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Happy April Fools Day.  Here is a tip for playing an April Fools joke on a coworker, spouse or friend. Make a screen shot of their desktop. (On windows, this is done by pushing "print screen" and then pasting the clipboard into Paint and saving the image.  On a Mac this is done by hitting Apple+Shift+4 and then selecting from corner to corner.) Set the screen shot as the computer's wall paper. You will have two icons for each desktop icon.  The real one on top and the fake one underneath. Move all the real icons to the other side of the screen, but leave the trash can in the original location. When they see the duplicate icons, they will most likely move them to … [Read more...] about April Fools Day

Most office supply stores sell high-lighters.   The idea is pretty good.  You high-light important text in yellow or pink to make it easy to find again.  So if you are reading a book or report, you simply high-light the important parts of the text. Obviously this can help you find information more quickly in the future, but it isn't really the most productive method.  Instead of using a high-lighter use a black magic marker and simply cover up all the text that isn't important.  That way it won't be around to distract you when you come back looking for the important stuff. This is particularly helpful if you are working with legal contracts.  … [Read more...] about Blacklighter

I'm right handed, but I feel for people who are left handed and living in a world where so many common items are designed for "North paws".  Sometimes there isn't much you can do about it, but when it comes to the standard wooden pencil, left handed writers no longer need to suffer.  Here are the steps to convert a normal right handed pencil into one designed for left handers. Start with an unsharpened number 2 standard lead pencil. Wiggle the metal that holds the eraser until it comes off in your hand. Push the metal over the opposite end. (The end the right handers usually sharpen.) If necessary, use a pair of pliers to help crimp the metal back to the pencil. Sharpen the end … [Read more...] about Left Handed Pencil

We've previously mentioned the benefits of working from home, but this won't work for everyone.  An alternative is to only work one 40 hour shift each week.  So if you come in to work Monday at 7am and work until 11pm Tuesday night you will have worked just as much as your co-workers who come in for 8 hours 5 days a week..  The benefits are huge.  Just think, you could drive to work just one day per week. If your boss seem reluctant to let you do this, just point out the benefits of being able to really focus in for a whole 40 hours instead of interrupting things every 8 hours to go home and come back. … [Read more...] about 40 Hour Work Day

Previously we did a series of 5 posts called the Most for Your Minute on time management issues. Here are links to each of the five posts along with their titles. Time is an Investment The Order of Tasks Invest in Technology Simplicity Organization FYI: You can get Productivity501 fed directly into Google Reader and Desktop here: … [Read more...] about The Most for your Minute Posts

The March April edition of The Futurist has a short interview with John Robinson.  John has been studying how people spend their time for many years and was one of the pioneers of keeping time journals to help measure where your time is being spent. One of the things that seems to be changing the most is the way people are multi-tasking.  It is making the ability to track where people are spending their time much more difficult.  Beyond just making his job more difficult, he is concerned that multi-tasking is training people to be unable to concentrate on a single task in ways that are unhealthy. Other researchers are noticing the same thing especially in the younger … [Read more...] about A Time Expert’s Perspective

Since we recently moved, I had a chance to revamp the way my desk was organized.  Today, it suddenly occurred to me that some of my setup made absolutely no sense at all.  I had arranged things so it would look nice, but things that needed to be in reach were too far away and things I didn't need to ever touch were close by. For example, my phone was back in a corner of my desk where I couldn't reach it.  My wireless router was within easy reach.  The thing that amazed me the most is how long it took me to actually stop and think about how things were arranged. So here is a challenge for you.  Take 30 seconds and look at your desk top.  Are the things you need often within close … [Read more...] about Within Reach

The open in tabs command is a shortcut to opening multiple sites simultaneously.  This is a good technique when you want to be able to quickly open multiple sites.  I use this for opening daily news sites as well as the statistics pages for several of my servers.  This video shows how it works. Let me know what you think of the video and if you have any suggestions.  I'm still playing around with it and would appreciate any feedback. … [Read more...] about Firefox Tip: Open in Tabs

The iPod contest is providing valuable feedback on the Productivity501 website.  I wanted to share the comments we've received so far and I figured a Saturday post was a good place to do this.  If you aren't interested then skip this post as it is more about the site and less about actual productivity tips. However, if you'd like to see the debate about whether or not my photo is "creepy", read on. If you have any suggestions or comments about the suggestions below, please put them in the comments. (Or consider writing a review on your own site for a chance to win an iPod Shuffle.) John Chow thought the picture made the blog seem personable, but thought I should post more frequently. … [Read more...] about A Review of Reviews

Most people will change careers several times in their life, so it is difficult to use college to directly prepare for your career. Think of how many problems the average person has with modern technology.  Things are just so complex that to someone unfamiliar with them, it can be difficult to change your thinking.  This video illustrates a new technology being introduced.  Take a look at it below. … [Read more...] about Preparing for New Technology