Postcards from the Funny Farm

Since I first wrote this post, I’ve learned yet more about RTM and GC and this post reflects those updates. Not only have I discovered more RTM can do but I am astounded at the new stuff I’ve found! Be sure and try the bookmarklet I linked below. If you get stuck let me know. Remember the Milk has gotten me organized.  Since I started using it almost 2 years ago my life has been way more productive and my stress level seems cut in half.  I strongly recommend using it for anybody in any walk of life seeking to be more productive.

This is a short tutorial on how to use it in conjunction with Google Calendar to make your life heaven on Earth.  Please know this is only an introduction, there are so many people out there more skilled in these apps than me.  I just want to point the way.  After that, forums and FAQ’s will take you to new and unknown wonderful heights.

First, RTM (Remember the Milk): This web application is free for basic use and for most, basic is all you need. I am a PRO user. This means in exchange for paying $25/month, I get all kinds of cool extras with my account. The basic is fine for anyone though and here is what is does. It is a “task management” web application. This is NOT a calendar. Calendars manage “events” whereas RTM manages tasks. What’s the difference? Not much and Sooooo much. As you explore the two more in your life you find how different they are. To make it simple for you: suffice it to say that events are things that happen or that you have to be at and tasks are things you must do. Events always have a date and tasks sometimes do not but often do. Here’s an example from my work: I get a monthly calendar at work of stuff we have to do as teachers. These would be more or less events. As I travel through the week I discover things I must get done or that I would like to get done, these are called tasks. RTM helps you get these done. For example, the other day my wife and I wanted to find a cheap term life insurance quote. This wasn’t an exciting task, but we found one due to RTM. Remember that RTM has no support for events and Google Calendar has only recently introduced support for tasks. Google Tasks have a while to go before they equal RTM in my opinion. To throw something in off topic, did you know you can email tasks as singles or lists and they will log directly into your RTM or Google Calendar. Reminders start immediately. Have you ever been in a meeting and wanted to put a date or task into your reminders? With RTM, now you can.

In RTM you start an account and set it up for email and/or SMS reminders. Then you make a shortcut in your browser to your personal tasks page. When you read email or if you are surfing around you often get a “heads up” on a task that must be done. In that case you can either go to the bookmark you have saved and enter it manually or (advanced only) make this javascript code into a shortcut. This will save the url you are on and allow you to put much info of your own in as well.

As you build up and complete tasks, you become more effective throughout the week. A final thought: You can sync RTM tasks with Google Calendar but they just put a link to them you can’t see them in the calendar. This is kind of weak and I hope they change this soon. Meanwhile, it’s a pretty good 1/2 way thing so I recommend setting that up though Google Calendar. One of the perks of a PRO account is that you can sync with your PDA or Blackberry and then that syncs with Outlook. This is the main reason I paid for my PRO account.

Now, Google Calendar: This web app is awesome. It allows you to easily put in your events and send reminders to your email or cell phone. You can make events recurring as in the case of a weekly blogging job or traffic building event. This has made me so very effective at things like that. For example, My wife has a Cozi family calendar and likes when I write in it once in a while. I set it as a recurring event and I get to it every week without fail. She tells me how much she appreciates the entries. There is a sync program that syncs your events to Outlook. There isn’t much more to say about Google Calendar because it does such an important thing for you. No details are really needed. Another item you can configure is sending tasks through your phone in sms messages.  This is amazing when you are at work and can’t get to a computer.

Quick note and tip here before I close, there is an incredible way to use a hack bookmarklet with RTM. It will save the url you are on and give you lots of options how you save the task. I saved the code to paste into a bookmark here: RTM Bookmarklet Code

In conclusion, I hope you will try RTM and Google Calendar. They really have changed my life. I am a guy now who remembers everything whereas I used to forget stuff a bit … well, ok I’ll admit it … a lot!

In this era of a H1N1 virus, none of us can too cautious or careful. This means stocking our medicine cabinets with the essentials like pain killers, antihistamines, and other cold and flu remedies. 

There are always deals and coupons at drug stores. Your body and head will thank you later when you have many of those creature comforts right at home to use in a whim.

Another thing you should stock up in is “snacks” at work. If you could dedicate a bix or a drawer to put candy bars, small chips, and all the stuff you find in a vending machine, you would fare well on those days when your stomach is growling and you don’t have the $1 for the vending machine.

So many tasks and jobs in life are made better by stocking the things you need. How and what do you stick?

Watching characters far worse than ourselves like for example, Dexter the serial killer, on Showtime is cathartic. We all experience guilt in our daily lives to some extent and these characters “sins” help absolve us of our own.

CSI is another example of cathartic television. You could be feeling bad that you chatted with an ex on Facebook and the only thing to ease your mind about it is watching a triple homicidal maniac put his family through a wood chipper. Whatever the mistake a person makes, it is always to them worse than to anyone else. Crime and mystery shows alleviate that burden in some way.

