Three months ago, I sold a top of the line workhorse machine, the Apple Mac Pro. Six weeks later, I sold the 4.1 million pixel wonder I had connected to it, more commonly known as the 30″ Apple Cinema Display. Why? The move to a complete portable platform had become more and more attractive as [...]

On the back of an article I read recently via Khoi Vinh’s archives at Subtraction, I’m taking on the much needed task of de-cluttering one of the most important information sources in my daily realm, RSS feeds.
Over the past few months since my last cleanup I’ve accumulated hundreds of new feeds, picking up more and [...]

I’ve been asked time and time again why my desk is so clean when I post a picture to Flickr, people tell me I should leave it the way it is and not ’stage’ the desk shots. Well, uhh, folks - that’s how my desk looks in a normal situation.
How I manage to keep such [...]

I wrote this post for excellent design and life tips blog LifeClever a few weeks back. Thought I’d spread the ‘wisdom’ and cross post here.
1. Set Times & Plan Your Day
Not many people are going to work well without some structure. Waking up in the morning without any sense of direction for what needs to [...]

Just a few quick notes which don’t warrant a full post of their own, but I wanted to make a quick mention of.
I’ve sat down with a few other Mac fanatics and recorded the first episode of the MacFocus podcast. The team of Nick Danforth, Alex Killpatrick, Wesley Yendrys and myself produced the first podcast [...]

Over the past 6 months I’ve worked out a very streamlined workflow for use inside Apple’s Mail application. No longer do I file each email under a specific folder, I have just one main folder setup, called the “Archive”.
Along with the Archive, I have three sub-folders.
- @ Reply
- @ Hold
- @ To-Do
When an email arrives [...]

I’ve been a little overwhelmed recently with all the projects I’ve taken on. With these projects my email load has increased. Along with this increased email load, I’ve also become overwhelmed with RSS feeds, tweets via Twitter, and Skype calls coming my way.
In a few months time I’m likely to drop a lot of [...]

Sometimes people can get too caught up in a GTD mindframe. Each and every task which comes in they will write down on their to-do list, and take the appropriate steps to complete it. However some tasks can be done right away, avoiding stress at a later stage.
For me, if something actionable will take less [...]

Author of 43Folders, and co-host of MacBreak Weekly, Merlin Mann is finally starting up his own video podcast, on a topic we cant get enough of - productivity.
The show which is titled “The Merlin Show” is set to be launched on Monday, February 26th, at thirty theoretically productive frames per second.
This looks like it could [...]

8apps is a new startup company which is aimed at productive people, or people trying to become productive via their suite of online applications, which will help you to work better.
Currently three applications out of the planned eight are live. Handshake, Orchestrate, and Blueprint.
Handshake allows you to connect with friends and buddies, to open up [...]

The prestigious 9rules blog network (in which I am a member of) is based around 9 main rules. I decided to take the 9rules and apply them to things you can all relate to; things which will help you improve your life and become a better person.

1. Love What You Do.
No matter what you are [...]

I spend around two hours each and every day in my RSS reader, what do I gain from this? I get the latest news in my favorite industries, and a few good articles to read, but nothing more. The time spent in my RSS reader is wasted in my opinion, the less time I’m behind [...]

Reading blogs is a fun and time consuming hobby, which with a few tips, can become even more enjoyable whilst taking half the time.

1. RSS Groups By Importance
Love reading TUAW posts? Find some of the Engadget posts a waste of time? Create a few groups in your RSS reader - Very Important, Important, Less Important, [...]

Presently, I am using KGTD + OmniOutliner Professional (I’ll soon use OmniFocus) to keep track of my to-do list. But there is one other thing I do each and every day, to make sure I’m on track to knock things off the un-nerving to-do list.
In the morning, before I do anything else (including waking the [...]

