What if you *are* what you want to be when you grow up?

[Note:  Corrected broken link to Seth Godin's blog 6-April-2011]

I was just reading a post on Seth's blog about resisting the urge to conform to other people's expectations for you.

He talks about a chef who resists the pressure to open other restaurants, get a TV show, and that sort of thing - in favor of sticking with one, popular restaurant location.

This reminds me of some of the conversations I've had with people during career planning sessions.  How many times to we, as managers, try to push people to do more, get promoted, take on a lot more responsibility, etc?  And how many times is that the right thing to do?

In many cases, it's probably the best thing for the person and the company, but it is worth asking if it's OK for that person to stay in their current role and only stretch within that role.  For some people, staying put will be better than pushing them to the next level where they may not be well-suited for the job.

What do you think?  Have you been promoted beyond where you should've been? Have you ever pushed an employee to do something more grand and regretted it?

I'd love to hear your perspectives.

Pzizz Sleep Science - now there is an app for that!

A few years ago, I became an avid user of a product called "Pzizz".  In the words of their website, Pzizz is a "a unique audio system that helps you nap during the day or get to sleep at night, " as well as helping you "Solve sleep problems, boost energy and reduce stress."

The original version of Pzizz that I purchased is an application that runs on your computer, then generates a custom sound file you can play on your iPod or other music player.  Pzizz allows you to create "nap soundtracks" that use scientifically designed audio to help you sleep.  You can create two kinds of naps with Pzizz:

1. "Sleep naps" which help you get to sleep and influences your sleep in a way that helps you get a good, deep sleep and wake up refreshed.
2. "Energizer naps" which help you take a short nap and wake up feeling refreshed.

I am a huge fan of Pzizz - especially for jet lag and long, grueling trade shows.  I wrote about my experiences with it here in two posts: "Pzizz: State Of The Art Power Napping" and  my "Pzizz Field Update."

Recently, I discovered that there are two iPhone apps for Pzizz - one for Sleep naps and one for Energizer naps.  I bought them both a few weeks ago in the App Store - very reasonably priced, and they work like a charm.  Click the links below to see them in the App Store.  Enjoy!

My Livescribe SmartPen, 2 years later

A couple of years ago, I reviewed the LiveScribe Pulse Smartpen.  The other day, someone asked me how I like it - and specifically, how well it integrates with Evernote (which I'm always talking about, it seems).

I figured this would be a good time to provide an update on how I'm using the LiveScribe Smartpen.  First, I now have the newer model now called the Livescribe Echo Smartpen.  More storage, a bit less bulky.

Yes, I still use the LiveScribe, but not all the time.  Bottom line?  I have a love/hate relationship with it.

Why I Love the Livescribe Echo Smartpen:

• The Evernote desktop client has very clean integration with Evernote (there is a button in the LiveScribe UI that uploads the selected page automatically as a new note that becomes OCR-able).
• The Livescribe Smartpen is absolutely great for capturing notes and diagrams – it helps me to write, as writing helps me retain things better.  I'm very visual so keeping a record of my diagrams as I captured them is terrific.
• The Livescribe Smartpen's audio capture is also very handy – I can write a keyword, record, and concentrate on the conversation more fully, knowing I can go back and re-listen to all the details.
• The ability to share animated diagrams with voice annotation via their portal is way cool – though I've only done it a couple of times.  I posted an example of a recorded LiveScribe session in my last review, if you're curious.
• There is some nice built-in OCR-ish search function in the LiveScribe client software.
• The Livescribe Smartpen has really good battery life.
• Notebooks and pen refills are reasonably priced and available at Target or Amazon.

Why I Hate the Livescribe Echo Smartpen:

• The Smartpen is a bit too bulky (not so comfortable to write with for extended periods).
• The Smartpen has no reasonable way to attach to anything – that makes it a pain to carry around.  They sell a funky little carrier case for it but I can't stand it.
• I have to remember to recharge it, and it uses a microUSB cable – which I don't have many of at the moment.
• I have to remember to synch it (though it does store a lot of notes – I've never filled the pen up).
• It wasn't cheap so I feel guilty that I don't use it more often than I do.

