I’ve been dropping hints here and there that I’ve wrapped up the new LifeDev theme, and as you can see… things look a bit different :)

So. Whatcha think?

I’m still working out some kinks here and there, and if you see anything out of whack, do let me know either in the comments of this post or the contact form. Please excuse the dust as we settle in to the new digs. Oh, and make yourself at home.

Special Thanks

A couple people were absolutely instrumental in me finishing this theme, and I’d be quite ungrateful if I didn’t point them out to you.

• Cath Duncan – A cheeky lady who has no problem telling me that a) I’m a dork and b) when a design doesn’t work.
• Charlie Gilkey – Charlie was my “nagger”, and I mean that in the best way possible. He emailed me, DM’d me and kept me accountable throughout the whole process. What a champ. I hereby dub Charlie as “Mr. Follow-up”.

Jonathan Fields and Karl Staib also gave me some great input as well. Thanks guys!

Major Changes

So if you’re a design geek and what to know what’s different under the hood.

1. Custom Theme

Yup, I designed this baby all by myself. No more stock theme (as some have complained about in the past). I probably went through four revisions before I settled on the theme that I liked.

I built the theme on the excellent Thesis framework. It’s my first real attempt at customizing a framework as opposed to a theme, and I’d highly recommend it. It has a bit of a learning curve, but once you get it down, there are plenty of benefits to the theme.

This theme is tons leaner, and is supported by all browsers except IE6. If you’re still running IE 6, you’ll notice that lots of sites don’t look so hot either. You really should upgrade if at all possible.

2. Introducing @font-face

I’ve been itching to try some new font-faces. Typically people design sites with just a handful of fonts that are “browser safe”. Now that font-face has become mainstream (Google just entered the the game), it’s a lot easier to create pages with unique fonts.

Without going too crazy, I used three:

• Marketing Script – for the curly navigation links and various other headers
• Latin Modern Sans – for most of the headings in the articles and the sidebar
• Droid Sans – the default text across the site

So far I really like the new fonts. I think they add a little sizzle that’s harder to get with just the standard ‘ol fonts.

3. New Identity

While the other theme was easy and cheap free, it didn’t really give any indication of who I really am. I’m a playful, gregarious, “swarthy” (thanks Cath) guy. This theme I think does a pretty good job of reflecting that. The other theme said I was “easy and cheap”. Not the best endorsement, huh?

Things to come

There are a couple things that I might add in the near future to the blog.

Video

I’d like to start getting into posting the occasional video here and there. If anything just to test it with you guys and see if it’s something that’s valuable. If not, I’ll scrap it.

I’ve seen more and more bloggers start posting videos on their sites, and I love it. It adds personality and creates a connection that straight text just can’t provide. So we’ll see.

Newsletter

This is a big maybe. I mean, you can always get these posts delivered in your email, but I’m talking about a private, non-on-the-blog type of thing. Dunno. Still on the fence on this one.

Tumblelog

I used to have a link log of sorts for LifeDev stuff, but like most things back in those days, I gave up on it pretty quickly. I kind of regret it because there were plenty of excellent resources that would have been cool to have searchable across the site.

Also, I like sharing information with people. Typically I do this on Twitter, but sometimes you find something that needs more than a retweet.

So there we are. I’d love any comments on the new theme below.

Oh, and thanks again for being here.

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Photo by atomicshark

The common belief is that getting stuff done requires you to sit down and hammer away at XYZ until you’re through with it.

The problem is, we get so focused on blocking out unhindered “create” time, that we discard important chunks of minutes here and there that we could be using to get things done.

For me, there are very few occasions that I’m able to get into the flow. That’s why I love doing things in small, tiny increments. You’d be amazed at what you can get done in ten minutes. Ten minutes means that you could knock of a focused task or two.

That’s why I love Action Method and Evernote. They allow me to see what I need to do constantly, no matter where I am.

Or maybe an idea strikes and instead of jotting it down, just doing it.

I managed to come up with this post topic, sketch it out and write it while grilling bratwursts. Nothing fancy, just a few paragraphs to get the thought out.

This doesn’t mean that we should only strive to create short, bite-sized chunks. Sometimes you need to create a masterpiece.

But sometimes, all it takes is a few minutes.

What can you do in the next 10 minutes that can make an impact on your day/week/month/year?

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A screenshot of LifeDev’s very very beta new look. Whatcha think?

I’ve been heads-down creating a new design for LifeDev for the past week and a half. It’s been three and a half years since I’ve changed the design, so it was about time change was made.

I’m also a bit ashamed to admit that I’ve seriously let the design slip. There are tons of unused divs, inline styles and other big design no-nos. (I’ll save the other reasons for the redesign for a later post.) The current template has been great, but it’s about time I flexed my design muscles and created something unique. Above is a tiny sliver of the new LifeDev to whet your appetite of the coming changes.

While I don’t have any new material for you, here are a few articles I’ve truly enjoyed and found helpful this past week.

What You Don’t Do Doesn’t Matter
Chris is one of my favorite bloggers. This post reminds me of my favorite adage:

You can wish in one hand and crap in the other. Which do you think gets filled first?

What I Learned from the 100 Business Launch
Another gem by @chrisguillebeau. Never compromise when it comes to business.

Would you Pay to Read Your Own Blog?
The New York Times decision to put up a paywall last week sent shock waves around the ‘Net. Jonathan Fields asks a very important question that all writers/bloggers should have to answer at some point: Would you pay to read your own content?

Could You Be Ruining Your Blogging Business?
This CopyBlogger post addresses many of the problems that businesses have with actually brining in referrals with the writing.

“Let me restate the obvious: you are business blogging. That means your awesome content must be delivered in the context of your business goals.”

The Hustling Secrets No One Talks About
Love Jade Craven‘s work ethic.

life is subject to change: what happened when I raised my rates
Danielle started working less and charging more. Guess what happened? She started selling more.

The Reason You’re Stuck (and the one best way to avoid the six ways that will keep you stuck)
A guest post on Leo’s blog by Seth Godin himself.

“What separates the few who ship from the masses who stumble, stall and ultimately surrender? The resistance.”

If anybody knows how to create killer content every day, it’s Seth.

How to Make Your Reminder System Totally Useless
Brett hits the nail on the head as to why your reminder system isn’t working, and gives a few reasons to fix it. Brilliant.

Brett’s blog is still new, and he’s cranking out killer stuff. (His blog masthead was designed by yours truly.) Subscribe to his feed for more tasty tech goodness.

Ok, that’s it for this week. You should be seeing a brand-new LifeDev next week and more regular posts (if there is such a term as “regular” around here.)

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Photo by Anna Fischer

I finished Gary Vaynerchuk’s Crush It! a while back, and surprisingly, I was a big fan. Nothing against @garyvee or course, it’s just that I had feared the book would mostly be an instructional for sites like YouTube. I was dead wrong.

While the book does have beginner training on technologies that most of us already know (Twitter, YouTube, etc.), it also adds some excellent thoughts on not being afraid to be us.

What’s Your DNA?

A major part of Gary’s book is about finding your true DNA and using it to rock your business. Gary, admittedly, is a bit of a “live wire”. The man is intense. If you’ve seen any episodes of Wine Library TV, you know what I’m talking about. Gary has reached incredible success by embracing his high-energy appearance. Sure, he could dial his rhetoric down a notch and possibly retain 4% more of his audience. But Gary knows that’s not him, and trying to be someone else is hard work.

Quirksmode

If you’re like me, you’ve got a lengthy list of quirks. For example, I have an unhealthy fascination with jackalopes and squirrels. I re-write radio tunes with my own corny lyrics. I’m an extrovert and an introvert rolled into one. I dissect songs to their basic elements, replaying them over and over until I’ve figured them out (much to my wife’s chagrin). I like to mix random ingredients while cooking otherwise simple dishes. And I’ll be a people-pleaser till the day I die.

I could go on and on.

Yet I spend most of my time attempting to cover up the things that make me different than everyone else.

Sharing the weird little things that I do–the things that make me me–makes me vulnerable. But I’d imagine that you’re a tad more comfortable with me for sharing these quirks. You know things about me that I have a hard time admitting to even myself. We’ve become that much closer, and you’re more comfortable with me.

I’ve helped earn your trust.

