Okay.

I’ve been on this whole ‘work on yourself’ thing the last few years.

It’s why I started to work on the productivity book as a way to challenge myself(you can find, track and follow the evolution of the book in the “Getting Stuff Done” and “Workbooks & Tools” area in the A Better Life area.

I have ADD issues, like many people.  I’ll write about them here someday.  Being wired to the internet as a vocation since 1994, there’s no question that it’s done some re-wiring in my brain.  Not one iota of doubt.

No whining there.  It just…is.  I’m cool and non-judgmental with the part of it being me and have figured out how to use not only to my benefit but as a leverage to be a more efficient, effective father, businessman and friend. (But it’s been brutal, tough, insanely struggle-filled work)

Like I said. I’ll write about that down the line.

Anyway, it’s just one of many trade-offs that come with making a living on the internet for almost 20 years. (Sidebar:  there’s a very interesting book that I read earlier in the year on this subject – it’s called “The Shallows: What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains” – Amazon link here)

So there’s lots of sites and free resources I’ve encountered over the years.  I’ll be sharing them here in RESOURCES in the A Better Life area at PGH.   I will not send you anywhere that are affiliate sites, so you know, either.

What’s an ‘affiliate site’?  That’s where, if you go a site with a special link(usually, hidden or unknown to you) – and you buy something, you get a commission on the sale.   People making livings off recommending products all over the internet doing this.   It’s a suspect process I want no part of.  If I do, I would make it very clear to you.

Okay, I’m rambling.  The Point:  I’m not pushing the idea of buying stuff here.  I want to go stealth ‘n free with what I talk about in A Better Life, as a general rule.

Free is good.  Not always great.  There are trade-offs.  Like Pop Geek Heaven is free, right?  But, I will encourage to help support being free by pondering the idea of buying some thing at the PGH Store down the line to help keep it that way.

What was I saying about my ADD?!?  😛

Sometimes, I may recommend something – and, when I do, it will be only something I bought with my own money and I’ve found it to work, in a practical, everyday manner applicable to regular folks like us.

I’ll link up to practical, GOOD – and short articles here, too.  Ones you can go to, print out(if you don’t like to read on your computer screen like me), read at your leisure….and ponder upon.

Sorry, I’m not a tree hugger despite living in Colorado.  I love paper. I love things to hold, touch.

(Like…VINYL LPs!)

================================

Soooo..that’s out of the way.  Here’s Post #1 for you all.  I’ll update this every week or so, as well.  But I think I’ll do a few of these in the coming week.

MIND MAPPING:

What it ‘mind mapping’:  A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, idea,  tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea.  It’s great for ‘brainstorming’.  I think visually and am very right-brain oriented.  Mind Mapping helps me get complex(or not-so-complex) idea cleaned out of the nebulous cloud inside my head – and into visual form so I can make sense on them and then get ‘stuff’ done.

There are commercial products up the gazoo that you can buy.  The most popular one is MindJet, which I own and use.  It’s on Mac and Windows and it’s the standard and best.  That link will allow you to free trial, kick the tires and get more info on the concept.

NO NEED TO BUY, though!   There are totally free resources that will do the basics for you just fine.  Perfectly fine!

The best of them are:

Bubbl.us – HERE

Mindmeister – HERE

There are many others but, trust me, these are the two best free ones. I’ve used them and they are quick, easy and you can get going on exploring the concept of mind-mapping right away.  Myh personal preference of the two excellent ones here is Mindmeister.

================================

Productive Magazine – HERE

A free PDF magazine that’s pure quality.  It’s available on the IPad, too.  They’ve done 9 issues so far, usually around 25 pages.  Totally professionally done.  Will spark your mind and challenge some of your thinking – affirm other hard-wired though processes. If you’re a reader, download them all and scan the articles that are best for you.

Do NOT read everything in each one.  That is KEY.  You’ll be wasting time. Focus on 2 or 3 articles only and save the time that you’d be tempted to reading it all for other activities.

They have cool, interesting video interviews with people that are their cover stars of each issue.

Accidental Creative – HERE

Lateral Action – HERE

Two really good sites that have a lot of excellent free information I’ve found continually useful recently.  Both of them books that site owners have written and you buy, along with related programs.

Again, no need to buy anything here but plenty that many of you will find useful, helpful, practical and interesting.  Both have a right-brain orientation with their audiences but for you engineer, code monkey and accountant types – keep an open mind.  Worth checking out.

Both talk a lot about the idea of taking your thinking about a problem and looking at things from a more dimensional manner.  Why?    In these challenging times, no matter what kind of industry work or job ou have, we must compel ourselves to try more unique and novel approaches to problem-solving to add value to our employers or business that we work on.

For Lateral Action:

Free stuff is – HERE

Great free articles can be found on the left side of the main site.

Accidental Creative:

Excellent Podcasts – HERE

Articles – HERE

================================

Okay, don’t want this to get too long.

TO DO LIST RESOURCE

Keep And Share – HERE

This site has other free resources on it but I recommend this TO DO list option for many.  I don’t use this because I’m a manual, paper kind of guy and I’ve created my own, custom solution for the “To Do” Monster.  In fact, I’ve working on a full-blown system for right-brain creative types.  Ill talk about here and share one of most helpful parts of it here for you all(for free- yeah!).

This one, though, works for a lot of left-brain oriented people and I know people use it and love it.  Check it out – HERE

You have to sign up for a free account, though…but it is free.

================================

FILE-SHARING

We sometimes have to send large, large files to people, even when they are compressed and zipped up.  Music fans do this a lot.

Obviously.

We’re always encountering  band that blows us away or has uniquely impressed us to have grabbed our attention to motivated us to open a new email to buzz a friend on them.

Then..they don’t get the file.  Their service provider blocks it because it’s too large.  These companies are not interested in hosting your big ‘ole files.

Plus, it’s a headache – sometimes the file uploading ‘fails’.

Bookmark this site.  Right now.

WeTransfer – HERE

Freaking genius. So easy.  Why? Go there, you’ll see.  NOTHING you have to do.  When you have to tell your 83 year old father to send you an important file he has and he’s still clueless about how this new-fangled box works, you can send him here and he can figure it out.

Many of your artists are going, well, what about YouSendIt.  This site was the main one many of us used for years.  It’s really wonderful, too.  Just has more steps attached to their process is all.

Which is why I love, love, love WeTransfer.

In and out – back to work.

================================

Finally, a quick article I came across a few weeks ago that I really liked.  It talks about the idea of ‘delayed gratification’ and the when you delay what you want, you’ll encounter the realization that you need less of what you thought you did.

Or that you didn’t need it at all.

It’s good discussion to engage in, at various times.   Check out the article – HERE

It’s a pretty good blog to check out, every now and then, as well.

Okay, folks.  It’s Saturday morning here in the Brodeen household in Colorado.  I’ve got to begin the the shuttling of kids here, there and a bit of everywhere around Ft. Collins for the rest of the day.

I do this and let me wife take care of other things the rest of the day, guess what?  I’ll be able to slip away with no stress or worries and watch my New England Patriots play some football!

Trust me, I’m no all-work, no play kinda guy!  ;-P

But do get some good stuff done this weekend so it carries into Monday!

Bruce