This might explain crime tv’s mass appeal. I’m a contributing author to Blogcritics where Dexter has widespread appeal. In a recent article on Blogcritics “Why we Love Dexter” I laid out some logical reasons to explain that. As long as we see these shows as cathartic and not acceptable behavior, they can be fun excursions of spirit. (more…)

I think that anger can sometimes be good. Righteous anger can motivate us to action. It can also lead us to seek revenge which is never a good thing. In my life, I have found that the best revenge comes through “karma” or other means beyond our control. I think anger can be a positive thing in our lives when it:

1. changes a wrong course,
2. leads to determination,
3. keeps you from being victimized,
4. sets healthy boundaries, and
5. promotes solutions.

Most my life I have been a passive person. By that I mean I’ve avoided scenes of anger at all costs. As a result, I think I may have missed out on some of the opportunities listed above. I think anger can be good.

When you value your mental health as I do, you make it a priority. I think I can honestly say that my mental state is more important to my wife and kids than and paycheck I could ever bring in to them … however large it might be. Of course, I write here all the time about how good mental health will produce more money and more success in general. I think many people get it backward. They try and kill themselves with work thinking that they will be the most successful. Having worked in as many fields as I have, I can tell you that is one of the most harmful myths of modern civilization. In truth, they should be reading up on relaxation techniques.

A better way to look at work is like a cart. You are the horse that pulls the cart along. If the horse is upset, the business suffers. The question then for all of us is: “How do I keep my mental state robust?” The quick and easy answer is to use your time off to recuperate and re-create. In my opinion, meditation and relaxation are the cornerstone of a long successful career. Don’t stress about things when you are off work when you can help it. Let your mind relax and you will be quite pleased with the results. It helps if your boss sees mental health as equally important but whether he does or not, the improved contribution you bring to work will speak volumes about your priorities and their value. (more…)

I began paying attention to Eckhart Tolle’s notion of “the power of now” a couple years ago. My mom was getting a lot of insight from his teachings and she loaned me a book. Now, I like to look him up on Youtube once in a while and get a bit of enlightenment. This one really spoke to me tonight. It’s on meditation which I’ve been writing about here lately. If you know of Eckhart Tolle, you know he’s an insightful teacher. If you don’t know of him, you’re in for a treat.

I find that young people in their teens and 20’s have a distaste for meditation in all its forms. This is very unfortunate since meditation can save people from debilitating stress and diseases. Meditation is about focusing, centering, breathing, and controlling ones own thoughts. I think many people see it as something “weak” people do.

If you can’t “snap out of it” with regards to stress or anxiety, then you aren’t worth spit. This could not be further from the truth. Those who take the time to stop in theor hectic day and meditate are better equipped to be the movers and shakers of the world.

I first started looking at meditation for relaxation back in 1996. I read Herbert Benson’s “Relaxation Response.” It is about learned responses to events that cause anxiety. In the book and study, it is phenomenal how many people lowered their blood pressure through practicing this response technique.

In my teens and twenties, it would have done me good to get advice about meditation.  This would have been helpful to me if for nothing else then getting through the flu or a hangover. I had a few of those in my 20’s. If you eschew meditation, you really are missing out. Start exploring meditation and see how much you health and mental health improves.

I just posted my 13th review on Blogcritics this week and it’s on a movie I have strong opinions about: Where the Wild Things Are.

If you have a moment, please go over to the review, read it, and post a comment. I’m looking forward to your comments on this psychological oddity of a movie. You’ll read more of my opinions on it over there.

Please retweet the text below if you use Twitter:

Get your comment in @blogcritics Movie Review: Where The Wild Things Are – or Aren’t http://bit.ly/3XRouj

Thank you very much!

I had a friend in high school who had noticeable trouble with acne. He would go to the dermatalogist and I heard about all the stuff they did in his visits. They did something akin to sandblasting which sounded terrible. They also prescribed him pills and lotions meant to ameliorate the condition. I hate to sound negative but it’s hard to believe in natural acne treatment. Sometimes a person needs heavy duty grade drugs and procedures. All the ads I see about it, while interesting, are probably not the best way to go. That’s the way it seems to me anyway. Do you have a testimony you can share?

Here’s the deal with me and Facebook. If I use it as social media and whittle down my friends to people I know, it’s frankly boring and no one really cares to read my online work like Twitter and blogging. So … is that really social media marketing? Most people on my Facebook don’t even know what that term is. When I am pitching a post or trying to market an ebook, they see it as a friendly email addressed directly to them. It makes for a lot of confusing status comments. I think I will delete all personal info and open up my Facebook for anyone to add me as a friend. In that case, as long as I watch carefully what I post, it actually may increase my traffic and behave truly as a social media marketing tool.

What do you make of home alarm systems? As for me, I feel they are way too expensive and cumbersome in my house. We have protection installed in our home and it has proven itself effective in guarding our home. The systems guy that came around last week quoted us an astronomically high amount and it got me thinking about how the fear of intruders sometimes enables the alarm companies to charge more. I just don’t get it. If it were half the cost it might make sense. What do you think about home alarm systems?