So, that's my candid update on the Livescribe Echo Smartpen.  It is great if you take a lot of notes and want to search them, tremendous if you interview a lot of people in situations where you need very accurate recall, and it works well with both Mac and Windows.

Does your actual mileage vary from mine?  If so, I'd love to hear your opinion on this gadget.

Enabling page-turning animations on the iPad Kindle app

If you're using the Amazon Kindle app to read books on your iPad, you may be unaware that there is a new option that gives you animated page turning.  It makes it look a lot more like the iBooks application that comes with the iPad, but still lets you read all the awesome Kindle books you've bought.

To turn this setting on, go to the Home page of the Kindle app on your iPad and tap on the tiny "information" icon  in the lower right corner (you can see it in the picture below).

This will bring up a dialog where you can then select the "Settings" menu, which brings you to the dialog box you see below.  From there, all you have to do is turn "Basic reading mode" to the "Off" setting.

Now, when you're reading, the page turns will animate like a paper page turning.  Sure, it's just cosmetic, but I still like it better.  One other thing that still works:  You only have to tap the screen to turn pages in the Kindle app.

Enjoy!

Digging out from under stuff

I spent this week on the east coast of the US, where there's just been a huge snowstorm.  I ended up getting stranded for a couple of days, which disrupted quite a few aspects of my plans.  I thought this was a great metaphor for work, and came up with a few parallels.

Plan ahead

One thing I did right on this trip was check the weather report before flying from the west coast to the east coast.  I found out it was very cold, and that a snowstorm was very likely.

As a result, I was able to bring a heavy coat an gloves, plus some extra clothing in case I got stuck.  I also did some research on alternate flights and methods of transportation - just in case.

I was traveling with two colleagues, so I made sure they were aware of what was coming so they could plan, as well.

Look for options

When our flight got canceled on the first day of the snow storm, we explored our options:  wait for a flight the next day, or drive to our next city.  We asked for a lot of advice from others, looked at weather forecasts, etc. and eventually decided to stay put for the first night and wait it out.  Why?  See the next point.

We also explored options for places to stay for the next couple of nights (just in case) and booked a room at a local hotel - with free WiFi, even.

Figure out your priorities

On the first day, one of the options was to drive on to our next city (about a 4-hour drive in normal conditions).  We decided that:

• The weather was too nasty for us to safely drive - especially at night, which is what we'd have been doing;
• The meeting we were heading to was less important than our safety;
• We could still get a lot of work done from the hotel.

In other words, our meeting wasn't worth risking our necks for.

Know your limits

The next day, all flights out were cancelled again!  At this point, we got a little tired of waiting around so we ventured out in our rental car.  The roads seemed pretty good, even though the planes weren't flying.  We didn't make this decision without testing our limits to make sure we could handle the situation.

We decided to go for it, but wanted some insurance (so to speak).  Working with the most helpful Avis car rental employee I've ever met (Nancy in Clarksburg, West Virgina), we managed to swap our little car for a big 4-wheel drive SUV (the last one available because it wasn't officially available - thanks, Nancy!)

Comfortable that we could drive safely, we decided to brave the roads.

Don't be afraid to ask for help

All along the way, we asked for help from others - advice from the people at the hotel; assistance from the aforementioned Nancy at Avis; help and advice from the (also friendly) United Airlines people at the Clarsburg airport; and more.  We couldn't have been successful without their help.

And we weren't shy about asking (nicely, of course).

The payoff?

• We got to our next city in good time, safe the whole way.
• We only missed one of our meetings, and got to our destination at least a day earlier than if we'd waited for a flight.
• Nancy at Avis connected us with a couple of very nice folks who also wanted to go to our next city, and we decided to give them a ride (ironically, they didn't ask for help but they were lucky enough to have Nancy as a "matchmaker" to put us together so all 5 of us could be successful).
• We learned the value of "good people" and being open to help from other people.

To net this out, when you feel overwhelmed, stuck, and helpless, try this:

• Plan Ahead,
• Look For Options,
• Figure Out Your Priorities,
• Know Your Limits,
• Don't Be Afraid To Ask For Help.