In life, many opportunities are tied to what other people think of you. If the people around you think you are smart, you are more likely to get asked to participate in projects that will enhance your career. If people think you are dumb, you'll probably be passed over. Looking smart is just as important as being smart. Assuming that you are actually smart you don't have to fake anything. Your goal is to make people think of you as a smart person. Humans aren't particularly good at judging the intelligence of other humans. Here are six things you can do that will help enhance people's perception of your intelligence. 1. Look Smarter by Asking More Questions Most people try to show … [Read more...] about 6 Ways to Look Smarter
Reader Question – Memorization
How should I memorize a speech? I don't generally memorize any of my presentations. If you create a detailed outline and then practice giving your speech to a few friends, you'll probably do fine unless you have really bad stage fright. If you do have stage fright, simply memorizing your speech word for word is likely to cause you problems because it will be difficult to remember while under pressure. If you want to give your speech word for word, you can memorize it, but keep the speech with you just in case you have to revert to reading the speech. If you do this, make sure you use some type of method to keep track of where you are in the speech. You don't want to stumble around for 2 … [Read more...] about Reader Question – Memorization
Productive Home Office
Earlier I asked readers to share their favorite home office tip as a follow up to the previous interview. Here are the responses: Many of my clients struggle with organizing their offices (home or otherwise) because they try to fit a "square peg into a round hole." Meaning, they try to use systems and setup that works for others, but does not match the way that they think and function. Recognize are you an "innie" or an "outtie"? Innies are people that function better (are more creative, get more done, etc.) when their space is clear. They can frequently get distracted to other tasks if there are piles laying around. Tools good for innies are systems with drawers and cabinet doors. … [Read more...] about Productive Home Office
Productivity and Finances
A lot of people tend to think of productivity in a vacuum. They want to get more done. However at the end of the day your work translates into money which translates into purchasing power. Sometimes instead of just concentrating on how to do more work, it is more efficient to concentrate on the conversion process--how the work turns into money and then turns into things you need. For example, if you currently work for $50 per hour and you are able to make a change that allows you to turn your work into money at a rate of $75 per hour, you've increased your productivity by 50%. On the other hand, if you can make your money go further you can also increase your productivity. For … [Read more...] about Productivity and Finances
Productivity501 Store
Productivity501 is launching a webstore with products specially selected to help make you more productive. In particular be sure to check out the paperless category. Here are some other items that might be of interest: Mozarts Brain and the Fighter Pilot - A great book about how the inner workings of the human mind. Hon Leather Chair - My personal favorite work chair that I've been using for over 5 years now. Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman - The biography of an incredibly gifted scientist. It is sure to challenge the way you see the world around you. Mindmapping - This is the book I purchased years ago before taking an intense college history course that had been condensed … [Read more...] about Productivity501 Store
Share Your Answer – Tips for a Home Office
Recently we did a group interview with a bunch of bloggers. Each one was asked for the single most important tip they could share for setting up a home office. The answers were great and I know I learned quite a bit by reading through them. Now is your chance to participate. If you have a tip on setting up a home office you'd like to share, please submit it here. If you have a blog or website be sure to fill in the appropriate blanks--if people like your answer they may want to checkout the other things you've written. We will only keep things open until Tuesday afternoon, so if you have something to share, please do it right away. I'm experimenting with some new technology for … [Read more...] about Share Your Answer – Tips for a Home Office
Reader Questions – Being Absent
I went through my site statistics and found some interesting questions that were typed into Google and led people to Productivity501. Over the next few fridays I'm going to attempt to answer some of these questions. Should you call your boss if you are going to be absent? Yes. I can't think of any reason you shouldn't call and let your boss know that you are going to be absent. It doesn't matter if you are sick or have some type of personal issue you need to tend to. Simply not showing up is one of the worst things you can do. Even if you don't feel your current job is where you want to work, you should still approach it professionally. Treat your boss with the same courtesy that you … [Read more...] about Reader Questions – Being Absent
Habit List Course
