Worth a look

Seth has done it again, more amazing material for free. Read about the free ebook here:

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/12/what-matters-now-get-the-free-ebook.html

Read it online here:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/23711234/What-Matters-Now

Download the pdf here:

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/files/what-matters-now-1.pdf

GTD Basics

GTD has become quite popular among software groups. I’ve been hearing about it for years, but only recently actually looked into it. It was worthwhile, I should’ve read the book years ago.

To get started with GTD I read the original book by David Allen of course, along with a book called “Zen To Done”. It helped me to read them both.

Here’s a mindmap I created to help me understand the key concepts:

There is an abundance of GTD tools out there but I wanted to use something simple, cloud based, and familiar to me. So for a calendar I’m sticking with AirSet, Outlook (with Taglocity) and Gmail for mail, I’m making much better use of my notebook, and for lists/projects FogBugz.  I’ve been experimenting with the free of version of FogBugz on Demand and it’s working out quite well.

Educating Creativity

This is from 2006, but it is so insightful and funny. I came across it thanks to Seth’s tribe:

http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

 

The school or the student

Our little first grader has done incredibly well since we switched schools a few weeks back. This has me thinking. According to Paul Graham it doesn’t matter much where someone went to college, at least when it comes to predicting software startup success. This was a surprise for the Yale graduate. I tend to agree with him at the college level. But when kids are younger does the school matter more?Do they need a better environment when they’re just getting started with formal education?

“Real” Social Environment

Why do so many people consider the main benefit of public schools to be learning how to deal with a “real social environment”? I took that quote from a comment on this article:

Online schooling gives kids, parents new options for education

Every time I see an article or hear a conversation about alternative schools or schooling methods the issue of socialization is raised. Certainly it can’t be the only “real” environment where a kid can learn the proper way to interact with others? It seems rather contrived to me. Instead of dealing with real issues like learning, growing, and enjoying life, too many kids instead become acquainted with popularity contests, bullies, teasing, crude language, and isolation.

Beyond all of that how many of us sit around all day listening to someone else tell us what to do and think and then raise our hands and wait to be called on before we’re allowed to get a drink or even answer a question. I’m all for organization, I just don’t get why we think that is what constitutes a “real” social environment.

Does anyone have any insight to dealing successfully with all of these public school issues?

Middle Class

It’s been clear for quite sometime that our politicians don’t understand the meaning of middle class. Sure today we use it to identify the group between the wealthy and the working class, but the original meaning is much more useful.

Here’s the original meaning from Wikipedia:

“The term “middle class” has a long history and has had many, sometimes contradictory, meanings. It was once defined by exception as an intermediate social class between the nobility and the peasantry of Europe. While the nobility owned the countryside, and the peasantry worked the countryside, a new bourgeoisie (literally “town-dwellers”) arose around mercantile functions in the city. This had the result that the middle class were often the most wealthy stratum of society (whereas today many take the term to refer by definition to the only-moderately wealthy).”

What we’ve been seeing is that incentive to work hard dwindling steadily since ever more of the result is taken to be used by wasteful government programs. The common explanation is that the money is needed to lend a hand or to invest in our future through technology and innovation, or protect us from corrupt corporations. Raise your hand if you believe the government is better at charity, technology, job creation or pretty much any other thing that our taxes support.

What happens when the invisible hand becomes too weak to lift us up again?

Government Motors

In the 1930s Will Rogers humorously suggested: “There’s a simple solution to this traffic problem. We’ll have business build the roads and government build the cars.”

We’re there with the cars:

With Sale of Its Good Assets, G.M. Tries for a Fresh Start

We’ve been privatizing road building for some time now:

Private Roads, Public Costs

Any way you look at it things in transportation are changing.

“Yeah, but his smile is a lot bigger than yours”

We took the young men backpacking around Escalante this month. We had a great time exploring around Death Hallow, Sand Creek, and of course lower and upper Calf Creek falls. At the upper falls we were jumping off a short cliff into the quite cold water when a group of young couples from Provo showed up. They all jumped off too except for one of the guys; he just wouldn’t do it. The youngest scout in our group, who had just barely turned 12, started jawing this guy for not getting in. The spectator responded that he didn’t want to end up shivering like the scouts were. To this his friend replied: “yeah he’s shivering, but his smile is a lot bigger than yours”.

Life can’t really be lived as a spectator can it?

On the same trip we listened to a talk by Scott Simmons titled: “You only live once, but if you live right once is enough”. I highly recommend it. That’s a mantra to live by.

Finding the Temple

Our combined youth activity this month, planned by the beehives, was find your way to the temple. We first had to try and get there by rolling a die at each intersection to determine our course. After trying that for awhile we were given a map to follow. We then visited the temple grounds and had some leaders share thoughts on the temple and then we had some time to reflect and write goals for getting to the temple. It was a really good activity.  It was also a perfect evening, unfortunately I didn’t have a decent camera in tow.

At Stake Conference last week there was a lot of focus on the temple as well; mostly examples of how temple attendance has helped people in various situations. What a great time to live with temples being built like never before.

An Entrepreneur Endorses the Invisible Hand

When Paul Graham says

“The first essay of his that I read was so electrifying that I remember exactly where I was at the time. It was High Technology Innovation: Free Markets or Government Subsidies?”

well I have to pay attention. I wasn’t disappointed and I don’t think you will be either.  One of the most insightful and best laid out speeches I’ve read; especially on a political topic, even if it is from 1993.