Awfully Weak Coffee

Awfully weak coffee, I thought, looking at the clear hot water in my coffeemaker this morning. After the usual 5 AM limp down the stairs to get to the coffee, it was disappointing, to say the least. I went over the coffee prep checklist in my mind. Clean empty pot in place; check. Right amount of water in reservoir; must have been, because it looks right in the pot, so check. Coffee filter in place in coffee grounds holder; check, but … no coffee grounds in the filter. Then I remembered the phone had rung while I was setting up the coffee the night before to run on the timer. The 19th political candidate robo-call of the day had done me in. Apparently this was my version of “19^th Nervous Breakdown.”

Work and Play

Work when you work, and play when you play. Assuredly, if you play when you should be working, you will have to work when you would rather be playing.


Homework Corollary:

If the teacher gives you class time to work on homework, do it. That means less homework later.

Determining What's Not Important

I often wonder why some people have more difficulty telling background information from important, or foreground, information. Leading the reader to the important points in a printed (or visual) piece is critical to getting your message across to your audience. Finding out how to facilitate that and what prevents it are important to communicators.

David Shenk's book Data Smog talks about this difficulty in a larger context. One of his ideas is that we are drowning in information, with little time between to make sense of it. He points out that for most of human history, the production, distribution and processing of  information were fairly matched in timing. That is, we could take in information about as fast as it could be created and delivered to us. Obviously, that has changed.

In ways we choose and ways we do not, information comes at us almost constantly. In his book, Shenk paraphrases psychologist Stanley Milgram, saying that "individuals adapt to stimulus overload by...blocking reception whenever possible, and installing filtering devices to keep the number of inputs down to a manageable level." Think of the times you've explained something to a spouse or co-worker only to have them ask you about it 30 seconds later, as if you had not told them anything. Think about listening to your child talk about her day at school, listening but not hearing anything until the word "detention" grabs you.

Then there are the gaps in my memory that I assumed were due to advancing age (it feels advancing anyway). Shenk has found research that shows at least some of the increase in "spotty memories" is due to "cue overload." Human memory works within a context, and if the context for too many pieces of information is too similar, it's harder for your mind to create the context cues that help you retrieve information you have acquired.

Shenk not only covers the problem of information pollution, he offers ideas toward a solution, both personal and collective. For example, watch less TV, and choose in-depth news instead of sound-bite news. Edit the excess out of anything you write. Don't re-send email jokes to everyone you know. Cancel subscriptions you don't take time to read. For the truly inundated, Shenk suggests "data fasts," scheduling time away from all distractions and interruptions, for an hour or even a week if that's what it takes to "cleanse" your brain for more effective thinking.

One concept holds a special challenge (and opportunity) for those who make a living by communicating. Shenk quotes professor Hugh Heclo: "In the long run, excesses of technology mean the the comparative advantage shifts from those with information glut to those with ordered knowledge, from those who can process vast amounts of throughput to those who can explain what is worth knowing and why." (Emphasis mine)

(Condensed from the original article published in January 1999 in Money, Marketing & More, copyright L. Goodenough)

Homework Help, Lesson 2: Assemble Your Resources

The first resource you need for doing homework is a place to work. Doing your homework in a consistent place helps get your mind ready to work when you go there. A consistent time helps too, but that's a different Homework Help lesson.

Keep the tools you will need near your homework space. Paper, pens, pencils, markers, a ruler, a computer, a calculator, glue, good lighting, a timer, a dictionary — whatever YOU need for the kind of homework you do. If you don't have a desk at which you can keep your tools, consider a basket or bin you can store in between and bring out when it's time to work.

Figure out if you do your best work with music, quiet, or random background noise you can ignore, then set up your space to provide what you need. By random background noise, I don't mean watching television while you work; I mean the conversations of strangers in a library or coffee shop. What works for you may also depend on what kind of homework you are doing, e.g., music for math, quiet for writing, random noise for reading.

Your homework resources also include information about students in your class you can contact to ask for help, or brainstorm with when the assignment allows. There are homework help web sites for many subjects. Even people in your family can be a resource on some subjects. (In a later blog, I'll talk about how parents or friends can help with subjects they have not even taken.)

To summarize, know yourself, know what you need, and keep it within reach to maximize your homework efficiency and success.

Homework Help, Lesson 1: They're Watching You

The first lesson in helping your children with their homework is ... they're watching you.

If television is all you do all night, they will not see the value of spending their time on homework. If you read, they will think reading is a good thing. If you pay bills in front of them, they see value in learning math. You are their hero or heroine, and they want to grow up to be like you. So you need to be the role model of what you want them to grow up to be. That's the first lesson in homework help.

Marketing With More Time Than Money

There are many ways to market your business and yourself while spending little or no money. One of the ways I recommend most often is targeted volunteering. Choose a volunteer opportunity that:
 • lets you do something  you do well and enjoy,
 • relates to your business in some way, and
 • doesn't require you to shortchange anything else you value, like your family or exercise time.

Volunteer your time doing something related to your business for an audience of people who could hire you. For example, this year I'm doing newsletters at my children's schools. With a total of nearly 2000 students, that's a lot of parents I can reach while doing something I do well and believe in strongly.

If "thinking" is what you sell, volunteer for the board of directors of a group you attend. Working in a small group at monthly board meetings, the other directors will see that your analysis and exertise are valuable assets.

Plan ahead so you can avoid most scheduling conflicts between paying work and volunteer efforts. I forecast the proposed schedule for all of the newsletters I do (paid and unpaid) to arrange around potential timing conflicts.

Choose a volunteer opportunity you believe in, because sometimes you will be stretched thin to get everything done on time. It's easier to live on four hours sleep once in a while if it's for something you consider "a good cause."

Keep track of your mileage and expenses in volunteering. If "marketing by volunteering" is documented in your business plan, some expenses may be deductible as marketing expenses. (Check with your accountant for details.)

(originally published in Money, Marketing & More, in 1999; copyright Loraine Goodenough)

There's a first time for everything

First blog, to see how this works. You can never have too many books, especially if they have no titles like the ones in my border. That means they (and you) are open to interesting  possibilities. Which is a good thing.