The Habit List Course is now live. You can signup below. If you are reading this in an email, you may not be able to see the form. Visit the site in order to sign up. Using the Habit List 30 Days - 10 lessons This course explains the Habit List–a method of tracking habits you want to develop that shouldn’t be on your regular to-do list. It explains the theory behind the list and includes the popular PDF allowing you to print your own Habit List. (In Testing: Signup Below for Beta) Name: Email: … [Read more...] about Habit List Course
Online Backup Options
I've been trying out several online backup tools. I plan to write in more detail about my experiences with each one later, but here is an overview. My wife and I travel quite a bit. While I can take an extra hard drive with us for backups, but this seems a bit pointless since the biggest threat to my equipment is probably theft. If someone breaks into my hotel room and steals my laptop, they probably aren't going to overlook an external hard drive. I need a solution that will give me quick access to all my information if my computer is stolen or damaged. Here are three services I've tried. If you have any suggestions of other services I should check out please post them in the … [Read more...] about Online Backup Options
Tuesdays Tip: Time for Reading
This might be a personal idiosyncrasy, but I bet I'm not the only one it applies to. When I don't spend some regular time reading, I start feeling drained of creative ideas. And I'm not talking about spending some time reading articles on the web, I'm talking about sitting down with an actual physical book and doing some good old fashioned reading. I suppose this makes sense. If you are constantly trying to produce using the creative part of your brain you need to be feeding it new stuff, but I suspect that the effect goes well beyond just having some new ideas to think about. Reading (at least for me) seems to trigger new ideas about totally different subjects. So spending some time … [Read more...] about Tuesdays Tip: Time for Reading
Understanding How Different Genders Think
One of my consulting clients has a company thats purpose is to help lower the divorce rate in America. One of their big goals is to teach people how to understand each other. Here is a short excerpts of one of their videos explaining the difference between the way men and women think. Obviously this is a generalization, but it is a useful reference point for planning discussions with people of the opposite sex--not just your spouse. For example, if you are a woman trying to negotiate a business agreement with a man you should be aware that he is less likely to see the holistic benefits of the arrangement. He is more likely to view the deal in isolation instead of seeing the advantages … [Read more...] about Understanding How Different Genders Think
Thinking For Yourself
This morning I read a news article that started out: SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Some women in Springfield are regretting their decision last week to get a tattoo from a door-to-door tattoo salesman. link Um. I think I would have seen that one coming. One of the biggest differences I noticed in Mexico was the fact that people expect to rely on their own good judgment. In the US I find people tend to think: If it is legal it is right. If it is for sale, it must be safe. If I'm not physically prevented from doing something it must be ok. In the US if you are near a cliff there would be a rule that says you aren't allowed to go near the edge. There would probably be a fence or other … [Read more...] about Thinking For Yourself
Best Time to Look for a Job
The best time to look for a job is when you don't need one. That probably sounds counter intuitive, but let me explain. When you need a job, you are in the worst bargaining position possible. Anytime you put yourself in a position where you can't walk away from a deal--or where it is hard to walk away--you lose your advantage in negotiating. I found out about a job opportunity that would have been the perfect fit for a friend of mine. I told him about it, but he didn't want to apply because he was happy with his current job. This is they way most people think. If I like my job, why should I go to the trouble of getting my resume ready and talking to someone else? What most people … [Read more...] about Best Time to Look for a Job
Reader Questions
In the next few weeks I'm going to start posting answers to reader questions every Friday. I'm going to start off with some existing questions that have come in via email or on Google searches, but I wanted to open it up to everyone. If you have a question you think would be interesting to see answered here, please send it to [email protected]. … [Read more...] about Reader Questions
Advice for Setting up a Home Office – Group Interview
If you like this post, why not subscribe to the RSS feed or email feed for this site? I recently emailed a number of bloggers asking them for the most important non-intuitive piece of advice for setting up a home office. Here are their responses along with my thoughts. If you find a response that seems especially relevant to you, consider subscribing to the author's blog rss feed (included below). I learned this from Tannaz Sassooni, one of my favorite Wise Bread bloggers: Put an old fashioned egg timer on the desk. When I start a long or boring project, I'll set the timer at 15 minutes, and no matter what happens, I'll force myself to take a break when the alarm goes off. At first I … [Read more...] about Advice for Setting up a Home Office – Group Interview
How to Jump Start an Economy?
