Disqus - Latest Comments for Jared Goralnick

Re: Vast and grand, monumental - A Slackers Guide to Techcocktail Conference

Jared Goralnick — Fri, 30 May 2008 21:55:29 -0000

Hi Mark, I'm sorry we didn't get chat at the event, but I'm glad you liked the productivity talk. Hope to see you when I'm back in the Chicago area again (or you're out in DC)! (by the way, the whole presentation is up here if you want it). Now to browse a bit more of your site...

Re: Mastering Daily Dreamwork to Fulfill Your Dreams

Jared Goralnick — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 18:02:33 -0000

Thanks for the motivation--we always need to hear that. Right now I'm working on two of my dreams (both productivity apps), and I'm continually amazed by how much time they take up. I'm outsourcing portions and trying to delegate as much to co-workers as much as possible...but the thing is that real dreams tend to take a lot of work. To that end I recommend this read from a few weeks ago on Web Worker Daily, where they discussed the idea of taking on two big to-do items per month, but that's it.

If you have a long to-do list with items that aren't going to reap instant gratification then I've found it really helpful to focus on one or two of them in a period of a month or even longer...since real progress, the kind you need to pursue dreams, will take a lot of time.

Thanks as always for the motivation!

Re: Open Thread: What’s Your Organizational Setup?

Jared Goralnick — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:40:26 -0000

I'm about to lose some street cred here, but it works:

I use Outlook 2007's tasks and message flags (with reminders) to keep track of tasks. What's great is it syncs wirelessly with my Moto Q so I'm always on top of things. Same goes with my Outlook calendar.

For project based work I use Basecamp, and I subscribe to the calendar feed for any important milestones. I can also use message flags that can turn into reminders when necessary.

All my notes on my Outlook approach are written up here, just wanted to link since it seemed so different.

When mobile, I use jott.com for any ideas I come across, which then get passed to email system, transcribed. If short enough I'll write stuff in my Moto Q and better organize it as a task later in Outlook. Generally, I try to have my laptop with me for all business functions--and I use OneNote to take notes. It rocks and even records the audio of discussions.

I don't check email until I've accomplished something major every day (blog post, strategic decision, etc.) and then I usually close it up again after 1 or 2.

Unlike Courtney, I avoid paper at all costs. And scan when necessary.

Other tools that help:
* DarkRoom
* AwayFind.com (self plug)
* Gmail Apps for your Domain (for my personal stuff, we use Exchange for work)
* GotVoice to get all my voicemails transcribed and minimize my inputs to just email...which I process daily to zero

Just figured I'd post since my ideas are so different. Such a fun thread you've got here!

Re: Ding! The Urgent vs. the Important In Our Lives

Jared Goralnick — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 15:16:36 -0000

Glen, I really like the distinction you've drawn here. It gives me words for something that I've been considering for a long time.

My solution is turning off every sort of automatic checking. I wrote a post last week about turning off cell-phone auto-checking, and I think there's nothing worse for our sanity than getting notified of every stupid incoming email.

Thanks for giving me the words for this--I may very well reference this both on Technotheory and with AwayFind. Keep up the great tips!

Re: Do you find the seclusion of working at home changes your personality?

Jared Goralnick — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:42:49 -0000

I can't a while since I've worked full time at an office. But I think I'd be much better off if my interactions were more in-person than online--I think seeing the same people every day can be grounding in a way that an online community really doesn't offer. For instance, it just makes me feel great to work together with my coworkers, and I think there'd be more of that feeling if there were more of their presence. Then again it's nice that they don't get in the way...

And in more direct answer to your question, I think my moods are more prone to shift and my focus more likely to wonder by having fewer people around in-person. Social media communities can be frustrating or much like the ole high school popularity contest. Real people who you work with and get real stuff done with is a much better feeling. Still, I love the freedom...

Re: 7 Steps to increasing email productivity by using Gmail only!

Jared Goralnick — Mon, 12 May 2008 13:03:10 -0000

Vinny, those tips rock! I never knew of the PST uploader for Outlook and I'm constantly recommending to folks the benefits of Gmail IMAP (but thought you had to drag and drop the messages in IMAP rather than do a single upload).

I'm going to mention this in an upcoming blog post--since I've been writing a lot about email productivity.

Thank you, and so glad to have found your blog.

Re: Leveraging Technology to Become More Productive with Jared Goralnick of SET Consulting and AwayFind.com

Jared Goralnick — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 10:13:39 -0000

Thank you for posting this interview, Steve. I appreciate your taking the time, and I hope it provides value to your readers.

If any of you want to try AwayFind, you can click this link, which will get you into the Private Beta right away (limited to first 25 people):

AwayFind Beta Access Link
(https://www.awayfind.com/register_user.php?code...)

Re: Great Event Last Night!

Jared Goralnick — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 08:18:45 -0000

Great event, Nick! As requested, here are some photos:

Social Times Photos on Flickr

Re: Creating a Mini-Valley in D.C.

Jared Goralnick — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 19:33:13 -0000

Thanks for the mention, Nick, and for continuing the discussion on this topic that's been on everyone's minds, but needs a good swift push to the forefront every once in a while...

