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January 31, 2005

Web-based habit changers?

What I really meant by my last entry was any kind of coaching/reminder/inspirational processes that were Web-based, not so much action management (though I appreciate the thoughts and feedback on that, too). Like, ever had something that you could plug in that actually got you to do something more regularly, consistently, completely.... and that you stuck with it?

Posted by David at 09:01 AM | Comments (12)

January 30, 2005

Web-based self-management?

I'm investing heavily right now in people and systems to build in highly leveraged support mechanisms for people who want to stay connected to black belt and beyond, in our game. We're adding a whole top-end component to the business this year that will offer those kinds of tools. As I'm still in r&d mode,  I'd love to hear from anyone who has actually used any Web-based stuff for personal- and/or organizational behavior change, and what your experience has been. Good, bad, ugly... doesn't matter, it's all good fodder for us right now.....

Posted by David at 04:45 AM | Comments (28)

January 29, 2005

Current Atlantic is a must-read

I'm about through reading the current issue of Atlantic (my first to-read - and often only - monthly rag), and though they're all good, this one's got some articles I have to mention, and I hope you read.

The whole issue is terrific, but If nothing else, read my friend Jim Fallows' "Success Without Victory", which is also online, if you're a subscriber (please do subscribe - I'd sure like to know more and more people are getting tapped into that pipe). Stunning, in every sense. I have to profess to knowing just enough about politics to figure I'll never know what the hell is really going on until twenty years later anyway, so I often just cop out of the responsibility of staying informed. Thanks to Jim and others at the Atlantic, I feel like I'm at least partially tapped into some objective analysis in current time. And I'm afraid Jim's article this month just validates the gap between intelligence and policy.

And if that's not enough, try William Langewiesche's article in the same issue, "Letter from Baghdad,"  for a gigantic taste of reality vs headlines.

And with just enough similarities to my own college-age experiences, Walter Kirn, in one of the most well-written stories I've read in a long time, "Lost in the Meritocracy," rattled my cage with a brutally honest and vulnerable expression of the angst of being cleverly bright, ambitious, and  with a desire to escape the lower middle class to "be somebody" in the vague world of the intelligent elite....  brrrr....

Posted by David at 03:25 AM | Comments (3)

January 28, 2005

Information, not action...

Interesting thing - that our Outlook Add-In is being now site-licensed to a very strategically-focused division at Microsoft. Interesting in the same way that when Mitch Kapor contacted me to get in touch - he'd read my book, and what was interesting to him was that he hadn't caught the "next action" thing, with all his stuff over all those years. Actually, it's fascinating to me that all the gazillions of $$$ have been spent in the software world, just finding slicker ways to input, rearrange, and access data - not how to manage action. That's still to come...

Posted by David at 02:33 AM | Comments (5)

January 27, 2005

Ah, the salon...

I don't have time to blog. (And I lie, if you haven't noticed). Just couldn't help myself tonight after connecting somewhat serendipitously with the Scobleizer and Buzz Bruggerman and a great crew of post-blog-conference  folks I got to hang with two nights ago in Seattle, for dinner. I was there doing a seminar for Robert's division of Microsoft. It was one of those great evenings of 6/10th of a degree of separation... You know WHO? wow, how cool...  And, reminded again that this blog world is a fascinating one. It is a virtual version of the "salon", of which I've always loved the idea and experience. I have to give Buzz the title (at least pro tem) of SalonMeister. Nice evening, dude, thanks.

And for Robert (and others who may not be as vocal as he was about wishing I would blog more), may I just run the apology for now that I'm trying to find my own voice in the medium. It's not like I don't get a chance to share myself, verbally and otherwise, with lots of folks. And most of the time I am aware of many other things as higher priorities for my creative time. Also, much of what I have to share will best be served contained and integrated into a different context. But this medium is a unique frame that draws out its own kind of pictures from its participants. Indeed, There's nothing like the salon. Nostalgic memories, hanging out at the Cafe Odeon in Zurich, at age 18 (as an American Field Service exchange student there in '63-'64), with the ghosts of Jung and dadaism...

Posted by David at 05:58 AM | Comments (3)