I’ve always loved reading but the thought of holding a book was a barrier to entry for some reason. Then when I would delve into a book I would always lose my place in the book constantly. I’m not sure why the act of reading a physical book was a challenge to me but it was. When Amazon released the Kindle I was very much uninterested at first. Why would I want a device that does one thing? The iPhone does almost everything I need it to do — and then some. Working at a… More »
We know how busy our productive readers can get, so we here at Lifehack bring you the best articles during the month just in case you missed them. So, without any more pomp and circumstance, let’s dig in to the best of Lifehack for March, 2012. Ask The Entrepreneurs: 16 Ways to Master Your Work-Life Balance as an Entrepreneur How do you find time to live your life while making sure your life’s important work gets done? The Young Entrepreneur council picked the brain of 16 Entrepreneurs to show us how making… More »
Everyone is afraid. I am, you are, everyone is! The only difference between you and the successful people you admire is that they are willing to work and move through their fears in order to get where they want to be. If you don’t learn how to face your fear it will grip your mind, body, and spirit. It will wage a war against you and your dreams. Know this need not be. Once you understand how you can dissipate fear, it shrinks and is no longer a threat. The next time… More »
Too busy in your hectic life to “take ten” to ground yourself for the day? Too much to do and too little time? Stressed out beyond belief and you can’t imagine sparing any extra time to stop and take stock and take a daily pulse? Do you want to get off this endless cycle of “to dos” but can’t seem to get away from your life “inbox?” Just when you feel like you cannot take “one more thing,” perhaps it’s time to try this “Get Your Head Together” plan for just one week. What have… More »
Do you have a life plan? Have you ever thought about how to make a life plan? Most people haven’t, but they should. We are not talking about a 50-page business plan with maps and checklists. A life plan is really just meant to be general summary of where you are now in all the areas that matter to you, where you want to improve and what you’d like your life to look like in the future. Don’t be scared off by the title. It may sound ominous, but creating a life… More »
(Editor’s Note: The following is an excerpt adapted from the book Leading at The Edge, Leadership Lessons from the Extraordinary Saga of Shackleton’s Antarctic Expedition, Second Edition, by Dennis N.T. Perkins, Ph.D. Perkins is Chief Executive Officer of The Syncretics Group, a consulting firm dedicated to effective leadership in demanding environments. A graduate of the United States Naval Academy, he served as a Marine company commander and later a faculty member of the Yale School of Management. He has taken his passion for The Edge to Antarctica, where he retraced Shackleton’s journey,… More »
The app known as iTunes can become a big “timesuck” — whether you’re using a Windows machine or a Mac. As it grows in size, so do the problems that can creep in. That means you end up with a ton of “Track 1″ songs, two or more instances of the exact same song and missing album cover art all over the place. Getting them out of iTunes manually is a real chore — and will take you away from the stuff you’re supposed to be doing while simply listening to your… More »
It’s a tough world out there. As economies dip and dive and job markets dwindle, competition for our dream job becomes all the more fierce and standing out from the crowd becomes more important than ever. If you’re blessed with a good grasp of web or graphic design, you should have few problems in creating a fantastic, informative and concise resume to put you head and shoulders above your peers. Yet the less tech-savvy among us need not worry, as the web provides many wonderful ways to create stunning resumes with nothing more… More »
We love to showcase new and shiny apps that help our readers become and stay more productive. With our recent discussion of not going minimal and instead using technology to stay focused on what matters, there come some simple technological tools that can help you do complicated things. For any start-up or entrepreneur, tracking potential sales and winning over customers can be a real pain. Instead of making the process even more difficult, the new app Stride tries to help you make sales as simple as possible. It really is the ultimate… More »
Get your ear to the ground. This approach has been called different things but commonly is summarized as getting close as possible to the interface of the product and producer or consumer. Famous practitioners include Bill Hewlett and David Packard of HP who popularized “management by walking around.” The same approach can be used in your personal and professional life to help you gain fresh perspective on old problems, sniff out issues before they become wildfires, and continue to innovate and create while on a schedule. Case Study: Lululemon — From the… More »
