I really enjoyed Never Eat Alone, so I was excited to get a review copy of Ferrazzi's new book, Who's Got Your Back. It is a good book and I'd recommend it. If you can only read one of Ferrazzi's books, I'd go for Never Eat Alone. However, I listened to an audio recording of Never Eat Alone and read a physical book of Who's Got Your Back, so I may have missed out on some of Who's Got Your Back by not hearing it read by Keith Ferrazzi, himself. Never Eat Alone talks about building a network of people that you can help and who can help you. One of the constant criticisms of anyone who is seriously working on networking with people is that these types of relationships seem superficial and … [Read more...] about Who’s Got Your Back Review
Mark Shead's articles
Mark Shead
Parking Strategies
I'm amazed at how much time people are willing to spend driving around a parking lot looking for a space to park. I'm not talking about places where it is snowing and there are only limited slots in covered parking. I'm talking about the people who will drive around the lot for 15 minutes trying to avoid a 2 minute walk from the empty spaces just beyond the spots everyone is fighting for. In this post, I want to talk about optimal parking strategies, because people seem to waste so much time on the activity. But first a story: I knew someone who would occasionally go to the mall around Christmas. He would walk toward a car in the prime parking spot and invariably be followed by a … [Read more...] about Parking Strategies
Powerful Presentations
I recently gave a presentation at a business. After the presentation, I was waiting for my plane at the airport when I ran into the president of the company and his teenage daughter. We talked briefly about what their company was wanting to do. Then he said, "You have a very engaging presentation style." He then turned to his daughter and said, "You would have really enjoyed hearing Mark talk." Now that is a pretty significant compliment, in my opinion. It is often hard enough to get businesspeople to sit through a presentation. If the president actually thought a high school student would have enjoyed it, I must be doing something right. Here are some of the principles I try to … [Read more...] about Powerful Presentations
9 Tips for Effective Meetings
Meetings can be one of the biggest time drains for you as an individual and for a business. A meeting with 7 people all making $20 per hour costs a business $140 per hour. If it is a once-per-week meeting and there are 15 minutes wasted at each meeting, the total yearly waste comes to over $1,800. I don't know about you, but a one hour meeting with only 15 minutes wasted is actually a pretty good meeting, in my experience. Half of a meeting being wasted is more par for the course, and entire meetings that are unproductive is fairly common. Here are some ways you can facilitate more effective meetings and hopefully get more done in less time. 1. Make people show up on time If people … [Read more...] about 9 Tips for Effective Meetings
Business Leadership Article
Glen Stansberry wrote a nice article on 10 Examples of Tremendous Business Leadership on Open Forum. It is well worth a read if you are in any type of leadership position. … [Read more...] about Business Leadership Article
The Happiness Project Book
The Happiness Project : Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun chronicles Gretchen Rubin's year long project to see if she could increase the amount of happiness in her life. The book blends her personal narrative with facts from her research into a wonderfully fulfilling read. The book is truly brilliant and I highly recommend it. At the beginning of the book, Gretchen formulates her "Secrets of Adulthood" that she uses to help ground her project. Here are a few: People don't notice your mistakes as much as you think. It's important to be nice to everyone. If you're not failing, you're not … [Read more...] about The Happiness Project Book
Removing Distracting Sounds
A single interruption of only a few seconds can cost you 15 minutes of your day. When you get distracted from concentrating, it takes up to 15 minutes to get back to where you were before the distraction. Our ambient sounds help reduce the amount of noise distractions in your workplace. Don't forget, they are still on sale at a greatly reduced rate. … [Read more...] about Removing Distracting Sounds
10 Timesavers for Office Workers
If you work in a traditional office, you need specific strategies to help you make the most of your time. This post looks at a number of simple things you can do to save time at work. Most people can easily free up another 15 minutes per day, simply by following a few of these strategies. In the ideal world, your boss would let you cut out early with those 15 minutes you saved, but unfortunately, our society seems to be more focused on how much time you put in rather than value. Even if it doesn't translate into more time away from work, these tips can help you use your time more effectively so you can get more done and out-perform your peers as you advance your career. If you … [Read more...] about 10 Timesavers for Office Workers
Are You Interesting?
