There is more to note taking than just writing stuff down.

Michael Hyatt, the Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Thomas Nelson Publishers, explains why note taking is important and provides some tips like using symbols to quickly identify different types of information.

Gina Trapani provides an interesting presentation expanding on Michael’s tips that helps further organize the information in the context of taking smart meeting notes.

Now all we have to do is follow-up on all the beautiful organized notes we will be taking by keeping in mind the purpose of why we took the notes in the first place.

He provides a concise explanation why critical reading is important:

Critical reading supports critical thinking which helps reduce how much your opinions are influenced by bogus information.

Critical reading and thinking are not the same as negative thinking. Critical thinking is doing some analysis to determine if there is sufficient and valid evidence for claims being made. Negative thinking is assuming the worst possible outcomes without analysis of other possibilities.

Howard Rheingold and other noted educators are creating a world-class resource for teaching critical thinking and Internet literacies.

Snopes.com sheds some light on the truthfulness of common Internet rumours.

Photo by passiveaggressivenotes – http://flic.kr/p/3PoEvj

On the 21 rules blog for standout project management a case is made for dealing with performance problems by not apologizing Technique: Never Apologize. Just fix the delivery problem by having a plan and following through with corrective action. The example used is having a discussion with a nonperforming supplier but it is just as applicable to our own activities. If original plans don’t work out don’t spend a lot of time beating yourself up – that is just self defeating and demotivating. Move forward by dusting yourself off and deciding to quit the plan or follow through with a corrective plan.

21 rules introduces the idea of a say-do ratio:

say/do = SayDo ratio

This is all well and good to become conscious of how much you are saying and doing but application of the formula isn’t explained any further.

Maybe I am taking use of the formula too far since most people won’t actually calculate it but I think it should be the DoSay ratio because for me the key thing is to do more and get a result with a higher number.

With a DoSay = do/say ratio:

If you say a lot and don’t do much your ratio will approach zero. If you do 10 things but say 100 the ratio is 0.1 or 10%

If you do what you say, your ratio will approach 1. Do 90 out of 100 things you say is a 0.9 ratio or 90%.

If you do a lot and say little your ratio can become high. Do 100 things and only say 10 is a 10 ratio which sounds impressive but …

Of course you can game the system by not saying very much and doing a few things to still get a high ratio. You are only fooling yourself so a high ratio might be cause for evaluation of why you are not saying what you plan to do. The ideal should be to say a lot (call your shots for almost all the items you want to achieve in order to get peer pressure motivation and support) and carry through to get a ratio as close as you can to 1. Another way of putting it is its not all about the ratio. The main evaluation criteria is how much you get done and that you are doing important things.(see Do more great work)

The key results of thinking about the DoSay ratio is to become more conscious of what you do and say to help you do more.

Oh and the part about not apologizing … well it is important to be a person of action but people including ourselves are emotional beings too so deal with that by apologizing for the impact you caused and show your sincerity by following through on your corrective plan – “actions speak louder than words”.

Getting Bigger Things Done

Vitamin-R is a Mac application to help you get things done (GTD) by helping you focus your attention on the ever so critical doing part. There are many other applications, most notably OmniFocus, that help with planning, organizing, and tracking completion of tasks but remarkably few that help with directing sustained attention on the longer tasks that typically are more challenging and often are the most important. David Allen, the original GTD guru, suggests that if you have an item that take less than 2 minutes to complete then “just do it”. Projects that take longer to complete need to be broken down into smaller tasks but some of these tasks, often the most worthwhile, need prolonged concentration from 15 to 30 minutes or more to make significant progress. Unitasking flow has become a rallying concept for improvement as more information has become available about the detrimental productivity effects of multitasking.

Traditionally the prescription for completing these most important and challenging tasks is just to “buckle down” and be disciplined. That can still work but why not go into battle with some ammunition and tools to fight back against all the distractions that can sabotage your best intentions. In recent times more information is becoming available from brain research which provides clues on how to more effectively manage attention in support of your better self and GTD ambitions.

Pomodoro Technique

The pomodoro technique is one approach that is becoming popular for getting done those longer tasks that require sustained concentration. Pomodoro is “tomato” in Italian and the technique is named after a simple timer shaped like a tomato that was used by the originator (Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s) to time his sprints of concentration on an important task. The technique consists in setting a timer for a short interval like 25 minutes and focussing your attention on just one important task for that interval. Afterwards reward yourself by taking a short optionally timed or untimed break.

Your computer, which is itself the source of many of the distractions, can also be put to use to help you concentrate your attention and that is what Vitamin-R supports by several functions in addition to the pomodoro timer.

Vitamin-R Features

Vitamin-R provides the following items:

• Removal of distractions by quitting or hiding other applications and muting sound
• Linking with OmniFocus tasks
• Timer start, pause, resume, stop.
• Task documentation editor for task objective, now, later, and scratch
• Insertion of text templates
• Reading objectives aloud
• Log book for results

Pomodoro Steps with Vitamin-R

When you have identified a “pomodoro” task you would like to complete the steps with Vitamin-R support would be as follows:

1. Removal of computer distractions by quitting or hiding and muting applications that are not needed for the task.
2. Link to an existing OmniFocus task or define a new one
3. Set the timer
4. Use the notes capability to identify now, later, or miscellaneous scratch items you want to remember but not distract you
5. Log results and track completion in your task manager such as OmniFocus

Benefits

Use of a timer for these important “pomodoro” tasks has the benefit of recording task times which can help in future task estimates. If the task wasn’t completed another pomodoro session can be timed after the break.

