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
Dealing with Signatures in a Paperless Office
With email, one of the main reasons I have to print things off is to sign them and fax or mail them back. As I transition to a paperless office I'm having to look at ways to sign documents without printing them out. There are really two types of signatures. The first is just an image of your handwritten signature. The second is a digital addition to the file that "proves" you were the one that signed it. By now digital signatures should be common, but they aren't. I'm not saying they aren't used in big companies, but the average web user isn't signing emails or anything else digitally. Right now most of the paper that requires my signatures needs to be faxed to someone. If I want … [Read more...] about Dealing with Signatures in a Paperless Office
Quick Update: Paperless Office
I am still working on my paperless office experiment. I've had an huge influx of consulting requests in the past 60 days, so I haven't dedicated as much time to this as I had originally planned. Here is a quick update on what I've found so far. Optical Character Recognition One of the most important parts of being able to search for your documents later is recognizing it as text. A generic scanning process simply recognizes the pixels and doesn't actually turn them into words. (A simple test to see if a PDF is storing data as pixels or text is to try to copy and paste a paragraph into a text editor.) I've found that for a proper workflow I need to make sure that the character … [Read more...] about Quick Update: Paperless Office
Tuesday’s Tip: Travel Paper Folder
We have done more than our fair share of traveling. When you are going to another country there is always a certain amount of paperwork you have to take with you. When you are traveling with a pet you have even more requirements. Years ago, we started a folder for Travel documents that has everything we might need for traveling. If a copy might work, we have several copies in the folder ready to go. That way when we decide to take a trip, we have one place to go for everything we might need including, copies of our birth certificates, marriage license, passports, dog's immunization records, etc. Having everything in one place has saved us many hours because we don't have to think … [Read more...] about Tuesday’s Tip: Travel Paper Folder
Paper that wants to be Shredded
Someone sent me this video of paper that wants to be shredded. It reminded me of a client of mine. I was coming in to do some consulting so I asked for a copy of their organizational chart to get a better idea of how everything was organized. I carried it around with me throughout their facility for about a week as a reference. Often I'd set it down on a table or desk while talking with an employee. When I really started looking at it in detail, I discovered that it had the salaries of all the executive level staff penciled in under their names! While it wasn't a problem for me to know their salaries, they should have at least warned me about the additional information. … [Read more...] about Paper that wants to be Shredded
The Child Who Has Everything
On the front page of Amazon I saw a list of items that said they were for "the child who had everything". While there were some very interesting toys, I got to thinking about that designation. It definitely isn't how I want my child described. Every parent wants to give their kids nice things and most parents try to give their kids things that they didn't have growing up. This isn't always a good thing. I'm not saying it is a bad idea to help your kids obtain a better education than what you received, but when the only thing your kid doesn't have is a $10,000 replica space suit you've got to question how well you are preparing them for the real world. A lot of my views on money were … [Read more...] about The Child Who Has Everything
Tuesday’s Tip: Get a Good Pen
This may seem trivial and not even worth mentioning, but I think it is important. Your performance is related to how comfortable you are with your tools. Even if you spend most of your time on the computer, a good writing instrument is a necessary tool for getting work done. Since you have to use a pen, you might as well get one that you like. This doesn't mean you have to go out and buy a $50 ink pen (especially if you tend to lose them), but put a little thought into getting pens that you actually enjoy using. It is a small thing, but the happier you are, the better your productivity. … [Read more...] about Tuesday’s Tip: Get a Good Pen
HSA – Why You Need to Notice These Special Accounts
I was talking with a physician this past week about health care. I mentioned that HSAs seemed like a step in the right direction for dealing with health insurance. He gave me a blank look and I realized he didn't know what I was talking about. If a doctor doesn't know about this wonderful new tool, some of my readers would probably benefit from a 5 minute explanation. An HSA is a Health Savings Account. Most people are familiar with "flex spending" type medical savings accounts where you set aside money pre-tax in order to pay for health related expenses throughout the year. If you don't use the money for health care, you lose it at the end of the year. So if you are healthy you … [Read more...] about HSA – Why You Need to Notice These Special Accounts
Tuesday’s Tip: File Folders – Hanging or Traditional
Some productivity experts suggest that you shouldn't use hanging files because they take longer to just whip out a new folder for something. They suggest using regular plan folders, so you can grab one and make a new folder when ever it is needed. This makes sense, but I think I've reached the best compromise with my hybrid approach.I use hanging folders for major categories and then put regular folders in for subcategories. For example, I might have "Education" as a hanging folder and then individual normal folders for each year or each class, depending on how I'm organizing things. I have a hanging folder for "Taxes" and then a regular folder for 2006, 2007, and 2008. By using … [Read more...] about Tuesday’s Tip: File Folders – Hanging or Traditional
