My Tool Box

One of the recurring themes of this blogs is going to be about productivity tools. What I find useful and why and what I don’t use and why. For me productivity is part tool and part method – tools are great but you’ve gotta know how to use them!

So what’s in the tool box this week? One of my favorites is Google Reader. I’ve tried a few feed readers over the last couple of years including:

OK, not a huge list, I’ll give you that. However none of these readers have inspired me enough to persist with feed reading like Google Reader has.

What do I like about it? One of its big pluses is that it’s right there in my browser – no need to launch another application. Also its simplicity of design and execution have made it very user friendly (to this user at any rate).

So that’s my number one tool for the moment and using it I’m discovering a huge amount about productivity, happiness and getting things done. If you think Google Reader sucks or if you have a strong leaning in another direction then share your preferences here.

Monday Mornings

I love Monday mornings! Honest, I do!

I used to listen to my colleagues at work complaining about Monday morning, how the weekend was over and there was another week of work ahead before the next one. Personally I love to look forward to what I’m going to achieve in the week ahead, the goals I’m going to accomplish and the opportunities the week will present.

Yes, Monday mornings for me are a great time for invigoration and renewal. After all I can’t do anything about the fact that I’ve 5 days work before the next weekend so I might as well accept the fact and get stuck in.

Reading Now

This is the first in a series of occasional posts about what I’m reading now and why. Books that is, if I started writing about the stuff I’m reading on the Internet I don’t know when I’d have time to sleep.

OK, two books I’ve got on the go at the moment. The first is Mind Maps At Work by Tony Buzan. I’ve been a fan of using mind maps in my job as a software engineer for a couple of years; but have never read anything from the man who really made the general public aware of them (in the UK at any rate) Tony Buzan. I’m about half way through the book and so far I’ve found some useful tips; but at the same time I’m not too comfortable with the way the book is written. I’m not going to comment further on this at the moment until I’ve read the whole thing.

The second book is The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle (don’t you just love the menus on his web site? Now how cool are those?). This book is Tolle’s best seller and, in my honest opinion, is a revolutionary work in spiritual and personal development. The book is next to my bed and I’m reading it slowly because there’s a lot to take in; but so far it has given me a great spiritual boost. Eckhart, you rock man.

ShareIT Cork

This posting is about 2 weeks overdue; but as I didn’t have a blog 2 weeks ago you’ll have to excuse the lateness of this report. However I’m posting it because it was the ShareIT event arranged by Damien Mulley that inspired me to start this blog.

The ShareIT day at UCC was aimed at people interested in starting a business in the IT industry; but really the presentations could apply to virtually any start-up. You can find full details of the presenters and their material on Damien’s site so I’ll not repeat that here. However I will say that one of the points that most of the presenters put across was the importance of blogging to increase your (my) presence on the web. So here we are!

There’s to be another ShareIT day in Dublin on Saturday 28th April. Like the Cork date the day will be free of charge (don’t make me out to be a liar here Damien) and will be fantastic value to anyone with even half an notion that they might want to set up a business for themselves.

The first step…

All journeys begin with a first step and so this is mine. As I’m writing this the first of my colleagues are preparing to leave the company for good as the site winds down. Some have been here for nearly 20 years. There’s much laughter; but underneath it I can feel the tension, uncertainty and fear of the unknown.

I myself don’t leave until the end of May. I shan’t be the last one out the door; but not far from it. Next week will be difficult as the building will seem so empty with half the staff gone. So the purpose of this blog is to chart the last two months of my time here and where I go from there. As the title says this is a personal journey. This is my opportunity to step out of my familiar cozy surroundings and experience things from another perspective. While I’m on my way I’ll most certainly post up things that annoy me and things that delight me (hopefully more of the latter).

So there it is; my right foot planted firmly in front of my left foot and I’m on my way. Here’s to a safe journey.

Cheers

David