Posts Tagged ‘lifehacks’

Five Things to Pack for Travel

I’m on my way to Stockholm, Sweden to organize PodCamp Europe, and I’m a little anxious as I’ve never traveled outside of North America before. Within my country, I’ve put on thousands and thousands of miles over the last several months, and I’ve come to realize there’s a few things I want to take with me every time I head out for a trip. Here’s my plan: I’ll tell… » Continue

June 9 2007 | By Chris | Tagged: businesslife, hacks, lifehacks, Productivity, travel | 51 comments»

Why We Should Put an End to “Hamburger Management”

Hamburger Management is a shoddy, debased version of real leadership that focuses on just three things: whatever demands least, can be used fastest, and costs least. It thrives wherever organizations seek to meet unrealistic targets with insufficient resources to maximize short-term profits. Indeed, Hamburger Management is short-term by nature, and will habitually sacrifice long-term advantage and value for the immediate gratification of bosses and investors.

To force people to work long… » Continue

November 6 2006 | By Adrian | Tagged: accomplishment, anxiety, business-ethics, change, civilized-work, competition, creativity, effectiveness, Hamburger-Management, innovation, leadership, lifehacks, Management, manager, micro-management, organization, slow-leadership, strategy, stress, trust, value, work-life, work/life-balance, worklife, workplace | 3 comments»

The Myth of Productivity Advice

I’ve got Jeffrey Gitomer on the brain, as I’m reading his LITTLE RED BOOK OF SELLING. In one part, he says that lessons on time management are pretty much a waste of time. It’s provocative, sure, but is he right?

Becoming more productive and learning to master the ways in which you spend time are skills, certainly, and can be taught by others, without question… » Continue

June 18 2006 | By Chris | Tagged: 7habits, development, gtd, hacks, lifehacks, Productivity, self-improvement, time, timemanagement, tips | 11 comments»

Budget Vacation Hacks

Here are a few hacks and tips for getting yourself ready for vacations. Some deal with money. Others deal with planning. They all hopefully add up to ways you might get more fun and comfort out of your next vacation:

Save Change and Coffee Money- Make it a project to raise jars of money for vacations. One trick is to always pocket your change from purchases and only buy using bills

» Continue

June 18 2006 | By Chris | Tagged: budget, expense, hacks, holiday, lifehacks, Lifestyle, morewithless, tips, travel, vacation | 3 comments»

Tales of a Simple, Frugal Life

Ronsan had a goal.
When I was in my early 50s, I began to question the lifestyle my husband and I were living. I longed for a simpler lifestyle: I knew I wanted less stress, I knew I was tired of working for someone else, and I felt there had to be a way to achieve my goal of quitting the corporate world for good. Quitting was going to be easy… » Continue

June 11 2006 | By Chris | Tagged: frugal, hack, lifehacks, Lifestyle, simplicity | no comments»

The Moleskine Social Network

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 black book that I always carry with me. I can’t help it! I love learning… » Continue

May 30 2006 | By Chris | Tagged: conversation, hacks, Lifehack, lifehacks, moleskine, networks, social, stewe+boyd | 2 comments»

Get STUFF Out of Your House

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.

Old clothes- You’re saving clothes that fit five years ago for when you drop that

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May 30 2006 | By Chris | Tagged: cleaning, clutter, hacks, Lifehack, lifehacks, organization | 9 comments»

Summer Reading

Reg at Elemental Truths (a blog worth adding to your daily RSS feed) has posted a great piece on strategically reading a room. His ideas are life hacks in their purest: how to change the way you navigate life to your advantage. He lists ten areas where “reading” a person come into play:

Body movements indicating interest.
Body movements indicating that a person is more open to agree with you.
How to know

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May 29 2006 | By Chris | Tagged: anthropology, bodylanguage, Communication, hacks, lifehacks | 1 comment»

Conversations About Passion

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 great person to talk with at a party.

Passion Rules

My number one trick for… » Continue

May 24 2006 | By Chris | Tagged: Communication, conversation, Lifehack, lifehacks | 9 comments»

Service Hack: The Name Game

You want an easy hack? Whenever you’re dealing with someone, especially in the service industry, use their name.

When meeting your server at the restaurant, remember his name, and when you ask for things, say it back. “James, may I get another glass of water with lemon?” “Ramesh, this is the best aloo mutter I have ever had. Please thank the cook.”

It’s amazing how this bonds people to you.

Names… » Continue

May 18 2006 | By Chris | Tagged: Communication, conversation, hacks, Lifehack, lifehacks, people, service | 4 comments»

Home Tools Hacks: The Fubar

Yes, that’s right. I said “Fubar,” and I meant it. When Stanley Tools decided to redesign the hammer, they observed construction workers for some time. It turns out construction workers don’t use hammers to drive nails. They have pneumatic guns for that. But what they do use hammers for– and to great intent– is prying things apart, knocking holes in walls, and generally breaking stuff apart.

The Fubar answers… » Continue

May 16 2006 | By Chris | Tagged: DIY, hacks, howto, Lifehack, lifehacks, tools | 4 comments»

My Best Presentation Tricks

Giving presentations can be a complete and utter thrill. Too bad attending them can be a complete and utter bore. If you are on the giving side, I want to offer you up a collection of my best presentation tricks to date. I’ve written on presentation and the storyteller’s promise before at my site. I’ve written what has oddly become my top-rated post of all time, Bring out

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May 16 2006 | By Chris | Tagged: hacks, howto, Lifehack, lifehacks, presentation, story, storytelling, tips | 55 comments»

Productivity Tools for Windows

Download Squad has a trio of software applications to help Windows users with their productivity. The first two, Taskbar Shuffle and Visual Taskbar Tips, are interesting in that they’re similar to features you use regularly in the Firefox web browser. Rearranging tabs and getting tiny visual previews of a task are browser functionality that’s now coming down to the Windows shell via these add-ons. The third, Dexpot, is a… » Continue

May 16 2006 | By Chris | Tagged: Lifehack, lifehacks, Productivity, software, windows | no comments»

Beware Too Much Process

Claire Tompkins has a different approach to getting things done. She jumps in first, and then works from there.

Try the easiest way to do something first and see if it works before you go on to something more complicated
Don’t get caught up in the process and lose track of what you’re trying to accomplish
Divide up work into chunks small enough and clear enough so that you can actually get

» Continue

May 16 2006 | By Chris | Tagged: gtd, Lifehack, lifehacks, method | 1 comment»

Travel Hack: Make Your Own Content

Summer’s coming and you might be getting ready to take a long trip, either on the road or perhaps a long flight to Grandma’s place. If you’ve got kids along for the ride, you know that keeping them occupied is a strong element of your own satisfaction with the journey itself. Here are some ideas on making your own content for the trip.

Materials