By far the most popular and most controversial post of 2007 was The Zen Of Attraction. I’m surprised at the attention it received because I wrote it as an aside. Some people loved it and some people hated it. But what was most interesting for me was how many people hated not the article, but me. I mean these were just simple ideas that are totally debatable. This post led me to define some comment rules that include no personal attacks. I’m willing to debate ideas but not whether I’m a good person or not. It was a very interesting experience!

The second most popular post was iQuickTwitter – My Quicksilver + Twitter + iChat + Growl Hack. This little app got some serious link love from TUAW, Ars Technica, and many other fantastic blogs. And a big reason why I didn’t blog as much as I did in 2006 was because of Twitter. If I ever had something short and simple to say, rather than try to develop it into at least 250 words, which I previously believed warranted a blog post, I would just post it to Twitter, which has a limit of 140 characters. I think my strategy will change some in 2008. My new Lifestream category will probably see a lot more action whenever I find that 140 characters is not enough. The most significant change is that I won’t keep such a tightly controlled niche blog. The only thing tying this blog together is that I am writing it, not the subject matter. So if I feel like saying something, this blog will take priority.

Along similar lines as iQuickTwitter were my many posts on automation. Some of them were conceptual, like Automation As Part Of An Integral Life Practice and Automating The Quality Of Your Attention. While others were specific and geeky, like IM Status: Update Your Skype, iChat, Or Adium Status With Quicksilver, Top 5 AppleScript Productivity Hacks for WordPress Bloggers and Podcasters, and Blogging With Quicksilver And AppleScript. I’ve really grown to see automation as an important part of life that I need to revisit again and again.

Some of my favorite songwriting articles were Applying The 80-20 Rule To Your Songwriting, my Hit Songwriting Tips Podcast, The Secret Alchemy Of Songwriting, 5 Sure Fire Ways To Kick-Start The Songwriting Habit, Rewriting Song Titles For Practice And Inspiration, and What Makes a Good Song? My biggest disappointment of 2007 was the small amount of completed songs. I finished only about half a dozen songs and published just one of them, which I’m quite proud of, “When The Wall Falls Down.”

I also didn’t write about ear training or music theory nearly as much as I did in 2006. But I have a few favorites, such as How To Use Tension And Release In Your Melodies, my Absolute Pitch Ear Training Podcast, Playing Outside: The Dominant 7 Pentatonic Scale, and Ear Training or Listening Practice?

Two great moments of 2007 were getting my new MacBook Pro and iPhone. The new Mac inspired a whole new series of podcasts called Graham English Talks and introduced my own videos, like The Best Of Dwight Schrute Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. The iPhone inspired Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies For Your iPhone and made my tech life much more streamlined.

2007 was definitely a year of social networking. Twitter, Facebook, Last.fm, Stumbleupon, and many other social networks occupied a large part of my time online. And there were many benefits like making new friends, reconnecting with old friends, finding a larger reach for my articles and music, and discovering new forms of self-expression. It confirms how important relationships truly are.

Which leads me to the very best of 2007, You! My life wouldn’t be nearly as fulfilling without the special presence of you. The support of my readers and listeners has made the tough times easier and the good times even better. I sincerely hope that we stay connected through 2008. Thanks for sticking with me through 2007. w00t!

The audio quality is pretty poor. You can hear everything fine but the extraneous noise and the overall quality leaves a lot to be desired. The Belkin adapter doesn’t pass the test but I may still use it until I find a better alternative.

Music:
Blur by Jody Shelton
When The Wall Falls Down by Graham English

Since I’ve been catching myself updating both Facebook and Twitter separately, I figured I should revisit my workflow and see if I can tweak my current level of automation.

It wasn’t difficult. I just added a couple lines of code to iQuickTwitter and now I can update Twitter, Facebook, iChat, and Skype with a single command. If you dig it, be my friend and let me know.
Graham English @ Facebook
Graham English @ Twitter

Click here to open the script in Script Editor.

If all you want is to update Facebook with Quicksilver, try this:
Click here to open the script in Script Editor.

If you try to please everyone, somebody is not going to like it.

