Category Archives: remainders

A little something different for the remainders this time around. As some out there may know, I have been a long time practitioner and subscriber to Buddhist philosophy. While I am certainly no zen master, I have used these practices to keep a whole lot of daily stress (and many a personal demon) at bay.

I have recently been impressed by the number of great posts on meditation, mindfulness, zen practices and Buddhism that have been popping up amongst my productivity blog brethren and sisterhood. Here are just a few of the better ones that have caught my attention:

* 43 Folders: Video: Jon Kabat-Zinn on mindfulness and “falling awake” – This is a great commentary and link to a fantastic video of noted meditation and mindfulness expert, Jon Kabat-Zinn. The video was taken at a recent talk he did a Google. If you would like some sort of low impact introduction into the practice of these techniques, I can think of no better place to start than here. The video is longish (about an hour) but well worth tuning out for a bit to tune in.

* Zen Habits: 12 Essential Rules to Live More Like a Zen Monk – A few things that you can take away from the way a buddhist monk lives their daily practice. These include, doing one thing at a time, doing these things slowly, completely and with a deliberate effort to do less in order to appreciate and enjoy more.

* Dumb Little Man: Meditation Techniques for the Busy or Impatient – Meditation does not have to be some difficult, time consuming, years to master task that a lot of people perceive it to be. As a matter of fact, you can incorporate simple meditation into many ordinary daily activities. This post covers exactly that. The shower meditation is a particular favorite of mine. Good stuff.

Kudos to all who continue to allow this stuff to bubble up to the surface. I deeply believe that freedom from stress and worry is only achieved when we learn to let go of the past, allow the future to remain in place, and take real, honest, compassionate, right minded, action in the present. After all, if you waste energy worrying about things you can’t change, then you miss spending that energy right here and now – in this very moment- on the things you can.

Here we go again. Yet another rundown of some of my cool finds as I drift away on the internet…

Proving that you can implement the Getting Things Done system with anything, Kelly Forrister of DavidCo shares an Excel template for GTD that she designed for a client. My little Excel addict, Princess Bethany, would be quite proud.

Are you using Jott yet? Why not? It is the greatest invention since the delete key. I mean, you can make voice notes and have them translated into text and dispatched off to you e-mail inbox, friends or a iety other services. And it’s free! It is truly every kind of awesome. Not only that but Dustin Wax at Lifehack.org has an excellent tutorial on using it to get your GTD on.

Merlin wants to remind you that, while you are doing that capture, via Jott or any other method, make sure you give as much context to that capture as is needed to remember what it is about.

I have to say, it is nice to see Gina at Lifehacker catching the Levenger Circa bug. Addiction LOVES company.

Speaking of Gina and GTD, she practices a much simplified version of it that may just be a revelation to you.

Finally on the GTD front, if you are having issues with getting on board and staying on board, perhaps you need to follow Brett Kelly’s advice and learn that this is about getting into a habit. Getting a system down and working it. Capture, Process, Do, Review, Rinse, Repeat.

Oh, and don’t forget my three favorite productivity tools – The Trash Can, The Delete Key, and The Word “No”.

David Seah has updated all of his print-it-yourself task planning forms for the new year including his wonderful Emergent Task Planner. I use this at work frequently when I want to drill down and focus in on getting a few tasks done. I use them enough that I bought some of the pre-printed version. Good stuff.

I know it has been a while again since my last post. What can I say, I am busier than you <smile>. Once again, I give you the roadside attractions I have captured while driving around the intertubes in my big truck…

David Seah takes a turn with the Inka Pen, a highly portable pen that can attach to your keychain. He seems to like it a lot, despite the fact it gets him stopped by theTSA because it looks like it could be part of a bomb makers toolkit.

Looking to lead a “paperless” life? Well, that is impossible but you can reduce, digitize and organize it better. This is the best article/whitepaper I have seen thus far on how one person gets their paper on, and off. It’s 43 Folders so you know it’s legit.

Dustin Wax at Lifehack.org has some neat index card hackery. The main thing is how to make the ever-so-hard-to-find vertically oriented ones. Of course, that is another reason I just buy the Levenger brand.

Along the same lines, my friend Ryan is rocking it again. This time, he is mashing up Field Notes Brand notebooks with Levenger Pocket Briefcases. Anyone who has seen my well battered Field Notes cover will understand how much the speaks to me.

Lifehacker has a good rundown of how to use the nifty new To-Do features Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard) Mail.