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There’s that dirty mind of yours acting up again

Sorry to disappoint you: no sex tips for you here today. But there is a worthwhile reminder for you.

SEOmoz has a neat post on Nielsen’s latest study of website readers. The study shows that, as the number of words on a web page go up, the percentage of words read goes down.

So, what does that mean for you?

I think it is just another good reminder to be as concise as practical with our written products, from email to Board briefings. With our increasingly hectic pace, it has become a part of human nature to skim as much written material as possible. But, with short pieces, skimming is less necessary and we can digest the whole content pretty quickly.

Of course not all written products can be compacted without loss of value. For example, when you want to read a good How To, you want all of the practical detail in that article that you need.

The bottom line, of course, is that we should always keep our audiences needs in mind and write accordingly.

I think I’ll take my own advice and end here.

I came across several really great articles during the past several days, and am sharing them with you. Some are technology-related, and some address productivity. So, we’ve got the bases covered, eh?

• First up is a link from 43folders, which addresses a couple of Bruce Lee’s productivity principles. (This article in turn links to an article on The Positivity Blog, a neat blog I had not heard of, but have just added to my feed reader.) I especially like Grant’s focus on hacking away at the unessentials.
• Next on the list is another article from 43folders: Merlin Mann talking about James Fallows’ use of GTD Apps. You can tell from reading this where I got the idea to talk about “buttload.” I love Merlin’s reminder, shown in the following quote:

As ever, though, friends, just remember: GTD’s power is in what it does to your approach and to your thinking; it’s not about magic beans and doo-dahs. Never allow yourself to obsess over tools to the exclusion of actually completing tasks. This is about action.

You all know I am in 100% agreement with Merlin on this. Living it can be a different matter, though, as we all know, but it speaks to one of my key productivity mantras. [click to continue...]

About a month ago, I challenged myself to use Pure GTD. The motivation for this was:

• Feeling that my method of combining Covey and GTD techniques were getting stale
• My watching one of David Allen’s inspiring GTD videos.

Well, it just has not worked for me. I do like, and use, many of the GTD techniques, such as organization by context, the 2-minute rule, keeping my list constantly up-to-date as new ideas and tasks emerge, and so on.

But, I also like having a plan for my day. I like setting down and deciding what is really important to me and what really has to be done this day and this week. I do not use the A, B, and methods of prioritizing, but other than that, my day looks like a typical FranklinCovey-type schedule. That’s what works for me. [By the way, while I do not use A/B/C priorities, I work at being mindful of whether a task is urgent and important, not urgent and important, and so on.] [click to continue...]

Having just gone through a hard-reset of my Dell x51v, and having to reload software on it, reminded me that several of you have asked what applications I have on my Pocket PC. So, this article lists the ones that are actually loaded on my Dell. This is not a complete list of the Pocket PC software I own, as that list has almost 90 products on it, but it is the list of what I am actually using at present.

• Productivity: Agenda Fusion, Phatnotes, eWallet, ListPro, PhatPad
• Text Input: Calligrapher, Pocket Fitaly
• Readers: eReader, MS Reader, Mobipocket Reader, iSilo, Pocket Bible
• Utilities: Pocket Controller Pro, MemMaid, Magic Button, SKtools, Resco Explorer, CheckNotifications, ClearNotify
• Games: Bejeweled, Gamebox Asia

If you are surprised that you don’t see Pocket Informant in the list, know that I do like PI a lot. I own it and Agenda Fusion and Ulti-Planner and Agendus for Windows Mobile, but it makes no sense to have all of those loaded on my device. I happen to like Agenda Fusion a little bit better than Pocket Informant, mostly because I like its views better and it is a little easier to set up. Pocket Informant has more options but those are generally just not that important to me. (Its integration with Phatnotes is very nice, though.)

Having said that, I am pretty fickled when it comes to choosing between AF and PI, and could easily switch over to PI. [click to continue...]

My apologies to anyone who had difficulty accessing the site earlier tonight. The shared server that I am on is apparently getting overloaded, as indicated in the following figure: [click to continue...]

In this article I want to discuss the subject of problems. It is my hope that doing this will help you think about some of your problems in a new light, and perhaps help you achieve that solution you’ve been hoping for.

To start off, we’ll talk through some broad concepts. Then I will give you a case study for you to think about: a problem that I have had and how I am now seeing it in a new light.

The Basics

Though we probably don’t stop to think about it very often, our human nature is that we thrive on problems. Solving problems

• can make us feel useful and needed
• keeps our minds active, interested, and engaged

This not only contributes to our emotional health: it can also keep our brains from “decaying” as we age.

Said another way: it keeps us from being bored. I have several wonderful friends who could retire, but they have not done so because they think retirement would be boring. In fact there are many people who say they don’t want to believe in a heaven, because it sounds incredibly boring.

• The importance of keeping our minds engaged is one of the key reasons I decided to blog after I retired, and it is the reason I read a lot of books on how scientists are tackling some fascinating questions.

But, problems can bring you down, too. And, they don’t even have to be significant: just persistent. The persistence of problems can create a sense of helplessness, which probably accounts for why antidepressants are the most prescribed drug in the US. For example, many of the problems you deal with in raising a teenager can be like this: not really all that significant in the scheme of things, but persistent to the point of making you feel like you are helpless in solving them. [click to continue...]

I am officially declaring the opening of Technoholics Anonymous. Anyone who is a recovering technoholic, like I am, can join by just posting an “I am a technoholic” comment below.

Are there any benefits? Well, yes: you could save a fortune by not buying every new gadget that comes out. And, you get to see that you are not alone in being a technoholic.

So, what is a technoholic? You are a technoholic when: [click to continue...]