Blog | Managed IT Solutions For Businesseshttps://acsapp.com/blog/2024-03-28T17:40:48-04:00ACS IT Services Blog
Book Review -- Taking Flight! Master the DISC Styles to Transform Your Career, Your Relationships...Your Life2013-07-03T00:00:00-04:002024-03-28T17:40:48-04:00adminhttps://acsapp.com/blog/author/admin/https://acsapp.com/blog/book-review-taking-flight-master-the-disc-styles-to-transform-your-career-your-relationships-your-life/<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0133121291/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0133121291&linkCode=as2&tag=acsblog-20"><img alt="" border="0" class="aligncenter" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=0133121291&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=acsblog-20"/></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=acsblog-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0133121291" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1"/></p>
<div>I was introduced to DISC personality profiling through my professional sales trainer. He stressed the importance of knowing your own profile, and using the skills learned in our sales training to ascertain the personality of the people we were communicating with. I then learned that DISC is a highly valued management tool as well. Very successful people, such as <a href="http://www.daveramsey.com" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Dave Ramsey</a>, use DISC testing in their organizations. As I began to read <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0133121291/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0133121291&linkCode=as2&tag=acsblog-20" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Taking Flight!</a> I was very excited to further expand my knowledge and understanding of the world of DISC. The book did not disappoint.</div>
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<div>While <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0133121291/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0133121291&linkCode=as2&tag=acsblog-20" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Taking Flight!</a> is not a deep dive into the science, or even the deep application of DISC it does give you a very good understanding of the principles of DISC, and even more importantly, it gives you a very simple and effective way to relate to the concepts of DISC.</div>
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<div>The book uses birds, specifically 4 species of birds to demonstrate the 4 profiles that exist in the DISC paradigm. His selection of foul worked perfectly for me to extrapolate from my reference of how these birds behaved into the personality divisions within the DISC system. The D in DISC is represnted by an eagle named Dorion (note how the first letter in his name is the same as his profile.) The I's are represented by a pair of parrots named Indy and Ivy. S's are doves called Samuel and Sarah. C's are represented by Owls called Clark and Crystal.</div>
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<div>These birds work at the extreme of their personality profile and offer a very effective demonstration of what these profiles look and feel like. By the end of the book you have both a good understanding of how DISC looks and feels, but a very simple tool to remember how each profile acts. Just think of how each bird acts (or would act if it could speak and reason) and you have the personalities of the DISC system at easy command.</div>
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<div><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0133121291/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0133121291&linkCode=as2&tag=acsblog-20">Taking Flight!: Master the DISC Styles to Transform Your Career, Your Relationships...Your Life</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=acsblog-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0133121291" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1"/> was a short read, with enjoyable characters and worked well to instruct. I would recommend it to anyone interested in a primer on DISC. I would recommend anyone in sales or management dig into DISC, as I believe it is an invaluable tool for both professions.</div>GTD for Evernote {Book Review}2013-06-06T00:00:00-04:002024-03-24T17:07:14-04:00adminhttps://acsapp.com/blog/author/admin/https://acsapp.com/blog/gtd-for-evernote-book-review/<p><img alt="evernote-gtd-review" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1783" src="https://www.acsapp.com/media/uploads/image/evernote-gtd-review.jpg" style="width: 300px; height: 237px;"/> </p>
<p>While researching different ways to Get(ting) Things Done (GTD), I stumbled across a book that struck my interest since we are big fans & users of Evernote: <a href="https://transactions.digitaldeliveryapp.com/stores/910/2704" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Evernote: The Unofficial Guide to Capturing Everything and Getting Things Done</a>. I emailed Mr. Gold who was gracious enough to send a copy so that I could review it and share it with you.</p>
<p>First of all, I have to say that overall I really liked the book. While I was using Evernote long before I read his book, there were plenty of things I COULD have been using it for and didn't. In fact, even if you don't use GTD, the tips in his book are highly useful. I have tripled my use of Evernote in the month since I first read his book -- I now store everything from work, in addition to my writing, homeschooling, home management, budgeting and more. All accessible from my iPhone, no matter where I am or what I am doing.</p>
<h1>Evernote: The Unofficial Guide to Capturing Everything and Getting Things Done</h1>
<p>One of the first things Mr. Daniel Gold of <a href="http://www.degconsulting.net/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">DEG Consulting</a> talks about is how GTD started and how people started to do it -- hacking Moleskin notebooks and then trying to make electronic devices work in this way (I recall trying to do it on my Palm IIe) and having very little luck without much effort and tweaking. So much so, in fact, that it kept you from the core promise of GTD -- Getting Things DONE! </p>
