One thing missing from the Mac: ClearContext

In the past, I've written a lot about Getting Things Done (GTD) and my journey with it.  One of the shining points along the way was finding ClearContext, which is an Outlook add-in for WIndows that transforms how you can use GTD with Outlook. I've written a lot about ClearContext, as well.

As you may also know, I switched to the Mac about a year ago and one of the hardest things to do without has been ClearContext.  I'm now using Outlook 2011 for Mac, but it apparently isn't quite as extensible as the Windows version of Outlook (I'm hoping Microsoft addresses this crippling limitation in future release of Outlook for the Mac).

Anyway, if you are looking for an awesome product to help you up your game with GTD, I encourage you to check out ClearContext.  Their latest release (which a few of my colleagues are using) has a lot of new functions to help automate a lot of the categorization, filing, and other kinds of mundane tasks so you can better focus on getting your work done efficiently.

If you've never looked at ClearContext, start with the intro video before, then head over to the ClearContext site for a free trial.  If you've looked at ClearContext before but not acted, give it a second look.

And Microsoft:  If you're listening, please open up Outlook on the Mac to enable fantastic products like ClearContext.

Shift: 13 Exercises to Make You Who You Want to Be

I've just finished a new book called "Shift," by Takumi Yamazaki.  I hadn't heard of the author before, but apparently he is a very well-known Japanese author who's sold over 800,000 books and is a self-made millionaire.

The subtitle of Shift is "13 Exercises to Make You Who You Want To Be," and I think that's a very appropriate description of what you'll find inside.  This book is essentially a set of guided thought sessions to help you identify your goals and set specific plans in motion to achieve them.  In each section of the book, you will find a set of stories and advice, accompanied by short (but very deep) exercises to focus your mind and get you to write your thoughts down.

SHIFT

Each section is described in terms of a "Shift," through which you change your outlook on life.  For example, the Shift 2 deals with thinking about how your perspective and preconceived notions can limit your success.  Shift 2 is accompanied by an exercise in which you examine situations in which you feel you weren't able to do something - one example given in the book is:

• "I had plans so I wasn't able to go to the party on Sunday."

You then rewrite the statement in which you describe it in as a choice:

• "I didn't want to go to the party - I chose not to go."

Pretty simple, right?  This exercise is similar to ones I've done before, and I always find it a bit jarring, yet empowering to realize I really do choose what I will or won't do over 90% of the time in my life.  This reminded me of a saying from a friend of mine: "Pretend you create everything that happens to you. Now, decide you will create better things for yourself."  It really changes how you approach life to think of things this way.

The other 12 Shifts are compelling, too.

Exercise your mind

The point of Yamazaki's book is to help you reframe your approach and (hopefully) achieve better outcomes that align with what you really want.  I have been trying to get back on the Getting Things Done (GTD) bandwagon, and I find that Shift puts me in a frame of mind where I'm able to come up with better Next Actions.

Also, this book is a good reminder that you don't have to go it alone - one of the cool things about this book is that many of the exercises include special instructions on how to apply the Shifts in this book as part of a group.  I think this would be a fun book to explore with a book club or a group of friends.

Shift is easy to read and has a lot of interesting visuals.  The exercises are the main attraction, though, and I highly recommend Shift to anyone who wants to take control of what's going on in their life.

Longer battery life for your iPhone

Even though my iPhone 4's battery life is much better than my old iPhone 3Gs's battery life, I still need extra juice.  I notice it most when I'm traveling, such as when I attend a trade show or similar event.

In these situations, I am often on-the-go from early in the morning until well past midnight and tend to use my phone a lot more for social media, map searches, email, etc.  That means I often run my phone down by early evening.  Not good.

The solution? For the past couple of months, I've been using a Mophie Juice Pack Air battery pack / sleeve for my iPhone 4 and I love it (I have the black version - the red ones weren't available when I bought mine - bummer).