Open TextMate and show the bundle editor (⌃⌥⌘B). Create a new command by clicking the plus sign on the bottom left of the bundle editor. Name the command “Add Quotes” or something to your liking. In the right-hand pane, leave the ‘Save’ drop-down menu to ‘Nothing’, Copy sed 's/^/${1:"}/' | sed 's/$/${2:"}/' into the Command area, leave ‘Input’ to ‘Selected Text or Document’ and change the ‘Output’ to ‘Insert as Snippet.’ If you like, you can create a key command like ⌃⌥⌘”.

Next, create an “Add Brackets” command exactly the same way except copy this code into the Command area: sed 's/^/${1:[}/' | sed 's/$/${2:]}/'

Now, whenever you are want to add quotes or brackets to your keyword list, copy your keywords into a TextMate document and select them, activate your key command, and voilà, your keyword list has been transformed.

One more thing. If you have a list of keywords that you want to transform into a negative keyword list, do everything above except copy this code into the Command area: sed 's/^/${1:-}/'

Follow MacZealots’ tutorial on Installing WordPress on Tiger. If you have any trouble along the way, you might need to check out Mac OS X Server 10.4.4: Improvements to Apache/PHP/MySQL interaction. Now you’ve got a local install of WordPress that you can dress up.

Now you’ll want to save this applescript as a ‘Stay Open’ application and set your options. If you want Growl support to work, you’ll either need to save it with the name “WordPress Journal” or modify the Growl tell in the script. I have it set to ask me what I’m doing every 15 minutes during regular work hours and every 30 minutes thereafter.

There may be times when you don’t want to use the automatic functions but you would still like to send something to your journal. For this, I’ve also created a Quicksilver action. Save this applescript in your Quicksilver actions folder. Again, if you want Growl support, save it with the name “WordPress Blog” or modify the Growl tell in the script. Now all you do is call Quicksilver, enter text mode and type your journal entry, tab over and type as much of “WordPress Blog” as you need, and hit Return.

Of course, you could use a remote version of WordPress if you don’t like the idea of installing it locally. But for privacy, it’s probably best to keep it on your own machine.

Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy.
– Charlie McCarthy

Let’s say that you are optimizing ten different web pages to be found on Google, Yahoo, and MSN and you’re optimizing each page for 3 different keyword phrases. Obviously, you’ll want to keep track of each of those keyword searches to see who’s making a run for the top and for when your page finally makes page one. That’s 90 different search engine results you have to follow.

What does the average marketer do? They type or copy and paste each keyword from a master keyword list into as many search engines as they are tracking and enter the results into a simple spreadsheet or database. If they are thorough, they will compare that data with the last time they did the search to see what’s changed.

That’s a lot of work and takes a lot of time. And most internet marketers are tracking a lot more than 10 different web pages. I’ve managed to narrow this tedious task down to a simple 11 character command.

Using Lynx, a powerful text-only web-browsing tool in Unix, I can track the changes on any website and have the results sent to my email. All it takes is a data file filled with URLs. What’s really slick, is this script only emails me when changes have been made to the page. Then, it’s simply a matter of sorting my email by subject and date to scan changes over a long period of time. No more Excel sucking the sexy out of my day.

There’s more than one use for this script. You can also use it to spy on your competition. Every time they make a change to their site, you’ll know and you can see exactly what they’re doing. If they’re doing any split testing, it won’t be long before you know which test won.

The workflow is simple. Type changetrack into Terminal. The results are waiting for you next time you check your email. In Mail, create a smart mailbox that sorts your results. If you use MailTags, you can create a to do in iCal if you need to take any kind of action. I’ve got some more automation tips on the Changetrack wiki page.

It might take you 30 minutes to get the script up and running. But over the course of a single month, it could save you hours. Not only will you save time and energy, but you will have very little resistance to tracking your search engine results — A time sucking task that most SEOs would rather not have to do. Plus, you could potentially increase your income by tracking the conversion secrets of your competitors.

You’ll find complete instructions on my Changetrack wiki page. If you have comments or come up with some other slick workflows, please share them below.

The one sure way to make a lazy man look respectable is to put a fishing rod in his hand.

