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Doing anything well. How to...
Do anything. But as you do it, keep saying, "I am doing the right thing". And then do it well... Also do it more often.... More often than not, it would turn out to be right, correct and successful. Reason : Cos you did it well, and more importantly avoided having doubts about it in the process of doing it.
The Pomodoro Technique: martial arts of time management.
Image via Wikipedia
The Pomodoro Technique® is a way to get the most out of time management. Turn time into a valuable ally to accomplish what we want to do and chart continuous improvement in the way we do it.
Francesco Cirillo created the Pomodoro Technique® in the 1980s. It is now practiced by professional teams and individuals around the world.
This is how the website defines the technique, and it is true! Website: http://www.pomodorotechnique.com/
I have never been a great enthusiast of productivity techniques, for all that I do is the creative stuffs. Writing, cartooning and painting. These are the art forms that never needs to be rushed, for it could spell kaput. But, what happens when you are in a position to create more in the least possible time? Enter the Pomodoro Technique
What is this technique..?
Simply put, there is no ritual to working, you define your style here. Work - if seen in the conventional terms simply means "anything that we might or might not like, but yet have to do it, for a greater benefit". Even to a writer, whose passion is to write, there is occassional or more frequent writer's block, and mathematicians have burn-outs. Overdoing clearly has its disadvantages. It is important to draw a line, enjoy what was done, and plan what needs to be done and then get back to work. For more often than not, we are always more equipped than we actually think we are to get the things done.
Taking the cues from the previous sentence, there are a myriad of productivity techniques to choose from, just to name a few, we have :-
GTD(Getting Things Done)
Mnmlsm (Zen Habits approach : minimalism)
Journaling (this is an art, learn more from Jim Rohn)
To-Do list
ABCD techniques (Brain Tracy : Eat That Frog)
Using timer instead of watches etc.
About the techniques above, I shall blog some other day; for today we are doing Pomodoro.
Where Pomodoro clearly wins...?
This technique simply uses a timer, like the one shown in the picture. The timer is set for 25 minutes, and then follows a 3-5 minutes break. This goes on for 4 such cycles, after which you deserve a 15 minutes break.
Note: The how to and guide ebooks are free, and can be downloaded from the website. The pomodoro timer I use is an Android app named Pomodroido
This technique clearly wins over GTD and all possible techniques partially because there is hardly anything to learn here, and there are no intricate details (to begin with), however after mastering the technique, there are a host of intricate analysis you can perform. But for now, let's just be beginners and enjoy the beginner's luck.
The timer looks cute, unlike a huge excel sheet that enervates us as we look at it. The method is self-propogative, you tend to feel addicted to working (sounds paradoxical?!).
You don't get tired!...But How?
Normal Scenario: Imagine climbing the stairs for 3 continous hours.
Pomodoro Scenario: Imagine climbing stairs at a proper & planned pace, for 25 minutes. Resting for 5 minutes, then continuing such cycles. Taking 15 minute braks now and then.
Thats how it works.
So. Ready... Get set... pomodoro!
Related articles
How to Get Your Work Done Using Pomodoro Technique (maketecheasier.com)
50 online tools to get your business rolling (holykaw.alltop.com)
How to Use Batching to Become More Productive (michaelhyatt.com)
'Pomodoro' Indicator Timer for Ubuntu (omgubuntu.co.uk)
How to watch out for "get paid, get laid" spammers
Spamming comes in different flavors and colors with every progressing day of Internet era.
This time the flavor is that of an email ID compromise. Your email acccount sends around 50-100 emails within a short span of 2-3 minutes, and before you realize the word has spread, and there are other greedy people in your contact list who have clicked through this already!
Do's and Dont's
The most important thing about using emails:
Remember that there is no postmaster who sits and organizes your mails, it is all by machines.
Machines don't have blood, and hence are cold. Hence they don't have judgemental capabilities.
So, if you have the slightest doubt about a mail, be it from your contacts or not, simply delete it. For if it was from contacts, they will get back to you, or better will call you over phone.
Use a Good email provider. Some of the trustworthy ones are Gmail, Microsoft(MSN, Hotmail, Live), Rediffmail, in.com
These we call trustworthy because, even if there is an instance of such issues, the automated internal security systems are alerted in no time, and your digital personality is safe again.
