Notable

Per your request, I did an extensive search regarding monkeys that are native to Canada. Unfortunately, I could not find the required information within the allotted 20 minutes.

Excellent service, right? This answer received by Wired’s Chris Hardwick after only one hour, as he tested outsourcing via the Ask Sunday service.  The answer also included: rental car reservation, information about two Moose Lodges, and a store address, per his 4 question request.  This tempting service lets you make up to 15 requests-almost anything that’s doable in 20 minutes for a small monthly fee.

Chris Hardwick’s enjoyable review of 3 books about time management: Get Things Done,  Never Check E-Mail In The Morning, and The 4-Hour Workweek, is a good read. What sticks with me though is this anecdote above. I don´t have my own assistant, but am imagining the possibilities now.  What I do have is Twitter and MSN.  My network is my “personal assistant”.  Google and Wikipedia are now like air — second nature. I probably search these resources 20 times in the course of a day with out thinking about it.  I am not alone, in my increasing use of these tools to find answers, and work smarter.

The rub though, is that they can be deemed distractions. Any briefly intentioned look at Twitter, Google, or MSN can quickly entice one into “checking something out”, reading an interesting tangential post, or starting on a new project after being inspired by something you read. In other words distractions. If I had an assistant I could avoid said distractions and stay focused, right? Wrong.  We need these small distractions.  My “breaks” entail learning, and I almost always, find that these breaks pay off in some way or another.  I do stay focused, entranced really, writing, coding and fixing sometimes for 10 hours at a time.  My real problem is procrastination for those tasks that aren’t so fun anymore.  The answer I think: finish them fast, so you can get on to the more interesting jobs. I’ll tell you how it goes.

read the article: Diary of a Self-Help Dropout: Flirting With the 4-Hour Workweek.