Category: Tools I Use

Presentation: Start your own podcast

Leave a comment

Contact Henrik for availability to present this topic again.

For more, check out Slideshare

Questions?

Tools I Use: One Calendar

Leave a comment

calendar-1559935_1280

Disclosure: Links to other sites may be affiliate links that generate us a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Time

How many sets of 24 hours do you have each day?  One 

So why should we use multiple calendars for scheduling all of our events?

Segment your time between work, personal (alone), family and friends with your schedule.

Yes, you can schedule your family and friends unless you find another 24 hour period per day.

Everyone has 24 hours per day, 1440 minutes per day and 168 hours per week.

What do you do with your time?

How do you use each hour of your life? Too many don’t care and waste it.

We are either productive or not.

We move the needle toward accomplishment or not.

We move the needle toward our own fulfillment or not.

I believe if I did not accomplish something every day, the day is wasted and that is hurtful to at least one person. You.

Even if I am sick or on vacation, that is not an excuse.

Track your time

How many calendars and scheduling tools do you use to track your time, all your meetings (personal/professional), all your calls and everything else in your day?

I know too many people who use nothing for their own personal schedule and a work schedule applied by their workplace. That is not time tracking nor time management.

Without time management,  we create excuses like “I am so busy” or “I don’t have time”.

The fact is we choose how we spend our time. We choose when we get up and go to bed. We choose when we eat. We even choose when we go to the bathroom.

There is plenty of time management advice about focusing on 1 thing or top 3 things per day.

I take a different approach.

Use one calendar for all of my time. Google Calendar follows me everywhere for all of my time.

Thoughts on Paper

Forget paper calendars. I know too many people who repeatedly lose their little agenda or don’t even travel with it.  Which makes it a useless afterthought.

Hanging in my office is a really nice, big paper wall calendar which was designed by the late Massimo Vignelli. It is very nice decor, but I do not use it.

Change

When you need to shift your calendar events because someone reschedules, how do you handle that?

Simply confirm a new date/time and drag the existing event to the new date/time on Google Calendar. Done.

A calendar change takes one finger on your smartphone. Yes, you can play “Calendar Tetris” by moving calendar time blocks as needed.

If the calendar tool we use is inflexible and cannot handle iteration, change the calendar you are using. Do not wait for change to happen to you. Seek it ahead of the change so you understand it better than after it happens to you. No whining. No excuses. Use your time more wisely. We can all make the time we need based on our own priorities. After all, it is your time. All 168 hours every week. How are you using your time?

Want to know how I schedule meetings and save time doing so? Read this.

Questions?

Blockchain Billions book launched

Leave a comment

Disclosure: Links to other sites may be affiliate links that generate us a small commission at no extra cost to you.

This week, I published an eBook about the Blockchain.

hgg101_blockchain_billions

Blockchain Billions: How this technology will make money and change the world

If you prefer to listen to the interviews from this eBook, you can subscribe to the Blockchain Billions podcast series to hear a new episode every Monday.

You can also find this podcast on iTunes.

The eBook is now available on Amazon.

Questions?

How do I: sleep while traveling

Leave a comment

eyes-33211_1280

Disclosure: Links to other sites may be affiliate links that generate us a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Since I travel up to 100 days a year, I usually travel at night so I waste less of the 24 hours.

Night time is often sleep time. How do I sleep on a plane, train, bus or car?

  1. Don’t drive yourself. I used to drive up to 40,000 miles per year almost entirely for work. Uber works for short distances. Public transit works when available for short trips of an hour or less. Carpools are great too. Buses and trains work equally well instead of driving yourself hours on end. Trains work well for trips under a day. Planes are great for long distances that take more than a day to drive.
  2. Noise Canceling headphones. Not the on-top-of-the-ear or in-the-ear kind, but ones that cover your entire ear. Sound can go through our soft ears, so cover the entire ear and reduce the pressure on your ears. These will drown out most engine noise and other droning noises. You will still hear muffled high pitched noises (like crying babies). These headphones are an amazing investment that is worth it if you travel or work in noisy environments like I do.
  3. Take off your shoes. You can wear socks only once seated. Your feet swell, especially in a plane. Remove your shoes and relieve that pressure to help relax.
  4. Wear a blackout eye mask. Unless you want to be woken up by any flash of light from streetlamps, lightning, laptop screens or mobile phones, wear it. You will feel the difference when you awaken with well-rested eyes.
  5. If you are not tired, listen to an audiobook or podcasts with your eyes closed. That may put you to sleep or at least help you relax. Do not read in the dark. Not worth it.
  6. Sit with seatback as far back as it goes. Yes, that’s right. That is what it is for. No shame, no guilt nor permission needed. Really. Place your bag until your heels unless you already have a better footrest.
  7. If all else fails, close your eyes with your head back against the seat.
  8. Breath deeply and slowly. Good night.

Questions?

Tools I Use: Alarms

Leave a comment

alarm clock icon-black on white

Many people have the challenge of waking up in the morning. They often only have one alarm. With a single alarm noise. Many of us get used to our alarm and eventually ignore the sound it makes.

Some alarms have a snooze button.

Don’t use just one alarm. You can have unlimited alarms at any time using your mobile phone.

Here is how to do this:

  1. Sleep enough hours for the next day: 3 to 9 hours at a time. Don’t stay up for the sake of staying up. That is useless.
  2. Leave your mobile phone in the room you sleep in. Set the phone on airplane mode. Not necessarily at arms reach. You know why. Hint: Don’t use the snooze button.
  3. Add ALL the times you need to awaken on your alarm and leave all of them on the phone for as long as you own the phone. So add an alarm for 5:00AM, 5:15AM, 5:30AM , 5:45AM, 6:00AM, 6:15AM, etc. Keep adding times all the way from the earliest to the latest you need to awaken. Even if you take naps in the afternoon or early evening. Some people much older than I use naps strategically during the day to stay on top of things, often after meals or in the late afternoon.
  4. Add a different sound or chime that will awaken you. Not all noises will be invigorating enough, but alternating the sound for every alarm within the hour is key. Use a different noise for 6 AM, 6:15 AM, 6:30 AM and 6:45 AM, but you could recycle those same sounds for 7 AM, 7:15 AM, 7:30 AM and 7:45 AM.
  5. Leave the alarm volume at the highest level before you go to sleep. The only time I don’t is when I am on a plane while traveling.
  6.  Plug in your phone to charge overnight whenever possible.
  7. Turn on only the times you need the day before. Usually 2 to 4 times ahead of the time I need to be up.
  8. If you have a morning routine, and you know what time you want to awaken on weekdays, just program those alarm times for those days.

Questions?