Open Loops 8/11/2009: Articles I Think Worth Passing Along

Posted on August 11, 2009 by LJ

Tuesdays are open loop at SimpleProductivity blog.

Photo by Shoes on Wires I don’t think anyone purposely sets out to waste money. Wisebread’s “47 Simple Ways To Waste Money” has some unexpected ways that some of us waste money. It’s a light-hearted look at money “leaks”.

Our society encourages us to be always “on”, which means cutting back on sleep. Dumb Little Man’s “11 Reasons Why You Absolutely Need More Sleep” gives some in-depth and researched reasons why you should not cut back.

At Unclutterer, “10 uncluttering things to do every day” has some good things. I do most of these things, but for different reasons. For example, number 1, “If you have pets, make your bed.” I make my bed because I believe a made bed contributes to a feeling of calm in the bedroom. I had noted the beagle-sized dents in the spread every afternoon and noted that the dog is apparently taking advantage of our absence to sleep on the bed (a no-no). But making the bed to keep the fur out never occurred to me. A double reason for those of us with allergies!

My #9 is “Make the coffee and set the timer” and #10 “Make lunches ahead of time”

Lifehacker highlighted Cool Timer at “Cool Timer Helps You Stay on Task – Downloads”. I checked out this application, and it is great little timer. However, for the (10+2)*5, I am currently using another timer called Instant Boss, written particularly for this method of working. More on that later.

Dustin Wax’s article “The Productivity Threatdown” talks about threats to productivity. Reading the article made me aware of things encroaching on my productivity. I especially like #0, but you’ll have to read it to find out the tip.