The Tao of How

Mindfulness. The more I've thought about this, the more I think success is rooted in mindfulness. Being in that moment, giving that moment your full attention, and appreciating (or at least acknowledging) the moment for what it is. I drive to work every day and spend about an hour in the car. I drive home, and spend another hour in the car. During this morning hour and afternoon hour, I multitask. Sometimes I listen to audio books. Sometimes I listen to music. Other times I have an active mind and find that the time is productively spent brainstorming and capturing ideas. But I'm also driving. I'm also interacting with other drivers. And this is where I ran into a problem this morning, when I was thinking about the situation. I enjoy driving. I like my car. I take care of my car. My car brings me joy. But I don't appreciate it when I'm in the midst of the experience of driving, many times. I'm driving because I need to get some place - often in ...

There are no magic bullets. I'm sorry to have to say this, but it is a hard-won conclusion I have come to after trying many one-stop remedies. There is no solution that is going to work for everyone. In spite of the mighty infomercial industry saying otherwise, there is no one thing that will allow people to 'set it and forget it' and solve all their problems. What there is, and what we can all take advantage of, are the plethora of options out there that work for some people. So looking at this same pool of potential magic bullets, there is every likelihood that one of those solutions will work for us. And there's every likelihood that it will not be the same as the one that works for the person to our immediate left or our immediate right. I'd love to know the statistics that aren't shared by these infomercial powerhouses because I think there's a lot of value there. Not in knowing how many instances in which the solutions have failed, per se, b...

There's an inherent danger to building things up. We do it all the time. We get excited for things to come, and by the time we experience them there is all likelihood that they won't live up to our expectations. Vacations are a great example. I'm going on vacation at the end of the week, and I'll be out through next week. I'm very excited to be able to log off for a while, but I also worry that I'm expecting too much of the time I'll be off. The nice thing about camping is that I know what to expect. I am going to try to avoid bringing work distractions with me and I'm going to be sure to prepare as best I can ahead of time so that everyone at work knows I will be unavailable. I'm taking steps to specifically avoid putting myself in a situation where I'll be worried about work. Of course, I can only do so much. That's where the buildup might put me at risk of enjoying my time off. I'm designing my vacation around specific check...

This is a tough one. My son got a gift certificate for $15 at the local comic book store. I love walking around that store. Every shelf is eye candy, and I find myself just mesmerized. I want one of everything. I've gotten a lot better about collecting over the years, but I still find the pull of comics to be nearly irresistible when I'm around them. Jack had a lot of questions about how comics work. He didn't understand that regular issues are a serial format, and that there can be all kinds of variations to these individual issues. Sure, there are some one-shot issues, but the larger story and story arc structures can be hard to wrap your head around if you're not familiar with them. Then there are the crossovers, the alternate universes, origins... all kinds of stuff. And these things are all like crack cocaine to comic book collectors. So while I didn't want to encourage Jack to necessarily start collecting, there's no way you can walk into a co...

I put together a quick YouTube video this morning to capture what my work area looks like, and to give a brief glimpse into the tools and systems I use to keep track of everything. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMAnx1mQCrs I think the most important thing to keep in mind when looking for any sort of system for communication and productivity, particularly if it is an add-on to the systems you already have, is to consider what you're going to need to do in order to maintain that system. How much work are you going to need to put into checking it, adjusting the information within it, and monitoring input and output? Email is a good example. I have a work email and a personal email. I used to have two personal email addresses, so that I could use one to manage online newsletter and email blast subscriptions. But why? Why have two email addresses when I'm checking the same net number of emails? Also, I used to have a hard-copy to do list for the day and my lists on Wunder...

I'm trying to work out a system for myself so I can self-impose some restrictions on the time I'm wasting online. We all spend time online in one way or another and how we categorize our time is an important consideration we need to make when trying to figure out if we're spending more time than we should be online. For me, I'm finding that it is coming down to a fairly simple categorization of two different types - recreation, and productivity. I'm using the word productivity because I can't figure out what else to call it at this point. What I'm thinking of is mainly personal email and calendar activities. If I'm simply reviewing my inbox, I don't think that should count as recreational time. However, if I'm clicking through on emails to watch videos or read articles, it moves into the realm of recreation. Emails are mainly used, from a productivity standpoint, for information. Someone is emailing to either give you information or ask f...

I was driving to work this morning and I found myself thinking about the different methods I use for capturing ideas. Sometimes I like to just write things down longhand. Other times it is a voice memo. Or an email that I send myself. The point is, you should never limit your ideas by the ways you have of documenting them. Specifically, a lack of means to document ideas doesn't mean one should simply have no ideas. But... What about if I'm on my motorcycle? Should I pull over and get my phone out so I can get an idea down? Or try to remember it until I get to work? This is one problem I've had so far that is an exception. I'm still working on that one. The point is to be able to do two things. First, use a medium that you're comfortable with and that isn't so complex that it is prohibitive to easy use. Second, have the right medium for the right idea. I talk fast, I type fast, but I write longhand VERY slowly. That's a good thing sometimes....