Archive for the ‘Productivity’ Category
No! Don’t sit down!
July 16th, 2010
Great. After surviving three cancer battles and several other life-and-death dramas, I just discovered I’m likely to succumb to Death by Sitting.
And I’m probably gonna have a lot of company.
Like many people, I’ve bonded with my computer. We spend our days and many evenings working and playing together. So of course, while we’re working, I’m sitting in a desk chair in my office. And if I’m working or playing on the laptop after hours, I’m often sitting in a recliner. Other times, I may be sitting in a car, library, theater, church, restaurant, stadium, waiting room, friend’s home, or on the dock of the bay.
But I make up for all that sitting by spending, oh, 30 minutes a day on the treadmill or hopping around on the Wii Fit
TAGS: 
Act like somebody
July 10th, 2010
All it took for a Blizzard to start a firestorm was the suggestion that people be themselves. Apparently a lot of us have decided we’d rather be someone else … someone whose behavior is not our responsibility.
People claim to be increasingly bothered by rudeness. Nearly 75 percent of Americans responding to a recent online survey, conducted for communications and public affairs firm Powell Tate, said poor behavior has gotten worse in recent years. But when Blizzard Entertainment tried to curb some of that incivility by requiring participants in its “StarCraft II” and “World of Warcraft” forums to use their real names, the company received a blistering response. The idea was shelved within a week.
3 ways to bring goals into focus
May 29th, 2010
“The whole world is set on fire.”
That’s one of the more memorable quotes from the 1992 film version of The Last of the Mohicans
Stop being paralyzed by fear
April 1st, 2010
“A Buena Park man who was sitting on railroad tracks with a friend was killed after he refused to heed a train conductor’s warning to get off the tracks, Fullerton police said Friday.”
True story from the archives of the L.A. Times. In April 1990, two guys were sitting on the tracks, the engineer of a Santa Fe Railroad freight train sounded the horn and tried to brake, one guy moved and survived, and the other didn’t and died.
And why should I care? you ask.
Plan ahead for emergency trips
March 29th, 2010
Sometimes you’re coasting along through life when the sudden ringing of a telephone heralds a warning, the sky opens, and a mountain drops into your path. This mountain is the Family Emergency and it takes precedence over all the other mountains you’re trying to move.
Often the first thing you have to do in reacting to the Family Emergency is transport yourself from where you are to wherever the rest of the family is gathering to deal with the crisis. That means getting ready to travel with no time to waste while your mind runs in a thousand directions at once. So you’ll already have a leg up on that unexpected mountain if you’ve done part of your travel planning in advance.
Is time serving you well?
March 2nd, 2010
Not long ago, I heard the song “Live Like We’re Dying” by 2009 American Idol winner Kris Allen
Did you know that? I didn’t either. Sure, the math is easy, but who bothers to find out that there are 86,400 seconds in a 24-hour day? Makes you think, doesn’t it?
2 exercises to tap your intuition
March 1st, 2010
Seeing police cars near the traffic light about 100 yards ahead, I lightly tapped my brake. Though I was only going 30, it wouldn’t hurt to slow down well in advance of whatever commotion awaited. My car started to skid just a fraction and in a surreal instant slipped into the median, bounced once on the grass, and came hurtling up into traffic on the other side of the highway.
2 ways to reset your body clock
February 15th, 2010
Mother’s always said I was an adorable baby who charmed everyone during the day then screamed nonstop through the night. By two, I was slipping around the house in the dark. By five, I was hiding flashlights and comic books under the bed. In high school, after Mom finally threatened to pour water on my head, I’d just go into the bathroom, lock the door, curl up on the floor, and go back to sleep.
Nature made me a night owl. And it’s a tough habit to break … especially since I set my own work hours. Believe me, I’ve tried every possible formula for re-setting my circadian rhythms
Find peace in a polarized world
January 25th, 2010
Okay, it’s not really polarized … at least not for the great majority of Americans as they work or try to find work, and worship or don’t worship, and spend time with their traditional or nontraditional families. The great majority are just trying to live their lives the best they can.
For that great majority, the world doesn’t become polarized until they launch into a discussion of some religious or political issue … or until they turn on the cable news channels. Then they suddenly find themselves combatants in the so-called “Culture Wars.”
Squirming? Don’t. MoveThatMountain.com isn’t drifting into religion and politics. This is neutral ground. But it’s also a place about overcoming your challenges, conquering your bad habits, coping with your crises, and figuring out how to make your life a little easier. Doing combat in a culture war takes a lot of energy that might be better spent moving the real mountains in your life.
Explaining where it hurts
January 11th, 2010
Have you ever cared for a colicky baby? Here’s what they do:
They cry.
No, they don’t cry that sweet delicate whaaa that inspires people to stick something called a “binky” in their little mouths, dry their tears, and coo over how precious they are.
They … holler!
That’s right. From the depths of those tiny bodies comes a hellish, shrieking, sirenlike wail … a deafening sound that can drive sane people to asylums, previously happy couples to divorce court, and family pets to surrender themselves to local shelters.
Remember that scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds when all the children ran screaming from flocks of attacking crows? That’s nothing compared to the stampedes inspired by the cries of colicky infants.
But you can’t blame the babies. All they know is they’re experiencing acute abdominal pain and they want someone to make it stop. So they wail … and wail … and wail.
And then there are colicky adults. No, I’m not talking about adults experiencing abdominal pain. I’m referring to adults experiencing emotional pain … only instead of wailing for someone to make it stop, they hold in their misery. But if they think their silent screams won’t cause trouble, they’re kidding themselves.
