Thought of the Day - Christmas Business Book Reviews

Well i succeeded in my goal of reading 5 books during my 11 day Christmas holiday, 6 in fact, if you count one i read just for fun. So i thought i would do a quick roundup of what i read, some i have already posted 'book notes' on and some will require a second reading before i can do that. So without further ado:

Plugged In by Tamara Erickson [2008]
A book on how to find the right job and succeed in work as part of Generation Y (born 1980 - 2000).
My Thoughts: An interesting book with some very good observations and useful generalisations. Though it did lack some of the more specific strategies i was hoping it would provide. It would be a great book to read if you were leaving college and looking for a job. I found it interesting that in most respects i am Generation Y but i have some Generation X tendencies.
*** 3 out of 5

Personal Development For Smart People by Steve Pavlina [2008]
A guide on personal development using a logical framework.
My Thoughts: I started reading Steve's blog 3 years ago on a recommendation from a friend. I was initially drawn in by the inspirational articles, which unlike most other personal development sites had a slant towards the rational and geeky. Unfortunately as he has developed over the years, he has moved towards a more new-age viewpoint and this book is heavily influenced by that direction. Don't get me wrong there were some interesting ideas in it, however i had read most of them in his blog prior to the book.
** 2 out of 5

The Back Of The Napkin by Dan Roam [2008]
A book on the power of using simple drawings and visual communication.
My Thoughts: An interesting book, particularly if you have never done; art, graphic communication, presentation skills or six sigma training. Unfortunately i have done all of the above, which means most of the book was a refresher course. I have always been a very visual person and this reinforced my view that if something needs explained a picture is a good way to do it. Where i did find it particularly useful was in explaining why visual communication is powerful and providing a framework for visual problem solving.
**** 4 out of 5

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell [2008]
A book looking into difference between the myths of success and actual causes of people who are exceptionally successful.
My Thoughts: As with Malcolm Gladwell's previous books (The Tipping Point and Blink) Outliers is a very compelling and easy read. Unlike its predecessors, it has some interesting social commentary highlighting ways that the current system can be improved for the betterment of society. It is also one of those books that i suspect may have a profound bearing on how i live my life going forwards.
***** 5 out of 5

Pro Blogger by Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett [2008]
A book on how to successfully make a living from blogging.
My Thoughts: An interesting read, though i didn't really learn anything that i didn't already know. It would be much more useful for non-technical individuals that have read, but never written, a blog. A lot of the advice is common sense, the remainder is available online and can be found relatively easily. Where the book does succeed is putting structure to that advice, which can be used a checklist if you plan to start a blog with aspirations of making money from it.
*** 3 out of 5


Something i hadn't noticed until i wrote this down is that all of the books i read were published in 2008. Random given that i didn't set out to do that and have many unread books that were published earlier.

Book Notes - The Back Of The Napkin

The Back Of The Napkin by Dan Roam [2008]

Summary:
A book promoting the use of pictures and diagrams as a communication medium. It outlines why visual communication is effective and how to make your visual communications more effective. It contains a framework for selecting the most appropriate diagrams for certain situations as well as a framework for problem solving.

