Elemental

  Recognise the image above? If not, first of all, lucky you. You haven’t been subjected to a corporate seminar* on time management. Secondly, go out and read Stephen Covey’s “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People“. If you’re convinced you don’t have time to read it find an audio copy on www.audible.com and listen in the car, on your commute or at the gym.

  Anyway, back to the subject at hand. Is blogging and keeping up with RSS feeds a quadrant II activity? Or is it quadrant IV? I see much of Facebook as a Q.IV activity – especially that incredibly annoyingly addictive Traveler IQ Challenge , but keeping in touch with people I don’t otherwise get to see is relationship building, and therefore Q.II. More productive relationship building is found on LinkedIn, which I would argue even more strongly is Q.II.

  I see blogging as a kind of values clarification – a way of consolidating thoughts on topics which I believe to be important. And reading RSS feeds is preparation. Now I’m not arguing that reading Go Fug Yourself is a relevant use of my time here (sadly, almost certainly Q.IV) but am I deluding myself? Is blogging and reading blogs a non-urgent but important activity? Thoughts?

 * Books which should absolutely be be banned from any corporate “event” – anything with anthropomorphic figures such as those bl**dy mice in Who Moved My Cheese?

mel starrs Opinion productivity Covey blogging, Stephen Covey, www.audible.com

What caught my eye today, February 26th:

• The Art of Speaking: ?There is a special circle in hell for those who use laser pointers,? this and other advice from a master speaker. – via Ben Casnocha, an excellent guide to public speaking and making presentations. Given all the conferences in the upcoming calendar, I hope folks read this before they present…
• The Atlantic – US monthly magazine opens up it’s archives and new issues online. Can’t find RSS feed – must be in there somewhere…
• Lazy Productivity: 10 Simple Ways to Do Only Three Things Today – From a similar school as GTD or even good old Stephen Covey, another top 10 for productivity. Best tip – No.2 – choose impact over urgency.
• It’s the Planet, Stupid!: Great Expectations: Perspectives on Memories – Bry Lynas (Mark’s dad) has a lovely post on how life used to be and who will be best off come the collapse of modern society.
• BRE Global and UK-GBC to partner on BREEAM – Good news from BREEAM – Paul King (UK-GBC) wants it to “continue to innovate and develop if it is to serve the needs of this dynamic sector”. New Director in place too – Martin Townsend of EA

mel starrs News Ben Casnocha, laser, Martin Townsend, Paul King, Stephen Covey, United Kingdom, United States

What caught my eye today, February 15th:

• The High Cost of Low Trust – Stephen Covey on trust in the business place: “With low trust, you get a lot of rules and regulations that take the place of human judgment and creativity”
• Ultimate House Design – Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame) redesigns the house – and makes some valid points.
• SaaS – the killer app for CAD? – Good overview on where the world of CAD ought to be heading in the next few years…
• Energy saving most effective in CO2 cutting -report – Squeezing more productivity out of the energy that industries, homes and vehicles burn is the most economical way to stifle rising energy demand and control output of planet-warming gases, according to a new report from the McKinsey Global Institute.
• A standard method for the Whole Life Costing of Sustainable Design – RICS event on 18 March in Glasgow. Interesting topic
• UK-GBC supports Sustainable Building in Practice – A new guide to building sustainable homes was issued this week, which the UK-GBC is pleased to support.This publication provides hands-on, practical advice to developers in the area of new-build residential homes and contains several contributions from UK
• Mexico to build only energy-smart homes in three years – Aggressive plans by Mexico to produce no more traditional build houses within 3 years.
• Energy Efficiency in Buildings: EPBD ? The EU?s buildings platform; Stakeholders want to move on quicker despite the slow start in many Member States – Great article summarising recent events re: EPBD in Brussels. Good stats on where the rest of Europe are up to on implementation.
• Haden Young boss makes shock departure – Building – No sucession plan in place – when the guy had been there 40 years? tut tut.

mel starrs News Brussels, CAD, Energy, energy demand, Energy saving, energy-smart homes, Europe, European Union, Glasgow, Low Trust, McKinsey Global Institute, Mexico, Scott Adams, Stephen Covey, Sustainable Building, United Kingdom