Captchas are evil. Honestly. Half the time I can’t even figure out a Captcha because I think there’s some kind of weirdo trickery going on. Since when do they use DASHES?! Maybe they always have but I’ve never come across them.

This showed up on my iPhone when trying to login to LinkedIn via a browser and not the mobile app. This is one hell of a Captcha to figure out on a teeny tiny screen, not to mention the word that they’re using is probably only in 10% of all people’s vocab..

Then there’s this that I came across when looking at houses in some rental magazine. Tell me what’s a little peculiar about this one. I’ll give you a chocolate cookie if you’re right…

YEAH! No driveway. This isn’t the Jetson’s! We can’t magically hover into our garages. What is going on with this model home!? I suspect they were too cheap to pour the driveway. Silly, silly model home makers. *Sigh*

Pretty much, I’m going through and trying to re-evaluate how much privacy I actually have online and I’ve been sifting through my online footprints for a little while today. I write everywhere, I’m always trying new techniques and networks to keep up with the industry. But some of them aren’t relevant and need to not be alive anymore. Seriously.

Any good tips on erasing footprints or unnecessary information online that I may not have seen? I’ve seen a few websites that let you check for your name across social networks etc, but that doesn’t help me as many of my old names are under email accounts that are pretty much dead beyond death- I have no access to them.

Also, what are your privacy settings on a lot of ‘professional’ things? We all know (from anything I’ve written) that I’m totally for privacy, but it’s hard to distinguish privacy lines when using a professional name or network.

How often do you clean out your lists and get rid of professional (or even personal contacts) you no longer have a desire to follow? Or do you always keep them as a connection because you never know who you may need to be in contact with?

Also, interested in knowing where your name is registered? Try these out:

• http://www.usernamecheck.com/
• http://checkusernames.com/
• http://knowem.com/
• http://usernamez.com/
• http://namechk.com/

Don’t look me up or I’ll kill you. Kidding! …. or am I?

Tips? Resources? Thoughts?

Action Method Excerpts- Tally ho!

Attraction often breeds commitment: If you enjoy your method for staying organized, you are more likely to use it consistently over time. For this reason, little details like colors of folders you use or the quality of the paper can actually help boost your productivity.

This is SO TRUE. I have a hodgepodge of different sticky note colors and little action cahiers because I LIKE THEM. And when I like something, I use it. I enjoy it. Everyone has an individual method to keeping track of their personal tasks which is necessary. Find the method that is best for you- because when you’re organized as an individual you’ll be organized in the team as well.

While many project management methods support “to-do” lists that multiple people can share, true accountability is never achieved unless your team members choose to accept their delegated Action Steps. Not only should outstanding work tasks be transparent to all members of the team (or at least one or two other colleagues), but your colleagues should activity accept or reject Action Steps that you assign them. This “conceptual handshake” creates accountability and eliminates the ambiguous Action Steps that notoriously clog the progress in any project.

I completely agree with this, and he couldn’t have said this in a better way. I know having a check and balance system can be annoying, but when you’re leading a team or  working within one, you really need to have a system like this in place. Nothing is more frustrating than making sure you’re accountable for everything given to you, and then not having people do the same. If I have an action step delegated to me, I confirm- and I generally expect the same when I delegate myself.

If you have a disconnect in the team and you aren’t sure if something has been seen or acknowledged, it could seriously kink the whole team’s effort. Not having confirmation is equivalent to having a car without a functioning gas pedal. You know the pedal is there, but you can’t get any motion til you feel the movement. It’s simple to me.

• Input action steps into system
• Acknowledge
• Confirm ability to complete task
• Acknowledge that task has been completed

Yes, it seems very forced and rudimentary but when you having vagueness floating around it makes it difficult for the team to start and finish their project. Once a team member gets used to not conforming to everyone else’s standards, it becomes harder to make them engage with the team and see themselves as a vital part of it. A rogue team member will often feel they don’t need to confirm action steps which alienates them and also causes confusion among other team members.

Whatever action management system you use, Action Steps should be recorded in a consistant way, assigned to a project, and given a due date (when applicable). By doing so, you are setting yourself up for the ultimate productivity.

Consistency is key and I think setting an internal deadline is best since sometimes projects don’t go according to plan. This way you have a buffer from your actual deadline. I usually set internal deadlines for my own work so I trick myself into thinking it needs to be done earlier than it does.

If it can be done in two minutes, it should be done right away. After all, it will take a minute or so just to enter it into your system, so why not take care of it already?

What can I say about this? It’s so true. If you have a task that will take you no time at all, don’t procrastinate until you truly don’t have time and need to push it off. Unless it’s a personal task, it will affect everyone.