Notes:
Page 4: Reminder, develop an 'elevator pitch' for every project or idea.
Page 15: Six Problem Clumps:
1) Who/What
2) How Much/Many
3) When
4) Where
5) How
6) Why
Page 37: Process Of Visual Thinking:
1) Look - Collecting and screening
2) See - Selecting and clumping
3) Imagine - Seeing what isn't there
4) Show - Making it all clear
Page 57: Rules For Better Looking:
1) Collect everything you can
2) Lay it all out where you can look at it (literally lay it out)
3) Establish fundamental coordinates (use; Who/What, How Much/Many, When, Where, Why, How, as axes)
4) Practice visual triage
Page 72: Common Precognitive Visual Attributes:
1) Proximity - close things are related
2) Colour - hints at groupings
3) Size
4) Orientation - perpendicular angles are best
5) Direction - perceived movement (arrows etc)
6) Shape
7) Shading
Page 84: How = Who + How Much/Many + Where + When
Page 94: You can use the 6w's in order to Show as well as See.
Page 107: SQVID Visualisation breakdown:
1) Simple Vs Elaborate
2) Quality Vs Quantity
3) Vision Vs Execution
4) Individual Attributes Vs Comparison
5) Delta (change) Vs Status Quo
Page 108: You can either progressively go through all of the SQVID steps (idea focusing) or you can work out what balance of each extreme is the most important for the audience (audience focusing).
Page 131: The Three Steps of Showing:
1) Select the right framework
2) Use the framework to create the picture
3) Explain the picture to someone else
Page 134: The links between seeing and showing:
1) Who/What - Picture/Portrait
2) How Much/Many - Chart
3) Where - Map
4) When - Timeline
5) How - Flow Chart
6) Why - Multivari Plot
Page 141: Diagram linking the ways of showing with SQVID.

Quotes:
Page 13: "Any problem can be made clearer with a picture, and any picture can be created with the same set of tools and rules."
Page 133: "For each of the six ways of seeing there is one corresponding way of showing. For each one of these six ways of showing, there is a single visual framework that serves as a starting point."

Thought of the Day - Theory X Vs Theory Y

In management there are two theories of employee motivation; Theory X posits that employees don't like work, will avoid it where possible and must be driven to it. Theory Y on the other hand is based on the assumption that work can be satisfying and employees will be self-motivated to work. While it initially appears that these theories are all to do with employees internal motivation, it has also been suggested that whether a boss manages to Theory X or Theory Y determines how the employees behave. I tend to subscribe to the latter idea, if you manage your employees as if they will do everything in their power to avoid work that is how they will behave. If on the other hand you manage your employees by giving them responsibility and trusting them that is how they will behave.

It is interesting to see how people behave when managers aren't around, while not being able to control for things like; workload, task allocation and clarity of goals, how employees behave in a management vacuum should indicate whether the culture of a company is Theory X or Y. If the employees have a; "while they cat's away" attitude and avoid work you can safely guess that there is a Theory X culture. If on the other hand the employees treat it as; "business as usual" and work as they would if the manager was there you can assume it is a Theory Y workplace.

This is another reason that i think ROWE (Results Only Work Environment) is the way forward. Under that culture it doesn't matter where the manager (or infact the employee) physically is, there is work to be done and it either gets done or it doesn't. People won't come into the office just to show up, they aren't just there to look busy while the manager is there and slack off when he/she isn't. In ROWE on the other hand there are specific tasks that get done, the manager can monitor them in or out of the office, the employee can complete them in or out of the office.

In the end, i think seeing how employees behave when they aren't around is an interesting insight that most managers are unlikely to see. Unless of course they resort to spying, in which case it would be safe to assume they are Theory X.

Thought of the Day - Career In Reverse

I just had an epiphany, my career so far has been in reverse. Not reverse in the normal meaning; going backwards in terms of money or responsibility, but reverse in the progression of job titles.

For most people: Engineering Degree > Mechanical Engineer > Process Improvement Specialist > Leadership Development Program > Project Manager, would be a logical progression of jobs. And yet somehow i have gone in completely the opposite direction. I don't know whether this is a bad thing or a good thing or in fact what it means, it just struck me as an interesting observation.

I suppose my next job either needs to be an internship or back to university ...

Thought of the Day - Complex Decision Making

I just read an article in the 'Boss' supplement from The Australian Financial Review which was a reprint from the Harvard Business Review (June 2006). It concerns something that i have given a fair amount of thought to but never really considered from this angle; how to get a group to decide between many options.

