In the movies, people wake up to happy birds chirping and the sweet smells of coffee brewing. In fantasyland, everyone is a perky morning person.

I’m not.

Far from the picturesque cereal commercial, my mornings are a blur. Get up, feed the kitties, bathroom, shower, dress, get to the bus. All in 30 minutes. No breakfast, no coffee, no time.

By the time I get to work, I’m already stressed out, frazzled, and in a terrible mood. So this makes me curious. What are mornings like for LifeClever readers?

Are you in a hopeless frenzy? Or are you the Zen master of your morning? What’s your strategy for coping with the morning grumps?

Photo by mdid

Posted in: Stress

Let’s review the basics: Events go on your calendar. Tasks go on your to-do list. These two tools are the Batman and Boy Wonder of nitty-gritty productivity, but what about the long view?

Visualizing the Big Picture

In the world of publishing, we divide each year into three seasons: Winter (January through April), Spring/Summer (May through August), and Fall (September through December). A standard assortment of events occurs in every season, from the meetings when we “launch” that season’s books until the day they’re each published.

As an editor, I want to see in advance that our Fall sales conference occurs so many months before a particular book is published, that certain blurbs should come in before a particular marketing meeting, and so on. This is Big Picture information for me. We’re not talking about events or tasks so much as large guideposts that affect a wide variety of events, projects, and tasks throughout the year. These meta-events are the dark matter that keeps my galaxy spinning in lockstep. (Ding: I just won today’s “Geekiest Sentence of the Day” award.)

Whatever field you’re in, there’s almost always a call for this kind of long-term planning and strategy. Putting events on a calendar that you can only view a month at a time simply doesn’t cut it for this kind of thinking. And hardcore project management tools like Gantt charts are just overkill for individual use.

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I came to a realization yesterday. It’s something I’d understood on one level or another for a long time, but this was the first time I’d articulated in a way that really sank in:

I create new tasks faster than I could ever accomplish them.

Coming to this realization gave me a tremendous sense of freedom. I imagine other addicts feel the same way when they hit rock bottom and realize it can only go up from here.

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For the past year, I’ve been anxiously anticipating the relaunch of Macworld’s website. I had completed the design in 2006, but after a year, the site curiously had not changed…

Until this week.

On Monday, Macworld launched a beta version of their spanking new site. For readers, it was an early holiday present. For me, it was also a surprise–my design was shelved. Denied. Rejected. Canned.

Here’s what the new site looks like

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Posted in: Design, Macworld, Rejection

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be inundated with TV news segments, magazine articles, and (yes) blog posts about New Year’s Resolutions. Usually, these resolutions take a negative approach: break your smoking habit, stop eating sweets, quit being so lazy and unmotivated and get to the gym already.

Ugh. Usually, “resolutions” are just an excuse to really go nuts over the holidays. With winter setting in, the long nights and lousy weather get us down. So we eat more, smoke more, and indulge in all our other vices to compensate. Personally, I’ve been drinking much more coffee than I normally do. Feeling helpless, we promise ourselves that, as of next year, we’ll do better. This rationalization gives us full license to cut loose. And it’s a sensible strategy: if we really can’t stop ourselves from doing what we shouldn’t be doing, why compound feeling crappy with feeling guilty, too?

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The inestimable Merlin Mann runs a series of posts on 43 Folders called Inbox Zero, intended to impart “the skills, tools, and attitude needed to empty your email inbox”and then keep it that way.” It’s been a great series so far (my own inbox is nearly empty at this minute, for instance).

In a similar vein, I now bring you Memory Zero, a series of articles to help you prepare for the fact that, despite its billions of interconnected neurons, the brain is a fickle gray beast.

Example: It’s a rainy day. You catch a bus and rest your wet umbrella on the floor, trusting your brain”there are more synapses in the brain than stars in the galaxy!”to remind you to grab it when it’s time to get off.

Unfortunately, a block before your stop, you’re busy thinking about this really cool CSS hack you’re going to try when you get home, and then, hey, why are all the people getting off, this place looks familiar, oh no, it’s my stop, RUN!

Time to buy a new umbrella.

