Hack Your Work: 23 Ways to Get Ahead, Work Less and Achieve More - Dumb Little Man
It’s something we’re all looking for – the perfect solution that will minimize our work life while still getting the stuff done that we need to get done. Well, that one solution doesn’t exist, but with a combination of strategies, you can get to where you want to be. Now, none of these tips will turn your life around. But they can make a big difference, and when used together, your work life might just be enjoyable, productive, low-stress and high fun. And these tips won’t work for everyone. One goal.
7 Habits of Highly Ineffective People
With a twist to the common list of habits that are useful to establish, here are 7 habits that you do best to avoid. Just like finding habits that can be useful for you it’s important to find habits that are holding you back. Most of these 7 habits can easily become such a normal, everyday part of life that you hardly notice it (or how it’s affecting you). I’ve dabbled with all of them quite a bit. I’d also like to add that these are just 7 broad habits you can establish to become highly ineffective in most parts of your life. 1. Maybe you’ve heard this quote by Woody Allen: “Eighty percent of success is showing up” One of the biggest and simplest thing you can do to ensure more success in your life – whether it be in your social life, your career or with your health – is simply to show up more. 2. - Swallow that frog. 3. One of the easiest habits to get stuck in, besides procrastinating, is to keep yourself busy with unimportant tasks. 4. And thereby seldom taking action. 5. 6. 7.
Writing Hacks, Part 1: Starting - scottberkun.com
By Scott Berkun, Aug. 28 2006 (#54) Writing is easy, it’s quality that’s hard. Any idiot who knows 5 words can write a sentence (e.g. For this reason writer’s block is a sham. Consider this: Have you ever been blocked while playing Frisbee? So play. Writing hacks for starting In the grand tradition of lists and books of hacks, writing hacks are clever little actions that give you leverage and put the dynamics in your favor. Start with a word. Write about how it feels not to be able to write. Have a conversation. Read something you hate. Warm up. Make lists. Switch to something harder. Run like hell. Whiskey. Rummage your scrap pile. Smart writers have stockpiles of old ideas to arm themselves against the evils of the blank page. Notes [1] I sometimes write “I have nothing to say” and repeat it on the page. [2] True story. [4] I wrote the novel on and off for 10 years, and finished in 2005 (with draft #5). Further advice:
Software by Rob : Personality Traits of the Best Software Developers
If you're trying to grow your startup you've come to the right place. Get my 170-page ebook on how to grow a startup and join thousands of self-funded entrepreneurs by subscribing to my newsletter at right. I come from the world of corporate software development. It may not be the most glamorous side of software (it’s nowhere near as interesting as shrinkwrap startups or those fancy-dancy Web 2.0 companies that show up in your browser every time you mistype a domain name), but it’s stable, pays well, and has its own set of challenges that other types of software development know nothing about. For example, when was the last time someone working on the next version of Halo spent three weeks trying to gather people from accounting, marketing, product management, and their call center in order to nail down requirements that would likely change in 2 months once they’ve delivered the software? Or when was the last time someone at 37Signals sat through back to back weeks of JAD sessions?
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Fire And Motion
by Joel Spolsky Sunday, January 06, 2002 Sometimes I just can't get anything done. Sure, I come into the office, putter around, check my email every ten seconds, read the web, even do a few brainless tasks like paying the American Express bill. These bouts of unproductiveness usually last for a day or two. Everybody has mood swings; for some people they are mild, for others, they can be more pronounced or even dysfunctional. It makes me think of those researchers who say that basically people can't control what they eat, so any attempt to diet is bound to be short term and they will always yoyo back to their natural weight. What drives me crazy is that ever since my first job I've realized that as a developer, I usually average about two or three hours a day of productive coding. But it's not the days when I "only" get two hours of work done that worry me. I've thought about this a lot. Once you get into flow it's not too hard to keep going. I remembered this for a long time. Discuss Next:
Damn Interesting » Unskilled and Unaware of It
When asked, most individuals will describe themselves as better-than-average in areas such as leadership, social skills, written expression, or just about any flavor of savvy where the individual has an interest. This tendency of the average person to believe he or she is better-than-average is known as the "above-average effect," and it flies in the face of logic... by definition, descriptive statistics says that it is impossible absurdly improbable for a majority of people to be above average. It follows, therefore, that a large number of the self-described "above average" individuals are in fact below average in those areas, and they are simply unaware of their incompetence. It seems that the reason for this phenomenon is obvious: The more incompetent someone is in a particular area, the less qualified that person is to assess anyone's skill in that space, including their own. In short, the study showed that the researchers' predictions were spot-on.
Good and Bad Procrastination
December 2005 The most impressive people I know are all terrible procrastinators. So could it be that procrastination isn't always bad? Most people who write about procrastination write about how to cure it. There are three variants of procrastination, depending on what you do instead of working on something: you could work on (a) nothing, (b) something less important, or (c) something more important. That's the "absent-minded professor," who forgets to shave, or eat, or even perhaps look where he's going while he's thinking about some interesting question. That's the sense in which the most impressive people I know are all procrastinators. What's "small stuff?" Good procrastination is avoiding errands to do real work. Good in a sense, at least. Some errands, like replying to letters, go away if you ignore them (perhaps taking friends with them). The reason it pays to put off even those errands is that real work needs two things errands don't: big chunks of time, and the right mood.
