LifeHacks

From LaurasWiki

Table of contents

1 Calendars 2 Decision Making 3 Finances 4 Goals, Visioning, Balance 5 Music Streams 6 Passwords 7 Personal Status Pages 8 Procrastination 9 Time Tracking 9.1 using 9.2 sometimes 9.3 also tried 10 Task Lists > GTD 11 General Reference 12 Books

Calendars

• iCal
  • 43F postings on iCal (http://www.google.com/custom?domains=43folders.com&q=ical&sa=Search&sitesearch=43folders.com&client=pub-9458773840285402&forid=1&channel=7543054812&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&cof=GALT%3A%23008000%3BGL%3A1%3BDIV%3A%23336699%3BVLC%3A663399%3BAH%3Acenter%3BBGC%3AFFFFFF%3BLBGC%3AFFFFFF%3BALC%3A0000FF%3BLC%3A0000FF%3BT%3A333333%3BGFNT%3A0000FF%3BGIMP%3A0000FF%3BLH%3A100%3BLW%3A100%3BL%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwiki.43folders.com%2Fskins%2Fcommon%2Fwiki.png%3BS%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.43folders.com%2F%3BLP%3A1%3BFORID%3A1%3B&hl=en)
• Google Calendar
  • Google Calendar Tips for Macs (http://www.stopdesign.com/log/2006/04/29/google-calendar-tips.html)
  • Google Calendar: Keyboard Shortcuts (http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/answer.py?answer=37034&topic=8556)
  • Note bene: Does not handle to do lists (oops! darn)

Decision Making

• PMI: Weighing the Pros and Cons of a Decision (http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTED_05.htm) (mindtools)
• Ask yourself: "Does this raise my energy or lower it?" (works for decluttering as well as other decisions)
• On complex decisions (a la Blink):
  • Sleep on it, decision-makers told (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4723216.stm), BBC
  • The Unconscious Mind: A Great Decision Maker (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/21/health/psychology/21deci.html), NYTimes

Finances

• bankrate.com (http://www.bankrate.com/brm/default.asp)
• International Currency Converter (http://www.iccfx.com/)
• Financial Organizer (http://www.tiaa-cref.org/pubs/html/financial_organizer/index.html) (TIAA CREF)
• How to Become Wealthy (http://beginnersinvest.about.com/cs/personalfinance1/a/blwealthy.htm) (About)
• iwillteachyoutoberich.com (http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com)
  • "2006 Makeover" series (http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/toc.html)

Goals, Visioning, Balance

• Daily 5 (balance)
• Ask yourself: "What would I do if I knew I could not fail?"
• References:
  • Stephen R Covey’s time management matrix (http://www.orgcoach.net/timematrix.html)
  • Steve Pavlina: Personal Development for Smart People (http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/)
  • Taking Our Places: The Buddhist Path to Truly Growing Up (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060505516/ref=ase_everydayzenfo-20/002-0741827-1502409?n=283155&tagActionCode=everydayzenfo-20), Norman Fischer

Music Streams

Stay grounded, keep happy! See also: MusicToGet

• kzsu beat.net (http://beat.net/) wed 9-noon (playlists (http://zookeeper.stanford.edu/index.php?action=viewDJ&seq=selUser&viewuser=279))
• pandora (http://pandora.com/) algorithmically personalized streams
  • Pandora's Jar (http://www.hak5.org/forums/viewtopic.php?p=44878&sid=b8d90472be9d63b69eac946a14c6153e)
  • ollie's ambien(t) (http://www.pandora.com/?sc=sh151317251244797697)

Passwords

• Create a strong, secure password (http://www.ofzenandcomputing.com/zanswers/19)
• Geek to Live: Choose (and remember) great passwords (http://lifehacker.com/software/top/geek-to-live--choose-and-remember-great-passwords-184773.php)
• Password generator bookmarklet (http://angel.net/~nic/passwdlet.html)
  • Improved: labs.zarate.org: password generator (http://labs.zarate.org/passwd/)
• Phonetic Password Generator (http://www.arantius.com/tools/password)
• PasswordFramework

Personal Status Pages

• plasticboy (http://plasticboy.com/personal-status-page/)
• Everybody needs a personal “status” page (http://www.43folders.com/2005/10/19/personal-status-page/)
• Morale-O-Meter graph (http://morale.erikbenson.com/account)

Procrastination

• (10+2)*5 dash (http://www.43folders.com/2005/10/11/procrastination-hack-1025/) (43F)
  • FlexTime (http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/163/flextime-10b6) (download 1.0b7)
  • Note: Includes example scripts including one for this ("procrastination hack")

Time Tracking

using

• OfficeTime (http://www.officetime.net/) (60 day trial > not cheap!)

