All of the calendar products for the Do-It-Yourself-ers that I have developed are available for 50% off for the rest of the month. Go to the sales page at e-junkie.com and pick up a DIY Calendar for $3.00!

Let me know what you would like to see in a calendar, and I will be hapy to design something for you, that we can put out to the rest of the world and make lives richer and more satisfying.

Please leave a suggestion in the Comments!

Please watch this video from the TED conference.

Johnny Lee describes how quickly his research has been disseminated via YouTube, and I join him in being curious as to how this simple new technology will affect the video-game development community.

Today’s guest post is from Mike St. Pierre of The Daily Saint. 

If you could measure how much chit-chat goes into an average workday, would you then keep it up or cut down on it?  When four veteran employees were fired last May due to excessive gossip at work, people were outraged.  At the end of the day, it was a good reminder that productivity does matter.  It appears that the high school girls who ruined your reputation in 10th grade have grown up and not kicked the habit.

If GTD has done anything for the productivity world, it’s enhanced our awareness of the need to stay focused at work, do one thing at a time, and handle interruptions with ease.  Today’s insight is simple: do more at work by talking less to those around you.  I’m not advocating a sort of monasticwork-flow where we light candles and speak for only an hour after lunch.  Rather, it seems to make sense that we talk when we need to rather than as an escape from our work.

I see many people who stay in a conversation just a bit longer than they need to.  It’s a sort of luxury that folks enjoy in order to delay work.  Fascinating but true.

Some suggestions for getting things done today while using fewer words:

• Keep your door closed for one solid hour while you crank out some work.
• Go for a walk around the block after lunch instead of chatting by the water cooler.
• Buy a pair of headphones and use at your discretion.
• Put a sign on the back of your chair that says, “Please do not interrupt- power hour in process.”

Resources for the Road
Gossip Tops Biggest Workplace Pet Peeves
NY Times: If You Can’t Say Anything Nice
Become a Workplace Superstar: Tame the Gossip in You

Today’s guest post is by Al at 7P Productions.

This is the conclusion of the ACE series, where I compare it with SMART and EASIER.

Part 1 of the series introduced ACE (Assess, Commit, Execute) which can be used for both simple and large tasks and goals, and part 2 of the series explained in more details of how ACE can be used for the larger tasks. The ACE system was something I created to help myself, and I was compelled to post it since I also came across SMART (Specific, Measureable, Achieveable, Realistic, and Time-bound) and EASIER (Envision, Assess, Strategize, Implement, Evaluate, and Report), which were both similar to ACE.

The ACE steps are straightforward for smaller tasks, but can expand for larger tasks. From the previous post in this series, here is a summary of the full ACE system:

• Assess: Check the cost, then see if you can afford it under its TERMs (Time, Effort, Resource, and Money).
• Commit: Go through the 3 C’s. Does the task or goal fit into context with your master plan? Remember you have the choice to not commit. If you do commit, conceptualize a successful execution of the task.
• Execute: Do not hesitate and execute through completion. Use milestones for long-term projects.

SMART is a good acronym to help set goals, which is what is happening also in the Assess step above. ACE is more of an beginning-to-end system, which EASIER is also. The main difference I see between the two is that EASIER helps with the large goals and ACE is simple enough for small goals but can expand for big goals as well.

From a side-by-side comparison, I see each system being complete for what they are trying to do. Instead of picking the overall best from the three, I would say the best is the one that specifically suits your need. If you need help just to set goals, SMART is a popular acronym that other people may already know about. If you’re looking for something from beginning-to-end system, I’d say go for either ACE or EASIER. I think ACE is easier to remember (pardon the pun), and I like how ACE is a three-step process for simple tasks, but can be more involved for larger tasks when needed (however, since I’m the one who came up with ACE, I am a little biased).

Epilogue
It was also noted by Lisa Gates that there should be a “pre-assess” step as well, in order to establish core values as necessary anchors. I totally agree with this viewpoint, because setting goals without a master plan is basically being in a rush to get to nowhere. Some sort of long-term planning, even life-long planning, is needed before any of all this is meaningful.