Displaying All Posts from June, 2010

Monotasking: Focus on One Thing at a Time

No matter how much you have piled up on your desk, and regardless of how bad-ass a multitasker you are, you can only do one thing at a time. Remembering this is one sure-fire way to increase your productivity, ease your mental load and knock things off your to-do list with efficiency. Click Here to Read Article …

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Are Modern Conveniences Really a Time Saver?

Real Simple recently discussed modern time savers that aren’t all the supposed “improvements” that we twenty-first century folk take for granted. You know…things like microwaves, iPhones and the DVR.

The author makes a very valid point. Many of these innovations are a good idea in theory but actually end up requiring more time, not less. Take interstate highways – they’re fabulous until you’re mired in endless miles of traffic when you could be doing something (anything!) else.

One of the so-called “conveniences” that comes to mind for me is NetFlix (the poor man’s DVR). It’s a great way to avoid the video rental store, but then you end up spending the time you saved rearranging your queue or obsessively reading other people’s movie reviews. And if I didn’t have it, I’d probably spend less time watching movies and more time reading books (all right…or surfing the web).  While trying to end up with more hours in the day, you end up with the same – or less.  That’s pretty much the opposite of what you really want in a time saver.

What about you? Can you think of other “time-saving” innovations that actually take up more of our time? Click Here to Read Article …

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To Beer or Not to Beer: Do You Liquid Lunch?

The other day I went out to have a quick lunch with a good friend of mine.  Nothing fancy, just a cheap pizza place that just happened to have a few excellent beers on tap.  (I’m not 100% sure, but I think it might be illegal here in Canada to eat pizza without drinking beer.)

Since I’m self-employed, had no need to drive, and was enjoying the first nice Friday afternoon in what seemed like an eternity, I opted to have a beer with my pizza.  I tried to get my beer-loving friend to join me, but he felt that it wasn’t appropriate given that he still had to go back to his office.

It got me thinking over the past week:  When is it okay to have an adult beverage?

When I was a cable guy, driving a company vehicle – no question.  And let me say this clearly – if you are driving, there’s no acceptable time to have a drink.  But when I got into the advertising world and learned that a beer fridge in the office was not grounds for immediate termination – let’s just say I didn’t think it was that big of a deal to have a “pop” and then walk back to a communications position in an office building.

Now, there’s a world of difference between wanting a drink and needing a drink – and if you are in the latter stage on a regular basis, you might want to consider asking for help.

My question to the folks in WorkAwesome:  Is there an acceptable time to have a drink during the work day?  Do you take part in a “liquid lunch” ritual? Click Here to Read Article …

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11 Productivity Tools for Road Warriors and Telecommuters

I love working from home.  I don’t miss the commute or the distractions from coworkers. It’s a pretty good gig.

But at least once a week, I take this show on the road. I have a meeting in town and then need to find a place to set up shop nearby afterward to get some work done.  While I considered renting some co-working space, I decided to go to public spaces instead. You could say I was too cheap to pay rent. But the numbers didn’t work for me.

What does work for me is free public wifi. I have some options around town that give me the ability to set up a mobile office. It’s not perfect, but it works well enough. Like other road warriors and telecommuters, I keep a few key productivity tools in my arsenal to get things done: Click Here to Read Article …

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Ars Technica Explores iOS 4 in Detail

We asked you if you are considering new iPhone 4. Whether or not you go for the new device, if you own an iPod touch or an old iPhone, you got to upgrade to the latest iPhone operating system, called the iOS 4.

Why do you need to upgrade? Well, the new OS that Apple launched along with iPhone 4 has some amazing features. Multitasking, ability to create folders, creating playlists directly on iPod/iPhone, iBooks and much more.

Tempted, already? Check out Ars Technica’s super-comprehensive iOS 4 review. Probably the best one among hundreds of such articles out there.  (If you are an iPod touch user, check out Apple’s page on what the iOS 4 update means for you.) Click Here to Read Article …

3 Perspectives on Marketing a New Business through Blogging

Blogging is the new marketing. It’s a cost effective way to grow your business by attracting new customers and communicating with your existing customer base with new marketing ideas. Three business bloggers share their advice on marketing a new business with blogs:

Why A Blog Won’t Help Your Business

Rich Brooks explains that a blog is just a tool and you need to use it properly to benefit your business. It’s a great discussion of how to develop a blog strategy.

A Simple Blogging Formula

Chris Brogan outlines some pretty simple steps to creating  consistent blog entries that attract traffic to your website.

5 Reasons Why You Should Respond to Every Comment

Pat Flynn makes the argument that you should answer every comment on your blog with a comment. It makes sense until you start to actually spend the time doing it. Are you ready to make this kind of commitment?

How do build your business by blogging? Click Here to Read Article …

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The “Upgrade iPhone” Dilemma: Will You Be Getting an iPhone 4?

As the iPhone 4 prepared to hit stores today, I recall my Apple-obsessed boyfriend is trying to get me to camp out with him at the Apple store last night. I’m quite content with my Blackberry, thank you very much.

And after reading these tips from Geek Juice on Smartening Up a “Dumb Phone”, I’m starting to wonder whether I need a BlackBerry at all. Still, it seems like it would be simpler to use my smartphone’s browser than “googling” things via text message (Google and I are BFFs – I probably do several dozen searches per day).

What about you current or prospective iPhone users? Are you on the yearly “Upgrade iPhone” cycle? Will you be jumping on the faster, shinier, newer bandwagon or sticking with your current phone? Click Here to Read Article …

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7 Power Tips For Productive RSS News Feed Reading

I believe RSS is one of the best inventions of the last decade. RSS news feed reading has made consuming information on the web so much easier. You can read content from hundreds of blogs and sites from a single interface. No need to visit them separately.

RSS is extremely useful without a doubt. But once you get into the feed reading mode, it can be quite addictive too. You keep checking the feeds one after the other, visiting sites, sharing articles, and, of course, losing track of time in the process. Click Here to Read Article …

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