This Joker’s Wild

by Brad IsaacSeptember 10, 2008

Why so serious?
It’s rare that an action figure catches my eye, but this Joker 1:6 Sscale collector figure from the Dark Knight looks pretty cool. 
According to one of the reviewers

It has the shirt, tie, vest, jacket, and over coat all made of very nice material which are all nicely sewn. Comes with [...]

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Goal Setting Tips For iPhone

by Brad IsaacSeptember 7, 2008

Here is my first application for iPhone.  It is a simple RSS widget that reads the headlines and full posts from my goal setting blog.  Hello world!

I do not have an iPhone or an iPod touch — yet — so if you have either of these devices would you please, please download it and try [...]

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Innovate, Optimize, Then Jettison Anything That Gets In The Way

by Brad IsaacSeptember 4, 2008

 

John_Carmack_E3_2006 If you are a techno-geek like me, you’ll enjoy the book The Masters of Doom by David Kushner.  It is book covering the biographies of John Carmack and John Romero, and of their company, id Software

It is an entertaining look at the creators of the game software series’ Doom, Quake and Wolfenstein 3D.  And as fun as it is to look at the way the team worked on building their games, there are some interesting work habits at play among the team.  

One of Kushner’s quotes stuck out to me last night while I was reading

Carmack’s programming ideology: innovate, optimize, then jettison anything that gets in the way

I think it is an interesting quote to discuss.  When we talk about being more efficient in our work and more productive in our days what are we really aiming for?  I think we want more free time, more job satisfaction and enjoyment of our day to day lives.

In Carmack’s philosophy, I think he brilliantly points out that as we seek to be more efficient and more productive we are not only moving toward something (i.e. efficiency), We are also moving away from people and circumstances that get in our way.

In other words, while we chasing the Holy Grail of more productivity and efficiency.  Carmack suggests we seek to cut out the distractions, non-productive habits and time wasters that get in our way.  

So being more productive means both seeking shorter and quicker actions as well as cutting the fat.  At least at work… We don’t want to go jettisoning our children off to orphanages or ignoring our friends because they aren’t bringing in a profit.

Considering Carmack was building Doom in the early nineties, I cannot help but be impressed by how forward thinking his programming was.  He knew back then that people were going to want things faster, more graphically intense and in their hands immediately.  And considering today’s “want it now” culture, that’s exactly what’s happened.  

When you placed an order for a book back in 1992 you had to allow four to six weeks for delivery.  Now through Amazon if you’re a Kindle owner you can’t wait four to six minutes!  You want it now so Carmack’s vision of speed and efficiency by cutting the fat has paid off royally for him and his company.

The million dollar question is what obstacles can you cut out of your life?

I think it would be helpful to make a list of all of the distractions – a list of all of the things that get in the way of you being your very best.  

Don’t deal with the list just yet… instead just concentrate on the list.  See if you can come up with 20 or 30 things that get in your way.  Once you have this list, keep it handy and see if you can eliminate some of them a little at a time.  But be careful, don’t spend a whole day getting rid of all obstacles that currently exist in your world.  That’s just an excuse to not do your best.  One or two today and one or two tomorrow and by the end of the month most of them will be gone.

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6 More tips to get you in the zone…

by Brad IsaacAugust 27, 2008

Last week, I posted about how I get into the optimal productivity state of The Zone. A few of the comments contained some powerful tips we can use for a zone happy work day too.
The first two come from Mike Tee
A looming deadline works well too
Another thing I found useful myself, esp [...]

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The Harder You Try The Luckier You Get

by Brad IsaacAugust 26, 2008

I won a contest.

One of my favorite applications/sites Text2Go was holding a contest last month. I didn’t realize they were, but I won anyway. 

The rules were the person who used their new speech correction feature to correct the most words in the shared database won a prize.

You see, the new version of Text2Go has a cool new utility where you can correct the pronunciation of words for the TTS voices you use. It’s very fast and shares your corrections automatically.  This is very important if you want to understand the words that the speech engine is reading.

In my normal day-to-day use of the software, I compiled and corrected my own list of words all the time – I simply wanted better pronunciation from the voices.  Text2Go also allows you to upload your corrections to their server – it will also sync other people’s corrections to your library… which is an awesome enhancement.  Low and behold, I had more corrections than anyone.

So what did I win?

the prize was a pair of nice Sennheiser CX300 headphones that I can used with my iPod to listen to spoken word but  the music on my iPod. Here’s a picture FYI:

sennheiser_headphones_cx300

These are Bass enhanced noise isolating headphones. I did try them out this morning and they sound great. Also, they are very comfortable. 

So thank you Text2Go for not only a nice pair of phones but for a great product as well!

