Misc

We've previously mentioned the benefits of working from home, but this won't work for everyone.  An alternative is to only work one 40 hour shift each week.  So if you come in to work Monday at 7am and work until 11pm Tuesday night you will have worked just as much as your co-workers who come in for 8 hours 5 days a week..  The benefits are huge.  Just think, you could drive to work just one day per week. If your boss seem reluctant to let you do this, just point out the benefits of being able to really focus in for a whole 40 hours instead of interrupting things every 8 hours to go home and come back. … [Read more...] about 40 Hour Work Day

Previously we did a series of 5 posts called the Most for Your Minute on time management issues. Here are links to each of the five posts along with their titles. Time is an Investment The Order of Tasks Invest in Technology Simplicity Organization FYI: You can get Productivity501 fed directly into Google Reader and Desktop here: … [Read more...] about The Most for your Minute Posts

The March April edition of The Futurist has a short interview with John Robinson.  John has been studying how people spend their time for many years and was one of the pioneers of keeping time journals to help measure where your time is being spent. One of the things that seems to be changing the most is the way people are multi-tasking.  It is making the ability to track where people are spending their time much more difficult.  Beyond just making his job more difficult, he is concerned that multi-tasking is training people to be unable to concentrate on a single task in ways that are unhealthy. Other researchers are noticing the same thing especially in the younger … [Read more...] about A Time Expert’s Perspective

Since we recently moved, I had a chance to revamp the way my desk was organized.  Today, it suddenly occurred to me that some of my setup made absolutely no sense at all.  I had arranged things so it would look nice, but things that needed to be in reach were too far away and things I didn't need to ever touch were close by. For example, my phone was back in a corner of my desk where I couldn't reach it.  My wireless router was within easy reach.  The thing that amazed me the most is how long it took me to actually stop and think about how things were arranged. So here is a challenge for you.  Take 30 seconds and look at your desk top.  Are the things you need often within close … [Read more...] about Within Reach

The open in tabs command is a shortcut to opening multiple sites simultaneously.  This is a good technique when you want to be able to quickly open multiple sites.  I use this for opening daily news sites as well as the statistics pages for several of my servers.  This video shows how it works. Let me know what you think of the video and if you have any suggestions.  I'm still playing around with it and would appreciate any feedback. … [Read more...] about Firefox Tip: Open in Tabs

The iPod contest is providing valuable feedback on the Productivity501 website.  I wanted to share the comments we've received so far and I figured a Saturday post was a good place to do this.  If you aren't interested then skip this post as it is more about the site and less about actual productivity tips. However, if you'd like to see the debate about whether or not my photo is "creepy", read on. If you have any suggestions or comments about the suggestions below, please put them in the comments. (Or consider writing a review on your own site for a chance to win an iPod Shuffle.) John Chow thought the picture made the blog seem personable, but thought I should post more frequently. … [Read more...] about A Review of Reviews

Most people will change careers several times in their life, so it is difficult to use college to directly prepare for your career. Think of how many problems the average person has with modern technology.  Things are just so complex that to someone unfamiliar with them, it can be difficult to change your thinking.  This video illustrates a new technology being introduced.  Take a look at it below. … [Read more...] about Preparing for New Technology

Email has become a part of our daily lives.  For some people, 75% of their work time is spent just dealing with email.  Many executives have to block out hours each day, just to keep up with all the information coming into  on email.  The ease of sending email has lowered some of the barriers to communication.  On one hand this is a good thing because it promotes communication.  On the other hand it can promote unnecessary communication that results in informational noise. Here are a few select articles on dealing with email that may be useful in your quest for achieving balance with electronic mail: … [Read more...] about Links: Dealing with Email

Behance is an online magazine that targets "brilliantly productive creative professionals". Based on their work with creative professionals they have identified a three "bucket" (my term not theirs) approach to making sure you get the most from every idea. They call this their Action Method. Basically you take every idea and capture the following from it: Action Items - Things that need to be done. Backburner Items - Things that might need to be done. Reference Items - Things you need to record. Here is a graphic from their site that demonstrates the process: Lets run through an example. We could use something all business and work related, but right now I'm hungry which … [Read more...] about Behance’s Action Method Process

Productivity501 hit a milestone today.  If you look over to the right hand side of the site, you'll see that the FeedBurner subscribers is now at 1,007. So we've finally broken the 1000 subscriber mark. It will probably fluctuate, but that isn't going to keep us from celebrating! Hurray! Thank you all for visiting and subscribing.  If you have any suggestions on how Productivity501 could be better, please let me know. (By the way, don't forget about our iPod Shuffle Giveaway.  If you have a blog and are interested in winning an iPod, please consider entering.) … [Read more...] about 1000 RSS Readers

