Comments for Mind Management

Comment on How to Cope with the Fear of Starting Something New by Tatevik

Tatevik — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 19:17:08 +0000

simple and encouraging

Comment on Idiot-proof your life by Thomas

Thomas — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 12:57:56 +0000

So true!
I’ve come to know as I get older I can’t trust my poor unreliable brain to remember things: addresses, appointments, shopping lists, where I put things, to whom I’ve lent which things… even if at first I’m sure I’ll remember it (so easy… it seems…).
So now when I must remember something, I force myself to write it down and I’ve been thankful for that many times.

Comment on Reader Questions I by Viktor

Viktor — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:26:38 +0000

There are a few things I do not like about this.

I can not argue that it would be irrelevant for me to do this.
I can not argue that it would be impossible for me to do this.
I can not argue that my life would not get better if I followed the suggestions above.
Hence there is no reasonable reason to avoid taking the effort to change my habits in this direction.

Comment on Reader Questions I by Anna

Anna — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:20:37 +0000

Really useful advice thanks. I think I try to do most of that already, but getting a timer would I think be the best method to actually make me it. =]

Comment on Book Response: The Art of Non Conformity by Cici

Cici — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 03:56:38 +0000

I really like it! I actually found his website a few days ago, and started reading through some of his entries. I recently made a big, daring life decision and don’t mind my current career too much, so this book isn’t what I’m looking for (something to help with the daily slog would be great), but the book review was great.

Comment on Slogging by Angela May

Angela May — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 05:39:48 +0000

Thanks for your thoughts, Cici, I really appreciate the comment. It’s true, I am burnt out. Unfortunately it’s at a point where a ‘break’ is only a band-aid solution, I’ve realized that I need to make major changes and that’s what I’m working towards right now.

It’s also true that one can go overboard with self-management. As I’ve mentioned in the post I don’t feel I’ve reached that point yet. The last few months I’ve been trying to “relax the reins” of my self-management and the result was not what I had hoped. I found that I actually felt better when I was more strict with myself.

Balance is everything, and this blog is about exploration. I’ve been pushing myself to experiment more and make mistakes, but that is the only path for growth.

Don’t worry!

Comment on Slogging by Cici

Cici — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 03:16:29 +0000

As a long-time (ish) reader of the blog, I’m a bit worried. You sound a bit burnt out, and a break sounds good. As in recently, I think all of your posts have gone along the lines of ‘work harder’ instead of ‘maybe I need a break right now’, and breaks are very, very important to keeping up morale/productivity. Also, sometimes I wonder if one can over-manage their life?

Though, I understand what it’s like sloughing to a goal with no end in sight. I got over it by going back to school part time. Having some institutional/group support to working to achieve my goals helped IMMENSELY. Working alone is difficult. I can totally relate to how having daily chores fall by the wayside can affect your productivity – today was the first day in two weeks that I could finally see to the bottom of my sink. (Well, half of it.) It feels great, though.

Anyway, just droppin’ by to say that I sympathize. Mini book reviews sound awesome! Keep up fighting the good fight, and don’t burn out!

Comment on Ratcheting by Angela May

Angela May — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 22:17:32 +0000

That’s an awesome ratchet goal, Nate! How amazing to be able to fire up a file and hear your own finished song… a great thing to pass on as an heirloom, too

Comment on Ratcheting by Nate

Nate — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 17:12:05 +0000

As a hopeful musician, an extraordinary recording is my goal. Even if someone steals all the rights to it and I never get to hear it, I could still say, “yea, that’s me! I made this wonderful recording and for my whole life and beyond no one can take that away!”

Comment on Digitial File Optimization by Ben

Ben — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 18:36:20 +0000

For those that are interested in getting external hard drives as a backup, there are actually 2 types of external hard drives, desktops and portables, the only main difference between the 2 is that portables have been designed to take the wear and tear of regular travel, while desktops are not. It wont be much fun after backing up everything, only to find that the hard drive has a bunch of corrupted files, due to the bumps and shocks of travels. If you are going to be taking it about, get a portable, if it’s going to be sat on your desk for the rest of time, get a desktop.

There are also Media Servers which are essentially desktop hard drives with a network connection, depending on the make, it is possible to have it set up so that you can access the server over the internet and download any of the files on it. Very handy if you get to work and find that you forgot a file.

For desktop and portable hard drives I would recommend getting something from Western Digital, the products they make are excellent and have a large storage size for their price. Plus some of their newer hard drives have some on board software called WD Smartware. This software will allow you to manage what files to backup, which it will do automatically whenever it detects a change in the folder. Plus it also has some maintenance and security features as well.

Media servers come in 2 flavours, you can buy them, or if you are tech savy and have a bit of spare cash/pc/mac lying around, then you can make them. For buying there are a large number of different models, cheaper models have fewer features, while the more expensive usually have more bang for your buck. Just remember to search around before you buy so that you can get the best price. One thing to remember is that while wireless might sound great, it tends to be both slower and more temperamental than a physical connection.

For those that are interested in making a media server, I do warn you that it is difficult, frustrating and possibly more expensive. You’re essentially creating a new pc for the sole purpose of having it connect to your main pc as a backup. There are advantages over buying one, you have a far greater control over it plus depending on the hardware, you have better options to upgrade as well.

And last but not least make sure you get more than 1 external hard drive; get as many as you possible can. There’s nothing worst than doing a bit of maintenance on your 1 external hard drive, deciding to put the backup back on tomorrow due to it being late, only to wake up and find your pc has decided to wipe itself. This has happened to me and in the last few months of university, so not fun at all.

Hopefully this will help everyone that is interested in getting some form of external hard drive.