What is so special about you? Why would someone want to talk to you? More importantly (as Keith Ferrazzi points out in Never Eat Alone), why would someone want to talk about you? It is easy to get stuck in a rut of focusing on the things that make us successful in our work, but our skills are only one part of the equation. Our relationships with others are at least as important as our skills. Building relationships is much easier when you aren't a one-dimensional person. If all you do is work, you may be very good at your job, but you are drastically limiting your circle of friends. Worse still, you are limiting them to people who are very similar to yourself. Making the effort … [Read more...] about Are You Interesting?
The Difficult Things
When I'm working on something very, very difficult, I often find myself bumping up against an invisible wall. It is as if my mind just isn't clear enough to break through. For example, when trying to learn a new, complex mathematical concept, I seem to spend a lot of time teetering just on the verge of a full understanding with no real idea of what is holding me back. It is like looking through a fog. The feeling is similar to running at your top speed and trying to go just a little bit faster. Obviously, this is very frustrating. You can almost taste success, but it just isn't happening. When I find myself in this situation, I can sometimes get past it by focusing more. This … [Read more...] about The Difficult Things
A Culture of Obesity
I hadn't heard of Kevin Smith until reading in the news that he had been asked to deplane a Southwest flight because he was too big. Evidently, he directed and acted in some movies I haven't seen. For those of you who missed all the "excitement," here is what happened. Due to his ample girth, Mr. Smith buys two Southwest tickets when he flies. (Correction: Kevin says this is the first week he bought two tickets and he does it because he is shy. Southwest says he routinely buys two tickets. Doesn't matter for the point of this article, but I thought I'd be clear.) That way, it guarantees him an open adjacent seat. If the flight sells out, Southwest keeps the price of the empty seat … [Read more...] about A Culture of Obesity
Friendly Space
I've heard a lot of people say that people on the East coast are less friendly than the people they meet in the Midwest. One of my professors at Harvard who grew up in Kansas said that he didn't think Wal-Mart would do well in the Cambridge area because they wouldn't be able to find anyone who could cheerfully say "Welcome to Wal-Mart!" at the front door. So what might account for the difference in friendliness between people in rural Kansas and Harvard Square? I think there is a simple explanation, and it is the same reason people don't talk on elevators. When you get on the elevator with a bunch of people you don't know, it is rare for anyone to talk, even if they are people you … [Read more...] about Friendly Space
The Dangerous Boss
When you work for a bad boss, it is easy to just try to "keep your head down" and do your job. If your boss is merely annoying, this isn't a bad strategy. Maybe he/she will get replaced someday and the risk of trying to find another job may not seem like it is worth it. However, I want to suggest that if your boss is really bad, he/she can do a lot more damage to you and to your career than just being an annoyance. Let me tell you a story. The names have been changed to protect the guilty and the innocent, but the facts are real. Acme Inc. employed about 150 people. One of the assistants there seemed very competent. We will call her Sally. Sally was an above average worker, … [Read more...] about The Dangerous Boss
Random Stuff
Here is a bunch of random information I've discovered over the last few months. I figured it might be interesting for someone, so I thought I'd post it all together. If you see anything that you think would be interesting to see a full post about, please leave a comment and we'll try to write about it in more detail. Overdrive Digital Library Many state libraries have digital books, audio books and movies that can be checked out electronically from a company called Overdrive. Most of the time, all you need for access is a card from a local library or your state library. The checkout process works like it does for physical books. If the library has only purchased one copy, only one … [Read more...] about Random Stuff
High Goals and Expectations
Everyone has a different idea about success. Many times our expectations are determined by the way we were raised and our interaction with our peers. These expectations can cause us to set artificially low goals. I know a man whose goal is to get his GED so he can get a job and make payments on a car. I just met a girl who has a goal to finish a 9-month cosmetology program so she can work at SuperCuts in front of Wal-Mart. When looking at your goals, make sure you understand the expectations you carry that influence the magnitude of those goals. If no one in your family went to college, you will probably set your expectations for your education lower than someone whose parents … [Read more...] about High Goals and Expectations