Right now the US is trying to figure out how to jump start the economy. Most of the proposals involve sending people money from the government or temporarily lowering taxes. The idea on sending everyone a "rebate" goes like this: When people have extra money they spend more, when people spend more businesses have to hire more workers. When more people have jobs, the earn money and in turn have more money to spend. So the idea is to "prime the pump" and get the cycle started. The idea of lowering taxes follows the same thinking, but there has been some talk of lowering corporate taxes. The idea here is that if businesses are charged a lower tax rate, investors will be more willing to … [Read more...] about How to Jump Start an Economy?
Gym Membership
My wife and I have been planning on joining the local gym for several months, but we've been on the road so much that it hasn't been practical. Now that our travel schedule is slowing down we went ahead and filled out all the paperwork and signed up last week. When we turned everything in we asked about the schedule and what was the busiest times of day. The receptionist told us, "oh January is really busy with New Years resolutioners, but they will all be gone by February." One of the biggest mistakes people make with resolutions is shooting too high. Some people think, "if I shoot for 100 maybe I'll hit 51 which is better than if I shoot for 50." In reality it doesn't work that … [Read more...] about Gym Membership
Last Night
Last night I got a new electronic book device. It was the size of an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper and had 600 dpi resolution. The quality was excellent. It worked in bright sunlight without a problem. I put all my scanned documents on it and found it was just as easy to read them as it was on paper and it was even easier to navigate and find documents than using the filing cabinet. I loaded it with all the PDF articles I wanted to read and found it worked flawlessly. Then I woke up. I was very disappointed. Should I be concerned that I'm now dreaming of becoming more paperless? … [Read more...] about Last Night
Habit List Web App
Tom from App Engines put together a web app based on the Habit List. (Thanks Tom!) It keeps all your data in a cookie on your local computer. (If you delete your cookies your data for the app will be gone.) Check it out here. … [Read more...] about Habit List Web App
Tuesday’s Tip: Kind of Like a String Around Your Finger
You've brushed your teeth and you are headed to bed. Suddenly you remember something very important for tomorrow. You can't forget. You can go write it down, send yourself an email, etc. but you really just want to go to bed. How can you make sure you remember? Simple. Grab your shoe and put it on top of the toilet. In the morning, you'll stumble into the bathroom, see the shoe and groggily think "What in the world is that doing there?" As your brain clears you'll remember you put it there for a reason and soon you'll be awake enough to recall what caused you to put the shoe there in the first place. This is very similar to tying a string around your finger. You can do it with about … [Read more...] about Tuesday’s Tip: Kind of Like a String Around Your Finger
My Desk Layout
This weekend I rearranged my desk. My goal was to remove some equipment that was no longer essential and try to reposition everything where in a way that reflects my work pattern. Here is a diagram of the current layout. I've experimented with the 30 inch display in several different positions. When I started moving things around I originally had it up against the wall, but I found I couldn't see it from that distance. When I got the new display a graphic designer friend of mine asked if I found myself pushing back from my desk because the screen was so huge. I've found the opposite is true. The high resolution means there are quite a few more pixels per inch that what I had … [Read more...] about My Desk Layout
Time Machine in the Real World
Today I used Time Machine on my first real world data loss problem. I'm embarrassed to even describe what happened, but here it is, anyway. I am working with an online store that sends me an email each time an order is processed. At first this was done just for testing, but there is some automation that happens when certain types of orders come into my mailbox. This is a temporary setup, so I don't want to take the time to move everything over to a separate mailbox. The downside is, one of my email accounts gets 10 to 40 emails that are just copies of sales confirmation. Each one represents an interruption to my day. So the logical thing to do was to setup a rule to take these out … [Read more...] about Time Machine in the Real World
Is Acrobat a Necessity for a Paperless Office?
