Snatch

This is one my Top 5 movies. This is an awesome fight scene.

Zen Habits- Great little blog with a ton of great topics

Top 10 Productivity Hacks - Overview

We all need a productivity boost now and then — sometimes throughout the day. We each want to be productive for very personal reasons — to accomplish more, to make more money, to get done earlier to make more time for our personal lives, to accomplish our goals. But whatever the reason, these Productivity Hacks will do the trick.

Here they are, in reverse order (click on links for more on each):

#10: Take care of your Most Important Things first. Your Most Important Things for the day — the things you most need to accomplish that day — should take priority over everything else. However, we all know that fires come up throughout the day, interruptions through phone calls and email and people dropping by, new demands that will push the best-laid plans aside. If you put off your MITs until later in the day, you will end up not doing them much of the time.

Try to get all three of your MITs done before moving on to anything else. If you can do that, the rest of the day is gravy!

# 9: Wake up early. Decide what you’d like to accomplish each morning, and build your morning routine around that. Like to exercise? Put that in there. Healthy breakfast? Go for it. Check email? Fine. The mornings are a fresh start, peaceful and free of ringing phones and constant email notifications. If you get your Most Important Things done in the morning, the rest of the day is just gravy. (see How I Became an Early Riser.)

# 8: Simplify information streams, crank through blogs & email. Think about all the information you receive (email, blogs, newsletters, mailing lists, magazines, newspapers and more) and edit brutally. You will drastically reduce the time you spend reading. For everything else that begins to come in after your editing process, ask yourself if you really need to be getting that information regularly. Most of the time the answer is no. Now, after this process, you should be left with less to read. Here’s the next step: crank through it all, really only reading the really interesting ones.

Editing and cranking through the information you receive can free up a lot of time for more important things — like achieving your goals.

# 7: Declutter your workspace; work on one thing at a time. The decluttering your work space part of it is simply to remove all extra distractions, on your desk and on your computer. If you’ve got a clean, simplified workspace, you can better focus on the task at hand. (See more on how to do this.)

Now, with distractions minimized, focus on the task at hand. Don’t check email, don’t work on five projects at once, don’t check the stats on your blog, don’t go to your feed reader. Work on that one task, and work on it with concentrated focus until you are done. (See How NOT to Multi-task.) Then celebrate your achievement!

# 6: Get to work early; work fewer hours. My best days come when I get into work early, and begin my work day in the quiet morning hours, before the phones start ringing and the din of the office begins it crescendo to chaos. It is so peaceful, and I can work without interruption or losing focus. I often find that I get my MITs done before anyone comes in, and then the rest of the day is dealing with whatever comes up (or even better: getting ahead for the next day).

Added bonus: you skip rush-hour traffic.

But just as productive is the second part of the tip: leave early and work fewer hours. It’s paradoxical, but if you work fewer hours, and know that your time is limited, you will be more focused. Then you have more hours to yourself! Everyone wins.

# 5: Avoid meetings; when you must meet, make it effective. I find it best to say no to meetings up front. I just say, “Sorry, I can’t make it. I’m tied up with a project right now.” And that’s always true. I’ve always got projects I’m working on that are more important than a meeting.

Now, you probably won’t be able to get out of most meetings, so here are some tips for making meetings more effective.

# 4: Avoid unnecessary work. If we just do any work that comes our way, we can be cranking out the tasks, but not be productive at all. You’re only productive if you are doing work that moves you towards a goal. Eliminate non-essential tasks from your to-do lists, and start to say no to new requests that are non-essential.

If you do not take these steps and speak up, and say no, then you will be overloaded with work that you simply do not need to do. Cut out the non-essential tasks, and focus on those that really matter.

# 3: Do the tough tasks first. You know what those tasks are. What have you been putting off that you know you need to do? Sometimes when you put things off, they end up being things you don’t really need to do. But sometimes they are things you just gotta do. Those are your tough tasks.

Do them first thing in the day.

# 2: Work off-line as much as possible. To increase your productivity, disconnect your Internet connection. Have scheduled times when you’re going to check your email, and only let yourself check your blogs or surf the web when you’ve gotten a certain amount done. When you do go online, do it on a timer. When the timer goes off, unplug again until the next scheduled time.

You’ll be amazed at how much work you’ll get done.

# 1: Do something you’re passionate about. This might not seem like the normal productivity tip, but give it a thought: if you really want to do something, you’ll work like hell to get it done. You’ll work extra hard, you’ll put in even more hours, and you’re less likely to procrastinate. It’s for work that you don’t really care about that you procrastinate. Read the full post for tips on how to find your dream job and do work you truly care about.

Raise your hand if you know or have been affected by one of these.

Workaholic

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Colloquially, a workaholic is a person who is addicted to work. This phrase does not always imply that the person actually enjoys their work, but rather simply feels compelled to do it. There is no generally accepted medical definition of such a condition, although some forms of stress, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder can be work-related. Although the term "workaholic" usually has a negative connotation, it is sometimes used by people wishing to express their devotion to one's career in positive terms. The "work" in question is usually associated with a paying job, but it may also refer to independent pursuits such as sports, music, art, or blogging.^{[citation needed]}

A "workaholic" in the negative sense is popularly characterized by a neglect of family and other social relations. The term has no clinical definition, however.

