Tuesdays are open loop days at SimpleProductivity blog.

• Interesting. I would have thought it better to be awake when you need to be creative. From Lifehacker’s “Design Your Schedule So Your Creative Duties Fall When You’re Tired”
• From Live Bold and Bloom called “15 Darned Good Reasons Why Self-Help Actually Helps”. I thought interesting.
• A good instruction on how to use a monthly tickler from Simple Mom. “Clearing the “Counter Pile” with a Tickler File”
• I have to admit it – the picture on this article is what made me read it. Who can resist chocolate cake? (Not I!) But the article is actually a good plan, not just for a “lifestyle business”, but for any major project. From Wake Up Cloud’s “How to Build a Lifestyle Business in 2 Hours a Day or Less”
• No one wants to be prepared for this, but dealing with a friend or co-worker who has lost a loved one can be awkward. Wisebread has a great article on “How to Express Condolences Without Saying Something Stupid”
• I am not an early riser. I find it almost impossible to get up before the sun, especially when SAD kicks in full-tilt. It is such a relief to see an article like this one from Lifehack! “Early Riser or Night Owl: Why It Doesn’t Really Matter”
• I am a big Mark Twain fan. The Positivity Blog has a great gem in “Mark Twain’s Guide to Living an Awesome Life: 7 Essential Tips”
• I’m not at this point yet – my daughter doesn’t have any email or accounts that are not linked to my email addresses, but this seems like a good strategy for handling passwords. From Lifehacker’s “Use a Piggy Bank as a Password Escrow Account for Sharing Your Children’s Passwords”
• This is a great strategy for those who feel they have no time to do anything. From Lifehack’s “Forward15: Your Future in 15 Minutes a Day”
• Are you waiting for the “magic” to happen? Read First Today Then Tomorrow’s “The Influence of Unicorns”
• The thing that struck me about “How to Stay Productive in Troubled Times” was “limit the pick-me-ups”. As soon as my stress level rises, I find myself craving sugar. And there have been days when I have caved, and felt much worse afterwards. From Pick The Brain.
• Daniel Markovitz over at Harvard Business Review says that “To-Do Lists Don’t Work”. I think he just overscheduled himself. What do you think?
• “No one ever gets talker’s block.” Oh, I wish! But Seth Godin has a great article on writer’s block. Not that I think it better than “The 7 Secrets of the Prolific”, which deals with the causes. But still… From “Talker’s block”
• As a Girl Scout leader, I will tell you this is all true. But I will also tell you that this is the largest girl-run business anywhere! I love watching the girls learn the business. From Lifehack’s “Evil Genius: 6 Business Tips You Can Learn from a Girl Scout”. Oh yes, it’s cookie time. Support your local Girl Scouts.

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Tuesdays are open loop days at SimpleProductivity blog.

• Here’s one way to put your desktop to use as your productivity center! from The Goddess Guidebook’s “My Desktop Productivity Centre”
• I’ve heard so many times that the economic hard times are over. Yet everywhere I look I see people un- or under-employed, families struggling, and fear. Life Optimizer has a great article on “How to Survive a Recession”
• These habits may not have a concrete impact on your productivity, but they will shift your mind toward a more conducive state. From Lifehack’s “Transform These 5 Habits to Boost Your Productivity”
• Yes! Love the part about turning almost everything off. I find myself less distracted without the constant pinging. From Lifehack’s “On Managing your Life’s Notifications”
• I don’t know whether to laugh at this or be amazed. “Calculate the Best Time to Nap with This Interactive Nap Wheel” from Lifehacker.
• If you use Remember The Milk, this is a good way of getting a handle on all the pesky tasks that seem to pop up and stay on the list. From “Tips & Tricks Tuesday: Cleaning out old tasks with a Smart List”
• I’m with him on this. Nothing ticks me off more than clicking unsubscribe and having to confirm it through email, unless it is clicking on unsubscribe and having the programming blow up on my “+” email address. Oh, and the BCC. I agree wholeheartedly. I resigned from a volunteer commitment simply because the person in charge sent out a notice to 50 of us, then asked that we all reply to all so that everyone knew what everyone else was doing. I pointed out to her that I signed up to bake, not to be deluged by email, and it was her job to figure out what everyone was doing. Oops. This is a long one for an Open Loop. (Inspired by Who Writes For You’s “Let’s Unsubscribe From It All”)
• I like this analogy of being the architect of your life. From Pick the Brain’s “3 Ways To Be The Architect Of Your Own Life”
• The Happiness Project clears away “9 Common Myths about Clearing Clutter.”
• I never would have thought it, but personal experience is showing me this is true at least for me. From Lifehacker’s “Turn Off Your Phone to Quickly Eliminate Stress”
• Lifehacker has an awesome tip for keeping the kitchen a bit tidier. It’s “Organize Lids in Drawers with Tension Rods”
• Another great tip, if you use Remember The Milk, although this one could be adapted to other task managers. Never lose food to freezer burn again with “Tips & Tricks Tuesday: Keeping track of frozen food” from Remember The Milk Blog

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Tuesdays are open loop days at SimpleProductivity blog.

