Genuine Curiosity

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.

 

This 2007 Spread the Love!

Last week, I wrote about how I sometimes stop doing business with a company based on its actions or the values it seems to project. On the flip side, there are a lot of companies that do great things for others, but their actions go quietly unnoticed. I had the privilege to encounter one of those companies last weekend.

Some background - my son's school does an annual holiday food basket service project, in which they provide a month's worth of food and basic household supplies for 73 families in our area. This is a great way for the students to experience the satisfaction of helping folks that need a little extra help during this season (they actually go out and personally deliver the baskets to the families they're helping).

Last weekend my son and I (and a bunch of other families) were invited out to a local trucking company, Stewart Stiles Truck Lines. There, we picked up cases and cases of food they'd donated to help out with this effort.

In our van alone, we had 15 cases of various canned fruits, vegetables, peanut butter, and macaroni & cheese - all donated by the company. On my visit, I learned that this was started by one of their managers a long time ago as a way of giving back to the community. That gentleman is now deceased, but they are keeping his tradition alive in honor of him.

Personally, I'm not in a position to use the services of a trucking company, but now I'll recommend them to anyone I know who has any trucking needs. They aren't looking for glory and accolades - they're just quietly helping other folks. And that's pretty cool.

I bet they're not the only company that does things like this, either.

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Malignant Melanoma Skin Cancer

In my hemisphere, summer is upon us and that means lots of sunshine and outdoor fun. It also means exposure to the damaging rays of the sun.

I had skin cancer (malignant melanoma) back in 1999, and they theorize it could have been a result of the many sunburns I received when I was young. I was successfully treated, but in the process I learned a lot about skin cancer and I want to share some of that so you don't have to experience it first hand.

One of the disconcerting things I learned was just how fast skin cancer can kill you. Consider this from the Association for International Cancer Research (AICR):

Malignant melanoma can be one of the most dangerous types of cancer. They all spread into nearby tissues, but some grow faster and spread further than others. If diagnosed late, treatment is not usually able to cure the cancer.

The good news is that the earlier you detect skin cancer, the better the prognosis for survival. The other good news is that you can greatly decrease your risk by taking a few, straight-forward precautions.

With that in mind, please check out my posts from last year on how to recognize skin cancer and some of the precautions you can take to protect your skin:

There is also an excellent collection of articles about this in the latest print edition of Reader's Digest, complete with pictures of various types of skin cancers to help you identify them when you see them. Check out the online version here:

And use your sunscreen. Please.

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Holiday fun, games, and whatnot

I've been quiet here for the last week or so, but having some fun with the family in Louisiana. I'm back in Oregon, and wanted to share a couple of online fun things I discovered this season (that you might enjoy, as well).

Rekindling memories of my Vertibird

My favorite toy of all time was something called the "Vertibird," by Mattel. I had a couple of them as a kid and wish they'd lasted (they were notoriously failure prone, and I couldn't convince my parents to buy me a third). The Vertibird was a helicopter toy that allowed any kid to pilot a helicopter and conduct their own search and rescue or conduct salvage missions right on their own kitchen floor. Tremendous.

Anyway, my first find is Peter Hirschberg's cool computer-based simulator called "VertiSim" that you can download and use for free. VeriSim will give you somewhat of a feel for what it's like to fly a Vertibird. The controls are very finicky, but it's still a really cool program (and you can't beat the price).

Finding old friends

In trying to track down old friends so I could send out cards this year, I found most of what I needed through Whitepages.com - and they (unlike lots of other address searching sites) don't charge you to get addresses. Another cool feature - once you find someone, you can click "Find Neighbors" and find out the names and addresses of the other folks that live on their street. This is handy (though maybe just a tad creepy?) if you're interested in sending cards to old or new neighbors.

This is all public information, and it's interesting to see what you can find about yourself online, isn't it?

Go elf yourself

I've saved the most fun for last. We had a blast this year with www.elfyourself.com, where you can turn yourself into an elf with just a few clicks. Start off the fun by clicking here to see what I look like dancing around in my elf suit!

When you're done watching me, go elf yourself.

Happy holidays from Genuine Curiosity!

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Ever vote with your wallet?