Tuesday’s Tip: Dressed for Productivity
You've heard of "Dressed for Success." Well, what about "Dressed for Productivity?" I think that the way we dress can have a big impact on our performance. Where I went to college required that all the guys wear ties and all the gals wear dresses to class. There was quite a bit of debate among the students about whether this was really beneficial or not. Many students met the dress code to the letter, but were extremely sloppy in the way that the were dressed. Overall, it would probably be impossible to tell if having a dress code helped make anyone a better student (although it helped guarantee that all the guys knew how to tie a tie by the time they graduated.) Personally … [Read more...] about Tuesday’s Tip: Dressed for Productivity
The Most for Your Minute
(In this series of posts, we are examining ways to better manage our time.) The Order of Tasks There is a survival simulation where you are trapped in a cave. There is a single ladder going to the surface that can only hold one person at a time. There are two other individuals with you. One is younger than you and can climb faster. The other is older than you and can climb slower. Your job is to decide the order that people should leave the cave--oh I forgot to mention there is water rising and if you don't do it in the correct order, someone will drown. The trick is to send the older person last because they can still be on the ladder climbing as the water covers the area … [Read more...] about The Most for Your Minute
Getting More Out of Your Job
Most people focus on their paycheck as the reward for their work. While it is true that this is a significant portion of what you get in exchange for your time and effort, there are often other benefits. Many jobs offer benefits like: Health insurance Life insurance Retirement accounts Financial planning services Training opportunities Tuition reimbursement Contribution matching Mentoring programs Corporate discounts Wellness & Fitness programs Not every job offers every benefit mentioned above, but I'm consistently amazed at how many people have no idea what their company offers. The best way to find out what is available is to get a copy of your employee … [Read more...] about Getting More Out of Your Job
Easier to Buy Than to Use
It is much easier to buy exercise equipment than to use it to get into shape. I'm taking advantage of that right now by creating a home gym of used equipment for about 1/3rd the cost of new. Exercise equipment isn't the only thing that is easier to buy than to really use. It is very easy to become enamored with high-tech devices that promise to save hours of time when we are in the purchasing stage, but fail to execute when it comes to really implementing them. This isn't just a problem for individuals. I routinely see businesses spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on software designed to make them more efficient, only to lose most of the advantages because they don't have the … [Read more...] about Easier to Buy Than to Use
The Most for Your Minute
I still believe that the most productive people are the ones who only do a few things, but do those things very, very well. However, that isn't a luxury most of us have--especially early on in our careers. In this series of posts, we are going to look at ways to better manage our time and get the best return on investment. Time is an Investment Speaking of your return on investment--just thinking of time as an investment can help you become more productive. Changing your mindset about time and seeing it as a currency that you can spend as you choose helps put you in a frame of reference to value time appropriately. When you spend your time, you can spend it in areas where there is a … [Read more...] about The Most for Your Minute
Concentrating with Ambient Sounds
Do you ever have a hard time concentrating because of noisy distractions? Wouldn't it be ideal if you could break out the walls in your office and place your desk 25 or 30 feet away from that noisy employee, grinding printer, or chirping phone? Most of the time, you can't do anything about your physical space and your proximity to noisy distractions. But you can give yourself some sonic space. Just think, if you could take the sound of your co-workers' chitchatting 5 feet away and make it sound like they are 30 feet away. Wouldn't that accomplish pretty much the same thing as physically moving your desk away from them? Do you wish your co-workers had volume controls? You can't turn … [Read more...] about Concentrating with Ambient Sounds
Odds of Success