• I am trying to eliminate soda from my diet, first because artificial sweeteners are starting to cause joint pain, and second because I don’t need the calories of non-diet soda. It has been hard, but I got some great tips from Lifehack’s “The Best Way to Kick the Soda Pop Habit”
• Rainx works, but Turtle Wax also works. The trick is to have the doors/walls (never floors!) clean before you do this. It really does cut down on cleaning effort. From Lifehacker’s “Clever Uses”
• This is an excellent tip – I like to leave my desk clean on Fridays so that I can start from a clean space on Mondays. Now if I could just get there at home… from Lifehacker’s “Leave Yourself a Treat on Your Desk on Friday for a Better Monday Morning Start to the Workweek”
• Leftovers can be great, but mostly they taste rather different. Lifehacker has a great guide on how to “Make Your Most Common Leftovers Taste Just as Good As the First Time”
• This is the most thorough article I have ever seen on how to make a pantry work. From Wisebread’s “How to Organize Your Pantry and Save Cash”
• A good article from Lifehack on “How to Have Mental Toughness”

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Tuesdays are open loop days at SimpleProductivity blog.

• I find this idea charming. If you want a fun menu planner that you can take with you, and are a bit crafty, check out Paperclutch’s “A Paper-Clutch Menu Planner Tutorial”
• You need to be aware of “Five Lies Personal Development Gurus Like to Tell”. Change is not easy, so don’t beat yourself up for having a hard time! From Dumb Little Man.
• This is a fabulous tip for keeping kid’s toys under control. (The pain of stepping on a Lego in bare feet is unbelievable!) Parent Hacks shows you how to “Create a “toy zone” with painter’s tape”
• These are some really great things to think about. Nothing too difficult, but will change your course of direction enough to make a big difference. From Life Optimizer’s “20 Simple but Powerful Life Changes”
• I’ve used LogMeIn for years to help manage my mother’s computer from half a country away. The iOS version seemed really cool…and now it’s free! From Make Use Of: “You Can Now Get LogMeIn On iOS For Free [News]“
• OK, I purposely moved from the Frozen Tundra to where there was almost no snow. But this app would make living there so much easier. Think about it – an alarm clock that wakes you up earlier if there is snow! From Lifehacker’s “Winter Wake-Up Automatically Wakes You Up Earlier If it Snows”
• I’m finding the Information Diet people are talking about a fascinating concept. I think it will be the book of the month for February. But in the meantime, Lifehacker has a great article on how to “How to Start Your Information Diet”
• Some great tips here from Marc and Angel: “28 Ways to Stop Complicating Your Life”

Did you know you can get Twitter and Facebook updates from this blog? For Twitter, look for @SmplProdBlog. On Facebook it’s Facebook.com/SimpleProductivity. You can also find me at Google+ as lj@simpleproductivityblog.com.

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Thanks for subscribing to the RSS feed for SimpleProductivityBlog. More great content can be found on the site at SimpleProductivityBlog.com.

Tuesdays are open loop days at SimpleProductivity blog.