<p>Enter Evernote. He doesn't go into the basics on how to use Evernote, but DOES discuss issues that people have in making it overly complicated (raises hand. Ahem.). He also talks about several master documents that you can set up for maximum efficiency in your home or office and I had never considered using it for that purpose. One of the things that I like about this book is that it goes over the 5 phases of workflow in detail: Collect, Process, Organize, Review & Do, as well as projects. </p>
<p>Mr. Gold goes into great detail on how to use Evernote for EVERY aspect of GTD, including your email. How? Well, you'll have to<a href="https://transactions.digitaldeliveryapp.com/stores/910/2704" rel="noopener" target="_blank"> read it </a>to find out! At only $5 for the <a href="https://transactions.digitaldeliveryapp.com/stores/910/2704" rel="noopener" target="_blank">PDF</a> or <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005OSJ06I/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B005OSJ06I&linkCode=as2&tag=acsblog-20" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Kindle</a> Versions, it's worth it just to satisfy the curiosity. Rest assured, if you like one program (i.e. Evernote) to handle EVERYTHING, this book will tell you how to set that up. Personally, I do not mind letting my email handle my email, my calendar handle my appointments and my "system" (whatever that may be) handle everything else. But that's just me.</p>
<p>He does also include some discussions about the pro's and con's of using certain features of Evernote (like Notebooks/Notebook Stacks), and why it might be beneficial to pay for a Pro account (which allows offline access, among other things). He also mentions a Master Client Note which can even turn Evernote into a pseuo-CRM. The book provides a link to be able to download a copy of that (and other similar documents), should you like to use them. In addition, Mr. Gold shows 3 different ways that you can use Evernote with your calendar.</p>
<h1>My Thoughts</h1>
<p>One of the things that I DON'T like about this book is the prolific use of tags and searches and moving items from one document to another. Just thinking about doing that makes my head hurt -- maybe the fact I'm 7 months pregnant has a bit to do with that, but I really like how <a href="https://www.acsapp.com/blog/cross-platform-gtd-app-doit-im/">DoIt.im</a> makes it really easy and automatically files everything for me. On the flip side, it does prompt a regular review, which I tend to neglect. In fact, I just biffed or moved around about 15 "overdue" tasks in DoIt.im because if there is a way to delete tasks from the iPhone, I haven't figured it out yet :).</p>
<p>I guess it boils down to how you function and your time available to work your system. Personally, I only work part-time and spend very little time at a desk or a computer. Much of the time spent working my GTD system is jotting down notes quickly on my iPhone or Android tablet while I am spending time with my family -- just enough so that things don't fall through the cracks until I have time to get back to it. </p>
<p>If I worked in an office most of the time or had regular access to work at my desk for chunks of time, that could work, too, but that's not the season of life I am in. I could absolutely see where the master documents would be extremely useful for my husband who is frequently out of the office, doing sales and managing the business.</p>
<p>Overall, I would say that <a href="https://transactions.digitaldeliveryapp.com/stores/910/2704" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Evernote: The Unofficial Guide to Capturing Everything and Getting Things Done</a> is extremely useful for those looking to become more productive through Evernote. Even if you aren't interested in GTD, there are still fabulous tips on utilizing Evernote's capabilities to be more productive. If you are interested in GTD and love Evernote, this would help you implement that in a tool that you already use regularly. Anyone interested in using cloud computing to be more productive could benefit from reading this book.</p>
<p><strong>Do you use Evernote to GTD?</strong> </p>
<p><img alt="" src="https://www.acsapp.com/media/uploads/image/steed%20jen_0049%20mailer%20copy.jpg" style="width: 150px; height: 210px;"/> Jen Steed writes about technology, travel and more. You can find her writing for various online and print publications. To talk to Jen or see all of her articles as they are published, you can follow Jen on <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/+JenSteed?rel=author" rel="author" title="Author: Jen Steed on Google+">Google+</a>.</p>Getting Things Done - Business Classics Book Review2013-03-07T00:00:00-05:002024-03-28T13:24:29-04:00adminhttps://acsapp.com/blog/author/admin/https://acsapp.com/blog/getting-things-done-business-classics-book-review/<p style="text-align: center;"> </p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="getting-things-done-review" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1806" src="https://www.acsapp.com/media/uploads/image/getting-things-done-review.jpg" style="width: 300px; height: 295px;"/><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=happlitthome-20&l=as2&o=1&a=0142000280" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1"/></p>
<p>I'm not sure if you know this, but Albert & I are both business majors. Our passions are business and technology and helping making your business better through the use of technology. Since our customers are all businesses, I thought it might be helpful to share some of our favorite business or technology-related books. Every other month or so, you will see a book review from Al or I on a topic of interest to business owners. I'm VERY excited to share our first book review on what I consider a classic -- <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0142000280/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0142000280&linkCode=as2&tag=acsblog-20" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Getting Things Done</a>.</p>