It has been years since I read Rich Dad Poor Dad, but one of the things I remember the most was the way Robert Kiyosaki said he approached starting his business. He knew that four out of five businesses fail, so he figured he should plan on starting 5 businesses in order to get one that succeeded. This is valuable thinking. When you approach your success goals with the idea that you will need to learn from some failures along the way, you can be much more realistic about what you are trying to achieve. It is also much easier to handle failure when you see it as part of your path to success. Failure should be a springboard to help you do better on the next try. But if you start out … [Read more...] about Odds of Success
Tips for Exercise
The trick to exercising is to make it a part of your lifestyle instead of just something you attempt to do a few times each week. This post is going to look at several things you can do to integrate exercise into your life. Do you have anything you do to help keep yourself active? Please share in the comments. Put your exercise equipment in front of the TV. Move out the sofa and chair and move in the exercise bike. Your goal is to make it as easy as possible to exercise. This works particularly well if you are working your way through a set of cliffhanger-type TV shows on DVD. You still have to put effort into exercising. Just sitting on a piece of exercise equipment won't help … [Read more...] about Tips for Exercise
25 Hour Day
Brett Kelly has a post on four ways to create a 25 hour day. And they don't involve doing any weird things with lights or living in a cave. … [Read more...] about 25 Hour Day
Offline Reading
As more and more content becomes available on the internet it is easy to shift our reading online. There are some benefits to this. It is easy to get timely information on breaking events quickly. The downside is that you can spend a good deal of time reading things with little value or worse. Your educational reading can degrade into a few hours of mindless surfing the web. Sites like Digg, Stumbleupon, and Reddit supply a constant stream of interesting content that often is little more than a waste of time. I'm not saying that you can't get anything valuable off of the web. However, if most of your reading is done online the chances of it turning into a waste of time are high … [Read more...] about Offline Reading
Borders
My wife and I moved to Mexico for a few months in 2006. I've been struck by how different people perceive the US Southern border. To some it is a definite line, something you don't cross without much fear and trembling. Other people see the border as a soft separation. It is the crossing point to another culture, but something that you can easily cross and return. Generally, the people who see the border as a barrier are the ones who don't really understand much about Mexico and haven't made many trips out of the United States. People with more knowledge and experience in international travel don't see the border as a barrier. As I noticed this great divide in how people perceive … [Read more...] about Borders
Digital Signatures
Over the past few days, the most popular post on this site has been our explanation of how Digital Signatures & Encryption works. Understanding this is key for our society to get past the point of using dead dinosaurs (gasoline) to ship around dead trees (paper). Please take a few minutes to read it and pass it on. The more people that understand it, the easier it will be to move to more paperless and more efficient work processes. … [Read more...] about Digital Signatures
Workstations
If a bus station is where a bus stops and a train station is where a train stops, what happens at a workstation? … [Read more...] about Workstations
5 Things That Save Me Time
Amazon Prime We live in rural Fort Scott, Kansas and while I like to try to shop local, there is a lot of stuff we need that simply isn't available nearby. Amazon Prime gives me free two day shipping on most of their items. This means I can place an order on Monday afternoon and have it Wednesday. For an extra $3.99 per item I can get it the next day. I've used this to buy everything from books to fruit juicers to network cables. Working from Home Working from home means I don't have to waste any time getting in a car and going somewhere every day. My office is down the hall and down the stairs. Its not that uncommon to find people who are putting 6 hours (or more) into just sitting … [Read more...] about 5 Things That Save Me Time
New Year’s Resolutions
New year's resolutions have a bad name. They have become somewhat synonymous with "making promises you don't intend to keep" and "setting unrealistic expectations. Resolutions can be a very helpful tool, but you have to approach them in a smart way. 1. Resolutions should be daily or weekly tasks. Setting a resolution of "getting in shape" is setting yourself up for disappointment. A resolution of "go to the gym at least twice per week" is better. A resolution of "do 15 pushups each day" is another good one. Focus your resolution on the specific actions you will take--not on what you hope to achieve. 2. Set small, specific tasks as resolutions Resolutions need to be something … [Read more...] about New Year’s Resolutions
Other’s Perceptions – Are You a Threat?
