Better Than Not

So many times I have thought that I just cannot do something.  I waited too long, I’m too old or too young, there is no point and so on.  One day I was giving the missionaries from my church a ride to a town that was an hour away.  I was busy with oil pumps and had to work late, and even later since I gave the missionaries the ride.

When I told my wife about it later I remember saying, “It’s good to be around the missionaries, or at least it is better than not being around them.”

For whatever reason that really stuck out to me.  How many things that we decide to do or not do are better for us if we do them?  Many times things are binary, it is simply better that we did them.  Of course there are those things that we have done that it would have been better that we didn’t, but I find that there are many more things that we should have done that we didn’t.

Safeguarding time by not using it?

One of my faults is that I won’t do many things cause it takes up time…time that I could be doing something more important…as soon as I find out what that is.  Or time that I could be sleeping…since I always need to catch up on sleep.  It seems that I always hoard my time thinking that it will help me, when really, the time passes whether I do something with it or not.  So, simply put, it is better to do something with the time you have, rather than nothing.

Are you hoarding your time?

Can’t Blame Wife and Kids

Near the end of April my wife and kids went to the States to help my wife’s sister with her first baby.  I was excited for the time to get a lot done on my own projects that I thought the wife and kids were keeping me from getting done. I was even gonna have a little blog series on all the things that I did while they were away…sadly I didn’t really do much…

Sure I did a lot of good work at my day job, but when I got home I spaced out.  And yeah I did clean the house, but really when it stays clean after you clean it, it is not as big of an accomplishment.  Probably the best thing that I did do was go exercise about three times in the week that my wife and kids were gone.

This was a fantastic eye opener.  Namely that it is not my wife and kids that are keeping me from getting things done…it is not that I don’t have enough time or that the conditions are not right.  The problem is with me and the habit that I have formed and concealed by blaming all other aspects of my life for the laziness that I excel at.

They have been back for a few days now and for whatever reason I am finally kicking myself into gear again to get some things (outside of maintaining my existence) done!

What habits or consequences are you suffering and blaming on others?

The Evolution of My Checklist

The thought that is most pre-dominantly on my mind is breaking away from mediocrity.  I can feel the slimly effects of being mundane, un-disciplined, and generally lazy.  Can’t you feel it?  Can you see it all around you?  Does it consume you and pain you as much as it does I?  That is the reason for my checklist.  To do the many little things that I believe if I can master then I could master more with my own life.

 

Like most good ideas that I have, this has stewed in my mind for quite some time.  When I finally made myself do it, it was a simple list of things that I should do everyday.  If I did them I got one point for each item.  This was great for all those days that I sit and veg and think that there are things that I should do…but wasted to much time trying to decide on what to do.  With this list I simply scanned it and did whatever was easiest and then carried on through the list if I was at all capable of doing and of the items.  However I did feel that it was lacking so I tried making another version.

 

 

This list is pretty much the same, a few changes to some items, added some checkboxes, and some notes at the bottom to help me figure out how to get the most from my day.  When I finally started to crunch through this list on a daily basis I found that there were some days that I did really well but I did not do the items on the list.  So I decided that I would use “The Wheel of Life” as describe by Dan Miller.  Then I would make a buffet that I could pick and choose items and try to reach 45 points a day to make myself active and productive.

 

This is the final version that I am currently working with.  So far it has served me well.  I have not vastly improved though and I wonder if I put too many things that I never allow myself to sit down and get something done that takes more time.  I also really need to have a better point system where writing a blog post is worth 5 points since they take a little more time and effort.

If nothing else this checklist gets me in to do something with my day if I am becoming stagnate.  Another problem is that most of my side work is done at night after the kids are i bed and the wife is doing one of her projects…and getting to bed on time almost never happens.

So I would say that it is worth it to have a checklist like this.  At least it has proven better than not having one at all… I have tried deciding to scrap it and just keep myself active, but that has simply not worked.  Also having a point based system like this makes it a game where I try to score higher all the time.

What are some techniques that you have used to keep yourself active and improving each day?

I’m Always Thinking…

Do you have a million good ideas?  I mean literally a million, or if not that many then at least a whole lot of ideas that just fill your brain with ecstasy?  I know that I do, and I absolutely love it.  It is probably one of the things that I will always un-shamefully love about about myself.  But there is a dark side to it as well…

Have you ever felt disgusted with yourself?  Yes, you and I have all these amazing ideas, and what do we have to show for it?  I have tried many times to get in the habit of always writing my ideas down, because I know that they have a very short shelf life.  And if you have lost an idea and trying to think it back up, I can almost guarantee you will not retrieve it in its full splendour.

