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Thursday, August 22, 2013

The List to Beat All Lists: Top 20 Productivity Lists to Rock Your Tasks

The productivity list is a common animal these days (goodness knows I’ve done my share), but how do you sort among them all?
You’d need a list of the best lists, that’s how.
Never fear — I’ve done all the homework for you, and compiled the best of the best productivity lists, in my humble opinion. Some of them are a bit old, but that’s because they’re good stuff, and many of you might have missed them anyway.
Don’t read these all at once. It would ruin your productivity. But I’m hoping this will be a resource you come back to every now and then when you feel you need it. Bookmark it for later!
  1. Lifehacker: Top 10 Email Productivity Boosters. A must-read from the best productivity blog in the biz about the tech tool we all use, all day long — email.
  2. Lifehack.org: Top 10 Firefox Extensions to Improve Your Productivity. If you use Firefox exclusively, as I do, you’ll want to take a look at these extensions.
  3. 43 Folders: Merlin’s top 5 super-obvious, “no-duh” ways to immediately improve your life. These might be super-obvious, but they work.
  4. Dumb Little Man: Productivity Ninja: 101 Ways to Rock the Keyboard. Get super quick with the keyboard and fly through your tasks.
  5. LifeDev.net: 10 Ways History’s Finest Kept Their Focus at Work. How some of the smartest people solved a problem we all face daily.
  6. FreelanceSwitch: 46 Must-Read Productivity Tips for Freelancers. Freelancers are notorious procrastinators (I was one for many years, so I know), but they also need to get the job done or they don’t get paid.
  7. Life Clever: 5 simple steps to greater productivity. This is another list of super-obvious tips that really do work.
  8. Wise Bread: 5 Efficient Ways To Boost Productivity. More simple tips, but a little different than your usual list.
  9. Scott H. Young: Twenty Unique Ways to Use the 80/20 Rule Today. Like me, Scott is a fan of doing the most with as little as possible, and here he shows you how to do that.
  10. Cranking Widgets: 6 Ways to Limit Interruptions at Work (That You Can Use Right Now). The title speaks for itself.
  11. Pick the Brain: 7 Ways to Grow the Action Habit. If you have the Action Habit, you’ll be productive. So this might be the place to start your productivity rampage.
  12. Zen Habits: Top 10 Productivity Hacks. OK, it’s cheating to include myself on my own list. So sue me! :) This is an oldie but a goodie.
  13. Life Optimizer: Top 10 Ways NOT to Become a Productivity Ninja. These are the obstacles to productivity — an interesting angle for looking at the topic.
  14. HD BizBlog: 3 Essential Tools for Productivity. All you need to rock your tasks.
  15. Matthew Cornell: 10 GTD “holes” (and how to plug them). One of the earlier and better GTD bloggers, Cornell is now a GTD consultant and has worked with the system in the trenches.
  16. Ian’s Messy Desk: 10 Resources to Help Overcome Procrastination. Don’t put off reading this. Har!
  17. Instigator Blog: Over 100 Great Productivity Tips. OK, 100 tips is overkill, but to be fair these were tips collected from many different blogs.
  18. Stephen Aitchison: 8 Ways to get out of the rut. It’s hard to be productive when you’re in a rut. Here’s how to get out of it.
  19. Organize IT: The Top 10 GTD & Productivity Sites/Blogs. Where to go when you need your productivity fix.
  20. Dumb Little Man: The 20 Biggest Online Time Wasters, and 6 Strategies for Beating Them. You know you use some of these. Here’s how to cut back.
Check out this post: 15 Widespread Creativity Myths.