Don’t dwell. When urgent matters arise, they tend to evoke anxiety. We dwell on the potential negative outcomes of all the challenges before us- even before the action is taken. Worrying wastes time and distracts us from returning to the important stuff.

It’s true. Often times when we’re working on multiple projects, things that come up will throw us into a frenzy because it doesn’t fit into our plan. We have to take these in stride- the amount of anxiety you allot to something new isn’t going to change what has to be done, or the outcome. It can only harm the outcome if you shut yourself down.

Hoarding urgent items is one of the most damaging tendencies I’ve noticed in creative professionals who have encountered early success. When you are in the position to do so, challenge yourself to delegate important items.

I’ll admit it. I’m extremely guilty of this. I trust things to be done in my own hands, so often times I won’t delegate. I’ve been actively working on this lately and I feel like I’m making progress with trusting team members to work on things that are urgent so I can concentrate on my main tasks at hand. This goes back to acknowledgement of an action step- If you’re delegating a task and nervous about whether it might be done the way you want it to be, make sure the action step is acknowledged by your team member and it will put your mind at peace.

• You can check in from time to time on progress, but not too much.
• If it’s a week long process, maybe check in every few days.
• Both you and your team members should be mutually accepting of this practice and know that it’s nothing against their ability to work, it’s simply to make sure it’s done effectively and to show that you’re available for help if wanted.
• Team members can get annoyed with check ins if they know they aren’t proactively working on the task they need to be. Be calm.
• Don’t allow yourself to be walked on and if you feel you are- let your superior know.
• Make it clear that if the task cannot be complete, to be notified ahead of time- this will also set your mind at ease and set boundaries.

If you are new to delegation in the team environment, make sure it’s clear if you’re receiving negativity from the team. A team can be like a pack of hyenas if they don’t accept your position or aren’t willing to see you as someone they need to be willing to work with. Much disconnect comes from a lack of clear hierarchy ; and while hierarchy clearly isn’t everything (especially in the creative environment) it helps with the check and balance system and makes everyone’s lives easier on the team when they willingly acknowledge and execute.

Amidst the chaos of meetings and trying to prioritize the elements of  multiple projects, nagging from others helps you prioritize by natural selection. When someone is consistently bothering you about something, chances are you have become a bottleneck in the team’s productivity. As you allocate your energy across projects, it is often difficult to know how your decisions affect others.

I don’t like the word “nagging” (mainly because it’s used by people in the married life talking about their significant others) but I LIKE being nagged at in the work place. I like knowing when something becomes urgent, and I like making sure I get it quick and make the other person’s life easier. Nag away! If you want something done, just tell me.

I totally support this culture and you would be surprised at how many highly successful companies pointed out in this book support this culture as well- it attributes to their success because they don’t have rogue employees.

Making ideas happen actually boils down to self-discipline and the ways in which you take action.

I remind myself of this everyday. Is something not getting done on my end? I probably just need to sit my ass down and considering it urgent to myself. There is NO benefit to procrastination unless it involved pizza/chinese food night, wine and a movie. Then, it’s kind of acceptable

When we become passionate about a particular project and invest tremendous amounts of time and energy, it’s only natural that we become less willing to change course. Momentum and other sources of energy that help us survive the project plateau can also make us headstrong. As we become more confident, we also become more resistant to change- even when we need it.

I’m used to change. I’ve lived my life moving (sometimes even living outside the country) and adapting to new places, people and things. My brain thrives on changes and I really see the benefit. Putting yourself out of your comfort zone for the benefit of the project is crucial for self improvement and growth. If you’re on a team and your project needs to be adapted or others have ideas as to what could help with an issue- accept it. Your team is there to help and support you, not mess up your projects.

In my industry especially, change is important and if you can’t work with it, you either need to find a way to do so, or get left behind.

This is all I’m going to pull from the book in regards to the Action Method. Part 2 (which I will be putting up later today/tomorrow) is going to go over leadship and team productivity- pulling more quotes from the book

First, let me preface this by saying we always keep the door to the bathroom shut. Mainly because the puppy likes to steal old qtips from the trashcan (I like to think she’s hinting to us that she wants her ears cleaned but really she’s just being a nasty puppy with no regard for germs) and she likes to lay on the bathmat and get hair everywhere.

We went to bed last night, with the bathroom door (in our master bedroom) shut.

Now, I keep this huge vat of lotion by the sink (aka, a really ridiculously large bottle) and it hasn’t moved from there since.. well, since we moved in. I barely use it because I bought it as an emergency and got the cheapest kind called doesntworkthatwell. I have pretty smelly stuff I would rather use, and the boyfriend clearly doesn’t want to smell like cocoa-y chocolate crap, because even I don’t want to, and I’m female.