The Special Sauce

Often We don’t take advantage of our quirks, of the things that give us that little something that makes us interesting. Because let’s face it: the Internet is becoming a boring place. We have a serious “monkey see, monkey do” syndrome. Nobody wants to be different, we all want to copy what’s working and not what we are.

And I’m as guilty as the next guy.

Liz might be on to something…

How ironic is it that we try to squash things that make us unique to “help” our brand? Here are some things that I’ve done to cover up my weird unique qualities.

• I haven’t really tweeted any music recommendations. Music is such a huge part of my life. I figured that people would only be interested about stuff that they’d find on LifeDev.
• In the past LifeDev has had a lot of “list” posts (ie. “30 Ways to Make XYZ awesome“). It’s not that I think list posts are bad, I just find them draining to write. (And personally, I’m kind of getting tired of how often they pop up on the web.) From now on I’m writing what I want. If it’s a list post, then it’s a list post. I won’t feel pressure to do so.
• I haven’t started a number of projects for reasons like fear of failure. Nobody wants to read about a failure, right?.
• I haven’t starting posting daily pictures of jackalopes or squirrels. (Not sure I’ll ever do that… we’ll see. There’s a fine line between turning people away and scaring people away.)

By suppressing the bits that make me unique, I’ve watered my personal brand down. I’ve tried to sand off the edges that don’t fit in with everything else.

Photo by ynse

But can you remember the last time you were truly interested in something or someone really boring? We’re magnetically drawn to interesting people. People who have changed things and made us think differently about how we think and live. Gandhi, Einstein, Muhammad Ali, Lennon… these weren’t ordinary people.

They were people with quirks.

Sure, it’s hard being me. But it’s even harder trying to be someone else. It’s not easy being a fake; we’re never totally satisfied with who we are.

A disclaimer: The results won’t always appear to be positive. Since I’ve been eating my own dog food and changing the type of content I publish, I’ve dropped some Twitter followers on my account. Maybe I’ve lost some subscribers to LifeDev (though numbers have been up). I’m OK with that. There’s always going to be a small fraction of people who want a different me. But that’s not who I am. Odds are that I’d lose more followers faking my way through tomorrow.

So what aspect of you are you pushing deep down? What are you keeping others from seeing? It just might be the thing that brings them closer to you.

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Photo by windy sydney

Feeling a little stuck today getting started? Maybe you’re spending too much time doing one (or more) or these:

• organizing
• testing
• preparing
• collecting
• analyzing
• measuring
• thinking
• tweaking
• practicing
• assessing
• questioning
• experimenting
• even brainstorming

While all of these things have their merits (and should be done at some point), they’re usually the things that keep us from doing.

The best thing about just sitting down and doing something, anything, is that doing usually takes care of all of the little things in the list above.

Doing helps you test. Doing can be experimenting. Doing can even stimulate ideas.

So instead of focusing on the smaller stuff listed above, just start doing. You could analyze or test or brainstorm for hours, but at the end of the day you really have nothing to show for it.

It’s essentially spending all day wishing that something was happening. And there’s that old adage about wishing:

If you find yourself in a rut of doing lots of the above list, than maybe what you’re working on needs some swift action to get the ball rolling. Block out 15 minutes to an hour for straight doing on whatever you’re working on. Thinking and doing shouldn’t be isolated as two separate experiences while creating something. In fact, they go hand in hand.

If you’re stuck, odds are it’s because you’re not doing enough doing.

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Breakfast and goal planning.

It’s currently 7am on the day after Christmas. The restaurant I’m currently eating breakfast at has decided to shut down because of the continued snow fall that has rocked the Midwest both yesterday and today. It’s nasty out here. We did get a white Christmas though, which doesn’t happen very often.

The plan today was to eat a nice breakfast and plan 2010. (For whatever reason, I’ve always loved “working” on days off.) I’m fixing to do some serious reflecting and projecting. You see, a few things have recently inspired me on the topic of planning. A little snow isn’t enough to keep me from dreaming today.

First off, there’s Chris Guillebeau’s annual review. Chris has the right idea when it comes to planning: go on a vacation to plan. If you can put yourself in a fun environment to re-evaluate your game plan, then you’re going to have more fun doing it. Chris has inspired me in so many ways this year, and if you aren’t already a subscriber (like me) to his blog, than you’re really missing out.

