Bonne Chance

Life Hack Addiction

Hello. My name is DAH and I'm addicted to life hacks.

Heck, I'm addicted to the idea of life hacks, even if they don't yet exist and if I don't ever implement them.

Look through the 'of interest' files stored on my computer. Or look at the bookshelves in my home. Or the miscellaneous newspaper and magazine articles I clip. I'm clearly searching for the perfect algorithm to more efficiently solve some fundamental life problem (be that problem small or large).

A British journalist named Danny O'Brien coined the term 'life hack' to describe the work processes he observed among super-productive computer programmers. These programmers had developed various scripts and shortcuts to get their work done more quickly and efficiently. These were their life hacks.

Although originally a techie term, life hack has wormed its way into popular culture (at least online). Nowadays it could be applied to any trick or shortcut that leads to greater individual productivity or organization. It might be applied to any clever process (often a work-around) that gets problems solved more quickly, efficiently and painlessly.

And DAH relentlessly seeks life hacks that will make every process easier, whether personal or professional. Psychological life hack? OK! Sociological life hack? Great! Financial life hack? I'm all over it.

I'm oh-so-confident that somebody has discovered a secret key to anything and everything. If I only knew their shortcut, I could be so much more efficient at play and work.

And I know they're out their, my life hacks, because I find them all the time. But I never have the time or dedication to completely and consistently deploy those life hacks. Because there's always a new life hack just waiting for me to find it.

I'm jonesing for my next life hack now. And I know there are some old ones waiting to be put to work. But there's a new one coming, I just know it.

I'm addicted.

DAH is David Anthony Hance at www.DAHplaytime.com and www.VintageNewWorld.com

I'm a big fan of 3 X 5 cards. Not so much those horizontal ones, with blue rules. I prefer mine vertical, with rules (but not necessarily blue). The vertical format, ruled cards are sometimes more difficult to find, so I settle for blank cards. In a pinch, I use the horizontal cards, and write across the rule lines (turning the horizontal card vertical).

I also like using 'special' 3 X 5 cards. These can be purchased for an exorbitant price from companies like Levenger. These cards are 10 to 20 times as expensive as the cheap ones, but they are made of better stock, are sturdier, and you can get them printed with interesting clip art, grids, initials, etc. While they are ridiculously expensive, they still seem an affordable indulgence.

Years ago, I read an article online at www.43folders.com. Here's a brief excerpt:

Recently, I got sick of lugging my Palm V around, so I developed a vastly superior, greatly simplified device for capturing and sharing information. I call it 'The Hipster PDA.'

The Hipster PDA (Parietal Disgorgement Aid) is a fully extensible system for coordinating incoming and outgoing data for any aspect of your life and work. It scales brilliantly, degrades gracefully, supports optional categories and 'beaming,' and is configurable to an unlimited number of options. Best of all, the Hipster PDA fits into your hip pocket and costs practically nothing to purchase and maintain. Let's make one together.

1. Get a bunch of 3 X 5 file cards

2. Clip them together with a binder clip

3. There is not step 3

Get online. Google 'Hipster PDA' and see what you get.

I use my variation on the Hipster PDA for quick notes (to myself and others), shopping lists, memorizing lines, to-do lists, outlining speeches, reminders, research notetaking, bookmarks, coasters, keyboard cleaning, and more.

3 X 5 cards are awesome.

DAH is David Anthony Hance at www.DAHplaytime.com and www.VintageNewWold.com

Why Do Anything?

I woke up in a bit of a fog this morning. There was some high fog outside, which always gives the world a feeling of being wrapped loosely in cotton wool. That got, in SLO, is usually gone by late morning.

There was also a fog in my head. And maybe my soul. But since I keep those two closely connected, I guess this was a brain-soul-fog. Difficult to wake up. I went to bed very tired, so maybe it just carried over through the night.

But the external and internal fog leaves me with the thought, 'Why do anything?' That's a bad thought to have when your spouse wants to do a little calendar planning, and none of the options sound appetizing to DAH.

'You have to be honest about your feelings,' says the generous Christine, in response to DAH's 'I don't want to do anything' patheticism. But most feelings wax and wane. Just because I'm uninspired now, doesn't mean I'll be uninspired this afternoon.

When WriteMonkey started up this morning, the anonymous quote on the opening screen said, 'If you're losing the game, change the rules.'