We both go to bed last night, as I was saying, and I awoke this morning a little after 6 to go to the gym, with nothing out of the ordinary going on. I went into the bathroom and noticed something was missing.

MY LOTION.

I looked around, baffled, because clearly it was there before bedtime (as usual, like good trusty lotion thatnevergetsused should be) and CLEARLY it does not have legs, as far as I know. I scratch my head and keep looking around, thinking MAYBE because I was pre-coffee, perhaps my cognitive senses weren’t at their sharpest. THEN…. I spot it in the wild. My lotion was sitting on a shelf, in the shower. As dry as it could be. With the shower door slid open just enough so that it could either 1) jump in there to cause mass confusion, or 2) get moved there by whatever weird thing is responsible for dimming, turning off and turning on the lights at night.

You should also note that I’m extremely OCD about random things and I always make sure the shower door is completely closed. Because I may, or may not be, slightly crazy.

let’s recap.

1) sleep with door shut, lotion in place, shower door closed.
2) wake up, bathroom door closed, lotion in shower, shower opened approximately a half a foot.

I think I have a weird haunting going on. What do you guys think? Mind you, lots has happened prior to this.

Me: “What’s your email address?”

Kid trapped in social network: “An e…. wait, what?”

Me: “Email address! Electronic mail!”

Kid trapped in social network: “Mail can be electronic? Cool. so… what is mail anyway? Is that that thing called ‘snail mail’ that I hear about? …….DO I HAVE ONE?”

Me: “No! I don’t know, DO YOU have an email address? You know, so and so @ whatever . com?”

Kid trapped in social network: “I don’t know who so and so is. Is he at whatever.com? Is that a physical building?”

Me: “……….”

Kid trapped in social network: “………!?”

Me: “Nevermind.”

Kid trapped in social network: “Hey! Do you have Facebook? Or Myspace? What’s your Twitter handle?”

….

I’m sure we’ve all experienced this. Either that, or I’m the lucky one who finds people who have no idea what an email address is. This is more common than you may think- youngish (well, age is relative I guess, seeing as I’m in my mid 20′s) kids that don’t have an email address and have no clue what purpose it could possibly serve (because duh, everyone loves having public communications on a social network that essentially owns all your data) are easier to find- because they can do everything through FB private messages and wall posts, Myspace Email, and Twitter DMs.

Guess what!

I love signing into my personal email address, where everything is JUST how I want it, organized until it’s apparent I’m OCD- with no clutter, status messages or anything irrelevant to what I’m doing. This is why social networks will never…. repeat after me please… NEVER, replace traditional email, for those of us who are actually using the internet for useful things and not to spy on who went where and who broke up with who.

Security Reasons

Social networks are NOT secure. And I’m not saying that Gmail, Yahoo! and other webmail accounts are completely secure, but I’m saying that they are probably more secure than a place where you can accidentally post something to someone’s wall, rather than in a private message.

Also, believe it or not (shocking I know) businesses will not be sending private messages on Facebook to get things done. Facebook messages and events are ideal for sending out charity fundraiser information, office party time and location, or after work activities, but for the LOVE OF GOD do not send anything related that could break a confidentiality agreement or NDA. Just don’t. And if you have to ask me why, then you’re way worse than I thought.

Plus, if you use certain mail services, you can track when your mail has been received and read.

File Sharing

You can’t share files through social network messages- and even traditional email can’t handle certain sizes that you may need to send for feedback, editing or collaboration. While there are apps like BaseCamp and Central Desktop that can handle this for you, don’t let that be the reason you deny yourself a wonderful email address. There’s plenty of external services you can use through email to send large files- and organize.

Email will allow you to sort, filter, label and categorize your files so you’ll never lose what you need. No functionality like this has been replicated in a social network messaging space- and I hope they don’t try. It’s hard enough to concentrate at work when you’re getting notifications from social networks in your email address- let’s not make it so that we have to cross through the evil social network barrier to even see our important attachments.

End of the world right there.

Privacy

Some things really should be shared via email. I’m actually pretty disgusted at the amount of stuff shared via Facebook wall posts, Myspace messages and Twitter replies. Also, Facebook status messages are just out of control. 1) I don’t really need to know how many times in the day you went to the bathroom, what you ate for dinner, or what TV show you’re watching. 2) I’m sure nobody else really needs to see your personal invites for friends to go out, on their walls. Haven’t you heard of a telephone? Or even a text message! Maybe… AN EMAIL!

TMI. Get it under control. Thank god for privacy options that will allow you to cut people out of your feed stream so you don’t see updates every 5 minutes.

