Instigator Blog - Latest Comments in The Secret To Being Productive

Re: The Secret To Being Productive

Singapore Entrepreneur — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 01:34:45 -0000

I enjoyed reading this post on productivity and look forward to your ebook. Hopefully I don't just end up reading :D and doing nothing afterwards which is what happens with all those Lifestyle magazines that get lapped up by women.

Re: The Secret To Being Productive

Ben Yoskovitz — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 17:01:10 -0000

Francis - Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I don't disagree. It's impossible to implement 100 tips or ideas on productivity. The variety is significant - some are for specific types of jobs (consultants, freelancers, etc.), some are for specific technologies, which you might not use, and some you might not like.

The goal of a project like this is to aggregate everyone's ideas on productivity so that hopefully a reader finds a handful of worthwhile ideas to implement.

Of course, I haven't had the time to make progress on this, but I've thought a lot about trying to push it forward.

Re: The Secret To Being Productive

Francis Wade — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 16:53:02 -0000

I have a contrary view... and a reason why the book should be carefully considered before it is written.

I think productivity tips are similar to pieces of bright coloured candy.

They taste nice, but they aren't a good substitute for meat and potatoes (or, here in Jamaica, for jerk chicken and hard-do bread!)

They are hardly the building blocks that one needs for a healthy lifestyle, and too much of a focus on them is, well, unhealthy.

Not to pour too much cold water on the idea... I WILL read it once it's completed, but you may do well to have a "Warning" sign at the beginning saying that someone should not expect to implement these 100+ tips and, by itself, become more productive.

Please don't take this as damning criticism...

Re: The Secret To Being Productive

Ben Yoskovitz — Tue, 15 May 2007 12:28:39 -0000

Hi Andrew - I'm still collecting submissions and haven't moved forward on the e-book itself. But I will be soon - probably sometime in June when submissions slow down even further and then I'll be soliciting more help.

Thanks!

Re: The Secret To Being Productive

andrew wee — Mon, 14 May 2007 02:52:57 -0000

Ben,
How's the project coming along?
Drop me an email if you need help.

Re: The Secret To Being Productive

Ben Yoskovitz — Thu, 10 May 2007 07:17:45 -0000

Paul - I'm emailing you now...

Re: The Secret To Being Productive

Paul Enderson — Wed, 09 May 2007 12:49:34 -0000

Not totally sure yet!

One thought I've had is to create something myself, perhaps using images that represent each of the writers who've taken part in the meme.

The other idea would result in a selection of 'illustrations' to choose from - all created by bloggers... I'd then do any postwork required.

Drop me a mail if you like, and I'll explain the second in a little more detail!

Re: The Secret To Being Productive

Ben Yoskovitz — Tue, 08 May 2007 21:38:21 -0000

Paul - I hadn't thought of cover art, but I'm totally into that. What did you have in mind?

Re: The Secret To Being Productive

Paul Enderson — Tue, 08 May 2007 16:05:39 -0000

I'm sure you're not going to be short of volunteers for the job, but I'm happy to do cover artwork for the project. :)

Re: The Secret To Being Productive

Rebecca Morgan, CSP, CMC — Fri, 04 May 2007 22:54:29 -0000

Hi Ben:

Colleen Wainwright tagged me to contribute to this productivity guide.

When I was retained by Microsoft to be their workplace effectiveness spokesperson, I was asked to come up with some of my best quick productivity tips. The article, "Accomplish More at Work So You Can Spend More Time With Your Family" was created because they wanted me to show people how to leave work at a reasonable time. (The article is at http://www.rebeccamorgan.co...

But the one that I'll contribute to your guide is one I think many people don't take full advantage of:

â€¢ Redeploy the Troops (Your Past Work)
Donâ€™t start from scratch if youâ€™ve already created work you can reuse, even if itâ€™s just a part. If you need to write a memo, start with the email you wrote to your boss on this topic. Youâ€™ve already invested time to compose and craft your message, and spell check. Tweak that work so can save your time.

I can't wait to see what you've created!

Rebecca Morgan, CSP, CMC
Bestselling author, consultant, speaker
Featured on Oprah, 60 Minutes and NPR and in the Wall Street Journal
http://www.RebeccaMorgan.com

Re: The Secret To Being Productive

Ben Yoskovitz — Tue, 01 May 2007 14:07:51 -0000

Andrew - I like your approach to the e-book, much along the lines of what I was thinking.

Of course the next step is to bring on some volunteers to help me...cause suddenly I just agreed to a big project! *laugh*

I'll probably let the group writing project meme spread some more, gather more links, and then start putting together the content as well as soliciting bios from people.

In future posts I make about the project I'll make sure to reference the e-book and also ask people to send me bios.

If you've already written a post - email me your bio information to be included. If you have a picture, send that too.

