Monthly Archives: January 2009

Killing Time Sinks

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Just over a week ago, I started playing World of Warcraft(again) and I was have a great time getting back into the game.  Unfortunately, for you guys it completely knocked out my time for blogging and also some of my other things that I enjoy. My estimate for in-game time is over 40 hours for the week, that’s a full time job, what the hell could I have been thinking. So I’m going to write down a list of ways to seek and remove time sinks.

Do a Weekly Analysis for 1-2 Weeks

You don’t have to over thorough with you tracking, but every couple of hours write down what your doing. If you do something that could take a few hours write before you start and when you end, including the time for each. At the end of the week, compile all that information and look for stuff that appears rather excessive and see if you can cut it out; for me excessive would be anything above 6-8 hours for the week. Obviously, you can’t cut sleep, dining, or commuting out completely, but it is possible to cut back.

How to Cut Back

If say reading too much(though I don’t think that’s possible), you could cut the number of books available to you so that you read them more slowly and cherish them, or maybe it’s a social activity, you can cut your funding so that you have to stay home. Find a way to either make the time have more value, rather than desaturate it with over use, or put a flow valve on it so that you can constrict it. If it’s possible you could also just go cold turkey and cut it completely, this was my choice in canceling my subscription and removing the software from my system.

Find Something Productive to Fill the Time

This is the big one anytime you try to stop a habit, you need a distraction to prevent you from going back to your old ways.  You need something that you find interesting and will add value to your life. Here are a few, some that I plan on using

  • Blogging( I know I already am, I want to do it more frequently)
  • Freelancing
  • Programming
  • Reading
  • Focused Topical Learning
  • Get A Job
  • Head Back to School

3 Types Of People You Just Can’t Forget

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I got to reminiscing over the last 6 months at my job. I’ve seen several hundred customers come and go but only remember maybe 20 names. So I asked myself if I could group them into categories to figure out what made them so special, I came up with 3 groups that contain them.

Douchebags

These are the guys that do pretty much anything to make your job just a bit harder. They can be overly pushy when you tell them that you’re unable to assist them. They will do anything to get what they want and don’t give a damn whether it’s possible on your end, but their persistence though annoying sticks with you. You use them to benchmark  your other customers. These guys stick out because they ruffle your feathers and they just beckon to be remembered.

Nice Guys

This group you don’t want to forget because they are the few people who can brighten your day up. They can call you up on short notice and you don’t have anything for them that’s decent but they are happy to take what you have to offer and so glad that you could get them out of there bind. I had one guy, Mr. Bruce, that wouldn’t stop smiling it was just so remarkably odd, normally I see people who are upset because they got into an accident or their flight was canceled. These are the people you want to come back again and again just so they can cheer you up.

Frequenters

These people come in maybe once every month or two and setup there reservations before they ever leave. You get to know exactly what they want when they show up. You really don’t want to forget frequenters because they are probably 20-30% of your business in my small town. You can’t offend them because they will go to your competitors and are unlikely to come back.

These are the 3 groups that I just can’t forget, I know them all by name and see someone from one of these groups atleast once per week. One thing about these groups though is that they aren’t self contained, I’ve got frequent nice guys and frequent douchebags. I’ve also managed to get a nice douchebag, I assume it’s just because I’m not used to the abrasiveness of people from NYC, they don’t come to small town West Virginia that often.  I bet if you wanted you could even make your self unforgetable by mixing them with your own style.

Computer Issues & A Few Ideas

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For everyone who waited for something Tuesday and Thursday I’ll apologize. I ended up doing a clean install trying to get my burner to work Sunday evening, because I wanted Windows 7. So, instead of doing anything productive I spent my time on my computer searching for everything to get it back into working condition and coming up with ideas for posts, improving some products, and just flat out re-evaluating my own purposes.

It’s sad to here that Steve Jobs is stepping down, but maybe whoever takes over while he’s gone will start making improvements to their fringe products like iTunes. Just the other day I was using it, as it is my default player, and I realized that Window’s Media Player had a better user interface, though slower and not as pretty. In WMP, if you want to listen to an album by itself all you have to do is double click on it’s art or right-click on it’s title and select play. iTunes doesn’t have this it takes at least 2-5 clicks and some search through different menu’s to get to play just an album, that’s quite a disrespectful use of the the user’s time.

In other news, people have started to look at the education bubble that we’ll be facing in the next few years. John Robb’s article “Industrial Education” has caused a stir, “There is reason to believe that costs of higher education (direct costs and lost income) are now nearly equal (in net present value) to the additional lifetime income derived from having a degree.” I like how he’s done this because his analysis comes toward the same view as my posts from early last year on Social Perception and Personal Economics of education where I discuss the topic, but he also comes up with some great ideas on replacing it.