As work toward creating a paperless office, I'm coming to the conclusion that Acrobat is a necessity. Not the free version but the multiple hundreds of dollars standard version. This isn't a problem for me because my ScanSnap came with Acrobat 7 Standard. I was hoping to find that there was enough capabilities built into OS X or free tools to have something less expensive to recommend. Here are the things that I can't find good ways to do outside of Acrobat: Rearrange Pages - And Acrobat isn't great at this, but I can extract, remove, rearrange, or add pages as needed. In 7 it isn't particularly user friendly, but it is a whole lot easier than any other way I've found to handle … [Read more...] about Is Acrobat a Necessity for a Paperless Office?
Tuesday’s Tip: Throw Away Those Extra Pens
If you are like most people you probably have a coffee cup or pencil holder full of writing instruments sitting on your desk. If you are like me, a good percentage of those pens and pencils are ones that you don't like and will likely never use. So why are you letting them still clutter up your desk? Go ahead and throw them out or give them away. If you have things on your desk that you never use it just introduces visual "noise" into your work environment and a bunch of pens and pencils that you dislike aren't going to do anything to help you be more productive. My problem is that my pen and pencil holder is full of things that my wife likes and that I hate. I don't like cheap bic … [Read more...] about Tuesday’s Tip: Throw Away Those Extra Pens
Habit List Course Beta
As I mentioned before, I'm testing some email based courses as an added feature here at Productivity501. I have a very limited test going on for the Procrastination Prevention course right now. The second course I'm working on is for the Habit List. I know many people downloaded the Habit List, printed it out and promptly buried it under a pile of other papers. The course helps walk you through the different uses of the Habit List by sending you a very very short email for 10 days. The idea of the course is to help motivate people to actually use the tool simply by keeping it on their mind for a week and a half. I'm going to do a slightly larger test for this course. You can … [Read more...] about Habit List Course Beta
Mozy Backup
I have been looking for a good online backup solution. The idea is that your computer keeps track of any changes you make and automatically uploads them to a secure server. If your hard drive goes bad, it is a simple matter to download all of your data. I am experimenting with a few different services. One of the ones I tried is called Mozy and I finally gave up on it. It is nice in theory, but they just haven't figured out how to make it work on OS X. I've heard some people say they have had good results with the Windows version. Their business model is to give you unlimited backup of a single computer for $4.95 per month. Once you get a complete backup, Mozy just uploads the … [Read more...] about Mozy Backup
Help Me Understand the Subprime Mess
I don't understand the subprime mess. I mean I understand the idea that if you try to loan a bunch of people money who are likely to default (bad credit, poor financial skills, etc.), then you have a high chance of them ... well, defaulting. That part makes sense, but the way it is causing problems for banks doesn't make sense to me. This isn't a standard productivity post, so feel free to skip this one if it doesn't interest you. It is more of a personal question to my readers who more more financially savvy than me. If you find financial markets interesting--and especially if you understand them and care to leave a comment--please read on. So lets skip the whole part of the … [Read more...] about Help Me Understand the Subprime Mess
Using Acrobat to Sign Documents
Acrobat is capable of doing two types of signatures. Technically the best way is using a digital signature. Not only can the signature show that you signed it, but it can also prove that the document wasn't changed after you signed it. If you deal with a lot of people who use digital signatures, this is a great way to go. Personally when I sign something it is usually to fax or mail. While I like the digital signature idea I just don't interact with enough people who could actually use it. Originally I was signing documents in Acrobat by creating my own digital signature and then attaching an image to the signature. Acrobat will use the image anywhere you place the digital … [Read more...] about Using Acrobat to Sign Documents
Looking For Procrastinators
I am experimenting with a simple 10 email course designed to help break habitual procrastination. If you are interested in previewing the course and providing feedback, please send a a note to [email protected] and ask to try the Procrastination Prevention Course. At this point, I would ask that you only try it if you are willing to provide some feed back at then end and let me know what you liked and what you didn't. I'm looking for about 10 people to try it out. Edit: Well that didn't take long. :) I have everyone I need for testing. If you are interested but were not able to be part of the testing phase, keep an eye out for the official release in the near future. … [Read more...] about Looking For Procrastinators
