Displaying All Posts in the General category

Awesome Links #3: Beating the Heat, Cool Home Offices, Custom Toolbars

Abhijeet Mukherjee 27th June General Leave a Comment

    How to Stay Fit (and Cool) Despite the Summer Heat

    The countries in northern hemisphere continue to grapple with scorching heat. Ask me, I’m in India and you really don’t want to know what the summers are like here. Hence, when I came across this guide by Lifehacker to beat the heat, I thought it’d be worth a share. If it’s cold where you are, this guide could prepare you for the upcoming summers.

    Professional Time, Leisure Time, and Wasted Time

    The Simple Dollar explores what’s the difference between professional time, leisure time and wasted time and how to measure them.

    15 Inspiring Home Offices

    A nice collection of 15 home office setups by our sister site, Freelance Switch. Which one’s your favorite?

    SEO: The Free Beginner’s Guide From SEOmoz

    A super-comprehensive and brilliant guide to SEO for beginners by SEOmoz. If you are just starting out with SEO then there’s no better place than this guide.

    Create a Custom Toolbar In Windows To Quickly Access Programs & Files

    If you are a Windows user then you will find this guide to creating custom toolbars by Guiding Tech useful. It’s a simple trick really that could save a lot of time on a day-to-day basis and make you more productive. Click Here to Read Article …

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    Breakfast, Brunch or Bust?

    Peter North 26th June General Leave a Comment

      Diversity is a commonly used term in the workplace. We have different jobs, skills, backgrounds, ethnicities and personalities.

      Breakfast choices can be just as diverse.  Your own diversity, for example, may be that the weekend is the only time you seem to eat breakfast!

      During the work week, however, take a look to see what your office mates are eating first thing in the morning.  You can actually learn a lot about a colleague from their choice of breakfast. How many breakfast types are there? Let’s have a look at the typical menu:

      • Busy Breakfast: Coffee loaded with cream and sugar. Don’t spill any on that power-tie.
      • Health Nut: Granola, whole wheat toast, green tea, side of smugness.
      • Intern Breakfast: Cheetos, day-old bagel, chased with a Red Bull.
      • Scavenger Special: Leftover danishes from the 10am manager’s meeting, communal coffee, side of stolen snack from adjacent neighbor.
      • Belt-Buster: Scrambled eggs, bacon, bagel with cream cheese, topped off with a doughnut and an increased health insurance premium.

      Can I take your order? Click Here to Read Article …

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

      Jason Finnerty 25th June General Leave a Comment

        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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        Buzzword Bingo

        Peter North 23rd June Communication Leave a Comment

          Have you heard of Buzzword Bingo?

          The idea is that you have a little fun during a dull meeting by using bingo cards filled with vague, commonly-used office terminology. The first one to connect 5 buzzwords in a row wins.

          I doubt anyone has ever truly played this game (and it’s hardly productive), but many of us have found ourselves in a meeting where the conditions are perfect for buzzword bingo.  Let’s give it a try now.

          How many buzzwords can you find in the following example:

          If we have some extra bandwidth while we’re circling the wagons, perhaps we could piggy-back a little morale booster to add value to the meeting and get our arms around the bigger picture. It’s not reinventing the wheel, but if we commit to best practice, this paradigm shift could push the envelope and ramp up to be a win-win situation with a strategic fit that lands us on the fast track towards proactive thinking outside the box.

          (Just writing that made my head buzz.)

          Do you have any favorite buzzwords? Do some make you laugh? Do some make you cringe?  Let’s “bat this around” for a while.

          Click Here to Read Article …

          Popular search terms for this article:

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          What’s Your Workout Routine?

          Mike Vardy 21st June General Leave a Comment

            Keeping on top of your game both at work and in life is a real challenge; you can’t stay super-productive if you’re super-exhausted.  It just won’t happen.

            This is where having a workout routine comes into play.

            It’s called a “workout” for a reason – it’s work.  You have to treat it as such.  If you didn’t show up for work when you were scheduled, you’d have to face the consequences.  Same goes with working out.  Both set of consequences could spell long-term trouble for you.