Like what you see? Click to add to Google Homepage or Reader. According to the 2003 Census report, the average commute time is 38 minutes each way for some parts of the country. That is 76 minutes each day, over 6 hours per week or 41 work days each year. If you live somewhere that has a long commute time, it is easy to see how much time is just spent driving back and forth. If you were able to eliminate the commute even one day per week, you would save over 65 hours per year. That is over 8 work days of time or equivalent to an extra 1.5 weeks of vacation. … [Read more...] about Convince Your Boss to Let you Work from Home

Here is a short video showing how to add short cut folders to your side bar in OS X.  The video shows me adding the folder ebooks and then removing the folder (it disappears in a puff of smoke). I use this to keep project files in easy reach.  Since it is simple to add and remove folder or other items, the side bar can function as a work area to keep track of things you need fast access to. One benefit of this is that the items will show up when you  do a "Save As" or "File Open" as well. This little trick saves me a tremendous amount of time because I can quickly reconfigure things for whatever I'm working on. When I'm busy with a particular client, I'll … [Read more...] about Adding Shortcut Folders in OS X

This week I was reworking the archives in response to some of the suggestions from the iPod Review Contest and ended up going through some older posts all the way back to 2005. I wanted to wrap this week up with a few links to some previous posts: Two Type of Technology Users - Also known as the myth of gadgets, this post looks at how different people approach technology. So which type are you?   Social Glass Ceiling - The people you surround yourself set a limit on how much you can accomplish. The Rat Experiment - Managing others perception can help you be more productive and effective. Investing in Exercise - Another rat experiment that showed the importance of exercise. The … [Read more...] about Previously Popular Posts

(In this series of posts, we are looking at some components of good time management.) Organization If you are disorganized, it will be very difficult to make good use of your time.  When you can't find important items, it is easy to spend 15, 30 or 60 minutes each day just looking for stuff. When you have a "place for everything and everything in its place" you can focus on your actual work and not just managing your "things". When I was in college, I asked my grandmother to make me a patchwork quilt and matching pillow case for my dorm room bed.  I liked it a lot and it gave my room a distinct look and made it trendy in a way that only dorm rooms can be. … [Read more...] about The Most for your Minute

I spoke to two community college classes this morning about technology and the internet.  I took a quick poll and was amazed at how few of them had ever bought or sold anything on eBay.  It isn't like eBay is some new tool, but most of them had never used it. … [Read more...] about Experiment with Online Tools

(In this series of posts, we are looking at ways to better manage time). Simplicity Complexity is the nemesis of productivity.  One of the fastest ways to gain time is to reduce the complexity in your life. Sometimes this means trimming functionality to the things you actually need to do instead of trying to do everything.  For example: Rather than invest a bunch of time and effort in setting up our home theater to show broadcast television, the VCR, game console, etc. I just set it up to play DVDs.  We could move some wires around to watch something else, but since that only happened 2 or 3 times a year, the simplicity of having one remote was well worth it. … [Read more...] about The Most for your Minute

In this series we are looking at different ways to manage our time or to "Make the Most of Each Minute". Invest in Technology Technology has an incredible potential for helping you make the most of your time. It wasn't that long ago that getting information took weeks because you had to call a company or write a letter and then wait for it to arrive in the mail.  Now you can get most common information online quickly and easily. … [Read more...] about The Most for Your Minute

For the past 6 months, my wife and I haven't had our own place.  We've been all over the US and Mexico staying with friends, relatives, and in hotels. It has been an interesting experience and I've developed a few practices that help me be the most productive while working out of a suitcase. Obviously you would want to tailor these for your own line of work, but hopefully everyone can find at least a few tips that are helpful. Work Bag - For me, this is my laptop bag.  Almost everything I need to work goes in the bag.  If I am approaching a deadline, I can stop anywhere with internet access and get right to work without needing to pull things from several suitcases. If you do a lot of … [Read more...] about Working from a Suitcase

The last two lists of academic podcast lectures were quite popular, so I've created an updated list for this semester.  Universities are starting to limit podcasts to registered students and some have given up on podcasting.  As a result our list is shorter than last semester.  However, there are still over 60 classes publishing public RSS feeds--most people should be able to find something interesting for their daily commute. The list only contains actual courses.  Many universities have distinguished speaker podcasts that are intentionally not included in this list.  If you are aware of other podcasts of current courses please add them to the comments.  … [Read more...] about Free Academic Podcast Lectures (Spring 2007)

