Downside: more e-mail; upside: helpful

Get free e-mail reminders from NudgeMail | Webware - CNET

E-mail makes me crazy. But NudgeMail, delivered via e-mail, is not crazy making. Send a message to nudge@nudgemail.com to remind yourself to do something on a particular day or time. Presto! Your e-mail reminder shows up when you asked it to. Incredibly easy and since it's in beta, it's free. You don't even need to sign up for anything. Pretty slick.

Combatting the lizard brain

I want Seth Godin's brain. How to combat the lizard brain, ship it. Finish something. Keep moving. Just because you can change things right up to the last minute doesn't mean you should. 


Seth Godin: Quieting the Lizard Brain from 99% on Vimeo.

Today’s Technology Retro Ads | Idea Sandbox Brainstorming

A Monday dose of silly from Idea Sandbox.

Idea Sandbox is a great blog with cool, useful tools like a thought/brainstorm starter, the Big Dig, and the Prioritizer and Priortizer app -- absolutely fabulous way to objectively prioritize your projects and tasks. (There are only five spaces for priorities but you can add more. Who has five priorities?)


Today’s Technology Retro Ads | Idea Sandbox Brainstorming

Productivity tip from Jerry Seinfeld

Productivity tip from Jerry Seinfeld? Who knew? The Seinfeldian Chain is a motivational way to track your progress toward any goal. I love it.

...He [Seinfeld] told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker.

He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day. "After a few days you'll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You'll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain."

"Don't break the chain." He said again for emphasis... (more)

Create your own chain to track your progress toward a goal at SmarterFitter.

Rants against the cubicle

I saw "Stranger than Fiction" with EclectChick a couple of weeks ago. It was a great film! If you're scared of Will Farrell, don't be. He's excellent with just a touch of silly. The whole cast is excellent!

In the film I heard of a new-to-me disease: cubicle fever. This good definition of its cousin, cabin fever was found in Wikipedia:

Cabin fever is a condition that produces restlessness and irritability caused from being in a confined space. The term possibly originated in the United States at the time when settlers would be snowed in to their log cabins and had to wait for the spring thaw in order to travel to town.

Confined space, restlessness and irritability? Yes. I would add to that constant interruptions and noise that prevents creativity. (See ode to cubicle.)

Don't get me wrong. I really like my work and my co-workers. But is horrifying how inadvertently unproductive I am many days. My job requires concentration and creativity. That's fairly impossible in a cube, even with headphones. A door. My world for a door! To me, a door doesn't equal status. Instead I look longingly at doors and think, "Wow! I bet you are cranking out the work! Lucky you!" When I work at home I can get a whole day's worth of cube work done in a few hours.

Cubedoor offers a privacy curtain as well as white papers such "Little Interruptions Can Steal Away Whole Day" and "The Effects of Task Interruption." I have a tension rod for my cube curtain and need to get myself to the fabric store. Productivity awaits!

Lastly, for those of us stuck in cubes, the Lego-like cubicle figures at The Cube offer comic relief.