Category Archives: General Items

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

Creating a Productive Home Office

Messy Home Office I am happy to say that I am eventually upgrading my home office and this is something I am really looking forward to.

My current office layout is now nearly 8 years old and a lot has changed since then. Time for a change and time for me to start with a blank canvas and plan an ideal and productive home office.

My home office 9 foot x 7 foot, so a pretty good size for just me and all the techie gadgets I can fit into it!

I am trying to get quite a minimal layout within my office whilst building a great working environment. My current office is rather cluttered and does become a dumping ground for a lot of things.

So, the essentials I need as far as I can see are a chair, desk, filing cabinet, inbox trays, and some cabinet to hold my printer.

I am totally clearing my office and buying everything new. I am going to take down my wall units and get the office painted and new carpet.

I currently have a desk with two drawers down each side. One is a drawer and filing cabinet and the other is three drawers. The filing cabinet is bad as it is hard to get my files in and out due to the layout of the drawer and the fact that it does not fully open. I currently have quite a cheap fake leather chair. My printer is on the top of a nice Ikea wooden cupboard.

For my new office I want a big, curved desk to hold my MacBook Pro and 30″ Monitor. I have seen one in Ikea from the Galant range. I want to do away with pedestal drawers as I just seem to fill these with junk, as most drawers are in most offices.

I am looking for a nice premium but trendy chair. Not really started looking but one in Costco does take my eye although it is quite expensive at £250.

I currently do not have a great filing capability and I must have a good filing cabinet in my new office. I want at least two drawers with the ability to utilize my manila folders and A to Z system.

I do not implement the Tickler File so no need for the 43 folders!

I have a laser printer that I do use quite a lot when I need to print anything out. It is only a small footprint but I still need some cabinet to keep it in, ideally out of view.

I am also really fancying a scanner to go totally paperless. I currently have a HP OfficeJet All In One but this has a large footprint and takes an absolute age to scan from.

I therefore will purchase a Fujitsu ScanSnap. The models I am looking at are the S300M or the S510M. These are not cheap scanners but the ability to duplex scan as well as use the ability to load the document tray with up to 20 sheets makes these a very attractive proposition.

I love Evernote and the ability to scan from the ScanSnap scanners straight to Evernote looks amazing, and one of my main drivers for trying a totally paperless office.

If I implement a paperless office I am going to need a good shredder. I currently have a bin shredder but it is quite lightweight so I may look at the cost of updating to something more heavy duty as I plan to shred everything I can.

I will take photos and keep you all updated of my new workspace.

Also, the photo at the top of this post is NOT my current home office 🙂

I would love to hear any recommendations anybody has about building the ideal home office or the choice of equipment to place in the office to make it as productive as possible.

Productivity, Motivation, and Personal Development Links – 7th June 2009

1 Reply

It has been my twins birthdays today. They are three. How time flies!

Had a good day at a toddler theme park in the UK. Got wet, as usual, but had a great time.

Here are my collection of links for this week.

My first link for this week is a link to a great SlideShare presentation on Time Management for Getting More Done with Getting Things Done. Intriguing title and well worth a look. I feel a post about SlideShare coming as some awesome resources are now on SlideShare.
My second link is a link to a list of 5 Great GTD Applications for Linux. It is probably fair to say that pure Linux users are in their minority but they do still exist. I know from this blog stats that I have many followers who are Linux based so this list of Linux GTD apps will be well received.
My third link is a link to a nice GTD intro post titled Going from Failing to Straight A’s with OmniFocus & GTD from Colin Wheeler. This is a nice post about how GTD helped one student vastly increase their grades.
My fourth link is a link to a great post from Web Worker Daily titled Not a GTD Disciple? Don’t Worry About It. Good post that covers general productivity.
My fifth and last link is a link to a post that raised quite a lot of interest when I tweeted about it. The post is Why GTD Sucks from Darkling Wood. Interesting post that I do not fully agree with. I am not the type of person who pushes pure GTD down peoples throats but I do believe in improvement and having the willingness to develop. What I love about GTD is the loose methodology that can bring so much to people. Love to hear your thought son this post.

I promise you all that I will write a couple more posts this week as I have some good ideas for the week.

Wishing you all a great week!

Things Apple Mac GTD App Review

7 Replies

I have eventually got around to taking a better look at the Mac GTD app, Things, and adding to a review that I did a while ago.

I currently use OmniFocus but Things and The Hit List are grabbing my attention. Anyway, here is my review and thoughts about Things.

Things is a blandly named but ultimately excellent organizational application designed for use through a variety of mediums.

The visual approach taken by Things is simple enough to keep everything easily accessible while still maintaining an impressive level of flare. Designers have given the software a certain level of sheen although the layout will look immediately familiar to users who are accustomed to the aesthetic of Mac-developed programs.

The most useful features are well-labeled and located in a well-organized and convenient manner. Icons are all colorful and easy to locate as well and this is something which helps in navigating them against the otherwise grey and white interface.

The program provides users with a solid level of productivity access through a great list of truly useful features. Among the laundry list of options are GTD staple categories such as Today, Next, Someday and Postpone sorting categories with appropriate sub-lists available within each parent grouping.

Things GTD App

Perhaps most useful is an included HUD option, something which is a truly fantastic feature and allows for quick, no-nonsense inputting of any upcoming task on the user’s mind.

Things also does a great job of keeping the main window clutter-free by way of a feature which removes columns and instead opts to display only relevant information for upcoming tasks.

Mobile access is set up and ready to go through a few different platforms including the ever popular support for both the iPhone and iPod Touch Apps. While it seems that smartphone access may initially be limited to the two aforementioned devices Things does do a little bit to extend remote usage by programming a built-in collaboration feature which promises to link any user’s work with any desired colleague.

As of now an exhaustive wiki accompanies a regular blog and burgeoning forum to provide quite a bit of promise for those users who hope to find other Things devotees to discuss the program with. If this element of the project is kept up with then it would seem that peer support and company interaction won’t be an issue upon release.

Things is impressive with a clean interface, excellent user support and great list of features could make Things one of the few productivity programs worthy of plunking down any real money for. It’s definitely worth the time necessary to check out to decide for yourself.

I am sticking with OmniFocus for now. But Things has officially got my attention!

Well, over to you, my readers. How many of you use Things and how many use OmniFocus or another app to get things done?

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

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

1 Reply

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

Evernote for the Blackberry is Here

3 Replies

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

2 Replies

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

1 Reply

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!

Issues 2 of Productive Magazine Out Now

2 Replies

The latest issue of Productive Magazine has just been released over at ProductiveMagazine.com.

I am happy to report that I have an article on page 16 of this latest issue. My article is about New Years Resolutions and what is wrong with them.

CLICK HERE to directly download the latest issue of this free magazine.

Here is a list of the articles in this new edition.

Interview with Guy Kawasaki
by Michael Sliwinski
How to Set Goals That Lead to Success
Dustin Wax
The Single Secret to Making 2009 Your Best Year Ever
by Leo Babauta
How to Shave Ten Hours Off Your Work Week
by Michael Hyatt
Why You Shouldn’t Do New Year’s Resolutions
by James Mallinson
Say No to make Yes Sound better
by Kris Rowlands
What’s Wrong With New Years Resolutions?
by Andrew Mason
Making it all work with Mindmanager
by Michael Deutch
Productivity For Groups – Because You’re Not Really In Control
by Andrew Yang
Simply Get Things Done Course – Introduction
by Michael Sliwinski