Often others' perceptions of our actions are often more important that our intentions. One of the questions to ask yourself is: "Does this person see me or my actions as a threat?" Years ago, I was a young manager at a large, non-profit organization. About two years into my job, I started noticing an unusual amount of resistance from one of the vice presidents. It got to the point where it seemed as if any decision I made would result in his expending a great amount of effort to get it overturned. It got to the point where it almost seemed silly. I couldn't figure out what was going on. Eventually, I spoke with a much wiser retiree who was familiar with the organizational … [Read more...] about Other’s Perceptions – Are You a Threat?
Christmas Break
We are going to take a break here at Productivity501 for a few days, but we'll be back on January 4th. Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas! … [Read more...] about Christmas Break
What Do You Measure?
Managers are told that whatever they measure will get attention and improvement. If they measure the number of defects in cars coming off the manufacturing line, just giving it this attention will help lower the number of defects. So, how can you use this for your personal productivity? The same rule applies. Measure the things that you want to improve. For example, if you want to read more this year, keep a list of every book you read. If you want to write more for your blog, keep track of how many posts or words you produce each week. If you want to lose some weight, keep a chart in the bathroom next to your scale and record your weight every day. If you want to watch less … [Read more...] about What Do You Measure?
Treating Employees Right
I have seen some employers who figure that a down economy means they can treat employees poorly. I suppose the logic is "they should be happy to have any job at all". Since the employer figures their workers can't really leave, the employers make demands that they would never make in a normal economy. This approach is very short-sighted. First, the very top employees are always going to be in demand. I'm not talking about good, solid employees. I'm talking about the star performers--the top 5%. These types of people are always in demand, simply because they are rare. When an employer treats people poorly, the best people are the first to leave because they have other options. … [Read more...] about Treating Employees Right
TIP: Receipts Folder
If you spend any time buying stuff from the web, you are familiar with all the pages that say, "print this out for your records". So, how many people actually print out those pages? I know I don't (unless I'm buying something very expensive). Usually I'll try to keep the email receipt, but sometimes that gets blocked by spam filters. Here is how I've started saving those receipts without worrying about printing them out: I have a folder in my Documents folder called "receipts." When I buy something, I simply save the order confirmation page to the folder. In OS X, this is very simple because I can just print the page to a file as a PDF. Here is a screen shot showing you … [Read more...] about TIP: Receipts Folder
TIP: Synched Address Books
My wife and I both have cell phones and both have computers. This means there are four places where we could potentially have a phone number or address and invariably the phone number I need is on my wife's cell phone or computer. We set up each of our cell phones to sync with our laptop, but we still had two separate address books. However, after playing around a bit with the .mac synchronization, I was able to set up our address books on the computer to sync with each other. This has been a much bigger benefit than I had imagined because now we are both looking at the same version of the address book. As our mutual friends change numbers or addresses, the first one of us to … [Read more...] about TIP: Synched Address Books
Doing Less