One Laptop Per Child
The one laptop per child project really sounds like a great idea. Design a computer that can be mass produced for around $100 each, give them to millions of kids in developing countries, viola! instant smart kids. While there is a lot of value in learning how to use a computer while you are young, most of the true educational value won't come through the hardware itself. This type of mindset is very common when it comes to technology. People like to focus on the hardware instead of the software. Focusing on what a piece of equipment is theoretically capable of is a lot more exciting than focusing on how you can actually use it today. In the US educational system, there are many … [Read more...] about One Laptop Per Child
Initial Thoughts on OS X Leopard
I recently upgraded my laptop and it came with Leopard. Overall, it looks like it will be a nice operating system, but there are still some rough edges. Here are a few random initial thoughts. Stability - It doesn't seem as stable as 10.4 was. This will probably change over time, but I've had several odd issues that required a reboot to fix. For example, I couldn't get to the System Preferences until I rebooted. Another time I couldn't run the laptop with the case closed while hooked to an external monitor until I fiddled with the display settings, even though it had worked correctly 30 minutes before. If you are considering upgrading your existing machine, I would recommend waiting … [Read more...] about Initial Thoughts on OS X Leopard
Papers – Paperless Office for Academics
A helpful reader pointed me to Papers. It is a well thought out program for managing academic papers on OS X. I've looked it over briefly and it looks pretty impressive. It integrates with PubMed and other online repositories allowing you to search and download PDFs while autopopulating all the metadata fields. Papers also allows you to take notes as you read articles and keep them with the PDF. It seems to be setup for working with existing PDFs, so there doesn't seem to be an built in OCR capabilities. If you are looking for a way to organize your research Papers is worth checking out. … [Read more...] about Papers – Paperless Office for Academics
Resolution Matters for a Paperless Office
As part of my paperless experiment I'm slowly moving my data to PDFs I've really started to notice the difference in resolution between my various computers. I recently got a new laptop with a 17 inch 1920x 1200. My previous laptop had the same sized screen but only 1440 x 900 pixels. On my older laptop it was difficult to read a full sized PDF--especially if the print was small. On my new laptop I'm finding that I can read print that was unreadable at the lower resolution. Here is a screen shot from the older laptop with the lower resolution monitor: If you are good at guessing you might be able to read it, but it is going to be difficult. Here is the same size (relative to … [Read more...] about Resolution Matters for a Paperless Office
Folder Templates
If you have a lot of computer folders that need the same organizational structure you might consider creating a template folder. For example I have a standard layout I use for the folder to keep track of client information. This includes folders for billing information, contracts, notes, etc. I created a folder in my Clients folder called z_template. This makes it stay at the bottom of the list. In that folder I setup my layout. I usually name my folders with an underscore beneath them so all of my standard files stay at the top--regardless of what else ends up in the folder. When I start a folder for a new client, I simply copy everything from my template into their folder and on … [Read more...] about Folder Templates
New SnapScan for OS X
It looks like there is a new SnapScan out for OS X. I think the scanner itself is about the same, but the new version includes Acrobat 8.0 instead of 7.0. If you are looking at purchasing the scanner, you may want to make sure you have aren't getting the older version of the software. The PC version has had Acrobat 8 since June. … [Read more...] about New SnapScan for OS X
Reader Question: Setting Up a Home Office
From a reader: I'll be moving in a few months and with that comes a new desk and new office space. Do you or any of your readers have any suggestions on what to look at? I'm looking for a smaller desk as all I've got is a MacBook Pro and some trays for inboxes. I'll also need a good filing cabinet to work the GTD system, any recommendations? I figured I'd shoot this in as this may be helpful to not only myself, but to others looking to "Get Organized!" (Don't we all try haha). Also, side note - how about some more video tutorials! Take care, Neil Let me describe what I use. It may not be the best setup for everyone and it is definitely skewed toward equipment that breaks down … [Read more...] about Reader Question: Setting Up a Home Office
Paperless Update