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Erik Spiekermann once told me, “Portfolios don’t matter. You hire the person, not the portfolio.” Like Erik, the statement’s bold. But he’s got a point.

Your portfolio demonstrates what you already know, not your potential for learning, adapting, and growing.

Sure, a portfolio shows competency. At the minimum, you should know how to read, write, lay out a page, work with typography, and make things look nice and pretty. These basic skills are great for jobs with well-defined problems and tasks. For example: designing a logo, a brochure, poster, or a widget. Design firms needing help with these projects can get away with hiring you based mostly on your portfolio.

But what about the harder, messier problems? The ones that aren’t well defined, the ones that are wicked hard. For example: designing a service, an application, an end to the American health crisis. You know, the interesting problems. For these problems, what matters is not what you’ve done, it’s how you think.

So how do you show-off your thinking skills? When interviewing designers, I look for these key traits:

1. enthusiasm (do you want to learn?)
2. skepticism (do you think critically?)
3. eloquence (can you speak and write well?)
4. attitude (will you get along with others?)

Notice that “talent” ain’t on the list.

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Posted in: Career, Design, Portfolios

If you’re a LifeClever reader, you’re probably working (or studying to work) in a creative field. And you know that creative work is hard work. It’s exhausting. In fact, doing your non-creative work can feel like a welcome break after spending all day just trying to think of stuff.

Being a book editor, blogger, and podcaster, I look forward to tasks like washing the dishes or going on the elliptical trainer because they’re opportunities to stop worrying away at creative obstacles for half an hour.

In her book The Artist’s Way creativity guru Julia Cameron argues that each of us has a “well” of creativity. The well fills up when we treat ourselves right: get enough sleep, eat properly, take long walks, go to museums. When we sit down in front of the drafting table or the keyboard and start working, we gradually deplete this reserve. Cameron warns against pushing yourself too far.

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Hi, everyone. David Moldawer here, book editor and podcaster and your new co-blogger on LifeClever. Very happy and excited to join Chanpory here on this most excellent blog. On LifeClever, I’ll discuss everything from my favorite stationery items to my most elegant productivity hacks. I’m a fervent Mac user, but I also use a PC at work, so I’ve got ideas about making the most of either system, as well as how to use Web apps to bridge the gaps. If there’s a topic or system or application you’d like me to cover in particular, please email me at david@lifeclever.com.

I’ve been a Getting Things Done junkie since Merlin Mann introduced me to the concept on 43 Folders. (How long ago was that, anyway? I find it hard to remember life before GTD…) Like many of you, I’m an incorrigible GTD tweaker, constantly trying out new methods to eke the last few ounces of productivity out of my day. (Yes, I’m aware that all that tweaking often wastes more time than you’d ever save, but I’ll get to that dilemma in a future post.)

What You’ll Need for Today’s Hack:

• Polder timer
• Levenger Shirt Pocket Briefcase
• 3×5 unruled index cards
• Pilot G2 Mini

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I’d like to introduce you to LifeClever’s new staff writer, David Moldawer.

David comes from the publishing and theater world. He is an associate editor at St. Martin’s Press and recently edited, among others, Mark Frauenfelder’s fabulous Internet guide, Rule the Web.

I hired David because he’s got great writing chops, is crazy obsessed about GTD/productivity, and he’s funny. Check out his two regular podcasts:

• Moldawer in the Morning
• Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas

David is also a native New Yorker and graduate of Amherst College. Welcome, David!

This position is now filled.

It’s time to admit I can’t do everything myself.

For the past year, I’ve been a one-man blogging shop (with occasional help from generous guest writers.) I’ve enjoyed the late nights and extra working hours, but recent life changes have made me reconsider my priorities. I’m now looking for a regular writer to help out with my blogging duties.

I’ll still be editing and writing furiously, but I’m hoping the extra hand will help me reach the goal of getting up one quality post each weekday. It’ll also help me free up time to design bigger changes on the site, and more importantly, to spend quality time with family and friends.

Interested? Here are the official details. Feel free to pass it around:

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Posted in: Blogging, Jobs

I now have my very own blog on Merlin Mann’s 43 Folders. After publishing a couple of my guest posts, Merlin’s kindly given me a cozy little corner on his site to rant, rave, and muse at random.

