Cisco Press released section 1 of my book for free.  The free release schedule does not include the supplemental CD materials.

Chapter 1: The Toolkit Approach to Career Development
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1156069&f1=rss

Enjoy and if you know of someone who can benefit from this information, please pass it along.

For the print version, visit Amazon.com (link below)

I am working on creating a more focused attack at my daily tasks and have daily tasks that seem pertinent to my chosen direction.  This is in part due to my hearing about (not even reading, although I started last night), The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferris.

Also, in reading much of Matt’s good information…

Here is what I have done:

1. Determined that good enough is usually good enough - perfection is unattainable and takes too much time;
2. Judiciously removed tasks that have little to no value;
3. Placed the highest dollar per hour tasks higher on the list - sorry if you are a low dollar tasks, you might not hear from me;
4. Created a short-list of what I can outsource immediately, ie: with the least amount of “hand over” work;
5. Created a one-page, shared Google document for the first outsourced item and “hired” my 16 year old daughter to do it;  (note, I got her hooked on gmail and she uses Google Docs for school work anyway, so she is logged in and knows the product);

Now I am working on firing two specific clients where my rate and the work performed do not match my moving forward agenda.  In reality, I will try to “outsource” what I can with them.  If it doesn’t work, they must be fired.

I hope I do not divulge too much info with this post but I’ve done a screen shot of my Google home page currently.  I am modifying what I see there as needed and determining which information helps me most efficiently stay on task and focus on what is important.

I was going to say it’s been a busy week - really, it has been a busy month or two, or five.  There are a lot of changes going on in my life and I am pretty excited about them.

First, we moved - simplified by circumstance.

Read more »

I just posted a question - no, a call for help - on my IT Toolbox blog.

My client needs a solution and it is somewhat out of my area of expertise.  The sales people for the various cell service providers have been providing less than stellar advice on this - and don’t really understand the issue real well.

Go to my post and if you have anything to contribute, please do.

Thanks.

I wrote a few entries starting a new category over at IT Toolbox.  The Policy Parrot stories are meant to showcase examples - from personal experience or that I read about (ie: you submit to me) - when customer service personnel become policy education experts - explaining to you the policy versus listening and reasoning through your concern or situation.

Let me know what you think about the stories and submit your own story here or over at IT Toolbox.