Organize IT

Over the last month I’ve been tweaking the design a little to celebrate the upcoming third birthday of Organize IT. Like the progress so far? I’ve also released updated version of my two paper-based tools, the weekly planner and habit tracker. I hope you’ll check them out and let me know what you think. As for the rest of July, these are the best posts from the last month. If you’ve yet to get up to date with my latest thoughts now is your chance!

The most important part of the day is the morning. How you function in those first couple of hours sets the tone for the entire day. If you’re trying to be productive this is doubly important. Jumping out of bed, throwing on your suit and rushing out of the door with a slice of toast between your teeth isn’t going to set the best tone for your day. What I do instead is take five minutes to recap and apply my five favorite guidelines. What are your own guidelines for a productive day?

A couple of years ago there was a little story doing the rounds about a bit of productivity advice from none other than Seinfeld.  He said the way to be a better comic was to create better jokes and the way to create better jokes was to write every day, even when you didn’t feel like it. To help achieve this he had a big calendar on his wall and for each day that he did some writing he put a big red cross over that day. After a few days a chain would be created. As the chain gets bigger you’ll not want to break it, so you’ll do what it takes to keep it going.

Want to shake up the world? Believe in yourself. I saw this video recently and I just had to put it up. While it’s not the most inspirational video I’ve included here, it certainly packs a punchy message (yeah, I went there) and the effects are brilliant too. What’s more, it’s about Cassius Clay. I hope you like it!

Something that’s always seemed a little odd to me is all the lifehacking advice on how to get a good night’s sleep. Rather than actually getting to sleep I’d instead be awake trying to apply all these little tricks and techniques, when what I should be doing is closing my eyes and letting my mind relax. It could just be me (I can take anything up to thirty minutes to fall asleep) but all the sleephacking advice out there just doesn’t do it for me. My attitude is that the less you worry about sleeping the more likely you are to actually get to sleep. With that concept in mind, below are my top four practical tips for doing just that.