Web Zen Boston

Sitting here reading “hot text -web writing that works” by Jonathan and Lisa Price it occurs to me that my minimalist desk setup is pretty zen, in particular, the bookholder. When I read, I consume a book marking it up with a red pen circling and underlining. After the circling and underlining I extract the main ideas to a text file. With only two hands and a preference for holding a book upright I spent some time trying to find a bookholder but ended up making my own in about half the time I spent trying to find one.

As you look at the picture of my desk, you’re probably asking yourself, why would a minimalist have two laptops? I use one in my van for gps and posting ads when I’m on the move for expressDeliveryVan.com and the other stays in The Mancave. Basically, I have a secondary laptop for rough use and security concerns.

The bookholder is height adjustable. I cobbled the parts together from an old mop, an Ikea bulletin board (technically this IS an Ikea hack), it’s also an old mop hack, isn’t it? That would be a cool web site… oldMopHacks.com -well, maybe not. Anyway, the bookholder is easily removable from the cheap camera tripod base, which coincidentally, doubles as a camera tripod base.

As a bonus, I threw in a couple pictures of my laptop desk. If you sit in a chair or sit in bed looking at your laptop you know it exhausts heat and it’s not really wide enough to sit on your lap, unless you have a ridiculously wide laptop, which I don’t like. The lapdesk is a cover for an Ikea storage bin. Wow, two Ikea hacks in one post. Cheap dollar store rubber pads give the laptop elevation and velcro tabs on the back keep the lapdesk from sliding off my legs in a seated position.

GTD – Getting Things Done, the book by David Allen has been part of my life for more than three years now. It’s a personal management system that focuses on gaining control of all the loose ends in your life by putting everything you need to do into contextual lists. The most important tool is the inbox. Dump your stuff into the inbox. If something doesn’t fit into the inbox, make a note on a piece of paper to represent the item. When you process the inbox do the item immediately if it’ll take less than a predetermined amount of time, two minutes, ten minutes, whatever.

Items that require more time are put into contextual lists. Related items are stored in project folders. Time related items are marked on a calendar. He likes the tickler system.

I’ve read his book at least three times. While David Allen presents a specific system, he realizes we’ll do what we wish with it, taking bits and pieces, while others will implement it whole. Brainstorming is a key component of personal management. For the longest time I was mindmapping, or brainstorming with an outliner on my PDA. For whatever reason, it wasn’t working. The small screen. Maybe I’ve just made improvements or become more comfortable with the process.

What I’ve done to become more comfortable with mindmapping is go back to paper. My GTD system has changed a bit too, probably due to books I’ve read recently, The Millionaire’s Path by Mark Fisher with Marc Allen, and Brian Tracy’s Change Your Thinking Change Your Life. Between the two books I’ve gotten more focused on goal setting and mindmapping.

Using a three ring binder, I write a goal at the top of the page and then mindmap by brainstorming 20 ideas. They can be anything, I just write. The day begins, usually, with a review of my goals. During the review I may rewrite the page.

I’m still using the PDA calendar and todo list. Projects until recently were kept in a JFile (Palm) database but I now keep projects in the todo list with standalone items. The category feature contains contexts like Home, Go2, and projects are listed as categories pName1, pName2, etc.

Lists are kept on the PDA too. Things like lists of books to read are stored as memos. JFile, a PDA database, is still part of my GTD system for storing lists of things to do like restaurants, venues, etc.

I’ve found that putting pen to paper for goalsetting and mindmapping has increased my energy and enthusiasm for getting things done. Even though I’m a minimalist with discretionary time, I like to think big and keep a handle on all the small things.

Bikram Choudhury spoke for three hours yesterday afternoon in Boston offering himself as a mirror to the cosmic eye of the listener. This is a distillation of my notes.

Seated to my right was Anne Marie, an attractive grad student from NYC. Cassandra and Mindy were to my left. Together we walked to the auditorium from the Lincoln Street Studio after doing 10am yoga. Anne Marie told me to google yoga college of India to find Bikram’s site. I’ve never been on it, but I have the blue book and I’m on my second renewal of the orange book from the BPL, so consider me there.

These are my notes. They may be cryptic but at the end of the day I had an overwhelming feeling of profound revelation. Perhaps it’s the opening of my third eye.

To concentrate, to meditate is the hardest thing to do. The mind functions with a conscious, subconscious and superconscious. Understanding how the mind operates is the key to phenomenal power. Yoga teaches one how to concentrate, ten seconds at a time.