The other thing that’s really inspired me this morning is a quote by George Patton:

A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and I can’t wait to share some of the ideas that I’m going to be publishing in 2010.

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Photo by zanzibar

This is the first in a series of posts that showcase things I’ve learned during my recent honeymoon travels.

My new wife and I decided to go on a Caribbean cruise for our honeymoon, and with the help of the most knowledgeable traveler I know, we booked an amazing week-long cruise.

Lynn made me promise to leave my laptop at home, and we decided both of our phones were going to remain off for the entire trip. (Little did we know that it costs a ton to have wifi connection and even phone service on a cruise.) We wanted to spend time with each other, without worrying about the outside world.

And then a funny thing happened. I had an absolute deluge of creativity.

Aside from hanging out with the most beautiful woman in the world for a week, I managed to:

• write 5 posts and a few post “fragments” for potential posts
• planned and completely outlined 2 entire ebooks
• put finishing writing touches on a soon to be released ebook
• planned goals for the next 6 months for my sites and release dates
• and on top of all that I managed to read 4 print books.

All without the help of a computer. This was far and away the most productive week of my life, and I was on vacation. So how did I do it?

Factor One: Distraction-Free Platform

Without the computer I was able to think clearer with less distractions. No IM, no Twitter, no email… those are just a few of the benefits of unplugging.

But more importantly, the medium I was using was much better suited for no holds barred creative output. A pen and paper is so simple, yet it’s the most powerful tool that I own. Unlike computers, the simplicity of paper and a pen makes it more powerful. It can only mirror what I’ve put onto it, nothing more. I can jot ideas down as fast as my hand can write, and I’m not constrained to just text. I can draw diagrams, make arrows, circle worlds, all with a few swooshes of the wrist.

Also, when I use a computer I feel sucked in to the screen in front of me. Pen and paper allows me to look away, take in my surroundings, without demanding my attention like a computer monitor does. In terms of the perfect “output” medium, a pen and paper wins every time.

I don’t think that we give enough thought or credit to the medium or tools that we’re using to create or get information. The medium means everything.

Factor Two: No Extra Distractions

While Lynn and I explored all parts of the ships and were constantly checking out ports and towns along the cruise, the only place where I was actually doing this creation was either in our ship room or on our private balcony. Why? Because there weren’t any distractions in these two places.

Thanks to Chris’ excellent advice, we opted to pay a little more and get a balcony room. This meant that every morning I could sit out on our balcony, enjoy the fantastic weather and ocean views, without having to worry about distractions like other people.

Contrast that environment with the one I’m in right now. I’m sitting at a table in a coffee shop with random people walking in and out, ordering coffee. Cell phones ringing, people talking, espresso machines hissing. While I typically love working in a coffee shop, the cruise spoiled me. The only distractions there were the waves and the incredible views.

Which brings me to the last factor…

Factor Three: The perfect “Work” Environment

Great work environments mean everything. For whatever reason, beauty, scenery and nature inspires like no other. Inspiration means you can output more and better ideas.

Imagine the “office” I was using on the cruise: A private balcony on a ship that gently swayed as it rolled through the ocean towards our next port. The sound of the sea lightly hitting the side of the boat. The warm Caribbean breeze blowing.

Now contrast that with this:

Photo by tenderlung

Pretty much the same, right? Hmmm….

I know this was a major reason I was able to think clearly, plan and create with such efficiency. The unprecedented work environment created unprecedented results.

The best part: I wasn’t even trying to do anything productive. I just wanted to jot down some ideas. This simple act coupled with a perfect work environment and no distractions lead to a 6 day outpouring of ideas.

What about you? Have you experienced this before? Can you attribute these factors to your creative boons?

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So, I’ve been going through some incredible life changes lately. A few weeks back I got married and went on a honeymoon cruise. Last week both my new bride and I started brand new jobs. On top of everything, my wife has been moving into my already “cozy” apartment. It’s a odd/surreal/incredible time right now.

While my wife and I were cruising around the Caribbean, I was forced to leave my computer at home. In hindsight, it was probably the best decision that I could have made. I typically use my laptop at least 8 hours a day, and not having it with me gave me a fresh perspective. Not only that, it gave me a Eureka! moment that showed me just how unproductive I really am in front of a computer (more on that later).