I won’t have a set schedule, but I expect to post 3-4 posts a month. Check out my first official post:

• The 7 deadly sins of instant messaging

You can even see my tiny mugshot next to the post. ;-)

Also, don’t forget to send some love to the other bloggers on 43 Folders.

How will this effect LifeClever? Don’t worry, I’ll still be running the main show and posting regularly here. In fact, I’m planning some big changes, so stay tuned!

Posted in: Blog, Friends

The anxiously awaited XO laptop is now available for individual purchase as part of a Give One Get One program. For $399, you’ll pay for two laptops. One goes to you, and the other gets donated to a poor child in a developing country.

If you’ve been on a media fast for the past two years, here’s more about the goal of the program:

The mission of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) is to empower the children of developing countries to learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child. In order to accomplish our goal, we need people who believe in what we’re doing and want to help make education for the world’s children a priority, not a privilege.

$200 dollars of the purchase is tax-deductable, and as a bonus, you’ll get one full year of T-mobile HotSpot access.

As a Cambodian refugee of war who grew up with the privilege technology in the States, this program has extra meaning for me. Help a child who didn’t have the same opportunities as you and I, and donate today.

Posted in: Giving, Laptop

Back to My Mac through iChat
“Back to My Mac allows a user log into another Mac remotely via internet. This is a great feature but it is only available if you are a .Mac subscriber… This quick tutorial will show you how set up iChat to do just that.”

Dabbawalas: Low-tech and lean delivery system
“A dabbawala is a person in the Indian city of Mumbai whose job is to carry and deliver freshly made food from home in lunch boxes to office workers. More than 175,000 or 200,000 lunches get moved every day by an estimated 4,500 to 5,000 dabbawalas, all with an extremely small nominal fee and with utmost punctuality. According to a recent survey, there is only one mistake in every 16,000,000 deliveries and the system has registered a Six Sigma performance at 99.999999 rating.”

The original 43 folders
“I stumbled across a delightful little gem. Apparently, not only did the David not invent the tickler file (news to me), but it’s been around since at least 1934.” via Ryan

How to Learn (But Not Master) Any Language in 1 Hour
“How long does it take to learn Chinese or Japanese vs. Spanish or Irish Gaelic? I would argue less than an hour. Here’s the reasoning–¦ Before you invest (or waste) hundreds and thousands of hours on a language, you should deconstruct it.”

The 7 Bad E-Mail Habits that Make People Want to Kill You
“E-mail is a shallow way to communicate. It’s easy, fast and lacks the depth of understanding most people have face-to-face. Unfortunately, many people don’t realize just how much of this understanding is lost. As a result, they pick up bad habits and start driving coworkers, bosses and friends crazy. Here are seven particularly bad habits, and how you can fix them so people don’t want to kill you.”

Windows users who are jealous of Quicksilver’s might on the Mac now have a glimmer of hope in Skylight.

Like Quicksilver, Skylight is an automation utility that lets you launch applications, find files, and execute actions with a quick series of keystrokes.

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Posted in: Lifehacks, Productivity, Quicksilver, Windows

Are you grappling with how to design websites using a grid-based layout? Check out Khoi Vinh and Mark Boulton’s excellent design tutorial, Grids are Good.

The presentation starts with a brief history of grids, then walks you through a step-by-step example of redesigning a large portal-type site using a grid.

The portal example is especially interesting because of its complexity. Here’s what Khoi says:

When I started casting about for an ideal candidate, there was an obvious winner in a high-profile portal Web site that’s familiar to millions of Web surfers ” rhymes with –”ha-hoo.– That site has an ideal mix of many different kinds of information design problems: robust navigation, multiple content types, consumer branding, a mix of editorial and marketing contents. You couldn’t really ask for a more well-rounded challenge.

I especially love that Khoi also carefully considers how ads fits into the site. In fantasy-land there’d be no ads, but in reality, we have to live with them. Instead of ignoring them until the very end of the design process, Khoi accounts for ads from beginning, creating a harmonious, balanced, and integrated look.

Download the complete presentation here:

• Grids are Good

For more of Khoi’s thoughts on grids:

• Oh Yeeaahh!

Posted in: Design, Grids, Web Design