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Archives for 2008

Interview: Filing System from Scratch

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In a recent interview we asked a number of people how they would advise creating a filing system from scratch.  Then the readers of Productivity501 voted for the best one.  Below are the answers arranged with the highest ranked answers at the top. Don't forget you can cast your vote for the remaining questions. Describe your paper filing system along with your advice for someone starting a filing system from scratch. I like a logical system.  Ask yourself, where would I expect to find this? Keep and file only what's necessary.  Tax records are, notes from a seminar are probably not.  Once read and committed to memory that information will probably not be referred to again. Use … [Read more...] about Interview: Filing System from Scratch

105 Free College Lectures

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Here is a big list of 105 current college classes with free lectures online. Most of them have RSS feeds of podcasts you can subscribe to. If you like posts like this, consider subscribing to the RSS feed Make the most of your daily commute by taking advantages of these free classes. Some colleges may take the Podcasts down this summer, so I'd suggest downloading any lectures you want to listen to ahead of time--just in case they disappear. Advanced Analog Integrated Circuits EE 240 UC Berkeley RSS URL: http://webcast.berkeley.edu/rss/course-archive.php?seriesid=1906978506 Advanced Cell Biology BI 406 Northern Michigan University RSS URL: … [Read more...] about 105 Free College Lectures

American Airlines Suitcase Charge

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American Airlines is going to start charging an extra $15 if you want to check a suitcase to help with the high cost of fuel.  I've heard that some airlines are considering charing passengers "by the pound" so the cost of your ticket better reflects the cost of the fuel required to move you from point A to point B.  What do you think?  Would you mind paying for flights based on your weight? … [Read more...] about American Airlines Suitcase Charge

Reader Question – College or No?

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Should I drop out of college? Probably not. If you feel like it is too expensive, consider attending a less expensive in-state school. You should be able to get a college degree spending less than $5000 per year on tuition, books, and fees. If you are willing to work hard, you should be able to get a job while attending school that will cover many of your living expenses as well as your school fees so you can graduate without any debt. Getting a full time summer job can help give you enough of a financial cushion to cover anything you can't earn during the school year. Four years of living frugally is well worth having a bachelors degree. Your diploma won't guarantee you a high paying … [Read more...] about Reader Question – College or No?

Articles on Sleep

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Sleep is one of those little things we often overlook that can make or break our productivity. Here are 10 great articles with tips and thoughts on how to get the most out of your sleep. If you know of any other great articles on sleep, please add them in the comments. Good Sleep, Good Learning, Good Life-Dr. Pitor Wozniak Although many Western civilizations may consider the traditional "siesta" of the Latin American countries to be out-dated, research shows that these short naps are rich in NREM sleep, and improve alertness during the day. Napping may also provide relief from severe sleep deprivation, and also may play a significant role in memory consolidation. Sleep's Healing … [Read more...] about Articles on Sleep

Reader Question – Guns and Safety Deposit Boxes

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Can I keep a gun in a safety deposit box? I talked with someone in the safety deposit department of a large national bank in Kansas City and they said it was not allowed. Even if it was, there is the issue of taking a gun into the bank in the first place. Many banks have security devices behind the scenes that are watching for these types of things. The individual I spoke with couldn't tell me about the bank's security system, but he made it clear that bringing a gun into a bank would not be a very wise thing to do--even if you were just going to put it in the safety deposit box. I also talked to the VP at a small bank in Oklahoma. He said it wouldn't be a problem at his bank if they … [Read more...] about Reader Question – Guns and Safety Deposit Boxes

Interview: Cause of Disorganization

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What is the single biggest mistake you see people make that causes disorganization? Not following simple daily routines and systems. It is really easy to spiral into disorganization and chaos in any area of life. Success all comes back to basically two things: systems or routines that make sense for our life and our goals, and daily discipline to maintain them. If routines and systems are optional, there will be way too many days we end up not following them. As soon as we even start thinking about not sticking to our simple routines, we begin to spiral into disorganization. Melissa Michaels from The Inspired Room (rss) It tends to be the little things that are done consistently that … [Read more...] about Interview: Cause of Disorganization

Good Bookshelves

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Quick Tip: When buying bookshelves beware of particle board shelves. They are usually decorative and not designed to hold the weight of real books. After a few months they will bow and eventually dump your books on the floor. You can sometimes glue or screw a board to the bottom of each shelf to improve its strength, but solid wood is a better option. … [Read more...] about Good Bookshelves

Lowering Gas Prices

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While visiting relatives last week I saw some television. Since we don't have a TV hooked up to watch any type of broadcast programming, it was interesting to see some of the things that are on now days. On one show (I think it was the O'Reilly Factor) the host was interviewing someone who had written a book about oil, oil prices or something like that. The host kept asking the guy "so who sets the price of oil." The author tried to explain that it was a market, but the O'Reilly didn't seem to get it and asked, "so does OPEC set the price of oil?" Then I saw on the news that several presidential candidates are contemplating a gas tax holiday during the summer months. This leads me to … [Read more...] about Lowering Gas Prices