Also, putting boyfriend and girlfriend stuff up can be cute- I don’t necessarily frown upon that. But full on 9 sentence wall posts or status updates outlining your date night from start to finish are entirely unnecessary- including how much fun you had. Maybe I’m old school, but I enjoy getting to work and seeing an email (in my personal account) or text message from my significant other (and yes, even 4 years later) about what fun we had the night before. Don’t put this out for everyone to see. Make it special! Better yet, try writing a handwritten note. This completely trumps email.

Note: this becomes a worse offense if you live with your significant other.

Separation of work and play

This is pretty much the last reason. I don’t want to work where I play. While I may need to utilize Facebook, Twitter and other social networks while working on campaigns, it doesn’t mean I’m playing on there or even checking my personal stuff. Productivity wise, having a separate space for work and personal emails… surrounded by nothing but sidebars with labels and folders, is best for your productivity.

Also, if you really want to have some things for stress relief inside your email, try using an RSS feed or Google Reader. This way, you’ll have content waiting for you to consume it with your hungry eyes, but it won’t be directly in your face.

Finito

Keep an email address. Some things are better off being communicated through email and not wall posts and private messages. Have your own separate space to be as OCD as you please- free from drama and messages that could side track you.

A side note? If you’re only using email for work purposes and conduct ALL your personal business on a social network (I hope there aren’t many of you out there who do this) make sure that when you have a file to send, an email to reply to, or a task assigned through email, that you aren’t uploading pictures or replying to people on a social network where everyone can see you. Saying “I’ll get to it in a minute, I’m busy with work!” while you’re posting pictures from last night just won’t cut it.

That’s another reason why you shouldn’t work where you play.

I really hated this about Facebook- I always wished that you could get rid of certain aspects and useless boxes hanging around. Well, my dream came true! I logged into Facebook today and found this glorious message on my Esvienne page:

Starting August 23rd, they’re getting rid of those space-eating boxes and also changing the dimensions (to 520 pixel width- you’ll be able to preview your tabs with these dimensions and adjust accordingly) on tabs. Ultimately, this feedback has come from developers and will make their lives (and our lives) more simplistic. Thanks Facebook Developers!

I feel like Gmail adding a ton of crazy awesome capabilities and lab features lately… but what the hell is with their choice of interface? I feel like everytime Gmail does some kind of visual update, it look worse than it did before.

I’ve tried every kind of webmail under the sun (and have about 80 billion email addresses to prove it) and I stick with Gmail because I love the functionality and customizability (is this a word? Is now.) of it. But I must say… I’m a visual person, and if they’re adding random “Compose” buttons that stick out like a sore thumb, I have to wonder where they’re going with this. It looks completely out of place and was instantly noticeable.

Please Gmail. Overhaul your interface. Make it look like it’s existing in 2010.

I wrote a guest post on Freelance Folder the other day (which I’m super ecstatic about, by the way, because I’ve been wanting to post on there FOR-EV-ER! after site stalking) and was getting a bunch of positive and interesting comments on there. Pretty much, the article was about how pen and paper can slow productivity down and hold you back from getting a lot of work done. If you know me, or have seen my desk at home, you know that I’m a post it note LOVER. I LOVE THEM. I have so many different colors and sizes…and they are stuck everywhere- including my forehead. If I could marry them I would. I could have little post it note children, and I could totally write their appointments on their faces and it would be OKAY. Because they are mini-post its and I could do that type of thing without being arrested.

I also used to carry around a planner the size of my head just to stay organized- because I had a big problem with trusting that kind of stuff to technology. Plus, I’m so OCD about little details, that putting it in my iPhone calendar didn’t make sense. It would take me about 5 hours (total exaggeration, by the way.) to get it how I want it. So, I stick to post it notes.

I was amazed at how many people on there are like me- they use their laptops/iPads/smart-phones for certain parts of planning and organizing, but still stick to good ol’ pen and paper for other things. Like a to-do list. I tried SO HARD (I really did.) to use my tech for organizational purposes. I have a macbook, which is too big to really take around solely for the purpose of planning… so that stays home. I also have a netbook, but the real estate is so small on it that it irritates the hell out of me. Then, I have my iPad. I would have the calendar open, and my to-do list open. But guess what! The iPad isn’t up with today’s technologies and can’t multi-task! Thanks Apple! You’ve taken a step backwards with a revolutionary product!

So that totally went out the window.

Out of everyone out there, my friends and coworkers are always surprised that I still resort to my to-do list style. I tape post it notes, in a row, on my desk so I can see what I have to do. Yes, I know post-it notes are sticky. Don’t ask about the tape.

BUT I SEE I’M NOT THE ONLY ONE! I’m glad to see there are others that find solace in cute little moleskins, flashy colored post-it notes and awesome pens. Thanks for making me seem normal for not completely trusting my daily life to a piece of technology- as well as curbing my insanity JUUUUUUST a little bit.

GROOVESHARK. I <3 YOU.