Open Loops

Storming the Matrix: Can You Live Online?

In the movie, "The Matrix", the hero spends all his time trying to escape from living in a computer generated world.  It's funny to think that there are those of us who would prefer the opposite, and want to storm the matrix to get inside, living completely in a digital world.  We are coming very close to that with web apps that are improving each day to the point that it is very tempting.

Is it possible that one can do everything one needs to do to accomplish required tasks and achieve goals by using online tools only?  That question popped in my mind years ago when I read a quote from Bill Gates who said that the future would be oriented to an online world and that Microsoft would lead the way.  Since then, with the proliferation of WiFi hot spots, home wireless networks and wireless cards for laptops, as well as the new Google Gears that allow web applications to work offline, that future is close to being here.  However, Microsoft is not leading the way.  Instead, one of Microsoft's top officers stated that they are now years behind other companies in preparing viable web applications that Bill Gates promised.  Other companies, however, have blazed the way with webapps that promise everything that installed software promises -- but are available anywhere, anytime, on any computer.

Taming Your Outlook Inbox

Richard Kuo's Personal Blog : Optimize your life #3 - how to manage e-mail effectively (1/2)

Those of you who read my email rant last year, know that I stand among those who say that misuse of email is the biggest waste of productivity that I know.  Richard Kuo adds a little more information on how to make Outlook heel, sit-up, roll-over, and play dead instead of dragging you out of your office for a walk when it wants to.  Check out his two articles to see how to silence new mail notifications and to configure your personal folders to be GTD-friendly.

How to Spot an Email Hoax

It never ceases to amaze me that people continue to believe, what is obviously clear to me to be, email hoaxes.  The number of people who empty savings accounts, forward email to 30 people, or send account numbers to complete strangers, makes me feel like Superman with x-ray vision.  I can see the hoax, but few others can.  I even get emails from employees who add emotional contentary to the hoax by adding their, "If this doesn't make you cry, you're heartless," statement to the forwarded hoaxmail.  This emotional beating then prompts others to forward the hoax, just to prove they are not heartless.

How to Lose More Friends and Alienate Even More People with Email

As a follow-up to my post on How to Lose Friends and Alienate People with Email series, I've been collecting additions from people who commented and emailed me about other practices that irritate them.  Here are some additions to the list:

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People With Email - Pt. 2

Sending email to aggravate someone is easy.  There are so many tactics at one’s disposal.  Initiative is even on the side of the sender.  But, if there is a person who has gotten your thong in a knot and they seem to be begging for a good pimp-slapping, there are some things that you can do when you're on the receiving end of the email.  The amount is not as copious as for the sender, but they can be just as effective.

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People With Email - Pt. 1

Email can be the source of aggravation in the receivers.  By following these rules, you can make them mad enough to choke you:

Yahoo! Email Improvements

I've said more than once on this blog that I love Yahoo! and most of its services.  I subscribe to premium services, such as the enhanced email, increased storage in the briefcase, groups, Yahoo! by phone, and games.  I find their email fits my needs exactly.  I run my personal email and my Open Loops email through Yahoo!.  Here are a few email enhancements that make it work for me:

Get Your Own Email Icon

Did you ever want one of those cool email icons on which people click to email you?  I did, too, but didn't know where they were getting them...until now.  There is an email icon generator that will create an email icon for Gmail, Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail, ATT, Netscape, AOL, and many other email providers.  Just add your screen name and it will do the rest.  Have fun!

Taming your Email Inbox

A lot has been said and is being said on various blogs and on several GTD bulletin boards about email inboxes becoming repositories for hundreds of emails.  Unfortunately, this is not what the inbox is intended to be.  As they are sitting there, they become next actions that are not integrated into one’s system, FYI’s that are not filed for future reference, and items that have been delegated and have been left there as reminders of that designation.  Unfortunately, when they get mixed up like this, they become useless, as we now have to use our fallible memory to keep track of what’s what.  We forget which have been installed as next actions on our context lists, which have been acted on and are just lying there with no other actions required, which ones have been read, which ones have not, which ones have already been filed, and those that still need filing.

To keep this from happening, treat your email inbox just like your real inbox. 

Everything Old is New Again

Google has appeared to bless (or curse) me with 50 gmail account invitations.  Most of us are already using gmail and are having fun with exploring the various features and developing new hacks to make it do what we want so we can be more productive.  A gmail account is also by invitation only.  So, help me expend these invitations so I won't feel like I'm hording!  Here's the deal--

For those of you without a gmail account, but would like one, simply email me the answer to the following question (Use the "Email Me" link in the left sidebar).  Each of the first 50 correct responses gets a gmail account.  The rest of you GTD commandos can use the comment section to simply show off your GTD prowess (yes, it's OK if the newbies see your answer as the purpose is also to educate) and rub everyone else's noses in it.

The Question:  It's been said that there are no true "new" ideas, only old ones that have been updated.  So keeping that in mind -- One of the early productivity gurus who helped coin the concept of the "next physical action" in the early 1970's, likened it to a primate.  What was this person's name?

Hint:  "Management Time: Who's Got the Monkey?"

Good Luck!