Getting started with "Getting Things Done" This article was originally posted during the first week of 43 Folders' existence, and, pound for pound, it remains our most popular page on the site. Please be sure to also visit related pages, browse our GTD topic area, plus, of course you can search on GTD across our family of sites. I’ll be talking a lot here in coming weeks about Getting Things Done, a book by David Allen whose apt subtitle is “The Art of Stress-Free Productivity.” You’ve probably heard about it around the Global Interweb or have been buttonholed by somebody in your office who swears by GTD. (It probably takes a backseat only to the Atkins Diet in terms of the number of enthusiastic evangelists: sorry about that.) Like I did the other day with Quicksilver, I wanted to provide a gentle, geek-centric introduction to Getting Things Done, so that you can think about whether it might be right for you. The Problem with “stuff” Stuff is bouncing around in our heads and causing untold stress and anxiety. GTD is geek-friendly
The Bullet Journal Productivity Method Empowers Your Paper Notebook 15 Incredible 'Aha!' Moments: How Famous Founders and Inventors Got Started (infographic) How do you come up with new business ideas? If you're like Steve Jobs, Brad Pitt or Brian Chesky, inspiration and those magical "Aha!" moments come from a place everyone can access: everyday life. San Francisco's Funders and Founders took a look at how super successful people have found that one thing that took them from struggling to industry icons. Microsoft founder Bill Gates, for example, had a huge Aha! GoPro founder Nick Woodman was inspired to invent a sturdier adventure camera when he wanted to take pictures of himself surfing. Sara Blakely started out in sales and though she liked the support of pantyhose, she hated the way they looked with open-toed shoes. See how other great inventors, famous founders and super successful people got inspired and came up with the ideas they'll go down for in history in the infographic below: Click to enlarge
43 Folders | Time, Attention, and Creative Work fastcompany One thing uniting the most high-power leaders with the lowest-level workers is time: Day in and day out, we all have the same amount of it. Where the variation comes in is how we use it. Some of the most successful people tend to attribute their achievements at least partly to time management. 1. The most productive people can zero in on what will bring them the greatest return for time spent. Becoming more productive and—arguably the bigger challenge—staying that way means gravitating toward work that may be uncomfortable and difficult and outsourcing what's easy and familiar. 2. It may not surprise you to learn that a common theme among the most productive people is that they're early risers. 3. Forget the myth of multitasking. 4. It's easy to imagine some of the most successful people as freewheeling thinkers who switch from one thing to the next according to instinct. 5. 6. Meetings are notorious for chewing up valuable time. 7. Get The Best Stories In Leadership Every Day.
The Learning Myth: Why I'll Never Tell My Son He's Smart | Salman Khan My 5-year-old son has just started reading. Every night, we lay on his bed and he reads a short book to me. Inevitably, he'll hit a word that he has trouble with: last night the word was "gratefully." Researchers have known for some time that the brain is like a muscle; that the more you use it the more it grows. However, not everyone realizes this. The good news is that mindsets can be taught; they're malleable. I really want to start a national conversation that examines how we as a society can help people develop a growth mindset. And now here's a surprise for you.
lifehack For many of us these days it seems like we have thousands of things to do and never enough time to get to them all. No matter how many things we get done the list just keeps getting longer. The reality is that we’re likely wasting time on many things that are not accomplishing our main goals. 1. How often do you start the day by checking your email only to find 10 new things people want you to do? Instead of starting the day by seeing what everyone else thinks is important for you decide what your top task is before you leave the office or go to bed. 2. Of course we want to keep those close to us happy. Don’t always say yes. 3. I know you want to do things the right way but the problem is that right so often turns in to perfect and that’s a recipe to never get things finished. Perfect isn’t ever going to happen, it’s an entirely unattainable moving target. Alternatively finish the project and launch it. 4. 5. All you’re going to get out of a book you’re not enjoying is annoyed. 6. 7. 8.
A Programmer's Portfolio Building up a portfolio (a collection of your work) is essential. Many employers will require it before they consider you for a job. Take the time you need to produce something that will impress them--it'll really pay off. That's part of the job description for a graphic designer, but why shouldn't this rule apply to software developers, too? When I've interviewed developers, they rarely bring any samples of their work to show. No, you don't have to be working on a web application or website to have something worthy of putting in a portfolio. The portfolio is important, but what's more important is that you are excited about what you worked on. If, on top of that, you can effectively communicate to me exactly what made your past projects fun and challenging to work on, then heck-- let's get married.