Archive for the ‘LifeHack’ Category

Posted on October 26, 2009 - by josephnilo

Hourly Attitude Adjustment

One of the most effective tools I use to enhance my productivity, "change my vibe", and improve my overall well-being is an hourly attitude adjustment. It's quite simple. I tell my Mac laptop to announce the hour on the hour. This is a clue for me to stop whatever I'm doing and have an attitude adjustment break. This includes some deep breathing and "forcing" an attitude adjustment by focusing on things that make me happy and that I'm thankful for. Much has been written about the power of gratitude sessions. I might be in an awful mood-- behind on work, having difficulty collecting money from clients, experiencing the ever-present technical problems of being surrounded by computers, etc. But I always have things to be thankful for and I spend some time in gratitude and positive affirmations: • I have a roof over my head • I have a lovely daughter and wife • I have a great & supportive family • I am self-employed and successful, doing what I love for a living You get the picture. I've found that doing this hourly does wonders for my attitude. And I have a sneaking suspicion that making a habit of this might kick in the law of attraction and keep these good things coming that I'm thankful for. Next Action: Set a goal of an hourly 5-minute (or more!) attitude adjustment and gratitude session each hour of your workday. Extra Credit: Do this when you wake up in the morning, before you go to bed at night, and before each meal.

Posted on April 1, 2009 - by josephnilo

Tips for Acheiving a Flow State: Schedule It!

As a creative professional, I've found a great trick in enhancing my productivity -- scheduling around my best periods of Flow.  From the Wikipedia entry:

Flow is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity.

If you're interested, I suggest reading more on the subject. You might gain some insight into yourself and get some explanations for your periods of effortless productivity. My best times for easing into Flow are: 8 AM to 10 AM for technical-related activities; 2 PM to 4 PM for creative activities; and maybe another small opportunity from 8 PM to 10 PM for further creative output. Why? I don't know. I feel like these are my natural rhythms for activity. And I've learned over the years to schedule the right activities in the right windows of opportunity so as to ease into the productive Flow state . . . e.g. encoding and uploading video, web design, spreadsheet organization, bill paying, etc. in my morning Flow period. Lunch, power nap, double shot of espresso, and then I'm ready for a creative afternoon-- writing, video editing, motion graphics. I know I'm in a Flow state when I lose track of time and get lost in whatever project I'm working on. I definitely am not watching the clock or procrastinating while in the wonderful grips of Flow. Further Actions: • Spend a few weeks noticing if there are patterns to when you acheive your Flow state. Write them down or put them in your calendar for further review. • Break it down further based on activity. What were you doing? Being creative? Being technical? House Cleaning? • Start to schedule the correct activity in the correct Flow period.

Posted on November 7, 2008 - by josephnilo

Using Facebook to Market Your Business

It seems the "long tail" is finally starting to get on Facebook. If you're like me (an early adopter), you're probably amazed - it's not just old high school friends starting profiles, it's mom and dad and aunt Judy getting into the mix.

Using Facebook as a networking tool for your freelance or small business can be very effective in meeting new clients. Here's how I use Facebook for my creative business and as a marketing tool for my clients' businesses.

Create a page for your business

You're probably already a "fan" of something or some public figure on Facebook. Well, let people become a fan of you! Go Here to create a page for your business, product, band, or whatever. A page is sort of like a "profile-light" -- allowing you to post information, pictures, videos, have a feed of your Facebook activities.

Then let some of your contacts know about this page. It might only be your high school buddies, mom, dad, and aunt Judy, but it's a start! This is a network, so start networking!

Online Portfolio

As a video professional, I upload all all of my work to my Facebook business page.

Then all of my fans (friends and clients alike) are updated when new work is available to view - keeping my company fresh in their minds. Consider adding a video overview or screencast about what it is you do. Trust me, people like video!

Admins

Do you work with other people? Set them up as admins on your business page. Then they can add photos, videos, and information, as well. And their contacts can see the page & its activity and become fans . . . you see where this could lead? I see too many people opening up a regular Facebook account for their business (like their entity is a person), and then really only one person can update the info on that page. Start a business page and give all your colleagues admin access to keep the page fresh and broaden the network.

Advertise

You have the option to create an ad on Facebook right from your company's page. I'd say Facebook ads, at least in my experience, have a much better click-through rate than Google Ads, because you can set them up to be very targeted. While setting up the ad (very easy to do if you've done Google Adwords before), you can choose very specific demographics to market to. In my case, I chose people worldwide who were involved in Marketing. And the clicks started coming!

Search Your Email

I am a Gmail user and occasionally let Facebook do a search through my gazillion Gmail contacts for people to add as friends. This is a very effective way to connect with clients and potential clients -- anyone you've emailed over the years. And then add them as a friend! Everyone likes more friends on Facebook.

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So get on Facebook and start marketing yourself! After a little bit of setup and creativity, you'll start reaching more people . . . Aunt Judy would be proud.

