communication. community. cognition.
Posts tagged productivity
A Cupful of Wisdom
Jul 12th
Soccer is the most boring thing to watch on television.
- America
The cynics are having a field day with the World Cup final, calling Spain’s last-minute-of-overtime 1-0 victory a snoozefest.
I’m not here to argue with them, but it is important to understand why. More >
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Attribution is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
Mar 9th
…because Imitation isn’t cutting it anymore.
Look – I’ve written a lot of things online over the years. Enough to fill a book, if anyone were so interested. And I share it freely.
But maybe I shouldn’t anymore.
I have no problem with this, because Mark Burhop didn’t Imitate. He Attributed.
Let’s instead look at what I found today, on LifeHacker:
I only return messages left for me at 10 am, 2pm, and 4 pm. My phone’s ringer is turned off, and my cell phone sits in my purse. I call it my “Dr Pepper Rule,” because of the old 10-2-4 logo on the Dr. Pepper bottles.
That was an excerpt from another blog post – and you’ll note LifeHacker does an excellent job of attributing the origin of information and directing readers to the original.
My quibble is with how we define “original.”
Look at this post, from February 2010:
Time Management Tip: Returning Calls, Emails, and Text Messages on Your Schedule, Not Theirs
I’m offering up one of my greatest time savers here, today, just for you, Dear Reader. I only return messages left for me at 10 am, 2pm, and 4 pm. My phone’s ringer is turned off, and my cell phone sits in my purse. I call it my “Dr Pepper Rule,” because of the old 10-2-4 logo on the Dr. Pepper bottles. Remember those? (I still love me a Dr. Pepper, real not diet. Yum.)
Right off the bat, if you choose to do this, too, get ready for some backlash. There are those who will be annoyed, perhaps even offended, that you aren’t picking up your phone every time it rings, or jumping right on their text message or e-mail in reply. That’s okay, because this isn’t about them. It’s about you, and your schedule.
If you will, stop and compare it to this:
I wrote the above and published it on my site in August 2007. Many people read it and linked to it, and that is flattering. It drove a little traffic to my site, and that was nice.
Please note, that in more than three years of writing Occam’s RazR, I have not run a single ad. My ideas, as they are, are completely non-monetized.
So, bear with me if I have a little problem with people taking my ideas and repackaging them as their own. For all I know, the author I linked to above was inspired by a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of what I wrote. That could be the case with this one, as well.
That’s why Attribution is the new currency of Flattery. They are called Links for a reason. They bind ideas, and help trace the epidemiology of inspiration. The other plus to Attribution is when you are open in cataloging how and where you got an idea, then you have immediate immunity to claims of original authorship.
Yes, it feels good to see your ideas flourish.
No, it does not feel good to see your ideas generating money and reputation for other people.
Your suggestions are welcome.
Dr. Pepper cured my inbox
Aug 29th
There are so many online resources for productivity, I’ve had to cut back on my work time to keep up with it all.
However, that is not a long-term strategy for continued employment, so I had to wrangle a little control of the time I do have in the day. In keeping with the theme of the “TMI” post from yesterday, here’s my humble offering to the world of managing the information that is whizzing toward my head.
I call it the “Dr. Pepper Method.”
I process my inbox three times a day – at 10, 2, and 4. By not processing until 10 a.m., I force myself to do something productive at the beginning of the day. Nothing jumpstarts a positive habit like getting something done early. That also gives me time to respond to the ‘urgent’ things before lunch – although I am moving to the notion that if it really were urgent, they would have called me instead. The 10 a.m. process run gives me a couple of things to do before and after lunch, and helps me adjust the agenda for the rest of the day.
At 2 p.m., I do another pass. It doesn’t take as long, and is long enough after lunch that I repeat the good habit of “doing something” before playing with e-mail. It’s a good reset, and a chance to check document revisions and followups from the morning session.
Finally, at 4 p.m., I get a chance to finalize a few small tasks, and use the afternoon e-mails as a guide to setting my morning priorities for the next day.
And, it’s easy to remember.