Consider this. Let’s say you have more than one blog that you have to moderate comment spam. If you use Akismet, it could take you two minutes a day to open your blog URLs, click Comments, click Akismet Spam, and hit Delete. But if you go directly to the Akismet URL and hit Delete, it could take you only 5 seconds per blog. If you have 5 blogs at 5 seconds of work a piece, then you’ve saved yourself around 80% of your time. That adds up to a huge chunk of time at the end of a year. If you blog 5 days a week, or 260 days a year, then the time saved adds up to around 390 minutes, or 6.5 hours! What if you can find 6 more tasks like this one, and I bet you can. You’ll have saved an entire 40 hour work week!

Well I’m going to do my best to give you a week’s vacation by sharing my top 5 AppleScript productivity hacks for WordPress bloggers and podcasters.

#1. Open URLs

This is a very simple script. It opens directly to the Akismet page of all your blogs. Any time you can batch your tasks and reduce the steps, you should. It’s this kind of simple workflow hacking that can turn into lots of extra hours.

Click here to open the script in Script Editor.

Spam comments and trackbacks will skew data for plugins like Popularity Contest. Run an AppleScript that will reset the counts automatically.

Click here to open the script in Script Editor.

The main point is to notice your path as you click around websites. If you notice a path you take regularly, see if you can get there directly. If so, AppleScript it and batch it with similar online tasks.

#2. Workspace Launcher: Launch Apps and URLs

Sure, Quicksilver makes launching apps a breeze. So why not save this script as an application so Quicksilver can launch your feed reader, blog editor, and browser all at once. Plus, you can toss in some URLs for linking, blog commenting, or writing inspiration.

This script opens NetNewsWire, TextMate, Safari, and opens Google and Technorati along with a couple prepared searches to get you started. It also does some slick GUI scripting to create a new TextMate HTML blog post.

Click here to open the script in Script Editor.

This AppleScript is for podcasting. It opens GarageBand, Audio Hijack Pro, Transmit, and Safari. It also opens Google news and Technorati WTF in case you need something to talk about. If you’ve got GarageBand set as Audio Hijack Pro’s audio source, you can add music, stingers, and all kinds of effects on the fly as you record.

Click here to open the script in Script Editor.

These scripts deal with work contexts. Define the purpose of your work and create special context workflows, e.g. @blogging, @podcasting, @surfing, @marketing, etc. This will focus your energy and streamline your time at the computer.

#3. Automatic WordPress Database Backup

If you use cpanel web hosting, it’s a breeze to download your WordPress MySQL backups using AppleScript. Login to your cpanel, go to Backups, and copy the URL to your MySQL database. If necessary, repeat for your other blogs. Just like the earlier Safari ‘open location’ AppleScripts, paste the URLs into the script.

Here’s the best part. If you save this script as an application, you can set it as an iCal alarm so it automatically runs at a specific time. In iCal, create a new event and name it. In the Alarm section of the Info pane, choose “Open file” and select the AppleScript application. Adjust the schedule using the lower pop-up menu. If you want iCal to trigger the script regularly, choose an interval from the “repeat” pop-up menu. Automatic backups!

Click here to open the script in Script Editor.

#4. Post to WordPress with Quicksilver

Not every blog post you will write needs all the bells and whistles of an app like TextMate or ecto. Whenever you feel like doing some quick-fire blogging, call up Quicksilver, type your post title and content separated by a colon, tab to the Action pane and type “QuickPress” (or as much of it as you need), and Execute. You might be able to blog faster, but I doubt it.

Did I mention this AppleScript has Growl support? That’s right. Growl notifies you of a successful post by returning the post ID number. Pretty sweet.

Click here to open the script in Script Editor.

#5. Automated Podcasting

This final AppleScript is my favorite. Podcasting can be time consuming. You have to record and convert your audio, tag it, upload it, and write and publish your blog post. If you’re not already AppleScripting your ftp, then that step alone can take 5 or 6 steps. But this script makes it downright simple to record, upload, and publish your podcasts.

Rather than tell you all about it, I’ll show you how you can create a frictionless podcasting environment.