Posted on May 17, 2007 - by josephnilo

The Secrets to Success in Multimedia or [Insert Tech Industry Here]

I wanted to repurpose a blog entry I wrote for my blog / podcast Mac MediaCast. I've been thinking about the subject of educating yourself to stay on top of your industry. Though the original article is geared toward multimedia production, I think it can be especially true for any tech-related industry.

After listening to a recent episode of This Week in Media, I was inspired to put in my two cents' worth on what I think is the most critical aspect of success in multimedia - Education. I believe that this is true on multiple levels -- whether you're an aspiring multimedia professional or just a home user wanting to create better music, movies, photos, etc. What sorts of education? I can't discount a college education, but, as a freshman-year dropout, I definitely can attest to alternate methods, such as:

Read the entire article here

Technorati Tags: business, gtd, howto, lifehack, personal achievement, productivity, tutorial

Posted on December 26, 2006 - by josephnilo

Mack Collier’s Z-Lister Meme Catches Fire

From startupspark.com - Mack Collier’s Z-Lister Meme Catches Fire:

Entrepreneurs network and seek opportunities. At least successful ones do. I’ve kept an idea on Mack Collier’s Z-Lister Meme for the last week or so and I’ve watched it explode. Makes sense. It’s easy for people to do, and it’s now hitting a tipping point where it’s creating an incredible number of links to all sorts of blogs. And we all know how valuable links are, right? Not as valuable as a buck in the bank, but darn close.

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Posted on December 4, 2006 - by josephnilo

Create and share outlines online with iJot

From LifeHacker: Web-based iJot combines a word processor and a wiki to turn your notes into outlines, which you can then save and/or share. With iJot, you enter notes using a wiki-like browser interface, then organize them with the built-in outliner. From there you can publish them as a standalone web site, complete with blog and feed features. iJot's still-in-beta interface definitely leans toward the cluttered, text-heavy side, and I found it annoying the way that a new window popped open every time I clicked a tab or tried to view an outline. Still, this should appeal to anyone who's been waiting for an online outliner.

Oh, how I love Web 2.0 productivity tools. I'll be happy one day when my laptop has a web browser and nothing else-- everything will be online. Ok, maybe that's a little scary, too. : )

Technorati Tags: business, freebies, gtd, lifehack, productivity, software, web2.0

Posted on December 3, 2006 - by josephnilo

21 links to start with GTD - What's the next action

Ever wonder what all this GTD talk is about? I found this great page with a bunch of links to help you get started. It covers everything from the basics to different methods to software execution of the GTD method.

Technorati Tags: gtd, lifehack, productivity

Posted on December 3, 2006 - by josephnilo

22 Ways To Overclock Your Brain

I found this great article on methods of keeping your brain in shape. We spend more time on our abs sometimes (ok, well, not me).

Very interesting read:

22 Ways To Overclock Your Brain

Posted on December 3, 2006 - by josephnilo

2 Blog Articles on the Power Of Paper

I found these two articles today, and I couldn't agree more (my comments below)

From Contract Worker: "It may sound obvious, but a really easy way to increase productivity is to maintain a daily checklist. You’d be surprised at how many (my old self included) fail to do this. A daily checklist helps you remember what needs to be done. Marking each item as they’re accomplished also gives a sense of satisfaction. I’d suggest keeping a small notebook and writing each new day’s tasks on a new page. This makes tracking your achievements over time possible. And you can see if you’re consistently reaching or failing your goals, adjusting your work load or habits to compensate."

From David Seah "Last week I wrote about these flat bookmark pens I got at Barnes & Noble. I finally got a chance to use them “in the field” during Barcamp Manchester, tucking one into a thin moleskine cashier journal. It was quite convenient, and I discovered that the flexing of the pen body was actually an advantage: it doesn’t break when you sit on it! At least, so far it hasn’t."

I'm a strong proponent of the low-tech paper solution-- keeping a notebook with me at all times to jot down and collect bits of information. I call it an "Inbox" a la the GTD method. Then at least once a day, I process all the information in all of my "inboxes"-- the notebook, my email inbox, lingering voicemails-- and figure out what to do next with each bit of information. And then (though you might think me a packrat)-- I keep all of these notebooks in a box or file somewhere as a backup. And sometimes the feel of pen on paper is just refreshing.

Technorati Tags: gtd, howto, lifehack, productivity

Posted on December 1, 2006 - by josephnilo

250 Free Office Templates and Documents

I haven't checked yet to see if these are compatible with my preferred NeoOffice and Google Documents but . . . here are 250 Free Office Templates and Documents, courtesy of Microsoft and the Dumb Little Man blog. Address books Analysis worksheets Advertisements Announcements Applications Banners Balance sheets Bills of sale

Technorati Tags: business, deals, gtd, howto, lifehack, freebies

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