Posts from — October 2008

I am kind of a pen freak.  My favorite are the Pilot G2 gel pens that seem to glide across the page of my favorite Moleskin notebooks.  I have learned one of the most important parts of personal productivity is your ability to keep and take good notes and part and parcel to that is having a good pen as well as pad.  In a future post I will go over how I have my Moleskin set up but for now let me just say how important I believe it is to always have a pen and notebook with you even if you carry a trusty electronic capture device.  I love my iPhone but when I am brainstorming and really trying to diagram out my projects nothing can replace what I can draw up with the tips of my fingers.

Yesterday afternoon during lunch I caught the fourth hour of The Today Show with Kathy Lee Gifford, which by the way explains to me a lot about what is wrong with America.  In one of their segments they had a handwriting specialist on that examined what style of writing had to say about someones personality.  I have always been told that I have very unique penmanship so when I found this link at www.tul.com which gives some free analysis I gave it a try.  Since the way I write is pretty different it didn’t always match up, but the doctor and video analysis it gives you after you are done is pretty funny and for me was pretty accurate.

Click here for the official announcement from AT&T

Find a Starbucks location near you.

Find a Barnes & Noble location near you

All other AT&T Hotspot locations here – more than 17,000 nationwide

UPDATE: Engadget.com now reporting that this will also work (for now) on your home computer or laptop if you switch your browser to mobile Safari and type in your iPhone mobile number.

Thoughts come at the most random times.  For me it is almost always while I am in the shower and while I am driving.  I still have yet to come up with the idea for the shower but I do have a solution for the car or in any other situation where you need to make a hands-free note: Jott.com.

My cell phone is programmed to dial up (866) JOTT-123 anytime I need to make a 15-30 second note to myself or even someone else.  Pulling out of work I will all of the sudden remember that I forgot to get Mr. Portwood the TPS report with the new coversheet on it.  Thats ok – I just dial Jott and say, “First thing in the morning make sure to get Portwood the TPS report.” Jott will then convert my voice into an email that goes straight to my inbox within about 10 minutes.

Until about 3 months ago Jott was completely free, however, most of the services still today come at no cost.  Additional things that I use Jott for are:

Updating my status on Facebook and Twitter

Sending myself a task on Remember the Milk (more on this cool web app later)

Sending someone an email or text message (now part of premium service)

Posting to my blog (tried and tested on Blogger and WordPress)

Give it a test.  Its not always 100% accurate, but I would say that about 90% of my words now are right on.  Do not expect Jott to serve as your personal secretary – the woman on the other line cuts you off at about the 30 second mark so dont expect it to transcribe your entire days notes at that incredibly captivating continuing education course you just sat through.

If you have an iPhone Jott has released a FREE app that will do all the dirty work minus a phone call.

I have been off-line for a while and as you can see I have also taken down the previous content on the site.  To be honest writing about politics and the economy was just to depressing and I think there are others who do it a whole lot better with a voice that reaches far more people.  Do not misunderstand me, I will continue my punditry, however with the sea of like themed blogs on the political and economic front I do not think another website about those subjects are the best format for my message.  A few weeks back I saw the following from a favorite website despair.com :

I have no desire to be one of those people.  If I am going to contribute to an online community of bloggers I want it to be meaningful and reaching.  With that in mind I am going to venture into something that I share an equal enthusiasm for but that I do not see enough good content online of: personal productivity.  From Stephen Covey to most recently David Allen I have always had an intense interest in not only how to get more out of my time but how to actually get things done.  Going forward this website will be dedicated to the pursuit of all the “life-hacks” I have learned in the pursuit of getting things done.  I hope you will send feedback and share ideas – Lord knows no one has the corner on all the good ideas and secrets out there.  My initial project will be to talk about the Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology as taught by David Allen.  There has been a growing online community out there that has really embraced the practice and theory behind this method and yet no one I know personally has ever heard of David Allen or GTD.

Other areas of getting things done and life-hacks that I want to explore include:

Tips and tricks to becoming a better consumer

How to process email and get your inbox to zero

How to plan

How to set and reach goals

How to get the most out of your money

The best tech devices and software to help you get things done (especially how it relates to my latest addiction: the iPhone)

So, if you have kept me on your blogroll or RSS Feed in this past month, thank you.  I am back.  You may need to recatagorize me but I hope in the end you will like what you see.