Call it writer’s block. Call it burn out. Call it whatever you like. But my desire to write is overshadowed by the weight of writing something meaningful.

Somewhere between the early success of this blog (est. July 2005) and today things changed. I had a lot of fun in the beginning. It was new. I felt more comraderie with other bloggers. And the ideas flowed. I couldn’t wait to post again. Sometimes, I’d write 2-3 a day.

Lately I am lucky if I can squeeze out one per week. What changed? I ask myself that question every day. But I am still not closer to any real answers.

I like writing. I always have. It’s fun. But now it feels like a chore. I don’t want it to be that way.

Since the grand slams of my earlier posts, I wonder if the self-induced pressure of topping those success has gotten to me. Or could it be I’ve just gotten too technical and dry for my own good? What about the dramatic changes in my life – the death of my father – my special needs child – are events to blame? Or maybe it’s a combination of everything… It’s not clear to me, that’s for sure.

Many of you have been around since the first days. You probably know me through my writing better than most. What changes have you noticed? Are the changes better or worse?

New here? Let me ask you an important question. Why are you here? And did you find what you are looking for?

Finally, what topics do you want to see in the coming days, weeks and months?

Thanks for you input,
Brad Isaac

“I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.” – Albert Einstein

Do you ever feel like you need a kick in the seat-of-the-pants?  A push in the right direction?  Perhaps you need a boost in morale or need some attitude adjustment.  Try giving yourself a self-development day.

Benefits of a self-development day

1. You almost program yourself for optimism

2. You feel better, refreshed and ready to seize the rest of the week

3. Side-advantage: You knock out some minor tasks you’ve been procrastinating

4. You’ll be more organized for the days and weeks to come.

The way I’ve done this in the past is I’ve picked one or two self-development/motivational audio programs that I would listen to nonstop for a whole day.  I put on some headphones and do some long-delayed cleaning and filing.  At the end of a day like this, I am feeling much more positive, more organized and a lot more energized about how I am going to deal the rest of the week.

So why does this work so well?

The simple reason is constant exposure.  If you have ever attended an all-day program sponsored by Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracy or similar speaker, you probably felt pretty good about yourself and your future after the day was complete.  Constant exposure to new motivational ideas prevent the little negative thoughts (gremlins) from taking hold so easily.  For lack of a better word, it’s healthy brainwashing.

Best of all, this method is simple to do.  Just pick a day, and choose a few self-development audio programs.  Prepare some repetitive or routine work and get to listening.  Don’t stop until the end of the day!

Here are 8 tips:

1. Pick audio programs where you feel you’ll learn something or reinforce behaviors you want to preserve.

2. Make sure the day you choose is one where you can either be alone or where you can listen without people interrupting.

3. Choose titles that can get you moving in new and better directions.

4. Mentally approach your self-development day listening time with a sense that you will learn something.

5. Set aside a full day, where you can do stuff like clear your desk, your office closet, dust, file…choose simple tasks such as organizing so you can focus on the audio messages.

6. Also, keep the computer and radio OFF.  This is self-development day, not surf day.

7. It’s also not audio-book day, so don’t choose novels.

8. If you find yourself bored with the message, keep the tapes or CDs rolling.  If your mind drifts, let it drift.  Just keep it rolling.  It’s likely the next chapter will snag you.  If not, you are still getting something.

Some ideas for what to do while you listen can include filing and tossing out old papers.  Remove all the books from your bookcase, dust them and put them back.  Clean and arrange your desk drawers.  If you typically take a break, this time take a break and go for a walk.

A self-development day is an Investment in you.

This is pure YOU time, this is for your health and mental well-being.  You will surely get many ideas during this day and will probably feel a great sense of motivation and drive when the day is over.

Need some suggestions?

Here are some titles I’ve enjoyed over the years:

• The Psychology of Winning

• Lead the Field

• The Psychology of Achievement

• Your Secret Wealth

• The Art of Exceptional Living

• Conversation Power

Updated: Originally published May 8, 2006

CIO magazine interviewed me recently about Mind Mapping and why I use it.  The article appeared last night:

Brad Isaac, CIO at Breslow Starling Frost Warner, an accounting firm, uses a mind mapping application from Mindjet for project management. In situations like deploying a new server, mind mapping helps him keep track of the project and ensure he’s covered the necessary bases: who’s managing it, who will be using it, who needs training, he says. “You’re able to address all these layers of a complex project in a visual manner and it only takes moments.”

CIO: Mind Maps Fuel Productivity

The interview was more in depth than what is covered in the article.  Will the print edition will cover more?

I went into how I not only use Mind Mapping for work, I use it for play, blogging and at-home projects.  Much like I have on my blog in the past.

The new TaskBlaze beta is here!

Taskblaze features

What is TaskBlaze?