First, I want to echo Brian in that there are some significant differences between the Hill and the Valley that are worthwhile and positive. His most salient point (to me) is that there's a cushion for tech folks here, and I'd like to note that much of that is because we have such a thriving technology SERVICE sector, in that people with skills can put them to use in the B2B and government sectors here and get paid well for them...as opposed to in the Valley where most of those talents are put into big product companies (Google, Yahoo, etc) and startups. As such, many DC technology stars end up providing the grease (custom services) for the government and business without necessarily providing the engine or major parts (product development) that the Valley tends to create. It's not as sexy...but it's just as valuable in some sense.

Anyhow, back to the point: I'm glad to see that VCs are coming here with open minds to earlier stage businesses, and that more incubators are looking toward product startups. I think what we need is more events like the one you're talking about putting together--events focused on how to start a technology company with nitty gritty details. VC funding is only one way and only one part of the equation, and I think that some kind of community events like those that Bootstrapping communities (like those in Austin) hold is also an important facet. There's a lot about running a business that needs to be discussed, and I think there are at least enough success stories in the area for some role models to be able to speak out and hold quality discussions.

I guess I need to gather my thoughts on this a little more in the coming weeks, but I think that some focused events could really help to light the fire and spread the passion a little more. It's really wonderful to see how far everything has come in 2007 and I'm excited for 2008. Thanks for sharing, Nick, and happy new Year!

Tangent: There was some related discussion why tech companies should or shouldn't be in DC on the DC Technology Forum.

Re: When Did Social Networking Become a Job?

Jared Goralnick — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 12:21:18 -0000

Getting started with a social network is like getting a new computer--while at first it seems fun, you have to get it to a level where you can really benefit from it. It took work for me to happy with my various social networking sites (getting friends, editing my profile, figuring it out) and it was a heck of a time commitment. But after that, the maintenance and payoff has been easy.

With my blog there are expectations about how often I should write, but with social networking sites I could freeze all activity and the world would go on without much interest.
I think the only work for most people is if they really want to create content on the site--because any type of content creation takes time.

I spend a maximum of 15 minutes/day on linkedin/facebook and the only thing about them that I don't enjoy is how easy it is to get distracted. But work? I suppose I care about it as a reputation tool, but otherwise I don't really find it time consuming. Facebook and LinkedIn are what you make of them. You can use them to make money from them and work hard at that, you can use it as a reputation tool, or you can just use it to keep up with friends. Only the first scenario seems laborious...and I'd bet most people aren't working too hard at that.

Re: What’s the Future of D.C. Technology?

Jared Goralnick — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 11:06:26 -0000

Nick,

I agree that we've taken some heat in the press of-late, but I also don't think that they've been overty critical in the past. The Post has very little local business news (one day/week) and small tech is rarely mentioned. Maybe that's the real issue...but to Kendra and Zach's credit, they did provide a lot of coverage of startup weekend and the tech community a few months back...and nothing really negative up until this recent article.

But I didn't much appreciate that article, and wrote my own response here.

We're in an interesting community, because we have an international newspaper that we expect to care about a sector that's not big on people's minds here, in comparison to big business and government contracting. Most cities don't even have a paper that gets read outside of their 30 mile radius. So I guess any coverage is either damning or inspiring...but it doesn't necessarily surprise me how little we get.

As for blogging, it would be great if more people would cover the scene. It begs the question of whether we need more of the west coast interested in our writing, or whether we ought to be commenting on each others' writing more. But either way, any publicity that talks about our events and companies growing is a good thing.

Re: What’s the Future of D.C. Technology?

Jared Goralnick — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 15:12:33 -0000

As a side, there was some good positive coverage of the area by Zachary today:

Wash Post Blog

I'm not at all playing down this issue--negative articles may piss us off, but the good news is that we have an awesome community here.

Re: Google Opens Their Social Graph

Jared Goralnick — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 07:55:04 -0000

This is very good news--thanks for the update, Nick!

Re: D.C. Social Media Has Blown Up, Now to Get the Entrepreneurship Going

Jared Goralnick — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 14:36:14 -0000

I look forward to it, Nick.

Re: Twitter Has Officially Tipped

Jared Goralnick — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:34:13 -0000

A lot of the reason everyone noticed so many follows is that Twitter email notifications weren't working since Friday...so all the new Follows since Friday came in late last night and early this morning.

Re: They Made Us Hyper-Connected, Now What?

Jared Goralnick — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 22:14:22 -0000

You raise two very prescient points--that much of generation Y relies more on social networks to manage their contacts than traditional address books, and that most of their electronic communication is not through email but social networks (or SMS). As such, why aren't all the organizational features more commonly found in a personal information management (PIM) application in Facebook? People are spending their lives there, why not make it easier for them?

I think these features are on the way. I don't see serious contact portability, but I would imagine a contact list that doesn't require two-ways acceptance would be a huge help. If FB doesn't create it, it seems like an awesome opportunity for an app (if it doesn't already exist).

I don't see FB as the open platform for contacts (Plaxo, maybe? nah), but I see them at least making it easier to work with them. We can all hope...

Re: Forced Invites Get Shutdown

Jared Goralnick — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 10:11:16 -0000

Thanks for highlighting this, Nick. I see it all the time that my friends don't know how to work with an inflexible UI and they inadvertently invite everyone. It's laudable for Facebook to take such a strong step and be actively involved in verifying which applications have been the most instrusive.

