Haha! Here is a training system sure to shock you! The USB-powered buzztrainer is here to help…

The BuzzTrainer assists computer users in learning software, and can also be used to eliminate bad PC habits. Through the use of small electric shocks administered through the wrist strap, the BuzzTrainer is guaranteed to improve your PC skills, help you restrain specific behaviors, or control PC addiction.

Configure any application as a BuzzApp and eliminate the desire to spend hours gaming, to file share, or to download illegal music.

Well, if using this as a way to curb some bad habits is not for you, you can also try it as an acupressure system, as it can be programmed to target the 5 pressure points in the wrist. The claimed effect is to improve your overall well-being, possibly so you can sit/waste a few more hours at the computer.

Working Smart reminds us to get rid of apps we never use:

“Unfortunately, after a year of using my Mac—and loving it!—it looks like I have almost 150 apps installed on my PowerBook. This is way too much clutter. I need to simplify my life—and regain some much-needed hard disk space.

So I created a “Death Row” folder. I then moved any program I haven’t used in a while to this folder. I plan to sequester the files for the next 30 days.”

Lesser Known Proofreading Marks from Geist

50 Strategies for Making Yourself Work

As usual David Seah hits the nail on the head when he relates the way pilots measure their own experience in hours logged to other areas of self-improvement:

“The point: the ability to improve ourselves is very much within our grasp. I always knew this, but putting it in terms of accumulating hours of experience is awesome. An acquaintance of mine put weight loss in similar terms: “Sure, it’s going to take two years to lose that much weight–it’s a drag. But you’re going to be living those two years anyway, so why not slim down at the same time?”

If we are mindful about the way we exist, we really have no choice but to get better at whatever we’re doing. Mindfulness is the key. There probably is an optimal way of structuring that time for efficient learning, but the general idea is awesome.”

Doug Johnston writes how of all people its the techies (you know who you are) having tried to Get Things Done(tm) with Palm Pilots and AJAX calendars and Ical and Outlook and Entourage and and and….. Its the techies who are now leading the back-to-paper movement:

“Strangely enough, it’s mainly a revolt of tech lovers against their favourite toys, junkies eschewing their drug of choice. It’s painful, it’s heart-wrenching, it flies in the face of our own self-identities, and it makes all our high-tech podium-thumping and evangelising suddenly look hollow.

Trading away the handhelds, tablet PCs and online productivity tools for pens, planners, cards and Moleskines is a leap of faith, like toppling a regime in the hope that the next one will somehow be more benevolent, more attuned to your needs, and offer greater opportunities.”

Oooh - add this to your Christmas office equipment prOn wish list - Four Way Rubberbands

Altho I’ve never quite been able to get into Quicksilver (over Launchbar), 43Folders has this note about Quicksilver’s Append which does sound awesome:

“To review, for you new kids, Quicksilver, when properly configured (more on that in a minute), will let you add a line of text to any text file on your Mac. As long as it’s included in a QS catalog someplace, you’re a few fast keystrokes away from capturing your brilliant but ephemeral idea without stopping what you’re doing. This is huge, in practice, believe me.”

Doug J., creator if DIY Planner and paper GTD proponent gives his Palm one more chance but ultimately comes back to his new love:

“the nature of the Palm has tended to stifle my free-form ideas and notes. I’ve done very little by way of creative thought in the past week: the well of my inspiration has been capped. Fundamentally, there’s nothing wrong with the ability of a handheld to help manage my contacts, meetings and tasks, but that’s where the line seems to be drawn for me.”

Sodaware has a detailed 2-part look at keeping a serious personal progress log. The log is kept in a notebook and tracks the progress of 21 goals (3 goals in seven areas) over a 90 day period. This is a nice little system - check out the complete article:

“Each page starts with the date, and then the top three goals I wish to achieve for the week. I put checkboxes in front of each goal so I can tick them off when they’re complete. The original system had me setting three goals for each day, but I felt this crowded the page a little too much and also distracted me if I had goals from the previous day that I hadn’t completed.”