As a Skier myself, I have faced many situations caused by powder days, some extremely satisfying and some that test the core parts of my life such as my marriage and my job. I recall vividly an incredible Thursday powder day at Vail a few years ago with my brother, as we rolled into the Village I turned on my phone to see 10 voicemails, our servers were down and I was no where to be found, uh oh.

Over the years powder days have been harder and harder to swing. My heart is in it, but my schedule says that meeting is too important to miss or that look in my wife’s eye tells me it’s time for me to watch the baby while she sleeps in.

All of this got me thinking about powder days as a gauge to the control you have over your life and business. If I called you right now and said “Dude, A-Basin is getting dumped on, let’s hit it tomorrow!” Could you?

I think getting to the point in your life where you have this freedom is an amazing goal. You used to have it, but now responsibility has crept up on you. Work-Life Balance is all about being an incredibly responsible, hard working, successfully, total Bad-Ass that can sneak away and grab a powder day.

Here are 3 suggestions for helping you ditch work and ski pow:

1. Have you put process in place to help you manage fires in your daily life? Hopefully Yes, you need to be in a situation where the big decisions that cause tons of stress are made thoughtfully and slowly. Don’t be the guy that has to react to every single thing throughout the day. There is always a punching bag like this in every company, no matter how big or small, you need to work hard to not be that guy.

2. Does your company culture thrive on who is in the office when? I just heard Jason Fried of 37 Signals talk about this in a recent podcast about Remake, “Every office has the asshole that waits until everyone leaves then leaves 5 minutes later.” Work very hard and never let face time bother you, it has no value to your career and you just have to let it go.

3. Talk to your Boss with total transparency about this. “You know I love to ski, and this winter I would like to take a few days off, only when it is dumping snow in the mountains, to ski for the day. I will never let this affect my work and have worked hard so that everyone has me covered. I will always email the night before to key team members and check my phone throughout the day.” I have learned in my professional and personal relationships that sometimes if you want something you just have to ask, and be ready to work hard for it. When your boss says “Thanks for being so transparent with me, I think that’s a great idea.” it also means “I am granting you this freedom and you have to work really hard and not screw up to keep it.” Asking your Boss to take powder days can only be asked once, no second chances.

I write this post mainly as a motivation to myself. I am just as guilty of being sucked into responsibility as the next guy.

Good Luck, and Bon Hiver.

One of my hobbies is studying how to be more productive.  I have read David Allen’s GTD books, listen to 43 Folders podcast, thirst after Inbox Zero and talk to people about how they manage their time.

Below are some things I’ve learned.

Plan your year in context

I learned this from Brad Feld who calls this “The Rhythms of his Life“.  Think of your time in segments: Year, Quarter, Month, Week, Day.  Create a routine for each of these segments that you follow such as taking a vacation each quarter, wake up at the same time each day, etc.

Understand how your spend your time each day

I am using a utility called RescueTime that runs in the background and analyzes the applications you have open.  When you are away from your computer RescueTime asks you “What have you been doing?”.  You can view reports of “Time Wasted” and “Producive Time”.  I don’t run RescueTime everyday, just every once in a while to help me stay on track.  It’s amazing how much time I waste everyday!

This is a graph showing my day today.  I woke up at 5am for my Morning Think time but my daughter woke up as well so I spent my morning with her.  As you can see I took a break around lunchtime and mid-day is when I am interrupted the most with random questions and water cooler conversation.

Trust your System

I learned this from David Allen’s GTD books.  I use Things as my ToDo list.  Anytime anyone says anything that I need to follow up on I dump it into my Inbox on Things.  Each week I have my “Weekly Review” to organize this list.  The amount of stuff that I procrastinate on or drop has been reduced dramatically by using Things.

The above shows the Inbox view in my Things app.  Every task, usually life stuff but some work stuff, I dump into the Inbox for “processing” later.

Morning Think

I have written about my Morning Think Time on this blog previously.  A few days a week I try and wakeup at 5am.  For about 2 hours I sip coffee and do whatever I want, usually read or research on my laptop sitting in my robe.  This time is extremely productive and helps me think about the big picture, read or just knock off small tasks.

What’s Next?

2009 has been a transformative year for me as I’ve become extremly productive following the above tactics.  My goals in 2010 are to be more productive on the bigger things in my life now that I have the day to day figured out.

Pros:

• feeling healthy on a daily basis
• getting more fresh air than normal
• having something interesting to talk about
• lost 3 lbs
• bought new running shoes
• plowed through some of those podcasts I wished I had more time to listen to

Cons:

• legs, especially my knees, were sore a few days and I knew I should’ve rested but instead I ran
• my normal runs became shorter (averaging 2.5 miles), no long runs in August

This challenge was a great lesson in “glass 1/2 empty, glass 1/2 full” thinking.  You have to approach everyday with the right attitude.  Either it’s “This sucks, I am so busy and there is no way I can go for a run” or this “I’m sorry, I can’t meet you for drinks after work.  I am trying to run everyday in August and have to get my run in, you understand right?”

I recommend this challenge for anyone, runner or non-runner.  It’s a great way to turn just another normal month into something more.

http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/prnewswire/39408/

In 2002, Micha Hanson and I received a phone call from Dee Rambeau asking for some coding help. Dee and his business partner Jason Keller had a PR and software background and understood the opportunity for building easy to use tools to help the overworked PR professional. Micha and I were impressed by the idea. Jason moved from San Francisco to Denver, we teamed up with Rob Gwin and the first products were born.

Today’s announcement of the PRN acquisition is a great example of how a small company can be laser focused on building great products and the right strategic partnerships will develop. I’m so proud of our crew.

“A 529 Plan is an education savings plan operated by a state or educational institution designed to help families set aside funds for future college costs. It is named after Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code which created these types of savings plans in 1996.”

Source: savingforcollege.com

I’ve skimmed articles and listened to podcasts about the subject, here are some highlights:

1. You have to research and choose a State offered 529 Plan

I chose Colorado’s 529 Plan, my home state, mainly because I just love Colorado..and I wanted the tax benefits their 529 Plan gave me for being a resident. I then choose the Direct Portfolio Savings Plan because it was managed by Vanguard and I have an IRA with them.

2. Once you’ve decided on a 529 Plan, you have to signup and choose options

The Direct Portfolio Savings Plan 529 Plan that I chose offered 4 options, each based on level of risk. Of course, I have no idea what I’m doing so I just choose the first option, “Age-based”, it adjusts your level of risk over time beginning at high risk and moving to low risk as it gets closer to the beginning of college. This is the option the Obama’s chose for their kids.

3. Now you can start contributing

The maximum the 529 Plan can have in it is $280,000. You can contribute whatever you want each year until you reach that maximum.

4. When you are ready to pull money out:

Distributions from the Plan that go towards tuition costs come out tax-free. This makes sense because the money has already been taxed when it goes in but then comes out without being taxed. So, you are not double taxed on this money or it’s gains by the IRS. Read this FAQ page for more info

I also enjoyed listening to Marketplace’s Story on choosing 529 Plans.

And the response:

Layaway
If an online retailer offered layaway I would use it.  The concept seems easy enough, enter your bank routing and account info along with the amount you would like to apply towards your purchase each month.  The retailer has a great interface for you to check on your progress and sends you email reminders each month, etc…for participating in the layaway you get a better deal from the retailer on the item.  (Layaway would make chipping away at the price of that new Mountain Bike a bit easier!)  By offering layaway the retailer would also be forging a relationship with the customer above and beyond a basic transaction.  The ease of paying bills online combined with chatter about being more responsible with personal credit creates a great environment for layaway to become reality.

Customer Service via Social Networks
@comcastcares is the twitter handle for Comcast’s customer service department.  Using twitter search tools they can monitor tweets about Comcast and respond immediately to customers.  This type of customer interaction is revolutionary.  The customer’s complaint and the Company’s response is out there for others to view.  This trend will no doubt continue as the idea of picking up a phone to call and complain about something fades.

Sustainability and Used Goods
As people care more about their impact on the environment related to consumerism they will look at 2 things: how the item is manufactured and should they buy new or used.  

Retailers like Apple and Patagonia are very transparent and offer information about their manufacturing processes which they use as a product differentiator.  Environmental impact will not be as important as product performance but it will carry weight with customers.

“Reduce, Reuse, Recycle” will continue as a trend causing consumers to look for used or second hand goods.  Retailers need to prepare a solution to customers not wanting to buy brand new items.  

Niche Advertising
Targeted niche advertising has, of course, been around forever.  Using Facebook ads, Lijit’s ad network and other highly targeted advertising channels is becoming mandatory.