I had written the idea of a YouTube series that I would start about just the journey of attempting to be successful.  It would be really cool.  I wrote it down in some detail… Then forgot about it…well not really it was always in my mind, more and more ideas about it came to my mind.  But I decided it was alright I will start on it in a month or two.  Then one day as I was cleaning up my mess of a would be office in the basement I found the notes.  IT WAS MORE THAN A YEAR that I had these awesome ideas and I had not done a single thing for it! 

I felt gross about myself, and for good reason.  No matter how great of an idea that I have, it means nothing because it was not acted upon.  Enter the Matthew Effect, I have been in ruts for ideas since I have not used the great ones I have had.

There are some fantastic articles on Lifehacker that helped me really get the sting and the importance of this concept.

http://lifehacker.com/stop-waiting-on-your-ideas-and-get-them-out-the-door-no-476459071

http://paidtoexist.com/why-you-need-to-start-now-infographic/

http://lifehacker.com/seeking-inspiration-stop-looking-and-start-doing-476417146

Another side of the coin is that I do not want to become one of those people that I loathe… The idea guy (or gal).  The person who will walk through an idea and get all excited and when you ask them how they will do it… they shrug and say, “Someone else will do it for me…I am the idea guy…”  I almost want to slap them right then and there.

As of this post I am re-committing to acting on ideas and ceasing the trap of procrastinating and day dreaming that something good might come of just having an idea and not acting on it.  Will you do the same?

P.S. Here are some of the YouTube videos I have attempted to make.

Digital Discipline Part 6: Be Actually Social with Technology

I have never enjoyed learning and experimenting with technology than I did when I was in a Linux User Group in Utah.  When we actually meet up and discussed why Open Source and Free Software were important.  What programs we each liked to use.  The history that we had as little hackers breaking our parents computers and so on.

I have never reached the same level of satisfaction from online social interaction, despite the topics or the memories or what have you.  I will endeavor not to beat this dead horse, cause everyone laments that Social Media is not social and it makes us closed off to the world and so on.  But I will just express my experiences and thoughts as I have waded through all of this.

When I was a younger teenager I would chat on ICQ…I can still hear all the little sound bites that alert you of messages.  That may have been the beginning of the downward spiral of negative affects of Social Media…because I could not communicate as openly with a girlfriend face to face as I could chatting through ICQ.

In my experience if you want something done, Social Media is the last place to go.  If you want to go out to dinner or a movie with a friend…I guess you could make a post…but all those kind of posts seem to not get the wanted response…just frivolous questions and then saying they sadly cannot make it.

Social Media has not turned the internet into the romanticized version of the internet we thought it would be in 1995.  I love the movie Hackers….where hackers unite and change street lights and what not.  But when you have a question or a project it gets very little attention for the most part.  If you are a programmer and need help, I think the best thing is to use Stack Overflow: 
http://stackoverflow.com/

Sometimes you can sell stuff…

My desire is that we keep using Social Media and get a lot of enjoyment out of it, but let’s hang out and see each others faces…a lot of search that I am sure you can Google says that you will feel better if you do!

Just think of what Social Media offers you, a quick little interaction to feel that you still exist to acquaintances…do you want to spend your whole day on that?

Digital Discipline Part 5: Getting All that you Need to Excel

With technology I believe that you have all you need to excel.  And perhaps if you have a little less then you are forced to be creative and still excel as much as the next guy.

My favorite example is when I was going to community college and working a graveyard job.  There was a lot of content to remember from a human anatomy class and there was no way that I could do it.  But earlier I had taken the plunge and got a 30 gig iPod (this was well before the iPhone) and I also splurged on a add on recorder.  So I recorded the lectures and then listened to them while at work (when I could).

There are a lot of ways that you can use the simple and free technologies that are available to you to excel in whatever endeavor that you might have.  Below I have some examples that I have done…be careful though, I have fallen into the trap of spending too much time creating these and not really using them.  If it is more important to learn the thing you are formatting into technology, then give yourself a time limit and then use what you have made or formatted even if it is not perfect or pretty!

- Using Smartphone notes to memorize something
If you need to memorize something by reading then the notes app on your phone is perfect.  Don’t over complicate it, just type in the note, or email the note to yourself and copy and paste…then simply look, read aloud, and repeat.

- Using audio recordings to memorize something or reprogram yourself
Your brain is an amazing thing…but it works in its own way.  Repetition is the best way for the brain to retain something…Oh but you are so busy and have no time.  Well you drive or walk places, you listen to endless radio and whatever you may have on your iPod.  Record something that you want to retain and be able to recall and listen to that over and over again.

