Will you take the Trust Yourself (#Trust30) Writing Challenge?

I started his blog because I wanted to share my learning and ideas; the ones I had gathered and analysed and made decisions upon for myself.

Its fun to be creative in this way and actually not as difficult as you fear it will be.  And I think that is why many people do hide from their creative side - fear.  Usually fear of failure.

I try and follow Seth Godin having read his excellent book, Linchpin.  His most recent project is The Domino Project which in itself has provided me with 3 more thought provoking kindle reads (all for free, check out how this is possible at their Web site).

Today they launched a 30 day initiative entitled Trust Yourself (#Trust30) based on the spirit within their last ebook launch, Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson.  Using their words: "It’s an opportunity to reflect on your now and create direction for your future."

That kind of sounds like why I started doing this a few months ago.  I needed reminding of that and this challenge has given me back that focus.  I've pledged on their Web site.  I might fail, hey, I might succeed but at very least I will have acted and that might well take me somewhere new.

Where will the next 30 days take you?

Checklists and OmniOutliner

A few weeks ago I talked about the use of checklists in the post Managing Standard Work and the use of them came to mind again yesterday with the release of OmniOutliner for iPad.

It occurred to me just how useful this new software is on the iPad.  Ignore its functionality, its integration with the desktop version and its simply great design that makes you want to pick it up and create something (any software that makes you want to work is great in my mind).

What struck me was that I now have the ability to have all my checklists with me at all times now with the 3G iPad.  Simply put all your checklists in an online folder using MobileMe iDisk or WebDAV and they are accessible to you wherever you are.

So next time you find yourself with some unexpected Standard Routine Work, no need to put it off, deal with it then knowing that you have the checklist at your fingertips to get it right first time.

Note: Although I am a huge fan of the Omni group and their products, I am not affiliated to them in any way.  I started using their products with OmniFocus, then the excellent OmniGraffle, OmniGraphSketcher and now OmniOutliner.  With their free trials and educational discounts on offer, its easy to give them a go.

Organising your work & OmniFocus

A few posts ago, I talked about the idea of organising your work in order to have clarity over what you need to do.  One such way is the simple paper and pen.  To be honest, I still revert back to that when I need to be free of distraction and get an idea, sketch, text or mind map out of my head and recorded somewhere.  Give me a yellow legal pad and pen and I'm happy.

On a side note, people always ask my why I use the more expensive yellow pads rather than cheaper white; its so that I can find my written notes amongst printed materials (which are practically always on white paper) when I'm working with hard copies. Call it a simple visual management system.

However when you need to organise this material, things get a little more complex and I really need a system to help me control it all. An online system gives one simple benefit; it's ability to edit the data within it and always show a 'clean' version. This is the downside of pen and paper, when you edit something, you can't clean up with original. A piece of paper fast becomes a clutter of ideas, scored out notes and modified sketches.

This clean data is what you want to see when you are in a position to act and do your work.

I use the excellent software programme OmniFocus (http://www.omnigroup.com/products/omnifocus) across my Mac, iPhone and iPad.  It allows you to filter it all down into your next actions organised into categories that are relevant to you, giving you the prompts to act in the right place at the right time.

And the other advantage of it being on the computer, it is transferrable between all of your devices.  If you are like me, the phone never leaves your side so you'll always have the data to hand.

So do yourself a favour, have a system and most importantly, use it.

Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.

Its not what you know, its who you know

A new take on the phrase "it's not what you know it's who you know".  It's who you know used to be about social classes, rich and poor, nowadays it is still about who you know rather than what you know.  The difference is that who you know is based on your networking and relationship building. It's about the opportunity you create and develop.

Furthermore, you can't know everything, it's what you know implies power and hold over others. That's not the way to work. You need others; you won't realise your full potential unless you engage with others and utilise them to reach the bigger goal.

And don't think this only works for teams. Think about the lone artist, the individual. Who is their muse, their support network, their encouragement and reminder of their goals?

Everyone needs someone else, figure out who you need to know and get to know them.

Please see my website at www.managingforthefirsttime.com for more techniques, tips and advice on this topic and others.