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The 2 minute rule

October 1, 2010 in GTD, Productivity by George | No comments

If you can get something done in two minutes or less, don’t write it down on some list, don’t let it rattle around in your brain…just do it. Right now.

I’ve written a TON on David Allen’s Getting Things Done book. (Here’s a Ten Minute Crash Course on GTD I put together.)

Having used the system for a long time, I’m convinced that, while the whole system is valuable, there are two things that are the most essential.

Happily, both of these things are easily applied, and will provide great results (higher productivity/less stress) with minimal effort.

The first is the two-minute rule.

Simply put, it states that if you have an “open loop” (i.e. something that you’ve thought about more than once, but have taken no action towards completing) that you can close in two minutes or less, you should just do those things, as opposed to writing them down on some sort of list.

It sounds simple, but it’s surprisingly powerful.

We all have these little “open loops” that occupy the same amount of space in our minds as the big things. In this manner, these small things keep you from accomplishing big things.

Some examples of things that fall under the 2-minute rule category for me:
1. Short email replies (I’m trying to adhere to the “Twitter approach” for emails; i.e. whenever possible, keep them under 140 characters)
2. Clearing the desk: filing/scanning the crap that collects on my desk
3. Paying a bill online
4. Scheduling/accepting meetings on Google Calendar
5. Synching/backing up iPhone/iPad (the actual backup may take longer, but I can do what I need to do in way less time)

Again, the point is to get these things that will often nag you at the worst possible time (i.e. middle of the night) out of your head, and done (and, again, don’t put it on some kind of list; it’ll often take longer to put these things on a to-do list than to just do them (by the way, to do lists don’t work).

As for the second easily-implemented-but-powerful GTD tip, watch this space.

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Create a wireless network in your hotel room using AirportExpress

May 25, 2009 in tech by George | 49 comments

I spend more time than I’d like in hotel rooms, and while most have wifi access, often the wifi signal is weak; I’m thus forced to tether myself to some four-foot Ethernet cable. Also, between LaLa and Pandora, I have most of my music in the cloud, so the set up I want — one where I can stream said music to some speakers connected to AirportExpress — really does require an in-room network.

Apple represents this feature as one of the big selling points of the AirportExpress. However, unlike most Apple developed functionality, setting up an in-room network doesn’t “just work.” It’s hard to really blame Apple on this. I’m certain that if the other items along the critical path were Apple made it would just work. Alas.

Just because it’s not exactly plug and play, doesn’t mean it can’t be done. Unfortunately, the process (based upon my research) isn’t well documented.

Here’s the document:

1. Start by doing a hard reset on your AirportExpress. Do this by pushing and holding the reset button in while plugging the AE into the wall. Keep holding it until the yellow light blinks fast (about 30 seconds).

2. Plug the Ethernet cable into your laptop. Pay for whatever jive ass fee you need to in order to get online.

3. Unplug the Ethernet from the laptop, and plug it into the AE.

4. Open Airport Utility. It will find your AE (it’ll be identified by a string of letters and numbers). Go through the process to name the AE and give it password protection.

5. Click the “manual” set up tab. Then – at the top – click the Internet tab.

6. Select the following: Connect using: “Ethernet”; Configure IPv4 to “Using DHCP”; Here’s the key: Set Connection Sharing to “Off (Bridge Mode).”

Number 6, above, and really the bolded section is the vital part.

I hope this helps some of you road warriors.

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WordPress tip: finding category numbers

September 19, 2008 in tech, Wordpress by George | 6 comments

I’m not sure why the new versions (post 2.5) of WordPress make it so difficult to find the numbers that are associated with your categories. In prior versions, they were right there in manage/categories.

To find them now, you still go to manage/categories, but now you have to mouse over the category title and then look for its url at the bottom of the screen.

Here’s a screengrab attempting to illustrate this.

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Opening .docx files while running Office 2004

September 3, 2008 in tech by George | 1 comment

I’ve been getting a lot of .docx files thrown at me as the semester begins. I’m still running Office 2004, so that infuriating little “x” on the end of the .doc was causing me no end of grief.

After poking around a bit, I discovered that Microsoft has released a fix (very un-Microsoft of them; frankly, I figured this was their ploy to get everyone to upgrade).

Here’s how to do it:
Make sure that your version of Office is running at least 11.5 (you can figure out what version you’re running by clicking on the “about” button on any Office app (Entourage, Word, Excel, or PowerPoint). If not, download the updates needed to get you there. Here’s a link to 11.5.1. (Note: MS doesn’t make it easy for you to get up to speed with re your version. If, for instance, you’re running version 11, you’ll need to go back and find all the updates leading up to 11.5; 11.1, 11.2, etc.).

Once you’re caught up to 11.5, you can then download the Open XML File Format Converter, HERE.

After everything is installed (remember, you have to quit all Office programs prior to installing), you should be able to open the files that end in “x.”

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GTD: 10 minute GTD crash course

April 20, 2007 in GTD, Productivity by George | 17 comments

I gave a lecture yesterday, and as I was starting to speak I looked out and saw faces consumed with fatigue and stress. It’s finals time, and the students are suffering. So, rather than talk about what I had planned, I switched gears and gave an impromptu lesson on Getting Things Done, which I’ve covered here at 9GS frequently.

I was shooting from the hip, and was afraid I’d dumb it down too much, but I think that by taking this quick approach it may have resulted in people actually attempting to take the information and apply it to their lives.

So, I thought I’d try to record it here so that others who might be feeling stressed, and don’t have the time to read David Allen’s wonderful book, could still start taking control. I, of course, hope it results in people buying the book.

If you’ve got 10 minutes, I promise that by going through the following steps, you will feel like your life is much more manageable!
Read the rest of this entry »

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