Solo dad for two weeks New Experiment
Created by Matthew Cornell 6 days ago | Tags parenting, single parent
Overview Starting tomorrow my wife is in Scotland for a two week excursion with her brother and niece. During that time I'll be taking care of my 9 year old daughter. This is a challenge because parenting is hard for me, I don't naturally enjoy it, and my relationship with my girl continues to be something I'm working on making b...
Matthew Cornell There were some sweet surprises this weekend, two things my daughter said. "Daddy, you are actually pretty nice." And "I love you, Daddy"...
yesterday
Matthew Cornell Rough night last night. I took the opportunity to start a change (i.e., improve intellectually) in her TV watching habits and diet, which...
19 hours ago
Matthew Cornell Today was good. Got in some biking (first after surgery!) so mood was probably better as a result. The afternoon and evening were fun bec...
5 hours ago
Use Post-it note techniques to organize book ideas
Created by Matthew Cornell 23 days ago | Tags writing, brainstorming, post-it notes, creativity
Overview I need to organize my Think, Try, Learn book ideas, and I'm sick of using my text-based outliner. So to change it up I'll try using sticky notes on a wall. My two resources will be "Thinkertoys" and "Rapid Problem Solving with Post-It Notes".
Matthew Cornell Got discouraged thumbing through "Writing the Natural Way". Probably due to exhaustion from above experiment.
6 days ago
Matthew Cornell Feeling better this morning. I now realize Rico's book is exactly what I need in this moment. The process: nucleus word -> clustering -> ...
5 days ago
Matthew Cornell I continue to cycle on the process (spiral, really - I'm at a different place each time around). I worked this weekend pulling out the ma...
yesterday
To know how the next day will go before I go to bed. New Experiment
Created by Pedronius 4 days ago | Tags planning, sequencing, visualising
Overview Set aside 20 minutes to lay out what I need for the next day and to write down any commitments in order before I hit the sack.
Matthew Cornell I love it, Pedronius! Really interested to hear how this goes, and how your feelings compare to pre-experiment ones. Thanks for trying...
3 days ago
Pedronius Cheers Matthew! All going well so far.. tomorrow's looking planned and one bottle of ale empty in the process.
2 days ago
Use Elance for a Commercial Programming Project New Experiment
Created by Brock Tice 5 days ago | Tags programming, outsourcing, elance, android
Overview I have some programming projects on the back burner (i.e. Someday) that could yield commercial success if I ever had a chance to implement them. First among those is an Android app for doctors suggested by my wife. I'm going to try to get it done via Elance.
Matthew Cornell I love it! Outsourcing can still make sense, given the pay discrepancy globally. My experience with Elance was successful - I found a Dru...
4 days ago
Brock Tice Got 9 bids with amounts ranging from about 250 to 750. Working on some NDAs for providers that want more info for their quotes, then I'll...
3 days ago
Matthew Cornell Great indications, Brock. People are hungry, which makes it a perfect time for your project. Surprise #1 so far? :-)
3 days ago
Push back on Tufts health insurance premium increases Completed
Created by Matthew Cornell 8 days ago | Tags health care, health insurance, executive compensation, health care crisis, corporations, corporate excesses, greed
Overview Just as an experiment I'll call Tufts Health Plan to push back on why our premiums for this year have jumped ~$100/mo, after ~$300/mo last year. Insane! Basically I'll ask how the !@#$ this makes sense, given that most peoples' incomes have dropped. Topics: Executive compensation, profits, # members, and hiring.
Matthew Cornell Was called back by a MBA principal (they're 50 people), and by the VP of Communications, who I said I had to call back. She listed lots o...
8 days ago
Matthew Cornell Oh - Best I can tell, here's what James Roosevelt, Jr. (President and Chief Executive Officer) was paid ("excluding contributions to an ...
8 days ago
Matthew Cornell OK, I spoke today for an hour with Tuft's VP of Communications. She admits the situation stinks, and says they are efficient. They're inc...
7 days ago
Extreme Batching - Intentionally Creating a Weekly "Vacation Tax"
Created by Brock Tice Dec 31, 2009
Overview The idea of a "vacation tax" -- catching up on things that have piled up while away -- is now a common one. But wait, batching is good! It lets you focus on the task at hand and make gruntwork more efficient. Is it possible and beneficial to intentionally create a weekly backlog of things to batch? Maybe! I'm g...
Brock Tice I'm starting to see (though I've been practicing as such for a while, I guess) that GTD is in practicality more of a framework or templat...
12 days ago
Matthew Cornell That's surprising, Brock. I see it as totally comprehensive wrt workflow. I think the Doing phase is ultimately most challenging (which a...
11 days ago
Brock Tice I mean, it is comprehensive w.r.t. workflow, but because everyone's workflow needs are different, the actual implementation may have to v...
7 days ago
Ping Completed
Created by Fredrik Jan 01, 2010 | Tags friends, social networking, business
Overview I am going to spend some time per day "pinging" people. That is just contacting them to open the connection again and keep new connections alive.
Fredrik I thought Edison worked perfect as the observations gets focused on my project it all provides possible new ideas. And of course also kee...
12 days ago
Liza Cunningham Cool, thanks for the feedback. Great to have you as an early adopter!
12 days ago
Matthew Cornell That's helpful feedback, Fredrik. I second Liza's thanks for jumping in early!
11 days ago
Run and Meditate First Thing
Created by Brock Tice Feb 04, 2010 | Tags fitness, meditation
Overview Every weekday morning, I will meditate and run (running will slowly be ramped up from every other weekday to every day) before doing any of my other work.
Brock Tice Not only that, but in this case poor tools cause knee and back pain! I knew the importance of good running shoes, having used them (and n...
17 days ago
Brock Tice This is going well, but a variety of things have robbed me of sleep, plus work has been kind of erratic, making it hard to focus. Nonethe...
12 days ago
Matthew Cornell I like the tripod idea - '3' is special. I suppose there are many wrt health. Diet, exercise, etc. I'd like to hear more about why you pi...
11 days ago
promote Where the !@#% did my day go?
Created by Matthew Cornell Sep 16, 2009 | Tags business, sales, e-books, ebooks
Overview I'll test a number of methods to promote my guide. I will track each activity, how long I perform it, number of sales, then analyze effectiveness of each.
Matthew Cornell Thanks to Brock for the AdWords tutorial, and for the Nudge ;-) Next week things will slow down and I'll be able to start my first ad. It...
13 days ago
Brock Tice Oh, hey, you need to put commas between your tags.
12 days ago
Matthew Cornell Got it - thanks! Still getting used to the system :-)
11 days ago
Work, Relationship, Fun Balance
Created by Liza Cunningham Dec 30, 2009 | Tags work, relationships, fun
Overview
Read some great advice that one has to find a balance between work, love and fun. All three should be 100%, otherwise we lean on one over the other causing imbalance. For me:
Work 100%
Relationships 100%
Fun 70%
So I definitely need to work on the fun balance. Every week I will try one ...
Liza Cunningham Going for a hike today with a new friend. Its cold out, which is natural incentive to stay inside. But I know I will feel better if I get...
23 days ago
Matthew Cornell I love that last bit - it changes the focus from product to process. I find the biggest obstacle is the one you mention: Getting out the ...
23 days ago
Liza Cunningham I have the coming weekend all to myself, very exciting. I want to plan some fun new things. Might do a Saturday morning yoga class, and m...
14 days ago
Add a comment | View all 9 comments | Nudge