I have still been working on my paperless experiment, but most of my planning has revolved around trying to figure out how to keep from wasting money on something only to discover I have to buy something else. I've also been working on the workflow side of things in trying to keep my documents digital and not simply revert to printing them out whenever I need to fax or sign them. I have had pretty good luck with some online faxing services that I hope to write more about in another post. Also I've had a chance to really challenge the ScanSnap scanner. While it doesn't compete with a $10,000 sheet fed scanner, I've been very impressed. The other day my grandmother had about 450 … [Read more...] about Paperless Update
Tuesday’s Tip: Pennies
I don't know if this is actually a productivity tip or not. It might actually waste more time than anything else, but I feel like it is a good thing. Do you have a huge collection of pennies that are building up? My wife and I have a metal box full of our loose change. We run most of our expenses through our credit cards, but we still end up with a bunch of coins. I have found a use for pennies. The toll roads in Chicago take pennies. I don't know if this works in many other major areas or not. There is something deeply satisfying about throwing 80 pennies into the machine to pay for your toll. Of course you probably don't want to sit at the toll booth counting out 80 pennies. … [Read more...] about Tuesday’s Tip: Pennies
Amazon Kindle
Today Amazon released their ebook reader called Kindle. I have the original Sony Reader and I've been pretty impressed with it. The new version makes a few small improvements, but is still a similar device. Even though the Kindle is based on the same e-ink technology, it takes a very different approach than Sony. One of the biggest differences it the way books are distributed. Kindle comes with built in EVDO networking. EVDO is the same technology used for high speed connections over the cellular network by Sprint and Verizon (AT&T uses something different). Instead of requiring users to get a data plan for their Kindle, Amazon packages the cost of the wireless service into the … [Read more...] about Amazon Kindle
Correct Way to Send Out Group Emails
When you send out an email to a group of people, simply putting them all on the to field is bad form. First, it exposes all the email addresses, so everyone can see everyone else's emails. Second, if someone accidentally hits "Reply All" instead of "Reply" their response can easily be sent to the entire group instead of just you. A few years ago, I got an email from a friend who was studying at Yale. It was a yearly update about what was going on in his life. He put everyone he knew in the To: field. This included old classmates, current professors, relatives, etc. One of his friends got the message and decided to respond with an update of all the stuff going on in her life. She … [Read more...] about Correct Way to Send Out Group Emails
Contest – Concealed Powerstrip Giveaway
I previously wrote about the Belkin Concealed Powerstrip. With 10 outlets, wire routing, and a cover to keep everything out of sight, it is the ideal way to organize under your desk. We are going to be giving one away here at Productivity501. To enter simply sign up to receive the email version of this site in the right hand column. Once you verify your signup (you'll be sent an email with a link), you'll be entered in the contest. If you currently receive the email, you are entered already. Right now, there are about 1,000 email subscribers. Once we reach 1250 subscribers, we'll give away the Powerstrip to a randomly selected person from the list. Anyone can enter, but I'll … [Read more...] about Contest – Concealed Powerstrip Giveaway
On Scanning Your Signature
Several people have commented that scanning your signature is a bad idea because if someone got a hold of the file they could sign away everything you own. Obviously you should keep the file private. I wouldn't recommend attaching it to each of your emails or putting it on a web page or anything like that, but it is probably no more risky than anything else you do on a regular basis. Consider the following: If you ever write a check or sign a credit card receipt at a store, you are essentially handing a stranger a copy of your signature already. They could easily digitize it using the process I've just shown and use to sign things as you. Most of the time when you sign something, … [Read more...] about On Scanning Your Signature
Tuesday’s Tip: Keeping Track of Software
Over the years, you've probably acquired a pretty decent collection of software. There are the software restore disks that came with your new computer, the operating system upgrade you purchased a year later, the word processor you used to use, the word processor you currently use, etc. It isn't uncommon to have 50 or more CDs from different pieces of software. For most people, these CDs are all stuck in a drawer somewhere. This is fine, but as the number of CDs grows, you'll eventually need to stash the incoming disks somewhere else and it is easy to lose track of where everything is kept. Worse, the packaging is different for each piece of software, so they don't really fit well in … [Read more...] about Tuesday’s Tip: Keeping Track of Software
