For better or for worse the Crackberry is here to stay. Once only reserved for techies, the Crackberry is now a mainstay in the corporate environment, allowing professionals to quickly access information and communicate with others on the go. They’ve become extremely popular among sales people, techies, lawyers, accountants and political assistants…

When you do something for the first time and it works, you’ve learned something useful. When you do it again, and it works again, you haven’t learned anything. All you have done is to confirm what you already knew. When you do it for the 20th time, and it still works, you’ve probably become complacent. What…

Why office politics are everywhere, yet accomplish so little of value Two years ago, I went to Colorado to watch the Prairie Chickens and Sage Grouse doing their spring dances. The males strut around, puff out their chests, and try to intimidate other males who come near them. Sometimes they start up a skirmish, running at…

Haven’t made a dime on LinkedIn? A lot of people on LinkedIn haven’t made a dime from it. Chances are you haven’t made anyone else money either. In expanding your network, the main point is to help you phone or meet someone who may be able to help you in whatever it…

There’s only one investment that’s absolutely guaranteed to give you a great payback, regardless of the state of the economy and the uncertainties of this fragile world. I’m talking about the investment you make in yourself. Think of yourself as a business Imagine you’re Jane Doe, Inc. Whether you’re self-employed or work for a giant corporation—or even…

Reading an essay from a college freshman many years ago, I came across a sentence that baffled me — it referred to “ingesting an orange.” I crossed out “ingest,” wrote “eat,” and wondered why anyone would’ve written otherwise. At the time, it didn’t occur to me that my student had very likely started with “eat,”…

Have you noticed how often people draw back from trying something new because of fear? Fear that they might not make it; fear that the outcome will not be as good as they hope that it will be; fear that change may prove that what they’ve been doing until now isn’t as good as they’ve…

If first impressions count, then you are who Google says you are. Your reputation is the first 3 pages of search engine hits. The internet and its search engines have become so powerful, available and user-friendly that your reputation is becoming defined by what the first 3 pages of yahoo or google search hits turns…

Have you ever noticed how often you say “No?” Not just to things that merit refusal, but to fresh ideas, new possibilities and the chance to make unexpected discoveries? Whenever you say “No” to life, you miss an opportunity: to discover something new, to try something you haven’t tried before, to learn and grow, to…

All the world’s a stage, and we but players on it… I moonlight as a stage manager for local theatre productions in my town, and most recently I oversaw the production of the “47th Annual Madfest”, a juggling variety show. Acts come in from all over the world to the festival, and in the space…

As a new guest author to lifehack.org and an experienced productivity consultant I would like to start by naming and dispelling common productivity and organizing myths. This series will be posted each Wednesday until we cover the top 10. Myth: Some people are born with an organizing gene or are natural organizers and others will never…

Let’s play a game. It’s New You against …. Yesterday You. New You and Yesterday You each get 100 marbles to play with. Each marble represents one unit of time, attention, effort, and energy. The object of this game is to come closest to achieving the ambitious, long-term vision that New You and Yesterday…

Your best friend loves playing baseball. He’s good at it and looks likely to make it to near-professional level one day. You’re a total klutz at the game. You don’t enjoy it, but you keep trying because your friend is so keen. He does his best to help you, but however hard you try, you…

Over time, we all gather a set of constricting habits around us—ones that trap us in a zone of supposed comfort, well below what our potential would allow us to attain. Pretty soon, such habits slip below the level of our consciousness, but they still determine what we think that we can and cannot do—and…

When I’m reading a student’s essay and see a significant writing problem, I’ll often write this sentence: “If you’d like some help, just ask.” Alas, many students are reluctant to do so. They often believe (as I know from talking with them) that they “can’t write,” that they’re “no good” at writing. They make that…