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2676

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: i'd like to buy some discipline please.

« Last post by nudone on September 23, 2006, 11:49 AM »

this is worth reading http://www.stevepavl...iscipline-willpower/

So if willpower can only be used in short, powerful bursts, then what’s the best way to apply it? How do you keep from slipping back into old patterns once the temporary willpower blast is over?

so, if you accept what Pavlina is saying, then if you are waiting for self-discipline to finally kick in and take over your life every single day - forget it, it ain't gonna happen.

i find this shocking. i thought, to become super disciplined would be the conclusion of this DC GTD experiment. clearly this is where i'm going wrong. i'm trying to achieve something that isn't possible.

i've not read everything Pavlina says on the topic of self-discipline yet but i think he's onto something...

2677

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: Procrastination vs. Having Great Fun Wandering

« Last post by nudone on September 23, 2006, 08:55 AM »

i think most procrastination problems are quite trivial and probably can be relabeled in the way you wish. remove the guilt by redefining the 'bad' habit as a 'good' habit, no harm in that really.

i see the only problem is if these habits prevent you from getting on with the 'bigger' task(s). i don't think there is any escaping REAL procrastination when yet another day or another week passes and the REAL task you've set yourself has been avoided yet again.

you can juggle the levels or importance or priority or pleasure as much as you like - the crucial thing is whether you are getting the REAL task done.

of course, if browsing the web or some other activity keeps you sane/happy then it definitely is important. but everything at the right time and in the right place i say. you'll know deep down whether you are just deceiving yourself about how bad a procrastinator you are.

i still think it would help to classify some things as 'work' and other things as 'play'. do your work and reward yourself with play. why would it be any other way.

2678

General Software Discussion / Re: kmplayer, whoa!!!

« Last post by nudone on September 23, 2006, 06:43 AM »

good to hear.

2679

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: overcoming bad hoarding habits tip.

« Last post by nudone on September 23, 2006, 02:10 AM »

well, i do admit i did think about scanning everything in. i haven't simply because i thought it would take too long, i.e. i could be doing something else and, of course, having them on the computer doesn't mean i'll read them either.

i shall have to ponder on it. i guess it would be better to have everything in one place - i just don't like the idea of how long it will take.

how about this instead...

it's an obvious suggestion but with all the extracted pages, you could pick out a couple of articles to take with you when you know you will be going somewhere and there will be time for you to read.

the fact that there will only be a few pages means you'll easily be able to fold them up and carry with you (stick in your back pocket). it's less cumbersome than taking the magazine (or couple of magazines) with you.

in fact, i really like that idea. portable entertainment without the need for batteries and it's allowing you to get through a backlog of stuff you haven't read.

(that must have been said several times already on lifehacker or somewhere - it's so obvious.)

2680

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: Suggest Questions for our interview w/ Mark Forster (Do It Tomorrow Author)

« Last post by nudone on September 23, 2006, 01:56 AM »

i read 'The Now Habit' a couple of weeks back. your uncalendar description sounds right to me (without checking the book again). i don't really remember much about the book except that you could tell it precedes things like GTD and DIT. it's obvious Forster has read it.

overall, the book seemed to be aiming at the psychological problems of procrastination - the underlying cause of it all. well, that's what i took from it.

2681

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: frugal life, pc fasting: do not install any new applications in 30 days

« Last post by nudone on September 23, 2006, 01:37 AM »

urlwolf, that's great to hear you are going to start writing a short story - a month!

i think that is a fantastic idea. please, keep us informed of your progress. it will be encouraging to know what happens.

(i've just remembered that i gave up watching 'neighbours' the australian soap opera about 15 years ago as i finally realised the plots were/are cyclic. with the free time i started to read books - something i never did as the books i read at school put me off for life. anyway, i just mention it as it was one of the most important things i did in my life. if anyone is looking for an extra 30 free minutes a day, then i thoroughly recommend to stop watching soap operas - you'll soon wonder why you ever watched them at all.)

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The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: frugal life, pc fasting: do not install any new applications in 30 days

« Last post by nudone on September 22, 2006, 01:35 PM »

batch working as you might call it.

2683

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: keeping fit kind of tip.

« Last post by nudone on September 22, 2006, 01:31 PM »

yes, i can agree, BUT for the millions of people like me, exercising outside the house just isn't going to work - just yet.

i have a good mountain bike - it's in the shed with flat tires. i used to go out jogging - i have a pair of practically untouched good running shoes in the cupboard. i used to skateboard every day - there's ramp on the next street to my house - i'd be embarrassed to use it.

so, perhaps just for the near future, i'm using the indoor exercise device. it's the easiest thing to do - i don't have to prepare in any way - it takes half an hour and then i forget about it and get on with stuff i would rather be doing.

now, i admit, it's not as fun as other exercises i can think of but i really can't be bothered to do anything else - i just want something that i can turn on and turn off - and now i've realised i can be reading at the same time then i'm obviously getting even more done. i might even start reading some novels i've been meaning to get around to.

in the not too distant future then maybe i will be doing something similar to what you are doing, app, but that will depend on what else i manage to complete first.

