Archive for April, 2007

Do You Need A Collaborator, or a Schemer?

David Seah writes probably one of my favorite articles in a while, the difference between Collaboration and Scheming.Being a Schemer at heart, it's nice to read an objective comparison between the two and what the difference boils down to. According to Seah, it's an 'emotional vs rational duality'. So what does one expect from a good “co-schemer”?

A co-schemer buys into your idea completely, because it’s their idea too.
A

April 30 2007 | By Craig | Tagged: collaboration, team, teams, teamwork | no comments»

Good Looking Labels in Thunderbird

Recently upgraded to version 2, Thunderbird's already a good looking email client, versatile at that. With the Stylish CSS extension and this code from TwisterMC you can make Thunderbird's labels really stand out.

It's a simple change that really makes a difference.Make Thunderbird’s Labels Stand Out - [TwisterMC] Via - [HawkWings]Stylish Extension - [Mozilla]… Continue reading

April 30 2007 | By Craig | Tagged: email, mozilla, thunderbird | 1 comment»

Productivity Tools: Paper or Plastic?

LifeDev's Productivity Tools section has a series of articles on the benefits of both paper tools for productivity against their digital counterparts and which you should use. The underlying solution is that they aren't counterparts at all but, instead, should be used in conjunction with each other.

Paper for creativity.
Digital for collaboration and archiving.

We think we’ve found it. This series shows the best features of both paper and digital tools, and… Continue reading

April 30 2007 | By Craig | Tagged: digital, paper, Productivity, tools | 1 comment»

The Gentle Art of Saying No

It's a simple fact that you can never be productive if you take on too many commitments -- you simply spread yourself too thin and will not be able to get anything done, at least not well or on time.But requests for your time are coming in all the time -- through phone, email, IM or in person. To stay productive, and minimize stress, you have to learn the… Continue reading

April 30 2007 | By Leo | Tagged: Communication, Productivity, simplicity | 60 comments»

27 Personal Finance Tips for Overseas Travel

Jimmy Atkinson at Ask the Advisor sent me a note on his recent article on personal finance tips for oversea travel. As I have just back from a long trip, I understand getting everything ready, especially safety and financial prepared, are extremely important. He suggested 27 tips around safety, health, and financial issues:

Make two photocopies of any important papers.
Travel light (clothing-wise) and forget the bling.
Find answers to your questions

April 30 2007 | By Leon | Tagged: finance, oversea, travel | 6 comments»

Hiring Brilliant People

As a manager, hiring is not hard, but hiring right people is one of the hardest components in management. Interview plays a major factor on getting great people on-board. BNET has a feature section called Now Hiring: Brilliant People with a quick how-to, some example questions that you must ask, and ten mistakes interview make during job interviews. The article about ten mistakes is extremely important to avoid during the… Continue reading

April 30 2007 | By Leon | Tagged: hiring, Management | no comments»

Handling the bad stuff

Many people are having a bad time in organizations today. It’s not simply those experiencing budget cuts and lay-offs. Many others are experiencing a deep sense of hurt and loss: loss of much of a life outside of work, loss of their hopes and expectations, loss of their trust in the future, loss of confidence in reaching their career goals. The cruelest hurt is the collective loss of belief that… Continue reading

April 30 2007 | By Guest | Tagged: attitude, failure, obstacle, work | 4 comments»

Hangover = Negotiation Gold

Negotiations are funny and I'll always take any advice regarding the subject. Add the idea that it may be better to drink the night before a big negotiation, and I'm all ears.Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten recalls a situation where his lawyer suggested this theory: The unpleasant physical effects following the heavy use of alcohol actually work to your advantage during a tough negotiation. Seemingly uninterested you will be slouched in… Continue reading

April 27 2007 | By Craig | Tagged: alcohol, drink, negotiation | 9 comments»

How to Give a Killer Evaluation

Ever gone into a performance review, had to deliver a speech or make a sales pitch and become more concerned about what the reviewer was going to say or write than what was in the presentation? It can be like going to the dentist for a root canal. This is a tough area, but it can be even more difficult for whoever is doing the evaluation.A badly… Continue reading

April 27 2007 | By Tatsuya | Tagged: Communication, evaluation, Management, performance, presentation, review | 11 comments»

Keybreeze – Window’s Quicksilver?

A Lifehack commenter recently put me onto Keybreeze, a windows command line much like the hyped Quicksilver app for Mac.I've been trying out similar apps and have had issues with most that we covered in Alternatives to Quicksilver post. Keybreeze, however, appears to handle a lot of queries, all in a very small package. Here's the feature list: Keybreeze can do more than just opening files… Continue reading

April 27 2007 | By Craig | Tagged: keystrokes, software | 5 comments»

How To Beat A Traffic Ticket

Whether you see it as government funding, abuse of authority or protecting the driving public, no one likes paying a speeding ticket. Particularly when you're seriously just over the limit.In any case, it turns out you can get away with not paying traffic fines most of the time. Alex Carroll, author of "Beat the Cops: the Guide to Fighting Your Traffic Ticket and Winning," has beaten 8 out of… Continue reading

April 27 2007 | By Craig | Tagged: drive, driving, law | 6 comments»

Create Your Best Life at Work with One Question

On ManagingWithAloha.com we have been talking about the Hawaiian value of ‘Imi ola this month; it means to create your best possible life. Let’s consider this; How do you accomplish ‘Imi ola while you are at work?

The biggest bang for the buck strategy is to choose the right work to begin with. There is a lot of basic common sense in the notion that you’ll never toil at… Continue reading

April 26 2007 | By Rosa | Tagged: ‘Imi-ola, bests, work, worklife | 6 comments»

How Room Color Affects Your Mood

Ever feel more creative in a yellow room? I worked in a building that had big, bright yellow wall to encourage creativity. Apparently that's what the color yellow does. People are more likely to lose their tempers in a yellow room. Babies also seem to cry more in a yellow room. This color tends to create feeling of frustration and anger in people. This color is the most fatiguing on… Continue reading

April 26 2007 | By Craig | Tagged: color, emotion, environment, environments, painting | no comments»

Organize Your Documents Online

If you're one to work away from home and like things accessible while mobile, you've already changed to an email client like Gmail, and are on your way to creating a completely online office.Filing and organizing paper documents is a chore and takes up space so you may be digitizing them already via your scanner. This way any documents you receive online don't have to be printed off; although… Continue reading

April 26 2007 | By Craig | Tagged: document, file, online, organization | 5 comments»

To BCC or Not BCC: Email Etiquette

I have been surprised the number of people and contacts who are completely unaware of the differences between the To: CC: and BCC: fields when addressing emails. Understandably, it's not really common knowledge.There is a little bit of documentation around regarding these fields, but none are all that clear, in my view.To:Add contacts who you are directly communicating with. There is nothing wrong with a list of emails, as… Continue reading

April 25 2007 | By Craig | Tagged: contact, email | 22 comments»

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