SimpleProductivityBlog.com—Because a fulfilling life doesn't have to be complicated.

Book Review: Bill’s Imperfect Time Management Adventure

Posted on May 6, 2013 by LJ Earnest

I am always on the lookout for new time management pieces to slot into my current system. When Francis Wade emailed me and asked me to read and review Bill’s Im-Perfect Time Management Adventure: A Business Fable, I thought why not?

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Open Loops 5/3/13: Articles I Think Worth Passing Along

Posted on May 3, 2013 by LJ Earnest

On Fridays I pull the best of my blog readings — my open loops — to share with readers. Topics can come from anywhere, and cover anything. This week I pull articles on weather in your browser, steady learning, soil pH, cleaning up email newsletters, information vs. knowledge, simple simplicity, not waiting until the last minute, internal spring cleaning, and blocking auto-playing music in browsers.

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Practical Simplicity: The Media Diet

Posted on May 1, 2013 by LJ Earnest

I have so much information thrown at me every day, yet I feel like I learn little.

I had gone on a media fast a few years ago, but honestly, things have crept back up there. I started to check the news frequently, parse dozens of blogs and websites, read all sorts of magazines, just because I was afraid I would miss something.

I was deep in information overload.

Photo by h.koppdelaney

Where Do Your Hours Go?

Posted on April 29, 2013 by LJ Earnest

Have you ever gotten to the end of a day with nothing accomplished and have no idea where the time went? Or sat down for a minute at the computer just to look up hours later? Or decided to check something on your phone, only to lose an hour?

Photo by TANAKA Juuyoh

Open Loops 4/26/2013: Articles I Think Worth Passing Along

Posted on April 26, 2013 by LJ Earnest

On Fridays I pull the best of my blog readings — my open loops — to share with readers. Topics can come from anywhere, and cover anything. This week I highlight information on how to make a funnel out of foil, cleaning copper pans, organizing roll wraps, avoiding writing, finding ripe watermelons, charging an iPad from a PC USB port, “escape” behavior, extra things your iPhone can do, urgency, auto-flagging email from different sources, and having a love affair with your smart phone.

Sonic PDF Logo

Review: Sonic PDF Creator (iOS)

Posted on April 24, 2013 by LJ Earnest

The makers of Sonic PDF Creator for iOS contacted me and asked me to do a review of their product. Since I had been struggling with getting attachments in email in native Microsoft Office format and the difficulty of reading them on the go, I was intrigued by a program for my phone that would allow me to create these attachments into PDFs on the fly.

In theory, the software works easily. You select the attachment in your email, open it in Sonic PDF, and away you go.

In reality, the software wasn’t that easily used.

Photo by Johan Larsson

Smart Phones: Master or Servant?

Posted on April 22, 2013 by LJ Earnest

Smart phones are good devices. But when not used properly, they enforce bad habits, or create bad habits that can negatively impact not only our productivity, but our relationships and our time structure. Instead of being a tool, the phone becomes a master. We end up serving the phones with all its little beeps and vibrations.