Outside Influences

Charlie — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 23:55:33 +0000

I want to present like Steve Jobs. I want to live like Tim Ferriss. I want to talk like Larry David. I want to have honest, moving work like Ricky Gervais. I want to make observations like Seth Godin. I want to start a business like Ben Casnocha. I want to read more than Ryan Holiday. I want to have financial wisdom like Ramit Sethi. I want to think like Robert Greene. I want to tell jokes like Patton Oswalt. I want to have an extreme lifestyle like Neil Strauss. I want to play guitar like John Butler, Monte Montegomery, and Paul Gilbert. I want to invent like Stephen Key . I want to write lyrics like Brett Dennen. I want to be an undiscovered genius like John Kennedy Toole. I want to muse like Kurt Vonnegut. I want to be fearless like Bill Hicks. I want to have a vision for changing the world like Larry and Sergey.

Who’s influenced you?

Tired of meetings? Switch to Skype & Google Docs

Charlie — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:43:00 +0000

I’m 21 years old. I don’t have tons of experience in an office setting, but I have worked on a lot of projects over the last four years. Over and over, I find myself agreeing with Tim Ferriss: meetings suck.

Meetings are way less productive than if each individual had spent that time working on their own. I’ve avoided meetings as much as possible throughout college. It’s much easier to work with multiple people on a project through Google documents. Still, a lot of people feel more comfortable in meetings because you’re getting some face time and talking with co-workers. While it’s ok to talk business during lunch hour, I genuinely feel it’s unnecessary to have meetings during the work day. You get very little accomplished relative to the amount of time you actually spend in the meeting.

Email can become a very unproductive way of communicating for group projects. Emailing drafts of things back and forth to one another is brutal, especially when you do it more than a few times. It becomes an instant messaging program, which it obviously shouldn’t. The telephone is still the best channel for asking questions and communicating with team members. It’s faster and, more importantly, you get to hear the person’s voice. There have been many instances in my life where something was lost in translation because of the limitations on email and text messaging.

It’s unfortunate that more companies don’t implement Skype and Google documents into their work tactics. Those two programs are a lot more effective than in-person meetings and email.

*Picture courtesy of Seth Godin’s blog

Hoehn's Musings » tim ferriss

Outside Influences

Tired of meetings? Switch to Skype & Google Docs