Keeping focused in the 21st century is not an easy thing. For one, we have the internet which is full of distractions. Think about all the time you spend pointlessly and aimlessly browsing the web, chatting to friends, sending emails, and browsing your RSS reader daily. I for one know the time begins to add [...]

Wow, in two days 2007 will have come around and another year in our lives will have passed. Our lives are stressful enough without having the computer creating even more stress, so here is a quick New Years checklist to get yourself organized, ready, and prepared for 2007.

Clear your inbox to zero messages
You can use [...]

Often when I am sitting at the computer and have to work, I get distracted by all the other things going on in life and this often drains away all my motivation and inspiration from writing the masterpieces I know I can.

How do you get inspired to write? I personally didn’t know, until I found [...]

I have Mail set up with many Smart Folders which help me sort my Mail by specific rules without moving the original message. All of my original messages are stores in one big folder called “Archive” (which currently is home to 3146 messages).

Whenever I am finished with an email, either reading, replying to, or taking [...]

You have an overloaded inbox, many messages need replying to, many need reading, and many just need filing. This is where Flagging your mail can come in handy.
Go through the messages in your inbox and for each message that requires action or you need to reply to it, flag it. This will display a neat [...]

When you are sorting through thousands, if not tens of thousands of email messages, finding the exact one you want gets a little difficult. Sure, you have Apple’s amazing Spotlight technology waiting on hand to help you out, but if you want to compile large lists of messages with a certain similarity, Smart Folders is [...]

I decided it was time for a reader project, so we can get our email inboxes sorted for the Christmas holidays. The last thing anyone wants over Christmas is to be stressing over their email overflow.
As a team we are going to help each other out to clean out our inboxes and get our Mail [...]

Reader Christian Kuttruff sent me an email a few days back after my post, How Does Your Mac Look?
He wanted to know how my file system was organized on my Mac because he was looking for the perfect way to sort his.
My file system is perfectly organized, I know where everything is, and can bring [...]

This following tip is so simple and obvious, yet no one that I have talked to ever puts it into action.
I’m the type that has to check his email every time I hear it beep, I cannot leave it there sitting unread. It has to be read the second I receive it, otherwise it bugs [...]

We all know the feeling. We wake up, jump on the computer and open Mail, where we see 43 new emails, many needing action to be made. Then we open our favorite RSS reader (in my case NewsFire), and have over 400 unread items waiting for our attention, even when we have sorted through all [...]

Are you a frequent user of iChat, Apple’s IM chat application? If so, you know how hard it is to keep track of hundreds of contacts at once. Let’s get organized!
Organize By Groups
Grouped organizing is nothing new, but finding a convenient way to name and manage your groups can be difficult at the best of [...]

Apple’s consumer line notebook, the MacBook features an ultra-compact 13.3” screen. You need to make the best possible use of your limited screen resolution. Here’s 5 ways to maximize your working space and productivity using your small display.

5.

Hide the dock. If you hide the dock you open up a few extra pixels for yourself to [...]

Dealing with emails can be a nightmare, especially when you have hundreds of unread emails which keep growing by the hour, and dozens of flagged messages which need following-up on. Here’s a few simple actions you can take to clear your inbox.
6. Mail Checking
Change your mail checking preference to 15 or 30 minute intervals. Do [...]

RSS feeds can be your best friend, they can also be your worst nightmare when you wake up and have thousands of new items to scan over, hundreds which dont even interest you.

5.
First step, get NewsFire! NewsFire is the best RSS reader, hands down. Simple interface, just the features you need, fast and with a [...]

When the time comes to get some serious work done on your Mac, you want to get it completed quickly with high efficiency, so you can spend your time doing better things - like adding artwork to your perpetually growing iTunes collection…
What applications can you install and use to reduce the time taken on everyday [...]

Writing can be extremely rewarding at times, but are you finding it hard sitting down with your Mac and actually getting the words out of your head and onto the digital paper? Here are 5 things that have worked for me and made my writing more productive.
5. Music

Pop open iTunes and play an album you [...]