Author Dwayne Melancon is always on the lookout for new things to learn. An ecclectic collection of postings on personal productivity, travel, good books, gadgets, leadership & management, and many other things.
I've been a little quiet this week due to a hectic schedule, but wanted to let you know that I posted about LinkedIn and Plaxo on the Joyful Jubilant Learning blog yesterday. If you haven't already seen it, and are interested in tools that can help you with your business and (to some degree) social connections, check out the post.
I have a backlog of book reviews to be written - look for them to start showing up in the next few days, carrying through to next week.
Read MoreHere are a few of the good links and fun items I've run across this past week.
The "Now Defunct Museum"
The Now Defunct Museum is a Squidoo lens dedicated to remembering some of the things that once seemed everywhere, but now have vanished from our everyday lives. Very entertaining - I like the picture of the old-school NBA uniforms (at right), for example.
How to Create a 15 minute Presentation in 1 Hour or Less
Cliff Atkinson, author of Beyond Bullet Points, has posted an excellent walk-through post showing how to create a 15 minute presentation very efficiently.
i-Lighter now has a Mac version
A few weeks back, I wrote about i-Lighter as a wonder tool. Good news - they now have a Mac version available! Check it out at the i-Lighter home page and download a free copy.
Can you hear me now?
Read MoreI was thumbing through the SkyMall catalog on a flight home this week, and saw something I just had to tear out and post here. It's a hearing aid disguised as a Bluetooth headset - I love the way they spin the value in the ad (click the thumbnail at left to read it yourself).
I just wonder what people will think when you have this in one ear and are holding your phone up to the other ear when someone calls you?
If you want one, head over to SkyMall.
Here are a few items I've found or found out about recently that I thought would be interesting to you:
New "Feedables" feed on Efficiency
Feedables is an RSS aggregation service I really like. I have been following their "Gadgets Feed" for a while, and really like it. I just found out they have added an Efficiency feeds page. Good stuff - check it out.
5x5: Five Things for Five Minutes
An oldie but a goodie, rediscovered. Tim Milburn's "5x5 Worksheets" are an awesome approach to getting more done in 5 minutes than most people do all day. I'm glad Tim's teaching people - he's got the knack.
Wrike is better than before
I have written about Wrike as a GTD application before. It's good for group collaboration and project management. They've recently added time tracking for tasks, among a number of other useful features. The time tracking is great for time auditing. Wrike is also a good, low cost alternative to products like Groove.
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The folks at Fruitful Time have launched an interesting product called Fruitful Time TaskManager Electro, and it promises to eliminate procrastination. Yes, you heard me - it eliminates procrastination.
The product functionality is very intriguing - as Fruitful Time declares, "Trying to use programs which hinder your productivity is automatically detected and blocked through an innovative way... " And the results are no less impressive - they cite an independent research study which determined that use of this product "...increased productivity ranging from 50% to 75%." Wow.
Apparently, their advanced algorithms can detect when you are doing things that are in conflict with your next actions on your task list, such as "Loading up a game or randomly browsing instead of finishing off a paper due in two days time..."
The method seems a little unorthodox (and sounds a little dangerous) but according to the FAQ's it is completely safe.
The product is available now as a free download.
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I work at a software company, and our dress code around the office is fairly relaxed most of the time. Therefore, when I'll be in the office all day and not seeing any customers in person, I usually wear blue jeans.
The other day, I didn't have any clean jeans so I threw on a pair of khaki trousers from The Gap and went to work. I got quite a few comments like, "Why are you so dressed up - is a customer visiting today?"
Why was I surprised by this reaction? I was (literally) wearing all the same clothes --right down to the shoes-- that I usually wear to work except the blue jeans. Changing my trousers noticeably changed others perception of my professionalism.
This small effect reminded me that it doesn't take much to positively influence how others perceive us. I'm not just talking about clothing - I think the "little bit extra" factor can make a difference in a lot of things we do.
Becoming purposeful
Now, I'm trying to be more conscious of when I could add a "little bit extra" to key activities and deliverables in my job to positively impact others' perception of my work. For example, some examples of areas I can improve are:
This is not an overnight change, as it takes time to develop new habits in this area, but I think it will be worth it. Just added a Next Action to my "@computer - web" list to order more khakis...
What about you - have you discovered any small changes that make a big positive difference?
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