• Stop It! (http://www.metabang.com/widgets/stop-it/index.html)
  • OSX Dashboard widgit for setting single timers, with a lovely little time's up chime and just fine interface
    • Via Black Belt Series: from But She’s A Girl (http://www.blackbeltproductivity.net/blog/05-10-2006/black-belt-bsag/)

sometimes

• FlexTime (http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/163/flextime-10b6) (as above) (download 1.0b7)
  • Define, set, link, and loop timers
  • Good for the (10+2)x5 dash-break anti-procrastination hack (above)
    • Via 43F: 2 OS X timers to watch (http://www.43folders.com/2006/07/19/new-mac-timers/)

also tried

• Online Emergent Task Timer (http://davidseah.com/tools/ett/alpha/) (Dave Shea)
  • Plan your day and track your time by project/stream in 15 minutes increments
    • See also: Daily 5
    • Check for updates: The Printable CEO™ III: Emergent Task Timing (http://davidseah.com/archives/2006/04/18/the-printable-ceo-iii-emergent-task-timing/)
  • Nice quasi-scatter plot visualization of time and attention, helps keep me on task
  • Save as PDF to folder (print > save as PDF) at the end of each day (far from ideal)
  • Better: sync to iCal or other calendar with week views, for context and reviews
  • Better still: enable color coding to sync project/task lines w/activity streams or projects (iCal and/or kGTD)

• SlimTimer (http://www.slimtimer.com/)
  • RubyOnRails: Data doesn't live w/me!

• Meridian (http://www.recurringdream.com/Meridian.html)
  • Via 43F: 2 OS X timers to watch (http://www.43folders.com/2006/07/19/new-mac-timers/)
• Print forms from Dave Shea's The Printable CEO™ Series (http://davidseah.com/archives/2005/11/12/the-printable-ceo-series/)
• Related/inspried by Dave Shea's stuff:
  • Task Score Sheet with Graph (http://roughunderbelly.com/user/login) (RoughUnderbelly): Set goals, track completion (seems of limited use)
  • printable timesheets from Blue Flavor (http://www.blueflavor.com/ed/tips_tricks/paper_timesheets.php) (nice design)

Task Lists > GTD

• Using: kGTD (http://kinkless.com/) (Kinkless)
  • See LaGTD (messy!)
  • With MediaWiki backup, as I'm noticing
  • NoteToSelf: Am I recreating LaurasJar? Set up at TextDrive for this -- separate section or private wiki namespace
• Watching: Tracks (http://www.rousette.org.uk/projects/)
  • See: UsingTracks
  • And see: nesting projects? (http://www.rousette.org.uk/projects/forums/viewthread/20/)
• Considered:
  • Backpack (http://www.backpackit.com/)
    • See punkey: Using Backpack and GTD (http://www.punkey.com/pivot/entry.php?id=7002&w=whats_the_next_action#body))
    • And also: at blackbeltproductivity (http://www.blackbeltproductivity.net/blog/06-21-2006/black-belt-fmeeuwseen/)
    • And plasticboy: backpack-and-web-only-gtd (http://plasticboy.com/archives/2005/05/11/backpack-and-web-only-gtd-the-verdict/)
  • Quicksilver <3s Backpack (http://www.43folders.com/2005/06/01/quicksilver/)
    • But looking quickly: No contexts & no nesting in lists??
  • Voo2Do (http://voo2do.com/): Prettier on the main page than when you get into the substance of it (very window-sy).

General Reference

• 43Folders (http://www.43folders.com/)
• Enter the New Age of DIY (http://wired.com/wired/archive/14.08/howtointro.html), Wired aug 2006
• Life Hacker (http://www.lifehacker.com/)
• Mentat Wiki (http://www.ludism.org/mentat/)
• MindTools.com (http://www.mindtools.com/)
• Steve Pavlina: Personal Development for Smart People (http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/)

Books

• Mind Performance Hacks (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/mindperfhks/)