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Productive Strategies

Pieces of the productivity puzzle.


Gifts for Getting Things DoneYesterday

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A relative of mine had been trying unsuccessfully to get a letter from a doctor.  The letter was important for part of an insurance settlement, but the doctor was always busy or gone and the letter just never seemed to get written.  I offered to help, so I called and talked to one of the nurses.  She was sympathetic and said she would try to help, but the doctor was, after all, a doctor and it was really up to him.  I thanked her and got off the phone.

My wife pointed out that when she worked as a nurse, food was often a very big motivator.  An hour or so later, my assistant had located a bakery nearby and ordered them a batch of cookies along with a note thanking them for their help.

The next day, the nurse called to say that the letter was on its way.  They said the cookies were completely unnecessary, but so very much appreciated.

A gift opens the way for the giver and ushers him into the presence of the great.
Proverbs 18:6

I’m not suggesting you tr


10 Articles on Managing EmailNovember 18

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  • Managing Email: The Great American Timesuck-CEO Blog
    Though email was intended to make our lives easier, sometimes it does just the opposite! This article provides a list of suggestions that would be helpful to anyone that feels slightly buried by the mountain of messages lurking in the corners of their inboxes.
  • Sharepoint: Managing Access Request Emails-Shankar’s Musings
    At times, programs dealing with email can become slightly confusing because of the convolutions one must go through to work with them. This article offers some helpful advice for those that need a few tips dealing with access request emails.
  • Managing Email Quagmires-Geek Girlfriends
    Once we figure out what the problem with email is, (that is, that we are simply buried in unanswered messages), then comes the time to figure out a solution. The author of this article has found a helpful program that assists those in need with managin


Standing on Shoulders of GiantsNovember 18

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You’ve probably read the quote from Isaac Newton:

If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.

The idea is that we can leverage the work of people before us in order to do things that wouldn’t be possible on our own.  If you want to create a new type of time-saving computer application, you don’ t have to start with inventing a computer.  You don’t even need to completely understand how a computer works in order to leverage it for your success.

Learning to use the results, accomplishments, and skills of others doesn’t always come naturally.  While you might not be tempted to reinvent the computer, it can be very easy to overlook the input from your friends and co-workers.

Computer programmers are notorious for doing this–opting to create things on their own rather than use components that were made by someone else.  This led to this quote from Alan Cooper:

It has been said that the great s

Children and Slotload DVD drivesNovember 17

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After a difficult surgery, I successfully removed 4 square “Memory” cards from my wife’s MacBook, I have a new piece of advice from people with small children.  Put a piece of tape over your slot load drives. :)

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Expect ChangeNovember 17

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Years ago there was a millionaire who was getting old.  He decided he wanted to provide for his heir, but he wanted to protect them from poor investments that would make them lose the fortune he had built up.  He had his lawyer draft his will in a way that would provide for his heirs, but only allow his money to be invested in a reliable, solid industry.  The industry he chose was electric street cars.  Within a generation, his descendants were pumping gasoline at service stations.

The millionaire had good intentions, but he was short-sighted.  His basic failure was that he didn’t expect change.  He correctly assumed that people would always need cheap transportation.  He incorrectly assumed that electric street cars would be around forever.

While much less dramatic than the millionaire example, most people have some story about loss that could have been prevented by expecting change.  In planning for the future, make sure you don’t fall into a trap of assuming that the way things were last year are an indication of the way things will be next.

Originally published on A