Man, Merlin stole my thunder. Not that there's a lot of thunder emanating from here, but I feel like somebody tapped into my brain and wrote out a lot of my thoughts. Except better. I spent a lot of time thinking things through this past weekend, focusing once again on simplicity and how to improve my life, while also improving the lives of others. For several weeks I've had a half written post based on the negativity I've seen lately towards GTD, just sitting on my laptop, waiting for the idea…
After my log file post [https://chrisbowler.com/journal/track-yourself-with-a-custom-log-file] last week, I had a few people approach me with questions or good suggestions. So I've made a few updates and thought I would share them once again. Formatting Reader Patrick Mosby [http://www.schreiblogade.de/] sent me an email in which he asked this: > I just read your article "Track Yourself With a Custom Log File" and wondered how you get the formatting of the entries like you showed in your scree…
Made a visit to kung fu grippe today, one of the lesser known abodes of Merlin Mann. It's not one of my regular reads, as I prefer Merlin's voice over at 43 Folders [http://www.43folders.com/]. But today he posted an article [http://www.kungfugrippe.com/post/48588149/better] titled “Better” that, in my mind, is exactly what a lot of people are struggling with today. I know I am. I've talked about this issue before [https://chrisbowler.com/journal/always-on]. Since March, I've grown more aware…
A while back, Patrick Rhone posted [http://forum.worklifecreativity.net/index.php/topic,103.0.html] on Work.Life.Creativity about the idea of keeping a text file to track miscellaneous bits of information. I was intrigued by the idea, read the linked pages he had included and got thoroughly engrossed in a web induced bunny trail. The idea is simple—keep a text file that includes any piece of information that may be useful to you in the future. Exactly what information that includes might be dif…
So this is what it's come to. Three or four years of reading the blogs of web designers and other assorted nerds and geeks—and yes, there is a difference—has brought on this fascination with certain typographical characters. In particular, ever since I happened upon this post [http://www.recedinghairline.co.uk/files/c1c3be2fda2b218e858029a4bde7e96c-397.html] by Christopher Phin, I have been obsessed with the proper usage of the em and en dashes, especially the em. In my search for some consist…
In this, the last segment of my GTD Overview series, the focus will be on what to do with the non-actionable 'stuff' that comes your way. The items here include information which will help you complete tasks andor projects now. Or they contain information that may be needed at some point later in the future. Items like this are filed away as reference or stored for later. This overview will be broken down into three sections: * The Principles of Reference Information * Tools Available for OS…
Effective task management, the organization of the building blocks of your 'system'is crucial to getting things done effectively. In part 4 of this series I will be demonstrating how I manage my tasks using Things from Cultured Code [http://www.culturedcode.com/things/]. The information included will be both a review of some of the features of Things, as well as I how use the application in my workflow. But it's important to remember that the actual application is not the key, but the concept…
This might be odd - but the name I chose for this site is something I struggle with every week (editor's note: this post was from my first blog, titled The Weekly Review). I know how important it is to sit back and review what I have and haven't done for the past seven days. Even more, I know it is critical to look back and evaluate whether or not my goals are still the same. And to examine my actions - for they will have proven what my true goals are. I know it. And…