Killing time is the greatest crime. Time is life, life is time. Think about that. Until yesterday, I thought time was money. Finding purpose in life makes no allowance for wasting time.

What you do doesn’t matter. How you  do it does.

Yoga is zen. Bikram didn’t say yoga was zen, but he did say yoga was everything. Communication is yoga. You can have everything but have nothing if the body, mind and spirit are not in sync.

Learn to love yourself. Learn how to take care of yourself. No one else will love you until you first love yourself. The mirror is the tool.

The most important thing in life is you. Who are you? What is life? Life is simple. If it works, do it. If it’s bad, don’t do it. Don’t let your mind give you bad info.

No food is the best food.

I almost fell out of my chair when Bikram stated his mantra, “Make People Happy.” That’s my mantra!

Self-realization’s greatest obstacle? Excuses. Decide. What do you want? How would you live if this were your last day?

Focus on Don’t Dos. By not doing things that are bad, you automatically do things that are good.

What is exercising? Exercising is stretching. Go to the zoo and watch the tigers. See their muscle tone? How do they maintain it? Stretching.

Control your emotion. When you express anger, you lose. Withdraw anger. That’s what it means to turn the other cheek. Anger can be creatively processed internally.

Ask, “what am I doing?” Am I chasing a fantasy? Is this an illusion? Escape attachment. Pursue higher consciousness. The things that are left behind are not remembered.

Yoga makes one bulletproof. No one can steal your happiness.

Bikram Yoga of Boston gives it up with a ten day twenty dollar intro in unlimited classes at three locations, Harvard Square, Back Bay and The Financial District. The yoga classes are in a room heated to about a hundred degrees. The facilities are immaculate with showers and changing rooms.

Since completing the intro I’ve been going just about every day since early February. My weight has gone down, I look better, I feel great, sleep like a baby and have no pain in my back, neck or knees.

Bikram is a secret that I’d love to share with the world. But the truth is people need to discover it for themselves. I was especially intrigued by the reviews on yelp.com where people either loved it or hated it. I know why people hate it. Bikram Yoga is not easy. And I know why those who do it love it. Bikram focuses on  physical benefits but spiritual benefits naturally follow.

Bikram went to the ashram at an early age where he met his Hatha Yoga guru. In India, Hatha Yoga is prescribed medicinally. Charged by his guru to bring yoga to the masses, Bikram developed a series of 26 postures for group instruction that work the body from the inside out, top to bottom sequentially. Each class works every muscle, every organ, every part of the body for optimal health.

His book is at the BPL. If you want to find The Holy Grail of Fitness, find your way to Bikram Yoga.

Bikram Yoga: The Guru Behind Hot Yoga Shows the Way to Radiant Health and Personal Fulfillment

For guys… yoga shorts: Maya Men’s Yoga

Lulumon: in The Prudential Center has a premium selection of yoga gear.

Casually forming a theme around the word zen causes me to think about zen. What is it? Zen – “What it is cannot be spoken of, and that which can be spoken of is not it”. One cannot understand Zen by simply discussing it or even reading about it. Zen is an art of self-discovery and awakening which must be experienced first hand.

I find Zen in water, GTD, the Four Agreements, living life on my own terms, and making people happy. But what is zen? “For who accepts harmony, the Way harmonizes with him” -TAO TE CHING – “Those who know do not say. But those who say do not know.”

You decide what is zen and what it means to you. I think zen is simplicity, beauty and awareness. Less is more? Totally zen. Bikram Yoga? Zen.

The zen I’m looking for is simple. It might be a favorite book store or wifi place. Folding bicycles seem pretty zen. I don’t claim to really know what zen is. But I have a feeling. Places and things that make me think zen are what I’d like to blog about on my site.

bates hall

Even minimalists appreciate spaciousness. Working on your laptop, isn’t it nice to go to a hotspot for a change of pace? Bates Hall in the Boston Public Library’s McKim Building is fabulous AND free. A huge domed ceiling, large tables and whisper quietness are inspiring. Get there by T (subway) with the Green Line to Copley. Use the East entrance that faces the 50-story Hancock Tower in Copley Square, go up the grand staircase and enter the door to Bates Hall directly in front of you at the top of the stairs.

You need a library card to access free wifi. Massachusetts residency qualifies you for a library card. Check out the library’s who can get a card page. If you’re not carrying a laptop you can reserve time on a library computer. The catalog and online book reservation system are impressive. Books available from other branches and networks can be transferred to a branch that’s convenient to you.