In the past i have largely focused on tools like; the Pugh Matrix, Analytic Hierarchy Process, Impact-Effort Matrix and simple voting. While these techniques result in a decision, what i failed to consider is that just because an option is selected doesn't mean that there is broad agreement with the decision. The article focused on the CEO/Leader as a deadlock breaker and the negative aspect that they become a 'dictator by default' and while i suspect that is a frequent occurrence, the problem is equally valid in groups of peers.

The crux of the problem is summed up in this quote; "majority wishes can clash when a group of three or more people attempt to set priorities among three or more items ... different subsets of the group can generate conflicting majorities for all possible alternatives". E.g. Persons 1 and 2 agree on option A but persons 2 and 3 also agree on option C, by selecting option A you satisfy 1 and 2 but C would have been an equally valid choice as you satisfy 2 and 3.

Once you accept that point, it suggests that it is impossible to resolve this conflict. However this assumes that there are only fixed options, the article advises that you carry out the following steps to come to a better solution:
1) Articulate clearly what outcome you are seeking - Classic problem solving, you can't solve a problem until there is a common understanding of what the problem is.
2) Provide a range of options for achieving the outcome - Again classic problem solving, brainstorm as many solutions as possible.
3) Surface preferences early - There is no point wasting time on options that no-one has any interest in, by eliminating them you don't waste time on pointless debate. This step can be done through voting, possibly weighted, or other techniques.
4) State each option's pros and cons - See the good and bad on both sides, in the article it is recommended for someone to present the pros and another person to present the cons, one may have to play devils advocate.
5) Devise new options with the best features of existing ones - Again classic problem solving technique, synthesize new options by combing the best parts of old ones.

While these steps don't solve the decision making dilemma they will help. I think most important of all is to acknowledge that this problem exists, preferably within the group making the decision, so that you know the pitfalls while you are making the choice.

Book Notes - The Adventures of Johnny Bunko

The Adventures of Johnny Bunko by Daniel Pink [2008]

Summary:

1) There is no plan
There are two types of decision; instrumental and fundamental. You make a decision for instrumental reasons if you are prepared to put up with the present because you think it will lead somewhere. You make a decision for fundamental reasons when your not sure where it will lead but it seems interesting. The former rarely work out and the latter may not get you where you thought you wanted to go but normally lead somewhere interesting.

2) Think strengths, not weaknesses
Steer around your weaknesses and focus on your strengths. You will be more motivated, more enthusiastic and more successful if you do what you are good at.
See: Now Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham

3) Its not about you
Focus your energy outward not inward. Unless you are a starving artist it isn't about what you want, you have a client, a customer or someone else who you need to satisfy so apply your strengths to that.

4) Persistence trumps talent
"The people who achieve the most are often the ones who stick with it when others don't"
You need to show up, practice, practice and practice some more, perfect your art whether that art be painting, music or engineering. Talent only gets you so far, sticking with it and persisting make you successful.

5) Make excellent mistakes
If you aren't making mistakes you aren't trying hard enough. Make mistakes for the right reasons, pushing the boundaries, trying something new, trying to make a difference. If it does all blow up then you need to learn from those mistakes so you don't make the same mistake again. Try to: "Make a mistake from which the benefits of what you've learned exceed the costs of the screwup."

6) Leave an imprint
Try to make a difference, leave things better than they were and be proud of what you do.


Quotes:
"Is this mind-numbingly repetitive? or repetitive mind-numbing?"

Thought of the Day - Online To Do List Roundup

A while back i blogged about my love of To Do Lists and at the time i was enamoured with Ta-da Lists by 37 Signals. While it is beautifully simple and totally fulfils their vision of; "competing with a Post-It note", i started to yearn for something with more control and flexibility. So over the last couple of months i have been moving between various webapps for capturing To Do's. I don't think i have yet found the ideal webapp (and it might not exist) but i thought i would share my experience with each of the sites so hopefully other people can find the perfect To Do List for them.

Ta-da Lists
Despite my quest to find the perfect mix of features, i still use this on a fairly regular basis, its great for short ad hoc lists and capturing things to be done quickly. I even sometimes transfer To Do's from other sites into this for the satisfaction of ticking them. Superb for short ad hoc lists, not so good for more complicated projects.
Pro's: Beautifully simple, replaces Post It notes, quick and intuitive to use, satisfying animation when tasks are complete.
Con's: Can't arrange your high level lists, no support for rearranging tasks between lists, not hierarchical, does not support; tagging, reminders, due dates, searching.

Remember The Milk
So from Ta-da Lists i briefly moved on to Remember The Milk after reading a great article on how to use RTM with Getting Things Done. It has support for tagging, reminders, multiple categories of lists and even setting locations with google maps. I think in principle it could be great but i find there are some interfaces niggles that annoy me.
Pro's: Very clean looking interface, works offline with google gears, support for; tagging, reminders, due dates, prioritisation and reordering of tasks, physical locations for tasks.
Con's: Can't reorder your high level lists, not hierarchical, interface doesn't quite work for me (rollovers don't stick), clicking anywhere on a task marks it as complete, slightly silly name.

Treedolist
I had a few annoyances with the user interface of RTM and it didn't offer what i really wanted; a hierarchical task list. I worked in project management for a bit so i like the idea of having subtasks that all contribute to a high level task and i hadn't found that in any of the other webapps. While it is possible to do this in Ta-da and RTM it is only to one level i.e. you have a list composed of tasks, but you can't have subtasks within each task. A google search for "hierarchical to do list" lead me Treedolist which is specifically designed to be hierarchical (like a tree).
Pro's: Hierarchical, intelligent search bar, support for; notes, links, due dates, virtual tagging (if combined with search), changing font sizes.
Con's: Visually it is rather ugly, the interface is quite clunky (old fashioned and unintuitive), you can't reorder tasks other than to the top of the list or to become subtasks, there are some inconsistencies with keyboard shortcuts and actions (sometimes they work sometimes they don't).

Backpack
I had looked at Backpack a while back but i dismissed it as some sorta weird replacement for a company intranet, but after reading Getting Real (great book - notes to follow) it seemed like it might do what i wanted too. Overall there are a raft of features that i have no need for (newsroom, writeboard, journal etc) but the Pages (and if i paid for it, the Calendar too) are excellent. The Pages in particular are really flexible, not only can you have multiple lists on each page, you can split them with dividers, add notes sections and even writeboards. Alas you are limited to 5 pages on the free account which is workable but not ideal.
Pro's: Great interface, easy to move tasks between pages/lists, best visual layout method i've seen (lists, dividers, notes, writeboards etc), the same satisfying animation as TaDa Lists when you complete a task.
Con's: Can't reorder pages (only alphabetically), very limited number of pages on free account, no support for; due dates, task level tagging, assigning notes/links to individual tasks.

Todoist
I literally just stumbled on this tool while writing this post during random googling for links and it seems to be just what i'm looking for. If it works out i will do a longer review of it later, but here are some initial observations.
Pro's: Great interface, hierarchical tasks AND projects, ability to reorder tasks and projects, due dates, multiple projects, easy to move tasks within lists and between projects, prioritisation/reordering of projects.
Con's: Slightly strange query system (it might search?), the page is too wide for my 7" EEE, i haven't used it in anger yet.

Some other resources:
Top 10 Web To Do Lists
LifeHacker Poll Of Top 10 Web To Do Lists
LifeHacker To Do List Tips
Information on the 'Getting Things Done' System

I should start a new trend; Blogging As A Problem Solving Tool, by researching and writing about your problem you may find a solution to it. Alas i have been here before, i think all of the above To Do Lists have seemed like the answer to my prayers at one stage or another and after extended use i have found little annoying niggles with them. So hopefully Todoist will work as well as it seems to, but time will tell.

