You’re meeting with more people, and having more phone and IM conversations with clients, and the information is getting harder to manage, especially the simple act of remembering what it was you talked about with who. Here are 5 reasons why you should use Google Calendar to log conversations: 1.) Search-rich metadata- You can search…

A frequently asked question about my productivity is, “How do you find the time to do all that?” I often joke that I don’t sleep (and well, I don’t really sleep enough), but the truth of the matter is that I’ve spent a lot of time really examining the way I spend my time, and…

Graham English is THINKING. There must be smoke coming from between his ears, because he’s really nailed a homerun with this piece about comparing one’s goals to musical waves. This isn’t a browse-and-run article. Set aside some time. Stick it in del.icio.us under followup and reading. But really, give this a view. A wave is…

(Leon’s going to poke me for this). I haven’t gone to the forums much yet. I’ve focused on putting up front-page material, and hadn’t really taken the time to see what the Community was about. Wow! There’s lots going on there. So, imagine my surprise when someone has come to YOU asking for help. Beijaflor…

You probably haven’t re-read your copy of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People lately, but there’s a great part in Habit 5 (Seek first to understand, then to be understood) that talks about confrontations. I use that advice often, and almost always to the effect that Dr. Covey promises. Good! You See it Differently When confronted…

You have at least one Moleskine sitting around, don’t you? Aren’t they built right into the Lifehack.org action figure kits these days? Sacha Chua uses hers to keep track of people and conversations she encouters during a given day. It’s fascinating. I’m somewhat notorious for writing notes during conversations. I keep ‘minutes’ in a little…

Not unlike my earlier post, “Editing Your Life,” I’m still obsessing over the ideas of cutting to make space for things that matter. Let’s talk about that in your house. I’ll admit that there’s a recurring theme to this post: DONATE THINGS. THROW THINGS OUT. If you’re the ultimate pack rat, skip this post…

Are you tight on budget, meaning you couldn’t buy a air conditioning for this summer? Well, if you have $25 dollar and time, hack together a homemade air conditioning! Probably this is not the best design in the world – but hey, this is better than sweating! Here’s the basic setup. The garbage can is filled…

The Council of Library and Information Resources knows you want to keep your DVDs alive for a long time, while Sony and others hash out the Blu-Ray and HD-DVD issue. To that end, here’s a guide for the proper care and feeding of your collection. Archivists and librarians place great emphasis on preserving content for the…

I’ve been working with a lot of editing lately: removing dead space and clicks and “ums” from audio podcasts, clipping off the unimportant or blurry in video footage, trimming useless or hard-to-understand words out of posts and articles. It strikes me that editing is an important part of maintaining a productive and effective life. Edit…

Business 2.0 has a super-huge article on building a bulletproof startup. They cover everything one might have to consider to get your big idea from your head onto the shelves of a new store. It’s a HUGE and thought-provoking article, worthy of lots of time and attention. I highly recommend getting out to the magazine…

Michael over at PigPog has gone deep dive with a project on Getting Things Done using the Emacs text editor (which is available for all computer platforms). It’s pretty intense stuff if you’re not already a user of Emacs, and he points that out. But we serve all types here, right? You might be…

Are you a bit awkward when talking with new people? Do you find yourself the person at the party checking out the bookshelf? Maybe you’re great in certain contexts but not in others. I have a few ideas on opening up conversations that will flow fairly well, and will make you come off as a…

DIYHappy has a neat little do-it-yourself mosquito trap. There’ve been posts for yellowjackets, but hey: mosquitos will give you all kinds of neat diseases these days. I’d rather depopulate some of insect-kind’s little plague-carriers than yellowjackets, who are normally just out for sweet things. The mosquito trap directions are very visual, and there’s Chinese characters…

Gretchen Rubin wants you to be happy, and she knows that you want to get the most out of life, you need regular exercise. She has a lot of tips on sticking with your program. Exercise helps make you happy. People who exercise are healthier, more energetic, think more clearly, sleep better, and have delayed…