Using Digg Productively
Digg can be a horrible waste of time. With the constantly updating links to interesting things around the web, you can lose many hours hoping from site to site. On the other hand Digg can be a great way to make sure you don't miss something important. For example, I learned that Gmail had added IMAP access from a Digg post. What I have found to work well is checking Digg once a week or once every month. Choose the technology category and then view the top items for the last 7 days (or last 30 days). (If you do this with the front page category, you'll be sifting a bunch of photos and videos.) … [Read more...] about Using Digg Productively
My Experience Selecting a CPA
For the past year, I've been spending a lot of time learning about the IRS rules for income tax, particularly the rules for a business. After many hours of the IRS website and pouring through other books, I finally decided that I'd be better off sitting down with a CPA. I've talked with several and so far I'm not impressed.What I'm finding is that at least some CPAs seem to be very use to people just taking their advice and not asking any questions. A recent conversation went something like this: Me: It appears that my business can deduct X. Is that correct? CPA: No. Me: Why not? CPA: Because publication 15b says you can't. Me: I just read publication 15b and it says I can … [Read more...] about My Experience Selecting a CPA
IMAP for Gmail
Previously I wrote about why I prefer to use IMAP for my primary email accounts. Gmail recently enabled IMAP access for their accounts. Not only does it work for accounts at gmail.com, but it also works with their hosted apps account where you use your own domain. Productivity501.com uses Google's hosted apps for email, so IMAP is a very welcome addition. You can find this control by going to Settings > Forwarding POP & IMAP. Google did some creative things to make their concept of tags work within IMAP. Basically each tag becomes a folder, but that means it is possible to have the same item in multiple folders. There is also a folder called "All Mail" that will hold your … [Read more...] about IMAP for Gmail
Tuesday’s Tip: Label Your Warts
I'm referring to "Wall Warts" those blocks of plastic that transform standard house current into lower voltage needed by electronic devices. Modern electronic gadgets require power. And (if you haven't noticed) every device seems to require a slightly different type of power and slightly different type of connector. When you are setting up your office buying one item at a time, it isn't really any problem to figure out what goes where. However, if you have to move your office around, you are going to quickly discover that the power supplies all look pretty much the same and worse yet, some use the same connectors but supply different amounts of power. No big deal because you can just … [Read more...] about Tuesday’s Tip: Label Your Warts
Self Inflicted Insult
Most of the readers of Productivity501 are very nice and gracious. That is why I was surprised when I found this comment in my moderation queue. When I read this, I was at first a little hurt. I consoled myself by deciding it was some type of new blog spam or something. As I got ready to delete the comment I realized that the ip address looked familiar. It turns out that I posted the comment as the first thing that came to mind when I was trying to solve a problem with the email notifications last week. I had forgotten about it. I felt better knowing that my insult was self inflicted. In college I had a friend who would call himself and leave encouraging messages on his … [Read more...] about Self Inflicted Insult
USPS Online Orders
If you go to www.usps.com and order stamps, you'll find there is a $1 shipping/handling charge. This has always puzzled me. I would think that the Postal Service of all places would deliver stamps for free. Lets assume that the pricing is a well thought out business decision. Evidently it costs the Post Office roughly $1 more per stamp order to sell you a package of stamps online than it costs for you to walk in, talk to a clerk and deal with the transaction in person. This seems surprising to me. I would expect the cost of providing stamps from one centralized location would be cheaper than paying people to do it in person from the physical offices. Here are a couple reasons this … [Read more...] about USPS Online Orders
Dvorak Keyboard
Michael Sampson is trying to switch to the Dvorak keyboard. The Dvorak keyboard is arranged differently to help you type faster and with less finger movement. While the advantages sound promising, I have never quite understood why you'd want to switch to the Dvorak keyboard if you are already proficient at QWERTY. . I type somewhere between 50 to 75 words pre minute, but it is very rare for me to type at those speeds because I usually spend more time thinking about what I'm writing than I do actually writing. Maybe I just think slower than most people The basis for most of the claims of Dvorak's keyboard was done for the Navy in 1944. However, it appears that the report is fairly … [Read more...] about Dvorak Keyboard