Loosening the kung-fu grip on bad habits

January 3, 2007 —

2007 is going to be a year of breaking bad habits for me. Don’t call it a resolution – that would imply that all I need to do is flip a switch and roll out a newer, more productive me. This is going to take some work.

Need an example of an Aa bad habit? I write for this blog inside textmate. Then I log into WordPress. Then I post the entry. Then I pull up the site. Then I read the entry. Then I spot a necessary edit, and the cycle begins again (get inside textmate, log into WP…)

That’s a bad habit I’m about to stomp. Guy points to an app called MarsEdit that allows bloggers to manage/post entries all within a compact, desktop app. My previous entry was an experiment with the app, and I can tell you it was a record post in terms of time (perhaps it had a little to do with the fact that it was also a record post in terms of length.) MarsEdit might not be the solution, but it’s worth trying. No more using textmate ’cause I’m already in code mode, though. No more logging into WordPress eight times a day.

Fix bad blogging habits.

Start relying more heavily on to-do lists.

Crack basecamp api to automate project additions w/ relevant checklists.

Start relying more heavily on textmate tag completion.

Stop writing proposals for projects you don’t want.

Make time to evangelize – blog site / app launches at [ep].

Figure out how to suppress dock alerts.

Stop managing RSS to zero.

Stop checking for LinkedIn connections.

Stop checking 5 mint installations throughout the day.

Okay, you get the point, I have bad habits that negatively impact my productivity, and there are helper apps readily available to help me find my chi. If I meditated, I’d be rolling out a new mantra: “37Signals is good, Shawn Inman is bad. Aummm.” (Trust me, both of those are going to take lots of repetition for me to believe myself.)

Anybody know of any good productivity [helper] apps outside of the 37Signals/Google lineup?