how to organize your life

This is exactly what I was looking for, and I can't wait to try it.  If you're also feeling overwhelmed by your To Do list, maybe you'll find it useful, too.

Paul A. Klipp, agile and lean software development specialist

I have now spoken at two conferences about my time management solution, which is not original, but rather a collection of best practices from several approaches to personal productivity. The presentations were very well-received and I was often urged to document the approach, and so I will attempt to do so here.

From David Allen's Getting Things Done I learned that my brain is for processing, not storage. Most of the stress in my life, perhaps all of it, used to come from the nagging fear that there was something more important that I ought to be doing. From Tony Buzzan I learned that the best way to empty my brain on paper is a mind map. From Steven Covey I learned that I have many roles in life, and the most important are the easiest to forget when budgeting time. From Nick Cernis, the author of Todoodlist, I learned that visualizing my life can be fun. From David Anderson I learned to visualize my workflow and limit my work in process for faster task throughput times. Finally, from Francesco Cirillo, the creator of the Pomodoro technique, I learned to break myself of multi-tasking and the power of focus.

hyperbole and a half

My book group was considering this book, Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened, so I went to look at her blog, and I am in love.  Hilarious, self-deprecating and insightful.  Go here for the danger of a dinosaur costume, and enjoy!

what a seventeen-month-old baby already sees

I took my seventeen-month-old baby to the playground this morning, and she stopped in her tracks on the landing right before going down the slide to stare at a teenage boy, maybe sixteen or seventeen years old, who was rummaging through a trash can for something to eat.  I don't know what made her stop and stare, but at the end of it, she decided she was scared.  She didn't go to her usual winding tube slide and slid down the straight, open slide right into my arms instead.  What did she already detect at such a young age?  It makes me sad, and I hope that boy's future looks up.

On the other side of the tire swing was a man who had just come from surfing in the waves below and was changing into fancy work clothes behind his shiny Volvo.  When he emerged in his shiny shoes, I said, "Presto change-O" and wished him a nice day.  You'd never guess he was the surfer who had walked up the path just moments before.

What different lives.

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