Maybe you’d like to know what’s nearby? Starbucks on Newbury Street is a block away from the main entrance to the library (map link). Three minutes away, the street is eight blocks long, filled with beautiful people, boutiques, shops and restaurants.

Copley Place Mall (directory) can be reached by exiting the McKim building to the right, crossing Huntington Ave at Dartmouth, entering the diamond shaped building shown below at 12:00 in the photo, taking the escalator up a flight and walking staight ahead to the next escalator which takes you into the Mall.
View Larger Map

Go west on Boylston Street two blocks from the library for The Shops at Prudential Center (directory). You can also follow the directions above to enter Copley Place Mall. Copley Place Mall has an interconnected skyway to The Shops at Prudential Center.

What do you think, could you make a day of it at Bates Hall?

Take your laptop to Central, Davis or Harvard Square on the Red Line in Cambridge to drink coffee and watch people while you work.

Central has the 1369, Davis has Diesel. Neither offers free wifi but $13.95 for a month of wifi is reasonable if you plan to sit in a busy cafe for hours. Daily and hourly access are available for less. FYI, 1369 and Diesel use the same network provider but access is per location.

At Starbucks, register a card for one free session a day, two hours max. Clear Conscience Cafe connected to Harvest Food Co-op on Mass Ave in the middle of Central Square has free wifi, non-rickety chairs and a healthy menu, not to mention Mama Zuma’s REVENGE potato chips. But the 1369 is more bohemian.

Diesel in Davis Square is large, busy, and has an enticing sandwich menu. Do you have a favorite stop on the Red Line?

The public water supply in Massachusetts is excellent. Is bottled water better than tap water? Poland Springs and Perrier are two of my favorite waters but refilling a Target water bottle with tap water saves money and hassle. Drinking bottled water costs money and it’s a chore to lug cases of water around. My water kit consists of two Ikea 365+ 2-quart jars with lids to chill tap in the refrigerator and refillable water bottles.

Here’s a list of the 50 Best Meals in Boston under $10 where water with your meal will keep cost to a minimum. Splitting an entree and appetizer is an excellent way to deal with huge restaurant portions. Instead of bottled water or soda, drink tap water. Have more fun, spend less money.

Do you drink enough water? Check out watercure2.org and ask yourself if it makes sense to give up soda.  The benefits of drinking poison are hard to find. What difference can water make for you? Find out. Drink water, ditch the poison and before you know it you’re thinking about what you eat and exercising more. Maybe you prefer the taste of Diet Coke? I did too, until I made a conscious effort to switch to water. The clean taste of water will completely replace soda cravings. Look at the The Water Cure testimonials. I know someone who has high blood pressure. When it gets too high she goes to the emergency room. They treat her with an IV. Guess what’s in an IV? Salt and water. Guess what The Water Cure is? Salt and water.

GTD is Getting Things Done by David Allen, a personal management system that puts you in control of your stuff. How much stuff does a minimalist need? Not much, right? The trick is getting from more to less.

GTD revolves around an inbox and basic questions, “what am I trying to accomplish here,” and “what’s the next action on this?”

My minimalist pile of stuff includes clothes, files, furniture, office, hobby, tools, electronic, music gear and books, stored by activity and containerized. Mail, receipts, stuff that collects in my pockets gets dumped into an inbox. Piles and projects to process don’t necessarily go into the inbox, but mentally they sit there until reviewed, perhaps with a note in the actual inbox as a reminder.

During review, bills go into payment processing, receipts are scanned and filed by archive. Files consist of reference, action, archive and manuals in cheap stackable totes from Staples. Archives and manuals are on a closet shelf, reference and action sit on the M(antonius), an Ikea shelving system.

A PDA tracks affirmations, project plans, brainstorms, tasks and a calendar. A project is anything that requires more than one action. For example, replacing the windshield in my van is a project. The PDA database lists the project, next action, notes (perhaps subsequent actions) and context. Contexts are where an activity is performed: any(where), lap(top), pda, dial (phone calls), go2 (errands), hold (waiting for something from 3rd party), mCAV (mancave, at home, www (online).

Projects go into a database. Single actions are on a separate list by context: e.g. sort books (mCAV), adjust bike tire (miniTASK)… miniTASK is a new category. If a task can be done in less than two minutes I try to do it immediately to eliminate the need to write and track it. A miniTASK is NOT a project.

The calendar is reserved for things that must be done on a certain day, or at a particular time, like a dental appointment or someone’s birthday. A Palm with the standard apps and jFile databases tracks GTD.

GTD is about developing a system that works for you.