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Wednesday, August 21, 2013

How to Memorize Anything

In college, I memorized 7 chapters of my psychology textbook — over 23,000 words. Yes, I could actually recite the entire 7 chapters to anyone willing to listen.
Why did I do this? My professor had challenged me with two statements on the first day of class: 1) No student had ever aced his introductory exam; and 2) all the answers could be found in the first 7 chapters of the textbook.
Determined to be the first student to ace his test, I memorized all 7 chapters.
If you’re looking for a way to increase the capacity of your memory or pass a test, you don’t need to memorize 23,000 words. But the technique I used to memorize those chapters can be used to memorize anything. Below is the simpler version of my system, developed to help my pupils pass history, psychology, and other information-heavy tests.
  1. First, use a pencil or word processor (I prefer the latter because it’s faster) to type, in complete sentences, any fact you think might appear on the test. Use short sentences because they’re easier to remember.
  2. Take your printed notes into a quiet room, shut the door, and eliminate all distractions.
  3. Look at the first sentence in your notes and read it out loud. Then, close your eyes and say the sentence without looking at it.
  4. Repeat the step above, this time with the first 2 sentences.
  5. Next, try it with 3 sentences. Then 4. Repeat until you have memorized every sentence in your notes.
After a study session, take a quick nap. New memories are very vulnerable, but studies have shown that sleep helps your new memories stick. After your nap, repeat the memory technique once more for maximum retention.
I eventually became so good at this technique that I could complete all my studying for any information heavy mid-term or final exam in less than 6 hours. Yes, I realize this sounds like a lot of time, but it’s not much time at all – because this technique works from a cold start, even if you haven’t cracked the book all semester.
I’m not saying you should ignore your classes until the last minute (please don’t — I rarely studied at the last minute myself), but it’s good to know there is a way to save yourself if you do.
This technique worked remarkably well; I graduated first in my class (with this being one tool in my toolbelt — not the entire belt).  
If your academic goals are more modest than mine, you can get by with less studying and fewer notes. Take breaks whenever fatigue sets in. Eat a snack. Have a glass of water. It helps.
Does it Really Work?
My memory technique isn’t the newest, the prettiest, or the most interesting technique on the market. But it has worked for me, my students, and even my wife, who claims to have the “worst memory in the world.”
Let’s be clear: Memorizing 23,000 words takes a long time, which is one reason why a pure stacking mechanism (as described above) can be greatly improved upon when you’re dealing with numbers that big.  But remember, this technique is optimized to help you memorize 5 or 6 pages worth of notes, not 7 entire chapters.     
My best advice is to try it for yourself.  
When it comes to memorization, it’s important to find a strategy that works for you, whether it’s mine, someone else’s, or your own. What I like about my technique is its simplicity and the quickness with which you can test it on yourself.
By the way, I did become the first person to ever score a 100% on my professor’s introductory exam, just in case you were wondering.
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50 Things Everyone Should Know How To Do

Self-reliance is a vital key to living a healthy, productive life.  To be self-reliant one must master a basic set of skills, more or less making them a jack of all trades.  Contrary to what you may have learned in school, a jack of all trades is far more equipped to deal with life than a specialized master of only one.
While not totally comprehensive, here is a list of 50 things everyone should know how to do.
1.  Build a Fire – Fire produces heat and light, two basic necessities for living.  At some point in your life this knowledge may be vital.
2.  Operate a Computer – Fundamental computer knowledge is essential these days.  Please, help those in need.

3.  Use Google Effectively – Google knows everything.  If you’re having trouble finding something with Google, it’s you that needs help.
4.  Perform CPR and the Heimlich Maneuver – Someday it may be your wife, husband, son or daughter that needs help.
5.  Drive a Manual Transmission Vehicle – There will come a time when you’ll be stuck without this knowledge.
6.  Do Basic Cooking – If you can’t cook your own steak and eggs, you probably aren’t going to make it.
7.  Tell a Story that Captivates People’s Attention – If you can’t captivate their attention, you should probably just save your breath.