TaskBlaze is simply the easiest task timer and tracker you’ve ever used.  Plus, it’s the most precise and effective.  It automatically updates your Outlook or Google calendar with the exact time you spent on your task.

So accounting for your time, being more effective, billing, making sure you are spending your time wisely don’t require a MS Project course, just download TaskBlaze 2009 Beta .

Just imagine how easy it is to give a time report to a client.  Think of all the wasted time you can free up.  And picture your jealous partner thinking you are having an affair, all she has to do is look at your calendar and know you were Blazing your time on writing a cost/benefit report – TaskBlaze prevents DIVORCE! Ok, maybe not, but it is still pretty nifty.

Get Started With 2 Simple Steps

There are two simple steps to use it:

1. Enter a name for your task.
2. Hit the Start button

…Thank you and good night!!

– But wait, there’s more –

Use TweetBlaze® to Send Your Tasks to Twitter

Have you ever completed a task and thought a week later “I should have posted that to Twitter”?  Now you don’t have to worry about forgetting.  TaskBlaze will post your tasks to Twitter automatically utilizing a highly classified function I like to call TweetBlaze®.  Start a task and bam, all your friends will know you are working – when before they thought you were just goofing off.

Warning: TweetBlaze® is for external use only.  Do not swallow.

More TaskBlaze Goodness

But you needn’t stop at just naming your task.  You can also set a category.  Good for tracking home projects too.

Plus, creative people can now make their own skins to customize TaskBlaze and make it all your own.

Simple skinning guide – I tried to make skinning easy – especially for people like me who feel using Photoshop is like driving to work every day in a paddleboat.

Here’s a method for creating a skin that is so simple a 27 year old grad student could do it.

1. Find the TaskBlaze folder on your desktop computer (normally C:\Program Files\TaskBlaze)
2. Open the Skins folder
3. Create a new folder with a skin name you like (i.e. Tribute to Brad)
4. Copy and paste the graphics from an existing skin folder to your new folder.
5. Use MS Paint, Adobe Photoshop or your preferred tool to edit the graphics in your skin folder to reflect your own style and individuality.
6. Launch TaskBlaze, go into settings and choose your new skinny-skin-skin.

Sharing and Showing Off

Think you can make a better skin than me?

Well, you’d have to be blind and missing both hands (AND FEET) not to be able to – but that’s not the point.  If you’ve got a great skin to share, please do.  You can .zip it up and email it to me bradisaac at gmail.com. If it’s good I’ll be happy to post it and link to your site until I can get a skins repository set up.

Download TaskBlaze 2009 Beta for Windows

Send Me Your Feedback about the TaskBlaze Beta

As this a Beta version of TaskBlaze your comments are appreciated and will make it better.  Feel free to email me or better post them in the comments below.  I’ll try to resolve them as quickly as possible.

The good news is I’ve finally got an auto updater working so if I post a fix or release you can get it immediately.

Many people love TaskBlaze.  But admittedly, there are some headaches.  Those who use the old Beta version know it’s got some bugs.  Although it looks simple, there’s a lot of coding that went into building it.

 
Default Skin

Well, I’ve been burning the midnight oil on the latest version.  It fixes a lot of bugs and introduces new features too.  I am tidying up a few things and then will post a beta in a few days.

Here’s a sneak peek of what’s to come:

1. Post what you are doing to Twitter – Feeling social?  You can now Tweet what you are doing via TaskBlaze!  When you start a new task, your you can set it so your task-tweet automatically gets posted to Twitter.   Integration with Facebook and other services on the way.
2. New Timer Engine – I rebuilt the timing engine so it is much more reliable, easier to understand, and more bulletproof.
3. Improved skinning – Those of you who like customizing TaskBlaze can now go hog wild.  Skinning is now “folder based.”  That means pop your skin into a folder and pick it from a dropdown.  You can have as many different skins as you want.

   

   Left4Dead Smoker Skin

4. No more textbox clutter – Want to see your skin?  The Textboxes now hide to display your task, tags and other relevant info.
5. Font color picker – Choose the color of the fonts displayed in Taskblaze.
6. 30 Second Throbber -  What’s a throbber?  In the case of TaskBlaze, it is a ‘blink’ of your main button to catch your attention and remind you to stay on task.  Many wanted this feature.  It’s in the new beta.
7. Display optimized for older PCs – There was a display headache with older PCs where Taskblaze would look funky.  This newly optimized display works for those PCs.
8. Send to a friend – Many of you indicated you wanted an easier way to share the pleasures of TaskBlaze.  Now with the click of a button, TaskBlaze will create you an email that you can customize and send the download link to your friends.

 
Blueblazin’ Skin

I am especially thrilled with the Twitter posting abilities of the new version.  Where Twitter asks “What are you doing now”.  With TaskBlaze you can tell people really what you are doing and track it at the same time.  

So check the blog in a few days and I’ll have a new Beta ready for download.