WebedtecH

I thought I’d give this a try for a while…

Windows 2000, the Flock 1.09 browser, both running on an old Thinkpad 600E (228MB ram, 366Mhz processor).

Why?

I’m curious as to how effective these older machines can be in the same types of tasks that one would purchase an Asus EEE PC for.  Granted there’s no fancy webcam and I think Skype would laugh at the configuration, but as a basic workhorse of a machine this was state of the art at one time.

I’ll give it about a week of constant work and we’ll see what happens.

Tags: AsusEEE PC, flock, Windows 2000, Thinkpad

I’ve been struggling for a while with how to leverage rememberthemilk.com for my tasks that aren’t once and done but have a “back-and-forth” component to them.  For example:  I create a task saying “Call Bob”.  When I call Bob he’s not there so I leave a message.  Do I need to complete the first task and create a new one?  I used to until I started doing this:

1. Open the Notes tab on the task and immediately create a new note showing I left a message for Bob.  The note is automatically time and date stamped.
2. Add a tag called “waitingon”.  This lets me filter all those tasks I am waiting on something from someone else.

That’s it.  Now I can keep doing that for as long as the task takes to be resolved and still keep track of the status of it as I go.  Oh happy day!

One of the toughest aspects of any system for personal management is sticking with it. I don’t care what magical solution is being pitched this week, if you don’t do it consistently then it’s nothing more than another time-sucking task. So how do you keep your butt on the wagon and make progress?

Habits

We all have habits, some good, some bad. The trick is they’re just that…habits. In many cases we do them without thinking or if we don’t do them it nags at the back of our mind until we do. Trick one is to get your productivity tasks to be come habits. You want to feel incomplete without completing them. It usually takes things a few weeks of frequent repetition to become a habit so be prepared to remind yourself often. You can bribe yourself with some small reward for maintaining your habit if it helps or chastise yourself if you fail. The most important part is…find something that works for you.

Testing the habit

“How do I know when it’s a habit?” I hear this one a lot. The easiest way I know how to test this is to see how hard it is to break. If you’re working on capturing everything in a single notebook see if you can make yourself not use the notebook and use a post-it instead. If it feels “wrong” you’re getting close. If it’s easy, you’re not ready grasshopper.

Habits go everywhere

Your habit needs to follow you wherever you go. If your habit is to capture your gas purchase for mileage tracking (yep, something I do every fill up) you have to set things up so you can facilitate your habit rather than skipping it. I keep a pen in the glove box so I never have an excuse to not write down my mileage on my receipt and then I log it in a Google Spreadsheet. I know it’s a habit because if I don’t do it, it bugs me until I do.

Expanding your habit

Try to cultivate habits that can expand and encompass other aspects of your life you need to manage. If you’re working on managing your finances and your habit is “capture everything” find a way to capture your finances so you work on that at the same time.

Keep looking for something that works for you…discard what doesn’t…and work what does over and over again.

It’s funny, with all the writing and postings I’ve done over the years seeing this idea on ParentHacks.com has been the most exciting for me recently!

Art’s hack should be posted at all quick-mart checkout counters:

With warm weather upon us the requests by my children for the {insert brand name}ee frozen drink of choice at the local convenience store has risen with the temperature.  Along with that goes the complaints by the kids of “it’s too cold” and the occasional dropped drink due to frosty fingers.  I’ve tried the napkin/paper towel route (falls apart quickly) and the second cup (seems like a waste).  It was the day when I was getting my cup of java at the same time that the idea struck me.  When I slid the hot beverage carrier sleeve over my coffee (the little folded cardboard doughnut they hand out for free with your coffee) I slipped one on each of the kids drinks as well.  No more cold fingers, no more dropped drinks, and oh blessed quiet as they happily slurped away.