Self Improvement

I am a sucker for self-improvement. Sometimes I waste time and money, other times I succeeded in improving some aspect of my life seeking self knowledge, self-discipline, and organization.

* GTD Getting Things Done: borrow the book by David Allen from the library and read. If you feel like you need to, buy a copy. Cheap either way. GTD helped me a lot at work, where I need to keep some fairly random stuff under control.

GTD had nothing to do with this, but I also try to recognize when I screw up, admit it, and step back to try to think of a change in my routine that could prevent similar errors in the future. Hope your co-workers will forgive you when you screw up, and help them when they screw up.

* Inbox Zero: Check email as infrequently as you reasonably can, but process all the email in your inbox, until the inbox is empty. To get things going, "process" can mean move all the old crud to a new folder named "crud". This allows me to see new email as it arrives, and has some other benefits. The inbox is for stuff I haven't looked at yet. I have other folders for stuff I need to keep thinking about. I want to say that I am not a fanatic, but in a way I am. I do cheat sometimes, and leave an email in the inbox to jog my memory when I check email. My boss tried this, but hated it. So your mileage may vary. Even the guy who popularized the idea has become a bit skeptical. But I like it.

* 7 Habits of Highly Successful People: I got really excited about this book, but nevermanaged to apply any of the ideas to my life. A waste of time, I think.

* 4 Hour Work-Week: Entertaining but ultimately not useful to me. I think my problem is I love to read about ideas and problems and solutions, but I rarely am willing to put out the effort to really apply the ideas.

* Lifehacker

* Becoming who you are: http://www.becomingwhoyouare.net/about/the-bwya-minifesto/

* zen habits

* freedomainradio.com