Workaholism in Japan is considered a serious social problem leading to early death, often on the job, a phenomenon dubbed karōshi. Overwork was popularly blamed for the fatal stroke of Prime Minister of Japan Keizo Obuchi, in the year 2000.^[1]

The word itself is a play on "alcoholic". The term was apparently coined by psychologist Richard I. Evans, currently distinguished professor of psychology at the University of Houston. Dr. Evans may have originated the term workaholic in an interview with him, published in the house publication for oil company Esso (now ExxonMobil), in the 1960's, and widely distributed throughout the world. In response to a question by the Esso interviewer regarding the concern by the corporation for workers who were often overworked, Evans replied that such individuals can almost be likened to alcoholics and might be described as "workaholics". James J. Kilpatrick, a nationally syndicated columnist, read the interview and referred to Evans and his creation of the term workaholic in his column, which Kirkpatrick described as a useful new term.^{[citation needed] [2]} (Evans' coinage also prompted the widespread use of the -holism suffix for popular compulsions). It should be noted that "workaholic" is often also attributed to psychologist Wayne Oates because of his 1971 book, "Confessions of a Workaholic." It gained more widespread use in the 1990s, as the result of a wave of the self-help movement that centered on addiction, forming an analogy between harmful social behaviors such as over-work and drug addiction, including addiction to alcohol. Although "workaholic" is not an official medical or psychological term, it remains in widespread usage to refer to those whose expenditure of time on work and work-related issues leads to the detriment of their bodily health, social lives, family and domestic life, or leisure time.

Thanks to my friends, and a mystery Yelper..

Good morning everyone,

I would like to thank Dave, Tim, Tressa and others for sending such encouraging notes regarding my last post.  I knew that I had some friends out there that could speak to the topic of kids intelligently.  I was glad to hear the voicemail's and read the emails that told me of the many joys of children and watching them grow up.  You have no idea about the amount of negative feedback you can hear from people.

I would also like to send out a special thanks to "Mystery Yelper" that took the time to type up a letter and mail it to me.  Yes, I said mail it to me.  So last friday I went to the mailbox and there was a letter addressed to me.  I opened it up and it was a typed letter with no name.  It read as follows...

"Hi, tired to send this thru your blog, guess I'm kinda computer stupid, but couldn't get it to go. So found your address and decided to send this to you.  It sounded like you needed a good comment on parenting."

So the letter goes on describing how this woman is married to a Navy pilot and how much they love having kids.  It goes on to describe some of the great times they have had with their children and the fact that they grow up so fast.  She also mentions dogs, how they manage to fit in working out and how they have friends that cannot wait to see their kids leave the house, etc.  She finished up the letter with a great recommendation for food as well.  I have yet to try this place, but have no doubt it will be fabulous.  Ahhh, the power of the internet.  Honestly, this woman took the time to type a letter and mail it to me?  Who does that anymore?  Her kids and family are fortunate to have a woman like this as a mother.  There is no doubt in my mind that her kids and family are probably great people to be around.  Thank you whomever you are.  I was really moved by your actions.

On to some new stuff.  Taunya is really starting to show.  Its like the last 3 to 4 weeks she has grown a lot.  We are still working on the baby's room and looking to being the remodeling project.  Nothing really new just floors, paint, etc.  I think I mentioned this before.  We went to class the other night called "Dogs and Babies".  It was 2.5 hours long and was a GREAT class.  I realized more things about dogs that I never knew.  The takeaway was the fact that dogs do not really understand baby's at all.  In fact, its better to have your kids under 5 stay away from dogs.  This is because all they do is pull and squeeze and might prompt the dog to react in a way that may be considered "vicious" rather than protecting itself.

On Thursday we went to our 1st of 5 birthing classes.  The instructor was very funny and she really made the 2.5 hours seem like 30 minutes.  Wooo Hooo!  We covered a lot of what Taunya is going thru as she goes thru the various stages of the pregnancy.  It was good, but some of it I knew due to a book that I am reading.  In the beginning of the class, we had to go around the room and introduce ourselves.  It was pretty funny as all of the men seemed to disclose things that were not really necessary.  We were asked to say who we are, due date and some of things we like about being pregnant and the things that we don't.  Some of the men said the benefits were having a designated driver and not having enough room in the bed, getting yelled at for no reason, etc.  It was funny.  Some of them were saying things like "we're no spring chickens you know, she is 40!".  It was hilarious. There was a couple there in college that were sharing a twin bed in a dorm.  Pregnancy knows no race, color, income or neighborhood is what I was reminded of as I looked around the room.  Some of the women said that missed things like wine, their bodies being normal, not being able to sleep and people all telling them what to eat.  Some of them were frustrated, but all of them felt the pregnancy was truly a gift.  A women in the class said her  husband is currently in Iraq.  wow.

Down with Belicheat and the others!

Patriots' Season Perfect For Rest Of Nation

FOXBOROUGH, MA—As the once-invincible, still-insufferable Patriots attempt to come to grips with their 17-14 Super Bowl loss to the Giants, the death of their dream to go undefeated, and the possible end of their dynasty, almost every other...