Click here to open the script in Script Editor.

More Tips

You’ll want to save these scripts somewhere useful. Probably the best place is in your script library (/Library/Scripts/). If you open AppleScript Utility, you can check ‘Show Script Menu in menu bar’ and ‘Show Library scripts’ so that you are only a mouse-click away from saving time.

Many of these scripts, as I mentioned earlier, can be saved as applications. Like other apps, you can launch these scripts with Quicksilver. That puts them even closer to your fingertips. Or you can put them in your applications menu or on your dock for easy clicking.

A huge part of the GTD (Getting Things Done) mindset is setting up your system so you don’t have to think about it. That includes automating reminders so you’re not responsible for reminding yourself. Using iCal to schedule repetitive tasks frees up your mental energy for more important things. If you’re not afraid to get under the hood of your Mac, you can set up cron to run the script at specific times.

I hope you get a sense of the power you have and recognize the time you can save by using AppleScript to automate your most tedious tasks. You might want to check out my LifeHacks: Automation series for more tips and tricks. And about that week’s vacation I just gave you, where are we going?

Download all Top 5 AppleScript Productivity Hacks for WordPress Bloggers and Podcasters

What needs to remain a touchstone in our conversations is the practice of gaining and keeping greater awareness and control of our minds, so we can exercise greater control of our world. But since I can’t seem to control the world at the moment–Believe me, I try–I’ll stick to what I know best, controlling my computer.

Since controlling your attention can be very tricky–after all, your attention has to remember to control itself–I’ve created some simple attention reminders. That way, your mind will be free for more creative pursuits.

The Qualities of Attention

Focus

One of the most effective methods for attaining an optimum level of concentration involves synchronizing your breathing and your focus of attention. As you inhale, imagine that your attention is a bright spotlight focused inward upon yourself. When you exhale, imagine that you can shine this powerful beam in whatever direction you choose.

Breathe in and focus, then breathe out and direct your complete attention on your chosen target…

Focus…direct…Focus…direct

Practicing focus this way, you can turn every distraction into a reminder. When Growl notifications pop up, inhale as you read, imagining that bright spotlight of attention. Then direct your attention back to your work.

Flow

One of the foundations of a focused state is the continuity of attention flowing effortlessly from moment to moment. To get a feeling for this, focus your attention on your breath right here and now in the present moment. As you inhale and exhale, notice your awareness flowing like an unbroken stream into this very moment. If the continuity of your concentration is broken, return to the breath and let your awareness flow.

Here’s a practical exercise for work. First, choose the focus of your attention. It can be an idea you’re brainstorming or an assignment you’re working on. As you inhale, allow the focus of your attention to become more vivid. Enhance the submodalities. As you exhale, feel your attention flowing toward the object or idea you’ve targeted, bringing more energy to your work.

Your continuous flow of breath can help you create an ongoing flow of attention. If you feel your attention wandering, use your next breath to refocus your attention, and then let it flow again. Better yet, condition your most persistent distractions, like Growl notifications, to remind you to come back to your breath.

Flexibility

Flexibility is your best friend if you decide not to, or if you can’t, turn off every distraction around you. Here’s a simple and practical method for enhancing your flexibility of thought. First, select a primary “anchor” for your attention. Maybe a document, something you’re planning, or another piece of work. Focus your total concentration on that anchor. Now, intentionally shift your attention away from your anchor onto something else. Remember to use your breathing as an aid in directing your attention. After a moment of concentration on the new target you’ve selected, shift your attention back to the original anchor.

Do this for a few minutes, alternating your attention between your anchor and a selection of sights or sounds around you. This exercise is great practice if you listen to music as you work. Being a musician, iTunes could steal most of my attention if I didn’t make it a practice of conscious flexibility.

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is the ability to consciously perform all of your activities, including everyday, automatic things like breathing, walking, and especially, thinking. Mindfulness informs you whether you’re clear and calm, dull and sleepy, or alert and aware. It’s mindfulness practice that brings your mind under control and to a state of rest.