Re: Auto links in Windows Live Writer

Jared Goralnick — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 20:09:13 -0000

Great how-to video, Torley! Thanks for passing along the Lifehacker article, and I'm really glad to see how you're using Windows Live Writer :-)

Re: Flickr should add Torleyspeak to their greetings

Jared Goralnick — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 17:26:50 -0000

Absolutely agreed! I don't even know if I see "cheers" there. Who knows, maybe we'll see them both soon...

Re: The Ego Economy: Why the Freedom Economy Is Passing You By

Jared Goralnick — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 20:40:42 -0000

This is powerful, accurate, and extremely relevant stuff, Clay. I hope your readers will take it to heart.

I guess there's a silently implied message here--that maybe you got sucked in a little in the beginning. I know I did.

I don't mention this in a negative light, I mean it in that the most sincere rants come from the heart, from learning something the hard way, from seeing whether there is a light at the end of the tunnel...and realizing whether there's another way out.

Social media is an incredibly valuable tool for amplifying one's voice, for helping one to get paid attention to when they're seeking out certain ends...but there's a plateau we all reach where the gains are mere incremental...and they're purely about influence or vanity rather than success (however we define that...).

We want to make an impact--we want to be important--and that's often a more deeply rooted desire than making money. But what we forget sometimes is that there's a minimum amount of financial success we need for us to have enough freedom to really define our lives in the light we'd like. There's a certain level of comfort that can really empower us to make better decisions.

We have to try to draw the line between vanity and real outcomes. Social media levels the playing field...but it also removes all constraints on how much time we spend there.

Thanks, Clay.

Re: Our (Negative) Experience with Google Apps for Your Domain

Jared Goralnick — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 14:48:35 -0000

Marina,

Google Apps only charges you for if you want 25gb of storage. Their free version (of 6.75gb) should work for most people.

That being said, it's very easy to get all your aliases sent to that one email address with Google Apps...but I can see your frustration with trying to get the correct From address in there--because then you'd be back to where you started with "on behalf of" business. An easy workaround would be to use a desktop client when sending messages from those other domains--Outlook, Eudora, Thunderbird, etc would all do the trick without the "on behalf of"...

I continue to recommend Google Apps to small businesses, but you're right that it's not for everyone. Especially if one wants support. Sorry you had such a bad experience.

Re: Gary Vaynerchuk - I suck!

Jared Goralnick — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 21:20:04 -0000

I suck at Cranium. And I'm sorry.

Re: Gary Vaynerchuk - Distractions are ok if they are part of your DNA ...

Jared Goralnick — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 13:51:21 -0000

Is it distractions that we need, or balance? We should never be monomaniacally (next time, Gary, it's Scrabble, and we're kicking ass) focused...but we should divide our time between different things that give us value.

http://pleasedress.me/ is a good escape from all the wine stuff, just like this site shows another side of you. It's just that when the distractions have no value (and people can usually judge whether something is a pure waste of time or at least marginally valuable) that we have to stay away from them.

But throwing in a few distractions is what helps us stay living, balanced, and true to our DNA as you put it.

Needless to say, you've got a unique set of DNA : ).

Re: AwayFind - E-mail Intermediary

Jared Goralnick — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 10:16:15 -0000

Based of luck with AwayFind, Carl! Let me know if I can ever help at all :-).

Cheers,
Jared
jared AT setconsulting dot com

Re: AwayFind – E-mail Intermediary

Jared Goralnick — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 10:16:15 -0000

Based of luck with AwayFind, Carl! Let me know if I can ever help at all :-).

Cheers,
Jared
jared AT setconsulting dot com

Re: Paris Hilton Killing Me Softly: How Mass Media Passes Off Crap as News… (plus Learning Annex, 4-Hour Frauds, and More)

Jared Goralnick — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 10:06:30 -0000

Thanks for posting the link to the dreamline spreadsheet I posted, Tim. If your readers have suggestions for improvement, they can contact me at the site and I'll be happy to incorporate them. Keep up the good work!

Re: The 7 Commandments of Blogosphere (and Life) Self-Defense

Jared Goralnick — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 15:29:44 -0000

It's amazing just how far people will go to put others down, especially when those others are achieving things of which the attackers are most likely envious.

Once again you've offered some sensible suggestions for how to diffuse heated issues "like a grown-up" and move on. Keep up the good work.

Re: Redesign Launching

Jared Goralnick — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 11:51:36 -0000

Nice job, Tim! Hope you're having fun at SXSW. My only recommendation, as someone who does a fair amount of tech writing, is to change the search default text from "Type and hit enter to search" to "Type and press enter to search"

Cheers.

Re: How to Fly Without ID and Skip Lines

Jared Goralnick — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 21:40:14 -0000

Just thought I'd throw out the solution that many already considered but isn't always possible (and obviously wasn't an an option since you weren't leaving from home but had previously flown domestic)--I keep my wallet and passport separate. If you do ever find yourself sans wallet while you're still at home or while traveling abroad, at least the other form of identification is a temporary alternative while things get sorted out.