While on the cruise I managed to do a lot of good old fashioned paper-based writing, and man was it therapeutic. I had an awesome time just being creative without the constraints of a keyboard in front of me.

Over the course of the cruise, I managed to learn something incredible at every country visited. So, armed with a pen and notebook (and incredible ship balcony views), I managed to write a four posts on separate lessons learned, in each country. I’ll be publishing each of these posts throughout this week and the next, to help me get back into the swing of writing for this great community.

So that’s what I’ve been up to, and that’s what’s going to be going on for the next few weeks at LifeDev.

Oh, and as a bonus: I’m polishing a monster of an ebook that I’ll be giving away 100% free to LifeDev readers. It’s taken me a while to write it, and I hope it’s worth the wait. Stay tuned.

It’s good to be back :) As always, you can contact and follow me via Twitter and the email form if you’re wanting to chat. I’d love to hear what you’re up to to.

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Photo by joshbousel

I’ll be the first to admit it: I’ve become pretty jaded.

I receive emails every week to review some new life-changing productivity software/system/tool that will most certainly change my life.While all of these tools mean well, 99% miss on the most important part of product management.

Simplicity.

I’ve reviewed dozens of productivity tools, and I can say with certainty that the number one most important aspect of a good productivity tools is being drop-dead simple. Unfortunately, the number one most-overlooked aspect of GTD/organization software is also simplicity.

So, I do something a bit different, and it doesn’t require any schmancy tool that makes lists and a shot of espresso. I could use a sharp stick on leather if I wanted. (Note to self: get more leather at local tannery.) No, this system could be used on a phone, a computer, the back of a hand, turtle shell, anywhere. It’s the most versatile, ubiquitous system ever devised.

And I guarantee you’ll get more done.

Are you trembling with excitement, dreaming of all the free time you’ll have for doing all of those things you always wanted? You should be. This will change your life. Are you ready?

Photo by flash_nerd

The System

1. Write 3-5 major tasks/small projects/etc. that have to be done today. (These are your Most Important Tasks (or MIT’s.) Do them.
2. Capture all of the other little stuff that you have to do in the near future. Try to do a few of these each day, in order of when they need to be done (if there’s a deadline attached to them).
3. At the end of the day, make a list of tomorrow’s MIT’s, and add some of the smaller tasks below them.
4. Do this every day.

Are you picking up on my subtle sarcasm? You were correct in thinking there might be a little tucked in between the lines of this post. I can’t help myself, and it’s not because I’m disgusted with productivity software, the people who make it or the good people who read this blog that are interested in it. Everyone has their own system tailored to what works best for them (and they should!).

No, I’m disgusted with how many hours I’ve wasted fiddling, downloading, trying, tweaking, learning, changing, installing and comparing different types of productivity software that all promise to make my life simpler. Where has it gotten me?

Here’s What I’m Doing

Because there are those of you who still want to know what my personal system looks like, I’ll indulge. It’s still really simple, even though I use software to help.

I start with an awesome tool called TaskPaper, a really simple but powerful list organizer. It allows me to quickly add tasks, sort them, and tick them off when I’m done. And it outputs to simple text files, so even if I wasn’t using the TaskPaper software, I could still use the same system.

You don’t have to use TaskPaper to plan your day, or any other software for that matter. It’s just comfortable to me, and it’s basically the same as using a text editor with searching and tagging built in.

Photo by floodlama

If you’re thinking you’re still looking for the “perfect” software or tool to solve your productivity woes, it ain’t gonna happen. The problem is rooted deeper than that. It wasn’t until I realized that my productivity problems weren’t the fault of my software that I truly understood what it took to be really productive. It meant not using software and tools as an excuse to put of all the things I needed to do during the day. It meant taking responsibility for getting things done, and not relying on some tool to help me.

What about you? Do you find that your software or system gets in the way of the actual doing throughout your day?

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Ever have one of those days where everything you touch seems to break? I had one of those last week. In a period of 24 hours, my

• dishwasher broke
• car battery died (we only have one car)
• air conditioner broke (it’s currently 94F, but feels like 102F with Kansas humidity)
• dryer stopped drying clothes

And the icing on the cake: the local Internet was spotty (at best).