Reader Question – Emailing Your Boss

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How to write emails to your boss Don't try to impress with the length of your email. Most of the time they will appreciate a short and to the point message. If you need to explain something in more detail, consider listing the main points as bullets at the top and add the rest of your explanation at the bottom or as an attachment. This allows them to quickly grasp the issue without reading through several hundred words. Another advantage of a short message is that it is more likely to get read. If your boss is busy, they may read a short email and leave longer ones to be read later. You can help your boss prioritize your emails, by adding a short code in the subject. For example, … [Read more...] about Reader Question – Emailing Your Boss

Simple Todo List

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There are many different ways to manage your todo list.  I am currently having the most luck with a single sheet of paper placed in the center of my desk.  I draw a line across the middle.  The things above the the line are the things I must complete.  The things below are the other items I think of during the day.  I write big so I can only fit a finite number of items on the page.  For right now this is working very well. … [Read more...] about Simple Todo List

Vote Again

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With well over 3,000 votes in the Organization category, we are ready to move on to the Personal Development section.  So take a few minutes to vote for your favorite answers. You just select a question that looks interesting and then select the best answer from the two presented.  When you stop seeing any new interesting answers, just move on to another question. … [Read more...] about Vote Again

Paperless with the Kindle

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James Harris has some interesting thoughts on going paperless when it comes to magazines. In particular he looks at how his Kindle has changed the way he reads. I have a Sony Reader which uses a similar screen and I agree with him that it is a very pleasurable way to read. Here are some quotes from his post. We are really very close to having a paperless society that pundits have talked about every since I can remember. People always exclaim they hate reading off the computer screen even though they spend hours a day doing so. Now the Kindle offers a better way to read, even better than paper, and that starts to suggest going paperless is possible. I'm a little less optimistic. I … [Read more...] about Paperless with the Kindle

Reader Question – Hanging Folders

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How do you use hanging folders? I use hanging folders to hold regular manilla folders. So I may have a hanging folder for "Personal Taxes" and another for "Business Taxes". Then within each of those folders, I'll have one for each year "2004 Personal Taxes", "2005 Personal Taxes", etc. (I talked about this in a previous Tuesday's Tip.) Many people organize their files alphabetically. This isn't a bad idea, but if you have a few files, it may be slower than some of the alternatives. For example: Every time you use a hanging folder put it in the front of the drawer. That way the most frequently used folders are always in the front and the less frequently used folders slowly make their way … [Read more...] about Reader Question – Hanging Folders

Links On Remote Assistants

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I asked my remote executive assistant to put together a list of a few posts that discuss working with a remote/virtual assistant. Below are the results: The Personal Outsourcing Olympics: Bangalore Butler or American Assistant? - Tim Ferriss Very appealing but informative article on the latest trend of entrepreneurs - Outsourcing. Having had a positive experience on all the jobs assigned to a virtual assistant, the author invites others to give their comments through this article. For a novice at outsourcing, he has chalked names of reputed companies in this field. How to get your virtual assistant to schedule your doctor’s appointments - Ramit Sethi Should you have problems … [Read more...] about Links On Remote Assistants

Six Tips for Eating Out Frugally

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Most of the time, people go out to eat, not just for the food, but for social and entertainment purposes. These six suggestions will help you get the experience at a "discount". Order water - In the US, you'll usually pay $1 to $3 for a soft drink with your meal. Water is healthier and can often reduce the cost of your meal by 10% to 20%. Go out for lunch - Many places charge more for the evening meal than for lunch. Sometimes the evening portions are bigger, but this isn't always the case. If you go out for lunch you'll often save 35% to 50% on your meal. (This seems to be particularly true for Chinese restaurants.) Go out just for dessert - Eating at home and going out for … [Read more...] about Six Tips for Eating Out Frugally

Breaking the Internet

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I just saw a video where someone explained that typing Google into Google can "break the internet".   I sent the link to my dad and then went and tried it at Google.  I immediately (I'm not joking) got a message from my remote executive assistant saying that her internet was down.  I think I broke the internet in India.  Sorry about that everyone. … [Read more...] about Breaking the Internet

Excellence – Perfection vs. Efficiency

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I use to work for an organization that put a lot of emphasis on "excellence". This sounds like a good thing, but it was very poorly defined and tended to become an excuse for wreaking mayhem with the budget. Spending 100% more for a 10% gain toward perfection didn't seem like what I would define as excellence. As I thought I about it, I realized the the problem  stemmed from equating excellence with perfection. Excellence is actually made up of more than one dimension. Perfection is one of those dimensions, but you must have another dimension that recognizes we are dealing with finite resources. Usually this is best represented as cost in monetary terms, but it could also represent … [Read more...] about Excellence – Perfection vs. Efficiency

