Monthly Archives: March 2012

free tools, productivity

Here is how I fight FB and Twitter Distractions

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I finally found the silver bullet to fight FB Twitter Distractions – and is very simple – by following the [Pomodoro technique]. This link has a detailed instruction set – I follow the essence of it and don’t kill myself 😉

I now work in 25 minute sprints, with 5 minute breaks after every sprint. During the time I “work” – I avoid all distractions – no FB, no Twitter, some Email checking – and after my sprint I waste the 5 minutes entirely on Twitter and Facebook. It is like a reward at the end of a nice sprint.

This is quite intense and I feel drained at the end of the day – in a good way – just like how I used to feel after some awesome pairing sessions in ThoughtWorks ( yep – haven’t paired at all after I left ThoughtWorks 3.5 years back )

When I finish each Pomodoro I get this good feeling – “gumption” – if you remember Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Robert Pirsig dwells on this – a feeling of accomplishment and it fills you with joy.

I tried Focus Booster – but I keep my Desktop work area pretty light weight and did not like this app sitting on my taskbar/screen. There was one more Pomodoro app I tried but it would automatically start after every break – didn’t like the “pushiness” of it.

I found this nice Android app now I run on my phone –  Pomodoroido [http://www.appbrain.com/app/pomodroido/net.artifix.pomodroido.free ]. It has some nice features other than the 25/5 minute monitoring.

Pomodoroido gives a 15 minute break after finishing 4 pomodoros. Also it has levels built in like a game – finish 4 you are a beginner. Finish 15 you are an Amateur etc. Also it will wait till I click on Start – well sometimes I do go beyond the 5 minutes – but whos the boss here?

This post I am writing during my 15 minute break. Times up and resuming my journey to Kickass Productivity in-spite of being active on Twitter and Facebook.

Musings

Oh Steve Jobs!

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Finished reading Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson.

First let me share my disappointment – no it is not the book – it is well written. My disappointment is that of Steve Jobs as a human being.

Wish he was less ruthless with the people around him. As I am typing this post on a Mac Laptop my heart goes out to the folks who got fired and the poor employees who had nervous breakdowns trying to match Steve Job’s specifications.

There could be an argument for Steve Jobs – if he was not this ruthless with his employees and demanded perfection – we would not have seen Apple as it is now. I beg to differ – he was quite kind with Pixar employees and see what Pixar has accomplished.

Before I started the book I had a few questions – who is Steve Jobs and how did he pull off such amazing things? : well I got the answers.

1. Focus : Our man can focus on the issue at hand like a laser. Not only that – he can get people around him to focus. His mercurial and brash personality could have helped in this regard – but I am pretty much sure there could be more gentler ways to bring focus.

2. Attention to detail : We all knew he was a perfectionist and that he practiced his keynote speeches for hours. Well this ran throughout his life, every waking minute.

3. Money : He was never after money. When he cameback to Apple after being thrown out unceremoniously – he said he was not here for the money and paid himself a token salary of 1$ a year. He got paid 2.5$ in the first 2 and a half years before the board decided to give him shares. He wanted to build the best product ever – and money kept finding him.

4. Simple life : I thought Steve Jobs being Steve Jobs would live a life of lavishness. But this man had a very simple life. Did not have security guards and entourages. However he did get a personal jet after he turned around the company – as he found flying on commercial airliners tedious.

5. Spirituality : Steve Jobs was deeply spiritual and explored life and death even before death stared at him. The exposure to Eastern Religions and meditations instilled a sense of beauty, perfection and simplicity in him.

6. A Players : He surrounded himself with A players and fired ones who he thought were not A players. He liked to be challenged and proven wrong. He provoked people and incited people to do things beyond their own capabilities.

All said and done – this man’s life was very interesting. He revolutionized entire industries – might not be an “original” inventor like Ford or Edison – but he perfected the existing ones – and the world is a better place because of him.

My only concern is the kids reading Steve Jobs book should not take the garish attitude of Steve Jobs ( somewhere in the book they mention a mental condition ) as the “feature” to replicate – and miss out the other important things we can get inspired from him – beauty, taste, simplicity, perfection..

Hate him or love him  – he has affected all of us in great way.