As many of pointed out to me, I like to check things off my list. If I don't do anything, or don't want to do anything, there isn't much on my list except work (which I have to do or we don't get paid). So, 'Why Do Anything?' turns into 'Nothing On My Checklist' which turns into 'No Satisfaction In Checking It Off My List.'

Which means I'm losing the game. Which means I have to change the rules. Or learn a new life hack. Probably, I'm just tired or disappointed sometimes. I think I'll change my own rules and put some easy-to-check-off items on my list today. Check them off. Feel some satisfaction. And chase away the fog.

DAH is David Anthony Hance at www.DAHplaytime.com and www.VintageNewWorld.com

The Novel Experience

How long does it take to learn a new home town? We've been in San Luis Obispo since September, and I was starting to feel like I knew my way around, at least for the things that matter to me. One of those things was a good independent bookstore. We had used books, and a Borders, and a Barnes and Noble. But no independent bookstore for new books. I was resigned to traveling to the cool store I'd heard about in Santa Barbara for my indie bookseller fix.

Then I read the recent New Times 'Best of San Luis Obispo County' poll results. Voting on everything imaginable. And there, under 'Best Independent Bookstore (New)' was listed the winner: The Novel Experience. It's been on Higuera Street, downtown, for decades and decades apparently. How come I didn't know about it? How come I hadn't seen it?

So Christine and DAH took a little trip to town (only a mile away). First we went to the SLO Cactus and Succulent Society's annual show and sale. It had been moved to a new location this year, because it was too crowded last year. Well, it was too crowded this year, too. So we left after about two minutes. Then we went to the library, to remedy out other slow-off-the-mark book failing: We got ourselves library cards and browsed the stacks. Then we went to lunch at Big Sky Cafe (always pleasant), and walked around the corner to where the address for The Novel Experience (779 Higuera Street) must be.

As we approached the Hands Gallery, it was clear that The Novel Experience must be just on the other side. And I knew we'd seen it before. On one of our early (pre-move) visits to SLO. It was a Sunday. The shop was closed. It was long and narrow, and difficulty to tell much from the street. It looked like mostly gift stuff and cards from the front window, then.

Now we got inside. And it is, in fact, a lovely shop. Christine said, 'We must have half the books in this shop already.' That was an overstatement, of course, but there were a lot of old friends there. A small but fine selection, especially since it so clearly reflected tastes similar to ours. A new favorite in our new home town.

DAH is David Anthony Hance at www.DAHplaytime.com and www.VintageNewWorld.com

What's The Burning Issue?

If there isn't a burning issue, don't have a meeting. If there is a burning issue, but nobody can express it clearly and concisely, prepare them to do so before you have a meeting.

'US business wastes over 40 billion dollars on mismanaged meetings each year (according to a Hofstra University study). We look for all sorts of ways to cut costs and overlook the most obvious one. We talk too much.' (from page 17 in Ron Hoff's 'Say It In Six')

That Hofstra study has got to be more than 15 years old. I'll bet the bad meeting waste is closer to 80 billion dollars annually these days.

These days, without any board or organization meetings to attend, I participate in three kinds of meetings:

Info Sharing Meetings (where the purpose of the meeting is to share information so we all know who's doing what)

Brainstorming Meetings (a lot of my work is creative development, and I'd include the various 'let's-work-on-it-together' meetings in this category)

Burning Issue Meetings (when there really is something that requires a group to accept and support common action)

I used to try and do my Info Sharing Meetings over lunch or a cup of coffee or a glass of wine. But I work by myself, remote from my colleagues. Nowadays these are phone meetings, that we're working hard to hold to 30 minutes each.

Brainstorming Meetings are increasingly rare, because I just don't want to invest the time and money in gathering people together. And they don't really work over the phone. I used to do at least one or two of these each month. I'll have maybe three Brainstorming Meetings this year.

Burning Issue Meetings happen pretty frequently in our young, mid-sized business, as we adjust to new realities and make course corrections. I need to get better at clearly and concisely framing the burning issue, however.

When I think about it, I guess I've cut back a lot on meetings. That makes me happy, although I feel a little guilty because I know several of my colleagues feel that they work better in group than individually.

I'm fine working on my own, thanks.

