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 [...]
I’m Feeded Up, Goodbye Non Essential Subscriptions
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 [...]
How I Keep A Simple & Tidy Work Area
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 [...]
5 Simple Steps To Greater Productivity
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 [...]
Dropping A Few Notes
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 [...]
My Apple Mail Workflow
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 [...]
Re-Shuffling Data Input Points
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 [...]
Do It And It’s Done
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 [...]
The Merlin Show: Productivity At 30 Frames Per Second
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: Social Networking For Productive People
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 [...]
Applying The 9rules Philosophy To Your Life
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 Trimmed Down My RSS Reader, Free Time Galore
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 [...]
3 Productivity Tips For Blog Readers
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, [...]
Write Down Your Daily Tasks On Paper
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 [...]
Stay Offline And Get Your Work Done
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 [...]
New Years Checklist: Digital Clean Up
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 [...]
Keep Motivated With Inspiration Cards
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 [...]
Mail Tips: The Archive
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 [...]
Mail Tips: Flagging Helps
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 [...]
Mail Tips: Take Control With Smart Folders
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 [...]