The cell is the basic unit of the human body. Each cell is made up of unique little parts that make it run do and do what it needs to do. Cells then group together to form organs, which in turn group together to form organ systems. This is what makes up the human being and everything else that goes along with being one: going to work, paying taxes, not slamming the jerk that just cut you off  (also known as living everyday as a human being).

We all in turn exist in a world with other humans and as the relationship between cells progresses to the level of human interaction, an even more complex and varied group of connections begin to unfold (and if you want to get some really interesting perspectives, you could try to include our relationship with the rest of the galaxy, universe, etc.. No word yet on how far out you can go though).

Still, at it’s most basic form, everything is good for something. A wiser man than I currently am put it like this: “There’s an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth.”

That is what being useful is all about: doing the right thing at the right time. For example, it’s not cool if my kidneys decide to take a short break from filtering liquids because everything else is working just fine. Just like it’s not cool if I don’t come through and we’re not able to meet the deadline or see the whole show. When that happens, it means something, somewhere is not working as it should and needs to be fixed. The human body has all sorts of fascinating mechanisms built in to anticipate and correct almost anything that comes it’s way. The human mind on the other hand has a much more complicated system of handling these situations and the results are sometimes entertaining when the wrong solution is implemented because the right problem wasn’t correctly identified in the first place (other times, it’s just plain disaster).

Tradition* has figured out a lot of that stuff for us, but thankfully, there’s still some excitement considering how we can’t seem to get it right a lot of the time. To be fair, to those working with tech (especially the Internet), a serious obstacle to getting it right is the advances and improvements that we can’t stop ourselves from producing on an alarmingly regular basis. A decade ago, modems that are now a part of distant memories were a very real part of the Internet experience. And even with much faster connections today, I don’t think you could crawl the Internet for a week and come close to scraping the bottom (and that’s assuming you’re looking through just the good stuff. But I digress**).

It’s not all about gloriously solving world problems, building castles in the sky, or taking over the world, although the principles of being useful still apply there. Being useful is about being a funny video if you’re supposed to be a funny video, making kick-ass apps if that’s what you do or enjoying the privilege of playing catch with your son.

That is how to take over the world.

Any thoughts? Is this a useful/good idea at all or is it more romantic and hairy-eyed? Tell me what you think in the comments section.

* This is the definition of tradition I like best: customs, beliefs and practices, accumulated through the history of their development, which form the views and ways of a society (link here)

** To digress even further, see the section on creativity in Only Good News from the Dilbert Blog

3 hours later, I had read every article on Obama’s win, I now know that I’d probably make a good president too, and I now have a slight desire to seastead. I also have a better appreciation for stories, and the difference between mysteries and puzzles (excellent, but lengthy article by Malcolm Gladwell). To be sure, these are all very wonderful things to know (I hope). The only problem is, I still don’t have a blog post, and half of my “sabbath” just disappeared.

Clearly, I need to focus my time a little better.

The thing is, if I can figure out where my time is going, I can use it more efficiently to gain many things, most precious of which is: time!

Or so the theory goes.

But time being what it is, you have to let it pass to properly take on such a bold task (time management is ultimately a never-ending fight against yourself, so yes, this is a bold undertaking). I rather like the passage of time, so this shouldn’t be much of a problem; it’s the manage part that’s kind of difficult to hunt down.

Obviously, I’m turning to the Internet to help me out, and I’m gradually amassing a list of time management tools to help with the dirty work. Here are some of the weapons I currently have in my arsenal (some I’ve tried, and others I intend to look into, but I’m waiting for… time).

RescueTime
I’ve been using this for a while now, and I still find it useful (previously covered here).

Map Your Time
The best thing about mapping your time is that it provides you with a schedule you can keep up with, and adjust as necessary.

RememberTheMilk
The best thing about RTM is it’s Gmail Integration, which is a fantastic way of keeping track of tasks, etc… (especially when used in conjunction with Better Gmail 2).

Time Tracker
Basically, Time Tracker will tell you the truth about how much time you’re spending on tasks, projects, etc… Because you can break it down into projects, this is also a handy way of keeping track of both productive and unproductive tasks.

Mail Trends
I intend on trying this out sometime in the future. The benefits to this would be amazing, considering how much time one could save with a better understanding of their email habits. Meanwhile, I’m still hoping I’ll come across a more user friendly alternative (Mac, preferably open source please).

Judo
This is what it boils down to at the end of the day. Ultimately, the goal is to use time wisely, not to amass a bunch of cool tools (although coolness doesn’t hurt either).

In the meantime, drop me a line if you know of other time judo moves, time hacks, apps, etc… My measuring stick for a good time hack is simple: After the initial excitement, if you’re still excited about it after a few days, you owe it to those around you to share the good news (the comments section is also a good place to start).

A few weeks ago, I decided to embark on “a ruthless crusade against wasting time”, and reclaim time as my own once again and you know, get things done (sound familiar?). The goal of course, is to find the best hacks, tips, and tricks, that’ll make things easier, and ultimately, save money by saving time.

At this point, I will acknowledge that I would probably be better off implementing a wildly successful path like GTD (Getting Things Done). My qualms with programs like that is the “shock and awe” approach they introduce where everything that existed previously has to be rebuilt from the ground up. I support change as much as the next guy, but it’s my experience that drastic surges are not sustainable.

I prefer the focused, gradual improvement method, coupled with a good dose of “rinse and repeat” (just replace application with habit). Implementing change on a small section at a time means it’s not the end of the world if one piece of the puzzle messes up, and your whole framework doesn’t have to collapse. It also means that corrections can be made quickly, without affecting very much else.

Moving on…
One of the first applications I came across when I set out on my quixotic quest is RescueTime and this weekend, I’m beginning to think it just might be working. For the last few weeks, I’ve taken a few minutes to tweak my profile and add tags properly, and basically bend it to my will as much as possible (read, “Try to figure it out”) whenever I receive the weekly update email. I’m gradually getting to the point where I’m beginning to see a pattern, and I’m slowly getting better at using it.

It let’s you do nifty things like tag your applications, and even view your Top 10 applications and websites:

….you can even compare 2 tags against the time spent on everything else:

….and you can even compare 2 tags against the time spent on everything else:

They also have a ton other stuff you can mix together so you can hack your life to perfection (like setup goals, and iGoogle integration)..

Apart from the usual suspects like Lifehacker, Wikihow, etc…, what’re your most useful (and favorite) sources of information?