Marc's Outlook on Productivity

Playing along in the Four Things meme

2006-02-18T21:15:00Z

Kevin Tofel sent me a “tag you’re it” note in the Four Things meme going around the blogosphere. Here are my picks.

Four jobs I’ve had:

Graphic designer
Magazine editor
Service bureau owner
Storyteller

Four movies I can watch over and over:

Casablanca
Batman (Michael Keaton & Jack Nicholson)
Memento
Office Space

Four TV shows I love to watch:

24
House
CSI (Las Vegas)
Countdown

Four places I’ve been on vacation:

Telluride (skiing and music)
New Orleans (Jazz Fest)
San Francisco
Mazatlan

Four favorite dishes:

Cantonese Crabs in Black Bean Sauce (Wo Hop in NYC)
Soup dumplings (Joe's Shanghai in NYC)
Nanking Prawns (House of Nanking in San Francisco)
Carne Adovada ribs (Sadies - Albuquerque, NM)

Four Websites I visit daily:

Four places I’d rather be:

At a concert with Sue
Hanging out with my kids
Curled up with a good book and a cup of coffee
Skiing some fresh powder at Taos

Four bloggers I’m tagging:

Oh, and here's a brrreeeport for Scoble as long as I'm at it..

2006 is off to a fine start....

2006-01-18T03:37:00Z

Wow! I know it's been kind of spotty here at Marc's Outlook these past few months. I've been a busy boy - lots of writing projects, a tremendous amount of activity going on at the day job, blogging over at Weblogs, Inc., the holidaze - it all adds up.

Two nice things have happened recently that I'm really very pleased about. I was named a Microsoft MVP for Tablet PCs by Microsoft this year, joining an incredibly talented group of folks who have helped to make that community a vibrant, passionate place to hang out. It's a singular honor and one I will cherish.

A number of months ago, I was interviewed by Chris Tucker, a writer for American Way magazine - the in-flight publication for American Airlines. The topic, not surprisingly, was Getting Things Done. Frankly, I forgot all about the chat we'd had until I received an e-mail from a business acquaintance earlier this evening telling me how much he enjoyed the article on a flight he had just taken.

The article is available online. I think Chris did a fine job capturing the impact David Allen's productivity system can have for individuals as well organizations of all sizes.

Here we are just barely halfway through January and a couple of high water marks have already been set. If this is how 2006 is going to go, I can't wait to what happens next!

Win a free GTD seminar and book

2006-01-09T17:50:00Z

The good folks at InBubbleWrap have hit the gold mine with today's offer. Enter for your chance to win a free pass to a Getting Things Done seminar and autographed copy of the book signed by David Allen. This is potentially life-changing stuff we're talking about here folks. Head right over and enter now.

Time and Task Management using Microsoft Outlook

2005-11-14T20:39:00Z

That's the title of the training course Jeremy Wright and I developed for Microsoft earlier this year. It's part of a multi-title training series that focuses not on software, but on business skills centered around different Microsoft Office applications. The course is now available on a subscription basis online. Here's the description:

Course 4006: Time and Task Management Using Microsoft® Office Outlook® 2003

E-mail, calendaring, and meeting management are critical activities that drive individual workers’ daily lives. So many people “live” in Microsoft® Office Outlook® 2003, making it their prime tool for communication and productivity. This course will provide experienced business professionals with a better hands-on understanding of how to manage their time more effectively, define tasks more accurately, and process incoming information more efficiently. Using Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 as a “dashboard” application, students will learn how to better manage their schedules, projects, and assignments, and how to create and respond to e-mail messages with greater confidence.

A one-year subscription to the course costs $49.00. Note that I'm posting this just because I think it's pretty cool that Microsoft has developed a series of courses that focus on best practices for information workers rather than software competencies. I have no ongoing financial interest in these courses (it was a straightforward work for hire deal).

Left brain? Right brain?

2005-10-29T22:13:00Z

Here's a fun quiz that helps you find out whether you are a right- or left-brain dominated person.

Brain Lateralization Test Results

Right Brain (36%) The right hemisphere is the visual, figurative, artistic, and intuitive side of the brain.
Left Brain (52%) The left hemisphere is the logical, articulate, assertive, and practical side of the brain

Are You Right or Left Brained?
personality tests by similarminds.com