Over the past month I've taken on a few things. A new promotion at work, a few house projects, and I'm working on a few personal projects, like seeing more people and fewer computer screens.
I also, as some of you know, am involved in several local non-profits.
Here's what I'm doing to keep sane and get more productive.
Workflowy is an online to-do list that comes to me as a suggestion from . I've never really been one for to-do lists (just like I keep my shopping list in my head), but I've been using Workflowy for a week now and I love it. I keep a browser tab on it at all times, and I use it for everything from long-term projects to an editorial calendar. It has a simple hierarchical structure so you can include details, you can mark either parts or the whole complete, tag things you need to get done today or make a higher priority, and you get an email each morning letting you know where you are.
I've been using Dropbox for a couple of years, since I began using multiple devices (laptop, netbook, smart phone, iPod). It's a virtual hard drive, with public sharing capabilities. It syncs when you're online, but if you're not online you can still edit items that have already been synced on the device you're using. Also, it's free, until you need more than 2GB of space.
Google. I figured you didn't need a link. Google docs, Google calendar and Google groups have been a big help across the board, primarily because of the ability to share and group-edit.
Facebook. I dumped the game apps from Facebook, which means no more Scrabble or Words With Friends until I get the other stuff straightened out. That means I won't be checking to see if my opponents have played their moves. And in fact, I'm only opening Facebook when I want to check on the pages I administer.
Email. I've set up a work email filter, so that I'm only checking work emails when I am in a position to get work done. That's saving me a lot more time than I expected.
Wellness. This should be a no-brainer, but it's so often overlooked. If you eat well, get enough sleep, get a massage occasionally, get some exercise and some fresh air, you'll be sharp, quick, and alert. You'll get your stuff done, and you'll have energy beyond that.
Skip artificial borders. And by that, I'm really talking dates. I've already published my New Year's post. I don't feel the need to wait until a new year, or a new month, or a new week to start something new. Just start it. The sooner you do, the sooner you'll be happy you did.
What are your favorite tools and habits for productivity?
Here's my annual posting of Dougie MacLean's take on "Auld Lang Syne." Unlike last year, I'm going to write on about 2011 and 2012.
And unlike previous years, I'm writing this on December 16, not December 31. Primarily because it's on my mind and I'm making changes now instead of waiting two weeks until the calendar changes.
2011 was the year of patience for me. I'm sure that there were other things going on (heck, I've lost a bunch of weight and gained a bunch of muscle, as well as learned a helluva lot about nutrition and fitness), but most nights I came home complaining about someone or some event that was really trying my patience, even if I didn't use that word.
I've always considered myself a fairly patient person. But I say yes a lot, and I do a lot for a lot of people. I invest a lot of time and energy in things other than myself, and I keep to a fairly tight schedule and require excellence around me if I'm going to do the things I say I'll do.
And I got to a point this year when 3 minutes' deviation in my planned schedule threw me into a rage, and misused turn signals set me off.
So here I'm writing at the end of the year. I've removed some of the distractions, I've taken more time to breathe, and I'm learning to go with the flow a little more.
I'm also not taking on as much, so maybe someone's losing from my gains, but I feel like I've got something new on my resume in this whole patience thing.
Looking ahead to 2012, I think it's going to be a year of more faces and fewer avatars. I'm looking forward to seeing more people in person, playing Scrabble in cafes instead of on Facebook, eating breakfast with people instead of tweeting about what I ate, and in general being more present in people's lives, even if I'm less present in their Twitter streams (no, I'm not quitting Twitter; not even close).
Toward that end, anybody interested in starting a regular breakfast thing? A few people at a cafe or diner at 6am some morning each week? Or maybe 7:30 on a weekend morning?
So, whether it's Dec. 16 or Dec. 31 or March 2, tak a right guide-willy waught and let me know what's up with you in the new year.
I sat down with recently and she reminded me that I needed to do another post about places I like. So, here are some of my current favorites.
Cafe at 407
I've written about before. I'm actually sitting in the cafe writing this blog post, staring at the real whipped cream on top of a hot chocolate a child is drinking while waiting for the singer-songwriter to start playing. In fact, I'm sitting in an overstuffed chair on the wifi with a cup of coffee on the side table, remembering that this place raises money for a non-profit called Ophelia's Place, which deals with eating disordered youth and adults. There's a conference room in back, next to the employees' cubicles and an outpatient clinic. It's in the village of Liverpool. Go there.
Recess
Recess Coffee is celebrating their fifth anniversary this week. The cafe was packed the other night (that's where I had the aforementioned get-together with Tracy), and they are not going anywhere any time soon. Best hot chocolate in town (York, Almond Joy, peanut butter, and more), and a few really good whole-bean roasts.
Farmshed CNY
is a web-based app (that is, you go to the website, you don't download it) that will find you farms, farmers markets, restaurants, breweries, dessert, bakeries and more in Central New York. The idea is to have you buying local foods, drinking local beer, and considering where you're sourcing your stuff. And also it helps you find it, by determining your location by GPS. It's awesome.
Small Potatoes Marketing
Maybe it's weird to recognize a marketing firm, but Marty at works hard to get Central New York food producers distributed into bigger venues. He started as strictly a shoe leather business, and eventually let himself be talked into a blog and Twitter account, both of which he's done really well with. Look for Better Brittle, Recess Coffee and Brooklyn Salsa at the CNY Regional Market thanks to Small Potatoes, and he's worked with a bunch of other locals you're starting to see more and more places, too!