Interactive Video
The best experience I’ve had with any sort of Interactive Video was watching Obama’s inauguration on Facebook.  A high quality video stream combined with my Friend’s activity displayed on the screen making for a unique, interesting viewing experience.  This concept can certainly apply to online retailing.  Imagine a ski gear website showing a live stream of the new, cool ski movie from Warren Miller on a Friday night.  Your friends from around the world are posting comments realtime as you watch the video and see product specs and information displaying inline with your Friend activity.   

“They will connect around meaningful topics and have live and simultaneous conversations within parameters they themselves define, which will bring relevance back to their interaction with others.”

This got me thinking about my “meaningful topics” and how they related to the social networking technologies I use the most: Facebook, Twitter, BrightKite, LinkedIn and Gyminee.

Facebook is my mindless entertainment

Like everyone it seems, I joined Facebook a while ago and connected with a few old high school friends.  That seems like the good ole’ days of Facebook, now I am friends with clients, coworkers, and people I grew up with but were never friends with and my wife and Denver friends.  Facebook competes with entertainment like watching TV, reading a magazine, etc.  Most of my Facebook activity is at night or triggered by receiving an email notification.  Facebook becomes increasingly relevant to my social life as my friends begin to use it and post time sensitive, relevant things like “wanna go skiing tomorrow?”.  Find Kelly Taylor on Facebook

Twitter means keeping in touch with the tech community

Most of the people I follow on twitter are tweeps in the Boulder/Denver tech scene, VCs or software developers.  Only a small percentage of people I follow are actually friends of mine in real life.  Surfing twitter usually sends me down productive, educational rabbit holes, informs me of what’s going on in the community and what is top of mind for the important thinkers in the tech industry.  I take twitter very seriously and feel it’s added tremendous value to my career.  Find Kelly Taylor on twitter

BrightKite broadcasts how rad I am

I only “Check In” occasionally using BrightKite on my iPhone.  Usually I do this because I am somewhere cool like my favorite restaurant Mountain Sun or hanging out skiing in Silverthorne.  I love BrightKite’s iPhone app and have fun with the service….but kindof wish twitter would buy them to simplify things.  Find Kelly Taylor on BrightKite

LinkedIn is my Career Counselor

I look at and tweak my LinkedIn profile occasionally which helps me perform an internal audit of my career and how things are progressing.  The act of joining groups on LinkedIn seems almost more important than participating in them.  Occasionally I comment on a discussion or attempt to connect with someone through someone in my network, but that’s about the extent of it.  View Kelly Taylor’s profile on LinkedIn

Gyminee is my training reality check

I’ve used web apps before to help with my marathon and triathlon training such as Training Peaks.  My latest favorite is Gyminee because of the beautiful UI including graphs and “letter grades” as well as it’s social networking component.  Most of my “friends” on Gyminee are similar to my twitter friends, I only know them online and we’ve possibly met once or twice in real life.  Even though I don’t know these people it still provides a good motivator for me to keep up on my workouts, post my progress and comment on group discussions.  View Kelly Taylor’s Workouts on Gyminee

_______  

It is interesting to ponder the “meaningful topics” in my life that I don’t use social networking technologies for, there aren’t any.

This leads me to the conclusion that the idea of a “Social Network” is going to fade into basic computing and life infrastructure.  

I enjoyed reading the above articles for the author’s predictions in 2009:  Ad Revenue, Convergence of Networks and Platforms, Social Media Jobs…very similar to 2008 predictions I’ve read.  One predication I feel he missed is that today’s “Social Media” is the gateway to interactive TV.  Watching Obama’s Inauguration speech on CNN/Facebook with my Facebook “News Feed” showing my friends realtime comments about the event is a good indicator of things to come.

All in all, pondering Social Media’s future from time to time is a good thing.  Goodness knows most of my drinking beers, dinner with friends conversation begins with “So, on Facebook I read that…..”.

I finished reading Valley Boy by Tom Perkins a few months ago, the first book I read on my Kindle.  Valley Boy is an autobiography filled with interesting stories about tech history, fancy cars, extreme wealth, famous people and sailing.  Perkins is one of those unique guys that was incredibly smart and worked his ass off to achieve elite status in the tech and venture world however, his passions seem to lay elsewhere in pursuits such as sailing and writing.  I love stories about people that are wildly rich and powerful but still get childishly excited about meeting one of their favorite authors.