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New Achieve-IT! Goal Software Includes Google Calendar sync, SMS motivators, and E-mail Reminders!

by Brad IsaacAugust 24, 2008

There is a new build of achieve it desktop available today.  I got a wild hair to play around with the Google APIs last week and ended up

going crazy with the amount of functionality I could add to Achieve-it.  This new version introduces export to Google calendar.  It

also will let you use SMS messaging for are both your goal reminders and your “motivate me” daily reinforcements.  You can also

choose gCalendar pop-ups and e-mail reminders.

This conceivably brings many benefits of the software to a wide range of phones, including the iPhone. 

I am really excited by these new developments, so excited in fact, that I am releasing it now for early adopters to play with.  I

know there are some bugs that need to be squashed.  I am working to get them resolved A.S.A.P.

After changing your settings from Outlook to Google Calendar or vice versa, be sure to EXIT Achieve-IT! and re-launch it for the settings to take.

Note: by default, all Google calendar motivate me reminders will message you in SMS, Google calendar pop-ups, and via e-mail. You’ll

be able to pick and choose with the next build.

Download here…

Hope you like it.  Comments and/or criticisms are welcome in the comments on the blog…

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7 Ways To Trigger “The Zone” and Reader Tips…

by Brad IsaacAugust 18, 2008

The Zone is a beautiful thing. Time doesn’t matter. Your senses are heightened. Everything you do feels effortless and good. Often called Flow, the Zone is where you are at your peak productivity.

The only drawback is the zone can be elusive. It can be difficult to reproduce. That is why it’s a good idea to document how we get into the zone. The more tips we can collect, we can get into the zone more often.

Here are a few of my tips for getting in the zone and an invitation for you to share your tips as well.

1. Put in 5 minutes - I like to call this the 5 minute productivity breakthrough. It works thusly… If you are putting off a task, or not feeling like getting to work on it, that is the time to put in 5 solid minutes on it. This is one of my best Zone inspiring tips. For some reason, just putting in that 5 minutes when you don’t feel like it is enough to start the flow process. It’s great for self discipline too.

2. Eat a mid-morning apple - Eat a light breakfast of a bowl of cereal or two slices of toast and a cup of coffee. Then at 10 a.m. eat an apple. An orange works just as well. The fructose zaps your system and puts you into overdrive. Good for regularity too.

3. Get Regular Aerobic exercise – The central part of any productivity plan is aerobic exercise. It seems like it would make you tired. But consistent heart work keeps your body in tip top shape. An efficient body works efficiently and is more streamlined for the zone.

You get out what you put into aerobic exercise. But I recommend 4-5 times a week of rapid walking or jogging for 30 minutes or more.

4. Take A caffeine nap - If you are on the edge of the zone, but sort of cloudy in the head, try a caffeine nap. You just drink a cup of coffee and immediately doze for 15 minutes. The caffeine clears your body of adenosine, that sleepy time chemical that makes you want to slack off. I’ve taken a few caffeine naps in my time and some I can call inspirational, because I actually woke up in the zone.

5. Stop working at a fun part - If you’ve worked a long stretch in the zone, one way to ensure you get back into it is to stop working at a fun part. Almost like a kid at an amusement park, stopping gives you that “awww man!” feeling of not finishing something fun. By stopping when the fun feeling is high, you will be looking forward to starting again. Often times, you can pick right back up where you left off and the zone will be shortly behind. If it’sjust not happening, try the 5 minute productivity secret until it does.

6. Work fast, very fast - This tip works very well with the 5 minute productivity breakthrough… Take a project and work it as fast as you can. Get some adrenalin going if you can. 1, 2, 3… knock ‘em down and take names. Remember, an object in motion stays in motion. Make your motion faster than flow state and you should relax just fine into the zone.

7. Do 5 on 5 off for 30 - Sometimes your mind just doesn’t want to cooperate. How to deal with it? Beat it into submission. Not literally of course. But take a timer and go on for 5 minutes, then take a 5 minute break. Refuse to work on your project for that 5 minutes. When the next bell rings get back to it for another 5 minutes. Repeat this for 30 minutes. By the end of the half hour, you should be sailing along so smoothly you’ll want to throw out the timer for interrupting you.

8. Anticipate - I believe a critical element of entering the zone is anticipation. There is considerable excitement and enthusiasm when you are experiencing the flow state, so start out by anticipating. Take a 5 minute break and think about your project. Imagine how fun it would be. Imagine how exciting it would be if you were working it in the zone. Try to get in the picture, thinking the thoughts and taking the actions you would if you were operating at your peak.

Like I said above, I welcome your tips on how you get into the zone. Please share them in the comments on the blog so we all can benefit. Thanks!

Every time you stumble one of my posts an angel gets into the zone...

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