Meaning of WATCH

For a long time now I've been asking myself why is WRIST WATCH called so? Especially, why is it called WATCH.

So here's what Google has to show when we search for 'etymology of watch':

REMAINING AWAKE it says.

Check the etymology here. In the sense of a verb, it even hints at "to be strong, lively".

From the link above, in Old English it also carried a meaning of "act or practice of refraining from sleep for devotional or penitential purposes"!
 
I like that 'penitential purpose'. Industrial assembly lines ensured working 'by the watch' and making it absolutely penitentiary. From my observation, folks into white-collar desk-jobs feel equally penitential these days. They work by the watch and beyond the watch.

I wonder how a wrist watch keeps us awake, except in the sense of reminding us when the boredom of a timed job would get over before one can fall asleep at will. It's your memory of what you want to do or would like to do that keeps you awake, that truly keeps you watchful.

Try Cockpit Planner. It might become your watch "to be strong, lively".

Floods, Beer, Food and Petrol

River can't dictate waters. It gets flooded sometimes. And it floods the surroundings sometimes.

Bladder can only retain so much liquid, no matter how much you love your beer.

The tummy has a limit too. Beyond a point, it adds to your obesity and then to a lot many undesirable things.

You can't fill the car's petrol tank beyond the mouth of the tank.

Suppose a lot of desirable stuff cost next to nothing. How much would you fill your house or godown or storage space with?

Supplies can increase tremendously. They can impact you badly, sometimes very obviously, sometimes not very obviously.

Ever wondered what impact the smartphone (rather specifically the various forms of social media, and particularly whatsapp), that seems to have increased the number of messages you receive every minute, has had on our capacity to work with our minds and to pay attention to matters that matter?

We want water, we want beer, we want food, we want petrol, we want to hear from people... Goes without saying. How much? For what? I believe a few glances into your Cockpit Planner during the day will help you get a sense of answers to those questions. How much? For what?

The Italians surely have a Cockpit-like mechanism in place

Here's a piece of a letter (which forms a part of their book HERE & NOW) J.M. Coetzee wrote to Paul Auster:

I've been to enough cultural events in Italy by now not to be unnerved by the chaos that seems to envelop them. No one is sure exactly where the session is to take place, the man who looks after the sound system cannot be located, the interpreter is up in arms because no one has informed her of the running order, etcetera, etcetera. Yet when the hour arrives, everything goes off smoothly: the audience miraculously knows where to come, the sound system works, the interpreter does a first-class job. The chaos turns out to have been spurious: we can run an event perfectly efficiently, the Italians seem to be saying, without fetishizing efficiency - in fact, we can turn the running of an event into a diverting little comic drama of its own.

Guess, this sounds familiar for a lot of events that we ourselves have arranged or have been a part of.

Strict scheduling format like that of a Franklin Planner for day to day work is over-rated. And we know efficiency resulting out of that scheduling effort surely is way way over-rated. Guess, we've observed and experienced that too.

Before any effort at scheduling for the purposes of efficiency, one ought to recall what exactly it is that needs to be undertaken. One will notice that as compared to Franklin Planner, the Cockpit AIT Planner is far far better at scooping out of our heads what needs to be done.

Making music out of a workday

Image Source: www.wired.com

We can wish that our day turns out like music. Though, like in the picture, the orchestra isn't arranged so beautifully. And the notes aren't written in advance to weave the baton and conduct the making of soul-stirring music.

Actually the scene has changed a bit. A few days' worth of time sitting in the Cockpit and you'll write the notes, weave the baton, orchestrate, beat the drums, make music and inspire some dancing around. Wanna try?

A Perfect Mess

Franklin Planner, the scheduler which sells in millions across the world (but which doesn't necessarily benefits its users), finds its nemesis in A PERFECT MESS. Or maybe not, because the two products are different. One's a planning diary (more a scheduler, I'd say), while the other's a book on the benefits of disorder. In spirit of course they seem inimical but in material, there's been no option to the Franklin Planner.

As seen on the cover above, the book's premise is 'a little disorder helps more than perfect order'. In the context of planning, in general, perfect scheduling might not be a great way to stay effective at work. Franklin Planner, the way it is structured, tends to impose strict perfect scheduling.

Moreover, Franklin Planner, though calls itself a planner, surely doesn't help in planning all the necessary tasks because, like we've said earlier, it doesn't go beyond offering scheduling slots. It certainly doesn't aid in recalling stuff that needs to be done.

Converting the criticism into material form, here's an alternative to Franklin Planner. Something that introduces flexibility and that little 'disorder' without foregoing or forgetting the essential tasks needed to be accomplished during a typical workday.

The Scoop Method

Image Source: lovedecor dot com

It's easy to scoop out the material things you hold in containers. How easy has it been to scoop out the important things that you need to do daily? How easy has it been to scoop out that response to an important person you met the other day? When was the last time you consciously connected with someone important - for work or without work? When was the last time you searched for details of that little important curiosity ringing in your head? Why not scoop out the important tasks without a lot of sweat and get going, every single day?

Let them not SAP you

Huge businesses, huge complexities, huge stakes! So they made a huge product called ERP and charged a huge amount from every huge business that deployed the huge product. Coz deployment itself is such a huge project involving huge coordination.

Since employees key in all the data at every point, this ERP works or so it seems. And, seemingly, the businesses work too.

I am worried about the individual, the one who's an employee somewhere, an independent professional or an entrepreneur. I am worried about that little team of individuals for whom SAP just doesn't work. What only works is the time they have on every single work-day and the energy they have to make the most out of that work-day.

Cockpit AIT Planner is for that individual. While it takes care of the stakes at the individual level there's nothing huge about it - the product, the price, the deployment et al. There's a huge intention surely. And there's a good amount of intuition too. Try it.

Image source: http://online.wsj.com/

Al Toothbrush: Launching Toothbrush with an inbuilt Alarm

Sounds like Al Jazeera, right?

Here's how it looks. Nice, no?

This toothbrush is meant for those who forget to brush their teeth in the morning. They find it difficult to remember to brush and so have to be reminded somehow. So instead of relying on a separate alarm bell meant to remind us about brushing teeth, we have designed a toothbrush with an inbuilt alarm. Would love to try? Your feedback will be important for us.

Out of the many suggestions, sometimes we have received this suggestion that Cockpit App should have an alarm bell too, for important deadlines and tasks, including an alarm to remind one to open the App itself. I was enthused about it early on and I value all the suggestions. And yet this suggestion has been the most irksome to me personally, as a product developer and user.

Here's what I feel. Planning your day is a habit. Or let me say, should be your habit. When you use Cockpit AIT Planner, you realize that it turns out to be a 'go-to' tool during the day, and most effective when you fall into the habit of noting things down early morning everyday.

Yes, Cockpit is an essential habit tool. Refer to it early in the day and your day's sorted. You won't require alarms and such to remind you of what's important. If important requires alarm, then I wonder what does alarming require? Automated hammer-bang on the head?

If one can't remember to brush every morning, we'll invent an Al Toothbrush for that person? I think this person is largely beyond repair. Perhaps in need of medication or therapy. :)

I don't think there's a point in advising (through an alarm reminder) any person to plan his/her work every morning. I don't think one needs to be reminded about important deadlines through an alarm either. Alarm can't be the habit or can't build a great habit. You habitually brush your teeth or habitually smell stale.

Do you want to or don't want to plan? If you are alarming the brush into your teeth, the planet's doomed. Good plot for movies.

Image from: http://www.freysmiles.com

You can download Cockpit AIT Planner app from this page: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.planner.cockpit&feature=nav_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDNd