Everyday Systems

brownstudy

In addition to sticking to the speed limit, and if you don't want to be glancing at your speedometer all the time, keep a safe distance from the car in front of you instead.

I think (someone Google this for me) that when the car in front of you passes a landmark, count to yourself "one-mississippi ...

brownstudy

My current work schedule and taking an online course means that the weekends are the only time I have to do my schoolwork or catch up on office work.

What I may institute, though, is the idea that when 6 pm rolls around, the computer goes off, as if it were a workday. Alternatively, I've been ...

brownstudy

Thanks, R. Actually, in one of Forster's books (or his newsletter, can't remember which), he talks about the choices one makes and that the best choice is the one that's "in one's best interests."

That's intrigued me, for whatever reason. "No options" is the short-term, imposed rule, but the ...

brownstudy

Hi all. I've been a sometime poster/lurker on the forum.

I'm a devotee of UK author/coach Mark Forster's time management systems, and cited the No S diet in a comment on his web site. ( http://www.markforster.net/blog/2006/9/28/its-not-an-option.html ) He posted about keeping in mind the idea of ...

brownstudy

But it's only a diet, so it's ok :)

Was doing well last week up until I was getting ready to leave at 4:30 pm and my manager rushes in for me to revamp two slides for a client. I started work on it, he had to leave and then came back. We both left here about 9:30 pm but the slides looked real purty ...

brownstudy

Monday 3/6 -- SUCCESS

No formal exercise, but strained a back muscle at my comedy improv class, so I feel exercised.

brownstudy

Finished last Thu and Fri as successful No S days. Did my workouts as scheduled and over the weekends. Treated myself to a so-so pancake breakfast on Sunday but it lasted me through the day.

For this week, just planning to do the same. Breakfast, lunch, supper. My liter of seltzer and a diet coke ...

brownstudy

Well, as I was saying...(Has it really been since July that I was last here??)

Liz recovered from her hospital stay just fine and is back in school. I'm still gainfully employed.

In February, made some changes to my routines (which I may discourse about later):
* started getting up an hour ...

brownstudy

What cured me of 95% of my impulse spending was making a budget. It is very depressing to see how little money one has left over after just the most necessary expenses. If you're insufficiently depressed, try maxing out your 401k, roth IRA, and setting up 529s for your kids -- unless you're very ...

brownstudy

We use Silk soy creamer; it's a little thinner but not as rich. We like it.

brownstudy

We've started eating more meals at home (helps with No S!) and then going out for a meal on the weekend. Makes the eating out more special.

I posted elsewhere on this board about The Bword (bword.com) which has a very good, simple system for managing your cashflow. Basically, I give myself an ...

brownstudy

Look at the book called ORGANIZING FROM THE INSIDE OUT by Julie Morgenstern. It boils down to the kindergarten organization methodology: everything in its place. Give everything a designated home and that becomes the first place to look for something. There's lots more to it, of course, but it's as ...

brownstudy

This is a link to a libertarian economics blog called Marginal Revolution. They quote from a new book that posits the reason Americans are getting fatter is because of their snacking, caused by Americans seeking comfort foods to escape the stress of their daily lives.

Hmmm. Maybe a little exercise ...

brownstudy

However, the general lack of time to do anything personally about it results in your take-out food, hence the rise of Boston Market, KFC, etc., etc.

Can't remember where I was reading this, but basic cooking classes are booming now because people aren't learning basic cooking techniques (roasting ...

brownstudy

Difficult days behind you, sounds like you did pretty well! :D

Thanks. Well, some difficulties are still ahead, but one keeps doing what has to be done. It's good to have the structure of something like No S and SG to at least help keep me on a minimum maintenance routine. Otherwise, I'd go to ...

brownstudy

I think frequent meals are suggested because it keeps the body's metabolism chugging along to burn the food (I think that's the theory). Also, on the Body for Life plan and other exercise regimens, since you're exercising so much and so intensively, you do feel hungrier and you naturally want to eat ...

brownstudy

At work, I may drink one diet soda after lunch because I like the sweet taste as a 'finish' to my drab lunches. I also like the burn of the carbonation. But since it's like drinking candy, I don't do more than 1 can during the weekdays.

At home, I love lemon-lime seltzers. My grocery store carries ...

brownstudy

Mon - Success. SG in morning, 3 meals. Ate at Chick-fil-a at lunch with co-workers, but ordered one of the salads, not the sandwiches.

Tue - Failure, but then I rearranged the goalposts and dubbed it an S day. Yoga in the morning (sun salutations, a few twists and stretches), which I find to be ...

brownstudy

My wife went into the hospital Tuesday and may be out on Saturday. I'm able to keep up 3 meals a day with no snacks but they're on the go, in the hospital cafeteria, fast food, or wherever. No exercising as I'm going right to bed and then getting up and doing the daily chores so I can get to work ...

brownstudy

Here's a quickie rundown of the week:

SG'd every day, usually before work, but after work on Friday. I think I need to do something else on one or two of the days as my left arm is feeling a not-good sore. I'll take a break over the long holiday.