• Timo Kiander goes over in fabulous detail how to do timeblocking. This is a must read article! From “Block Your Time – Effective Time Blocking Techniques To Boost Your Productivity”
• We’re not always conscious of how our own self-talk affects us. From Think Simple Now’s “How to Stop Negative Self Talk”
• OK, so I didn’t get to read this article before 2012, but it’s never too late to wrap up loose ends and get on track. from Time Management Ninja’s “12 Things You Need To Do Before 2012″
• An interesting report on living without goals. From Zen Habits: “100 Days with No Goals”
• Who doesn’t want to be happier? Marelisa talks about 17 ways – simple ways – that can make a difference. From “17 Ways to Be Happier in 2012″
• Getting things done isn’t about getting them halfway done. Here’s “How to Finish What You Start – 5 Steps for Getting Things Done in 2012″ from Marelisa.
• I love the way Mark Forster boils down his new system: Get stuff started and Get it finished. From “Key Principles of the New System III: Getting Stuff Done”
• I agree with this wholeheartedly. I started unsubscribing from all sorts of things, and most of my email went away! YAY! From the Daytimer blog, “Free Your Inbox with This Monthly Routine « The Day-Timer Blog”
• Worry is detrimental, even if we think we’ve got it under control. Pick The Brain has an article on “How to Worry Less: Tips from the Oldest (and Wisest) Americans”
• Yes! “Don’t buy a business book or course just because it’s the hot new thing.” Do you know what happens when you do? You end up with lots of unused stuff. From Copyblogger’s “5 Ways to Kill Information Overload and Start Making Progress With Your Marketing”
• Um. Guilty on all counts? YIKES! Time for adjustments. From Dumb Little Man’s “Are You Making These 7 Productivity Mistakes?”
• This is an awesome idea. I made a throw for our guest room (more to keep the cat hair off the bed than for any other reason) using the same techniques. Total time, about 1.5 hours. Making a pet bed this way would be super easy because it’s much smaller. From Lifehacker’s “Make a No-Sew Pet Bed”
• Great questions to supercharge a life reboot! From Bloom’s “12 Simple Ways to Prepare for Personal Development in 2012″

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Tuesdays are open loop days at SimpleProductivity blog.

• Wow. “60 Tiny Love Stories to Make You Smile”.
• Some great reminders on happiness from Tiny Buddha at “Being Happy in the Present: See the Tree”.
• I’m glad to see this article from Lifehack.org. Saying you can only build one habit in 30 days is like saying that when doing laundry you can’t do anything else (there is always room to do something while the machines are doing their job). So yes to multiple habit building! From “How I Learned 5 Habits in 30 Days”.
• Did you ever wonder why sometimes it is so hard to get things done? Dumb Little Man has a great list of “27 Productivity Killers: Why Nothing Ever Gets Done!”.
• The holidays are over, but there are always gift-giving occasions. Wisebread has a list of “31 Great Gifts That Keep on Giving”.

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Tuesdays are open loop days at SimpleProductivity blog.

• I love how Heinrich at the Positivity Blog always focuses on real solutions to problems. In “How to Turn a Bad Day Around: 5 Helpful Steps”, he does a wonderful job. My favorite? Being grateful. It never fails.
• A good reminder from Leo: it counts what you do today. From “» Get Back on Track”
• My only question with this is “why”? From Lifehacker’s “Tipping Teacup Eliminates Tea Bags, Balls, and Other Infusers”
• I haven’t been this excited about something for a long time! I see another “break” product coming out of this. From Lifehacker’s “DIY Food Item Magnets Help Keep Track of What’s in Your Freezer”
• I can’t be bothered with coupons. How about you? Do you believe in them, and follow Lifehacker’s tips? Or do you ignore them too? From “The Best, Non-Crazy Ways to Use Grocery Coupons”
• To me, I don’t need balance and serenity so much after a productive day, but rather after a frantic hyper-productive one. Some great tips from Life Optimizer’s “10 Ways to Find Balance and Serenity After a Productive Day”
• A great article from Dumb Little Man on “5 Small Things You Can Do Today to Infuse Your Day with Positivity”. And they’re not all about changing your thinking!
• I agree with this article from Lifehack. Some of us are just not morning people. I’ve used most of these tips with some success, but others I will try. (For the record, I have an alarm clock in the bathroom so that I have to go into another room to turn it off!) From “7 Morning Hacks to Jumpstart Your Day”.
• Some great tips on how to “How to Cleanup Your Web Reading” from Lifehack.org.
• An interesting question from Dumb Little Man: “Is Time Management Really Such a Good Idea? – by Dumb Little Man”
• Concise advice from the folks at Daytimer on “4 Ways to Avoid Schedule Overload Each Day”
• This post was aimed at writers, but I think it applies to goals in general. From Writer Unboxed, “Be a More Confident Writer: 5 Choices That Might Be Hurting Instead of Helping”
• “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you always got.” The Positivity Blog has some ways to change things up a bit at “21 Ways to Do the Unusual Thing Today and Start Creating a Positive Change in Your Life”

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Tuesdays are open loop days at SimpleProductivity blog.

