If you leave the office most nights feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, and behind on everything you've got to get done at work—even though you just spent 10 hours there—you're letting your workday get away from you. It's too easy to let the hours you spend at the office get stolen by meetings, email, interruptions, and impromptu co-worker chats that leave you saddled with busywork and too distracted to get the important stuff done. But with a little thought, you can leave work feeling accomplished and complete instead. When it's time to take back your workday, there are a few dead easy strategies that can help you focus on your tasks, firewall your attention, and reduce your workload so you can get out the door feeling light, free, and done.
10. Make a lunch or dinner date (to create a deadline).Ever wonder why your co-workers who are parents get out of the door on time every day like clockwork? It's because they've got to pick up the kids at daycare by a certain time. If you feel like you've got all day to get things done, you're more likely to get sucked into stuff that's not that important. But a deadline will light a fire under your butt and keep your eye on the clock. If you know you've got a spouse at home expecting to see you by 6:30, or a buddy waiting for you at the gym, you're more likely to stay focused, get your stuff done, and get out of your chair on time.
If you can take lunch on your own schedule, this same strategy works midday, too: make a date with your co-worker or friend to have lunch at a set time, and use it as a deadline for getting your morning tasks done.
9. Write down the first thing you have to do tomorrow morning and put it on your keyboard before you leave the office.The sad reality is that if you let it, your workday will get away from you without one single task getting checked off your to-do list: unless you make it your personal mission. The best time of the day to GTD is first thing in the morning, so make it easy on yourself. Every evening, before you leave the office, write down the single most important task you've got to get done the next day. Leave it on your desk, with any support material you need to work on it, so you can get rolling first thing. The best way to start your day is accomplishing something instead of fiddling around with email.
8. Don't check email for the first hour of the day.Author of Never Check Email in the Morning Julie Morgenstern suggests waiting for one hour before you open up your email inbox in the morning. Instead of thoughtlessly reading email first thing, work on that task you laid out for yourself in #9. Accomplishing something out of the gate sets the tone for the rest of your day, Morgenstern says, and once you've launched your email client, you're "open for business" and paying attention to incoming requests.
Note: If you do business with folks in different time zones, this guideline can be very difficult to follow, especially if you know you've got new messages over night. But let's be realistic: a one hour email delay won't kill anyone.
7. Decide NOT to do one task on your to-do list and cross it off.It's not always the boss who's putting pressure on us to get things done and assigning us tasks: sometimes we take on little projects and to-do's because they seem like a good idea for one reason or another. If you've got a to-do list a mile long with items that have been sitting there for weeks? Chances are there are a few you can cross off right this moment because they're not worth doing after all. A "good idea at the time" isn't always a good idea. If you've assigned yourself busywork that isn't that important, simply opt not to do it—that's the fastest and lowest-effort way to get it off your plate.
6. Edit that email you're writing down to less than five sentences.No one likes to get long-winded email, and email's not the appropriate place to have extended conversations. The shorter your email is, the more likely you are to get a response. Designer Mike Davidson instituted a personal email policy that no message he sends is more than five sentences, which saves himself and the recipient time. Give it a try. If your message has to be longer, pick up the phone and call instead.
5. Cut someone off.
When chatty Cathy's yapping your head off, or that passive meeting leader is letting things go off the rails in the conference room for too long, speak up. Don't be rude, of course. A polite but business-like, "Can we get back to the agenda?" or "I hate to cut this short, but I've got an appointment" or "This seems off-topic for this meeting--can we move on?" can save you hours of wasted time at the office.
4. Book a meeting with yourself.
If your head is spinning with all the stuff you've got to get done and the interruptions keep coming, you need some alone time. If the hours of your day keep getting stolen by meeting requests and drive-by interruptions, box out an hour or so every few days specifically to regroup and get organized. Literally enter the meeting with yourself on your calendar, and if you need to get away from your desk, book a conference room as well. Take your project list, to-do list, and calendar with you to the room and spend that time deciding what, when, and how you're going to tackle all the stuff in your work life, as if you're a boss meeting with your assistant. (GTD'ers know this technique as the weekly review.)
3. Master the art of the qualified yes.
Don't be a yes-man or woman by default. When you have a choice (and most times you do), instead of automatically saying yes unconditionally to incoming requests, qualify it. Ask for more information like the deadline or requirements. See if it's something that can be put off till a later date or done by someone more available or better-suited. Merlin Mann's recent talk at Macworld, Time Sinks and Attention Burglars, has a fabulous section on negotiating incoming requests and qualifying your yes'es so you don't give away your time so easily.