SG is a blessing though; whenever I think I can't ...

brownstudy

It occurs to me that the extreme programming tenet is just the imperativisation of occam's razor:

Whoa, I bailed at imperativisation :)

There's a lot to be said for the simple. David Allen's GTD time management philosophy is that your system has to be as simple as possible so that you can use ...

brownstudy

No S - 3 meals, no snacks.

SG: Yep. No extras. I prefer doing it in the morning after I get up.

Am finding that with my current 9-hr workday, SG is about the only exercise I can force myself to do or can make time for. My previous weight/exercise routines all require 30-40 minutes at a minimum ...

brownstudy

Jan, thanks for the tips. I'll check these out and compare with cafepress.

Reinhard -- found this article from lifehacker.com that pertains to peoples' experiences with self-publishing. More food for thought. Chew thoroughly.

http://www.lifehacker.com/software/life-hacks/notes-from ...

brownstudy

SG: 14 minutes

No walking (92 very humid degrees here)

No S: 3 good meals. I did share a cookie with my wife that was left over from the weekend. So, my bad.

brownstudy

As a trained librarian, I'm a natural browser, and while this is great in a physical library where some activation energy is required and serves as a filter, it leads to utter paralysis on the web. It's a little disturbing to think that we've reached the point of social and technological ...

brownstudy

I will also not turn on my Clie unless i need to look up a reference. I keep lots of downloaded web pages, e-books, and such to read in spare moments. But I find myself sticking around to play a little game or something. So, in addition to no computer, no PDA.

And on days when I don't eat supper ...

brownstudy

On the subject of fasting, turn to Jay's Journal of Anomalies , an amazing book by magician/writer Ricky Jay, where he describes charlatans and "amazing" feats of all kinds. He has a whole chapter on people hoodwinking the public by fasting in public (but sneaking ham on the side) such as the ...

brownstudy

Woke up late and negotiated with myself whether to do SG or not. Talked myself into it by saying, "It's only for 14 minutes, then you can have breakfast."

So, I did the 14 minutes and no extras. Will probably lunch in the cafeteria today and have beans/tortillas for supper.

I also like a little ...

brownstudy

Started both SG and No S about the middle of last week. Did SG M/W/F last week, and M/Tu/Th this week.

No S: actually not having much of a problem with the diet. (Diet from the Greek dietos, "way of life," or so I heard somewhere.) The structure is important; it's straightforward and easy to keep ...

brownstudy

luddites may be the only ones left who can concentrate long enough to actually use the information that everyone else thinks they have access to.

This reminded me so much of something Jeannette Winterson (British novelist) said on her web site a while back: that we consume far more than we ...

brownstudy

Merlin is quick! Looks like there's an everydaysystems link on the 43 folders home page already. And he (or his doppelganger) seems to have joined our bb. Welcome and thanks, Merlin.

Yeah, I saw the link in his sidebar earlier this week. Congratulations! His sidebar links are always very ...

brownstudy

Think merlin would be amenable to a link exchange? Oh, heck, there's something so scammish about that, I'll just link to him.

I don't know Merlin personally, but he's quite the digital celeb nowadays. If you look at his pages, you see Trackbacks and all sorts of links back to individual pages of ...

brownstudy

Hi all. I'm rather surprised not to have come across mention of Merlin Mann's 43 Folders sites (web and wiki). It's oodles of tricks geared to "getting things done," along with "lifehacks." As Merlin puts it in one of his posts, these are ways to patch weaknesses in our personal OS. He also hosts a ...

brownstudy

Funny how the latter consideration has loomed so disproportionately large in my concerns... no more! B-word looks very promising... I'll have to spend some more time looking at that.

Hi Reinhard -- I wonder if "the float" really means anything anymore what with instant deductions from checking ...

brownstudy

I've made an absurdly ambitious monthly resolution this month (especially given that I made it mid-month) to find a literary agent for the nosdiet manifesto, so I guess you could say I'm actively in the market for this kind of advice. Thanks, Mike! I think I just might pick up this book.

Reinhard ...

brownstudy

I was just wondering, in general, what "everyday systems" people have come up with that deal with finances. I find that I've been using one all along and never knew that it qualified as an everyday system. So - are there any others out there?

I'd be interested to know what your business is. I was ...

brownstudy

Is there a "system" out there for forcing oneself to do creative work?

Look for a book called THE WAR OF ART by Steven Pressfield (he wrote THE LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE, I think). It's mainly geared to writers suffering blockage, but can be a template for any artist or office worker who's ...

Everyday Systems

Search found 37 matches

Drive for distance, not speed

Alas, the WL

Mark Forster's Getting Things Done site

Total, abject failure

Success for 7 days

Small changes, big benefits

Why Americans are fatter

Jul 11,12

On hold...

Missed the daily check-ins

6/28

Self-publishing

June 27

Slight mod to the rules

Jay's Journal of Anomalies

SG for 14

Brownstudy's check in

Process what we consume

43Folders and Lifehacks

BWord

Re: Financial Everyday Systems

Re: Creative work "everyday system"?