33 Rules to Boost Your Productivity - Volume 3 (Blog)

[starlike]

"Look a little deeper. This isn't just humor; it's satire."
It's (or close to) one liners. Then you may put it into any sub category you like.

I understand how Steve thinks. "Oh, I have posted so many long posts on subjective reality that I have to give something lighter" but note the word "something". This is just a waste of web space.

[Candace]

Originally Posted by starlike

Is this some kind of joke (not jokes in plural LOL)?
I think the smarter half of your audience will find this humor quite dry. It's not that I don't "get it". I get all of them but I'm just amazed at the level you are at. I think the teenagers will like this but it is really a shame that you would want to dilute your blog with improvised 'funny talk'. It's not really Monthy Python this....

improvised funny talk is good for all human beings.... eh the office suit and tie/suit and purse capitalist game - i remember the slave for wages scene. if you haven't been in an office i figure it might not click or it may confuse Vulcans.

[ahimel]

Originally Posted by starlike

"Look a little deeper. This isn't just humor; it's satire."
It's (or close to) one liners. Then you may put it into any sub category you like.

I understand how Steve thinks. "Oh, I have posted so many long posts on subjective reality that I have to give something lighter" but note the word "something". This is just a waste of web space.

I don't think that's what Steve was thinking. (Of course, my telepathy's been off this week, so in truth I have no idea what Steve was thinking.) But I think he thought that the previous two posts were popular (which they were) and we could benefit from more (which we could) and that it would be an interesting challenge to see if he could come up with more (which I imagine it was). The thing about brainstorming is:

(a) you come up with a lot of really stupid ideas.
(b) you can't filter out the really stupid ideas, because one of them will turn out (after some time and refinement) to be a really good idea.

So yes, some of Steve's ideas on the 3rd post were pretty dumb. And you can't blame him for dressing them up with humor, because they were pretty funny, if relatively useless.

But the useful ones were on the list because he didn't stop when he hit the useless ones. And some of the "useless, funny" ones may turn out to be useful to someone, somewhere. For is it not written, "There's a lot goes on that we don't know about, in my opinion."?

[Steve Pavlina]

Unlike the first two posts in this series, this post was written as a humor post -- the hint at the beginning that you might be able to apply them was only a set-up.

If you thought these were serious productivity tips, you're scary.

[theknightwhosaysni-NI]

"Proactive. Just do it, and deal with the consequences later. It’s easier to request forgiveness than permission. "

I am actually applying this one sometimes. It is useful!

[ahimel]

At risk of scaring people, I have to ask...

2. Nuke.XML. Split your RSS feeds into two lists: those that help boost your productivity vs. those that taketh it away. Force yourself to unsubscribe from all the feeds in the second list. You won’t miss them. Just be sure this blog makes the first list.

I did this. It helped. The ones that made the list were the ones whose tips contributed more benefit in productivity than I lost in reading them. I didn't actually unsubscribe from the others - they're in a different tab on my Google homepage, for when I really do have time to kill and just want to surf the web.

3. Evil eye. Practice your best evil eye in a mirror, and use it liberally on anyone who enters your space to interrupt you.

Funny, yes, but I also had a coworker who would give me useless garbage work, and closed body language did cut down on that.

4. Vulcan logic. Ask for a part-time assistant by explaining to your boss that you’re being paid $25/hour to do $10/hour tasks, which is costing your employer a lot of money.

Not likely to be granted by an employer, but perfectly reasonable for a self-employed.

8. WoW.die.die.die. Give online gaming a rest, and re-invest that energy into your real life, which is probably suffocating beneath a pile of dead, smelly orcs.

My husband's real life is suffocating beneath a pile of dead, smelly orcs, and nothing much gets done.

10. Upgrade. Modernize your tools – a faster computer, a better PDA, a hotter girlfriend.

This doesn't need to be done as often as some people do it, and a trust the hotter girlfriend falls into the humor category. But when you're working on a computer that can't run Office 2003, and upgrade will boost productivity enormously.

12. Proactive. Just do it, and deal with the consequences later. It’s easier to request forgiveness than permission.

Maybe not ethical, but productive.

13. Polyphasic. Six naps a day keeps your laziness at bay. You can catch up on sleep when you’re dead. See Polyphasic Sleep for details.

17. Blockade. Slide a heavy piece of furniture in front of your office door. When drop-in visitors complain they can’t get in, tell them you’re refactoring your office for greater productivity.

This one I put into the "humorous" rather than "useful" category, but I have been tempted....

24. Armageddon. Use Overwhelming Force to totally dominate your problem. Treat your molehill like a mountain. Use a bazooka to kill a cockroach. Send a real human being to serve in Congress.

The text is funny, and the bit about the congressman was probably gratuitous, but the advice is still sound.

28. PMS. Accept the fact that you can still get your work done even when you’re pissed at everything.

It could perhaps be more tactfully labeled, but I think it's still a good point. Maybe Steve thinks it's funny because he has enough discipline to do work when it needs to be done, and enough enlightenment and equanimity to not get pissed very often. But for those of us with less emotional control, not stopping work just because we're having a bad day is a critical step.

So admittedly, out of 33, only 9 were actually useful to me. And none of those 9 is likely to be as generally useful to as many people or in as many situations as the first 66. But I don't know why they're "scary". Please explain.

It was a successful humor article, and I enjoyed it immensely. But that doesn't mean it can't also be useful.

[eekowa]

I thought of a 100th he did not put on the list:

"Pseudonym" - Create more than you need (stories, artwork, articles, blog posts, etc.) This works well with "insainly bad." Publish your best stuff under your own name while publishing everything else under one or more false identities. Make use of all the useless stuff you might produce.

This allows one to explore crazy creative ideas while not hurting your reputation any. Also think of how fun it would be to read all the negative comments people might make on it -- as that was part of the intention. What's more, some people might even like it!

This is actually something I was thinking of trying out -- maybe with short stories and artwork.