I love fall. From back to school, to Thanksgiving, Halloween, and everything in between. Here are 5 things to love about fall:

1. Fires! There is nothing that says fall to me like a fire in the backyard to roast some s’mores over. We rarely have them in the summer, but when fall comes we stoke the fire again.
2. The first morning when I need a jacket. I love the feeling of needing slightly more clothing on. Dont’ get me wrong, I love flip flop, shorts and a t-shirts. But when fall rolls around again and I need a jacket for the first time I love it.
3. Backpacking. I love this all year long, but there is something great about the leaves, the mountains, the temperature, the lack of bugs, and the quiet that sets in when fall arrives that is awesome. Nights are cold in the mountains but most days you are in shorts and a t-shirt still on the trail. Sleeping is also usually better when it is chilly and you bundle up in the sleeping bag.
4. Football! Nothing says fall like “ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL”. Although I am going to make sure I don’t watch EVERY game available this year (as I have in the distant past), I love when the season begins. I watch very little TV the rest of the year, but when the NFL season begins I am an addict for a few weeks. Monday Nights are my favorite (preferably with some Bateman’s wings and Dogfish Head IPA.
5. Nights out on the patio on the in 50 degree whether! Most people know I LOVE it outside. Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. But it is the best when you can sit outside with a slight chill and watch the stars overhead. (tonight this was while grilling some burgers and handing out with Riley and Seth).

I love every fall. But I do have one more reason (the mystery number 6 reason for loving fall). 3 weeks from today I get to be one of the best men (Jeff Weaver is the other one) in the Brisa Bond wedding. That’s just icing on the cake.

Keep moving forward,

Greg

So with the drastically changing landscape of communication there are really very few areas that aren’t going to be affected. Old things that we now take for granted for being “the way things are” will be transformed radically.

Here’s just one small example: Hulu, the “television station” on the web that plays so many shows has launched a Facebook App that allows you to “watch TV” with your friends over facebook.

Pretty soon watching a game or show with your close friend who is living in Chicago while you are here in Baltimore will be a reality (video chat with that can’t be too far behind).

Check it out.

I have spent a lot of time on personal productivity issues. My first professional mentor was a master at being productive and got more done than anyone I have ever met. I watched and learned and tried to apply and want to share some of what I learned from him. Here’s a post on how I manage email. It’s the first in a series on personal productivity.

Productivity Series: Getting to Zero

(and staying there)

The inbox is a frustration for a lot of people. I get about 200 emails per day. That’s a lot of messages to go through (6,000 per month!).

About 5 years ago, after reading David Allen’s terrific book, Getting Things Done, I realized I needed to get control of my inbox. Important things that I needed to respond to were getting overlooked, projects that I wanted to move forward were getting stalled, and I was missing out on opportunities that I wanted to take advantage of.

So I took control following the Getting Things Done (GTD) system and spent one weekend going through all of my email. I deleted thousands that weekend, responded to others, and filed a lot. I won’t go into the details of how I got up to date. It was a ton of work but was worth it.

Now my inbox is almost never above 100 at any time and at the end of every day is almost always under 30 and often almost 0.

Here are the top 5 email tactics that will help you get your inbox under control:

Use little bits of time

Use small amounts of time that would normally be wasted to get rid of unnecessary emails or things you can respond to in a minute or less. About 1/2 of my daily inbox influx is things that can be responded to quickly or filed right away.

Eliminate unnecessary emails quickly and religiously

I unsubscribe from anything that I am not interested in and use RSS and other services to reduce inbox clutter. This has reduced my inbox daily influx by 50 emails per day or so. I still get many newsletters and broadcast emails, but they are the ones that I want to see in my inbox.

Use a mobile device to help manage on the road

I use the iPhone which has enabled me to work on my inbox and keep it clean while in the dentist office, the drive through, or while waiting for an appointment somewhere. And the iPhone’s IMAP configuration for email syncs with my google apps gmail so that when I archive something on the iPhone it is also archived in gmail when I log on.

Archive and file things immediately

Utilizing gmails unbelievable search not sort ability I take 70%+ of my emails and archive them almost immediately after adding a task to my GTD project or task list. For example my plane reservations for the flight I am going on this week don’t need to stay in my inbox because searching for Southwest will produce my itinerary in seconds when I need it.

Stay on it and don’t get too far behind

I spend 30 minutes or so each night getting from 70 emails down to 30 or less. This isn’t hard and doesn’t take much brain power so it is easy to do while watching a TV show or hanging out with Elise.

Some would say that I obsess too much with the clean inbox. I understand that, and my methods aren’t for everyone.

I will tell you this. Every morning I awake and get in the office ready to hit the day and not feeling behind on things because I know that my necessary communication is up to date, filed, or on a project list to be dealt with.

Keep moving forward,

Greg

I grew up in a church with a lot of “bad” people. Lots of conflict and I never understood why my parents were always on the “right” side of it and the other people were always on the “wrong” side of it. The extremes were killer.

Now as an adult I still have whacky family members that live in the extremes of one side or the other (on both sides by the way). My lens has changed and I view it all differently now. It’s why I can appreciate Obama talking to my kids in school without flipping out. There can be virtue on both sides.

I still struggle today with being superior. Even tonight I was adamantly arguing with a close friend about a truly insignificant issue that I had to be “right” about.

I’m a true older brother (when I am not a younger brother that is). (Luke 15:11-32)

I was so refreshed reading this article by Gordan McDonald on Senator Edward Kennedy’s funeral [and I would feel the same if this was a different politicians funeral].

Read the article here.

I love the Verizon commercial with the dad tweeting on the back patio as he is with his kids on the back patio.

This one is just as funny: