Productivity, or the lack thereof, is a tricky subject to tackle. Here is how I’m able to get things done using some pretty remarkable technology.

Technology is can be overwhelming, but only if you let it overwhelm you. I work in a very high tech profession: The computer industry. I develop software, solutions, and ultimately solve problems. My number one productivity tool in such a high tech world is compiled of—are you ready?—a pen and paper. But wait, it’s not just any pen pen and boring paper! I’m a huge fan of the smaller sized legal pads and a red sharpie pen. Here’s why this is the best tool I have:

• Yellow paper is bright and in your face. It doesn’t get lost among all the other stuff on my desk.
• Red ink is important and bold.
• Sharpie pens are permanent and hold up against spilled drinks.
• Full sized legal pads are too big!
• There are no restrictions or limitations to pen and paper. There isn’t another tool that is not only super cheap, but able to do whatever you want with it. I can sketch, draw arrows, scribble and write lists. The best part of it all? When I’m done, I can crumple it up and throw it across the room.

You can crumble it, toss it, scribble on it, and fold it. You can scratch things out, start over, and remix. It’s as fancy as you make it because in the end, content is king.

This is the best app ‘for that.’

Each idea gets it’s own piece of paper. When I’m done with that idea (either implemented, moved it to the next step, or kill it) I can crumple up the paper and chuck it. It’s a great feeling.

I’m always coming up with new ideas and thoughts that would distract me from the task at hand. Writing them down and pushing them to the side of my desk in an array (not a pile) allows me to look at them when I’m done the current task and move to another. (Piles are for ideas that are dependent on one another.)

The amount of paper correlates to how busy I will be. As I finish tasks or complete ideas I can crumble the paper, throw it away, and my desk becomes cleaner. The goal at the end of the day is to have nothing on my desk at all. Only 3 more pages to go!

Find the Sharpie Retractable pens here: http://amzn.to/sharpiepen and the yellow small legal pads here: http://amzn.to/legalpad

• Pandora - The most cost effective and least stressful way of listening to music. I create a a “playlist” that infinitely fills itself up based on the song, genre, or artist that I’m in the mood for. I tell it what I want to listen to and it does the rest. It automatically knows what type of music is related and plays it, and because I have an iPhone, I don’t have to buy music to carry it around because–yes–there’s an app for that. Check out Pandora here.
• Kaleidoscope - The best looking file comparison tool available. Not the cheapest app, but a great one nonetheless for quickly viewing changes between different versions of files and images. It’s very polished and if I highly recommend it. Check out Kaleidoscope app.
• Square - Typically when collecting money from clients, roommates, or customers I’d only be able to accept cash or checks. In 2010 I received my little square card reader and was able to accept credit cards without any monthly fees, commitments, or minimums. It hangs off my keychain and works directly with my iPhone (also works with Android). An innovative way to accept credit card payment wherever you are and for whatever reason. Check out Square.
• Use Reminders - I can’t remember everything! Like I said, it was a busy year so being able to set reminders and forget about them was great. When the time was right I’d be reminded and carry on with my less stressful life. I can’t tell you the amount of times this has saved my ass. Check out Use Reminders – it’s really neat!

Just as I began using a few new apps this year, I also discontinued the use of a few. I no longer use Things for Mac and iPhone nearly as much as I used to. It’s not that it is any less of a great app, it really is, but it just doesn’t fit into my work flow any more. I was trying to figure out ways to use it and eventually the to do list of things became overwhelming. I started procrastinating more because the things I needed to do were on the list and weren’t going any where.

Now, I no longer use things and I’m more productive because of it. It sounds odd that by stop using a to-do list app that I would become more productive, but it’s true. The reason is simple: if I have something that I need to do, I get started immediately or I set myself a reminder (using Use Reminders) to start at a later date. If you just get started on something, I’ve found that it gets done and you don’t get the “procrastination stress” that goes along with big lists.

What did you start using in 2010 that you’re still using now?

Quitting soda is probably one of the best things you can do for yourself. I’ve already saved about $100 by not drinking soda and if you’re really interested, I have a counter on http://mattg.me showing my progress in terms of dollars, cents, and time. I also feel soo much better. Without such a large intake of sugars and high fructose corn syrup I feel a weight being lifted off of my shoulders, and probably my belly too.

As of right now it’s been 2 weeks 23 hours 24 minutes and 53 seconds since I quit drinking soda.

In lue of soda, I’ve began drinking a lot of tea, water, juice, and anything I can pulverize in a blender (mostly smoothies, however, margaritas work too).

I highly recommend trying to go soda free for at least a week. Give it a try!

Move your iTunes folder to your Dropbox folder. This will probably take a really long time. For me it took about 8 hours.

Launch iTunes while holding the option key (shift on Windows).

Click choose library and choose your iTunes library folder in your Dropbox.

Another goodie from samsoff.es →

The bird dropped some bread on a section of outdoor machinery, eventually leading to significant over heating in parts of the accelerator. The LHC was not operational at the time of the incident, but the spike produced so much heat that had the beam been on, automatic failsafes would have shut down the machine. [Stuart Fox of Popular Science]

Seriously interesting that this isn’t coming from The Onion.

The only party I could see Window’s users partaking in is the “Ditching Windows for Anything Else” party.

Oh thank God, someone Cabel Sasser made it better:

If you’re hosting a Windows 7 launch party it’s the end of the world as we know it feel free to post a comment. I hope this post has no such comments.

The Affinion Group, a marketing company, has released a survey of American cities and rated them on everything from road rage to how often drivers put on lipstick in the car.

Via Life

What is the significance of Black Friday to this blog? Well I happen to have, in my digital fingers, a PDF file containing Black Friday specials from many of the top retailers around the country. Trust me, you want it.

To be completely honest, I found this over at Cheap Cheap Cheap, but the download took so long because it was hosted through one of those download services that makes you not only wait to download, but attempts to get you to purchase their services so you can have faster downloads. 

If you want to this PDF of black-friday-special-goodness and you are an american then send me $20 via paypal and click this link. You don’t have to send me $20; the download is free, however ’tis the season to be jolly!

Also check out blackfriday.info