Ever worked late night and didn't want your client to know, because normally at this time you are sleeping (or whatever reason)? Why do I have to set an alarm at 9 am disrupting my sleep to send a simple email? Why isn't there a "send later" button in my email program?
Like "Productivity through avoidance", meaning instead of forcing yourself to do the one task you avoid, you embrace this avoidance to get other tasks done.
So why not instead of trying to avoid reactionary workflow, take control of the reactionary workflow? Let's say by automatic emails on which you react, you work on your tasks and use your reactionary nature to get things done.
Anyone has ideas or experience with this kind of productivity?
Why are there no more improvements? For example: I have many email accounts but tend to write to each person from a specific email account, so it bugs me every time I have to choose the account to send the email from, if I already send an email to this person, why can't the email client use the same account as last time? It's a simple lookup, but would make a great product!
Where else can email clients or other daily used software improve?
When I'm reading, I always stumble upon some little trick here or there that I want to try out someday. But often, after a short time, I forget the little trick and have never even tried it.
Today, I had an idea for a simple app to remind me to do stuff, but not in a "to-do list" kind of way. What's wrong with "to do"? Basically, "try this trick out" on a to-do list is not necessarily a top priority and doesn't get done.
I would say I've stolen from a friend of mine, role-playing games, and the game "Anno 1404," and I really like the idea. The app is pretty simple. It turns your "someday" list into a game. Every now and then, it will ask you if you want to accomplish a quest in a specific timeframe. Example:
I need your help in this matter.
[Some funny matter]
You need to:
- Turn of IM for a whole day.
Can you solve this Quest for me?
Reward: 65 Experience Points.
If you accept, you have a quest to solve within x days.
I can imagine that this way of solving quests would actually make me do some of the things I want to try out and make a habit. There are several points as to why I think this could work.
For one, I once read that people are more likely to do a favor for someone when they get a reason (and it doesn't have to be a good reason). It might even work from an imaginary computer questmaster.
Because it's a game, it might have enough excitement that your subconscious remembers to act on the quest in the right moment. I often find myself going to bed thinking "OK, today I had a great oppurtunity to drink two liters of water, but I didn't."
After all it's not a "to-do." It's nothing I have to do. So if I have a busy schedule, no problem. If I can't do it, my biggest penalty is that I might not get my experience points. Still, I can imagine that my 65 experience points and a "good job!" is enough motivation to do it anyway.
There is more to it, but I'll keep it short. I think this could really work. I will dig deeper into this concept.
In order to answer that, only one question matters: Am I losing money keeping this service running? Because If I am, then sooner or later I have to shut the service down.
Easy math:
profits/month - costs/month = net profit or burn rate/month
Savings/burn rate = months left alive
As I am not able to keep a service running when I lose money on it, there is only one way for me to ensure I can keep my products running: I cut costs to the essential.
For example:
I use a webserver that is being paid for by other projects, as new services have no (or just a few) customers. I can run the service on a server I already use, which can easily handle the few additional pageviews. So I have a very powerful webserver that is financed through other projects--perfect. Savings: $530+/month.
Another big saver is the payment gateway. I use PayPal, which saves me at least $150/month. I will use a better system when it makes financial sense, but why risk shutting down a service just to look more professional? Customers who like my service will go through PayPal, but they won't pay for a lousy product just because I have a nice payment gateway.
Next, third-party software. There are a lot of software suites out there that I would like to use, like a nice support system, for instance. But these services are not essential. Again, nobody will use my service because I use insert-fancy-support-system-name-here; they use my service because of the service itself. So again, these are costs that can be cut. Also, I use services that charge by usage, so no customers means no cost. The savings here: $20+/month/project/software suite.
To keep it short, I cut unnecessary costs and subfinance every necessary cost. What I am left with is the great feeling that I can guarantee that my services will be available in two years (and even longer), regardless of whether I have thousands, ten, or no customers.
Two weeks ago I did it. I bought my first e-book on Kindle and it was amazing! I know I might be late in the game, but I'm so impressed from the experience that I have to share this.
I read many books. I have five books lying around waiting to get read and, as you can imagine, they take up a lot of space. When the Kindle first came out I was thinking of buying one. But it wasn't available in Germany then.
Two weeks ago I discovered Kindle for iPhone (and Mac).
I downloaded it, got the new Seth Godin book 'Linchpin'. Seconds later I was actually reading it! One click and there it is.
The whole experience is truly 'Apple-like'. Pure. To the point. No distractions. You want a book? Go to Amazon. Click on it. And you have it. That's great.
After two weeks using and reading on my iPhone I am still in love. Why?
First, it only takes seconds. Amazon made a good job of selling paper books. Most of them get delivered in one or two days for free (at least in Germany). But now it takes just seconds. How cool is that?
Second, it takes no extra space. If I have one or one thousand books, it doesn't matter. It takes the same amount of space. And since I have my iPhone pretty much everywhere I go, it means that I have all my books with me everywhere I go. All my books in my pocket - that's amazing!
Third, you can actually work with the books in a more efficient way. A bookmark here. A note there. A highlight on this and that page. And when you are done you see all your bookmarks in a list. No searching for the right page or carrying a marker with you all the time.
And last, but not least, as far as I know it's greener. I've read that it takes 34 kg CO2 to have a book produced, printed and get it into your hands. That's the equivalent of driving 105 miles for every book in your bookshelf (if the car emits 200 g CO2/km - many emit less). I think that's pretty cool too, and it makes my experience even better.
