Organize IT

One of the most popular concepts the author of GTD, David Allen, states is to have a mind like water. When you throw a pebble into water, it responds appropriately to the force and mass of that pebble, then returns to a calm state. You should be able to react similarly when an email enters your inbox or you receive an urgent call from your manager. However, the mind like water concept is not new. Indeed, Bruce Lee famously used it in an interview, which this neat animation summarizes.

Organize IT recap for 13th June 2008.

• Still collecting productivity tips from you all! Already had some very good contributions so keep them coming. I intend to bring them together and publish a big compilation in the near future so keep an eye out for it.
• When I shared this link about six work myths with a few people, it caused a stir. Many questioned the validity of some points, while others thought the article was just downright wrong. One particular point regarding the myth of working hard got a lot of focus. The article claims that in actuality you will only get rewarded if you’re likable. My favorite remark was how if you really want to be happy, you need solid personal relationships and a job that doesn’t interfere with you enjoying them. Agree/disagree?
• When does your healthy eating plan go awry? Dieting is a 24/7 habit and there are seven points during the day when it easy for all your dieting efforts to go down the drain. It then goes into detail on how you can overcome these hurdles. I found this article particularly good because it takes a look at dealing with the obstacles in your way, something I have discussed at length in the past, especially in regards to building habits. The points are applicable regardless of whether you are trying to diet or build some other habit.

Last week was a special week dedicated to my productivity tips series. In case you missed it I covered how to deal with obstacles in your path, define what ‘done’ actually means, reward yourself when you get things done and make time to relax and recharge. I hope you enjoyed the change of focus. I will be doing more of these in the future to break up the normal routine. However for this week I’m putting the emphasis on you! What are your productivity tips? They can be small or large, simple or complex, minor or life-changing. Whatever tip you have, don’t keep it to yourself. Share it with us in the comments! I hope to collate answers from other productivity bloggers too and will post a massive compilation of everyones answers in the next few weeks. Now, over to you…

The internet is great. Many people use it everyday and it has become an integral part of people’s lives. One element of the internet that has massive repercussions for how we entertain ourselves is downloading, whether it be films, music or even computer games. Downloading has made access to all that media incredibly easy and it is often, for better or for worse, free. That might be great for our music and film collections but is it great for our personal growth?

Stating something might seem easy. You can just pick up a pen and start writing a report, or call a meeting to brainstorm ideas as such as the project proposal comes in. However, due to the scale and complexity of most work nowadays, there are usually so many obstacles in the way that can stop us in our tracks, and its not just limited to business (what’s stopping you breaking that bad habit?). How we deal with these obstacles has a huge bearing on how smoothly we complete our projects. Do you attempt to plough through or do you temporarily turn your attention towards the obstacles to really get them out of the way?