the new batch has arrived

We've been prepping the chicken shed for the last few weeks and today we went to get our new flock. A nice little poultry farm in Tarleton.

Two White Stars that will lay white eggs, and three brown hybrids (can't for the life of me remember what the farm called them). So, in a few weeks time that'll be around 30 eggs a week (usually count on 6 a week from each hen).

They seem quite settled in the chicken shed. Only two of them chose to venture outside in the run though. Not surprising since the White Stars have been raised in a barn and have never even seen outside. Hoping tomorrow, once they see the brown ones go out again, they'll get braver.

Had to clip their wings as well today. Good excuse to handle them. They can be very cute when you're holding them.

Hope Freddie Fox keeps away.

productivity versus simplicity

I used to be a big follower of Leo Babauta's blog Zen Habits. Several years ago, the site used to be a great place to go to for simple productivity advice. I honestly believe that the advice I picked up from that, and his book 'Zen to Done' has helped keep me sane in the workplace. However, now that Leo has changed track somewhat and is happy to throw away the productivity advice, it feels right that I should reconsider what I've learnt and look at how I want to continue going forward.

I've been following the advice in Zen to Done for about four years and have a list of 3-4 'Most Important Things' to do each day. This has been great as it allows me to focus on tasks that will add value rather than tasks that will keep me busy.

The weekly review is the checks and balances part of the system. Once a week, I look at my goals, my tasks, my notes, and get things ready for the week ahead. This is a good time to be honest and evaluate whether the work I'm doing week in, week out, is contributing in a positive way to my goals.

The most important tool in my productivity arsenal (not sure if that's good, that I'm using military metaphors), is undoubtedly Remember the Milk. This task logging website has been at the core of my work for over four years. Essentially just a way to create tasks and organise into lists, its beauty lies in its tagging system and the flexibility to use whatever system you like to manage your work. Although free, I've been a paying pro member for the last couple of years just because I value it so highly. Whatever productivity system I choose to go with (or not), there's always going to be a place for Remember the Milk in my day to day life.

So, am I happy with my productivity system or should I throw it all away like Leo suggests and follow a simpler path? My system with Remember the Milk is anything but simple. If I tried to explain to anyone what I was doing with it, they'd be confused by the second sentence. But it does work well for me. Would I like it to be simpler? Yes. Would I like to throw away the productivity system completely and just follow my passions? Yes.

But, I live in a world where that simply isn't possible. I have a job that demands that certain tasks get done by certain dates. I've got a busy family life that's only going to get busier as the children get older, and I've got dreams I want to see fulfilled. My overriding concern through life is to be happy. And right now that means having some control over my day, whilst giving my dreams the attention they deserve.

Any thoughts?

chrome vs Internet Explorer - the rematch

I can't seem to make my mind up.
I mentioned a while ago that due to some issues with some of the websites we use in work, I'd switched from using Chrome to using Internet Explorer. I was quite happy with this - for a time. Then recently, a few things have happened that have made me reassess this:

• The sites that were causing a problem before, started working with Chrome.
• Our IT department stopped blocking Dropbox. I was an avid user of dropbox for syncing my files between several computers. When IT blocked it, I switched to using Windows Live Mesh, which was OK, but it didn't give me some of the features of Dropbox like iPhone access, or version control. Now that dropbox is available to me, I've no reason to use Windows Live Mesh (which was made easier when using Internet Explorer).
• Google went mad and started refreshing all of the UI for their major products. I guess this would work OK in Internet Explorer but it was like a siren's call bringing me back to the Google fold.

I feel a bit bad about leaving Internet Explorer behind, but it's still a fair bit away from where Chrome is offering me.

running update

I am still running. Admittedly not as often as I was when I started the new habit. In April, I started off by running every day, and this continued until probably the middle of July when I started allowing myself a day off here and there. Right now, I'm getting out about four times a week. The biggest hurdle has been the darker mornings. I hate getting up in the dark as it is, and getting up to go outside when it all sounds a bit miserable out there - well on some mornings that's been just too much. However, I have been out in the dark and wet, and once I'm out there and running I can't say I really notice it. The aim has never been to get fit; I have no plans to take part in any races. The point of the running was to get me up in the morning and find that bit of 'me' time before the house wakes up.

Even if I choose not to go running, I don't lie in bed. I'll get up, grab a coffee, and sit down to do some writing. This new morning routine has been hugely impactful on my happiness. Every day, even if I get no time to do anything else that I might want, I know I've had that little bit of time in the morning to write. This makes it so much easier to commit to time spent with the family, playing with the kids, being present for them. And when it comes to the crunch, that's what I want to be. A dad who was present.

keeping blogs simple

So, I've moved my blog again back to its original home. I've been using wordpress for a while but since the latest update to Blogger, I thought I'd bring the blog back under Google.
Interested to see if this gets any hits from my Google+ contacts.
I think this qualifies as a move towards keeping my life simpler. I was finding it very tricky to find what I needed to do in Wordpress. Hopefully, the new Google user interface for Blogger will be an improvement.