Category Archives: General Items

Just a category to put things which are not specific to a topic.

Productivity, Motivation, and Personal Development Links – 12th December 2010

I said I would continue with these posts and I am back. I managed to break the bad habit of not posting these regular links.

I have been collecting some great links this week from my usual sources.

For those of you not doing, be sure to Follow me on Twitter and add me as a friend on Facebook. You can also follow my Wife on Twitter and be her Facebook friend too to keep up with my blog and also my Wife’s blog about parenting and lifestyle.

Here are my collection of links for this week.

  • My first link for this week is to a great post titled Positive Procrastination: Getting Stuff Done, Intuitively from the Owning Pink blog. This is a great post that is very well written and provides some great ideas.
  • My second link is to a nice little post titled Celebrate the little successes. This post looks at setting ourselves smaller goals and celebrating these in order to put yourself into the achieving mindset for the larger goals.
  • My third link is to a post from Mashable about How Evernote Turned Note Taking Into a $10 Million Business. This has been a very well read and re-tweeted article this week that coincided with Evernote CEO, Phil Libin doing a presentation at LeWeb in Paris.
  • My fourth link is a link to a great AppleScript that enables you to Create OmniFocus tasks in Entourage. I personally prefer Mail.app but I know a lot of people use Microsoft Entourage so this is worth checking out.
  • My fifth and last link is to a nice little post from GTD Times titled Getting Things Done in the Shower. Neat little idea to use a Scuba diving waterproof slate in the shower to capture your thoughts if you are the type of person who thinks their best thoughts whilst showering.

Hope you all have a great week ahead!

Productivity, Motivation, and Personal Development Links – 5th December 2010

Well, missed quite a few posts for which I apologise but I am breaking the habit and posting again. Just been real busy!

Cannot believe how fast Christmas is approaching. Today we have put our Christmas decorations up and had a great day doing it. I hope you all are in the festive spirit!

Here are my collection of links for this week.

Hope you all have a great week ahead!

Productivity, Motivation, and Personal Development Links – 24th October 2010

Apologies, work dictated that I took a break from my usual posts as I have been rather busy and to be honest, I still am, so there has been an unfamiliar break in the frequency of my posts.

Good thing is that I have learned some new angles on productivity and I am back!

Here are my collection of links for this week.

  • My first link for this week is to a post titled 50 Tips for Improving Productivity that brings together 50 tips linked to other websites that offer productivity advice. One of these tips is my own and that is a great way to grab my attention!
  • My second link is to the new blog of my Wife that is titled Sassy Mum. My wife is a great woman who has just started a lifestyle blog to diary our hectic lives. We live very busy and full lives so her blog will always be an entertaining read.
  • My third link is to an interesting post from Lifehacker.com titled Dangerous Ideas: Getting Started Is Overrated. Interesting and thought provoking post.
  • My fourth link is a link to a very detailed overview of Getting Things Done with Evernote. I am not kidding when I say I use Evernote every single day! Check out this post to see how the author utilises Evernote to Get Things Done.
  • My fifth and last link is to part 13 of a 14 part series from the Simple Dollar where they are discussing the Getting Things Done book by David Allen. This twelfth installment is titled Getting Things Done: The Power of Outcome Focusing. This is an excellent series and well worth the time investment.

Hope you all have a great week ahead!

Productivity, Motivation, and Personal Development Links – 12th September 2010

I started my most recent book project and have around 10 days before my first deadline so I am busy working on the text. Glad to say that I started early with minimum procrastination so that I am making good progress.

Here are my collection of links for this week.

  • My first link for this week is to a great little motivational post from Joe Hobot titled Live Your Life While You Can. Although nothing like this has happened to myself, I know people who it has happened to and facing death tends to change people’s outlook on life for the better. This is a nice inspirational read.
  • My second link is a post titled Action Not Words: The Difference Between Talkers and Doers. How many times have you met a gonna doer. Somebody who is a talker and not a doer. This post looks at what the difference is between these people.
  • My third link is to a post showing how the author uses Evernote for Clients. I always love to see these usage posts for Evernote, which is one of my favourite applications.
  • My fourth link is a link to a post titled Six Ways to Supercharge Your Productivity. This is a nice list of simple ways to boost your productivity so stop what you are doing and read it now!
  • My fifth and last link is to part 12 of a 14 part series from the Simple Dollar where they are discussing the Getting Things Done book by David Allen. This twelfth installment is titled Getting Things Done: The Power of the Next-Action Decision. This is an excellent series and well worth the time investment.

