Writing, marketing and technology
Interruptions kill productivity. But background noise can slow you down in less obvious ways: Fatigue. Noise makes you tired. Just as shouting over loud music in a bar strains your voice, your brain has to work harder to filter out unwanted information. Poor concentration. It’s more likely that your brain will latch onto some background [...]
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I’ve just discovered Daytum. It’s mission is to let you “collect, categorize and communicate your everyday data.” What this means in practice is a configurable dashboard that lets you add numerical information and display it using a range of graphs. Here are some possible uses for writers: Tracking word count output day by day Monitoring [...]
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To be a great writer, you have to be able to concentrate. Not only that but you have to be able to maintain focus for sustained periods. It’s not the only thing you’ll need but it’s a good start. Psychologists describe a powerful form of concentration called ‘flow’. It happens when someone concentrates fully engaged [...]
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Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister is the one book you MUST read if you are in any kind of professional, knowledge worker business. Although it is written for the software companies, in fact it is packed with insight that applies to any business where people work with their brains. [...]
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There’s a great article on Slate about a writer who uses earplugs to block the noise of construction workers and ends up using them all the time. I’m a light sleeper and use them to block out party noise and things like that. For writing, though, I prefer Bose noise cancelling headphones. They’re like the [...]
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Why I like Vista and Office 2007 for writing. Word count. I like Word 2007. In particular, I like the continuously updated word count in the status bar at the bottom of the window. This is probably the best single feature for professional writers. You can also drag a selection of text and it shows [...]
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YouGov, the polling company, carried out a survey of 1,200 businesses in the UK and reports that unnecessary face-to-face meetings cost UK businesses £17 billion annually. The survey was carried out on behalf of Polycom, a video and phone conferencing company, so the spin is obvious. I am sceptical of PR-driven market research. (See my [...]
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Thomas Carlyle, the 19th century sage and writer, had the attic of his house in Chelsea sound-proofed. He couldn’t concentrate with all the noise of the house and street. You can still visit 24 Cheyne Row today. My first proper computer was a Mac Plus (with a whole 20mb of hard disk space). It too [...]
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The benefits of working from home are obvious. If you’re a regular employee: you skip the commute and there are no office distractions for the day. If you’re an entrepreneur: reduced overheads, no commuting and a congenial working environment. When I ran the computer games company I had a big office. Actually, it was so [...]
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Samuel Johnson, the author of the famous dictionary, once said, “any man may write if he will set himself doggedly to it.” In my case, I need a little encouragement. This is why I like Joe’s Goals. It’s a free, online service that lets you set up daily goals or habits and then check them off [...]
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Matthew Stibbe is CEO of Articulate Marketing and Turbine, the easy, online way to deal with office paperwork. He edits Golf Hotel Whiskey and writes the Forbes Aviator column.
Check out my new, free eBook, 30 Days to Better Business Writing, 71 pages of expert tips and advice to make you a better writer. Available on Kindle, paper and free online.