Praj's Blog

JAVA_HOME Sickness

While attempting to install Grails on Windows, I kept getting the following error when running grails:

C:\Users\praj> grails

ERROR: JAVA_HOME is set to an invalid directory: C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk1.6.0_17\

Please set the JAVA_HOME variable in your environment to match the
location of your Java installation.

I had the JAVA_HOME variable set as a system environment variable (and it was pointing to an existing JDK installation). However, it turns out the problem was the trailing slash in my JAVA_HOME directory! Pretty obvious but anyway. So I changed it from:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk1.6.0_17\ to
C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk1.6.0_17

Closed the current command prompt window and opened a new one, verified my JAVA_HOME:

C:\Users\praj> echo %JAVA_HOME%
C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk1.6.0_17

Note that when I quoted the path like this:

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk1.6.0_17"

I kept getting the error Files were unexpected at this time so if you have the same problem, trying dropping the quotes around the path.

Focus on actually doing stuff with a timer

Try just doing short intervals of work, for example 20 minutes, spaced out with adequate breaks. Use a timer. Any timer will do, but if you want an online one, E.gg Timer does a good job.

I think too much effort is spent on being productive rather than just doing stuff. Once you know a task is important and should be completed, the only thing left is to actually complete it, right?

Basically, I’ve been taking the approach of, listing anything I want to do in a big task list. Keep this list simple – paper based or a single text file. Then go through the list and pick out things that are important. Important generally means the task will help towards accomplish a worthwhile goal OR is something you need to do to keep things going (e.g. pay the bills). Then use a timer to chip away at the task. Some tasks can be completed in 20 minutes, others require a number focused attempts to complete.

Remember:

• Focused effort for 20 minutes (no distractions)
• Do things that are important

This is the stuff I’ve picked up from reading a number of productivity blogs, in particular Zen Habits.

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