DAH is David Anthony Hance at www.DAHplaytime.com

Revenge is Dumb, Not Sweet

I'm not much interested in revenge. Oh, I talk big in the heat of the moment, about how sorry so-and-so will be one day, but it never builds to action. But I can understand that fleeting emotion, how sweet it is, when someone who done you wrong, or who done wrong a loved one, or something you care about - how sweet it is when they get their comeuppance.

Divine retribution, or the impact of karma, is one thing. Taking action into one's own hands - REVENGE! - is another. This is a post about managing (and improving) your luck. Actively seeking revenge is not a luck-provoking choice.

With divine retribution, karma, and pure-chance misfortune, there is seldom a personal, malice-filled, rebound effect. We deal with such lightening bolts and move on, sometimes even finding opportunity in being shot from the heavens.

Revenge, however, is malice-filled, and its rebound effect is legendary. Revenge cycles have been a part of human drama since we were cast out of Eden (or crawled out of the Ocean). I was thinking about revenge cycles in theater, but I realized as I wrote that they're a major part of many lives. Which is exactly why they are written and staged.

If you get swept up in a revenge cycle your opportunities to find and exploit good luck are greatly reduced, because there is someone or something out there thinking up ways to 'get back at you.' Dwelling on vengeful thoughts, even without action, colors our world and hinders us in grasping its lucky chances.

But be clear on this: Rejecting revenge is not the same as turning the other cheek. Sometimes we're in a fight, a battle, and we must fight to hold our own. Most of us, in any situation, can tell if we are defending ourselves or simply seeking revenge. Maybe it's those short-sighted among us who get caught up in the revenge cycles, because they can't tell the difference between defense and revenge.

But revenge is dumb, not sweet. It's hard to get lucky when you're bent on revenge.

DAH is David Anthony Hance at www.DAHplaytime.com

Boxes

Monkey: Hey, what are you doing? It looks like you're just sitting in a box.

DAH: I am sitting in a box. But I'm not JUST sitting in a box. I'm living and working in it.

Monkey: Well, it looks like you're just sitting there.

DAH: Living and working, living and working.

Monkey: Where'd you get the box?

DAH: I made it.

Monkey: Pretty nice.

DAH: Yeah. Made it myself, for myself, just the way I like it.

Monkey: You do look comfortable.

DAH: I am. That's why I made the box.

Monkey: And you look safe.

DAH: Safe and comfortable.

Monkey: The workmanship is pretty good. Did it take you long to make?

DAH: I've had it for a while, and I keep improving it.

Monkey: There's a couple of places here where it looks repaired.

DAH: I got out of the box a few times, and had to fix it up when I got back in.

Monkey: Can I get in with you?

DAH: NO!

Monkey: Please?

DAH: THERE'S ONLY ROOM FOR ME IN MY BOX!

Monkey: Alright, alright. Don't get all riled up.

DAH: Sorry. It's just that it's my box. Mine. That's why I like it.

Monkey: Have you built any other boxes?

DAH: I don't like to, but, yeah, I have built some boxes, and helped build boxes, for others.

Monkey: For love or money?

DAH: Both. Sometimes they don't even know I'm building their box. But it's a lot of work. I don't really like it.

Monkey: It does look safe in there.

DAH: And comfy.

Monkey: Build me a box.

DAH: Oh, no, not again. I told you I don't like it.

Monkey: Help me build a box.

DAH: Why me? Why do I have to build the boxes? Everyone should focus on their own boxes! I refuse to build boxes for other people! I have my own box to work on! I REFUSE to build boxes for anyone else ever again! I declare my box a sovereign state that I will never leave! My borders are closed!

Monkey: Geez. What a whiner. Never mind. I'll build my own.

DAH: I'll help.

DAH is David Anthony Hance at www.DAHplaytime.com and www.VintageNewWorld.com
Monkey is his friend

Happier, Healthier, and with More Friends

We receive the Consumer Reports 'On Health' newsletter in the mail. A recent issue (June 2009) offered 'eight research-backed tips on how to make yourself happier - and maybe healthier too.' The research comes from major institute and university studies, abstracted by Consumer Reports.

