Happy new year, everyone! After an enjoyable break the week and a half or so, I’m jumping into the new year which, for me, means lots of reflecting and planning for the future.
I’ve read a couple of awesome books in the past couple of weeks and will be posting reviews here in the next week. Meanwhile, if you’re prone to setting goals at this time of year, here are a few randomly selected resources to get your juices flowing:
- If you’ve written your resolutions but are concerned about keeping them, you owe it to yourself to read the (always insightful) Gretchen Rubin’s post on the magic formula for keeping your New Year’s resolutions.
- If becoming more physically fit is on your list, you can get a free (and equipment-free) regimen that is just excellent at the “hundred pushups” site.
- In the only post I wrote during my absence, I have an idea for how to make two lists to increase your productive focus in 2009. It’s over on Joyful Jubilant Learning.
- Finally, you’ve procrastinated this long (or are just prolonging the experience) there are some “best practices” for setting resolutions at Persistence Unlimited that may help.
Here’s to an awesome 2009!
Read More
Here are some links of interest I’ve gathered in the past 24 hours, as shared on Twitter (you can follow me, if you like).
I’m just getting more active in sharing links via Twitter – what do you think? Leave a comment with your feedback.
Read More
This week in the Portland, Oregon area we’ve had some crummy weather and it’s been difficult to get out and about due to snow and ice. As a result, I’ve developed a new appreciation for things I can do remotely. Some examples:
Get my bills: Most of my bills can be viewed or received online now. With mail delays, this is very good (and I don’t have to walk down the street to the mailbox when it’s crummy outside). - Pay my bills: Through my bank’s online bill pay service, I can pay my bills without leaving the house. I also have a number of them set up for “autopay,” which is a big help.
- Work from home: The nature of my job is such that I can handle phone calls, web-based meetings, project collaboration, and so forth anyplace I can get a high-speed internet connection. Very useful (in fact, I think I’m sometimes *more* productive when I work from home).
- Do my Christmas shopping: Thanks to Amazon Prime, I have been able to do almost all of my Christmas gift shopping from the comfort of my own home – and I get free, 2-day shipping on most items. They’ll even gift wrap for you. Talk about a stress reliever.
Most of this wasn’t possible until relatively recently, and I’m sure glad we can do them now.
There are still some things that you can’t do remotely, of course, but these things have been amazingly helpful this week. The other things I’ve learned from my weather constraints this week include:
- Weather forecasting is an inexact science, even with all our cool technology.
- I really appreciate regular garbage pickup.
- I really enjoy having heat and high-speed internet.
- My newspaper carrier is awesome – hasn’t missed a day!
- Even though I can work from home, I enjoy seeing people face to face at the office.
What about you – any things you do remotely to make your life easier?
Related items
Read MoreYesterday, I posted an article on the JJL site called “Where’s the fire?” and it is starting to gather some excellent advice in the form of comments. Go check it out – and stay tuned for a review later this week of an awesome book I’m finishing up – I’ll be posting it here on this blog.
Read MoreOK, so sometimes I’m slow. I’ve had an excellent Brother label make(the linked one at home, and an older one at work) for a looong time now. I started using one in 2002 when I first drank the Getting Things Done elixir, I believe. And I’ve had a ridiculous number of chargers and power adapters for even longer.
But it just dawned on me that I can actually use my label maker to mark my power adapters so I don’t:
- throw one away because I don’t know what it’s for (yes, I’ve done that);
- unplug the wrong one while crawling around under the desk (yes, I’ve done that);
- accidentally bring the wrong charger with me on a trip (and I’ve done that once, as well).
So from this point forward, one of my resolutions is to label my power adapters when I first acquire them.
Learning the hard way is still learning…
Read More