2684

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / overcoming bad hoarding habits tip.

« Last post by nudone on September 22, 2006, 01:13 PM »

this isn't rocket science and you'll have to forgive me if it's already been said several times before elsewhere, anyway, here goes...

yet again, i appear to have collected a pile of magazines that i've only glanced through or not even attempted to read at all. why buy them then you may ask. well, i intended to read them eventually, just like many of us collect webpage favorites that are never looked at again i suspect that collecting printed material that just gathers dust is just as common.

part of the attraction and addiction of collecting/hoarding material that is never used is that you at least experience that short burst of 'knowledge is power' sensation - that little thrill that you will be better prepared when the times comes - and so, it is difficult to stop the habit.

of course, after a while the collection grows to such a size that it's physical presence is just an annoyance and the fact that you still haven't read any of it just reminds you that you probably never will.

so, what to do?

get a sharp knife, get the magazines, pick one up and flick through it. see something that looks interesting? good - then cut it out. see something else that looks interesting? good - cut that out too.

now throw the magazine away and pick up another mag from the pile and repeat the process.

you should eventually end up with a nice set of articles that will be worth reading. the extracted pages won't take up much room and they will almost scream at you for attention - so you'll read them. if they are worth keeping then hang on to them - they won't take up much room.

there is an advantage to this hoarding method and that is you don't waste time reading the 'news' sections or other nonsense gossip pages - it's all out of date and is utterly pointless to look at now - so you'll only be reading the bits that are worth it.

2685

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / keeping fit kind of tip.

« Last post by nudone on September 22, 2006, 11:56 AM »

i recently bought an exercise bike at the beginning of the DC GTD experiment with the hope that i'd be able to use it without giving in after a week.

thankfully, i'm still using it but i have only just started to not hate it - and so i come to the tip...

i thought watching TV whilst using the bike would take my mind off the ordeal of sitting there peddling away for 30 minutes. NOT True. i don't think it made any difference from just staring at the wall or out of the window. every time i looked at the clock it looked like time had actually slowed down - i'm pretty convinced that my perception of time did change as trying to guess a one minute passage of time proved that i was way off.

now, the good news is that instead of watching TV and experiencing time grind to a halt, i find that if i read something whilst using the contraption then it seems that time is either running about right or maybe even a bit quicker. i assume that reading requires more effort than watching TV and so my mind is more occupied and so, i forgot about what my legs are doing and the tedious exercise.

i really believe there is a dramatic difference between the two methods of attempted distraction.

if you have recently started a similar exercise routine and you are able to read at the same time then i thoroughly recommend trying it.

maybe listening to a podcast would be just as good as reading but i doubt it - afterall, listening to something is not much different to watching something on TV.

i guess if you could do something that engaged the mind even more than reading, like doing a puzzle, then the passage of time might seem even quicker.

2686

General Software Discussion / Re: Anyone know a good mov (Quicktime) to Mpeg converter

« Last post by nudone on September 22, 2006, 04:43 AM »

KMPLayer is free and will allow you to encode as you watch your video. this has the handy feature of being able to record the entire video or just extracts that you want to keep during playback.

2687

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: Suggest Questions for our interview w/ Mark Forster (Do It Tomorrow Author)

« Last post by nudone on September 21, 2006, 12:37 AM »

thanks, brownstudy. again, it is very illuminating and encouraging to see how you are implementing the techniques.

i think you should become a self-motivation consultant or speaker.

2688

Developer's Corner / Re: The exponential rate at which you seem aquire programming knowledge.

« Last post by nudone on September 20, 2006, 08:03 AM »

i'd apply something similar to learning most 'complex' things. (i think we might have mentioned it before on the forum.)

from my own experience and that which i've noticed in people around me one tends to go through certain stages of 'mastering' a subject.

like layers peeling off an onion. you learn the basics of a subject and believe for a short time afterwards that you have become some kind of 'master' as you didn't believe there was so much depth to the subject whilst you were an ignoramus.

during this interim period it's easy to make a complete fool of yourself when discussing the new topic with someone that has gone beyond the basics. you don't appreciate that they know more and assume yourself to posses similar acumen as them - afterall, you believe you've just learnt a hell of a lot, how could there possibly be more to know.

after this period you, hopefully, start to learn more about the subject and then realise you know practically nothing about the topic at all. you've grasped the underlying principles and can now see that the knowledge other experts poses on the subject makes you look like a buffoon.

beyond this, you gradually accept that there will always be things you don't know about the subject - if anything, as you learn more you realise that there is yet more that you don't know. but at this point the subject is part of you, you have the ability to see the shortcuts and sometimes the connections between disparate areas of the subject.

2689

Living Room / Re: The boy who lived before

« Last post by nudone on September 20, 2006, 06:54 AM »

not sure what it's like outside the UK but there appears to be a trend with TV programs here where they they will show 'paranormal' topics as though they were perfectly normal and acceptable, i.e. without any kind of reference to a 'sceptics' viewpoint.

i'm sure that this is something that has only just started happening over the past few years. admittedly there are programs that still remain unbiased and will try to expound both sides of the 'debate', i'm just kind of alarmed that some program makers have given up with the idea of trying to present a rational argument for 'weird' events.

should i be concerned? people are ill informed enough as it is, maybe it doesn't really matter if they are even less informed - they can always look up these kind of subjects on the web, of course (god help them).

