Make The Most Of Your Holidays

May 6th 2007   Personal Development   0 comments

Holidays are great and we very often feel like we need time off to get things done in our lives. Yet, when we have this time, what do we do with it? Nothing! You may have a few days off, maybe a week or longer and its like a blank canvas of time to be used however you see fit. However, it doesn’t always seem to work out that way. So many choices of what to do, so much time available, it becomes overwhelming. So below, I’ve created a random list of things you can do on your holiday/time off, to inspire a bit of thinking for yourself and give you some ideas on how you can use the time available. There is always something you can do, you just sometimes need to be reminded of what’s out there!

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Beware Of Bargains

May 2nd 2007   Financial   0 comments

Beware of special offers, price cuts, and bargains. Businesses are there to take your custom, there is always some benefit to them for any bargain they offer. There is a large customer base out there who will be influenced by a 10% off, or a 3-for-2 and miss out on what the real saving to them is. Sometimes they will even buy something just because it’s on special offer. Remember, you might save a bit with special offers but you will save even more by not buying it in the first place. If you need the item, great, you’ve saved yourself a few pounds. Otherwise don’t let all those special offer signs and adverts overrule your frugal decision making.

Organize IT Recap: Make Your Offline Life Easier, How To Be A Happy Introvert And Why We Can’t Always Break Bad Habits

April 28th 2007   Recap   0 comments

Organize IT recap for 28th April 2007.

• Someone kindly emailed me a detailed guide on how to make your offline life easier which is full of intriguing ideas. Because we have to manage the constant flow of information from being online, it’s easy to forget about keeping our offline life efficient too. I particularly like the suggestion of setting up a recharging station for all of my electrical devices. Which is your favorite tip?
• Being rather introverted myself and having dealt with quite a few other introverts in my time I can really relate to this article about how to protect yourself from giving off the wrong impression. In such an extrovert-dominant society, it’s very easy to feel bad about being a quiet and reserved person, which is a shame.
  
• Creating and breaking habits is a big topic for me at the moment and I’m going to be covering my own experiences and progress here at Organize IT in the near future. In the meantime I came across a very interesting article on the topic, discussing why we can’t stop bad habits. On the surface, this seems like a rather negative viewpoint. However, it provides some useful insights into why breaking bad habits is rarely as simple as we’re led to believe.
• Recently, I mentioned an app called Thinking Rock. It’s not persuaded me to change from using pen and paper but I did find it’s simplicity appealling. If you are interested in going hi-fi, check out this detailed review for an in-depth look at it.

Great Looking Wallpapers

April 26th 2007   Tech   2 comments

There are two approaches concerning the look of your desktop in terms of productivity. Have it as simple as possible, which speeds your system up and you end up with less visual distractions, or beautify it up with fancy themes, effects, wallpapers etc. It makes your system more personal and nice to look at but can all these fancy features take your focus away? I’d like to hear your thoughts on that one.

Personally, I’ve swapped between both approaches a few times over the years and I am currently in a “good looking desktop” mood. It can be quite easy to spend too much time looking for the perfect wallpaper which is a big no-no, so I have just the one site which I refer to called Socksoff. Below I’ve picked out 5 of my favourite wallpapers from the site.

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GTD Dictionary: Stuff

April 25th 2007   GTD Dictionary   4 comments

Stuff:

• Property, as personal belongings or equipment; things.
• Worthless things or matter: to clean the stuff out of a closet.

Stuff is everything bouncing around our heads, in letters, voicemails and notes that don’t have places for them. They are not formed into something actionable and the desired outcome is far from clear. All that stuff rattling around in your thoughts - get new batteries from the shops, go grocery shopping, pay the bills, fix the TV - just induces stress and anxiety and slowly but surely bogs your productivity down. That’s where GTD comes in. It encourages you get all this stuff out of your head. If you put it down in a system you trust, your mind can be confident enough to rely on it for “remembering” projects.