1. Count the positive (counting your blessings results in a greater sense of well-being).

2. Be thankful (writing a letter of gratitude results in a better mood for 30 days!).

3. Make friends (loneliness is associated with high blood pressure, smoking and stress).

4. Volunteer (donate four hours each week for more optimism, self-esteem and sociability).

5. Focus on the present (regular courses in mindfulness and now-focused meditation resulted in reduced anxiety).

6. Follow your passion (find the things you love, do them, and enjoy a richer life).

7. Move (exercise eases depression).

8. Laugh (may reduce stress and improve blood flow).

I do most of those eight things. I'm a little light on volunteering, lately (since we moved last fall). And I'm not sure what my passion is, at the moment (but I'll work on that!). So the list makes me feel pretty happy about myself, working on my health by being in a good mood.

More than that, however, it seems to me that these eight traits also lead to more and stronger friendships. I would love to be friends with someone who is positive, thankful, friendly, voluntary, now-focused, passionate, moving and laughing. In fact, when I look at it that way, having more friends with those eight traits will make those eight traits stronger in me. Resulting in even more friends, and truly astonishing health.

Now, I need to write a couple of thank you notes, go for a walk (while thinking about my passions), and figure out where to volunteer my time.

DAH is David Anthony Hance at www.DAHplaytime.com and www.VintageNewWorld.com

Circles of Friends

I read in the newspaper about 'The Girls from Ames,' a book by Jeffrey Zaslow. I tells the story of a circle of girlfriends from Ames, Iowa, who have hung together as friends, despite geographical separations and various life challenges since their grade school days. They're now in their 40s.

I've always had some circle of friends. But, apparently, it's rare. More rare for men than women, too (men, according to what I read, tend to build bonds around activities - bonds that tend to end if the activities end). Maybe involvement in theater helped with DAH building a circle of friends. While each production would end, we often hooked up with one another for other productions, and would often find things to do together because we were around the theater.

At dinner the other evening, it was clear from our conversation about this subject that, while all of us had friends, a consistent circle of friends was a bit unusual. I have one group of friends from High School, and we still get together as a group at least a couple of times each year. I have another group of friends from early in my wine industry career. Some of those are gone (MIA or really gone), and we meet infrequently, but there's still a bond there. And I've got a loose set of theater friends from Ukiah, that form a circle, too.

I've always thought of my world as sets of tribes, different sets of friends. Some of them close to me, some of them orbiting farther out (but readily identifiable as members of the tribe, nonetheless).

It is a lonely thought for me, to think that there aren't circles of friends for everyone. My family isn't very large, and I'd be quite at sea in the world without my friends. I guess those with larger families get a sense of belonging from those families. But my bigger family, my blood relations, my circles of friends, and my tribes are necessary to sustain me.

DAH is David Anthony Hance at www.DAHplaytime.com and www.VintageNewWorld.com

Rapt

Winifred Gallagher's husband begins calling their home 'Harmonia' when her experience with cancer treatment marvelously focuses her mind on the 'now' and the happiness one must find in that now (if there may be no tomorrow).

I'm reading 'Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life' by Winifred Gallagher (published April 2009).

From early in the book (page 5):

'As the poet says in Beowulf, 'Every life has more than enough sadness and more than enough joy.' By skillfully managing your attention, you're able to experience both in a balanced way and stay oriented in a positive, productive direction. John Milton might have been thinking of the power of focus when he wrote: 'The mind in its own place, and in itself / Can make a heav'n of hell, a hell of heav'n.'

I like the heav'n 'n' hell bit from Milton. It reminds me of someone (can't remember who) suggesting that they were the same place, and we got to make our own judgment about whether we were 'up there' or 'down there' - because the after-life was going to be simply a heightened, intensified version of how we experience this life. If you like what you've got now, good! You're getting more of it. If you don't like what you have now, guess what?

I also like the notion that our life is composed of the things to which we pay attention. And that the paying of attention changes outcomes. That fits with the quantum physics suggestion that we can't observe anything without changing it.

And this all operates with a little more scientific vigor than does the power of positive thinking incorporated into pop-psych books like 'The Secret.'

In Rapt, Ms. Gallagher suggests that our quality of life depend on that to which we pay attention, and how we choose to pay attention. We may be limited in our abilities to focus (and often we may split our focus inappropriately), but Ms. Gallagher delivers good news: We have more control over our focus than we think, and that control gives us the capacity to influence our experience.

Referencing scientific research and personal stories, Ms. Gallagher's 'Rapt' gives important new meaning to the command: 'Pay Attention!'

DAH is David Anthony Hance at www.DAHplaytime.com and www.VintageNewWorld.com