Testing Testing
Sometime back, I was helping a client add some new domains to their email server. Once the changes were made, I started sending test messages to make sure everything was working properly. None of my test messages showed up. Strangely though, other messages were coming through just fine. In fact some of my messages were coming through--just not the ones were I was intentionally trying to test the system. A little digging revealed that their "network administrator" had created a rule to delete any message that contained the word "test". Since all of my test messages explicitly said that they were tests, they were immediately deleted. After querying the staff, I found that someone … [Read more...] about Testing Testing
Tuesday’s Tip: Turn Off Message Notification Sounds
Boing! You have another email. Boing! Boing! There are two more emails to deal with. Right as you get ready to leave for lunch Boing! Boing! Boing! Arghhh! This is not what email is for! If you want to get more done, turn off the audio notification for email. You can turn it back on if you are waiting for an important message, but leave it off while you are trying to do normal work. The whole point of email is so you can communicate quickly but asynchronously. That means it is ok to wait a few minutes before typing a reply. You can't let every email be an interruption. Go ahead and check your email every 15 minutes if you must, but spend those 15 minutes in between getting … [Read more...] about Tuesday’s Tip: Turn Off Message Notification Sounds
Visual Voicemail Confusion
My wife and I have used Vonage for our home telephone service for several years. Overall we've been very pleased with the service. It was especially useful when we were living in Mexico. One of the great features is the way that voice mail shows up with your email as an attachment. I use a Blackberry that isn't capable of playing a .wav file so when I'm on the road this feature is only useful to help show me who called so I can call them back. Recently they introduced a feature called "Visual Voicemail" where for $0.25 they will transcribe your voice mail and add it to the message along with the .wav file. This seemed like a great idea, so I signed up for the service. I'm not … [Read more...] about Visual Voicemail Confusion
Tuesday’s Tip: Using a Feed Reader
If you have more than one website that you check on a daily or weekly basis, this tip will help you. You probably don't realize how much time is spent checking a website only to discover that nothing has been updated. You can reclaim this time with a feed reader. Most website (including Productivity501) publish something called RSS feeds. These contain the text (or sometimes just summaries) of each article in a special format that is easy for another computer program to read. Programs that read these feeds are called RSS readers. There are two types of feed readers. One is a program that actually runs on your computer. The other are web based programs like Google Reader. The … [Read more...] about Tuesday’s Tip: Using a Feed Reader
Tuesday’s Tip: Asking Yourself Questions
I was reading the book "The Leadership Challenge" and ran across a story about how to improve the productivity of your team that I wanted to share.The authors of the book ran a workshop to help people focus on continuous improvement. One of their suggestions was to have managers ask their team what they had done in the last seven days that would make them more productive in the next seven days. The idea was to keep people focused not just on being busy but on accomplishing more. Here is a quote from the book: About a month later, we heard from a participant in the workshop who had done what we recommended. He told us that the first time he asked the question, people looked at each other … [Read more...] about Tuesday’s Tip: Asking Yourself Questions
When to Buy a Faster Computer
Computers are so closely tied to our efforts to be productive that it is valuable to take some time to think about how to maximize our use of these complex devices. There are many factors that impact one's productivity with these machines: The speed of the computer. (the raw ability of a computer to do tasks) The configuration of the computer. (settings, memory, physical placement, etc.) The software being used. (wordprocessor, spreadsheet, email, etc.) The training of the user. (informal, formal, software training, etc.) The maintenance performed by the user. (removing spyware, keeping things organized, doing backups, etc.) Each of these areas deserves their own post or … [Read more...] about When to Buy a Faster Computer
Tuesday’s Tip: Make it Easy to Exercise
I know very few people who feel they exercise enough. Everyone knows that they should spend more time exercising but very few people do. However if you look at where they put their exercise equipment, it is no wonder they don't exercise. Buying an exercise bike and sticking it in the corner of your basement is going to make it hard for you to want to actually go down and exercise.I think the ideal setup for exercise is to have your exercise equipment tied into your television, so the TV doesn't work unless the exercise equipment is being used. Better yet, if the exercise equipment had a generator on it, so you had to pedal in order to produce the necessary electricity. You can get … [Read more...] about Tuesday’s Tip: Make it Easy to Exercise
Productive Blogging Posts
The last seven weeks we have been doing a series of Productive Blogging. Here are links to each of the posts. How did this go? Was it useful? Should I only stick to non-blogging topics in the future? The Distribution of Inspiration - Understanding how inspiration is distributed is crucial in maintain a regular posting schedule. Pace yourself and don't get discouraged when your mind is blank, but plan ahead when you have plenty of ideas. Make a Top 100 Tips List - This is a simple method to make sure that you always have a ready supply of ideas for creating posts. Create a Series - Creating a series can be a great way to spread out a larger post into smaller bite sized sections of … [Read more...] about Productive Blogging Posts