We got a Yorky puppy about 5 years ago. We had resolved that she would be a very well trained animal, etc. etc. She isn't. She is sweet and we love her, but she is spoiled and thinks she is a person. However there was one thing we did that was turned out wonderfully and made our lives much easier. When we first got her, we bought a small bell and hung it from the door in our apartment where she could reach it with her nose. Every time we took her outside, we'd ring the bell with her nose. She learned to ring the bell when she wants to go out and this has proved to be even more convenient than we thought it would be. Whenever we travel, we can just take the bell with us and hang … [Read more...] about Tuesday’s Tip: A Bell for Your Dog

This week we reached the 250 mark for email subscribers and randomly selected one individual to receive an iPod Shuffle engraved with www.productivity501.com on the back. The winner was Conrad Zhuang and he should be getting his iPod in the next week or so. Thanks to everyone who entered the contest.  If  you subscribed just for the contest, feel free to unsubscribe now. :)  In the coming months we'll probably do another contest to encourage people to subscribe to the RSS feeds.  If you have any suggestions of something that would make a good giveaway and would cost less than $100 please leave them in the comments. As a side note, I want to mention another 501 site: … [Read more...] about We Have a Winner!

Take a few minutes to reflect on what you've read over the past year.  Now assume 2007 will consist of a similar "intellectual diet".  Will you feel like you've adequately invested in yourself at the end of 2007? If you feel that you'll be pleased with your personal growth in 2007 based on this exercise then you are in good shape.  You already place an adequate emphasis on your personal development. However, for me, this shows how much I fall short of my ideal personal investment. Our health is determined by what we eat on a daily basis.  It doesn't really matter what we do as part of a 1 week diet.  Our intellectual health is determined by what we do … [Read more...] about Intellectual Diet

Just a quick note to let you know the status of our iPod Shuffle giveaway.  The contest is an unashamed self promotional strategy to get  you the reader to sign up to get new Productivity501 posts directly into your email inbox. The contest is still running.  We weren't able to hit our goal of 250 email subscribers by Christmas, but we are very close.  We need another 25 subscribers to get to our goal of 250 subscribers to our email list. If you haven't signed up already, you can use the form on the right hand side of the page to enter.  If you've already entered, you can help by encouraging your friends to sign up.  The sooner we get 250 users the sooner … [Read more...] about Contest Update

We'll we didn't make it to the 250 mark for subscribers to our email updates.  We made it about half way. As I promised, we are going to slightly change the contest in order to give away the iPod Shuffle.  I really want to give away an iPod. So instead of giving it away to the 250th person, we'll randomly draw a subscribers name once we hit 250. That way people who subscribed early on aren't penalized. However instead of giving everyone the same chance, we are going to weight things toward the earliest subscribers.  So the 10th person to subscribe has more chances of winning than the 250th person to subscribe. This provides an incentive for people to sign up sooner than … [Read more...] about Contest – Not Quite There

Since we've nearly doubled our audience in the past few weeks, I wanted to post some links to some older content that has been popular in the past.  If you enjoy reading this site, I'd encourage you to refer a friend.  A great way to invite someone is to let them know about our current iPod Shuffle giveaway. Here are links to some of the more popular articles from this site over the past year: … [Read more...] about Past Favorites

Edit: Since we didn't have a winner the contest has been revised slightly because we really want to give away an iPod! Another recent feature of Productive Strategies is the ability to get new posts once a day as an email.  The email list is managed by FeedBurner.  To subscribe just add your email address to the form on the right hand column of the blog. See it over there?  Just fill in your email address and you'll be signed up so you'll never miss a new post here. So you're still reading this?  Why aren't you over on the side panel filling in your email address? Ok well maybe you need a little more incentive to type your email address into that little box. What … [Read more...] about Subscription Contest

The list of podcast lectures has generated quite a bit of traffic to this site.  I've spent quite a bit of time listing to audio lectures and taking other forms of distance education from various universities.  It can be challenging to keep focused on difficult topics, when you don't have the visual input from actually being in a classroom. Personally I prefer to be in a classroom, but at some point in life, having a job and earning a living starts becoming a bigger priority.  Audio lectures can be a huge advantage for those of us who can't attend school full time. Here are seven tips that help me keep my mind engaged to get the most out of audio only lectures: Decide what you want to … [Read more...] about Getting the Most out of Podcast Lectures

About a year ago, I put together a listing 30 or 40 free podcasts of lectures from Universities. When I started putting together another list, I was amazed at how many more lectures are available. The lectures in this list are all free and don't require any type of authentication--you don't have to be a student to download them. The links are to the rss feed of class lectures. If you copy the URL and in iTunes click on Advanced > Subscribe to Podcast it will automatically download the lectures and new ones as they become available. I was hoping to find the Physics of Superheros in the list or a Pottery lecture. Maybe next year.  Also be sure to checkout our study tips for students … [Read more...] about Free Academic Podcasts

