Life 3.0

The Miracle Morning

January 14, 2015 by Elmer Thomas Leave a Comment

Here is a summary of the Life S.A.V.E.R.S technique, to be done immediately after awakening and 30 minutes before your normal waking time:

Silence – prayer/meditation
Affirmations – describe the highest vision for yourself
Visualization – visualize what success looks like and the actions to get there
Exercise – 10 minutes to get the blood flowing. Try a push-up/sit-up/air-squat/pull-up circuit
Reading – self-help/motivational books
Scribing – check out the 5 minute journal

From the “The Miracle Morning” by Hal Elrod

Listen to Hal’s explanation on the Smart Passive Income podcast.

Filed Under: GTD, Life 3.0, Life Hacks, Personal Development, Productivity

Food ID

October 9, 2014 by Elmer Thomas Leave a Comment

I *really* want this idea to become reality. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Filed Under: GTD, Health, Life 3.0, Life Hacks, Productivity

Chaos Proof Your Habits and Routines

August 9, 2014 by Elmer Thomas 2 Comments

When I became a Developer Evangelist at SendGrid (one of the best jobs on the planet), I learned just how difficult keeping habits and routines while traveling really is. While I still struggle with this challenge, there are a few tips I’d like to pass on to help you keep moving towards your goals, posthaste.

Enjoy and pass along to your chaotic good friends.

Have you created your own Personal API?

June 10, 2014 by Elmer Thomas Leave a Comment

If so, tell me about it 🙂

If not, head on over and read my latest blog post, Quantify Thyself: Creating a Personal Life API, that describes how to create one.

Filed Under: APIs, GTD, Life 3.0, Personal Development, Productivity, SendGrid

Automate Thyself, Then Go Forth and Multiply Your Robots

April 24, 2014 by Elmer Thomas Leave a Comment

I’ve written a two part series about creating bots to automate various aspects of your life. The first part, Automate Your Life With a Bot Army, was published today and the second post is coming soon.

If you have automated something in your life that has been a game changer, let me know and I’ll add it to the second post.

ACTION: Commit to automating at least one system/process per week. Imagine the outcome after 1 year!

Filed Under: GTD, Life 3.0, Life Hacks, Personal Development, Productivity

A Personal Life API

February 19, 2014 by Elmer Thomas

Because of Google Glass, the Fitbit, Loseit and my current API design project for our Developer Relations team at SendGrid, I’m becoming more and more interested in the idea of quantified self + everything as an API + automated/intelligent systems. My latest blog post at SendGrid takes a practical look at the API piece of the puzzle.

Back in the days of my first funded startup, one of the ideas I was interested in was to create a Life 2.0 system, using technology to try and remove tasks that must be done, but we hate spending our time on, and then optimizing and enhancing the time spent on things we love to do. I got caught up too much on the implementation though, which at that time was going to be a custom Linux distro.

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Filed Under: APIs, Life 3.0, Life Hacks, Programming

Personal Productivity: GTD + Agile and Priorities

July 16, 2011 by Elmer Thomas 4 Comments

Currently, I practice GTD using Omnifocus [pdf link] as the execution tool. I believe this system to be the best out of all the systems I’ve tried thus far, yet I still struggle with prioritization. After completing a few weeks of agile training with our awesome Rally coach Ann, I began to think of how I can apply agile principles, particularly the prioritization methods, to help solve the priority issue.

The first major difference that struck me is the prioritized backlog that is central to agile vs. the list of next actions split by context that is key to GTD. In trying to follow the non-prioritization ethos of GTD, I always have this feeling in the back of my mind that perhaps I’m working on the wrong thing at a given time. My work around has been using due dates and flags within Omnifocus. Specifically, due dates are for items that have some consequence if I fail to deliver on that date and flags are action items I’d like to complete that day.

Here are some initial thoughts of how to apply concepts from both GTD and Agile within the framework of the GTD weekly review in order to achieve some level of prioritization.

Keeping Your 2010 Resolutions, Web 2.0 Style

January 1, 2010 by Elmer Thomas Leave a Comment

It’s time to sweep 2009 under the rug and celebrate 2010 the only way us geeks can … Web 2.0 style! Most of us use the new year as a time to reflect and make resolutions for the coming year. Unfortunately, after a few months, we forget all about those resolutions and go back to our old habits. The number one cause for this is the lack of accountability. While self-accountability plays a key role, having the support of others, is often just the motivation you need to follow through.

Of course, you could use the old fashion method of simply telling your friends and family your resolutions, but then you probably wouldn’t be reading MakeUseOf.com if you participated in such old school methodologies. I’m kidding of course, but if you are reading this, you are interested in how to help make your resolutions a reality using free web 2.0 tools.

Following are two free social networks that can help you create, share and follow through with all of your 2010 new years resolutions and beyond.

Rules, Method and Framework

April 29, 2009 by Elmer Thomas Leave a Comment

Before continuing with The System, I find it necessary to take a step back and define the overarching Rules, Methods and Framework.

The System

April 28, 2009 by Elmer Thomas 1 Comment

After acquiring a MacBook Pro, and basking in its glow, I became motivated to re-evaluate my overall system for managing my life. I began to conceptulize an all encompassing master system some time ago under the massively creative name Life 2.0. I invite you to take a journey with me towards … drum roll please … Life 3.0! I will start first with a very high level overview of what elements the system must contain for maximum effectiveness.