Ribbon Farm is a blog about business & innovation.  Written by Venkatesh Rao, he often illustrates his ideas with whimsical and thoughtful drawings. He works at the Xerox Research Center, where his research is in the areas of the “Future of Documents” and “Future of Work.”
Here’s his illustration of the evolution of work-life balance patterns as shaped by changing cultural attitudes over the last century. 
A reader from Ontario recently asked whether we had any kind of planner that extends more than 1 year ahead: “I do a lot of long-range planning as a promoter and would like to have a planner that would give me say, 2009 to 2014.”
We don’t, unfortunately, but I figured I would open up the question to the wisdom of crowds. Do you do much long-range planning? Is there a system that you use?
Stewart Brand, author, visionary thinker, and environmentalist, wrote a book about a new form of human thinking about time and responsibility for the future.
The Clock of the Long Now: Time and Responsibility, introduces the “Clock of the Long Now Project“–a gigantic mechanical clock in the Nevada desert, as monumental as Stonehenge, and engineered to record time over 10,000 years.
In concise essays, Brand touches on the mathematics and philosophies of time, episodes of history, and arguments for stretching out our perceptions of time, the benefits of long-term thinking, reversing our shorter and shorter attention spans.
The idea to build a momument scale, multi-millennial, all mechanical clock as an icon to long term thinking came from computer scientist Danny Hillis. 
Brian Eno, a board member of the Long Now Foundation, described their mission: “The idea is to extend our concept of the present in both directions, making the present longer…Civiliations with long nows look after things better. In those places you feel a very strong but flexible structure which is built to absorb shocks and in fact incorporate them.”
“Packed Calendars Rule Over Executives” was the subject of Carol Hymowitz’s “In the Lead” column in the Wall Street Journal this week. Several executives, including Daniel Vasella, CEO of Novartis, share how they get free from a crammed agenda.
Vasella “keeps himself in check” by occasionally stepping back to evaluate his plans, questioning whether he could do his job differently.
Mark Hurd, CEO of Hewlett-Packard, makes sure he has some breathing space on his calendar. He leaves time every day for things that just come up.
Kathleen Murphy, CEO of ING US Wealth Management, believes that the single most crucial element for surviving a packed schedule is to have a competent team to which you can delegate important jobs.
“At my level you can’t get caught in the weeds,” she says, “you have to move back to a more strategic position.”
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Dumb Little Man is a site dedicated to providing “a handful of tips that will save you money, increase your productivity, or just keep you sane.”
Tired of dealing with endless emails every day? Does emailing back and forth seem to be most of your job now? This article will help you cut it back.
Here are a few other tips:
- Call instead of email.Â
- Check your email early in the morning, at noon, just before you leave the office. Try not to check during the rest of the day - leave it for work, meetings, socializing in person.
- Be brief in your email.
- If you use a Quo Vadis Agenda Planning Diary, you can note your priority emails for the week in the dashboard box or in Daily Notes. Take care of them first.
In addition to more space for Sundays, a reader (and student) from New York City recently suggested that we add more time slots between 10-12 PM, when college students in particular are often still busy and scheduling plans. What do you think—could you use these extra hours? Let us know in the comments!
Are you going on vacation this summer? Will your kids be traveling solo, or going away to camp? If so, you might want to check out Forms4Parents.com, a website created by New York based lawyer (and mom) Linda Kagan that can help you organize your child’s and your summer travel. Here, Linda talks about what you’ll need to get ready:
Summer is here. Our children will begin to travel with grandparents, on their own or with a teen travel organization, and likely to other countries.
To make the experience better for our children (and those daring enough to travel with them), it’s best to make sure the proper travel and medical forms are in place. That way, you’ll know that you won’t be called on suddenly to sign a medical authorization, and that your children won’t be stopped at the border because a notarized authorization is not in hand.
The key is having comprehensive information about your children’s doctors, allergies, medicines, special needs, insurance, etc. on the forms that will accompany your children as they (or you) travel. In addition, it always helps to have the family rules clearly outlined for your children and their brave caregivers to minimize the endless negotiations about which tv shows, computer games, bedtimes, chores they can watch and must do. You should also provide contact information for each parent.
To make it easier, I created a website that allows parents to create necessary travel, medical and other types of authorizations, as well as a Family Rules form, online in a matter of minutes. It’s called Forms4Parents.com, and it’s dedicated to helping you organize your child’s and your summer travel.
Happy travels!
In college, as they say, you learn the skills you need for the rest of your life… here are some great time management tips for students that were brought to our attention by a reader:
• Write things down. With so much going on it’s hard to remember every little thing you have to do — unless you write it down of course. Get a student planner or a notebook to take down all your important engagements, assignments and more.
• Stay organized. You’ll save yourself loads of time later by staying organized from the get-go. Instead of having to hunt around for notes, assignments and misplaced papers, keeping them all in one place makes studying and doing homework easier and less stressful.
• Focus on one thing at a time. Multitasking may seem like a good idea, but really you’ll get more done by focusing your energy on one task at a time. Once you’ve finished one thing you can check it off your list and move onto the next.
You can read the full list at this website… I dare say some of it’s useful to us non-students, too!
In a comment to Karen’s post about the ABP1, one of our readers asked for advice on how to manage forward planning with a day-per-page calendar format. Since both Karen and I use weekly planners, we don’t have many suggestions. Perhaps someone else can help?
What do you think? How do you manage your week when you take things one day at a time?
Should workplaces be “pet-friendly?” Would you be a happier, more productive employee if you could bring your dog to work?
Advocates say a pet-friendly workplace is a cost-free benefit to help employees maintain a life-work balance. Allowing pets at work helps reduce stress and boost morale, as employees take a break from the computer to play with one of the office dogs. And, when a dog starts wagging their tail you know at least someone is happy to see you!
On the flip side, people who don’t like animals, don’t want to brush hair off their clothes and furniture, and don’t want to endure endless begging for a piece of their lunch, or find their garbage has been nosed through thoroughly are less than thrilled with the idea of animals in the workplace.
Pet-friendly policies vary by company, but they usually include several basic components: the needs of people who have allergies or don’t want to work near animals should be accommodated; pets must be kept on a leash or under control; pets must be housebroken, and employees must clean up after their pet outside.
What do you think?