That’s all I have to say this morning, I’ll be back in a few days with new posts, now that everything is back in working order.

Collection Of Twinspiration Dec. 11 – Jan. 10

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So  3 months of doing this and I’ve finally found some rhythm that makes it easier to find the quotes. For those of you new to my blog this is something I do once a month and it’s simply a roundup of all the quotes I have posted on Twitter, 1-2 each day. If you’d like to read the other collections you can veiw them by searching for twinspiration. Also, if your on Twitter and would like to get these daily you can follow me: @Jimminy.

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.” ~Charles Darwin

Not a quote it’s a 15 minute film called “Validation” highly reccomended for a lift.

“The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said.” ~ Peter Drucker

“A mere whisper among the winds of change, can cause the greatest of societies to crumble and others to rise from the ashes.”

“The worst sin towards our fellow creatures is not to hate them, but to be indifferent to them: that’s the essence of inhumanity.” ~ George Benard Shaw

“We have more possibilities available in each moment than we realize.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.” ~ Buddha

“We must learn our limits. We are all something, but none of us are everything.” ~ Blaise Pascal

“The wise ones fashioned speech with their thought, sifting it as grain is sifted through a sieve.” ~ Buddha

“Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher.” ~ Buddha

“Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.” ~ John F. Kennedy

“Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?” ~Clarence, the Angel “It’s a Wonderful Life”

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but seeing with new eyes.” ~ Marcel Proust

“Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill… is to have the real spirit of Christmas.”

“Neither fire nor wind, birth nor death can erase our good deeds.”

“Who speaks to the instincts speaks to the deepest in mankind, and finds the readiest response.” ~ Amos Bronson Alcott

“Are you a human being having a spiritual experience, or a spiritual being having a human experience?” ~ Wayne Dyer

“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” ~ A. Einstein

“If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.” ~ Mary Engelbreit

“The man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life.” ~ Muhammad Ali

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.” ~ Aristotle

“The best way you can predict your future is to create it.” ~ Stephen Covey

“Look beneath the surface; let not the several quality of a thing nor its worth escape thee.” ~ Marcus Aurelius

“Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought.” ~ Albert von Szent-Gyorgyi

“It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.” ~ Herman Melville

“In helping others, we shall help ourselves, for what ever good we give out completes the circle and comes back to us.” ~ Hora Edwards

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” ~ T. S. Eliot

“You are today where your thoughts have brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.” ~ James Allen

“If you do not express your own original ideas, if you do not listen to your own being, you will have betrayed yourself.” ~ Rollo May

“The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance. The wise grows it under his feet.” ~ Unknown

Social Impacts Of A Stone Soup

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Have you heard the Grimm tale “Stone Soup“? It’s a tale of travelers that, being famished, come up with an ingenious plot to get food. In doing so they create an air of mystery by starting their plot with a fire and placing a kettle, filled with nothing but water and a stone, upon it. As the townspeople come forth to question what they are creating they reply with the simple response, “Stone soup, but it would be more delicious if we had such and such ingredients.” As everyone in the town comes forth the soup has grown into a meat and vegetable soup, with a fairly hearty broth, that everyone shares. It is a tale of co-operation and compassion that provide all parties better off than they were as individuals.

It is a story that aligns very well with the depression and wartime era’s of the early 20th century. During these tough times, friends, family, and neighbors would gather what little they had and make hearty feasts to share with each other. This would provide them with more variety in the foods they were able to make and they were also connecting with each other.

Co-operation and compassion are key in tough times in keeping your communities strong.

There is no greater proof than David Armano’s assistance with his family friend, on Tuesday night. He used his personal capital on Twitter, friendfeed, and his blog to raise just under $15,000 for her in the past 24 hours. What this proves, is what we are all involved in on these social arenas is very much a community, nearly as real as that which we walk through each day. When we had raised $7,000 for Daniela, David created a video thanking everyone who contributed, with donations or spreading the word, but the thing that stuck out is he spoke of a feast with neighbors in which they would all cook everything when the power would go out and share with each other.

If one person can start an initiative to help another and raise that much in a day, what is stopping us from helping those that need it now more than ever. We have hit a period in which everyone is hurting, much like the depression and wartime eras. If we can share what we have with others to make our community better and also make connections what is the hindrance.

If we can share what we have with others to make our community better and also make connections what is the hindrance.