The Mophie Juice Pack air is a thin, light sleeve for the iPhone 4 that not only protects the phone, it has a built-in battery you can use to fully recharge your phone.

The Mophie has a switch on it that lets you decide when you want to tap into the reserve battery. I tend to wait until I'm at about 15-20% remaining battery, then flip the Mophie's switch and let it recharge my phone.  It has saved me on a number of occasions, I assure you.

The Mophie Juice Pack air includes the battery pack / sleeve itself, along with a cable you can use to charge and sync your phone to your computer (the only thing I don't like:  the Mophie uses a Micro-USB port instead of a larger, more robust port (I think all Micro-USB's are a bit too flimsy for my taste).

So, if you use your phone a lot and find yourself running out of juice during the day, you'll love the Mophie JuicePack Air (yes, it's still small enough to fit in your pocket with the Mophie on the phone).

By the way - if you have an iPhone 3Gs, you can still get a Mophie Juice Pack Air for the iPhone 3Gs - my son is using my old phone and old Mophie, and it would be very difficult to get him to part with the JuicePack Air.

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.

Get It Done, by the book

The other day I got my hands on Stever Robbins' book, "Get-It-Done Guy's 9 Steps to Work Less and Do More (Quick & Dirty Tips)," which is a great collection of tips & tricks to be more productive.

When I picked up the book, I was wondering how this aligned with David Allen's "Getting Things Done."  Turns out it's very complementary - GTD is focused mostly on how to collect, capture, and organize the things you want to do so you can pick your activities based on context, energy, importance, etc - you still need that, even with Robbins' book.

So what is Robbins' book about, then?  While it does have some overlap in terms of defining life goals, priorities, and "purpose" stuff, much of Robbins' book deals with tactics to help you free up more time to be productive - how to overcome procrastination, how to get better at saying "no," how to block out distractions so you can focus, and those sorts of things.

Practical and fun to read

Robbins' style is very conversational, making it an easy read.  He also has a lot of quirky stories and memes going on (hint: zombies abound).  In the midst of the quirkiness, there are a lot of sound ideas - and he illustrates them with stories from his life.  For example, there is a section on "baby chunks" which is a strategy to break daunting tasks down into smaller, more manageable pieces.  He discusses how he used this approach in writing his book, and I found it easier to understand the techniques involved because of this concrete example.

Likewise, he illustrates most of his concepts with real stories you can identify with (except for the zombies, of course).

So, you may be wondering, "What are the 9 steps?"  Let me fill you in:

• Step 1: Live on Purpose, deals with identifying you top-level life priorities;
• Step 2: Stop Procrastinating, offers tips to get your butt in gear and do the things you're avoiding;
• Step 3: Conquer Technology, which helps you figure out ways to prevent technology from hijacking your productivity, as well as how to use technology to help you get through your tasks more quickly;
• Step 4: Beat Distractions to Cultivate Focus, is perhaps my favorite chapter, and it deals with how to establish an environment / habits that will help you focus more (you might also want to look at my post on how to focus in a cubicle environment, if you have trouble focusing on your tasks);
• Step 5: Stay Organized, which helps you implement systems to support a more organized life;
• Step 6: Stop Wasting Time, which is mostly about how to identify your leverage points - the 20% that's most important in your 80/20 life;
• Step 7: Optimize, which has some very interesting tips to help make time-consuming or mundane tasks more efficient, and even "outsource" them to others if you can;
• Step 8: Build Stronger Relationships, which is about doing the care & feeding of relationships to make your life more meaningful and create a network that can support your efforts when you need help;
• Step 9: Leverage, which is partially about automating things to give you more power over getting them done, but also a lot about how to use your skills to their best advantage to increase your personal value.  Leverage is also about how you can tap into the strengths of others to move past your own limitations.

In summary, I got a lot out of this book and found it to be very practical.  Through this book, I also discovered the "Get-It-Done Guy's Tips & Tricks" site, which is loaded with great ideas.

If you're looking for a good way to refocus your energy on being more productive, you won't go wrong with this book.