Archive for the ‘Lifehack’ Category

6 Mother’s Day Gift Tips for the Productive Lady in Your Life

The problem with picking a gift based purely on productivity is that most people like gifts that they won’t buy for themselves: people want something fun, something special — and your mother is no exception. And Mother’s Day is almost here: it falls on the on the second Sunday of May, which just happens to be this weekend. We each have only a few days to make sure that… » Continue

May 8 2008 | By Thursday | Tagged: family, gift, mother, mother's day, present | 3 comments»

Learning from Big Blokes in Skirts

So here I am in gorgeous Fiji, one of the most beautiful places on earth, hanging out with possibly the nicest people on the planet. It’s like everyone in the whole country has a PhD in friendliness. Or at the very least, a Master’s degree in happiness. You know when people smile at you and they really smile; the real deal? Not one of those half-assed pathetic grimaces that we… » Continue

April 29 2008 | By Craig | Tagged: personal-development, self-help, self-improvement, travel | 6 comments»

How to Launch a Revolution in Your Evolution

You know those half truths and white lies we’re all so accustomed to telling? The ones we all think save our butts, but leave us a little flat, a little grey around the edges? Ever wonder what it would be like to slip into Jim Carrey’s character in Liar Liar, and be forced to tell the truth? Ever wonder what might be possible in your life if you actually chose… » Continue

April 28 2008 | By Lisa | Tagged: integrity, personal-development, truth | no comments»

29 Exercises You Can Do At (Or Near) Your Desk

Putting in a full day at the office can make it hard to find the time to exercise. But most of us have a bit of a lag between tasks as we sit in front of our computers, and we can take advantage of a few minutes here and a few minutes there to get some physical activity in. You won’t get an extensive workout this way, but you… » Continue

April 1 2008 | By Thursday | Tagged: exercise | 14 comments»

The Power of Ritual: Conquer Procrastination, Time Wasters and Laziness

Life is wasted in the in-between times. The time between when your alarm first rings and when you finally decide to get out of bed. The time between when you sit at your desk and when productive work begins. The time between making a decision and doing something about it. Slowly your day is whittled away from all the unused in-between moments.

The solution to reclaim… » Continue

January 22 2008 | By Scott H | Tagged: energy, habits, procrastination, Productivity, ritual, time | 28 comments»

5 Ways to Take the Stress Out of Long-Haul Flights

Flying long distances can be a great source of tiredness - if you’re only going somewhere for a week, you don’t want two or three days of that week to be spent recovering from that experience. Here are some handy pointers to make sure you hit the ground running after that marathon flight:

1. Less worry, less fatigue

A lot of flight fatigue comes from unconsciously (and often consciously) worrying… » Continue

January 14 2008 | By Shane | Tagged: flying, health, jetlag, travel | 10 comments»

11 Tips to Carve Out More Time to Think

“The person who reads to much and uses his brain too little will fall into lazy habits of thinking” - Albert Einstein

How much time do you get a week to just think? Not while listening to music, driving your car or during group brainstorms. Not while playing video games, doing chores or taking a shower. Just you and your brain.

I’d wager that few people ever average… » Continue

January 10 2008 | By Scott H | Tagged: creativity, gtd, ideas, learning, Productivity, smart, think, time, weekly review | 18 comments»

How to Write a Personal Mission Statement to Make 2008 Your Best Year Ever

“Your actions are your only possessions.”
- Lao Tse

This is an excellent personal development statement to ponder as we watch 2007 dissolve into dust. Most of you made personal, one sentence resolutions like “I want to lose weight” or “I vow to go back to school.” It is a tradition to start the New Year with things you want to achieve, but under the influence resolutions are often unrealistic.

2008… » Continue

January 10 2008 | By AJ | Tagged: goal setting, motivation, new_year, personal_mission_statement, resolution, value | 14 comments»

What Storytellers Can Teach You About How to Learn Faster

Storytelling is a demanding craft. Not only do you have to be able to write or perform the story accurately, you need to create vivid descriptions. Boring, complex or difficult to understand metaphors can turn an imaginative journey into a lifeless plot.

You may not think of it deliberately, but learning is very similar to storytelling. You need to give yourself vivid, memorable and emotionally descriptions… » Continue

January 3 2008 | By Scott H | Tagged: brain, grades, holistic, improvement, learning, mental, metaphor, Productivity, study, thinking | 21 comments»

14 Tips For Resolutions That Stick in the New Year

Statistics show that only about 15% of New Years Resolutions are kept. With an 85% failure rate, it’s no wonder that the amount of resolutions made is dropping. You wouldn’t buy a product that is defective 85% of the time, so why buy into the annual hype about resolutions? A strategy that fails over four fifths of the time is broken. The question… » Continue

December 27 2007 | By Scott H | Tagged: change, commitment, diet, exercise, goal, habit, improvement, new years resolution, Productivity | 35 comments»

10 Reasons Gift Certificates Make Horrible Gifts

I don’t know who came up with gift certificates, but they should receive an award for one of the best marketing jobs ever pulled on the unsuspecting public. How else can you explain how people are willing to trade money, for a less useful and more restrictive form of money at a one-to-one ratio?

For those of you who can’t think of what to buy your miserly Aunt Josie… » Continue

December 25 2007 | By Scott H | Tagged: christmas, consumerism, gifts, humor | 79 comments»

12 Tips to Improve the Quality of Your Free Time

Are you happier at your job, or during your free time? Unless you’ve followed the research of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi you would probably be surprised at the actual answer. He conducted studies which recorded peoples current levels of happiness at random points both during work and off-hours.

The surprising conclusion? People felt happier on the job, even though they said they would rather be at home.

Csikszentmihalyi believes that… » Continue

December 20 2007 | By Scott H | Tagged: boredom, flow, games, hobby, leisure, Productivity | 40 comments»

13 Tips to Zap Your Butterflies When Speaking in Public

Everyone gets nervous before giving a speech. Unfortunately, the more people in the audience, the more important the speech usually is, making any butterflies in your stomach multiply before you begin. Knowing how to keep yourself calm can make a big difference when giving a speech.

I’m not a world-famous speaker. I’m just an introvert who has managed to train himself to stay calm on stage… » Continue

December 18 2007 | By Scott H | Tagged: courage, fear, nervousness, notes, powerpoint, presentation, speaking, student | 14 comments»

8 Tips to Create a Day to Recharge Your Motivation

It’s easy to recognize when you’re physically tired. You haven’t slept normally in days or even weeks. You can’t remember the last time you saw the inside of a gym. And enough caffeine is racing through your bloodstream to keep a small elephant alert.

When your motivation is down, the effects can be worse than physical tiredness. You can’t concentrate, you procrastinate and become as lazy as… » Continue

December 13 2007 | By Scott H | Tagged: audiotapes, depression, disappointment, drive, energy, enthusiasm, motivation, Productivity, rest | 7 comments»

11 Tips for Nuking Laziness Without Becoming a Workaholic

Rest is important for productivity. Trying to work straight without recovering your energies leads to a wandering attention, procrastination and, in extreme cases, death. But when does “recovering your energies” just become an excuse to waste time? How do you draw the line between constructive rest and laziness?

I don’t believe this question has an easy answer. The most productive people I know have a… » Continue

December 11 2007 | By Scott H | Tagged: energy, lazy, Management, procrastination, Productivity, recovery, rest, time | 29 comments»