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The measure of a day

June 16, 2017 By Clare 2 Comments

With a new baby to care for, at the end of the day I often find myself glancing around the chaos in my home, running through the never-ending mental ‘to-do’ list, and lamenting that ‘I got nothing done today’.

It’s so easy to get pulled into the trap of believing we need to do more in order to have more and to be more. My perceptions of success and self-worth are tied to my productivity. But what if I asked questions to determine the value of my day that were better than ‘what did I get done?’? Questions that were more aligned with my values and what really matters to me right now.

How deeply did I love and allow myself to be loved today?

Did I express love and appreciation for people I care about?

Who did I connect with? Did I form new connections or strengthen old ones?

What opportunities will I have to do this better tomorrow?

Filed Under: Journal Tagged With: love, productivity, questions, relationships

Book Review: Making Ideas Happen

December 19, 2010 By Clare 1 Comment

Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and RealityMaking Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality by Scott Belsky

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Enjoyable read with some good ideas. A couple of the parts that really ‘stuck’ were:
– the danger of focusing too much on idea generation at the expense of the execution phase (becoming addicted to the ‘brain-spinning indulgence of idea generation’)
– the three types of people (dreamers, doers and incrementalists)
– importance of follow up and persistence
– need to share ideas (‘the more people who lie awake in bed thinking about your idea, the better’)

The book also goes into detail about the Action Method (personal productivity/project management/to-do system) which I found quite interesting, but it’s not a system that I’ve implemented or that I think could work for me (at least not at this point in time). [Read more…]

Filed Under: Books Tagged With: book, Goodreads, ideas, productivity

But what have you shipped?

May 31, 2010 By Clare Leave a Comment

What have you done with your connection skills that has been worthy of criticism, that moved the dial and that changed the world?

Go, do that.

Filed Under: Link Tagged With: action, productivity, Seth Godin, work

Why you can’t work at work

March 12, 2010 By Clare Leave a Comment

Jason Fried (from 37signals) on why you can’t work at work.

Filed Under: Video Tagged With: 37signals, Big Think, distraction, Jason Fried, productivity, work

15 Ways to Be More Productive

March 9, 2010 By Clare 1 Comment

This slideshow from Inc.com features some useful productivity tips from a number of company founders/CEOs.

I like Caterina Fake’s strategy for meetings:

There would be an agenda distributed before the meeting. Everybody would stand. At the beginning of the meeting, everyone would drink 16 ounces of water. We would discuss everything on the agenda, make all the decisions that needed to be made, and the meeting would be over when the first person had to go to the bathroom.

And Krissi Barr’s tips on focus:

If I think something is going to take me an hour, I give myself 40 minutes. By shrinking your mental deadlines, you work faster and with greater focus. I also schedule time every week on my calendar for quiet, concentrated PowerTime where I only work on my most important activities.

Not so sure about Jordan Zimmerman’s strategy though:

Also, cut down on sleep. Why would you sleep when it’s time to live? Sleeping isn’t living. You sleep when you die.

Filed Under: Journal Tagged With: productivity, work

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