Archive for the ‘Communication’ Category

10 Tips for Would-Be Podcasters

I started podcasting four months ago when I launched the first episode of Lifehack Live as part of Lifehack.org’s podcast series. Although I’d been listening to podcasts for a couple of years already, and had some experience behind the deck in a recording studio (granted, it was 14 years ago), I really had no idea how to produce a podcast that people would want to listen to. (Some… » Continue

April 25 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: podcasting, recording, scheduling, tip | 11 comments»

10 Ways to Pimp Your Blog

A couple months ago, I wrote a newbie’s guide to blogging to help you get started with blogging. If you’ve been blogging for a little while now, you might be looking at how you can take the next step. To that end, this post offers 10 ways to “pimp” your blog, both in the sense of “tricking out” your blog to make it more attractive and more useful… » Continue

April 23 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: blog, blogging, Communication, community, marketing, promotion | 28 comments»

Handwriting: A Skill For A Digital Age

It seems like those of us who spend most of our day at a computer are slowly losing those handwriting skills our elementary school teachers spent years drilling into us. More than anything else, it’s a matter of disuse: many people hardly ever write anything out by hand and, if they do, it’s a quick note meant only to last until the next time they’re at a computer.

But good… » Continue

April 22 2008 | By Thursday | Tagged: handwriting, health, studying | 29 comments»

Playing Well with Others

Hell, said French existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, is other people. For all our good intentions in life, there are people who just seem to get under our skin, who go out of their way to sabotage our efforts — often without even knowing it — or to whom we just can’t relate.

At the same time, we live in a world where our ability to get along… » Continue

April 18 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: conflict resolution, idea, listening, relationship | 10 comments»

Polish Your Writing to Professionalism: Three Tips for Self-Editing

The ability to write without errors is crucial, whether you are writing for the whole world to see, or just your department. Even a few typos can make a writer look beyond unprofessional — errors imply laziness and poor presentation in much the same way that a stained shirt shows a lack of effort at a business meeting.

But, important as good spelling and grammar are, errors can slip… » Continue

April 17 2008 | By Thursday | Tagged: editing, grammar, proofreading, spelling, writing | 14 comments»

Following Email Etiquette

In Simplifying Your Information Intake, we looked at strategies to reduce the amount of email you need to deal with, and how to deal with what’s left much faster. Anyone who undertakes the task of clearing out their inbox for good and getting a handle on their email habits inevitably discovers that the biggest reason email is plaguing so much of their time is the amount of unnecessary… » Continue

April 16 2008 | By Joel | Tagged: email, etiquette, information, organization | 13 comments»

5 Key Questions When Planning Your Presentation (Presentation Masterclass - Part 2)

Part 1 of this series is here.

Let’s just reiterate our starting position here:
MOST PRESENTATIONS SUUUUUUUUUCK!
This happens at all stages of the life-cycle of a presentation, but if your base preparation is below par, then no amount of shiny graphics and animation will save you – sucky foundation, sucky presentation.

To rise above the background noise of a zillion average-to-bad presentations, here are a handful of key questions to… » Continue

April 14 2008 | By Rowan | Tagged: howto, powerpoint, presentation, public_speaking, tutorial | 4 comments»

Presentation Masterclass - Part 1: Introduction

I have been observing, delivering and training people in presentation techniques for over 20 years now and my considered, professional, opinion on the subject is this:

MOST PRESENTATIONS SUUUUUUUUCK!

In almost every sphere of human endeavour, the outcome can be plotted on a bell-curve – a few really skilled people over on the right, a few really hopeless people over on the left and a whole bunch or just-above or just-below average… » Continue

April 3 2008 | By Rowan | Tagged: howto, powerpoint, presentation, public_speaking, tutorial | 15 comments»

10 Ways To Commit Relationship SUICIDE

There is only a 5% chance that if you are reading this that you are a coward. That’s because Lifehack.org readers are statistically proven to be some of the bravest internet users in the land. They’d have to be to put up with my writing!

All jokes aside, it’s not always easy to get the courage to tell the person we are dating, or married to, that we’re packing up… » Continue

April 1 2008 | By Alex | Tagged: relationship | 13 comments»

The Ultimate Writing Productivity Resource

Last week, I launched a new site I’d been working on for several months, dedicated to technology and the writing life. Since I’ve been eating, drinking, breathing, and sleeping "writing" all week, it seemed natural to pull together some of the tools, sites, and Lifehack.org tips I know of that can help make writers more productive, organized, and creative.

Note: Maybe you don’t consider yourself a… » Continue

March 31 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: creativity, editing, publishing, revision, writers, writing | 51 comments»

How to Improve Your Rapport Development

There are plenty of great people in the world—honest, reliable, and considerate—who frequently fail in developing friendships and relationships with the people around them. If you haven’t got good social skills and body language or confidence around others, you may fall into this category.

If that’s the case, then what you could be missing is the ability to develop rapport. If you don’t know what that is, rapport is:
a close… » Continue

March 17 2008 | By Joel | Tagged: Friends, people, rapport, social | 12 comments»

Creating a Better Impression

Sometimes I think I’m the shyest person on the planet. Back in the days when I was interviewing for jobs, I had a sad tendency to work myself into a tizzy about whether I was going to make a good impression. Over the years, I’ve done my best to calm down about introductions, by focusing on what I can do to improve my odds. I’ve found that thinking about… » Continue

March 13 2008 | By Thursday | Tagged: first impression, introduction | 8 comments»

Navigating the Etiquette of Social Media

Blogging, social networking and a veritable host of methods of stay in contact with people are all very new. There is no real handbook of online etiquette that we can turn to with questions of how many comments are too many or whether we really have an obligation to follow our second cousin’s blog.

The mere word ‘etiquette’ feels old-fashioned, without application in a web-based world. I’m not suggesting that… » Continue

March 11 2008 | By Thursday | Tagged: etiquette, manners, networking | 2 comments»

How to Write a Business Letter That Gets Results

I can’t tell you how many truly awful letters I’ve had to read in my life. As a former administrative assistant, I was responsible for all the unsolicited submissions to a major New York museum. Artists and collectors all over the country (and abroad) wrote to have their work considered for display or acquisition, and to be honest the decision frequently rested more on the quality of their cover… » Continue

March 10 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: business, Communication, letter, persuasion, writing | 16 comments»

How to Be a Good Neighbor In an Attention Economy

These days, everyone has too much on their minds. Gone are the days when woke up, went to the factory, put in your time, came home, and sat down with a selection from the three TV shows on that night. Gone, too, are the days when a long-distance call from grandma in Wisconsin was an event, something to look forward to and to put everything on hold for. Or… » Continue

March 3 2008 | By Dustin | Tagged: attention, Communication, email, interruption, promotion | 11 comments»

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