Archive for the ‘Productivity’ Category

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

(more...)

Posted on December 1, 2006 - by josephnilo

Technorati's Top 10 Blogs Above the Fold

Found a cool page that has a diagram / amalgam of Technorati's top 10 blogs and a virtual overlay that shows what sort of content they all have in common "Above The Fold". Very interesting.
Check it out here

Posted on November 28, 2006 - by josephnilo

Super Online Web 2.0 Solutions for Better Organization

If you use more than one computer (as I do) you might find yourself easing away from the traditional use of programs like Outlook (Entourage for Mac), iCal, etc. and leaning towards one of the new, slick Web 2.0 suites. Here's what I'm using now to keep myself in check: Google Apps Calendar, Notebook, Documents . . . can't forget Reader. Google has become sort of the go-to for solid (though not necessarily feature-rich) Web 2.0 online apps. Google Calendar is, on many accounts, slicker, faster, and more powerful than most desktop applications. Why go back to clicking around and dragging in your favorite cal app when you can one-click and type "Bikini Wax tuesday 4-5" and see it automagically appear as an appointment. Not to mention the sharing capabilities, and the further evolution of Google Apps For Your Domain - Google is (in many ways) the one to watch. Google Homepage ties it all together for me-- a one-stop viewing of the aforementioned elements AND other goodies like my Google Analytics statistics. More later on how I tie it all together with my Treo Smartphone. ActiveCollab So many hipsters out there swear by Basecamp by 37Signals. While trying it out and pondering the price, my pal and fellow freelancer Ryan told me about ActiveCollab -- a very similar collaborative online system that is free. I'll ultimately give everyone a tour of ActiveCollab on this blog (probably in video form)-- but trust me on how cool it is! It's definitely changed the way I work and has made myself, my clients, and my collaborators more efficient. Each of these online apps is free and has kept me from having to purchase online collaborative software and Microsoft Office. And the less Microsoft apps on my Mac, the better.

Technorati Tags: gtd, lifehack, web2.0, software

Posted on November 27, 2006 - by josephnilo

5 Things You Shouldn’t Spend Money On When Starting a Business

Ben Yoskovitz has a great article (and a quick read-- bang for your buck!) on his blog called: 5 Things You Shouldn’t Spend Money On When Starting a Business Great tips-- my favorite-- don't break the bank with software-- so many of us can conduct business with Google Calendar & Documents, ActiveCollab, Skype, etc. (my personal favs).

Technorati Tags: business, gtd, howto, lifehack