ADD

I think many people  have slight-ADD symptoms/tendencies.

I can see this with my boyfriend, my ex, my cousin, and even in myself.

A few years ago, my ex graduated from school and he started interning for his professors. His professors had failed him because he couldn’t turn things on time, make it to class, and follow-through. Yet, after college, they hired him for projects because they felt he was exceptionally talented and had a lot of potential to do great things.

As he worked on a new project with one professsor, his professor recommended that he read a few books. This included “Art of the Start” and “ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life”. Both books are awesome, and I recommend them.

His problem was that he truly wanted to do a lot of things and be everything for everyone. He would over-promise and could only deliver so much. He’d fear giving people real deadlines that he could work with. I think he couldn’t even assess those deadlines. But, he’d always want to do a perfect job. He had too many things to work on, no schedule, and missed deadlines.

The ADD book calls out to simplify everything. Dumb it down…and make everything simple, clear, and easy. Try to eliminate too many options…like, for instance, if you have a hard time deciding what to wear in the morning, keep your closet with basic items and basic colors.

This can apply to credit cards. If you have five credit cards, you’re more likely to rack up more debt than having only two cards. If you have five, keep only one in your wallet. Set up rules for those credit cards…like…I’ll use this credit cards only for online purchases because I’ll get a cash-back and the credit card company has a great refund policy on Internet purchases. Or, I’ll use this card only for gas purchases because I earn special rewards for making this type of purchase.

Other good things for the ADD-affected:

Write down what you have to do every night for the next day. Write it clearly using a black marker and use action words. Don’t write “Laundry”. Rather, “Do Laundry”. Limit your list to three major tasks and five smaller ones. After you’ve completed each task, cross it out with a big fat line.

Be decisive and set a time. And, always follow-up. If you’re meeting a friend, don’t say “I’ll meet you in the afternoon.” Say, “Let’s meet between 2-2:30pm.” If you’re running late, call and be honest and say, “Sorry, I’m running late. I’ll be there at 3:30pm.” Let people in the loop.

Don’t keep accumulating things. The less you have, the better you’ll perform.

And, something nerdy – how to create an autostart cd that plays on both a pc and mac.

i had to do this at work today…and it took me a while to figure it out, so i thought i’d share the info with you in case you ever need to do this.

i created a website press kit that will be copied onto a usb drive and dispersed to magazines and journalists. i wanted it to be easy and intuitive to open and check out.

creating an autostart/autorun cd for the pc is easy. all you have to do is add an autorun.inf file that tells the cd to open a certain file.

doing this on a mac is trickier. in fact, on osx you cannot autorun a file or program, but you can open a window that shows a main icon to click and view the file/start the program.

this involves creating a hybrid cd.

here’s what i did using a slightly older version of roxio (titanium 6)

1. create an inf file through a simple text editor and define the file you want to open.  add this to your project folder.

2. in roxio, create a mac/pc disc image by dumping the project contents into the main folder. double click each file or folder that you want invisible and select “invisible”. There should be only one file left that would be visible and that you’d want somone to click on to start the program. For instance, start.html. Save the Roxio project as a disc image.

3. mount the disc image by right-clicking and selecting to mount it through disc utility.

4. in roxio, clear out all the contents, and start a new cd by selecting “hybrid cd”. for the mac part, select the mounted disc image you just created. for the iso part, select all the project files, including the autorun.inf file.

5. burn the cd.

6. test the cd on mac and pc.  on the mac, a window should open with one icon. you click it and it opens the file or starts a program.  on the pc, the project will automatically start.

fyi…how to create an autostart cd for both a pc and mac…in case you ever need to…

Ether. Ask me about things I know…

I got a beta invitation from Ether.com.

So far, I've only put down website development process as one of my know-hows.

I'll be updating that list gradually. You can check it on the top tab – "Insights (call me through Ether)

This service is pretty cool…because you're assigned a phone number that forwards to your real phone. Someone calls to ask you about what you know whether it be reviews on cameras, how to program something, how to control your kids, etc.etc. And, you get paid for your time.

Neat, right?

I think you can still sign up for beta-testing…Ether.com.

Unrelated post: Daniel Henney

Hott.

Daniel Henney…

 

I want him to suck my finger and place that ring!

 

Hell yes Gwyn would go for him…

Chuck Norris facts.

This is hilarious.