Much of the current writing about time management and productivity focuses on fitting more tasks into each day. The idea is that the more tasks we are able to complete, the more productive we are. To a certain extent, this makes sense. If we spend time procrastinating instead of working, we'll be more productive if we can cut out unproductive activities. However, taking an "assembly line" approach to productivity does have its limits. Today the biggest productivity gains come from what we'll call "leaps of imagination" rather than just doing more of the same faster. If we are so focused on doing more and more tasks, it can prevent us from really making the huge jumps in … [Read more...] about Doing Less
Tuesday’s Tip: Stop Communication You Don’t Need
Most everyone gets a barrage of emails, telephone calls, and physical mail that they don't really need. I'm not necessarily talking about spam. I'm talking about newsletters from organizations in which you are no longer active, donation requests from non-profits that you gave to years ago, etc. Most people just accept the interruption and toss these items into the trash, but a better option is to try to stop them altogether. Taking a few minutes to send a note asking to be taken off their mailing list can save you a tremendous amount of time in the future. If you get a monthly newsletter in the mail that you identify, consider opening and then toss in the trash, it can easily take … [Read more...] about Tuesday’s Tip: Stop Communication You Don’t Need
Tips for Continuing Education
You can't rely on your college education to suffice for the rest of your career. If you want to stay at the peak of your earning potential, you will need to continue your education throughout your career. This can be done in a formal or informal setting. Informal education is very important. It may never show up on your resume, but it helps you stay up-to-date. Formal education has the added benefit of letting you work toward some type of recognition (degree or certificate) that employers are likely to reward. In some jobs, you can move to a higher pay-scale by adding a degree. In this article we are going to look at some tips and methods for both formal and informal education. … [Read more...] about Tips for Continuing Education
The most important part of Mobile Email
Many people overlook the most important part of a mobile email solution. It is easy to get caught up in the idea that it is going to be so wonderful to have access to your email where every you are. The fact is, if you can't delete emails from your mobile device in a way that will delete them from your desktop computer, your mobile solution is probably going to cost you more time than it saves. If every email you read and then delete requires that you "touch" it again on your desktop, you are doing a lot of extra work. In the paper world, you get the most efficiency by minimizing the number of times you have to physically handle an item. The digital world is no different. Every … [Read more...] about The most important part of Mobile Email
10 Stages of Financial Freedom
0. You Earn Less than you Spend This is obviously a good place to avoid and represents the least amount of freedom. No one should be here, but I added it because I know many people (particularly in the US) operate regularly in this stage. 1. Your Job Covers Your Expenses This is where a lot of people are. You spend everything you make. At this stage, losing your job is a terrifying prospect because you are only a week or two away from being back in stage 0. A few more weeks, (depending on how long you can string out your credit cards) and you'd be looking at bankruptcy. At this stage, changing jobs is very risky because, if it doesn't work out, you have very little cushion to let … [Read more...] about 10 Stages of Financial Freedom
Tuesday’s Tip: Surrounded By What?
Take a few moments to look around your work area. What have you surrounded yourself with? Does your environment help you focus on your long term goals and celebrate past achievement? Does your environment make you want to stay organized and productive? Most people put too little emphasis on their surroundings. I'm not saying that you have to spend all your time trying to create the perfect office, but you shouldn't ignore the things around you. Your productivity can be greatly influenced by your outlook, and your outlook can be greatly influenced by your surroundings. For years, I never had a picture of my wife on my desk at work. It wasn't that I didn't love my wife, but it just … [Read more...] about Tuesday’s Tip: Surrounded By What?