5 Low Tech Things That Make My Life Easier
I like simple things that save me time or make my life easier. I've compiled a list of 5 simple items I use on a regular basis that make things just a little bit easier. Self inking stamp - It is a simple thing, but having a self inking stamp for signing checks and putting return addresses on envelopes is a huge time saver. They don't have to cost a lot of money, but I would suggest avoiding the ultra cheap ones (less than $10). I started out with the cheapest I could find and it eventually fell apart. My second one was still under $20, but much better constructed. Smart Wallet - I recently replaced my wallet with this money clip. It holds bills and 4 credit cards. I've been very happy … [Read more...] about 5 Low Tech Things That Make My Life Easier
Productive Blogger: Getting Unstuck
Everyone gets stuck. Productive bloggers know how trigger ideas for great new posts. Here are some methods I use for generating new ideas: Skim a Book on Your Topic - An hour in your public library with a pencil and notebook can easily produce enough ideas for several weeks of posts. Use Someone Else's List - Find another list on your topic. Link back to the original to give them credit and add your commentary to the list items you feel are important. This way you use their list as a springboard, but it is primarily your content. Make sure you give them proper credit and are actually adding value. Link Out - Gather a bunch of links to great posts on a particular topic and use them … [Read more...] about Productive Blogger: Getting Unstuck
Productive Space
I am fascinated with the idea of very small, but well designed living spaces. My favorite part of IKEA stores is walking through the small living areas that they have set up and looking at how they used the space so efficiently. I ran across an interesting site where a builder is making very small houses ranging from 40 sq. ft. to 700 sq. ft. While I enjoy large homes, I've found 30 to 40% of most places isn't really used. It would be interesting to live in a place that was designed just around the types of space I needed instead of just matching a standard floor plan. The usefulness of a house is much more related to how well it is designed than its actual floor area. My wife and I … [Read more...] about Productive Space
Tuesday’s Tip: Dry Erase Marker
Dry erase markers are wonderful inventions. Not only can you use them to write on the special dry erase boards, but they also work well on glass. You can use this to leave notes in some pretty interesting places. For example, you can write notes on your bathroom mirror where you will be sure to see it in the morning. The window in your office can also serve as a nice impromptu whiteboard. I have a large desk made from a thick sheet of glass over a frame, so I can use dry erase markers to write directly on my desktop. Obviously, having everything you write in a neat wooden framed whiteboard is less messy and looks more organized, but sometimes doing something out of the ordinary is … [Read more...] about Tuesday’s Tip: Dry Erase Marker
Productive Blogger: One Post Per Week Autopilot
To keep your blog from looking dead, you really should have at least one post per week. Any less and it is difficult for someone to justify coming back again. Since you know you need at least one post per week, why not do these ahead of time. Sit down one weekend and write one post per week for the rest of the year. They need to be well written, but not necessarily long or earth shattering. Pick a Day - Always publish these posts on a particular day. For example at Productivity501, we do a quick tip every Tuesday. This helps people come to expect that at a very minimum they can find new content on that day of the week. Include the Day Name in the Post - Calling your post … [Read more...] about Productive Blogger: One Post Per Week Autopilot
Paperless Office – The Components
I've been doing a lot of planning as part of my Paperless Office Experiment. The comments on my first post have been very helpful in guiding me in the right direction. If you have any suggestions or experiences, please share them. The biggest portion of my planning has been in trying to identify the components necessary to make a paperless office workable. Simply adding a scanner won't make you paperless. You have to have a system that works together as a whole not just a few random pieces of technology. Here are the components I've identified as being necessary so far. I'd be interested in any input on things I may have overlooked. Scanner Most people start with a scanner when … [Read more...] about Paperless Office – The Components
Setup Your Email to Look Professional
Taking a little time to think about how your email looks from the standpoint of the recipient can go a long ways toward presenting a professional image. Here are eight things you should check to make sure, that when you send an email, it conveys the image you want. Setting Up Your Name to Show up Instead of Your Address - When you send an email, it should show your name in the "from" field. Sometimes people have it set to just show their email address. The worst setup is when it shows something like "NA." This is an example of how your emails should not look to someone else: This is an example of how the" to" field should appear when someone receives your message: Include Your … [Read more...] about Setup Your Email to Look Professional
Paperless Office Experiment
I've talked before about how the paperless office is still a dream. As I look around my desk right now, I have stacks of paper requiring my attention in various places. We are halfway through 2007. Seriously, weren't we supposed to have flying cars and robots to do the dishes and fold the clothes by now? A paperless office seems like it should be normal by now, but it isn't. One of the things that has hindered the adoption of paperless technologies is the fact that they concentrate on the "paperless office" instead of focusing on a "paperless workflow". For example, if I have a paperless office that requires printing out incoming documents, signing them and then scanning them back in … [Read more...] about Paperless Office Experiment