Re: Size Does Matter — Bigger Monitors Save 2.5 Hours a Day

Jared Goralnick — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 12:14:37 -0000

As someone who uses two 22" monitors, for a long time I've suggested to people that the first step toward greater productivity is increasing the resolution on your monitor and/or getting a bigger one and/or getting a second one. It's great that this idea is spreading more since productivity on the computer isn't just for geeks.

One thing that's important to note though--if you do get a bigger monitor, use its native resolution. Don't make the text/pictures bigger. A lot of people make that mistake and lose the potential productivity gains (and they hurt their eyes)

As a side, Lifehacker discussed this study in depth earlier this week here . One of the points that was brought up was that the study was funded by a monitor manufacturer. Nonetheless, multiple or giant monitors are definitely the way to go (especially based on the points of Allen and Blaine).

Re: The Lazarus Philosophy: The Danger of Expectations and The Beauty of Duty

Jared Goralnick — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:06:19 -0000

Okay okay, I won't bug you with more stuff to do for me anymore!

Really though, it's a difficult balance to wanting to be helpful vs doing what's best for onself--this quote captures it. Good stuff.

Re: 5 Tips for E-mailing Busy People

Jared Goralnick — Mon, 19 May 2008 22:03:47 -0000

These tips are immensely valuable. Thank you once again getting right to the meat of the matter with a real example. Though I get far fewer messages, I get a far amount that deserve a DELETE. This guy gets it and I appreciate your sharing. I'm going to pass it on...

Re: How Not to Use a Lawyer - A Personal Case Study (Plus: Protocol Marketing correction)

Jared Goralnick — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:32:46 -0000

Wow, some businesses just don't get it. I'm dumbfounded by how poorly they handled this--something that they ought to be thanking you for. They understand neither business nor personal etiquette.

But rather than just be negative, I'll recommend CMD Outsourcing Solutions, a Baltimore call center company I've worked with. They mostly target middle-market businesses when it comes to lead generation and the like, but their people are super friendly and I'm sure they're happy to turn away any not-a-fit prospects politely and with a thank you!

Re: Writing More Effective Email

Jared Goralnick — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 11:46:01 -0000

Chris,

This is really excellent advice--and I hope to comment on it on my blog soon. Since you requested, here's an article I wrote recently about how to CANCEL AND RESCHEDULE via email, it discusses both etiquette (like you) as well as the specific points to include:

How to cancel or respond to cancellations via email

Thanks again for such a helpful article!

Re: Taming the Inbox- One Week Later

Jared Goralnick — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 22:24:50 -0000

Chris,

Was late to the game in your last post, but I agree with you that the biggest difficulty is forcing yourself not to check. Since I pretty much run a whole business focused on helping people to stop checking email (no really, remember me? I was the guy who had the cards at SXSW that said "STOP CHECKING YOUR EMAIL"), I figure I can add some other little trinkets...

* Turn off auto-checking on your cellphone--since that's a hack that a lot of people use to get around the not-checking their email on their computer (how to do that)
* For Outlook Exchange people, switch to Work Offline
* Use programs like Writeroom (Mac) or Darkroom (PC) -- since you'll be free from some distractions
* Consider programs like LeechBlock which will limit your access to sites like Gmail within Firefox
* You could also try AwayFind once it comes out of private beta -- since that program routes any urgent messages to you via SMS (or to someone else) if you decide not to check your email for any length of time [note: that's my product]

Hope that helps a little--you're dead on that not checking email all the time is the biggest step toward being able to manage email. Then when you do check it you're able to batch through all the messages...

Re: What Does Facebook Actually DO for Me

Jared Goralnick — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 12:03:32 -0000

Facebook isn't your DESTINATION, but it's both a destination for most people and a PLATFORM for people like you.

The reason Facebook works is...
* it is an easy online presence (a lot easier than blogging or creating a website, and a more rounded picture than Twitter)
* it has a large userbase with a built-in RSS feed, two things that are either hard to build or hard to convince your friends to start using (RSS)
* it offers various forms of media distribution, something that's somewhat tough to get out for newbies
* tagging is a great way to involve people, and FB's got that nailed
* it's a good way to rekindle friendships in that it's much easier than reaching out
* while applications can be annoying, they also lure more people to the site and they're much easier than widgets config on a custom tool like WP (which I love, but it's not AS easy as FB)

In short, it doesn't do any one thing better than all the media platforms...but it combines them and spoon feeds them to the masses. There's value in that.

If you're a social media person though, you may just choose to let it publish your Flickr, Twitter, Upcoming, and Wordpress...no harm there.

Re: Who Am I Really

Jared Goralnick — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 12:46:18 -0000

It may not be your birthday now, but people are still celebrating your great work. I don't really want to share about me here, since I do that enough everywhere else, but I'm glad to have gotten to know you a little better...and to be able to read your writing every day.

Thanks for that and happy Chris Brogan day + 1.

Re: Starting Points for Online Presence

Jared Goralnick — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 21:18:01 -0000

Really great list you've put together here, Chris.

Another tool I'd add to the list is getting a Gravatar. A lot of the sites where I comment will display my picture if I have signed up for a Gravatar--which is essentially just a picture that's associated with my email address in a comment. I think this avatar helps to both further my brand and allows me to stand out more in the comments sections. For the 60 seconds it takes, I've found it to be of great value!

