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

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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

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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

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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!

Productivity, Motivation, and Personal Development Links – 13th June 2010

Evernote Worldwide Meetups

Productivity, Motivation, and Personal Development Links – 6th June 2010

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I have now had my Apple iPad for just over a week and I have had the chance to put it through its paces. It is safe to say that I am not disappointed with the whole iPad experience.

I have not been away during the past week and in a real situation where I need the iPad. It has just sat at the side of my laptop.

Here are my collection of links for this week.

My first link for this week is to an excellent post titled Getting things done 101: five stages of mastering work flow. This is a great post that covers the basics of how to master workflow.
My second link is a link to an excellent Review of OmniFocus from GeekCaster.com. OmniFocus is the app I use to organize my life. I use it on my MacBook Pro and my iPhone and cannot wait for the eagerly awaited iPad version!
My third link is to a list of the Ten Must Have Android Applications. I am an iPhone user myself but it is good to see such a great list of apps that includes Evernote as a must have for the Android mobile platform.
My fourth link is a link to a nice post called What is Getting Things Done?. This post does a good job at introducing the reader to what Getting Things Done is.
My fifth and last link is slightly different this week in that it is a link to one of my older GTD blog posts. This post covers Open Loops and is one of the most popular posts on my whole blog. If you have not already read this blog post then it is well worth the time investment and I would love to get any feedback on the post.

Hope you all have a great week ahead!

Productivity, Motivation, and Personal Development Links – 30th May 2010

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Just returned from a great family holiday in Northumberland. Stayed in Beadnell for the fifth year and as usual, had a great time.

Well, I eventually got my iPad. I got a 64GB 3G and so far I am loving it. Really looking forward to getting a lot of productivity apps on it.

I can see some great things coming from my iPad!

Here are my collection of links for this week.

My first link for this week is to an article titled 3 Brain Hacks to Easily Memorize New Info and Save Time While Studying. I love these little memory joggers and use quite a few of these myself. Good read.
My second link is a link to an article showing you how to use toodledo for GTD and Inbox Zero. Great read for a nice simple application that can be used to Get Things Done.
My third link is to a post about how to password protect Evernote. I must admit that security has been one concern of mine with relaying so heavily on cloud based services such as Evernote. This post helps to show you how you can password protect Evernote.
My fourth link is a link to a nice post that provides 10 Tips for Reducing Junk Email. Junk email gives us all a problem and if you can reduce the number you get, you can reduce the time spent clearing out junk and increase your time to spend on productive work.
My fifth and last link is a link to the new GTD Implementation guide from David Allen. This does cost $20 and I have not yet bought it myself but if it is from David Allen I am sure it will be worth it and I am hearing good buzz around Twitter about this implementation guide.

Hope you all have a great week ahead!

Productivity, Motivation, and Personal Development Links – 23rd May 2010

Productivity, Motivation, and Personal Development Links – 9th May 2010

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I missed my post last week as I had been away all week at InfoSec and they we went away for the bank holiday weekend to the Yorkshire Dales.

We stayed in a great cottage which unfortunately had no Internet or mobile phone coverage so I could not get any type of a connection to release my usual Sunday post.

I have had another busy week this week and next week seems just as bad!

Good news is that I can officially order my UK iPad tomorrow, at last!

Here are my collection of links for this week.

My first link for this week is to an article from Brent Ozar titled How I Use GTD 50,000 Foot Goals. This is a great read that explains how the author uses those 50,000 foot goals to help him achieve the big picture in what he wants out of life.
My second link is a link to a great visual post titled Top 10 Motivation Boosters and Procrastination Killers. Some great inspiration and a ton of links in this post that will keep you going for a good while.
My third link is to a post from Brian Wilson’s blog where he asks the question Are You Unconsciously Wasting Hours Of Your Life?. Great time management post that is worth reading and digesting.
My fourth link is a link to a great review of the Nirvana GTD Application. This is a very detailed review of the app with a ton of screenshots and really does an excellent job at reviewing the application.
My fifth and last link is a link to an old but awesome post from Merlin Mann on 43Folders.com about Getting Started with Getting Things Done. This is a classic read and I have started to cover some of these classic posts in this list.

Hope you all have a great week ahead!