Joshua Guffey

There’s no bigger time-waster than loosing track of where you were in a project and needing to retrace your steps to figure out where to begin again. Personally, I’m not a big fan of wasted time so I do what I can to maximize my use of what I’ve got.

I use Google Docs to organize my entire workflow and have adopted David Allen’s GTD system (good book, btw) within Google’s cloud-based document solution to suit my workflow very nicely. I have an general ‘Open Loops’ document that is essentially everything that is on my radar as something that I’m currently working on or which need immediate attention as soon as the thing I’m working on is complete. I have a ‘Someday / Maybe’ document that contains all the ideas that come up for me that seem like a good idea at the time, but which I don’t have the time to implement immediately. What’s interesting is that sometimes I’ll go back and find things in this document that in retrospect I realize either weren’t a good use of time, that I accomplished in another (usually better) way or that are now otherwise irrelevant. What I mean for you to take away from this is that I saved time because I didn’t waste it on things that later revealed themselves to be unneeded.

I should also note that I have a ‘Master’ list of everything that definitely needs to happen, one called ‘Waiting For’ that contains open loops that are currently in someone else’s workflow, and I have various specific documents for each individual project that I’ve got going. This keeps all of my thoughts straight, compartmentalized, backed up on Google’s servers and accessible to me from wherever I am, even from my phone.

The most beautiful part of this system though is its interlinkability (it’s a word now), which allows me to move easily from one document to another by creating links between the two, and its searchability (ditto), which allows instant, content-deep search capability across all of my documents account-wide.

As a working example about the linkability, I link from my Open Loops document to the specific document for a project, or even a specific section of that document and can then move swiftly from a large overview to a project overview. I sometimes even create sub-projects if the document begins to become too bloated and unfocused. It’s simple to ‘cut’ a section of a document and paste it into a new one.  Then I head back to the main doc and drop an appropriately titled link to the newly created one and BAM! Instant workflow.

The other great thing about Google Docs is the incredible search capabilities that is characteristic of Google’s products. From your ‘root’ folder of your Google Docs you can search the content of all your documents. And from within a spreadsheet, for example, you can search ‘one’ or ‘all’ sheets for a string.

I recently discovered a Google Desktop widget for Google Docs that makes all of this work even more easily and quickly. The widget allows you to search your docs, open them and even create new ones directly from your desktop. Its still using the documents online, but you save yourself the extra time it takes to launch your Google Docs ‘root’ folder to then find and work with the document you need. Instead you simply go right to what you need.

Do you already use Google Docs? What are your favorite tricks and tweaks?

photo credit: jonny goldstein

Personal development rule # 1
Be in constant forward motion

Personal development rule # 2
Pause frequently for reflection

Personal development rule # 3
Enjoy the paradoxs

As we move into the holiday gatherings with our dear families whom we rarely see enough, I’d like to take a look at something…

The dearest things we give and reeceive in all the world are not wrapped in shiny ribbons and bows. Frequently our greatest gifts are as simple as a hand-crafted compliment that is entirely accurate and deserved, a kind ear that listens beyond the first several egoic-driven impulses to ‘move on’, and in so doing, giving another heart a chance to reflect and to be heard.

These types of gifts are often remembered for years. Perhaps even a lifetime.

I watched a lovely TED Talk by Brene Brown about the power of vulnerability (it was superb), and it reminded me that being true to yourself, allowing yourself to be vulnerable enough to be loved and courageous enough to do the loving are some of the most miraculous acts we can perform. And we can give these daily, even hourly, without being even one ounce diminished ourselves.

I hope your holidays are rife with the love and joy that is family and loved ones.

Here’s how to generate a really strong password to protect your precious Facebook account from users hacking it and writing things like “I like to play with poop”. It’s a very simple, step-by-step process that anyone can manage. Read on…

Step 1. Squeeze a household pet until they exclaim in disapproval. If you have goldfish you may need to try a few fish before this works.

Step 2. Record the sound your pet makes. These are the first letters.

Step 3. Add the winning lotto numbers from the week of your mother’s birth. This’ll require some research on your part, but is an absolutely vital step. Without it a monkey will be able to access your most sensitive status updates with only the power of his mind.

Step 4. Eat a piece of brocolli. Count the number of crunches you get from it. (This used to be the number of licks to get to the center of a tootsie pop but since they came out with that marketing campaign it just isn’t secure any longer. Mmmmm… I miss Big League Chew.)

Step 5. Multiply the numbers from steps 3 and 4, then subtract the number of times you curse your computer in a given day and append this to the sound your flattened animal made. If the resulting number is a negative throw your computer away, buy a parka and move to the Himalayas to become free from all of your emotional pissed-off-ness.

Step 6. You’re done. Your new password is so secure that no one aside from Google will ever know it. In fact, it’s so secure that your brain cannot even comprehend it’s magnificence and when you attempt to recall it your mind simply locks up in a overwhelming wave of awe at it’s pure awesomeness.

Step 7. Request a password reset.

Facebook and the major social networks are too general and crowded. It’s time for the uprising of the niche social web. Expect pockets of sites for various niche communities that will be separate, but tied together by your participation in them– your identity, which is distributed.

This will allow us to break out of a crowded and cluttered social web and make more deliberate choices about which communities get the bulk of our time and energy. It’ll be driven likely by increasing user frustration at social behemoths, like Facebook, for their frequent privacy issues and the inherent disdain of an online monopoly on our friend connections and identity.

The next big thing is little.

What are your thoughts about the next step in the evolution of the social web?