I think I'm going to take a short break from writing. I'm doing this so that I can write a few good articles and release them at a selected time interval instead of writing short filler articles; sacrificing the quality in the process.
This morning's post is going to be an open ended question. I've noticed that a lot of blogs are trying different memetic schemes to try and lure people to their site such as ViralLinks and ViralTags. I thought about using these for awhile, but decided not to. They seemed to be a good idea at first, but I think they are too reminiscent of MySpace and the like. The best way to get people to your blog is good content (a.k.a. "pillar content"), thats a no brainer, but what other successful ways do you readers use to get people to your blog?
I've noticed that a lot of people use AdWords/AdSense with their blog to either make money or advertise. In my internet stumblings (which I'm so prone to do), I came across Google Analytics. I was blown away by the detail of everything.
Recently, during my online stumblings, I came across a site that gives out For Pay software out FREE everyday! The site is Giveaway Of The Day. Here is an excerpt from their About Page.
Giveaway of the day is a win-win solution for both publishers and clients
The idea behind this initiative is that many sites and publishers offer trial downloads; but only we offer giveaway downloads. What does that mean?
Basically, every day we nominate one software title that will be a Giveaway title of that day. The software will be available for download for 24 hours (or more, if agreed by software publisher) and that software will be absolutely free. That means - not a trial, not a limited version - but a registered and legal version of the software will be free for our visitors*.
The software product will be presented in its full functionality, without any limitations save for those mentioned in Terms and Conditions.
The download link will remain on our web-site for the agreed period of time, together with the review of the software product and the information about other products from the software publisher presenting the giveaway title.
Both reviews and the information on the product line will remain active even when the Giveaway period is over.
The information about Giveaway of the day and the participants of this initiative will be included in our newsletters and distributed among our visitors and subscribers.
We will pay the software publisher for the Giveaway license, and our visitors will only receive those after downloading a special verification program and agreeing to the Terms and Conditions, thus protecting software publishers’ interests and making our initiative beneficial for both clients and publishing companies.
We believe that Giveaway of the day will allow both publishers and clients to meet each other and win together with our initiative.
These were borrowed from This Site.
I recently stumbled onto Helium.com, which is a site that pays you to post, yet still has a warm community feel to it. I posted this article on Saying No over there and thought it would be applicable here since it might help some readers with their habit of over committing. So without further adieu:
I used to always say Yes to people even though, deep down inside, I was screaming NOOOOOO!
I recently attended a class at my church that studied the book titled "Boundaries" by Townsend and Cloud. In this class, we discovered how to verbalize our internal No instead of just submitting to whatever the request on us was. I think the hardest thing about saying No is that you risk losing the relationship with the person you are saying No to.
In order for us to overcome that fear, we have to realize that person's relationship with us probably isn't very valuable to them if they are willing to get angry at us simply for our No response.
People in "real" relationships should be very accepting and respect the other person's No. Please don’t take this to mean that this gives you free reign to respond in whatever manner you choose. It is best to give a courteous No, instead of a contemptuous remark.
I have noticed that people who do not have good boundaries (the ability to make your No mean No, and your Yes mean Yes) are usually the ones that do not respect the No answers of other people. Once you start to acquire the ability to say No, you will naturally gravitate toward people who share this ability with you.
The processes of learning how to say No can be quite difficult, as it forces you to embark on a lifestyle changing journey. You will begin to especially notice situations where you deeply want to say No, yet still have this significant urge to say Yes. If your internal response is an automatic Yes or a Maybe, you should say No. If it is a No, then you should stop, contemplate your answer, and decide whether or not this is the answer you want to give.
I say this because, when you are starting your new life of boundaries, your automatic response will be to give a Yes answer. This is why we must counter it with a No. Even if their request of you is a valid, rational one, the giving of a No answer helps to break the habit of saying Yes automatically.
The sense of accomplishment that comes when you begin to synchronize your external and internal No is overwhelming. Start out small with friends and family you are close to, and gradually transition into more superficial relationships. The processes will take some time, but before long, you’ll be saying NO with the rest of them!
This post is an update on the Custom GTD System post.
I've added another element to my posting icons. As you may remember, The ones I currently use are $, 
,
,
. I've added P to the list.
P stands for Project. I use this to designate that I want to start a new project but haven't thought of any Next Actions yet. If I have thought of Next Actions then I'll append an -> after the P and then enter a Next Action. For example:
P Build Shelving unit -> Bring cardboard boxes home from work
If I want to add a Next Action to an already existing project I use the -> after the action name, and then I add the project name. For example: Get tape -> Shelving Unit
I've also started using N for Personal Note, - is now reserved for multi-line entries:
N Smile! This is an entry
- thats spans more than one line.
I've started a GTD spinoff system that seems to be getting the job done fairly well. I take an Unmodded PocketMod (I don't use any of the mods, I just fold a piece of paper) and start using it for my capture device.
Any money transactions I make, I put a $ symbol next to it (e.g. $ Lunch 2.00, $ Gas 10.00). If its a TODO Item I make a box next to it, so I can check it off when the task is complete. If its a note to self, i usually don't add anything special. If I can't finish a task by the end of the day, I put a circle around my box by the task. Here is an example.
$ Lunch 4.00 (Money transaction) Take out trash (Completed Task) Call Dad (Yet to be completed)
- Sunday is father's day (Note to self) Clean Room (Task to be completed tomorrow)
(*Google sucks when it comes to graphics, took me awhile to figure the best way to stick those images I made in there :: Images created with the GIMP.)
In the morning, I review my PocketMod of the previous day and add any entries that have circles. I also check my Google Calendar and add anything that happens to be there for that specific day.
At the end of the day i put my PocketMod in my Review box (a cardboard box) and at the end of the week, I review my PocketMods (I have only been doing this for a couple of days, so this is still a work in progress). Please leave comments or any ideas you have for how you think I can improve my system.
-- SideNote -- Preview your posts before you publish them, or else they can get ugly.
I recently stumbled across a cool little program called TabPad. It operates much like Windows Notepad, with the exception that it supports multiple tabs. Another useful feature of this program is that it allows you to save multiple tabs into a "Tabset" So you can open multiple related text files at once. While writing this, I have open: the article I'm currently writing, my morning routine, my contacts file and my todo file. These are all linked together with a tabset. The user interface of TabPad is very intuitive and is an excellent addition to any GTD collection.
Today I was cleaning my room and I thought of the idea of "RealTags." You take everyday objects (e.g. a phone charger) and apply a "tag" to it, (e.g. "chargers"). I decided to assign everything in my room a tag, then proceeded to clean up everything by tag. I started with things i tagged "trash, so after the first sweep all (most) the trash was picked up. After that, i picked up items tagged "loose paper", then came "books" and so on. Please comment on any way you think you can add on to this meme.
|
|