Re: Bloggers Need Errors and Omissions Insurance

Jared Goralnick — Fri, 16 May 2008 11:26:11 -0000

Great topic, Chris--one that doesn't get enough attention.

I had a long talk with my insurance agent about this and found it not to be necessary for my blog (Technotheory) nor for my not-yet-launched web product (AwayFind) until we have serious revenue. So money is a consideration. But my professional liability insurance plays a role in that choice.

My one advice being self-employed in the technology world for a while is that there are lot of insurance agents that don't think hard about what technology oriented businesses need for coverage, so I'd highly recommend seeking out someone who really understands the differences between Professional Liability, E&O, umbrella policies, etc. (I know, it used to be Greek to me, too)

For anyone that wants to bug my agent, he's at L.E. Goldsborough & Son. but I don't know how much they do outside of the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast. Just try to find an agent that is independent of one set of underwriters so that they have multiple options for you rather than one set of plans they always promote.

Re: Example of a Great PR Pitch

Jared Goralnick — Wed, 21 May 2008 23:32:38 -0000

I think this approach IS more efficient. Rather than leave a bad taste in the mouth of an influencer, it has the chance to make an impact both on him and his audience. Sort of like the 99:1 rule or something--if 1 message takes 99x as long but get 99x the results then who cares if the other 99 people don't receive it?

There's nothing efficient about a bad practice. Efficiency isn't about scale, it's about impact.

Re: Have You Tried Freshbooks

Jared Goralnick — Mon, 26 May 2008 22:44:37 -0000

Very curious to hear folks responses to this--thanks for posting this, Chris! We use QuickBooks for both accounting and payroll, and we use Basecamp for tracking our time (which we then port into QuickBooks twice per month). QuickBooks does a great job with expense management and various reports and exporting options...but it's definitely a big application with a huge learning curve (if you want to really use it to its fullest) (Note: it's easy to use it wrong and then have to go back and fix a lot of things so you can get improved reporting--I don't fault QB for this, but it's still a pain that it took so much effort to get things to the level they're at with us now).

So yes, I'm very anxious to hear people's thoughts on FreshBooks!

Re: Develop a Strong Personal Brand Online Part 1

Jared Goralnick — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 21:12:19 -0000

I'm anxious to hear the rest of your take on this. I'd add to this but the comments here have already been so valuable. The nuance of branding and focusing within a niche fascinates me.

I'd be curious to hear your take on the differences between building a brand and positioning yourself as a thought leader. With the exception of Madonna, or maybe not, I'd say all your examples have an element of thought-leadership in them. Certainly you and Gary.

I look forward to the next posts.

Re: Be More Productive With Problogger

Jared Goralnick — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:45:34 -0000

Amen, anyone who hasn't checked out this article needs to! Thanks for sharing it with your readers (as someone who teaches and uses batching as a huge part of his job, I think the world would be better off with this advice!)

Re: A Sample Blogging Workflow

Jared Goralnick — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 10:56:05 -0000

You always have such thorough guides, Chris! If only it were so easy to blog once per day... I don't know how you do it.

One addition: if you're a Windows person and you want to compose offline, I'd highly recommend Windows Live Writer--I'm a geek who likes the source view at times, but with Live Writer you can actually see how it'll appear online while you're still offline. Basic image editing and embedding of things is much easier than with a separate batch of tools. More on the new release is here .

Re: PodCamp Boston3 Rocked

Jared Goralnick — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 23:43:32 -0000

This was my first PodCamp Boston, and it couldn't have gone smoother or been full of warmer people. You all did a fantastic job putting this on and I'll keep spreading the buzz. Hope to be back next year!

Re: Ten Tech Solutions To Improve Your Productivity

Jared Goralnick — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 08:03:03 -0000

Thank you for the link to AwayFind! And I second the recommendation to Stever's audio program!

Some other applications that I find very helpful for my productivity include:
* TimeSnapper - PC Only, keeps track of everything I do by holding onto screenshots of those activities. Similar to RescueTime (PC+Mac) but not only does it offer reporting, it gets me out of a jam every time I accidentally close a window with unfinished data or my computer has trouble, etc. Also makes time sheets a breeze.
* GotVoice & PhoneTag will transcribe your voicemails

I have other apps I recommend, but I'm very anxious to see others recommendations as this list will be near and dear to my interests...and probably my sanity (these little tools can help!).

Re: Google Launches AdSense for Feeds- Breaks My Subscriber Count

Jared Goralnick — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:39:09 -0000

Shoot! Me too! I lost about a third (31%) of my subscribers. I wonder if it was a separate update and the numbers are more accurate...or just a huge fail.

Thanks for aggregating some of our experiences here, hopefully we can get an explanation soon.

Re: Inbox Taming for Busy People

Jared Goralnick — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:24:45 -0000

Chris,

Great job getting your messages down! Not only have you done an amazing job sorting/organizing...but you've more importantly managed to do while still respecting your contacts and responding to people in a timely manner. That's a heck of an accomplishment.

