Social Networks/Blogging and Self-Improvement

Social networks such as Twitter and blogging in general have many benefits to help with one’s self-improvement.  Some of these benefits include goal setting and overall learning.

One of the best things to do to set a goal is to tell people about it and what better place to do that than a blog or Social Network.  I am still thinking about my goals, but below are a few examples of  people who have posted their goals for the world to see.

• Using Outlook to Help Achieve Your Personal & Business Goals Part I - Misty Khan
• Using Outlook to Help Achieve Your Personal & Business Goals Part II - Misty Khan
• How I am becoming a better developer, part 1 of infinity - Justice Gray
• Being a Better Developer… in 6 months - Bil Simser
• What I’m doing to become a better programmer - IglooCoder

As I said above, I am still thinking about my goals, but I do use Twitter to post when I go to the gym…it a makes me feel accountable, so hopefully, I will do it more.
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Another benefit of blogs and Social Networks is the learning aspect.  I follow people on Twitter that I think I will learn from.  It is my main reason for using it.

 

The other day I posted an article showing how to transfer the column headings from a SQL Server query result to Excel.  Someone had just shown me how to do it that day, so I thought I would share what I had learned.  I had a comment on that blog entry that gave me a much easier way to do the same thing.  This is what I mean by learning.  I took that knowledge back to the person in which I learned the original way.  I also posted another article with the easier way and gave credit where credit was due.

In closing, Blogging and Social Networks allow normal everyday people to learn and achieve goals.  I truly believe you do not have to be a professional blogger to reap the benefits.

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Happy learning and goal setting!!!

Keyboard Productivity

I am trying to use the mouse less and the keyboard more. 

About six months ago, I began using a utility called SlickRun (after seeing it on Scott Hanselmen’s Tool List).  It is a free floating command line utility that is invoked by a simple key combination (in my case Win+Q).  You can set up what are called magic words.  For example, to start Lotus Notes I press Win+Q and type ln into the slick run command line.  I do it in my sleep now.

SlickRun Magic Words - they are awesome…

 

I also use a utility called Texter.  It is a great text substitution utility that I read about on Lifehacker.  I do a lot of second level support, so this is helpful for typing repetitive text.

The latest utility that I have started using is Launchy which is another great application launcher.  I heard about this one from Jean Paul Boodhoo.  This utility is invoked by pressing Alt+Space, but can be mapped to other keys.  Launchy basically indexes the programs in your start menu to make launching applications much faster.  There are quite a few plugins  out there too.  Ben Scheirman found a cool online To Do list called Todoist that offers a plugin that enables you to add items to your list via the Launchy command line.

Launchy command line

  

I personally find that the combination of Slick Run (because I love magic words) and Lauchy work the best for me.

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Related Links
Going Commando - Put Down The Mouse - Jeff Atwood
I forgot my mouse today…..big deal!! - Jean-Paul Boodhoo

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Good Podcasts on Productivity and Development

I have been listening to a lot of podcasts in December. There are three that I found extremely interesting.

Hanselminutes - Show #55
Discussion of Life Hacks with Gina Trapani, web developer and author of the book “Life Hacker - 88 tricks to turbocharge your day”

.NET Rocks - Show #205
Discussion with with Venkat Subramaniam and Andrew Hunt about Agile Development

.NET Rocks - Show #206
Discussion with Ted Neward about .NET and Java compatabiliy

After listening to the .NET Rocks with Venkat Subramaniam, I can’t wait until his presentation at the Houston .NET User Group meeting this month.

I was extremely impressed and inspired by the HanselMinutes interview with Gina Trapani. I love her view on the difference between women and men in technology — “Men live to geek and women geek to live”

Sleep Does the Body Good

I am reading a lot these days about how your body needs rest; however, with the hustle and bustle of everyday life many people do not give their bodies the time to recharge.

A good night’s sleep is imperitive for maximum productivity.  Aspects of our life, such as behavior, decision-making and eating habits are affected by the amount of sleep we get.  For example, without enough sleep, the chances of having an automobile accident go up dramatically because we are too tired to place all of our attention on the road.

Honestly, if I do not get enough sleep, my workday tends to be along the lines of the below cartoon. 

Maybe we should take some lessons from our own pets.  They sleep an exorbitant amount of time so they have enough energy to run, play and enjoy life.

T.O. Whenham has a series of articles on the subject of sleep

• Get Some Sleep - Part 1
• Get Some Sleep - Part 2
• Get Some Sleep - Part 3
• Get Some Sleep - The Final Chapter

The Ririan Project publishes articles on several aspects of productivity. Below are two articles about enhancing sleep quality.

• 11 Ways To Sleep Better
• 8 Tools For 8 Hours Of Energy-Boosting Sleep

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Sweet dreams…

Workspace Organization & Personalization

The average person spends over a 1/3 of a 24 hour day (8 hrs) in the workplace and generally, that means a cubicle. I am one that believes in attempting to make your workspace easier to work in. I am always looking for new ways to organize my work area. I am organized enough to be subjected to teasing by some of my co-workers, but oh well.

As far as personalization, I have a couple of pictures of my family as well as a couple of small posters relating to cycling. There is a really good blog entry by Steve Pavlina in which he makes suggestions on how to make your workspace more appealing to you — whether it be an office or a cubicle.

10 Ways to Relaxify Your Workspace

I have also been receiving the “Productivity Principles” e-newsletter from David Allen. I have incorporated several of his organization ideas into my everyday routines.

Productivity Principles Newsletter

If you must spend such a large amount of your waking hours in a cubicle, should it not contain things that remind you of where you really want to be most of the time?

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[-- Related Links --]
Organizing Your Workspace
How to Organize Your Desk and Keep it Organized