            Freelancers may have an easier time consistently working out – they generally have a strong sense of self-discipline to call on and keep them honest.  That said, they may be “too busy” to do a regular workout.  Those who work at the office 9 to 5 will use the same excuse – or bring up plenty of others that fit the bill.

            A site I like to check out for fitness tips is NerdFitness – and it’s fitting that the creator of the site, Steve Kamb, took the plunge this week by quitting his “safe” job to focus solely on the site.  He’s got the goods to make it all work, too.

            So, what’s your workout routine?  What are your favorite sites to get fitness tips?  Let us know in the comments. Click Here to Read Article …

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            Awesome Links #2: Balanced Living, Productivity Apps

            Mike Vardy 20th June General Leave a Comment

              Today’s dads seek better work-life balance

              In honor of Father’s Day, this article takes a look at how the new fathers of the day are meeting the responsibilities of the role both at home and at work.

              App demo: Round the Clock

              The Unofficial Apple Weblog gives us a sneak peek at an app called Round the Clock.  What this productivity app for all of Apple’s line of mobile devices (iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch) does is present all of your calendar information as a pie chart – and that’s just for starters.  It’s kind of like having a digital Muji Chronotebook at the ready.  It may not be for everyone, but the video is worth a look.

              Freelancer’s Wishlist – Father’s Day Edition

              Dads aren’t the easiest to shop for – I know, I’m one of them.  But sister site FreelanceSwitch has thoughts on what could be a solid (or solid-state) gift for the “freelance father” in your life!

              Manymoon: Free Social Productivity, Project Management & Task Management

              Fan of Google’s web apps?  Then Manymoon has a productivity solution that could be what you’ve been looking for…and it’s free.  Definitely something to check out if you (and your team) rely on having stuff in the “cloud.”

              Lemonade: The Movie

              This movie touches on what we’ve talked about in terms of  “dream jobs” here at WorkAwesome, but it also takes it a step further.  What if you were given a chance for a clean slate because you found yourself without a job altogether?  A pretty inspirng film – and fairly short as it clocks in at just over half an hour. Click Here to Read Article …

              Popular search terms for this article:

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              Win The Lottery, Lose The Job?

              Jason Finnerty 19th June General Leave a Comment

                Life is pretty good here in Canada.  Things are generally pretty quiet, so much so that a lottery jackpot going unclaimed for three weeks in a row is newsworthy.  Very newsworthy.

                LottoMax is a weekly lottery where you pick seven numbers, from 1 to 49, for your chance to win.  The pot starts at $10 million, and once it hits $50 million it goes into super-fancy “maxmillions” mode, with additional $1 million draws on top of the main jackpot.   The other night there was one draw for the $50 million prize, and an additional 45 – $1 million draws.  No one won the $50 million.

                The odds of winning are 1 in 28 million, but considering that there are only 33 million people in Canada – it’s surprising that it hasn’t been won yet, but not that surprising that it’s featured prominently in the news.

                So what does this have to do with WorkAwesome?  I’m sure I’m not the only one to play the “what if?” game:

                “What would I do if I won the big jackpot?”

                How much would you need to win in order to quit your job?  Or would you keep working where you are if you had an extra $50 million in the bank?  Would you move on to something else altogether – something you truly love?

                What would you do if you won the big jackpot?  Click Here to Read Article …

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                Self-Initiated Productivity Killers

                Jason Finnerty 18th June General Leave a Comment

                  While we clearly discuss ways to be more productive here at WorkAwesome, we don’t often delve too much into the productivity killers that you bring on yourself.  I was thinking about this as I was enjoying the 10th round of solitaire on my iPhone, accidentally-on-purpose avoiding a looming deadline.

                  It’s not that I didn’t want to do the job; I just didn’t really want to start.  The getting paid part of it was really great, and landing the project is always exciting.  The project itself…not so much.  So I found myself focusing my efforts on winning one more round.  And if it’s not solitaire, it’s crib – trying to get that elusive 29.  Curse you iPhone apps!

                  So what do you do to avoid doing what you should be doing, and how do you get yourself back on track?

                  Or am I the only one that does this? Click Here to Read Article …

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