If you can, go for a https:// level security in settings of your email. https : stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. Secure is the catch word here.
Switch on your spidy senses when the mail that has a subject line like "hello, i am free now, are you free tonight, hi", often from someone from whom you would rather not expect such a mail, say your ex-girl/boy-friends, or dad/mom. Also note the unmindful usage of small letters here.
Use Internet like driving on a Road. "Watchful". It could cost you not your life, but certain crucial elements of it like Happiness.
Some spammers to watch out for...
Get Paid more than $100 per week
Get Laid tonight, with girls around your location. (Note: They have already tracked your location!)
Ones using Google's name. Big companies don't share money with you! Remember.
Easy money: There is no simpler way to make money, only harder ones. So forget the 'easy' option, and get back to work.
Foreign Exchange Online. There are only a handful that are legit, so ask an expert before you get all serious about it.
Online Poker and Gambling, which are not safe even in the real world, leave alone digital world.
To Give you a glimpse for how the look and feel usually is on a crappy website...here are some pics.
See the full gallery on Posterous
Related articles
Windows Live Hotmail is renewed: always faster, secure and intuitive (theangleofthepoems.wordpress.com)
40,000+ email addresses and passwords discovered on phishing site (zdnet.com)
Has the Spam Problem Been Solved? (pcworld.com)
Microsoft's Hotmail celebrates its 15th birthday (winrumors.com)
How can I prevent Spam? (recipenet.wordpress.com)
Spammers and compromised accounts (sunbeltblog.blogspot.com)
Spammers' new favorite delivery model: Your compromised email account (zdnet.com)
New spammer tactics - compromised accounts now favored (commtouch.com)
Hackers and spammers prefer compromised email accounts (mailchimp.com)
First Podcast
Image via Wikipedia
Podcasting - Recently there's too much buzzz about soundcloud.com in the Internet as well as in the blogospheres, and quite naturally I am into it now.
Yeah, of course.. the first podcast did suck a bit, but hey...Soundcloud does a real good job! It did reduce the background noise, in fact I felt like the sound quality was almost like 'In Bed with Susie Bright'! Ha ha...So I am going ahead and attaching my first soundclip, purely for records' sake.
BUT...I s.h.a.l.l do something creative with it, keep watching!
Now for the people intererested, the app available in Android market, too!
Take care, till will me meet again.
First Podcast by ramreva
Home alone... Ram alone...
Being home alone is a fun/fantasy for grown up kids. Biologically at 24, I am now a kid who can reproduce. I have been home alone for the past four days now and five hours from now my parents would open the doors with their set of keys, for I will still be asleep when they arrive.
Being home alone is less glorious than those images that prevail in the mind. For when a guy like me, the one with more respect for purpose than for order; stays at home all alone, without the admonitory effects of mother, the result is often a catastrophe, that religiously abides by the second law of thermodynamics. Entropy is all that keeps increasing.
Entropy [Before]
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The following happens in no-praticluar-order: just like the mis-spelt word.
kitchen gets screwed up; mom suddenly seems to me... a wonder-woman
the study table becomes... less of a study table
the dining table loses its purpose, with study table components invading
the newspaper finds itself purposeless without dad
bed has gone for a toss
the resources that support life, like food, water, milk and coffee... start to run out.
The un-washed clothes somehow increase exponentially
And then something happened..
Happy-Maid effect [After]
The maid who cleans our home is an elderly lady. She eats breakfast at our home, for my mom cooks not for the three people of our family, but for four people. I followed the practice whole-heartedly. Made it a point that I make breakfast for the good old lady, no matter what. She was happy.
And I noticed that there had been a face-uplift surgery that the home had gotten. Kitchen was spanking clean...!
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A Great lunch : courtesy Aunt
The most unexpected surprise however was a sumptous lunch, my aunt (chitti) had made. A treat.
A family lunch...
Menu :
Male chicken in Briyani
Female Chicken in curry
and their daughters egg1 and egg2, as omlets.
This is possibly the most unorganized article I have ever written. But what the hell...it is straight out of the brain, bypassed by the fingers onto this page. So I am kinda happy. For may be if I capture all the thoughts and inferences of these four days, they won't be mine anymore, but yours too! and chances are you will unsubscribe. Why would I do that!?
Other happenings..
Friends...period.