- Creating your own website with things to remember and information you want readily available
When I start a new job there is a ton to remember and in this fluctuating job market your employer wants you to learn it quickly and be competent ASAP!  At a few different jobs I have created myself a website with links to task and their explanation or processes.  Also part names and numbers, contacts, and even some javascript for making a custom item that the company sells!
See: Having and Internal Website 
http://hartsoffice.wordpress.com/2012/06/29/having-an-internal-website/

- Use Smartphone, computer, portable apps, spreadsheets and other programs to map and maintain you life or career
Portable apps are a Godsend if you are around a lot of Windows machines and need to have the same browser with the same settings and many other apps that are good for the student, the web programmer or even the gamer!  Check out their site: 
http://portableapps.com/

These are just some of my ideas, be as creative as you like, but also make sure to focus your creativity like a laser beam to get the most benefit  this blog post series is all about the discipline!

Digital Discipline Part 4: Scattered Brain on the Computer

When you sit down to the computer you (or at least I) have either a million things that you want to do and maybe do a little in all of them…or you have nothing to do and you fabricate things to do that…really…is still not doing anything.  Such things as:

- update Twitter
- update Facebook
- Fill up my Buffer queue for Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
- Build a website
- Learn more HTML, CSS, Javascript or PHP
- Read the news about whats new and cool
- Read your social media feeds
- Read or write blog posts
- Build an android app
- Work on a clients project
- Create computer courses curriculum
- Stream music
- Download podcast
- …..Listen to podcasts….
- Listen to audio books

And this is just a quick and dirty list of things that eat up all my time when I sit down at the computer.  But the sad thing is that I never do any of them well.  Just try to develop an app or a website while listening to a podcast.  You will either not hear anything the podcast says and struggle through making a website and having to re-align yourself with what you are trying to accomplish.  Or you will somewhat hear what the podcast is saying and be dabbling at best in your development.

The scattered brain is just that, scattered, and technology will not solve this for you.  All the todo lists, reminders and widgets will simply add to your scattered attention.  While nothing in my quick and dirty list is a waste of time in and of itself.  But dabbling in all of them thinking you are making progress in any of them…well then it is all a waste a time in my experience.

The solution that I have found and recommend is tunnel vision.  Take one thing such as learning Javascript, which is what I have been working on lately, and focus just on that for an hour.  Then you will make strides in actually learning and retaining!

Also…and possibly more important…is not getting on the computer if you have no reason…that will lead to wasting time or even doing stuff online that you really shouldn’t…

Does your computer help you stay organize or give you a nightmare of more stuff to deal with?

Digital Discipline Part 3: Any Sort of Self Control

Can make yourself not check you Facebook feed for one day? I don’t even care if you update your own status but can you do the dishes or clean your house instead if it is needed?

Kids, code, or blog? The choice is yours…

How about your emails? I know that almost all my emails are really just a waste of time and perhaps I should figure out a way to stop those emails from coming in…but then I would have no emails…

How about Netflix? A service that lets us watch a million different movies and shows at any time that we please, but of course we are all so busy that we have to watch when it might be better to catch up on sleep or a million other worthy tasks.

When people curse technology saying that it has complicated things more than it has helped…my mind blows up a little…of course I even say this from time to time when I am struggling to repair a computer…  But really technology helps us in leaps and bounds, it is not technology’s fault that we have enslaved ourselves to using it in a wasteful manner!

So what I am driving at here is that in digital discipline we must stop blaming technology as the problem.  In all reality we could call this series of blog posts “Self Discipline” but I like having the emphasis in technology.  A good book to read or listen to to build some self control is: “The Willpower Instinct” 

The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do To Get More of It

A concept that can be used to help us get more from technology is Clearing to Neutral : 
http://updates.lifehacker.com/post/34850636076/stop-procrastinating-by-clearing-to-neutral

I have found this to be the best way to use and enjoy technology.  I prepare my iPod or Android phone the night before with audiobooks or podcasts that I want to listen to, then on the morrow when I hope in the work truck to be on the road for a few hours I just hit play.  I know that if I did not prepare that it would only take me a couple of minutes to que something up or just find something to play for background noise.  But it seem that life is, for whatever reason, too busy for that, and if I am not prepared or at least put some forethought into it, that I end up mindlessly listening to the radio…which is really a terrible option with all the great content I have stored on various devices.

The next issue is taking things personally or just wanting a perfect customization so badly that you lose sleep over it.  Yeah we all thought we were the cool hacker that stayed up all night drinking Jolt or Red Bulls, but after you realize that no one cares and you figure out that you stayed up all night to try and find the perfect wallpaper for your newly installed Linux laptop…there might be problems…

When something would not work I would take it as a personal insult and when I finally won (many times 3-4 in the morning) I would boast my victory…and then crash and wake up in a few hours and have the day from Hell!  So…many times it is not worth it, there are a few times when it is worth it and is totally appropriate, like getting a project done for a client.

