Wednesday, May 22, 2013

I'm Sonic Edwards, and This Is How I Work

Location: Brisbane, Australia
Current Gig: Musician, Educator, Music Industry jack-of-all-trades
Current mobile device: HTC Incredible S
Current computer: Frankenstein Windows 7 Desktop, and Toshiba Satellite M300 Laptop
One word that best describes how you work: In-large-creative-chunks...
What apps/software/tools can't you live without?

Google Calendar. There are heaps of other apps that I love and use everyday, like Zapier, IFTTT, Growl, AutoIt and AutoHotKey, but I can't live without my GCal. From sending automated reminder emails to students and gig promotion, it all hinges on my electronic calendar being my hub. Ooh, and Dropbox.... A real lifesaver!

EDIT: See http://sonicedwards.blogspot.com.au/2013/09/automate-your-life.html for more info on how I use these and other services.

What's your workspace like?

Usually, very cluttered. As it's a home office (and shared space), my wife hates it so I clean it up every now and then. And then I wonder where I put that stuff. I'm very comfortable working in my pyjamas and knowing exactly how far down the pile of papers I need to dig to find that scribbled phone number.

Pictured above: Part of Sonic's workspace.
Pictured above: Part of Sonic's workspace. 

What's your best time-saving trick?

Automation with Zapier, IFTTT, AutoIt, AutoHotKey.

What's your favorite to-do list manager?

Until recently, RTM (Remember The Milk), but due to work flow and it's integration with Zapier, definitely Gtasks (on android) with Google Tasks.

What everyday thing are you better at than anyone else?

Cutting through to the underlying 'rules' in processes, thought, music, whatever. It really took me a while to understand and value how I think. Now, I live by what I learn.

What do you listen to while you work?

Part of my work is to learn other peoples music, so whatever I'm working on. Otherwise a mix of classical, jazz, pop, country, whatever. I really don't discriminate.

Are you more of an introvert or extrovert?

Instinctively, I'm an introvert but if I have something to say (that nobody else has or is going to say) I really take the floor, which makes people think that I'm an extrovert. Confusing, huh!?

What's your sleep routine like?

Boring. (I don't track, I just know I didn't get enough sleep because I feel tired.) I work into the evening most nights and sometimes into the early morning, so generally I slepp anywhere from 10pm to 11pm and wake up around 7:30am/8am. And soft start with coffee....

Fill in the blank. I'd love to see ______ answer these same questions.

Albert Einstein.

What's the best advice you've ever received?

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” - Albert Einstein

AND

"Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively." - The Dalai Lama

1 comment:

  1. good post, enjoyed it. am checking out your automation tools right now....

    Nigel

    ReplyDelete