Thought of the Day - Heat

I have come to the conclusion that must have been an Inuit in a past life. I love the cold too much and hate the heat. Anything over 20C and i start to get uncomfortable and i would much rather be too cold than too hot. It is currently 28.8C in my flat and it is uncomfortable just sitting still and yet i know people who's idea of bliss is temperatures like this and hotter. You would think coming from a cold and wet area (Scotland) that i would be looking for heat, infact i would rather live somewhere even colder.

Alas what with global warming, i suspect there are few places that would be consistently cold enough for my tastes ... short of Antarctica.

Thought of the Day - Traffic Management Idea

Last week i was sitting waiting in a traffic jam caused by road works and it occurred to me that traffic management is not run in the most efficient way.

If you consider the bottleneck in the process to be the physical bottleneck in the road and the number of vehicles passing as throughput, then it is clear that the bottleneck is grossly underutilised. As the traffic is running in opposite directions, it is clear that the bottleneck can never be fully exploited as you must wait for the last car in one direction before you can move in the opposite direction. However i think there are still significant improvements that could be made.

Firstly as soon as the last car clears the obstruction in one direction the next car should be moving in the opposite direction. Secondly the speed of the cars should be maximized past the obstruction to increase throughput. Finally the time taken for the cars to move off when the light goes green should be minimised.


So what might my traffic management system look like? I would set the lights back from the obstruction by the same length as the obstruction and have the lights change in the reverse direction based on when the last car leaves in the forward direction. This would allow the cars moving in the reverse direction to move off and get up to speed before the obstruction maximising throughput and minimising wasted time. This eliminates the lag in the system for the cars to move off, it also maximises speed through the obstruction meaning the bottleneck is maximally exploited.

There are 3 issues i can see with this system:
The first is if you get a boy racer at the start of the second set of traffic who screams past the lights and then has to jam on the brakes to avoid the oncoming traffic. This would disrupt the traffic behind and impair the throughput.
The second is if you had a very slow vehicle (crane, lorry or little old lady) they would act as a further bottleneck that would reduce the throughput. Unfortunately almost every traffic management system would retain this problem and by giving the vehicle time to accelerate before the obstruction the problem is minimised.
The final problem is that you cannot always see the full length of the obstruction, in this instance if there was a very slow vehicle passing the obstruction the two traffic flows could meet in the middle and come to a stalemate causing chaos. Unfortunately it is not possible to have good visibility on all roadworks so this may limit the locations where this system could be applied. It would also be possible to have an 'emergency stop' sign just prior to the obstruction to prevent this from happening if all of the traffic had not cleared the obstruction.

All of the above issues could be somewhat mitigated through public eduction either via signs or media sources and completely removed if you introduced two convoy vehicles to pace and control the traffic. While the latter option would greatly increase the cost of traffic management it could be used in high profile or high volume situations where throughput was critical.


While i'm sure every motorist would love spending less time in traffic jams and technically they are the end customer. In reality they don't control the cheque books and the cost of the additional equipment might discourage companies from using it. After all the because the motorists aren't paying, best case is that the company gets less complaints. But as with the Heroes Vs Planners debate they are unlikely to get positive feedback, there will still be a delay and the motorist won't know how bad the delay could have been if the system was not used.

Thought of the Day - Injinji Socks

I love my Injinji socks, sure they may have worked out being the most expensive socks ever, after shipping and import duty (don't ask how much they cost me per pair) but damn they are good.

Not only do they work perfectly with my Five Fingers but they are also really comfortable with my other shoes too. My feet definitely feel cooler in them (great in the summer but might not be ideal in the winter) and my circulation seems better (my feet used to get numb if my laces were too tight) so all in all a good investment.

Now my only worry is how to get more, 5 pairs is fine in my current circumstances but i will need more if i go on holiday or things change. I just have to hope they get a UK supplier soon ... or go on holiday somewhere i can buy them.

30 Day Trial - Minimalism Of Posessions - Day 11 - The End

Alas it would appear my first 30-Day Trial has failed miserably.