Reader Question – Organized Work Desk

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How should I organize my desk at work Get a file cabinet. Most of the junk on a work desks is paper that should be filed. Take the time to setup a reasonable filing system and then commit to keeping your papers stored in the file cabinet. Limit your personal clutter. A family picture or two is fine, but 20 framed photos, three baseballs, 2 snowglobes, and 4 unidentified objects is a bit excessive. Keep your extra stuff at home. Don't use your desktop for storage. If you need additional storage space, get some boxes you can put on the shelf or a cabinet of drawers. If you use the top of your desk for storage it will quickly accumulate many more items. Route your wires. Computer and … [Read more...] about Reader Question – Organized Work Desk

Vote!

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As I mentioned before, we are doing a series of interviews for Productivity501.  However to help make things a bit more interactive, I'd like some help in determining which tips are the best.  If you have a few minutes take a look at this question and answers about the most useful gadget. You'll see two answers.  Simply click on the vote button for the one you think is the best answer.  You can do this as many times as you like.  Once we get a number of votes, we'll publish the results. … [Read more...] about Vote!

Bank Mistake

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I have a bank that didn't get my last change of address notification. When the mail was returned to them, they found my address and sent it to me along with a note telling me to change my address with them. The odd thing was along with my statement were 5 other statements from people I don't know. I called them and confirmed the address change and mentioned the other statements. They said they would take care of it. The other day I got my next statement--and the statements from 5 different people I've never heard of. I don't mind getting other people's statements. However, I'm very concerned that some of my statements may be sent to total strangers. This is one advantage of online … [Read more...] about Bank Mistake

Some Online Tools

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Rajesh pointed me to Jiffle a web based program for scheduling meetings that integrates with Outlook and Google Calendar. One of the more interesting uses is allowing customers to directly schedule and appointment when you whenever you are free. It looks like it provides many of the features of an Exchange server--without the server. Louise wrote to tell me about PassPack an online password manager. It will let you autologin to your saved sites and will generate passwords for you. … [Read more...] about Some Online Tools

20 Tips to Save Money on a Home Office

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1. Go cheap on your desk. When it comes down to it a desk is simply a work surface. If you are on a budget, concentrate on getting something stable as a desk and put the savings to work elsewhere. A used door can make a great work surface once you remove the door handle. Place it on some sawhorses and you have an easily adjustable solid surface. Place it on two file cabinets and you now have desk drawers. This type of desk is what Amazon uses for all their employees. They attach 4x4s to a desk and it is ready to go. In the early days Jeff Bezos made the desks him self--now a carpenter makes them. When it comes down to it, as long as your desk is solid it probably won't make a … [Read more...] about 20 Tips to Save Money on a Home Office

Bigger Monitors

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WSJ has a post referencing a study showing that people with a 24 inch monitor were 44% faster than people with 18 inch monitors on a particular set of tasks.  They said that performance started to go down again when given 26 inch monitors. I find that most people don't really know how to use a big monitor--especially with Windows.  I've watch a lot of people open an application and maximize it regardless of how big their screen is.  Then they jump back and forth between screens just like they would with a smaller monitor.  You have to learn how to get the most productivity out of a bigger monitor--especially if you are in the habit of working with a smaller computer screen.  This is … [Read more...] about Bigger Monitors

Noise Canceling Headsets

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Many years ago, I was reading a popular science article reviewing the first noise canceling headsets.  (Noise cancellation is done by creating a sound wave exactly the opposite of the ambient noise so the two waves cancel each other out and you hear silence.)  The reviewer noted that he had no jet lag when wearing the headset on a long flight. Has anyone experienced this? … [Read more...] about Noise Canceling Headsets

Reader Question – Getting Your Money

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How do you get money back from someone who owes you? Generally if you are asking this question, you've probably made a mistake somewhere. Here is a list of rules I follow for loaning money. Never loan money to friends or family that you can't afford to lose. If you can't forgive them the debt without holding it against them, you are not the person who should be loaning them money. Do everything in writing. Don't expect to remember the terms of the loans. Get it in writing and signed. Make sure you have terms listed to handle the case where they don't pay. This could be listing an item as collateral, late payment fees, etc. You need to leave yourself an out if they don't pay. Be … [Read more...] about Reader Question – Getting Your Money

Looking for Bloggers to Interview

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I'm working on a new set of interviews on various productivity and life management topics and I'm looking for bloggers who would like to participate.   We will then publish all the answers to a particular question together along with the name, website, and RSS feed of the person who contributed each answer.  This can be a great way to highlight your website and your writing. You choose which questions you want to answer, so it only takes a few minutes to participate. If you are interested in participating, send an email to [email protected] with the subject interview and a link to your website. … [Read more...] about Looking for Bloggers to Interview