Congratulations to Barrett in Indiana on wining the Effective Executive book contest! We didn't have as many entries as I was expecting (considering we have about 100 people check the site every day in their RSS readers).  All in all that says something about the audience of this site.  I think most people who are interested in a blog about how to be productive, don't have time to add something else to their reading list. I guess we might do better with a contest that gives the winner an extra 30 minutes of free time. :)  We'll probably do some more contests in the future that are targeted at people who already have a full reading list. … [Read more...] about Contest Winner

For quite awhile I've been meaning to run a contest giving away a book on being effective and productive.  So here it is, we are giving away a copy of The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker.  This book talks about how to be effective as an executive.  Drucker defines executive as someone who is responsible for their contribution.  Even if you aren't officially an executive at work, the fact that you are reading a blog on productivity means you do take responsibility for what you accomplish.  The book talks about the need to focus on doing the right things.  I found it to be very insightful and I've given away several copies to friends already. Ok for the … [Read more...] about Contest: The Effective Executive Book

Today I was skimming an article on LifeHack.org that referenced another article.  The quote made some good points, but it seemed vaguely familiar.  On a closer reading I realized that it was a link to and quote from my article from this site about making decisions ahead of time. Reading it in this way gave me a fresh perspective and some other ideas on how to make decisions in advance. … [Read more...] about Decisions in Advance take two

Productivity501 is a site dedicated to bringing you regular tips and tricks to help increase your personal productivity. This site focuses on original content, so the publication schedule is a little slower than other blogs out there.  Generally we try to have at least one new article each week, but the focus is on posting when we have something that will benefit our readers. Author: Mark W. Shead - I work as a consultant using technology to solve business problems.  This blog is a place where I can share ideas that help me be more effective in my practice that (hopefully) will be useful to others as well. Most of my formal education has been in music composition and software … [Read more...] about About

I got a Blackberry cell phone the other day, thinking that it would help me move to new levels of being super productive.  So far, it has done the exact opposite.  The device pretty much works as expected, but at least so far it hasn't made me any more productive.  In fact, I feel that my 7100t Blackberry has made me less productive. First of all, there is the set up time.  I've spent 2 to 4 hours just getting it configured with my email accounts, setting up the service with T-Mobile and learning how it works.  While this doesn't seem like a whole lot of time, it seems like quite an investment for what the Blackberry can save me.  If the device saves me 2 minutes each day, it will take me … [Read more...] about Tools that Waste Productivity

This list has been updated for 2006. Here is the new list of academic podcasts you can listen to for free. I discovered early on that an iPod or MP3 player full of good spoken audio content went a long way toward keeping me productive when traveling, doing yard work, exercising, etc, but the charges from audible.com and buying CDs adds up quickly. Podcasts can automate the process of getting content and lower the cost, but much of the content available has more in common with radio entertainment than a well written book. Several universities are making lectures available as Podcasts. Not every class is work well on an iPod, but the content is much more directed toward people who want to … [Read more...] about List of Academic Lecture Podcasts

YackPack is a tool to communicate with people in your "circle". It lets you click on someone and record a message for them to hear when they next log on. The founder has a PhD. in Physicology and the product was built as a solution to the disconnect that happens when groups communicate exclusively by email. Currently the product is free in its beta form. ActiveWords helps cut down on the time it takes to accomplish work with your PC. It allows you to type in a single word and push a button to do something. For example, you can type in "word" and push F8 to launch Microsoft Word. In some ways it brings the speed of working at a command line back to the computer. It also has the … [Read more...] about Some New Tools

SubEthaEdit is a tool that allows several people to take notes simultaneously in the same document.  While it doesn't work in every situation, it can be a surprisingly good way to capture everyone's point of view quickly and without interrupting the flow of the meeting. The example above shows SubEthaEdit being used to write a program with multiple people contributing at the same time.  Each person's changes show up in their color and you can see the changes they are making in real time. SubEthaEdit is designed to create plain text files, so you can't do any fancy formatting, but for large groups of people, this helps keep the documents consistent.  The newest version allows you to … [Read more...] about Collaborative Note Taking – SubEthaEdit

This is is a roundup of some of the useful articles and tools I've run across in the past few weeks. Checkout the sidebar for other links on Productivity and Organization as well. Kinkless is an OmniOutliner document that lets you manage things using the "Getting Things Done" methodology. PocketMod offers an easy way to print your own personalized organizer. LifeHacks has a great post on how to clean almost everything and once it's clean you can follow Real Simple's plan to keep it clean with only 19 minutes of work per day. Some tips on using Tracks and a molskine notebook to create a system based on "Getting Things Done." A good article on how to write an effective todo list from 43 … [Read more...] about Links and Tools Roundup