While i did make a post saying timing would never be perfect it has been the opposite of that so far. I think i need to postpone the trial, failure is not a bad thing as long as you learn from it. In this case i have learned not to start a trial while feeling a bit down and with a wedding to go to within the first week.

I will come back to it when i have suitable motivation, this might be internal or external, but it is definitely still something i want to do.

Thought of the Day - Economics Books

I was at the airport last Friday and i noticed in the business section there were a glut of new economics books which i would suggest are probably a result of the success of Freakonomics. Whether these are new books written because of Freakonomics or whether they are old and have just been made more popular by the success of Freakonomics i'm not sure.

Within these books there seemed to be 3 distinct categories:
1 – Economics can predict the future well – I did have an example however i can't remember the title or author, just that the cover was orange.
2 – Economics can explain the past (in an interesting way) – Freakonomics by Stephen J Dubner or The Economic Naturalist by Robert H Frank
3 – Economics can't predict anything well – Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

To be honest i am rather cynical about the first group, they argue that if you have a good enough model and enough computing power you can predict anything. I would argue that there is far to much randomness to come up with anything better than a guess. The only situation where these models are likely to be accurate are when they are self-fulfilling prophecies; i.e. the models predict a recession, the economists preach a recession, so sure enough there is a recession when there might not have been one otherwise.

For the second group, just about anyone can explain things retroactively, but i will admit that economists do have some interesting explanations.

The third group on the other hand have a lot of valid points, no matter how good the model is you can never be certain. We live in a Quantum not Newtonian world, everything in life is probabilities.

Thought of the Day - Mismatch Problems

Anyone who has felt like they had to jump through pointless hoops at an assessment centre for a job (i would imagine just about everyone these days), can now rest assured that they are infact a complete waste of time. At least according to best selling author Malcolm Gladwell.

In the video of a presentation he made, he argues that most assessments used to determine peoples suitability for jobs are fundamentally flawed. That the entry to careers ranging from ice hockey player to lawyer, are based on tests that have no bearing on actual ability to perform the duties of a job. Moreover he argues that they only thing that indicates if someone will perform well at a job is if they actually do the job.

I suppose the question is how can you tell if someone can do a job without incurring large costs in terms of time or money?

The mismatch problem is only a concern to you and me if people believe that tests and interview questions are doing anything more than weeding out the blatantly unsuitable candidates. And more to the point, accept that the candidates that do well at the tests may be useless at the job.

Idea From: http://www.newyorker.com/online/video/conference/2008/gladwell

Thought of the Day - Vibram Five Fingers at 2 Months

Well it has been 2 months since i started wearing my Vibram Five Fingers and as mentioned in my previous posts both the theory and practice of wearing them has proved sound. So i thought i would do a bit of a roundup of observations so far:

1) They are really really comfortable.
The biggest leap of faith for most people is understanding that padding is not comfort. Almost everyone i talk to about them asks if it is sore walking on tarmac and concrete because they are hard, or rough pointy stones.
I will tackle hard surfaces first because they are what i walk on 90% of the time. Once you modify your walking style (which happens naturally) you land more softly on your feet and therefore they hurt much less than in padded shoes. Even standing on concrete all day (when i am delivering training) doesn't bother me anymore. With trainers or shoes my feet would get sore after a couple of hours, now i barely notice it at all. Pointy stones are a different matter, i grant you i don't have a huge amount of experience at the moment, but from what i have there are two things to keep in mind. Pointy stones are uncomfortable, but it is only discomfort and it does not linger. Also because there is less padding between your feet and the ground you have more of a tactile sense of it and are therefore more careful where you put your feet.
I would recommend Vibram Five Fingers or Vivo Barefoot shoes unreservedly to anyone who experiences discomfort in their feet.