Of course, you vote with your wallet - every time you spend money. I was just reading an article on Talking Story in which Rosa talks about the reasons she will never buy a Sony product again. That is capitalism at its best, and why I love the power of the free market.

There a lots of vendors that have hacked me off enough to stay away from them. What are some of the reasons?

  1. Bad customer service experiences.
    • If I am treated fairly and the company tries to make up for my problems, I am very forgiving. Treat me like I'm an annoyance or give me a bad attitude, and I'm gone.
  2. Don't approve of their practices or values.
    • I don't buy from people who spam me, or who call me at home to solicit me.
    • I don't buy from companies who create commercials or ads that offend me.
    • I don't buy from people who don't stand behind their products when something goes wrong.
    • And "comment spammers": what are you thinking?
  3. Poor quality products
    • I work too hard for my money to spend it on shoddy product.

Those are my top 3 gripes that make me bail on a business. What about you?

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Gene's empty inbox epiphany

A few weeks ago, I shared my GTD Odyssey in an effort to share some of the things I've learned whilst I've tried to tackle Getting Things Done. Based on some of the public and private responses I've received, it seems that I've struck a nerve (in a good way) with some of the things I've shared.

Today, I'd like to share a guest post from a friend of mine, Gene Kim, regarding his "epiphany" following that series, along with some live prodding/coaching from me. Gene and I work together and share an office, so we get to compare notes on GTD on the rare occasions when we are both in the office at the same time. By the way, it was Gene that first told me about Getting Things Done about 4 years ago.

Anyway, here is Gene's story:

I read Dwayne's article about having sustained a state of an empty inbox for weeks with some disbelief and awe, as well as some small bit of inspiration. Why? Having worked with Dwayne for over six years, I have some long buried memories of getting together once every couple of weeks, trying to figure out how to get David Allen's GTD to actually work for us.

A history of trying in earnest

How serious have I been trying to achieve the state that Dwayne mentioned? I actually have screenshots of the 11 times I've actually achieved the nirvana of an actually empty inbox in the past six years that I've been trying.

Incidentally, those rare dates were:

  • 2003
    • Jan 4
  • 2004
    • Jun 6
    • Oct 1, 5, 18, 20
    • Nov 14
  • 2005
    • Jan 12
    • Jun 17
  • 2006
    • Oct 31
    • Nov 1

The epiphany begins

But two weeks ago, after reading Dwayne's article, watching him work, and then getting five minutes of having him watch me work, I finally have an empty inbox. And I have one again today. Two days in a row was a first for me. And, maybe more importantly, I've been able to get my inbox to empty every day for the last two weeks. (This morning is my one exception, due to being sick. But, I know with complete confidence that I'll be there by noon today.)

What makes is remarkable is that I've tried before, but have always quickly fallen off the wagon, and it's been over 17 months since I've had an empty inbox.

Is it that I haven't gotten help before? No. I've tried David Allen seminars, many of David Allen's telecoaching sessions, countless attempts to find software programs to help track TODOs, etc.

What's different?

But, here's what's different: I'm confident that I can keep my inbox empty and stay focused on the things I need to do. I don't have any anxiety of piling things into my TODO folder, feeling like I'm just burying the tasks where I can't see them, and therefore am "cheating" to get my inbox to empty.

Instead, I've found that using the "start bugging me" dates and the clear daily tasks view helps me two things:

  • Quickly generate a small list of tasks that I can stay focused on and confidently and quickly complete
  • Easily defer and snooze tasks to the future, knowing that they will come back, but until then, stay completely invisible

I'm a little surprised at how easy and elegant these key principles of the TWC practice are. But, let me tell you, I suspect that months from now, I'll not only have an empty inbox, but I'll be able to look back to yesterday and see a clear before and after of how I did work.

It can be done, and it's far less work than I ever thought it would be. Are there some other things I'm doing differently? A couple. For me, the most difficult part of "getting to empty" is when I'm down to a handful of messages, and I can't figure out how to get them "unstuck." I've found that in most cases, it's because I need help pulling together the next step, or that I don't have all the information. The remedy is often to pull together a 15 minute meeting to make the decision, or to ask someone else to pull all the relevant information together.

And lastly, let me proudly show off my empty inbox.

Thanks for sharing, Gene. It's been a fun journey.