Welcome back! It's good to see you again. Please note that I am now publishing all new material at my hub site: In Context Blog
A while back I posted that I was upgrading my smartphone and considering some options. The time has come like many gadget aficionados (’geek’ after all is no longer in vogue) I have invested far too much time in my selection.I chose the Blackberry Pearl 8130, a sexy little number with snappy performance. Unfortunately, after a week of use, I realized that it wasn’t for me. The ‘crack’ in Blackberry just didn’t grab hold of my PDA needs so I went looking for an alternative. Mistake #1.
Many video reviews later and I am still not sure which one to use. (I do recommend PhoneArena.com in case you need to see specs, etc.) Now I’m thinking about this process way too much and it’s beginning to stress me out.
Here’s the spiritual twist- gadget owning the gadgeteer. It bothers me that it bothers me which smartphone I use. I’ve adjusted my aim- instead of finding the ideal smartphone I just want to put the whole process to bed and be done with it.
My suggestions if you are like me and find that your gadgets are owning you:
Go on a gadget fast.Read “Unplugging the Noise” for some ideas on products and the media. A once per month fast is a good idea for so many reasons.
Put things in perspective…on paper. Write down the pros and cons of a gadget that you’re thinking of purchasing. Do you really need it? Will it really improve the quality of your life? If we’re honest the answer will almost always be, “probably not”.
Know the fine print. If Sprint has fine print about returning a phone, read it carefully. You don’t want to become a wasteful buyer of goods. Like the Prodigal Son in Luke 15, the desire for more can take over the best of us.
Stay old fashioned. No matter how cool the iPhone is, there is still no substitute for pen and paper.
Maintain quiet time each day. Steadying buying habits (and gadgeteering) with down time, alone, is valuable and keeps things in balance.
Off to work on an article…win old fashioned pen and paper. I’ll keep my phone on standbye.
Every day we do things, busy things, yet sometimes we fail to be productive. Why is that? Mark Shead ( Link )wanted to know the answer, so he asked a bunch of people in the Productivity Blogging Industry. Here is his introduction:
I have contacted a number of individuals who run blogs about time management, personal productivity, and organization. I asked them all three questions:
What is the single biggest way people waste time without even realizing it?
What change has made the most difference in making you effective in life?
If someone were to read just one post from your site, which would you recommend they read and why?
The response has been spectacular…
The result is spectacular as well. So many terrific responses, with a concise running commentary that includes personal examples. This post is a must read!
Here is a little slice:
The term “productivity application” is grossly misused in my opinion. A productivity application is something that lets you focus on your productive work. Most “productivity applications” are full of all kinds of features to allow us to do things that add no value whatsoever. We can add animation to our PowerPoint slides, change the color of our fonts in Word, and use email to subscribe to jokes. If you need to write the content for a document, Notepad with spellcheck is probably a better productivity tool than about any wordprocessor.
This is the fourth installment of the “Living with Less” series, and today we will focus on our vision for the future. Perhaps you have already created a list of things you would like to accomplish, a Someday/Maybe list of heart-felt goals. A list of actions which, when accomplished, will mean that life has been worthwhile, that you were a success.
Take a moment to review this list. Are there any goals or aspirations there that will have a lasting impact on at least one other person? Or are they just for you? Did you have to do any work to come up with this list? Most people do not sit down with pen & paper to examine the results of their life so far and say, “Yep, that’s it. If I can take a 5-star international vacation my life will really have meant something.”
I would submit that it is worthwhile to examine your life and determine the real value of your past successes. And failures. (Did you learn something from them?) What have your past successes meant in terms of your influence with others and and their own vision of the future? The activities of our daily lives should include “teachable moments” for ourselves and for others to learn from. Sometimes we may not even realize that such a moment has just occurred! Making your own life smaller in order to create more time and energy for improving your relationships with your family, friends and neighbors in your community is a goal worthy of being called a success.
“Influence demands relationships and time. There is no other way. And both of these demand we clear all the unimportant items out of our way and make relationships and time together our priorities. They demand we take on the heart of a servant.” Mark Tabb, Living with Less, p.34
Examine your own life. Analyze your goals. Discover your own true definition of success.
This is the third installment of my “Living with Less” series in which we examine the benefits of of making our lives smaller in order to have a greater impact on our community (virtual & otherwise!). Today we explore “What is worth the effort?”
“Most of us want to influence future generations in a positive way. Deep down we know this is the something more we’ve been looking for. We know it because we’ve felt the gentle touch of others on our own lives. No ever achieved anything of consequence on his or her own. Our lives are the products of those who cared enough about us to invest their lives in ours.” ~ Mark Tabb, Living with Less, p.18
Who are some of the people that have influenced your life, for good or ill? What did they do? What didn’t they do? This is a part of our lives that rarely gets examined because it can hurt.
It can also heal.
We can learn a great deal about ourselves and become inspired to do better. To do more with less. Sacrifice something in the cycle of work-TV-shopping-more work. Is shopping really worth all of the effort that you put forth to afford it? How much effort, really, is involved in volunteering for a youth-group’s fund-raiser or community project? What kind of expertise do you have that gets wasted on the weekends when it could be shared? Isn’t it worth the effort to make yourself smaller in order to make something or someone else bigger?
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January 16th, 2008 by thedailysaint
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