Inbox 0 – Part 1

Last week at Conversatio Morum we reviewed an app for your iPhone called Mailbox. You can read about it here. Part of what makes Mailbox such a great email app is that it’s informed by the concept of Inbox 0. If you’ve never heard this before, inbox 0 is the concept that your inbox catches things. Some things are actionable, some things aren’t. You delete or archive for reference the non actionable things. Actionable things are done , delegated, or deferred. In the process of getting things to done, delegated, deferred, deleted or archived for reference you remove those things from your inbox. Theoretically, if at the end of the day you’ve gotten through all the tasks you need to you’ll be at inbox 0. There’s actually an entire book on this you should read called Getting Things Done by David Allen. Here’s a flowchart from the book to help explain the Inbox 0 concept for you: Continue reading “Inbox 0 – Part 1”

Light Up Sneakers – Better Than A Flashlight

I know, I know…”Light up sneakers were awesome!” I agree. Heck yes they were! Hence the need to pay tribute to them. I mean, they’re so practical. Accidentally walk into a dark cave without a flashlight? No problem, Johnny has his light up shoes. Playing hide and seek? Can’t find Tim? No problem, he has his light up shoes. Besides that, they came from LA Gear. You know, LA? Remember that awesome city from last week? Yep, that’s the place where this style came from. Continue reading “Light Up Sneakers – Better Than A Flashlight”

Awesome App Review – Mailbox

Here at Conversatio Morum, we want to utilize technology to retool organizations (specifically churches) for greater effectiveness. It’s been a little while since we’ve done an app review and I found one that is truly worthy of reviewing. I’m generally a technology agnostic, so when I get as excited as I am about an app there’s a reason. In fact, this app is so useful that I’ve changed\am changing the way I use email. Continue reading “Awesome App Review – Mailbox”

JNCO – Judge None, Choose One

Ah yes, JNCO’s. Pronounced Jenco. How could I resist the temptation of dedicating an ENTIRE POST to this symbol of 90’s fashion goodness?!?! I submit to you that I cannot! It HAS to be talked about and remembered. Ya know…’cause those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. [Tweet That] It’s like that really bad idea you had back in the day that you thought would be awesome until you ended up breaking your tailbone because you jumped off the roof of your house and missed the pool by 3 feet for some reason. Like here:

(warning this is painful to watch)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDbNta6ufPk

Yes my friends, JNCO’s were like that. It’s that bad idea that no one wants to bring up and talk about. It’s like when your brother starts with the phrase, “hey, you remember that time?” to your new girlfriend that he just met. Yep, you just know that’s going someplace you don’t want it to. Only with JNCO’s we all experience that feeling. It’s like this secret club where one day we came to our senses, then we all got up individually and said “Well let’s do our best to forget that ever happened, OK?”

Why? Because they were awful and we all wore them. I know, I know, who could blame us? We were kids and they turned our legs into monumental pillars of cool! I mean, 50 inches of bottom hems? Irresistible. Their slogan? “Judge None, Choose One.” That…that there…Deep, Universal, Truth. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think they had an oracle of some sort telling them these things. Seriously, who wouldn’t want to wear jeans from a company that also tried its hand at comic books. “The True Adventures of Flamehead”? Heck yes. His adventures were truly…flame-y. [Tweet That] Besides, how were you supposed to become king of the rave without those neon flames getting hit with a black light to make you truly look on fire? Then again, maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea. You know, cause it was the 90’s and pockets needed to be that big in order to carry your bag phones or Zach Morris sized DynaTAC in your pockets.

As described on Wikipedia “This street look was popularized throughout the 90s starting in Los Angeles and working its way nationwide.” This is real reason our nation is struggling. The people who came up with this idea? We’re still listening to their advice…about fashion. Seems that our decision-making abilities have some sort of inherent flaw. Don’t believe me? Wait..just wait. 10 years and you won’t want to talk about your skinny jeans and deep-V’s either.

 

Check Yourself – Part 5

We’ve been talking on Conversatio Morum about developing the ability to gauge how you’re doing, how your team is doing, and how effective you are at accomplishing your task. We’ve described this as a Check Yourself mentality. We’ve talked about several different ways to measure this, and why it’s important. You can see all the posts here. The final thing I want to discuss with this is the need to experiment. By this, I don’t mean, make uninformed decisions. What I mean is that there are always things to improve, things to tweak, better ways of doing things. Continue reading “Check Yourself – Part 5”