I like how keyboard control, shortcuts, and templates are provided in a rich text editor which help keep the focus on the task. Links to OmniFocus make for a more elegant workflow since productivity aficionados are almost certainly going to be using this or a similar application (support for Things is coming soon) for task management. I like the markup shortcuts provided with FastType magic which allows you to create action items, bulleted lists and checklists with a minimum of fuss by automatically translating certain characters into those formats. An enhancement that would be welcome is to have more integration of vitamin-R notes with OmniFocus so the complete record of a task is in one place.

The application also comes with pdf documentation which explains some background about the application, relevant brain research, future plans, and some suggested references. I like the tone of the documentation that recognizes that it is early days for this type of tool and that many changes are sure to come. It is mentioned up front that the software isn’t written by brain scientists but the important thing is whether the technique supported helps you get important things done. I found the free trial timed out before I was finished evaluating the product but it does offer a way to test the full functionality before purchasing.

Conclusion

A person could argue that there are alternatives to getting things done without Vitamin-R with separate timers, notepads, and utilities but if you believe as I do that removing as much friction and distraction as possible will improve your ability to get the more important things done then vitamin-R is well worth a try. I look forward to doing more pomodoros using vitamin-R.

Full disclosure:

Publicspace.net is offering a free license worth €14.95 Euros (currently $19.16 Canadian) for blog posts about their product. The content of this blog post has not been affected by this offer.

In the most recent issue of Wired, Nicholas Carr wrote an article (“The Web Shatters Focus and Rewires the Brain”) about how the Internet and hyperlinked material in general are affecting people’s brains by making them shallower thinkers that skim material and can’t focus or concentrate on concepts as well. The article is an excerpt from a whole book on the effects of the Internet called “The Shallows” that advocates unplugging at some times as one way to counteract these effects.

Another issue, is that people today in many environments face a lot of stimulating distractions and stress about getting many things done. This has lead people to try multitasking which research has shown can be counter-productive.

Since using the Internet regularly is important to a lot of people and has a lot of benefits, methods of having the best of both online and offline worlds are desirable. One option that could be beneficial is to practice the Pomodoro technique which addresses both distractions and multi-tasking by advocating short bursts of activity on one task which you give your full concentration before taking a break.

Original video from Pomodoro Technique on YouTube*.

The Pomodoro technique is very similar to what is advocated in the book, “The Power of Full Engagement” where it is emphasized that managing energy (and attention), not time, is the key to high performance. In ‘The Power of Full Engagement”, 90 minutes is identified as the maximum time that people should try to stay focussed before taking a break. In “Brain Rules”, another book on brain research results, 10 minutes is identified as a point where something needs to be done to retain a person’s attention. The suggested Pomodoro interval of 25 minutes might be a good stretch for focussing on a key task.

Update: 2010-06-11

Steven Pinker in the New York Times provides some necessary context on the history of blaming new media for affecting thinking. There are a lot of benefits to new information sources in addition to new challenges in the assault on our attention.

MindHacks says that neuroplasticity is a dirty word since it is often used without a clear definition of what it really means.

“It’s currently popular to solemnly declare that a particular experience must be taken seriously because it ‘rewires the brain’ despite the fact that everything we experience ‘rewires the brain’.”

* Note:

The video above does not use Flash. Please use a modern Internet browser to view it.

Supported Browsers

Browsers that support both the video tag in HTML5 and either the h.264 video codec or the WebM format (with VP8 codec) will work. These include:

Sharpbrains is a new company dedicated to brain fitness research and marketing. They have published a book on the brain fitness market that is available from their Web site.

Who wouldn’t want to have a Sharp brain? Or maybe not a Sharp brain but a unique mind that they make the most of. Of course we all have one but who couldn’t benefit from understanding the brain more with practical tips on how to make use of that increased understanding for achieving results in our projects?

Some other brain research resources that have caught my attention recently:

Brain Rules

Pragmatic Thinking and Learning

A pragmatic approach to thinking and learning based on information on our brain’s architecture and wiring. Andy Hunt’s book gives a programmer’s perspective on how to learn more efficiently to progress from a novice to expert through the 5 stage Dreyfuss model.

Brain that changes itself

Stories of personal triumph from the frontiers of brain science. The discovery of neuroplasticity, that our thoughts can change the structure and function of our brains, even into old age lends some credence to the power of positive thinking.

Mind Hacks: Tips and Tricks for using your Brain

Neuroscience and psychology tricks discussed and perhaps explained. Some examples of mind hacks:

Steven Johnson, author of “Mind Wide Open” writes in his foreword to the book, “These hacks amaze because they reveal the brain’s hidden logic; they shed light on the cheats and shortcuts and latent assumptions our brains make about the world.”

Whole New Mind

Daniel Pink’s book promotes that right brain creativity is becoming more valuable and appreciated. The cover actually says that right brainers will rule the future.

Scott Berkun

Scott, the author of “Myths of Innovation”, “Secrets of a Public Speaker” and “Making Things Happen” (all excellent books), lauds Brain Rules as the best book he has read this year and while sympathetic to Daniel Pink’s premise, he is critical of the lack of supporting material in a Whole New Mind.

If you are interested in this type of stuff or know someone who is, there will be more on my blogs about how brain research information can help with your projects. For those of you that are on the twitterverse and like to get information as it happens you can also follow me personally @glenesharp or professionally @sinnosol.

Smarterware is the glue for leveraging information and communication technology by focussing on enhancing the effectiveness of the human element in the overall system.

A couple of good examples are given and a case is made that success takes systematic discipline rather than chaotic disorganization to empower creativity.