Contest Winner Announced
We've been running an iPod giveaway contest for awhile and we now have a winner to announce. Mr. Chee Wee Ng from the Bet Shop Boy blog, was assigned to the number selected randomly using www.random.org. Thanks to everyone who participated. We'll probably be doing some more giveaways here in the near future. … [Read more...] about Contest Winner Announced
Tuesday’s Tip: Ziplock Bags for Wires
When we were moving down to Mexico in October, I had several miles worth of various cables that I needed to take with me. Network cables, audio cables, USB cables, adapters for various devices, etc. At that point I just had them all thrown into a box and it looked like a huge rats nest. I got to thinking about how it might look to a custom's officer and decided I needed something that looked a little less disorganized. My first idea was to wrap everything up with twist ties, but we didn't have any. So I eventually settled on using Ziplock sandwich bags. It turned out that this worked even better than the ties because it keeps the cables separate so they can't … [Read more...] about Tuesday’s Tip: Ziplock Bags for Wires
Productive Blogger: Starting Slow
One mistake I see new bloggers make is to start off by writing 20 posts all in the first week. Write as much as you can, but don't post all at once. Here is why. When you start of you will not have any readers. If you spread your great posts out over time, you have a better chance of people actually seeing your content. Obviously you can't decide not to post anything until you have a bunch of readers, but unless your posts are time sensitive, don't try to post 5 times a day when you have only 3 people subscribed. A better approach is to post once every two weeks for the first month or so, just to get your blog established and indexed in the search engines. Then start posting every … [Read more...] about Productive Blogger: Starting Slow
Advice for a New Professional
Congratulations to Legal Andrew on completing the bar exam. In this post he asks about advice for a new professional. Below are my thoughts. If you have any further suggestions for Andrew, please add them to the comments here or on his original post. 1. Live Beneath Your Means Your first year as a wage earner will really set the tone for how you spend money. Making a conscious decision to live below your means establishes a habit that will give you flexibility in the future. If you can afford a $1200 apartment, look for ones in the $800 range. When I started out after college, I tried to live on 20% of my income. Later on this gave me a great deal of flexibility that allowed me to … [Read more...] about Advice for a New Professional
Tuesday’s Tip: List of Important Numbers
Before my wife and I went to Mexico last October, we made a list of all the important numbers in our lives. We had credit card numbers, telephone numbers for credit card companies, passport numbers, bank account numbers, insurance policies, retirement accounts, drivers license numbers, online banking passwords etc. We wrote these all up on the computer, printed out a single copy and deleted the computer file. We then gave it to my parents to keep in a safety deposit box. If anything were to happen to one of us or if our wallets were stolen, there is a single place we can go to get all the important numbers we need. This took us a very small amount of time to put together, but if our … [Read more...] about Tuesday’s Tip: List of Important Numbers
Productive Blogger: Create a Series
Some topics are too large to be a single post. As you write a post ask yourself if you need to step back and deal with other related subjects as well. If so, then you might have a good candidate for a series. The best way to write a series is to start with your recap post. This is the post where you link back to all the posts in the series so people can find them all from one place. Write this post first and list the different posts that make up the series--even though you haven't written them yet. Then take this list and write a post for each item. Sometimes it is easiest to do this in a text editor so you can see all of the posts at once. This lets you jump back and forth if you … [Read more...] about Productive Blogger: Create a Series
Tuesday’s Tip: Handwritten Notes
The world we live in is so based around electronic communication that taking the time to do something the old fashion way can really make you stand out from the crowd. Following up meeting a new business contact with a short note in your own handwriting can form a lasting impression that would be difficult to achieve with email. If you've become too dependent on email's spell check, go ahead and write your message on the computer before copying it to your note. It may seem silly to do this, but if it lets you better compose your thoughts and makes you look professional, it is well worth the effort. … [Read more...] about Tuesday’s Tip: Handwritten Notes
Productive Blogger: Make a Top 100 List
Every blogger eventually feels like they have run out of ideas. To help counter this, you need to have a repository of ideas ready to go. I suggest trying to write a list of 100 tips. You may not ever publish this list, but having it gives you a place to store those little ideas as they come to you. More importantly it gives you a place to go when you need inspiration. I use this method for Productivity501. When I have some time to write, but none of my ideas seem good, I'll browse through my list and usually I'll find something that clicks. This idea is very similar to the post about inspiration not being evenly distributed. You have to capture inspiration when it comes to use when it is … [Read more...] about Productive Blogger: Make a Top 100 List