What this meant was on top of a borked dryer and dishwasher, I wasn’t able to leave (broke car) my sweltering house (broke AC) to get some work done. It wasn’t pretty. Apparently I had gotten on Murphy’s bad side.

It’s these unexpected hang-ups that can really push us over the edge. It took everything in me to not curl up in a fetal position and start sucking my thumb. Yet, there is a silver lining to every cloud. Through this awesome awful experience I learned some techniques for when disaster strikes.

1. Calmly assess the situation

So often we get that paralyzing feeling that the world is going to end when something unexpected happens. If you’re going to make it through to see tomorrow, you’ve got to force down that lump in your throat, take command of your nerves and calmly figure out a plan to finish the day. Our panic often leads us to believe that the situation is far worse than it really is. In reality, we’re usually not as bad off as we think we are.

If we’re not careful, our panic can keep us from what we’re doing even more than any unexpected event can.

2. Focus on what you DO have

Remember: It could always be worse. Instead of dwelling on what you don’t have or can’t do, look around and assess what you do have.

For me, I was able to feel some relief when I took stock of what I had going for me. I still had my health, a roof over my head, a job, a supportive family and awesome friends. A dose of perspective adds relief to any tense situation.

Photo by timmycorkery

3. Figure out what’s most important

Now that we’re thinking a little clearer, take a moment to figure out what absolutely has to be done. We’re talking the bare essentials for today. These are the things that if not done will:

• get you fired or
• make you lose a lot of money or
• put your health at risk or
• put your family’s health at risk or
• keep you from having a roof over your head.

These are the bare essentials. Some days you just have to accept that because of an unexpected event, you’re only going to get a few things done. Sure, there will be plenty of things that will make you “behind” on your work. But those aren’t essentials. Take care of the essentials first, and whatever you’re able to do on top of that is a bonus on a busted day.

This seems like common sense, but in reality it’s a concept that many people struggle with (myself included). It’s easy to let panic warp our perspective, making things more important than they really are. This is why it’s so important to take a deep breath and analytically assess what has to be done for you and your family to survive.

Tomorrow’s another day.

4. Don’t be afraid to say “sorry”

When you’re only able to accomplish a fraction of what you were planning on doing throughout the day, it means that things are going to be pushed back. That means you might fall a day behind on client work. Or you might have to cancel plans with friends. You can’t feel bad about it though. If they’re really your friend, they’ll understand. If they’re a decent client, then they’ll understand as well. Just be open and honest about it, and more than likely they’ll be sympathetic.

5. Never underestimate the kindness of friends

When the air conditioner broke and the car wouldn’t start, I realized I wouldn’t be very productive (or dry) unless I left the house to work. So, I called my friend Travis and he managed to snag me a ride from another friend Laura to a cooler working environment. What amazed me is how both friends were willing to drop what they were doing and sacrifice their time to help me. No questions asked.

There’s no greater feeling when friends go out of their way to lend a hand when you’re down on your luck. But I know part of it is good karma. I’ve helped many a friend change a tire, given rides here and there, helped people move, and other miscellaneous stuff.

It’s not a matter of keeping tabs, its a matter of being a good person. If you’re helpful and gracious with your time with your friends and family, they’ll go out of their way to help when bad things happen to you.

6. When all else fails, take the day off

Photo by hans.gerwitz

Sometimes the best thing to do when calamity strikes is to take the day off. This might be a last resort, but don’t underestimate the power of relaxation. Sure, you might get really behind losing the entire day, but if you can’t work effectively, you probably weren’t going to get much done anyway. Just toss in the towel and call it a day.

Some days, you just have to give up control and accept that it’s a worthless day.

A busted day doesn’t have to be a total waste. Why not try to squeeze some relaxation out of it? Spend it by the pool, watch a movie, or do “that thing” you’ve been putting off for ages. Instead of sitting around stewing over what you can’t do, kick back and enjoy the rest of the day.

It’s all about perspective

The thing to remember through this whole process is that our anxiety warps our perspective. If we can keep our perspective in check, we keep our sanity in check. There are always going to be terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days.

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