Hope you all have a great week ahead!

Productivity, Motivation, and Personal Development Links – 8th August 2010

This is my second post that I scheduled as I am currently enjoying a holiday in Italy.

Hopefully I will have had over a week playing with OmniFocus for the iPad now and my review of the app should be well under way.

Here are my collection of links for this week.

  • My first link for this week is to a great post showing you how to Get Things Done in Evernote with One Notebook. Great post with some nice ideas on how to implement a GTD system with Evernote.
  • My second link is a post reviewing the top GTD Apps for the Google Android Mobile OS. I use an iPhone but Android is a fast growing OS that a lot of developers are now taking notice of.
  • My third link is to a post showing you how to Organize Your Web Surfing with Evernote. This is yet another great post showing you how the great note taking app, Evernote can be used in different ways.
  • My fourth link is a link to an interesting post that looks at Defogging the cloud-computing myth. Cloud Computing has been an industry buzz word for quite a while and this article looks at some of the better cloud computing apps that can be used.
  • My fifth and last link is to part 8 of a 14 part series from the Simple Dollar where they are discussing the Getting Things Done book by David Allen. This fourth installment is titled Getting Things Done: Making the Best Action Choices. This is an excellent series and well worth the time investment.

Hope you all have a great week ahead!

Productivity, Motivation, and Personal Development Links – 1st August 2010

I am currently in Italy enjoying the sun and this post has been written before I left.

I am currently sat here waiting for OmniFocus for the iPad to be approved in the App store before I leave on vacation. I was hoping to review it before I go away but now I just hope that I get it!

I am guessing that by the time you read this it has been launched.

Here are my collection of links for this week.

  • My first link for this week is to OmniFocus for the iPad. This has been my most anticipated app for the iPad and even though I have not yet seen it (as this post is scheduled) I am sure it is awesome!.
  • My second link is a post looking at the Causes of Difficulty Getting Things Done. It is fair to say that more people fail at productivity than who achieve a productive lifestyle and this post tries to look at why this happens.
  • My third link is to an interesting post covering The Hit List, the Mac GTD Application. The post is titled Forget what you need to do, with confidence! and it is well worth the time investment.
  • My fourth link is a link to a post stating why Evernote is a Lifesaver for the blog author. I agree, Evernote is a lifesaver for me too!
  • My fifth and last link is to part 8 of a 14 part series from the Simple Dollar where they are discussing the Getting Things Done book by David Allen. This fourth installment is titled Getting Things Done: Keeping Your System Functional. This is an excellent series and well worth the time investment.

Hope you all have a great week ahead!

Productivity, Motivation, and Personal Development Links – 25th July 2010

I had a busy week last week and this week is shaping up pretty much the same.

I am going on vacation Friday for a couple of weeks in Northern Italy with my family. Really looking forward to a well earned break.

I am just hoping that OmnIFocus for the iPad comes out before I go so that I can truly put it through its paces whilst away.

Here are my collection of links for this week.

  • My first link for this week is to great post titled ADHD & Productivity: 12 Strategies for Getting Things Done. Ignoring the part about ADHD, this is a great 12 point strategy list that we can all use as a way to increase our productivity.
  • My second link is a great link from the Smart Bloggerz website titled Six Keys To Getting Things Done Over The Summer. Summer is here and I know it is a time when productivity can suffer due to the fine weather and light evenings. Read this guide to ensure you stay on track over the summer months.
  • My third link is to an interesting post titled Methods of Work: It Didn’t Happen If You Didn’t Write It Down. This looks at the process of taking notes and also covers some of the cool note taking applications that are currently available.
  • My fourth link is a link to Spootnik. Spootnik is an app I featured a while ago but it has had quite an overhaul and has some cool new features. Spootnik allows you to have a web front end on OmnIFocus so that you can use it anywhere. Check it out as it is pretty cool.
  • My fifth and last link is to part 7 of a 14 part series from the Simple Dollar where they are discussing the Getting Things Done book by David Allen. This fourth installment is titled Getting Things Done: Setting Up the Right Buckets. This is an excellent series and well worth the time investment.

Hope you all have a great week ahead!

Productivity, Motivation, and Personal Development Links – 18th July 2010

Hope you all have had a great week.