• Yes, and yes, and yes! I am feeling the pinch of always being in “do” mode and not enough in “plan” mode. More about this in the new year, but *read this article* from Lifehacker: “Why Your Schedule Should Have a Weekly Appointment Dedicated to “Thinking Time”"
• What would be on your list of things to be happy about? I’m going to write mine out for the days that seem rather gray. From Wise Bread’s “Big List of Things to be Happy About”
• An interesting set of items from Wise Bread: “6 Ways Money Really Can Buy Happiness.” I just had a conversation with a friend about winning the lottery. I still really want to win the lottery simply because I want to have the joy of giving it away to causes I care about.
• This list of tips from Lifehack are right on the money. My workplace has been hit with round after round of management changes, layoffs, firings, quittings, alignments and benefit cuttings. Yet those who have managed to stay the course exhibit all of these traits. From “How to Stay Positive in the Workplace”
• Is your information consumption out of whack? Mine sure is. Consider it with Lifehacker’s “This Is What a Healthy Information Diet Looks Like”
• NaNoWriMo is over, and I haven’t written a dot on the 2012 novel since. I keep telling myself I don’t have time. Marelisa Online busts that wide open at “20 Ways to Make Time to Write”
• Do you have trouble getting things completed? The Positivity Blog talks about how to get there at “How to Get All the Way to Done”
• The title of Enough Time Mom’s article says it all: “3 Easy Fixes for an Unproductive Week”
• An article from Get Rich Slowly talks about picking up coins, both pros and cons. The writer made me laugh at one point, with “Bank employees also know that most money is unspeakably germy. They treat it all as though it came from under fresh piles of dog poo.” From “Why I Still Pick Up Pennies”
• This article from Get Rich Slowly has a good point: we should spend money on the things we actually do, rather than on the life we wish we had. From “Spend on the Things You Do Every Day”
• I still view Facebook as a giant time sink. And my opinion wasn’t changed after reading this article at Wisebread. What do you think? Productive? Or not? From “10 Ways to Make Facebook Productive”
• This is something to consider as we face the new year. From Dumb Little Man’s “7 Warning Signs That You’ve Given Up on Your Dreams”
• It isn’t often that I read about a new app and think, “I need to check this out!” But this one grabbed me. Has anyone else used it? From Lifehack’s “Bloom: A Different Kind of Productivity App for the iPhone”

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Tuesdays are open loop days at SimpleProductivity blog.

• Two great tips for making it more likely you’ll get your tasks done from Enough Time Mom’s “2 Secrets for Making a To-do List You’ll Get Done”.
• The author of the Freeware TodoPlus contacted me to let me know about his application. It looks like a good alternative to the feature-overloaded programs that are out there. Find it at “To do list software for Windows and Mac”.
• If you’re interested how those CAPTCHA forms work, and the purpose of the second word, head on over to Daily Blog Tip’s “Trivia: How reCAPTCHA Works”.
• It’s coming on to winter in the Northern Hemisphere. Are you saving all the money that you can? From Mainstreet.com’s “The 5 Best Tips for a Cheaper Winter”.
• Some great ideas on keeping kids busy from Wisebread’s “25 Ways to Entertain Your Child for Free or Cheap”.
• Broccoli is a great veggie – and frozen is hard to beat. But if you think that the only way that you can use it is as a side dish, think again. Wise Bread has a great article on “25 Cheap and Tasty Frozen Broccoli Recipes”. I’m going to try the pancakes!
• Who hasn’t had a problem with work motivation? Life Optimizer gives us some tips on how to get your motivation back. I was particularly pleased with the inclusion of a favorite book of mine, “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” From “Work Motivation in Just 12 Steps”.
• It is just important to rest as it is to get things done. A short little help on this from T. Thorn Coyle at “The Waters of Renewal: On the Importance of Rest”.
• Sometimes all it takes is a little push to get us going. Marelisa shares “15 Simple Tips for Overcoming Resistance”.
• In Over Your Head has a really interesting article about how our systems are broken and what we can do about it at “We need Dungeon Masters for the real world”.

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Thanks for subscribing to the RSS feed for SimpleProductivityBlog. More great content can be found on the site at SimpleProductivityBlog.com.

Tuesdays are open loop days at SimpleProductivity blog.

• A great article from The Simple Dollar about little things you can do to jar yourself out of a rut that seems too big to get out of. From “Nine Things You Can Do Today to Improve Your Life”
• Productivity can get bogged down in lists, details and reviews. Lifehack has a great article about “How to Make Productivity Fun”
• Wow. Chris Brogan really blows through every excuse in the book in “106 Excuses That Prevent You From Ever Becoming Great”
• Are you overly busy? Zen Habits has a list of how to identify it, and what to do about it at The Silliness of Busyness

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