We’re spending an unplugged week at the beach.

Right now I’m on a ferry heading to Ocracoke Island, NC. If you don’t know Ocracoke, you should. It’s a…

Look, just Google it. This isn’t Trip Advisor.

It’s been a stressful few months, and when I said I wanted to come here, Jean made it happen. She knows how much I needed it.

But it’s not just a week at the beach; it’s an unplugged week at the beach.

Well, sort of. The parameters aren’t ironclad. I think I hit on what I’m after when thinking about it this morning: you can use a device for creating, not consuming.

But we are going to watch one movie a day. And listen to music on the iPad.

Okay, basically we’re just not going to sit around all day staring at our respective screens. We’re going to get out, ride bikes, swim in the ocean. Pick… crabs, or something.

Basically I’m just going to try not to check email very often.

I’m learning to be more productive by watching videos of people who are learning to be more productive.

I’m getting interested in new productivity tools and looking at GTD, mind mapping and Chronodex. So far I’ve learned that YouTube videos posted by other people are not the best way to learn.

I just watched a “how to mind map” video in which the presenter created a map that apparently helps her remember she is a business owner, wife and mother who likes to jet ski.

I’m now watching a “how I use Chronodex” video posted, apparently, by a disembodied pair of Australian hands. The hands used Chronodex to record that they had waffles for breakfast and are planning to have spaghetti for dinner.

I’m doing all of this, mostly, because I’m always off on some harebrained scheme, and because in the last two weeks I’ve discovered fountain pens and the Traveler’s Notebook.* In about three days, if things go as they normally do, I’ll be selling handmade paper notebooks on Etsy.

But seriously, I’ve tried at least half a dozen different note taking and productivity apps and none of them has been nearly as satisfying, focusing and tactilely rewarding as writing on nice paper with a nice pen.

If you have any good resources for GTD, mind mapping or Chronodex, let me know.

The most efficient way, of course, would be to pay Christopher S. Penn to teach me how to do pretty much everything he does.

*I couldn’t just buy one, though. I had to get a handmade notebook from a leather crafter in Hong Kong. Because simplify.

Siri is a great productivity tool, and it keeps getting better.

I spend a lot of time thinking about productivity tools and apps and devices that might make my daily life more efficient. The irony, of course, is that I would probably get all the efficiency gains I need if I just stopped trying new tools every week. But what fun would that be?

I’ve been using Siri’s speech-to-text dictation on my iPhone for probably a year, and it is definitely a keeper. For instance, I find I reply more quickly to emails, whereas in the past I might’ve waited until I was at a keyboard.

I use it for making lists and recording ideas. There’s something about pacing with the iPhone in hand, talking off the top of my head, that feels more like brainstorming than if I were typing into a document.

I use it in the car at stoplights. I can dictate a quick email or text without taking my phone out of its holder.

I use it to write blog posts, including this one. I had to go back and correct some words that Siri misunderstood, but far fewer than a year ago. Not only do I think the service has gotten better, but it definitely seems to get to know your words and speech patterns.

Unless I’m totally imagining that. I suppose I could stop now and go research it, but another one of my new productivity techniques is to just write a blog post when I have an idea and not let anything distract me from finishing it.

Just what the world needs from me; more frequent vagueness.

I do need to guard against my tendency to ramble. If you’ve ever talked to me in real life, you know that I am an aficionado of the tangent. If I don’t watch myself, an email or blog post I dictate can run on and on and on. Being aware of that, however, helps me focus and try to stay concise.

I’ve talked to a lot of people who tried the dictation feature once and gave up on it. If that was your experience, it’s worth another try.

I need to work more with my hands.

When I was setting up my home office, I bought a big butcher block slab from IKEA and turned it into a desk. I bought pre-made table legs and applied several layers of urethane, sanding between coats to make it smooth. I did it with the garage door open on a warm day, and it was very satisfying. It reminded me of making things out of wood with my father.

In the end, I had a desk. Not only was it a functional item I needed, but it was something I made myself. It certainly wasn’t a difficult or complicated project, but it was one of only a few things “that didn’t get eaten” that I’ve made with my hands in many years.

I did help make a baby, but that’s not really germane.

This morning on Facebook, a friend showed a picture of a table leg he had made to replace one broken in a move. I realized how satisfying it must’ve felt—not only the physical process of creating the object, but also the feeling of self-sufficiency.

I create things every day. At work, I create ideas and solutions to problems. Or, to put it cynically, I create slide decks and emails. At home, I cook meals and make up bedtime stories. I take pictures and post them online, I occasionally write blog posts and I blurt out ideas and random thoughts on Facebook. I have plenty of outlets for intellectual creativity.

But I feel like I’m missing out on something by not creating more things with my hands—tangible objects that can be touched and held. Physical representations of ideas and thought and effort and expertise.

I wonder if a farmer fixing a plow 150 years ago got the same satisfaction I got from making my desk. Did his wife get more satisfaction from making clothes for her family then her modern counterpart gets from watching TV?

My son loves nothing more than making things out of Lego. So do lots of kids. Is that a manifestation of an innate desire to make and build? Is that something we need to nurture to keep it from being lost as kids get older?

Actually, come to think of it, what he loves most is watching TV.

I think we may have discovered the crux of the issue right there.