Not much work for me this week as I have been at the British Open in St. Andrews as well as having the privilege to play one of the fabulous courses at Gleneagles in Scotland.

It has been a great week of golf and now I am back to work!

Here are my collection of links for this week.

  • My first link for this week is to a great post from the Washington Post titled How to Leave Work Early. I tweeted this on Twitter and it had a great response so it is obviously a topic we all like and there are some fun ideas on how to achieve this. Bottom line is to be more productive and get your work done at work so you can leave for the day!
  • My second link is a link to an interesting post talking about Long and Short term thinking. The post is from the reinventing business blog and covers some good aspects of the common beliefs of short and long term thinking.
  • My third link is to a good post titled Self-sufficiency vs. getting things done from the computer scientist blog. This is a very interesting and well written post that covers an excellent topic.
  • My fourth link is a link to Evernote Trunk. Evernote Trunk is a collection of applications and hardware that will all work with Evernote in orde to make organizing your life easier. This is an official list from the makers of Evernote.
  • My fifth and last link is to part 6 of a 14 part series from the Simple Dollar where they are discussing the Getting Things Done book by David Allen. This fourth installment is titled Getting Things Done: Getting “In” to Empty. This is an excellent series and well worth the time investment.

Hope you all have a great week ahead!

Productivity, Motivation, and Personal Development Links – 4th July 2010

Let me start by wishing all my US readers a Happy Independence Day! I know the majority of my readers come from the US so I hope you are all enjoying the festivities and fireworks!

I missed last week as I was away with my son on a survival weekend and I was not home until late and totally whacked!

I now am also the proud owner of an Apple iPhone 4. Loads to come on this and how I use the iPhone and iPad to Get Things Done..

Here are my collection of links for this week.

  • My first link for this week is to a great no-nonsense post from Ivan Walsh titled How To Make Friday Your Busiest Day And Get The Rewards. Friday is my busiest and most important day of the week so I share a lot in common with this post.
  • My second link is a link to a post from Business Builder Marketing titled The Mechanics of Getting Things Done. This post provides a great overview of the Getting Things Done methodology.
  • My third link is to a screencast based review of Evernote for the Blackberry mobile device. Always cool to see a screencast based review over the traditional written review as you can see what the author is talking about.
  • My fourth link is a link to a nice post from Scot Newbury titled GTD is about method not tools. Scot hits the nail on the head with the statements in this post. I always tell people that productivity systems are personal and it is different for every person. Too many people spend time working on the tools rather than actually getting things done!
  • My fifth and last link is to part 5 of a 14 part series from the Simple Dollar where they are discussing the Getting Things Done book by David Allen. This fourth installment is titled Getting things done 101: Corraling Your Stuff. This is an excellent series and well worth the time investment.

Hope you all have a great week ahead!

Productivity, Motivation, and Personal Development Links – 20th June 2010

Happy Fathers Day to all!

My kids got me some great cards and a cooking lesson at a local restaurant. Spent a great day with them and finished it with a great meal at a local Italian restaurant.

Busy week ahead with a lot of planning to do.

Here are my collection of links for this week.

  • My first link for this week is to a great comparison of OmniFocus and Things for Getting Things Done. The link is directly to the PDF file where the author does a pretty good comparison of OmniFocus and Things. I have always stuck to OmniFocus as I am a die hard GTD’er and the author of the comparison agrees a lot with my theory on the subject. As soon as the iPad version of OmniFocus comes out I will write my own comparison.
  • My second link is a link to an excellent post titled 8 Things You Should Store in Evernote. Evernote sure is a life saver for me and I love posts such as this.
  • My third link is to AppSumo.com and the 6 Productivity Apps for $55. This is a must buy as you get 12 month subscriptions to Evernote, Remember the Milk, TimeBridge, MindMeister. a 6 month subscription to RescueTime, and a 2 month subscription to ShoeBoxed. Total retail value of $340 for an amazing $55.
  • My fourth link is a link to a nice post called How to tell when GTD and eProductivity really works. If only I could get my wife so organized!
  • My fifth and last link is to part 4 of a 14 part series from the Christian Science Monitor where they are discussing the Getting Things Done book by David Allen. This fourth installment is titled Getting things done 101: setting up the time, space, and tools. This is an excellent series and well worth the time investment.

Hope you all have a great week ahead!