Open Loops 2/1/2013: Articles I Think Worth Passing Along

Posted on February 1, 2013 by LJ Earnest
Categories: Open Loops
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 8 seconds

Fridays are open loop days at SimpleProductivity blog.

In a heroic effort to get through my blog reading backlog (which had articles from October!), I pressed through the list. So today’s open loops is a bit longer than normal.

• One of the best things you can do to get creative juices flowing is to try something completely new…without any pressure or deadlines. I have found this to work to get me out of creative ruts many, many times. From Lifehacker’s “Give Yourself an Hour a Week to Work on Unnecessary Projects for a Creativity Boost”
• If you ever find yourself wanting to catch up on a large number of posts from a site, but want to do it off-line, Ebook Glue looks promising. From Lifehacker’s “Ebook Glue Transforms Blogs Into Ebooks”
• This makes me feel good. Google has teamed up with WWF (World Wildlife Fund, not the World Wrestling Federation) to provide drones. The goal? Stop poaching. From Fast Company’s “Google Drones Launch In Africa”
• I really, really want this for my area. Karma shares Wi-fi…and the person doing the sharing gets rewarded for sharing. From Fast Company’s “Karma’s Share-And-Save Wi-Fi Scheme Is The Digital Answer To Mary Kay”
• This is one of the best tips to get you started getting rid of stuff. When clearing out a space, go for the easy. That means get rid of the trash, or anything else you don’t have to think twice about. From there it becomes much easier. From 365 Less Things’s “Deal with the easy stuff first”
• Wow. This is a great list of things you can do — little things — to refresh your surroundings and life! From Get Organized Wizard’s “10 Ways To Refresh Your Life For The New Year”
• There is great relief in getting the hangers-on off the task list. Daytimer talks about this in “Today’s Productivity Tip: Check Off Lingering Tasks”
• What do you think? Adding 20 seconds between you and the start of a bad habit would keep it from happening? I’m curious. From Lifehacker’s “Use the 20-Second Rule to Form Better Habits”
• OK, I mis-read the title of this one at first. But the concept intrigued me: the importance of being UNreasonable. It’s the people that don’t go with the flow that make changes in the world. From Pick The Brain’s “The Importance of Being Unreasonable”
• This is cool…get all of your laundry out of the dryer with one swoop! From Lifehacker’s “Remove Laundry From Your Dryer Easily with a Clean Towel”
• The Awkward part is the best tip for preventing premature sending of email. From Smart Pretty and Awkward’s “Smart Pretty and Awkward – December 7, 2012
• I need to adjust the heat in my house. The (idiot) builder put the thermostat for the upstairs in the place where it is heated by the downstairs. It’s always a guessing game to get the temps right in the bedrooms. This article shows you how. From Bight Nest’s “Has Your Central Heating Gone Crazy? There’s a Cure!”
• This is a great idea to avoid mold on shower curtains. From Lifehacker’s “Hang Your Shower Curtain’s Bottom Corner to Improve Drainage and Avoid Mold Growth”
• One of the fastest ways to make your kitchen look neater is to clear off the counters. Becoming Minimalist has a great point about appliances – even when you use them daily. Read more at “The Simple Guide to a Clutter-Free Kitchen Counter”
• An excellent way to get two meals from one – freeze half and avoid the leftovers that would be thrown out anyway! From Parent Hacks’s “Simple casserole hack doubles your dinners”

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