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Tuesdays are Open Loop editions at SimpleProductivity blog.

My reading in the past few weeks has turned up some interesting articles:
Over at Stepcase Lifehack, the article “Multi-Tasking Isn’t Always A Bad Idea” fired me up. I disagree that multitasking is good, but as I read through I came across two interesting quotes:

“The best reason to say no to multi-tasking is because it is a crutch. It is a gateway to low-resistance activities that allow us to procrastinate when we should be working on higher-yield activities that require more intensive thought.”

and

“Multi-tasking does a great job of covering up the fact that [...] Continue Reading…

Mondays are productivity days at SimpleProductivity blog.

When I was first laid off, I envisioned myself, grandly checking off items from a large piece of paper, reporting to one and all how much I had accomplished. Because now I could get things done. Things I never could seem to accomplish before, because I was simply too busy. I had grand plans, I would now have time to work on all those projects that were stashed on my Someday list…
Insert sound of car brakes here.
The truth of the matter was that for the first long days, I didn’t get to any [...] Continue Reading…

I’ve been getting bored with the structure of the articles on SPB. I had, for months, been sticking to a schedule that didn’t leave me a lot of room for deviation: productivity Mondays, simplicity Tuesdays, software Wednesdays, tip Thursdays, and anything goes on Friday.
I’ve decided to restructure a bit, to give me room to investigate personal development, and pass along articles I think worth reading. So starting Monday, the structure will be the following:

Mondays: productivity
Tuesdays: open loops
Wednesdays: simplicity
Thursday: writer’s choice
Fridays: tips

Let me know if there is anything you would like to see covered!

This isn’t necessarily about productivity, or simplicity, but rather a realization of how things can creep into our lives completely unaware.
One of my favorite restaurants is a Chinese buffet. When I worked over there, I had been known to stop by at lunch. You see, this particular buffet offers take out, by the pound.
The first time I used the takeout, I loaded my container with what I normally would have put on my plate. Some lo-mein, General Tso’s chicken, a good helping of sauteed green beans. A couple of potstickers. Nothing over the top, but the amount I would [...] Continue Reading…

If you have school-aged children, you know that means mountains of paper coming home daily. And most children don’t want to part with any of these masterpieces, even if they are nothing more than a single crayon mark on a piece of construction paper.
If you let this go, you will be buried under an avalanche of school papers within a couple of months. Here are a few strategies to handle this paper mountain:
Date Everything By Week
Make sure you know when something came in. The easiest way I know to do this is to keep a date stamper near the [...] Continue Reading…

Today is Blog Action Day, where bloggers across the world agree to take one day and blog about a specific topic. This year’s topic is Poverty.
Even though I am currently out of work, I realize that I am far from poverty. This leaves me to be able to focus on things like productivity and voluntary simplicity. But especially in this economic climate, there are many who don’t have that luxury. Poverty is not just in third-world countries. Poverty is right here at home.
So while it would be nice to solve poverty on a world level, most of us don’t [...] Continue Reading…

I was recently made aware of a telesummit (free if you sign up today) from various time experts. I figured I would give it a shot, although I know very little about the actual content to be presented.If you are interested, free signup ends today (10/14). It can be found at www.timeexpertstelesummit.com

Two weeks ago, when I came home from work, I found our Roomba had committed suicide. It had flung itself down the stairs and was laying, face down on the stair landing, one wheel laying a few feet away. I’m not sure what caused the machine to go to such drastic measures…I’m pretty sure that my house is not dirty enough to cause a vacuum cleaner to decide to off itself. And the Roomba had made two previous attempts, so I suppose I should not have been surprised.
So the question, after scavenging the machine for parts (no, not even [...] Continue Reading…