12 Jan Begin Anew
Clear your physical space. Fill it with:
Peace and tranquility
Something new you really love
Nothing
Clear your calendar. Fill it with: (more…)
Clear your physical space. Fill it with:
Peace and tranquility
Something new you really love
Nothing
Clear your calendar. Fill it with: (more…)
search bar
Sometimes just the smallest thing makes a difference. We spend a lot of time on computers and if we could do what we needed to do faster than there would be more time to do the things we want to do. Here are my Top Ten Google Search Tricks that help me save time.
Tip | Issue | Type in | Results | |
1. | Spell | Don’t know how to spell a word? Type in the word spell and your closest guess. As long as your guess is reasonably close, Google returns the correct spelling | Spell infintesimal | Infinitesimal |
2. | Google Images | When looking for a product, type in product description and select “images” for your search tool (grey options across the top – 3rd one) | Desk top file and select “search images” | Pages of desk top files pictures that you can shop from |
3. | Define | Need a definition? You don’t need to go to a dictionary website. Type in “define” and the word. | Define Complementary | Full dictionary definition |
4. | Minus Sign | If you want to find something but leave out certain results use the minus sign | Caterpillar – tractor | Insect options not machinery company options |
5. | Date Range | To identify a range of years use two periods. I use it often to get the most current technology results | iPhone updates 2018..2019 | Only listings posted during that range of dates |
6. | Timer | Let your computer alert you after a certain amount of time? Type in “timer” and the length of time. | Timer 10 minutes | A countdown timer that dings when you are out of time |
7. | Math | Don’t have a calculator handy? Google does equations. Type in the equation and you’ll get the answer | 365 * 24 | 8760 |
8. | Weather | What’s the temperature outside | weather and zip code | 10 day forecast |
9. | Answers questions | Google is just like your smart phone’s assistant (Siri) | When is daylight savings 2014 | Starts March 9, Ends Nov 2 |
10. | Exact Words | When searching for exact words use quotes to delineate the exact words you are looking for | “Michael C. Jones” | Only searches that have the words Michael C. Jones, in that order. |
A friend shared a blog posted with some quick easy organizing tips this morning and that got me thinking about productivity and organizing. I try to keep a productivity voice to my blog – it’s what I do and who I am. But, sometimes good old fashion SPACE CLEARING is the one thing you need to do to be most productive. Everything I talk about is a cross between getting organized and being more productive – they are not separate, getting organized is what you do to make yourself more productive. So in honor of Jodi’s post, here are a few tips to help you clear some space.
A PLACE FOR EVERYTHING: The greatest benefit of having a place for everything is NOT that you know where to find something when you need it (though that is lovely), it’s so you have a place to put things so they are not sitting around cluttering up your physical or emotional space. I always think more clearly when my space is clear and it only takes a moment to put things in their place. Having THE place is the secret. Here’s an example:
Delegation is sharing some of your responsibilities with the people that work with you. The leader who is not delegating is trying to do it all, and we know how well that works out… There is only one of you and your job isn’t to do everything, it’s to drive the important work.
Just as setting priorities for ourselves is critical to goal achievement, helping our team learn to set priorities is critical too (this works at work, at home and in volunteer settings.)
Delegating priority tasks is great, but without follow up and accountability it almost seems that delegating is more trouble than it’s worth. However, when done well it’s a game changer. All of a sudden you are free to drive forward.
A good delegation system has the following components:
My accountability partner of choice for delegating is Evernote. Evernote has some great features that makes it an ideal follow-up tool:
It’s almost August and it’s been one heck of a year, not just for me but for so many friends, colleagues, and clients. Yet Tuesday morning beckons and I know that means it is time to write my blog post for the week. Most of the time the words just pour onto the page. Unlike some bloggers I don’t pre-write, my posts are inspired by my clients, my week, and my life.
Except today I’m stuck. Maybe it’s how sad I am about the loss of Robin Williams. Maybe it is because both my children are leaving for college on Saturday (sad, excited and super busy all at the same time), maybe it is because I need a vacation. I think that’s it. I have been reading all these great articles about how productivity improves with down time. This is what I’ve picked up:
So, my productivity tip for the week is to take some down time. Happy August, vacation, and napping. Talk to you next week – then it’s VACATION TIME!
The last six weeks have been crazy for me. I’ve attended conferences, workshops, board meetings, college orientations, coaching sessions, mastermind groups, held client intakes and more. The result of which, of course, are tons of notes. But the good news? I have no piles of papers. NONE! How did I do it? I used Evernote for EVERYTHING.
I’ve written about Evernote before but I’ve been observing you users out there and know that many of you still haven’t taken the step to make Evernote your note taking tool of choice. Here is why it works for me:
EVERNOTE Is Always with Me – regardless if I have my phone, my iPad or my laptop I have my (cloud based) EVERNOTE.