A useful practice to build mindfulness is to create concise mental labels for the objects of your attention. For example, if you’re tired, label the experience, “tired.” When you hear the construction crew outside your office window jackhammering, label it, “jackhammer.” You can label your bodily, emotional, and mental experiences as well as your external objects of focus. As soon as you notice that your attention has shifted, see how quickly you can mentally label the object of your attention.

Automating Your Attention

This wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t provide you with some tool to put improving your attention into practice. I created an AppleScript that gives you a random attention reminder using Growl. The script itself includes four messages based on the above article. How you trigger the script is up to you. I chose cron but you could just as easily set up an iCal reminder or have a program like FlexTime run the script.

Here’s how it works.

• First, you must have Growl installed. Once Growl is installed and after you set up the script, check out the settings in your System Preferences. For this particular script, I prefer the ‘Music Video’ notification.
• Open the attention script in Script Editor by clicking here. Save it here:
  /Library/Scripts/NameOfFile.scpt

• Rename NameOfFile to whatever you choose (I named it ‘Attention.scpt’).
• Determine how often you want to be reminded to observe your attention. I chose every 15 minutes.
• Open Terminal, and type this:

  sudo pico /etc/crontab

  When prompted, type your administrator password.

• Use the arrow keys to navigate to the bottom of the pico window, and add this line:

  0,15,30,45 * * * * YourUserName osascript /Library/Scripts/NameOfFile.scpt

  This list tells cron to run the script every 15 minutes every day of the week.

• Press Control-X to exit pico.
• Wait patiently for the script to run. Every 15 minutes, you’ll get an unobtrusive Growl notification giving you a nice attention reminder with some helpful advice.

If you need more assistance with cron, check these resources that I found helpful:
Using cron to run programs on a schedule
Mac OS X and Unix tips and tricks
Learning the Terminal in Jaguar
*If you screw anything up, I accept no responsibility. But don’t let that scare you.

If you want to run the script using iCal, make sure the script is saved as an Application. Create a new calendar (Option-⌘-N) and name the calendar Scripts. Create a new event (⌘-N) and name it. In the Alarm section of the Info pane, choose “Open file.” Select the AppleScript application and adjust the schedule using the lower pop-up menu. If you want iCal to trigger the script at regular intervals, choose an interval from the “repeat” pop-up menu.

Now your attention is on auto-pilot. These short reminders are more than interruptions, they are grist for the mill; an opportunity to practice flexibility.

The script itself is easy to edit. Once you feel you’ve made these attention strengthening practices a habit, you could modify the script to remind you of other important things. Add a mantra or a reminder to stretch every now and then. You can have a lot of fun with this script.

“I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind.
– Kahlil Gibran”

I have learned to pay attention from the inattention.

I’ve been teased that what took me a couple of hours to automate could have been completed in 2 minutes. While this is true, if I cut that 2 minute task down to 5 seconds, I’ll have my time back after 63 repetitions (60 repetitions to earn my 120 minutes back, plus 3 repetitions to include the 5 seconds it now takes each time). And shortly after, I’ll be hours ahead of you. Plus, if I contribute my enlightened hacks to the world, I’m a bodhisattva. So there!

And through automation, I’ve been able to cut 15 to 20 minute tasks down to 60 seconds. It’s safe to say that I’ve caught the automation bug. I find myself noticing the tasks I do everyday and asking myself how can I automate this or at least reduce the steps to completion.

Another benefit to automation is creating a frictionless environment in which to be productive. For example, I’ve always wanted to keep a journal. But the way I chunked the process of keeping a journal was a major de-motivator for me. If I was going to keep a journal, I had to look at the time it would require and figure out what I was going to give up. 15 minutes to an hour a day is a serious commitment. What did I do? I scripted a journal with built in reminders. Now I don’t have to think about it. My journal just runs in the background.

I’ve already posted a few of my automated lifehacks and I wanted to create a space for sharing even more. That’s why I’m pulling all past and future ILP automations into a series on this blog. I hope this is a useful contribution to your life.

Fair warning: these will primarily be technological hacks for the Mac. Just another reason to switch and support the argument that buying a Mac is cheaper than a PC in the long run because it can save you so much time.