I've been trying out a lot of the advice in Stever's audiobook as well--as someone who prides themselves on all sorts of inbox-shaving techniques, I'll echo that he has some advice I hadn't even considered, especially regarding categorizing messaging before processing them.

As for AwayFind, later today we're releasing videos and a bunch of new default text that tells people explicitly how to screen out "did you get my email" messages. I'll send you a note personally when the videos are up and with some text that should get across your goal.

Looking forward to your how-to articles that are coming soon...congrats on finishing the social media 100!

Re: Make it Easier for Your Audience

Jared Goralnick — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 23:22:53 -0000

It's a fun design, but the homepage is SEVENTY-EIGHT PAGES LONG. That's what happens if you try to print it--I stopped at Print Preview fortunately. So that's my bit of advice: offer fewer posts, for load time and sanity. Just imagine how long 78 pages would take on a mobile browser...and her poor server!

Re: My Letter Policy- Circa 2008

Jared Goralnick — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 19:24:32 -0000

Best of luck getting out of the muck of all that email--it happens to the best of us. I think it surprised some of your writers that you'd write this, since you *are* the best of us when it comes to writing back.

Anyhow, you'll get out of your ditch soon. Someday I look forward to a post about the mixed blessing about being a thought leader...

And Kat, way to lay the smack down. Yes, we all are ADD...

Re: Let Twitter Build Your Social Media Project

Jared Goralnick — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 21:07:54 -0000

I'm very anxious to see if an official representative from Oreo responds...or thanks Chris for this, etc. While it may be tricky to monitor a brand as popular as Oreo, this should get the attention of anyone monitoring those airwaves.

Then again, a Google Alert for Oreo would probably lead to way too much snacking.

Re: Why enterprise software isn’t sexy

Jared Goralnick — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 19:06:31 -0000

Just thought I'd point you to an excellent post by Khoi Vinh on a tangential topic--about how enterprise software is *designed* in a very nonsexy way. I think these two issues are related, especially as regard to the poor user experience for the non-CIOs at the end of the day:

http://www.subtraction.com/archives/2007/1019_i...

Just thought this could play an important role in this discussion.

Re: BestBuy gets more productive on WorkFastTV

Jared Goralnick — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 18:06:38 -0000

I think having Deva involved would be valuable, as well. I'll be heading to IORG next month as it should be a useful and diverse group of folks --and all of your viewers could benefit from any new knowledge and ideas that are shared there.

Plus I'm sure he'll have plenty of insight to offer around the most popular "productivity tool" within the business community (for better or worse), which is still MS Outlook.

Great catching up in DC this past week!

Re: Productivity Guru SMACKDOWN: Tim Ferriss v. Dave Allen

Jared Goralnick — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 22:10:30 -0000

Clay, to echo everyone else here--great job on your blog--you're pretty darn entertaining and it's great to see you contributing so well to this productivity space. Now onto the meat:

I think there is a place for both systems, but it does require a lot of trimming...of both. The main lesson from GTD for me was to get the stuff out of my head and into a system I trust

I think that that part was even a big part of Tim's workflow. For instance, he spent a few days trying to come up with his 80/20 or 95/5 in terms of what he wanted in his life. To do that he had to do some sort of mind-dump, figure out how he was spending his time, determine his responsibilities, etc. Then he could act upon it. The steps he took next were very different than David's (Tim was ELIMINATE AUTOMATE OUTSOURCE as opposed to PROCESS ACT REVIEW), but they required getting things out into the open. And, of course, in the process of eliminating, automating, and outsourcing, you still have to process stuff, act on it, and check up on it. GTD helps to get organized--to help you focus on the task at hand ("mind like water"). Tim is a natural, probably a genius, when it comes to discipline. Most people need a system to have that focus and clarity of what to do next. That's where GTD plays a role.

Then of course there's the 4HWW. And I readily agree with you that finding ways to do what's the best and most exciting use of your time is what it's all about. Tim offers such great, tangible advice for that, and plenty of reasoning for why.

So, I'll try not to go on and on here, I'm just suggesting that there's a need for some sort of organization and GTD can help with that. The 4HWW was so impactful for me because I had a system in place. Putting the two together has made my days so much more productive with a lot more time.

Cheers.

Re: How I Stay on Task and Manage Distractions

Jared Goralnick — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 18:00:30 -0000

Whatever works for you, Clay ;-). It is, after all, amazing how hard it is to stay focused with the internet and the ease of multitasking.

The thing that I'm most curious about is the sand timer--about how it "forces you to stay in the present." Most of the more difficult things for me are ones that take extended periods of thought, writing, and/or some looking things up. I question why I would want something else for me to concern myself with every 3 minutes? Is it to remind me just how much time I've wasted when I'm getting distracted ("shoot, I just spent THREE MINUTES checking out that chick's photos?") or is there some deeper or more existential meaning? Could you elaborate on how it keeps you i nthe present...

Re: 47 Decent Lifestyle Design Resources

Jared Goralnick — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 21:51:14 -0000

Hi Clay,

Thanks for the TWO links--much appreciated. This is a great list, as well!

Now the real question becomes whether and how all this attention to "lifestyle design" has improved your own schedule, activities, and general quality of vida...

Cheers.

Re: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Goals: The Russian Doll Approach to Goal Setting

Jared Goralnick — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:56:10 -0000

Great work again, Clay!

