Ultimate Productivity Tool: GTD Wallpaper

I bought productivity bible Getting Things Done two and a half years ago. This week, I reached page fifty. Impressive, huh?

You must be wondering: “What is the secret of his productivity success?”. Well, dear reader, I’m going to tell you.

For the last couple of years I’ve been a using an ‘above top secret’ personal productivity tool. I now believe the time is right for others to benefit from its unique insights.

So as of today, my productivity desktop wallpaper is available for GTD disciples and non-believers alike:

Link Aid: Want Free, Easy Backlinks?

Want free publicity (read: easy links) for your websites?

I’m looking for case studies for my Domain Lookup tool.

I’ve received dozens of emails with kind words about the extension. I’ve found some sensational domains myself using it, and heard similar stories from users.

The catch? Most webmasters aren’t too keen to go public their website/domain portfolios.

With 2,000+ active users since launch, I’m now hoping that some of you are prepared to go on the record with your successes.

Interested in sharing any killer domains you’ve found using the extension? Let’s talk.

Top 10 Amazon.com Bible Reviews

A kick in the Testaments c/o Amazon’s reviews of the King James Bible.

  1. “Excellent Special FX throughout”
  2. “The best fantasy epic since Lord of the Rings”
  3. “There aren’t enough good fights”
  4. “Three stars, because the paper was too thin”
  5. “One of the most disjointed novels I’ve read in a long while”
  6. “Almost preachy in tone”
  7. “Good ending”
  8. “The Lord hath no scorn like the scorn reserved for one-star reviewers”
  9. “Who wrote this thing, Michael Moore?”
  10. “Definitely not his best work”

My more diligent readers may wish to read the reviews in full and post any more in the comments below. Bless you, Jeff Bezos.

Britain’s 84th Best Blogger Speaks

Most men love lists. I love lists, too. Especially when they flatter me.

So imagine my surprise when this morning Stephen from Bony Toad tipped me off that QualityNonsense.com had been crowned Britain’s 84th best blog.

Look! Just between, er, 83 and 85!

Cue: an ironic rendition of the Ron Burgundy “kind of a big deal” speech. Joking aside, this might actually be enough to get me to post regularly…

How To Name Your Business

I named my company Quality Nonsense Ltd two years ago. Funny, see?

I laughed all the way to my first meeting, where a banker looked at me with a cocktail of pity and contempt. Reassuringly, reactions since have been more positive.

Kodak Ad

I took my cues from George Eastman, founder of Kodak, when naming the company. Eastman cited three principal concepts in creating the Kodak brand name:

  • It should be short
  • You cannot mispronounce it
  • It could not resemble anything or be associated with anything but Kodak

Sound advice, I thought, and promptly ignored points 1 + 3. But in the 21st century, there were other points to consider:

But most important? To my mind, it’s three simple words.

MAKE IT MEMORABLE

Pretty damn obvious, huh? Well, think how many times each week you see an XYZ Consulting Ltd, ABC Capital, Underwhelming Generic Services Ltd.

Let’s file these in the ‘bad business ideas’ box, alongside stock photo handshakes, ‘motivational’ lithographs and Comic Sans.

If you run a young business and have not read Guy Kawasaki’s book The Art of the Start, order it this second. No excuses.

Once you’re done at Amazon, sit tight and make sixty minutes to watch Guy’s life-changing Art of Inspiration talk.

What are your favourite examples of great business names and why?

Kurt Vonnegut on Creativity

Vonnegut on creativity

“Where do I get my ideas from? You might as well have asked that of Beethoven. He was goofing around in Germany like everybody else, and all of a sudden this stuff came gushing out of him. It was music.
I was goofing around like everybody else in Indiana, and all of a sudden stuff came gushing out. It was disgust with civilization.”

[From Backwards City Review via Wired].