Comments on: How to Automate Your Life Today

By: Benjamin

Benjamin — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:31:12 +0000

I have both Ramit’s and Tim’s books and you are right, they are must reads.

Yea, I feel the same way about Alice. They have a lot of loyal followers and it is a really great idea. Netflix is an interesting one, especially since you say that you don’t like to watch television on your computer. Netflix comes streaming on Xbox 360 and PS3, as well as in some televisions and dvd players from the factory. They have been changing their business strategy recently.

I am glad that you were able to find a tip or two in this post that you could use, thanks for the comment!

By: Monica O'Brien

Monica O'Brien — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:04:41 +0000

Ben,

I use several of these tools and Ramit and Tim are probably two of my top blog crushes. Their books come highly recommended.

I haven’t gotten into Alice yet, but I’m determined to try it at some point. Same with Hulu and Netflix – I’m just not a fan of watching TV on my computer. When my TV looks more like a computer I will probably be down. I don’t watch enough movies to justify a Netflix account.

Thanks for sharing your tips! I’m definitely going to think more about how to automate my life for the better!

By: Benjamin

Benjamin — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 03:24:11 +0000

@Elisa: Now with your compliments as well, I might have to try Alice soon! Sports, more specifically football, has actually put a pretty large cramp in my style when it comes to replacing cable with Hulu. There are no replays or streams available on Hulu for sports and I find myself having to go to bars or friend’s houses to watch it if it isn’t on local television. Tim Ferriss has a lot of interesting ideas, even if they are extreme. That being said, you can cherry pick your own one or two ideas that work for you and then toss the rest. Thanks for the comment and I am glad the post was up to par with your anticipation!

@Daniel: Having other people do things for you is something that could be considered automation but I forgot to include. I think that hiring a housekeeper is a great idea if you can afford it. The problem is that my place is so dirty, I might have to pay her double! Thanks for the comment Daniel, glad to see you here.

By: Daniel Hoang

Daniel Hoang — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:50:36 +0000

Great stuff, agree with all. I might add that my housekeeper is one of my greatest automating achievements ever. She comes twice a month and does a once over.

By: Elisa

Elisa — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:02:39 +0000

Yay! I’ve been waiting for this!

I am an alice.com devotee. Seriously, I think it is one of the coolest serrvices ever created. I would highly recommend everyone use it, because running out of toilet paper when you need it is just not enjoyable. As for Hulu, I haven’t really used it yet because I have DVR (digital video recorder) and record only the TV shows I want to watch. In fact, unless it’s a sporting event or the occasional TV movie (I’m actually watching Goldfinger on USA in my hotel room in fact) I rarely watch TV in real-time. I’ve found this rule for myself also helps with the mindless zoning out that can occur with watching TV just to watch it. I do enjoy that about Hulu.

As for Tim Ferriss, I follow him on Twitter but have got to admit I haven’t looked too far into The 4 Hour Work Week thing. There is some intrigue to his techniques, but I would agree they rather impersonalize many interactions. I guess the automated response would either frustate or perplex me (in a good way.) I’d be curious to learn more about what he was doing. I’m going to go out on a limb, however, to say if I ever went out on a date with a guy who’s online persona was maanged by assistants…well…it wouldn’t work for me, but I’m sure there are those out there that would think that was pretty cool.

Great post Ben, and I think I’m going to finally meander over and cheeck out Tim’s site (I’m already a devout follower of Jenny’s!)