Re: Quitting Things and Flakiness: The #1 Productivity Anti-Hack

Jared Goralnick — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 23:49:01 -0000

Really excellent post, Clay. I can hardly add much to the discussion, but I've echoed your thoughts on my own blog to help spread the word and say it again:

Walk away if it

Re: 49 Decent Virtual Assistant & Personal Outsourcing Resources

Jared Goralnick — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 20:52:39 -0000

So now that you've compiled the resources...what are YOU outsourcing?

Re: 49 Decent Virtual Assistant & Personal Outsourcing Resources

Jared Goralnick — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 16:23:48 -0000

Clay,

I think these posts are helpful. If you were echo'ing everyone else's aggregation posts then they'd be silly...but you do a great job on the research and help find the salient points.

A bigger question is whether it's a good use of YOUR time. Research on a topic like this would be a great thing to outsource :-).

But yes, keep these up!

J

Re: The James Dean Guide to Being a Body Language Bad*ss

Jared Goralnick — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 11:42:38 -0000

But if I spend all my time online, what good will these poses offer?

Re: On Growing the Growing Life

Jared Goralnick — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:13:11 -0000

Tim Ferriss might not be a fan of your California-over-Croatia decision, but I don't think you have any doubt that you're doing the right thing.

As for your blogging advice, I know you know quite a bit about how this whole blogging world works...but your trump card isn't that hardly secret knowledge. It's obvious that your trump card is that you're a damn good writer.

Anti-hack, productivity, or personal exploration...you've got a voice that people will continue to want to hear.

Re: On Eating New Contexts for Breakfast and The Price of Radical Growth

Jared Goralnick — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:32:29 -0000

It's the concomitant pain and loss that I (and I'm guessing most others) fear the most as the cost of serious growth. Thanks for helping to put this issue into perspective.

Re: The Battle for Our Minds

Jared Goralnick — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:54:11 -0000

Okay okay, so I need to take a long vacation and get the heck out of my office chair.

I'm not so sure that getting away is going to give me a perspective that's going to improve my life in the short-term...but it IS going to make an impact that will likely help in the long term and will certainly offer things I'll be proud to look back upon.

Re: 70 Simple Power Tao Secret Hacks to Writing the Perfect Productivity Article, Plus a Guide & System for Doing It

Jared Goralnick — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 21:18:22 -0000

I guess this would be the more traditional definition for Anti-Hack.

Or maybe you're turning into the John C Dvorak of productivity.

Re: The Life Hack Misnomer

Jared Goralnick — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:42:31 -0000

Yeah, meta-discussions is the right word. Show us the money. I sort of agree with you here, but I'm not sure you're being totally fair.

I applaud your trying to help us grow sans technological doohickies--that's your slant and it's a valid one. I certainly could use a little impetus to making some big life changes that have nothing to do with technology.

However, it's a lot easier to change your tools than it is to change your life. And if the tools serve to change your life then they deserve credit for that, and people should in fact be seeking out such tools at least to the extent that they're effective.

Now obviously I have a personal stake in this, in that I want to build tools that help people to help themselves. Whether or not a tool that facilitates change can be called a "lifehack" I don't know. Whether that tool involves technology or not is irrelevant. A sychronization utility is likely not, but what about something that reminds you of a task right before you need to know about it? What about something that vacuums your house while you're not there? What about a service that notifies you when things are available that you were before seeking out all the time? Maybe they're not lifehacks (since it's a made up word) but they do give you more options with how you spend your time, or they free up your time, or they improve your quality of living.

The tools that have become obvious in their utility are probably the biggest lifehacks...but we wouldn't label them as such since they've been around for so long. Think: microwave or lock. Maybe they don't leave to self-actualization, but they help us to keep our eye on the ball--that is, the ball that you're pitching. After all, you've talked about outsourcing and VAs and all that other stuff, too. Sometimes a tactical approach IS in order.

We're all going to continue to struggle with personal development, with growth, with focus...and to the end that a tool can help us with that, if we're so inclined to use them, then why not call that a lifehack? Okay okay, I don't really care what we call it...but let's just say there's room for all sorts of personal development and sometimes tools help us get there?

Re: The Life Hack Misnomer

Jared Goralnick — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:20:26 -0000

Thanks, Clay, for the thoughtful response--you do take care of your readers here. I also certainly appreciate the link to AwayFind.com ;-). Maya, I hope it proves helpful to you!

I'm looking forward to the interview you were Tweeting about next week on Duff's website--it'll be great to learn "what's next" for the anti-hack man : ).

Re: Alternative Lifestyle Designing (The Rabbit Hole Tax and Baselining)

Jared Goralnick — Fri, 16 May 2008 09:52:54 -0000

Such inspiration once again, Clay! Thank you for reminding us that our needs are often mere "shoulds" and that there's a lot of room for developing the perspective that we, more likely, truly need.

While there may be a rabbit hole tax, I'd say it's a much more laissez faire rabbit hole than the comparable taxes of living in the world of shoulds. I agree with Dan that at a certain point it just goes away.

Thanks for pointing folks to the dreamline I put up, too!

Re: When Crazy Isn’t Crazy Anymore: Life Balance and Insanity

Jared Goralnick — Mon, 26 May 2008 07:56:03 -0000

Nice work, Mr. Collins. I'm looking forward to the season of summer being one of travel & perspective. The workaholics months have been a bit much. . .
-----------
Response

Tell me about it :-). I've actually quite enjoyed the workaholic months and think they might extend into the summer for me. Good luck with the travel and bumming around. I'll look forward to reading about the updates on your blog.

--Clay

Re: Project Liberation

Jared Goralnick — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 09:09:46 -0000

I'm just not that worried about you, Clay. You pain over this stuff, but it really does work out. And not so much because you have the heart, but because you have the talent and passion for it. Whether or not we all come along for the journey, yours will be an adventurous one...and probably more stable than you think.
------------
Response:
You're a good friend, Jared. Thanks for the vote of confidence.

By the way, you're blog is great, but I also think you deserve some kind of internet-wide/blogosphere-wide award for your commenting. Maybe I can get a group of people together to collect all your comments and put them together as a downloadable e-book. (I'm only half kidding).

Thanks Jared,
Clay

Re: The Income Snowball & Funding Your Freedom: A Four-Part Guide

Jared Goralnick — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 14:16:13 -0000

Interesting post, Clay. We all need a little kick in the butt to pursue things that will allow really help us to develop perspective and make the most of life.

Let me be the contrarian and just point out that the debt snowball is a very personal and passive endeavor--regardless of what you pay off, it just affects your own financial situation and nothing else. On the other hand, the "income snowball" is actually a pretty big deal in that taking on new lines of work really affects those around you, people's perceptions of you, the amount of commitments you have, your existing financials, etc etc.

I like your approach of suggesting "start with the easy stuff and hang a shingle," but there's a greater commitment to taking on a tangential career path than choosing which debts you pay off first. Some streams of income are no-big-deal and others may become beasts of a job. I just want to offer the caveat that when figuring out which new jobs are most accessible that one should also consider what the long term implications are. (I know long term is anathema to "quitting things and flakiness" but I also recognize your readers don't want to leave their new customers hanging.) Sometimes that might lead to choosing a number slightly higher up the list...or a different path entirely.

There I go being the traditional boring guy. Just food for thought : ).

Re: The Ego Economy: Why the Freedom Economy Is Passing You By

Jared Goralnick — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 20:40:42 -0000

Re: Productivity Guru SMACKDOWN: Tim Ferriss v. Dave Allen

Jared Goralnick — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 22:10:30 -0000

Re: How I Stay on Task and Manage Distractions

Jared Goralnick — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 18:00:30 -0000

Re: 47 Decent Lifestyle Design Resources

Jared Goralnick — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 21:51:14 -0000

Re: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Goals: The Russian Doll Approach to Goal Setting

Jared Goralnick — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:56:10 -0000

Great work again, Clay!

Re: Quitting Things and Flakiness: The #1 Productivity Anti-Hack

Jared Goralnick — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 23:49:01 -0000

Really excellent post, Clay. I can hardly add much to the discussion, but I've echoed your thoughts on my own blog to help spread the word and say it again:

Walk away if it

Re: 49 Decent Virtual Assistant & Personal Outsourcing Resources

Jared Goralnick — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 20:52:39 -0000

So now that you've compiled the resources...what are YOU outsourcing?

Re: 49 Decent Virtual Assistant & Personal Outsourcing Resources

Jared Goralnick — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 16:23:48 -0000

Re: The James Dean Guide to Being a Body Language Bad*ss

Jared Goralnick — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 11:42:38 -0000

But if I spend all my time online, what good will these poses offer?

Re: On Growing the Growing Life

Jared Goralnick — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 11:13:11 -0000

Re: On Eating New Contexts for Breakfast and The Price of Radical Growth

Jared Goralnick — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:32:29 -0000

It's the concomitant pain and loss that I (and I'm guessing most others) fear the most as the cost of serious growth. Thanks for helping to put this issue into perspective.

Re: The Battle for Our Minds

Jared Goralnick — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:54:11 -0000

Re: 70 Simple Power Tao Secret Hacks to Writing the Perfect Productivity Article, Plus a Guide & System for Doing It

Jared Goralnick — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 21:18:22 -0000

I guess this would be the more traditional definition for Anti-Hack.

Or maybe you're turning into the John C Dvorak of productivity.

Re: The Life Hack Misnomer

Jared Goralnick — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:42:31 -0000

Re: The Life Hack Misnomer

Jared Goralnick — Fri, 09 May 2008 17:20:26 -0000

Re: Alternative Lifestyle Designing (The Rabbit Hole Tax and Baselining)

Jared Goralnick — Fri, 16 May 2008 09:52:54 -0000

Re: When Crazy Isn’t Crazy Anymore: Life Balance and Insanity

Jared Goralnick — Mon, 26 May 2008 07:56:03 -0000

Re: Project Liberation

Jared Goralnick — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 09:09:46 -0000

Re: The Income Snowball & Funding Your Freedom: A Four-Part Guide

Jared Goralnick — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 14:16:13 -0000

Re: The Ego Economy: Why the Freedom Economy Is Passing You By

Jared Goralnick — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 20:40:42 -0000