Laci's Tapas Bar
You've probably heard of by now; they've been around a couple of years. Tapas is a food presentation that features appetizer-size portions of really beautiful, frequently creative food. The menu is excellent, the service is wonderful, and they're over in a part of town you never go to. Try them out!
What are your favorite hot spots this winter?
Julien Smith is essentially the Wizard. Since you're reading my blog, I'm guessing you've heard of him, since I won't shut up about what a genius he is, but for most people, he's the man behind the curtain.
He's the second author on Trust Agents, he's been podcasting probably since before the name was invented, and he's a straight shooter who will tell you exactly why you're not reaching your goals, whatever they are.
He wrote his first solo book recently. It's called . It's only available in electronic form (for your Kindle or mobile device's Kindle app), and it's a 90-minute read that teaches you what you're doing wrong.
The punchline is that you need to learn to "flinch forward;" that is, when you're startled by something, make your first reaction to go into it, rather than pulling away from it.
There are homework assignments, and it's a really excellent start to your own personal manifesto. At the very least it will inspire you to change something. (Anything.)
He says it's among , and he's done some pretty awesome work, so...yeah. Just read it.
Every year someone has something stupid to say about the Old Newsboys campaign.
In case you're unfamiliar with this, a bunch of people go around "selling" The Post-Standard and asking for extra donations on a two-day campaign.
It looks very much like the newspaper is just trying to expand its reach, but actually, all those newspapers sold are donated. Even if you only give them the cost of the paper (75 cents), it all goes to a fund called the Christmas Bureau, which is a joint operation of the Salvation Army and United Way of Central New York.
Read: It helps people.
So even if you don't want the paper, give something. You don't have to take the newspaper.
The Old Newsboys volunteers will be out and about on Friday and Saturday this week (Dec. 9 and 10). Thank them for volunteering in our community, and give them something to bring back to those in need this holiday season.
One night, New York City-based experimental filmmaker Star Drooker had a dream about a woman with a birth mark in the middle of her forehead. The next morning, he drove to Vermont, and met Trish Overstreet. Within 24 hours they had decided they would get married, open a vegetarian cafe and performance space, have a child named Jesse, and do a film project surrounding the whole thing.
They traveled the country looking for a place to open the cafe. They narrowed it down to either Portland, Oregon, or Northampton, Massachusetts. After getting stranded nearby in a heavy snowfall, they decided on Northampton.
The plan was to be this: They'd open the cafe, they'd have Jesse, they'd raise him in the cafe for four years, then put together the film.
Well, I think it was John Lennon who wrote, "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans."
They opened Fire & Water, a vegetarian cafe and performance space, in late 1994. Trish was pregnant.
Jesse was born February 4, 1995 with what Star refers to as "a particular heart." They unplugged the machines 19 days later.
But just because he wasn't crawling around Fire & Water, doesn't mean Jesse wasn't a major part of the place. Star and Trish built an altar with photos and toys and stories. Each night after the performances ended, Star would play a song called "Salmonboy" he wrote for Jesse; sometimes it was three minutes long, other times it was longer than an hour.
Time went by. Trish got pregnant again, and Rain Arrow was born. Healthy. And the couple had to make a decision. It had been a really emotional ride for three and a half years. They had a four year lease on the space, and countless friends who helped out, who shared songs and stories and poems and love. Their initial plan was to start the film after four years, and that time was fast approaching.
They decided to re-up for another four years, and raise Rain in the space. He became such a big part of the place that any evening he wasn't there, you could feel the energy that was missing.
In October of 2002, I sat down with Star and Trish and interviewed them for the arts newspaper I was editing. They had reached the end of the next four-year lease, and they made the difficult decision to close up shop. So many people had come through their door over the past eight years. They found love. They found refuge. They found peace. They found an amazing meal and amazing people and an amazing child who one regular described as "another teacher."
In November of that year they closed up shop. On the last night they were open, 80 people showed up (it was a small space, comfortably seating about 30). The tables and chairs were gone. We sat in a ring around the outside, shared songs, shared stories. Rain dozed in a sleeping bag in the corner. Nobody understood how to walk out the door one last time.
Over the next few months, they started filming. They interviewed many of the cafe regulars. And then, while you'd hear something once in a while about Star or Trish or the project, things largely settled down.
But Star was still working on things. He teamed up with a documentary film producer – someone who told stories in a linear fashion to offset his experimental background – and they watched film and cut film and shot film and cut more. Last year, they showed what they had, then went back to the cutting room.
The Saturday after Thanksgiving, I sat in Star and Trish's new cafe, Cafe Evolution, which has an expanded menu but fewer performances (it's a day-time cafe in a day-time town smaller than Northampton), and watched the 110-minute cut of Salmonboy: A Story of Fire & Water. They're at a point where they are ready to team up with a bigger, more commercial outlet, to do another round of editing and to distribute it.
The film is about Rain, Jesse, Star and Trish, and their roller coaster journey. The cafe is a character in it, but you certainly don't ever have to have walked through the door, never mind have been there three, four or more times a week, as many people were.
Star and PJ, the documentary filmmaker, are doing a Kickstarter project, hoping to raise $19,000 to keep sending the film to festivals and work on that wider distribution. Help them out by donating .