As well as reorganising my main working environment, I’ve decided it’s time to take a more proactive approach to managing myself. Having lots of projects on the go usually means having a shortage of time for anything else and sometimes it does get stressful.
Some of the things I’m looking at to help me get things done and free up some time for non-work activities include:
- Outsourcing work. Whilst this may seem like an ideal way to free myself, it does mean having to pay people and also project manage. The upside is that once I settle on some people I can trust to get the job done then I ought to really see the benefits. Until then, it’s more work to find the right people.
- Take a different approach. I’m all for self-improvement and time management so I’ve bought a copy of the David Allen book, Getting Things Done, which I’ve read some very good things about. Of course, reading the book will mean that I can’t do anything else during that time (I could always get someone to read it to me!). If only it were an audio book!
Time will tell just how well I get on!
Technorati Tags: Outsourcing, David Allen, Getting Things Done, Time management
After many years as my main operating platform, I’ve just fitted a new hard drive into my PC to replace my years old Windows 2000 Pro installation with Windows XP Pro.
I used to be a junkie for trying out new software to see what could improve my computing experience or just make it a bit more fun. The years of endless installing, uninstalling and hardware upgrades had left an enterprise-level operating system a bit flaky to say the least. Occasional freezing, without any warning and followed by 20 minutes of Scandisk, was one of the factors that convinced me to take the plunge to start afresh and ensure I was using NTFS (no more Scandisk, hoorah!)
Effectively rebuilding my computing environment also gives me a chance to declutter and not reinstall those applications that I really didn’t use.
With most of my essential software now installed, I’m going to be digging up my copy of Drive Image so I can take a snapshot of my Windows installation and revert back to it should I get neck-deep in clutter again. Hopefully , I won’t need to because I’ll be a bit more choosy about what I install, but there’s always something new to try… 
Technorati Tags: Windows 2000, Windows XP, Decluttering
Just yesterday, I was reading Stu’s blog about Google PageRank predictions and checking out a few of my own sites’ PRs using the same Future PageRank tool, thinking “I wonder when the next PR update will be?”
Looking at my Google Toolbar today, I can indeed see PR movement!
Back in February, IMF was assigned a shiny PR4 and now it’s a shiny PR5. Does this equate to more income? No, I’m not selling the PR or anything so all it means is a different badge.
Technorati Tags: Google PageRank, PageRank Updates
Audiobooks are great for so many reasons. As someone who finds it difficult to spend time reading books, audiobooks make it very easy for me to absorb new knowledge and other people’s opinions.
I believe that learning is one of the most important activities we should all partake in. To stop learning is to close your mind, which means you limit yourself to your own creativity.
Different people learn best in different ways. Some people learn better through visual means, some through more tactile methods and some using audio. The environment we’re in can also have a tremendous impact on how much knowledge we actually absorb. For example, I find myself to be able to think much better when I’m relaxed and in quiet surroundings.
Audiobooks allow me to make productive use of what might otherwise be considered dead time e.g. when taking a shower or travelling. Recently, I’ve really enjoyed listening to the likes of Freakonomics, The Tipping Point and Blink.
If you’re interested in picking up a free iPod Shuffle and listening some some great audio books then I’d recommend Audible’s Free iPod offer.
Technorati Tags: Audio book, Freakonomics, Blink, The Tipping Point, Free iPod
When it comes to people’s businesses and livelihoods, it never ceases to shock me just how much faith is placed on third parties with little in the way of accountability. This behaviour seems to be much more apparent online than in the offline world. Much of this, I put down to people’s own perceptions about other people.
In the Internet marketing world, trust is a precious commodity. Trust will allow you more visitors to your website, more consumers of your product or service, more subscribers to your list. Yet many people will blindly place their trust without good reason. You might have done this yourself when you took a chance on an infoproduct or webhost on the basis of a recommendation from a complete stranger.
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