What use of technology has your self control at ransom?

Digital Discipline Part 2: iPhone Scrubbing

My iPhone jailbreaks were a little on the fritz and I just ignored it. But then I updated my legit apps through the app store and then updated my Cydia apps.

I had to delete all my podcasts to get enough room and after all the updates I decided that I needed to simplify.

A cluttered iPhone is like a messy kitchen!

First I will clean out the legit apps.

- Bad Piggies (126 MB)
I love this game, but lately I cannot spend the time it takes to figure out the puzzles. No matter, I purchased the app so I can download it later if I so desire.

- Angry Birds Star Wars (109 MB)
Same as above.

- Angry Birds Space (51 MB)
Same as above.

iBooks (67.1 MB)
I got the Kindle app, but I did re-download this when there was an epub book that I wanted to read.

- Skype (49 MB)
Sorry but the video chat is not worth it. I will go to a computer or a tablet to use Skype.

- Reminder Free (48 MB)
Neat app, but I never use it…

- Twonky (37 MB)
Awesome app, but I never leave my machine on to use as a server, maybe if I pay for the service and could stream all the audio from my computer while I was on the road…but until then I will never use this app.

- eBay (27 MB)
Never use it.

- Cue (24 MB)
Just another reminder app, a great one, but I never use it.

- FTPOnTheGo (23 MB)
The serious use of an FTP client is just not feasible from an iPhone. A high capcity Android device maybe, but definitely not from an iPhone.

- RH (16 MB)
A side scroller game that I never played after the first time of trying it.

- Starcraft 2 Guide (14 MB)
Never read it…

- Then I deleted a bunch of todo and habit forming apps that I never touched.

After all that I had 1.1 gigs freed up on my 8 gig iPhone, so then I decided to look through the jailbroke apps, the only thing that I deleted was XBMC since I never used it and there is no way I could fit a ton of movies on my phone. After that I had 1.3 gigs available.

So the last and the best thing to free up some space was unloading all the pictures from my phone to my laptop. My space double to 2.6 gigs!

Conclusion:

Since my old Android phone (16 gig) and an old iPod (8 gigs) have all my audio books, there is no reason to clutter up my phone with all of that. Also there is no reason to have a ton of apps that I never use just giving me more nonsense to wade through when I go to use my phone.

 

Digital Discipline Part 1: An Intro to My Idea

This has been something that has been in my mind for the last 6 months or maybe even the last year if I would have been keeping a proper journal. I am a techno geek, I love gadgets, I love computers and I love nifty programs and websites. I go through phases of loving and being disgusted by social network sites. I had a Twitter account a long time ago and it seemed that it was a million people talking and no one listening.

My daughter Chloe trying to figure out how the touch screen on this flip phone works…

You cannot promote yourself or your wares, whatever they might be. Everyone posts quotes left and right, which I don’t mind…but it is still not a conversation. It is a bunch of people talking at you hoping that you will buy into whatever they are selling.

I use to be extremely excited about all forms of technology. When the iPhone was first coming out my brain exploded with all the possibilities. I could run a business from my phone! From the marketing to the quotes on services. Even the FTP accounts and the Joomla administration could all be done from the phone!

But alas! The simple truth is that real business is done when you get clients or customers. Customers give money to people they can trust, and they trust people who they can talk to, have a conversation with, and hold accountable for the services or products that they purchased.

And while Smartphones can do so much they do not improve how we communicate or work. If anything I find all the alerts and buzzings from my phone as a nuisance and treat it almost like spam. But oddly enough the first thing I do when I wake in the morning is check my email on my phone, and more likely than not I delete all of them as they are spam or marketing of some sort.
With this series that I have dubbed “Digital Discipline” I hope to move myself, and anyone else that is interested into a new era of technology. Not the gadgets and computers themselves…but our on self discipline to use all the technology around us to our utmost benefit and improvement.

We could be learning new languages, improving the knowledge to become the best in our fields and careers, and improving habits. The most important thing is not use it when we don’t need or really want to. Go to bed if you are low on sleep. Make a phone call to someone if you are lonely or just looking for some human interaction instead of trolling down your facebook page replying to everyone wither or not you care about what they have written.

The world at large seems to be socially caving in on itself and it is no fault of the software out there, much of it works in a fantastic manner.

Can you see the negative affects that technology is having in your life? Is it outweighing the positive effects?