(Editor’s note: The following is an article written by Larry D. Rosen, Ph.D., author of the book iDisorder: Understanding Our Obsession with Technology and Overcoming its Hold on Us. Rosen is past Chair and Professor of Psychology at California State University, Dominguez Hills. He is a research psychologist and computer educator, and is recognized as an international expert in the “Psychology of Technology.” Over the past 25 years, Dr. Rosen and his colleagues have examined reactions to technology among more than 30,000 children, teens, college students, and adults in the United States… More »
We all hear the “minimalist” zealots screaming at us from on high, “Sell your stuff, get rid of everything that isn’t important, use paper for everything, and be as minimal as possible.” All this so we can regain focus on an important project as well as the things we have to do. Sounds like a great idea, that is, as long as you work for yourself and work to sell the idea of being minimal. Don’t get me wrong – I try to minimize certain things in my life, but there are… More »
We all hear the “minimalist” zealots screaming at us from on high, “Sell your stuff, get rid of everything that isn’t important, use paper for everything, and be as minimal as possible.” All this so we can regain focus on an important project as well as the things we have to do. Sounds like a great idea, that is, as long as you work for yourself and work to sell the idea of being minimal. Don’t get me wrong – I try to minimize certain things in my life, but there are… More »
So, you have finally found what you are passionate about, you blog about it regularly, you love to write and come up with new ideas, but nobody ever told you all the other bits that were involved in blogging. The guest posts, the commenting on other blogs, the social media requirements, the eBooks, the eCourses and that’s not including the other job you may be holding down. So how can anyone become a productive blogger with all these tasks to perform daily? The Writing The Reading The Commenting The Marketing The Stats… More »
“Workers are drawn to those with an upbeat attitude, especially when challenges emerge, and it can start with you. It’s contagious.” – Lynn Taylor, author of Tame Your Terrible Office Tyrant When you think of a person who is effective and successful at work, likely one of the prominent characteristics that individual possesses is confidence. Confidence suggests a sense of self empowerment and self-love that is steady despite life’s ups and downs. Of course, this inner core of self-efficacy in the workplace does not start and end there. Rather,… More »
Since we know 57% of you are Windows users, sooner or later you are going to upgrade to Windows 8. For some it will be the day it is released, while for others it will be when it comes time to get a new PC. But at some point in the future you are going be in the new environment that is Windows 8. Windows 8 will employ the Metro environment that Windows Phone uses. That means big icons on the screen and no “start” button. There will be a traditional desktop, but it… More »
By the end of this time management article you will have an important gift – a bundle of time to get more things done today. Sound too good to be true? Well, it’s a simple fix — all you need to do is eliminate four bad time management habits and stop wasting time today. 1. Stop random email checks Popping in and out of your inbox creates a “start-stop-start” pattern of work activity. Your wasted time quickly adds up when you consider the time it takes to refocus after each stop. A… More »
Permanent employment may be disappearing faster than anyone thought. In recent weeks, both the Wall Street Journal and Harvard Business Review have published articles on crowd-sourced labor, or the hiring of a temporary team to accomplish a very specific task. In increasing numbers, large organizations are using crowd-sourcing instead of permanent hiring to achieve their goals. AOL used it recently when it hired a team of contractors to build software to help the company best leverage its video assets. It makes sense if you think about it. For one thing, hiring and… More »
2×4: One series that examines two topics, creativity and productivity, by asking those who make things on the web the same four questions on both subjects. We all want to change our circumstances; we want to make more money or get a better job. For most of us, it’s simply a fantasy, something we’ll imagine ourselves doing, something we may even try for, but more likely than not, it’s something that will never happen. Why? We don’t do what it takes to make that happen. Brett Kelly of Bridging The Nerd Gap made… More »
2×4: One series that examines two topics, creativity and productivity, by asking those who make things on the web the same four questions on both subjects. We all want to change our circumstances; we want to make more money or get a better job. For most of us, it’s simply a fantasy, something we’ll imagine ourselves doing, something we may even try for, but more likely than not, it’s something that will never happen. Why? We don’t do what it takes to make that happen. Brett Kelly of Bridging The Nerd Gap made… More »
