Elegant Distractions

Wasn't enough to fall in with the Moleskine crowd. I admit to having two notebooks, a pocket notebook, a set of cahiers, and recently added a memo pocket to hold my task cards. No, the slippery slope just starts there.

The notebooks get you hooked then comes the pens. Pretty soon your roller ball seems outclassed by the paper and binding. But please take my advice and no matter what do not go down the path of pen pathos by indulging in a fountain pen. Never mind that the feel of pen on fine paper cannot be matched by any ball pen. Never mind that your writing will improve (once you get the hang of a fountain). Much better to resist, to stay out of the opium den that is pen obsession.

Stay on a keyboard, stick to digital. Analog is far too seductive.

Posted by director at 08:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Even in the face of overwhelming evidence some people still believe

longer hours == higher productivity

Sigh. My experience is that even managers who profess to understand the issues involved still value and reward the people who put in extraordinary hours over those who do their work then go home. One success guru said, "If you can't get it done in 40 hours, you can't get it done in 60, either."

This part is fascinating:

Studies have shown that being awake for 21 hours impairs drivers as much as having a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08, which is the legal limit for noncommercial drivers in the U.S.

It's ironic. Most software companies will fire an employee who routinely shows up drunk for work. But they don't think twice about putting the fate of this year's silver bullet project into the hands of people who are impaired to the point of legal drunkenness due to lack of sleep. In fact, they will demand that these people work to the point of legal impairment as a condition of continued employment.

The ability to do complex mental tasks degrades faster than physical performance does. Among knowledge workers, the productivity loss due to excessive hours may begin sooner and be greater than it is among soldiers, because our work is more affected by mental fatigue.

The thing that is impossible to explain is why the technology sector continues to ingore data gathered over nearly a century as if it doesn't apply to them. It is still considered a badge of honor (in some circles) to work insane hours and run on as little sleep as possible. Perhaps it is the appearance of productivity that matters more than the reality of it, in some organizations and to some people?

The article doesn't even adress the resentment factor. Missing the significant events in the lives of family members cannot be compensated and everyone who has to put in 'face time' after kids are long asleep has the mental distraction of knowing that an explanation will be due, and this on top of the fatigue of the day. Also, There are no more pots of gold at the end of the technology rainbow for the average worker to justify to some degree the extended work days.

Hey, don't take my word for it. Read the whole thing.

Posted by director at 07:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

New research into the destructive effects of sleep loss:

As the pace of life quickens and it becomes harder to balance home and work, many people meet their obligations by getting less sleep.

But sleep deprivation impairs spatial learning - including remembering how to get to a new destination. And now scientists are beginning to understand how that happens: Learning spatial tasks increases the production of new cells in an area of the brain involved with spatial memory called the hippocampus. Sleep plays a part in helping those new brain cells survive.

A team of researchers from the University of California and Stanford University found that sleep-restricted rats had a harder time remembering a path through a maze compared to their rested counterparts. And unlike the rats that got enough sleep, the sleep-restricted rats showed reduced survival rate of new hippocampus cells.

Sleep deprivation: it really is just for dummies.

Posted by director at 03:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I've been playing around with the Hipster PDA for a couple of weeks now. Here's my take:

I have a Palm Pilot (my second) and have considered buying a Windows CE device. I'm also a fan of Getting Things Done but find my adherence fluxuates. Right now, the Palm is idle and has been for several weeks.

The problem I find is keeping straight the tasks from different parts of my life. Even though I've used the GTD Outlook plugin, it proved unworkable between different Outlook installations. Using index cards and binder clips allows me to keep different groups of actions separated.

I also created a Word document to print a form on the blank side. So far, I'm liking this a great deal. The simplicity is astonishing and actually makes using the system more likely.

Posted by director at 05:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1)