Category: Tools I Use

How Do I: use Amazon Alexa

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Amazon Alexa is one of the most popular home assistant services that come with an Amazon Echo device.

Devices

Have two of the Echo Dot in my house. One in my kitchen and one in my master bathroom.

A friend of mine has at least 5 of these devices throughout his house

What do use it for?

I listen to:

my daily flash briefing of news stories that I care about and podcasts by asking “Alexa, flash briefing” [all pre-set selection of “skills” I have picked on http://alexa.amazon.com%5D

it as our stereo during dinner parties by asking “Alexa, play jazz”

I ask for:

Weather by asking “Alexa, weather”

Time by asking “Alexa, time” rather than having clocks in every room or glancing at my phone since I rarely wear a watch in sunny Bluffton, South Carolina

Timer in the kitchen is helpful “Alexa, timer 15 minutes”

When trying to figure out what to do with bacon grease, I asked “Alexa, how do I dispose of grease” for an answer from Wikihow.

If that news story has little or no value to me, I say “Alex, Next” to skip forward.

When it acts up or I am done I ask “Alexa, stop”

When do I use it?

When I am preparing a meal or preparing myself for the day in the bathroom (yes, I have one in the master bathroom instead of a radio), I often listen to Alexa. Most often in the morning, but sometimes around dinner time.

More commands

Here is a great list of Alexa commands here, thanks to Ben Smith.

 

 

 

How do I: Check wifi

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We all use wifi. Some countries believe access to it is actually a civil right.

Ever wonder how to find a wifi hotspot in any area?

Try http://google.com/maps and search for “free wifi near me”

How do you check the strength of the wifi signal?

You can run a free test to measure the strength of any internet connection including wifi by visiting http://speedtest.net

Speedtest  has an app too.

Best books consumed in the past few years

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Writers get better by writing more and reading more. Some writers will purposely read outside from their genre to learn something else.

Here are a few of the best books I have read in the past three years:
Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio

Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity
by Kim Scott 

A Beautiful Constraint: How to Transform Your Limitations Into Advantages, and Why It’s Everyone’s Business 

by Adam Morgan, Mark Barden

Before taking the altMBA, this was one of the books we were mailed and asked to read prior to the month-long course. Found the reframing of constraints from limitations to advantages very helpful with their models and real-world examples.

Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days 
by Jake Knapp

Went to the book launch for this book, read this book, suggested a number of startups use this model to help them, led a 5-day workshop to use this Sprint process and it was very fruitful use of our time to resolve big challenges for those startups.

What are your favorite recent non-fiction books?

Self-Publishing Explained

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In February 2018, Henrik de Gyor presented a lecture about Self-Publishing Explained to the Island Writers’ Network on Hilton Head Island, SC.

Here is an audio recording of this presentation

 

Contact Henrik de Gyor if you have questions.

Schedule a call for consulting about your own book

Tools I Use: digital mind mapping

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Ryan Holiday explains “The Notecard System: The Key For Remembering, Organizing And Using Everything You Read.”

This system may work in the physical world (I respect that if you need everything to be physical for some reason).  I see all this possible as a digital mind map to minimize duplication (it is just a link or lines drawn to the same dot), less rewriting, simpler organization that travels with you anywhere and easier categorization for those comfortable using digital tools.

I find it interesting to watch people squirm while I explain how I do this using digital tools as they still have a reluctance (resistance) in giving up their legacy methods using paper due to their own comfort zones. If they don’t want to change and get out of their own (way) comfort zone, it is their own problem to solve.

I prefer tools and information to follow me anywhere/anytime rather than going to where it is all physically located in order to review/iterate it. Especially since new ideas are fleeting, need to be captured (vs. vanish with memory) and get linked to other ideas/needs at some point.

Yes, one of the tools I use is digital mind mapping. Not on a paper, but rather fully editable ideas. I find it a good tool for forming and dissecting ideas. Before creating an outline for a book, I start with a mind map. As I continue existing projects, I mind map them.

Mind mapping helps create dots (ideas) and connect those dots (drawing lines/relations) such as:

  1. keywords/keyphrases
  2. related articles (links)
  3. related images (links to drawings, photos, infographics whether they are mine in Google Drive or from the internet)

Then, it becomes clearer to see what gaps are there and which gaps you want to fill.

Once you are comfortable with scope (self-imposed limits) of ideas you want to cover (and what you don’t want to cover), it is easier to form an outline for writing a book.

I also use mind mapping to cover who and what topics I have covered with my podcast interviews and what I want to do in the future.

Here is a list of mind mapping tools you can use (free or paid). I happen to use Mind Meister.

And that is how I use mind mapping. How do you use mind mapping?

Need help with tools like this for your business?

Questions?