Re: The Secret To Being Productive

Deborah — Tue, 01 May 2007 13:22:25 -0000

I think a free e-book is an excellent idea, I'm all for it.

As for editing out content it's difficult to say what to edit or not, but I would definitely edit out the intro for where the idea originated (which could be written in a cover page), and removing the lists of those who've been tagged. It's irrelevant to the reader.

Re: The Secret To Being Productive

Lexi Sundell — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 23:05:09 -0000

I really like the idea of having an ebook as described of these interesting and informative posts. If you want mine I will be happy to give copyright permission to do so.

Re: The Secret To Being Productive

andrew wee — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 22:42:05 -0000

Ben,
I think if you want to put a quality product, you could aim for a 10-20 page report, and a suggested structure could be:

1) cover page (1 page)
2) intro - instigator blog, ben - bio (1 page)
3) meme intro - why you start it, what it's supposed to achieve, how viral was it, did it meet your expectations (1 page)
4) edit and repro the content - (include a bio or one or two of the author's preferred link - sign up to the feedburner/bloglines link or mailing list. (as many pages as you have content for).
5) conclusion by yourself. (can give away a goodie if you have one), or include a list of your favourite blogs, etc. (1 page).

simple, yes?

Re: The Secret To Being Productive

Lisa — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 21:37:56 -0000

I would love to see some sort of compilation of all this information also. A free e-book would be great.

Re: The Secret To Being Productive

Naked Jonny — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 18:50:01 -0000

You can have my advice for whats its worth for teh ebook no probs...

"A stupidly simple way to have a productive day"

http://www.nurtur.co.uk/nak...

Re: The Secret To Being Productive

Mitch — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 17:39:27 -0000

Thanks for the neat exercise.. here is my comment:
http://lead2020.blogspot.co...

Re: The Secret To Being Productive

Ben Yoskovitz — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 14:45:57 -0000

Andy - I completely understand what you're saying, which is even more reason perhaps to do some editing. If someone posted something that doesn't really fit into the core of the theme or isn't "timeless" (in their minds) then we can not include it or edit it as per the authors' wish.

As well, people can update their posts or write new posts on productivity tips to be included in the e-book now that they know we might try and pull it off.

Re: The Secret To Being Productive

AndyBeard — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 13:41:49 -0000

My content is GPL licensed, so people can do what they want with it, providing if it is modified that that is clearly stated.

To be honest, I don't think a lot of what I wrote could be looked on as "timeless" content. I felt it was appropriate for the moment, and there were timeless elements, but it isn't material that in whole should be put in an ebook.

If the material was originally meant to be included in an ebook, I would have written something totally different.

Re: The Secret To Being Productive

Ben Yoskovitz — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 11:50:30 -0000

Josh - the reason I might not include full posts is not so I can summarize per se, but so that I can quote the precise productivity tips of the bloggers.

So instead of having a full post where someone will be talking about the meme itself, who else s/he tagged, etc. -- I would quote out the part that's specifically about productivity. Not summarize or re-write myself...

Re: The Secret To Being Productive

Josh Hinds — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 11:39:44 -0000

Ben, you asked for thoughts on a potential ebook for it. It may have been mentioned before, but why not include the full posts -- then after each post include a "Ben's thoughts" and summarize it as well in your words... Just a thought... Josh :-)

Re: The Secret To Being Productive

Karin H. — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 10:37:04 -0000

Hi all (U.K. calling)

Great idea the PDF-file, so we can all enjoy all tips and get to known the 'tippers' a bit better, all in one go.
I am all for it. All you / we have to decide now is the 'cut-off' point, cause I think this meme hasn't seen its end yet.

Re: The Secret To Being Productive

andrew wee — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 10:32:18 -0000

Ben said: Andrew - if I missed someone itâ€™s because I didnâ€™t see a link back or havenâ€™t found the post searching through Technorati, Google Blog Search, etc.

Sam is being Sam, I guess...

Confucius say: Man who play with widgets, gets blog in tangles.

Re: The Secret To Being Productive

andrew wee — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 10:31:05 -0000

Ben said: Iâ€™m still torn on the issue of full posts or edited posts, because many people add pre-ambles or information about where they heard about the writing project, etc. thatâ€™s not relevant to the specifics of productivity tips.

--
I'd suggest editing the entries so it's more on-topic. The key is that the person who reads the PDF will get something contextual and useful out of it.

I say go for it, with the option of adding a 2-3 sentence author/blog bio.

Perhaps you could open a fresh "submit your profile" post and contributors have 48 hours to add their bio in the comments.

It'd create 2-way linklove.

Re: The Secret To Being Productive

Ben Yoskovitz — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 09:54:14 -0000

Adam - I've just updated the original post linking to this discussion, mentioning that we may produce an e-book (for free), with sharable/attributed content. Great idea!