Archive for February, 2008

Healthy, Wealthy, and DEAD?: 5 Reasons Why Getting Up Early Might be Harmful

Saturday, February 16th, 2008

Sleeping in (by TeeRish) Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.*
-Benjamin Franklin

Early to rise and early to bed makes a male healthy and wealthy and dead.*
-James Thurber

It is accepted dogma — perhaps even holy writ — among more than a few personal development writers that getting up early leads to increased productivity. Becoming an early riser has become something of a rite of passage for productivity gurus, and articles on how to become an early riser have been among the first written — and most popular — posts by self-help bloggers such as Steve Pavlina. There’s even an entire blog devoted to waking up early, and the blog claims that "any person who…sets serious goals in his/her life turns to rising early, sooner or later."

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Scott Young: How to Change a Habit: The Growing Life E-Book Review

Friday, February 15th, 2008

how to change a habit Editor’s Rating: 6.4

Editor’s Note: This review is a third entry in a series of weekly e-book reviews.  The review is a guest post by Thursday Bram of ThursdayBram.com.

The premise of Scott Young’s How to Change a Habit is the plain old fact that everybody wants to change their habits. Much of the blogosphere seems predicated on this fact, from Leo Babauta’s efforts on Zen Habits to J.D. Roth’s bettering of his personal finances through good money habits on Get Rich Slowly.

The key message in Young’s e-book is that the ability to change one’s habits is a simple skill that can be developed.

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Leo Babauta: Zen to Done: The Growing Life E-Book Review

Friday, February 15th, 2008

ztd Editor’s Rating: 8.2

Editor’s Notes: Here is a second entry in a series of e-book reviews.  This is a guest post by Thursday Bram of ThursdayBram.com.

Leo Babauta, author of the Zen Habits blog, seems to have the knack for writing effective material.

His e-book, Zen to Done, is no different. In 83 pages, Babauta distills hundreds of his own blog posts, the 267 pages in David Allen’s Getting Things Done and the 384 pages of Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Babauta took his own mantra of a simple system to heart when writing this e-book. Despite the sheer quantity of information that could have overwhelmed a reader, Babauta managed to avoid the avalanche and provide readers with something that they could actually read one sitting or refer back to as needed. To put it simply, not only was I able to make my way through Zen to Done but it was also an enjoyable experience.

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Mark McGuiness: Time Management for Creative People: The Growing Life E-Book Review

Thursday, February 14th, 2008


time management for creative people Editor’s Rating: 7.1

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Thursday Bram of ThursdayBram.com.

Mark McGuiness begins his free e-book, Time Management for Creative People with a stereotypical "day-in-the-life" depiction of a designer trying to work on a creative project but facing disorganization in all of its facets: distracting emails, interrupting phone calls and important files lost on a messy desk. One might argue that this is a stereotype — that most creatives can handle a bit of basic organization, but there is a grain of truth in there somewhere. There are plenty of creative professionals who could do with some organization.

The real value in McGuiness’ e-book is what he doesn’t suggest. He makes no effort to impose some sort of order on the actual creative process; there is no effort to turn every creative into Thomas Kinkade. Instead, McGuiness focuses on managing the little details that often intrude on a professional’s time, but that cannot be ignored.
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