2690

Living Room / Re: raid 0 - lots of fun

« Last post by nudone on September 20, 2006, 06:08 AM »

*UPDATE*

i posted the faulty samsung drive off two days ago, Monday afternoon, and have now just received a new drive posted back to me.

so that took less than 48 hours to get the new drive, which is pretty good in my book.

all i had to do was log into a UK website that deals with these things and get an RMA number, box the drive up, put the RMA number on the box and then post it off. i did have to pay postage for sending the drive but with such a quick turn around i'm not concerned.

so, i can recommend sumsung drives again - i'm very pleased with the service.

2691

Living Room / Re: Interesting Links

« Last post by nudone on September 20, 2006, 06:00 AM »

that Teddy looks amazing. what are the Alice and Squirrel links you mention, Carol?

2692

Living Room / Re: The boy who lived before

« Last post by nudone on September 20, 2006, 05:53 AM »

problem with this is that it's generalising from a random exceptional circumstance.

how many children will tell similar stories that when investigated will amount to nothing of significance. this particular story is just one of those times that something appears to have something more than random connections going on, but they are still random - the reader/viewer/investigator/believer is simply applying significance to events that don't warrant it.

taking from the population of children on this planet that will have 'past-life' stories to tell, you would expect that some of them will match with real life histories - but this isn't because of reincarnation, it's just the small exceptions to the rule where, on the whole, there will be no parts of the story that match with history.

that's how i wish to interpret it anyway.

2693

Living Room / incredible fast shutter liquid photography

« Last post by nudone on September 20, 2006, 01:47 AM »

Martin Waugh's 'Liquid Sculpture'

http://www.liquidsculpture.com/index.htm

2694

General Software Discussion / Re: Bad Design is Harder than Good Design

« Last post by nudone on September 20, 2006, 01:31 AM »

looking forward to seeing more S. ware screencasts.

2695

General Software Discussion / Re: Benefits sell software, not features

« Last post by nudone on September 20, 2006, 01:22 AM »

i'd just say software is much like hardware, if not even worse for being 'throw-away' after a short life span. they may as well print a date on the software box or have it displayed on the splash screen: DO NOT USE THIS SOFTWARE AFTER insert date here that's about 12 months after purchase.

just as we are expected to throw our TV set into the river after about 24 months of use and rush out for a brand new one, we are expected to uninstall a perfectly reasonable piece of software and get the upgrade - regardless of it's new features.

i'm as guilty as anyone. i can't think of many programs that i couldn't be using from five years ago that would be perfectly okay for what i do (probaby even ten years back would still be okay).

i can't think of an example right now but i know that i've seen the 'cool' new features on something and thought i've got to have that - then tried it for a while and then just found myself doing it the 'old' way. the old 'uncool' way might take longer but it's easier to remember or maybe it was actually just more 'fun' to do it that way - sometimes it's just nice to mess around and waste time on the pc.

as for "do features sell software": i bet you could just stamp a new version number onto a bit of software with absolutely no new features and it would still sell to people that had bought the previous version. a higher version number means it's better doesn't it - who cares if it does anything new.

2696

Living Room / Re: Just HOW do you tie a *censor* tie?

« Last post by nudone on September 19, 2006, 12:17 PM »

you might find this image useful...

2697

Living Room / Re: Weird Al New Video - White And Nerdy

« Last post by nudone on September 19, 2006, 08:23 AM »

an instant classic.

2698

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: Some nice ideas tody at lifedev.net and lifehack.org

« Last post by nudone on September 19, 2006, 08:17 AM »

https://www.donation...dex.php?topic=5287.0

already mentioned but it's worth saying it again.

2699

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: i'd like to buy some discipline please.

« Last post by nudone on September 19, 2006, 06:34 AM »

app, it certainly sounds like you aren't in need of a 'system' like this experiment is trying to find.

you were happy without trying to implement rules so i really see no use in doing something that takes you away from that.

i'd recommend just forgetting about this experiment - see if you are back to doing what you did in a couple of days. just let it flow.

Mark Forster's second book, 'How to Make Your Dreams Come True' is a far more relaxed approach to achieving goals - you might find it interesting but to be honest it sounds like you had already worked out what he was trying to say in the book.

2700

The Getting Organized Experiment of 2006 / Re: i'd like to buy some discipline please.

« Last post by nudone on September 19, 2006, 05:01 AM »

yes, good. you are right. i know i am doing more than what i have done in the past and it is certainly to do with the commitment to this experiment. i am just dissappointed i haven't yet become superman with the will power to match - so, things that i am beginning to lose interest in are becoming an ordeal.

i certainly cannot deny that i am more productive because of the experiment. i do not have moments of sitting around wondering what to do. i am still procrastinating but it seems it is better to be busy and do the wrong things rather than to do nothing at all.