February 3, 2008 – 12:06 pm
How do you find high performance in your work life without burning out? That’s what I’ve been wondering after I crashed at the end of last year. After two months of nonstop work and work-related worry, I couldn’t continue. So I arranged to take a mini-sabbatical.
I first needed immediate stress relief, but I also wanted […]
January 15, 2008 – 8:03 am
I’ve arranged a mini-sabbatical for myself. I’ve stepped back from GigaOM writing and will be writing for Web Worker Daily on a less frequent schedule than I had been.
At the end of December, I was sick and tired, partially from viruses my girls brought home from school but mostly from stress. I needed to make […]
January 9, 2008 – 5:55 pm
I got Write It Down, Make It Happen from the library after seeing it linked in Penelope Trunk’s totally on-fire blog. Author Henriette Anne Klauser references a ritual that simplicity maven Elaine St. James uses to define what she does and doesn’t want in her life. It involves arrows (actually, in St. James’ case, pencils) […]
January 2, 2008 – 11:56 am
For me, 2007 was an experience in living at the border. I tried out industry analysthood web-style with RedMonk (thanks James, Steve, and Cote’). I worked as the editor of Web Worker Daily soon after it launched. I wrote a book about how the web changes work even as I experienced that radical change in […]
December 27, 2007 – 4:45 pm
So I didn’t do any. I aimed to. I started to. I tried to. But I can’t turn myself into a cranking-widgets-style blogger, producing diggable articles on demand, much as I want to. If I’m not inspired, I can’t write. Lame, lame, lame.
I hate that I’ve lost my beginner’s mind. I hate my jadedness and […]
September 24, 2007 – 5:02 pm
I’m wrapping up the manuscript for Connect!, Web Worker Daily’s Guide to a New Way of Working. The manuscript will be done by Friday — at least ready for production and copy editing — and so I’m transitioning over into the promotion phase. I know this phase will likely be as or more difficult than […]
September 16, 2007 – 4:48 pm
Perhaps the most important tool you have for keeping your relationships in good shape is positive flooding. You need to keep the bulk of interactions with those you care about positive; in fact, you probably need far more positive interactions than you think. There’s even research showing what ratio of positive to negative interactions you […]
September 9, 2007 – 4:33 pm
I don’t find most productivity or organizational schemes useful. I’m too spontaneous to collect everything, review regularly, and religiously chart my goals and plans. I work on waves of inspiration and procrastination.
One thing I do find useful is to keep a very loose list of projects I’m working on at a given point in time […]
August 15, 2007 – 8:15 am
Today I’m thinking about this excerpt from Frances Mayes’ Bella Tuscany:
I feel as well a growing distrust of spending too much of one’s life deifying work. Finding that running balance among ambition, solitude, stimulation, adventure — how to do this? …
The last few years have pulled me too much in the exterior direction. After devoting […]
August 13, 2007 – 6:22 pm
It’s almost September: school supplies, fall clothes, old friends, class schedules. I love the motion after summer’s pause. I love the thrill of new projects and the renewed energy for old ones. I love the return to making work seriously fun instead of taking vacations that are seriously fun.
In celebration, I bought a notebook today. […]