2) Be prepared for questions.
You would think that having five separated toes (just like your feet) wouldn't cause much of a stir. But everyone is so used to traditional shoes that people are genuinely surprised when they realise you are wearing shoes and they have separate toes. The inital shock (and occasional laughter) is quickly followed by a barrage of questions from; what is the deal with those shoes? to why are you wearing them? to do you wear them inside regular shoes? to what happens if you walk on broken glass? Personally having put a lot of thought into it i really don't mind answering questions but if you are shy or bothered by people being strangely interested in your feet, these shoes may not be for you.
The black Classics i have are a blessing and a curse; the blessing is that they are less obvious, in peripheral vision they are just a black shoe, however when people do notice them they look like gorilla feet ;-)

3) Socks
After a period of time you can see a realisation dawning on the persons face and they ask the final question; "hey wait a minute, don't you have to have special socks for those?". The answer is yes you do, mine are from a company called Injinji. I suspect i spent more on 5 pairs of these socks than i have on socks in my previous 26 years. They are expensive to start with, i then had to pay the same price again for shipping 5 pairs from the states and the same price again in import duty. But they are essential, firstly because without socks the Classics look like ladies pumps, second they add a bit of warmth, third they are great with other shoes too and finally (see the next point) they prevent blisters. My biggest concern with the socks is that they already seem to be wearing after around a month of light daily use and at the price i paid that is not a good sign.

4) Blisters
The only problem i have had so far with the shoes was some blisters at the front of my foot when walking downhill without socks. It is a bit strange and may be because my Classics are a little on the large side but unfortunately the blisters were really painful and in an awkward position i have a habit of standing on.

5) Workwear

In my current job i can wear the Five Fingers most of the time (occasionally i need to wear steel toed shoes), however in an office that is a bit more formal they might not be suitable. So if i moved jobs i guess i would need to look at something a bit more normal but still close to barefoot like Terra Plana Mercury or Vivo Barefoot Aqua Sport.

6) The Future
So what does the future hold for me and my Five Fingers? Firstly i suspect i will need to buy some Flow's for the winter, the Classic and KSO versions have no insulation at all and i can imagine them being very cold if wet. I'm not 100% sure the neoprene wet-suit effect is ideal in terms of your feet being damp all day but at least they should be warm.

I also want to try them out offroad some more, maybe some gentle walks on paths to start with, moving up to more rugged terrain and possibly even paintballing.

Finally i really want to start jogging in them and they do have the effect of making me want to jog, but i need to lose some more weight so that i don't destroy my joints.

Props to www.fivefingers.co.uk who have supplied both my Classics and KSO's, they have great service and kept me up-to-date with how things were progressing.

No props to www.injinji.com as their general inquiry e-mail address rejected my question as the mail box was full and when i resent it to a more specific address no-one bothered to get back to me or even acknowledge the mail.

Thought of the Day - Timing

Well the timing for my first 30-day trial sucks, the first 4 days i have been too tired, bored and apathetic to do anything. For the next 4 days i am up in Scotland for my cousins wedding so other than maybe a bit of planning i'm not likely to get anything done.

Most people will agree there is never a perfect time to start something and rarely a good time, so you might as well just get on with it. I suspect when i get back from Scotland i will have to get my butt in gear and start actually doing something.

Thought of the Day - Apathy

I am so tired, bored and apathetic at the moment that i can barely even be bothered to type. Looking back i think i often used to feel this way and the fact that it seems strange could be seen as a good thing or a bad thing. At the moment it seems like a bad thing, i need some way to break out of it, to get back to how i was. Unfortunately i don't know how so i guess i need to figure it out.

30 Day Trial - Minimalism Of Posessions - Day 1

Well today i have accomplished pretty much hee haw. I have mentally segregated stuff into categories and what i'll do with each category but i really need to actually write them down, make sure i haven't forgotten anything and do something about it.

I'm just too tired and bored and apathetic but i guess i'll have to cope.

Have to be up at 5am tomorrow so maybe will get something done before work.

End Date - Wednesday the 12th August 2008 - 29 Days Left

30 Day Trial - Minimalism Of Posessions - Day 0

To mark the 100th post to this blog i have decided to launch my first blogged 30-day trial.