2. Block out distractions and set a timer.
When your brain is frozen in a solid block of paralyzed procrastination around a task and you're letting yourself get carried away by distractions like email and instant messenger, it's time to take out the big guns. Turn off your email and IM client, grab a kitchen timer, set it for 10 minutes, and work until the beep. Then, take a break. Wash, rinse, and repeat. I swear by this technique, which got me through writing 400 pages of the Lifehacker book when all I wanted to do was crawl under the bed and hide. If you give yourself an easy deadline (it's only 10 minutes!) and make it a race with the clock, you'll unfreeze your brain and break through your blocks.
1. Do a free jot brain dump.
When you're so stuck in a rut that your brain can't even grok the concept of a to-do list and you have no idea where you are or where you should be, it's time to do a serious regroup (while going easy on yourself). Take a piece of paper and a pen, go to a quiet place, and free jot for 10 minutes. Make lists. Mind map. Free associate ideas. Rant. Write down whatever comes to mind to get your juices flowing. When we get hung up on busywork and crushed by overwhelm, our brains can't take it any more. A last-resort, free-jot brain dump can re-focus the big picture: what's important to you, what your biggest problem is right now, and what your next step is.
Regular brain dumps and mind maps are a great way to boost creativity and get started on projects, but they're also an effective last resort strategy for those really bad days that have reduced you to a twitching mess of dysfunctional information anxiety.
Source- http://lifehacker.com/358472/top-10-smart-and-lazy-ways-to-save-your-workday
iPod Touch Tube- The iStick is the size of lipstick tube. But it has four touchscreens for four times the Coverflow. I don't really get the white cube eating up a quarter of the stick though—why not just make the whole thing a solid tube of touchscreen, with the bottom and top holding the single button and earphone jack?
Reggie says that the 360's lead over the Wii in North America will disappear this year. And not just "this year", but by June. Which is not too far away!
It's not the first time we've seen diesel touted as a solution for more efficient vehicles, but Loremo AG's new eponymously-titled vehicle may just have all of 'em beat. According to the vehicle's designers, in addition to diesel, they relied on engine efficiency, low weight, and minimal drag to boost the fuel-efficiency, which they say could top out at lofty 150 miles per gallon.
Upload and share up to 5GB of data to Windows Live SkyDrive, an online storage solution from Microsoft that's just graduated from beta. With your SkyDrive account (which requires a Windows Live ID), you get that 5GB of storage (which bests Box.net's 1GB free plan) for personal folders accessible only to you, shared folders accessible to your friends, and public folders open to everyone (which can be subscribed to via RSS).
Designer Chris Owens has come up with a fashion phone that's even slicker (and lacking in features) than the LG Prada or the Samsung Armani phones.
It's an old adage that no security measure is worth anything if an attacker has physical access to the machine, but things like heavy-duty disk encryption are supposed to at least slow things down. Sadly, that may not actually be the case, as a group of Princeton researchers has just published a paper detailing an exploit that requires little more than a spray duster and a screwdriver. Since the encryption key for systems like BitLocker and FileVault lives in RAM, all an attacker has to do to get it is cool the RAM modules with the air duster held upside down, yank the DIMM, and insert it into another machine, where it can then be read to access the key. Of course, this assumes that you've already typed in your password, but check the video after the break to see how long bits in RAM stay written -- even if you've turned off your computer, there's a chance the key can still be read.
Here are the pics of the American's top models. Go & check out the models and let us know who will be the one American's Next Top Model........
Not much has gotten better since the nineties. The radio, for one, has gotten much worse. Magazines and newspapers totally suck now. In real terms the minimum wage has barely increased. Why, in my adult life I might say there hasn't been much to be very proud of in this country -- except, of course, clothes shopping. Over the past five years or so the way we shop has transformed in parts of this country, largely on the backs of the hallowed triumvirate of "fast fashion" retailers, H&M, Forever 21 and the Spanish retailer Zara and if you'd allow me to geek out for a minute, a story in today's Wall Street Journal lays out the reasons for that: Zara and H&M have become wizards of logistics, the scintillating business of figuring out how much stuff to get from which factories to which warehouses to which stores how fast. In the process, they've brought clothing manufacturing back into higher-wage countries and made cuter clothes available cheaper and faster. How did these companies manage to kick the asses of the Gap, Abercrombie etc. so quickly? I have a (socialist) theory as to how this all happened.
According to Hexus.net, the widely-pirated but not-officially-available-yet Windows Vista Service Pack 1 is now ready for download... for some users. The site points out that the update popped today in one of their 64-bit Windows Vista Home Premium systems.