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<p>I have been a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0142000280/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0142000280&linkCode=as2&tag=acsblog-20" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Getting Things Done</a> enthusiast since I first read the book close to a decade ago. I was working in a corporate environment and successfully used this system for my work. Then I stayed home to have kids and I just didn't have enough brain power left to figure out <a href="http://www.happylittlehomemaker.com/2011/03/mind-organization-for-moms-review-giveaway/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">how GTD could work at home</a>; babies are by nature unpredictable! I did eventually find someone who broke it down for moms and I changed everything. Now that I'm working from home for ACS, I find that <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0142000280/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0142000280&linkCode=as2&tag=acsblog-20" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Getting Things Done</a> is finally fully working for me.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0142000280/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0142000280&linkCode=as2&tag=acsblog-20" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Getting Things Done</a> is essentially a productivity book. I've read dozens of productivity books over the years and none of them are like this one. The biggest difference is that it doesn't JUST tell you how to prioritize, or how to manage your email. Instead<a href="http://www.davidco.com/" rel="noopener" target="_blank"> David Allen </a>sets up a decision-making framework for dealing with EVERYTHING that rolls around in your brain. </p>
<p>There is a little bit of organizational detail in dealing with your email and paper, but he describes a whole different way of thinking about your life. In the first section, he speaks to people just like you and I -- people whose responsibilities are numerous and flow over the boundaries of "work" and "home" since both can happen at anytime. He shares an overview of both his system for all the items that we have to process in a day and his system for working on projects that require more than one step. The second part is the gem of the book. </p>
<p>Once he's explained an overview of the system, then he gets down to the nuts and bolts of how it works. First, he shares how to set up your time, space and tools. It does require some work, I won't lie. But it is SOOOOOOOO worth the effort. And once you set it up and get used to how it works, if you fall off the wagon it's not as big a deal. It doesn't require quite so much time to set back up because it totally changes how you think about things--even if you are not fully utilizing it, I bet some of your processes will stay set up that way. Ask me how I know. Ahem. </p>
<p>Then he shares how to corral all your stuff (collection), processing it all, and organizing it efficiently. These are the sections that tell you how to deal with your mail, email, phone calls, etc. He goes on to talk about reviewing your system, which is a huge component that lets you keep all those balls you juggle in the air. No other book I've ever read has talked about the importance of this. He also talks about making the best choices (Doing) and a little more about projects. </p>
<p>In the last section, he discusses the importance of the collection, next-action and outcome focusing habit. It's kind of a high-level overview of how and perhaps more importantly, WHY, you are doing all the processes he outlines in section two. Long story short, I highly recommend this book. If you frequently find yourself forgetting things or not getting to things you want to do or even are having trouble balancing "work" and "home," this book could change your life. </p>
<p>It's not just an organization, "here's how to set up your filing system" kind of a book. It's more of a here's how to live life and do as much of the good stuff (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0743269519/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0743269519&linkCode=as2&tag=acsblog-20" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Quadrant 1 for the FC fans</a>) as possible kind of a book. Really, really fabulous and essential for business owners who are trying to run a business, manage employees, raise kids, work on committees and just do as much as possible in a day. <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0142000280/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0142000280&linkCode=as2&tag=acsblog-20" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Getting Things Done</a> is the book for you!</p>
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<p style="text-align: left;">If I've piqued your interest, but you still aren't sure, you can check out these resources for more information.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Amazon -- has <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0142000280/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0142000280&linkCode=as2&tag=acsblog-20" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Getting Things Done</a> on Kindle, CD/Audiobook, Paperback and Hardcover (I've bought it 3 times -- it's that good!).</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.davidco.com/resources" rel="noopener" target="_blank">GTD Resources from David Allen</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://secure.davidco.com/store/catalog/THE-GTD-SYSTEM-STARTER-KIT-p-16565.php" rel="noopener" target="_blank">GTD Starter Kit (book, CD's and more)</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://www.43folders.com/2004/09/08/getting-started-with-getting-things-done" rel="noopener" target="_blank">43Folders - a blog dedicated to GTD for mac users </a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">A great <a href="http://zenhabits.net/the-getting-things-done-gtd-faq/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">article on GTD's FAQ's from Leo over at ZenHabits</a> --Summarizes what it realistically takes to start for us mere mortals.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;">A Google search will reveal thousands of people sharing what they use to make GTD work for them.</p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>What works for you?</strong></p>
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<p>Jen Steed writes about technology, travel and more. You can find her writing for various online and print publications. To talk to Jen or see all of her articles as they are published, you can follow Jen on <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/+JenSteed?%20rel=author" rel="author" title="Author: Jen Steed on Google +">Google+</a>.</p>