the GTD Methodology where advocates fail. I know from my own experience that I can suffer from an inability to perform my review. I missed Fridays last week!
  • My fifth and last link is a link to a little post about Ubiquitous Capture. I have blogged about this before

Well, going to spend some family time now as I am traveling again this week. This time I am on the South Coast of England, so hopefully the weather will be good. I am staying in a hotel with a superb seafood restaurant so I hope the lobster is good!

Have a great week!

Productivity, Motivation, and Personal Development Links – 3rd May 2009

Had a great week at InfoSec in London with RandomStorm.

I left early Monday and arrived home Friday. Luckily I have had the time to relax and progress my tasks and projects.

Tomorrow is a Public Holiday in the UK and I am looking forward to a day at home clearing a lot of tasks from my @Home context.

Here are my collection of links for this week.

  • My first link for this week is a link to a post titled How I Get Organized by Stephanie Booth on her blog. This is a nice post that covers the methodologies and tools that author uses to get things done and organize her daily tasks. Good read!
  • My second link is a post from the OmniGroup blog titled Staying Active with OmniFocus. I am an OmniFocus user and I also frequently read the OmniGroup corporate blog hoping to find little gems like this post. Another great read, especially if like me you use OmniFocus.
  • My third link is a link to a a response from James of the Organize IT blog that was written in response to the Productivity Tips For People That Hate GTD post from Zen Habits. This was a post from Zen Habits that got advocates of GTD thinking and the points James puts across in his response are shared by many.
  • My fourth link is a link from Lifehacker about the Tracks GTD Application. I have covered the Tracks Application quite a few times on this blog and it is certainly worth a look if you are looking for a web based GTD app that you can configure yourself.
  • My fifth and last link is a link to a review of the GTD web based application, GTDAgenda. I reviewed GTDAgenda a while back and although it is not the prettiest web based application it certainly gave you the functionality you require to Get Things Done. This is another persons viewpoint of the app and worth reading if you are in the market for a no frills GTD app.

Yet another busy week for me even though this is only a four day working week. I have to post about a cool little Mind Map that I have been pulling together.

Have a great week!