Doujin-made game The Fierce Fighting of Haruhi Suzumiya has been killed off! The doujin circle behind the game has pulled it at the (scary?) request of Kadokawa Shoten, the publisher that originally put out the Haruhi light novels and manga, plus distributes the anime and is releasing the upcoming Wii game.
If you leave the office most nights feeling exhausted, overwhelmed, and behind on everything you've got to get done at work—even though you just spent 10 hours there—you're letting your workday get away from you. It's too easy to let the hours you spend at the office get stolen by meetings, email, interruptions, and impromptu co-worker chats that leave you saddled with busywork and too distracted to get the important stuff done. But with a little thought, you can leave work feeling accomplished and complete instead. When it's time to take back your workday, there are a few dead easy strategies that can help you focus on your tasks, firewall your attention, and reduce your workload so you can get out the door feeling light, free, and done.
After the comparison of Macbook Air vs Macbook Pro, now let's compare Lenovo X300 with MacBook Air. Here are the main points of the Lenovo X300, compared to the MacBook Air, according to Walt Mossberg:
If you're an early adopter who got burned by Blu-Ray's victory over HD DVD, Wired's How-To Wiki details how to convert your old-and-busted HD DVDs to the victorious Blu-Ray format.
As of today, the analog cellphone is no more. Here's the complete timeline of its development, since Greece in 490BC to February 18, 2008, the day in which networks are no longer obligated to provide with analog cellphone coverage.
Make no mistake, we've seen curious job postings lead to changes in our favorite gizmos before, and hopefully, a recent ad on Microsoft's website is no different. A listing seeking a Program Manager explicitly states that it's looking for someone to "be involved in the next release of Xbox," and wants that very individual to be "part of the Xbox Live team that's responsible for creating a completely new way for mainstream audiences to enjoy the Xbox and Live."
Here are eight concrete tips and services for digital minimalism that can help eliminate—as a start—compulsive inboxing during the evenings and weekends.
Starting February 24 (ie this Sunday), Target stores across the US will be selling slim PS2s for $99. Yes, that magical, mythical $99 price-point.
The news in the market is that Apple may lower prices on the iPhone and iPod touch in the next few months and drop the 8GB touch. Word is that falling flash prices coupled with the desire to introduce the 3G iPhone at an attractive price point will lead to the 16GB iPhone falling to $399, along with similar touch price drops: 16GB for $299 and 32GB for $399. It's not clear what'll happen to the 8GB iPhone, but everyone seems to agree that the 8GB touch is on the way out -- we actually think a $199 8GB touch would fly off shelves, but that's probably cutting margins razor-thin.
After the Eee PC, Cloudbook, Pixel Qi, etc, now the next at the table will apparently be Elonex, which intends to introduce the £100 (~$200) One on February 28th at The Education Show in Birmingham, England. Obviously the intention here is to sell to education markets, but the One is also going to be up for grabs for "adult learners, business users, people who are constantly mobile, elderly people and first time internet users."
Powerful game consoles are often just as programmable as research computers, and scientists are finding real world applications for them every day.
Dress for success with a perfectly tied necktie. The Kinowear blog teaches you how to tie any type of tie from the Windsor to the Four-in-Hand to the St. Andrew Knot, complete with video demonstrations and step-by-step photos. Further, learn which ties better complement the shape of your face. The article states:
I've gotten a flood of tips that the notoriously miserly Verizon is lining things up to offer unlimited calling plans. Starting Tuesday the 19th February'08 should see the following plans sprout up:
Graphic image aside, the Oral Sex Light will set you back $13.99, and mounts (ha) via a clip-on ear piece. The torch attached is completely flexible, meaning you can totally scope out those hard to find regions. Unfortunately, if you ever did try to wow a date with your I-come-prepared attitude, she'll likely be out of the door quicker than she could say, "What the hell was I doing there in the first place?" At that point, you'll have to make use of the Oral Sex Light on your own, which will be an even sadder and more twisted state of affairs than normal.
Beyond the health benefits to regular exercise, there are many other reasons why you should make fitness training a part of your daily routine. One of these reasons is because you can let go of the stress you have at work. Weblog The Next 45 Years writes:
That PSP hack, that was wired about a few weeks ago has hit the interblogs, and we predict all hell will be breaking loose any moment. Un-retired homebrew mastermind Dark_AleX has come up with a little number called Timemachine, which is capable of spinning your PSP back to all sorts of crazy firmwares at the touch of a button.
Online marketing firm Hitwise has published a socioeconomic demographic rundown of Yahoo and Google users.