As discussed in my Life Simplification post a while back i am looking to simplify the number and volume of possessions i have. This was brought into focus with recent interest from an Australian company in employing me, i wondered what i would take with me if i moved. Sure i could ship everything over, but it would take months on the sea and by the time it arrived i would have learned to live without it anyway. So while it seems unlikely anything will come of this situation, it does make me wonder why i have this much junk even if i am just staying in the uk.

As with the show 30 Days i am going to set some ground rules to focus my mind a little:

Rules:
1) By the end of the 30 days all of my possessions must fit in to the boot of my car (excluding furniture and possessions that are in the process of being sold but have not been collected).
2) A target income from the downsizing will be set to replace larger items with smaller but functional alternatives (eg desktop computer replaced with laptop).
3) I will update the blog with a minimum of weekly updates on progress.

End Date - Wednesday the 12th August 2008 - 30 Days Left

Thought of the Day - Spit Shining Shoes

According to a body language book i read, two things that almost everyone judges you on at a job interview are; how shiny your shoes are and how big your watch is.

The latter is to do with a big watch being associated with power and class, the shoes i'm not so sure about. Fortunately it isn't something i've ever had to worry about, i don't remember how old i was but my granda taught me to spit-shine shoes and it has stood me in good stead ever since. My granda was in the police for a long time so i guess he picked up some good tips. So today i am going to share with you the best way to spit-shine your shoes (and secure any job you interview for):

1. Put your index finger in clingfilm or a plastic bag and take a fair dollop of shoe polish (i would recommend Kiwi Parade Gloss) and apply it liberally to your shoe, massaging it in. There should be enough polish that you are really just spreading it around.
2. Leave for 5 minutes (normally the amount of time it takes you to do the second shoe) and then remove most of the polish with a dry cloth or soft brush.
3. Take a fresh cloth (i recommend a yellow duster), wrap it tightly around a finger tip, dampen the tip and apply a tiny amount of shoe polish to it.
4. Gently apply the polish in small circles to the shoe, you are aiming for a light haze. Then repeat on the other shoe.
5. Move to a fresh part of the cloth and dampen the tip again (or spit on the shoe) and gently rub small circles to shine the haze but don't remove much of the polish.
6. Apply a little polish to the tip and rub gently onto the shoe again aiming for a light haze. Then repeat on the other shoe.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 moving from shoe to shoe until the surface is smooth. This can take a long time, particularly if this is the first time they have been polished but you want to build up lots of very thin layers of polish to smooth the leather and allow a really deep mirror shine.
8. Once the surface is smooth, take a dry section of cloth and rub the shoes more vigorously (not too hard) to create the shine. If they are shiny enough great! If not go back to step 5 and repeat until they are.

While very repetitive i find it strangely relaxing in a zen-like way, it is also quite satisfying when you get a really deep mirror finish.

Thought of the Day - Good TV

If i had to cut down my TV watching to just one show it would be Morgan Spurlock's 30 Days. I can't think of a single episode from the 18 i have seen that hasn't challenged my thinking and emotionally affected me.

Frankly it is just damn good TV; it is challenging, its entertaining and normally it is uplifting. The basic premise is that someone spends 30 days doing something they would not normally do ... It is presented as a documentary so effectively it is reality TV for smart people.

A lot of the time it boils down to; "i'm crazy, you have to respect my right to be crazy and my crazy views, but my crazyness means i don't have to respect your views." Most of the time the people realise that their crazyness is not the be all and end all of the situation, even if they don't end up fully assimilating the views they at least respect and understand them.

In only one episode (S03E04) has the person has not budged one iota in their beliefs. That even after spending time with people who try to rationally present their views and have been immersed in the views, that they can't even see the other persons point of view, never mind empathise with their situation.


In some ways it worries me that people are so set in their beliefs, yet if you weren't set in your ways do you really have belief? And possibly more to the point what does that say about having beliefs?