Effective Backups
There are few things that can ruin your productivity like losing the hard drive on your computer. Here are a few tips that work well for me when it comes to backing up my computer. Take some time to imagine the worst case scenario and how you would handle it. For example, what would you do if your laptop were dropped? What would you need to do if it were stolen? Make sure you have some type of off-site backup. I put a copy of important files on a DVD and put it in a bank lockbox. I only do this once or twice a year, but it gives me something to go back to, if necessary. Use an external hard drive for backup. This is usually a lot faster than backing up to DVDs or CDs. The … [Read more...] about Effective Backups
Important Tasks
Have you ever started a day with some great ideas of everything you want to accomplish, but suddenly it is 6pm and you have nothing to show for your day? While it is probably impossible to keep this from ever happening, we can minimize it by doing something very simple: Do something important first. That isn't really an amazing idea, but it is very very powerful. If you can, early in the day, do one or two things that have lasting value, you'll be taking steps in the right direction--even if the entire rest of the day is shot. The goal of this approach is to make sure you aren't sitting still. You want to make sure you are moving forward, and the best way to do that is to make some … [Read more...] about Important Tasks
Email Receipts
Some people are going to consider this an ugly hack, so I've been hesitant to share it. However, it works very well, so here it is. When I get an email receipt, I simply leave it in my inbox. (As I've said before, I don't worry about trying to delete everything out of my inbox--I just keep everything I might need in there where I can easily search it.) So, all of my email receipts are in my inbox. When I import my credit card statement into my financial software, I like to add a note on each item saying what it was for. I've found that the most efficient way to find the receipt is to do a search in my email program for the price. Most of the time this is a unique number, and I … [Read more...] about Email Receipts
TIP: Wake Up Right
Imagine waking up to your alarm clock. Now imagine gently waking up as the sunlight fills your room with light. Which one seems like a better recipe for having a wonderful, high performance day? Alarm clocks are designed to wake you up, so they make annoying and jarring sounds to jerk you right out of your peaceful sleep. You have to wonder if this is really a good way to start your day. I mean, really, do you want the first few seconds of each day to be associated with something containing the word "alarm"? When I was a kid, my brother and a friend decided we wanted to see what the early morning cartoons were like. I constructed a device with a small fire alarm style bell, … [Read more...] about TIP: Wake Up Right
Messing with Other People’s Time Management
I write a lot about how to be more productive, but what if that really isn't your thing? What if you don't like productivity? What if your goal in life is to ruin productivity for other people? In an effort to expand our readership to people striving for unproductivity, here are six things you can do to guarantee that your co-workers get as little done as possible. Productivity501 takes no responsibility for the results of actually implementing any of these ideas. Randomly put entries on their calendar like: "1:30 meeting with John White Important!" or "Call Sally 535-321-1242". Place them far enough in the future that they won't suspect you did it. Write in fake delegated … [Read more...] about Messing with Other People’s Time Management
International Travel Tips
I've done a lot of traveling in the past, so I wanted to share some of things I've learned (many times the hard way) that make international travel easier. You should try to get as much information as possible about the country you are visiting, but this list of tips should give you some good starting points that are relevant for most any destination. A couple great sources for safety information on foreign countries are the CIA World Factbook and the US Travel Advisory site. Take Copies - Having a copy of your drivers license and the first page of your passport are very handy in getting your visa or vehicle permits. They also serve as backup if your wallet and passport are … [Read more...] about International Travel Tips
Tuesday’s Tip: Removing Superglue
Have you ever gotten superglue all over your fingers and had to live with it for two weeks as it wore off? There is a simple way to take it off, but first, let me tell you a story. When my wife worked in the ER of a large county hospital in Dallas, she saw a lot of very strange cases. One of the most interesting was the guy who came in with his eyes closed. Evidently, his wife had accused him of looking at other women and they got into a fight. Somehow, he decided that he could prove that he wasn't looking at other women by super-gluing his eyes closed. (I am not making this up.) After the glue dried, he began to think it wasn't such a great idea and got some people to drive him … [Read more...] about Tuesday’s Tip: Removing Superglue
11 Steps in Becoming Educated for Your Dream Job
I had quite a few comments about taking classes online in my post "17 Things You Should Stop Doing". When LifeHacker linked to the article, they had even more comments from their readers. Many of the comments were negative, saying that you shouldn't take classes online. So, I wanted to take some time to talk about the best way for college to fit into your career. First, here is a little background about my education to give you an idea of where I'm coming from. I have a bachelor's and master's degree in music composition (both taken at physical universities where I was sitting in class). I am currently working on my thesis for a master's focused on software engineering that I took … [Read more...] about 11 Steps in Becoming Educated for Your Dream Job