Getting things done (part II)

Well, turns out it's a year and a half since I unwisely announced that I was going to adopt the Getting Things Done system.

It didn't stick, but the situation didn't get any better. So now I'm having another go, concentrating just on my Gmail account, using the approach described in this article.

I've made a couple of changes - the filters don't depend on me being the sender, so I can send myself reminders from my work account, or Eva can send stuff straight into my action folders by using the right extended gmail addresses.

And I've set up a "Done" folder and filter so I can give myself a little pat on the back at the end of the day or of the week.

Will this work out any better than last time? Let's prepare for the worst and hope for the best...

Update: Just got a Zero Email Bounce on my gmail inbox, after bobbing along at 995+ for a week or more. Scott Hanselman refers to the "psychic weight" of having 1000 or more emails in your inbox - maybe the only way to understand what that phrase means is to feel it suddenly lifted from your shoulders - aaaaah!

Have to think about aiming for ZEB on Outlook at work - but Outlook 2003 isn't quite so helpful to this process as Gmail.

What was that?

I've been taking an interest in Erlang and wondering how suitable it would be for anyone launching a non-telecoms web project, so I was quite impressed by this strong endorsement yesterday from the co-founder of a start-up called MochiAds.

Naturally the next question you ask ourself is "how real is this company?" - so I did a double-take when I spotted this techcrunch post today, which seems to show them getting real traction even in private beta.

Nice to think that my technology hunches haven't gone totally rusty...

The other view

Well, after the somewhat negative tone of an earlier post commenting on a TechCrunch item, here's something to get your eyes on the horizon, your foot on the accelerator and your heart in gear.

To hear the following Teddy Roosevelt quote from someone with the entrepreneurial credentials of Yossi Vardi really adds something special:

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Churchillian, I'd call that, except that Churchill was always better on matters of war than more subtle and pervasive issues like citizenship.

Johnny and Jake rock out

Improvement on a certain video - the "Dad-dancing" has been replaced with something cooler. Behold: Johnny on the deck, best friend Jake on the sofa!

Update: 2007-10-17 - got video link working
(video shareable under this CC licence)