8.  Win or Avoid a Fistfight – Either way, you win.
9.  Deliver Bad News – Somebody has got to do it.  Unfortunately, someday that person will be you.
10.  Change a Tire – Because tires have air in them, and things with air in them eventually pop.
11.  Handle a Job Interview – I promise, sweating yourself into a nervous panic won’t land you the job.
12.  Manage Time – Not doing so is called wasting time, which is okay sometimes, but not all the time.
13.  Speed Read – Sometimes you just need the basic gist, and you needed it 5 minutes ago.
14.  Remember Names – Do you like when someone tries to get your attention by screaming “hey you”?
15.  Relocate Living Spaces – Relocating is always a little tougher than you originally imagined.
16.  Travel Light – Bring only the necessities.  It’s the cheaper, easier, smarter thing to do.
17.  Handle the Police – Because jail isn’t fun… and neither is Bubba.
18.  Give Driving Directions – Nobody likes driving around in circles.  Get this one right the first time.
19.  Perform Basic First Aid – You don’t have to be a doctor, or genius, to properly dress a wound.
20.  Swim – 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water.  Learning to swim might be a good idea.
21.  Parallel Park – Parallel parking is a requirement on most standard driver’s license driving tests, yet so many people have no clue how to do it.  How could this be?
22.  Recognize Personal Alcohol Limits – Otherwise you may wind up like this charming fellow.
23.  Select Good Produce – Rotten fruits and vegetables can be an evil tease and an awful surprise.
24.  Handle a Hammer, Axe or Handsaw – Carpenters are not the only ones who need tools.  Everyone should have a basic understanding of basic hand tools.
25.  Make a Simple Budget – Being in debt is not fun.  A simple budget is the key.
26.  Speak at Least Two Common Languages – Only about 25% of the world’s population speaks English.  It would be nice if you could communicate with at least some of the remaining 75%.
27.  Do Push-Ups and Sit-Ups Properly – Improper push-ups and sit-ups do nothing but hurt your body and waste your time.
28.  Give a Compliment – It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give someone, and it’s free.
29.  Negotiate – The better deal is only a question or two away.
30.  Listen Carefully to Others – The more you listen and the less you talk, the more you will learn and the less you will miss.
31.  Recite Basic Geography – If you don’t know where anything is outside of your own little bubble, most people will assume (and they are probably correct) that you don’t know too much at all.
32.  Paint a Room – The true cost of painting is 90% labor.  For simple painting jobs it makes no sense to pay someone 9 times what it would cost you to do it yourself.
33.  Make a Short, Informative Public Speech – At the next company meeting if your boss asks you to explain what you’ve been working on over the last month, a short, clear, informative response is surely your best bet.  “Duhhh…” will not cut it.
34.  Smile for the Camera – People that absolutely refuse to smile for the camera suck!
35.  Flirt Without Looking Ridiculous – There is a fine line between successful flirting and utter disaster.  If you try too hard, you lose.  If you don’t try hard enough, you lose.
36. Take Useful Notes – Because useless notes are useless, and not taking notes is a recipe for failure.
37.  Be a Respectful House Guest – Otherwise you will be staying in a lot of hotels over the years.
38.  Make a Good First Impression – Aristotle once said, “well begun is half done.”
39.  Navigate with a Map and Compass – What happens when the GPS craps out and you’re in the middle of nowhere?
40.  Sew a Button onto Clothing – It sure is cheaper than buying a new shirt.
41.  Hook Up a Basic Home Theater System – This isn’t rocket science.  Paying someone to do this shows sheer laziness.
42.  Type – Learning to type could save you days worth of time over the course of your lifetime.
43.  Protect Personal Identity Information – Personal identity theft is not fun unless you are the thief.  Don’t be careless.
44.  Implement Basic Computer Security Best Practices – You don’t have to be a computer science major to understand the fundamentals of creating complex passwords and using firewalls.  Doing so will surely save you a lot of grief someday.
45.  Detect a Lie – People will lie to you.  It’s a sad fact of life.
46.  End a Date Politely Without Making Promises – There is no excuse for making promises you do not intend to keep.  There is also no reason why you should have to make a decision on the spot about someone you hardly know.
47.  Remove a Stain – Once again, it’s far cheaper than buying a new one.
48.  Keep a Clean House – A clean house is the foundation for a clean, organized lifestyle.
49.  Hold a Baby – Trust me, injuring a baby is not what you want to do.
50.  Jump Start a Car – It sure beats walking or paying for a tow truck.
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