Holistic Business

The ultimate guide to producitivity meme was started by Ben Yoskovitz and I first read about it on Dawud Miracle’s blog.

Now I’ve been tagged by Jenn Givler.

The question is:

So what’s your secret to being productive?

Well, I have to say, at the time I read Dawud’s post, I was stuggling myself with productivity and staying focused. After having it rattle around in my brain for the last few weeks, just this week (and it’s only Wednesday morning as I’m writing this), I began to try out Dawud’s tip - and I’m lovin it!

I work in 50 minute increments. Then for 10 minutes - I leave my office. I spend 10 minutes doing something else. Not laundry, not dishes, not picking up the various things that get left all over the house. I go outside and look at my flowers, I pet and play with the dog, I sit on the porch and work on a crossword puzzle - but I do something I find relaxing.

After those 10 minutes - it’s right back to the office.

I always took short breaks before throughout the day, but having a schedule for them really seems to help. No more looking up and realizing 3 hours have gone by and my eyes feel like onions. I return after those 10 minutes anxious to pick back up where I left off.

At first I thought that was too often and was going to cause me to lose concentration. Now, it’s only been 2 days that I’ve done this, but so far it seems to have added time to my day.

Thanks Dawud - I’ll have to head over to your blog and thank you too!

One of my own tips is to always have a pad of paper and pencil nearby. I get struck with ideas when I’m involved in a relaxing activity and don’t seem to remember things as well as I used to. This time of year I like to garden. I find it very soothing to get my hands in the dirt. As I relax, I tend to get inspired. And I don’t remember things as well as I used to (did I say that already?). It drives me nuts to be doing something and have an idea that has me all excited and then an hour later be pacing back and forth in my office asking “Now - what in the world was it that I wanted to do/email/research?”

OK - my turn to do some tagging. Vickie Turley, Danielle Keister, and Shann Vander Leek - you’ve been tagged!

I’m doing the same thing I did the last time I was tagged. I’ve tagged two people I know quite well, and one who does not know me. Shann and I have never had a conversation, written or otherwise, but I do enjoy her blog and figured this would be a good opportunity to let her know and to say thank you for the Inspiration Widget! For those of you on a Mac, you know what a widget is. Well, Shann had a True Balance Life Coaching widget designed with inspirational quotes. I love it - thanks Shann! You can read about it and get the link for download here.

Well, here are the “rules” of this project from Ben’s Instigator Blog:

1. Write a post on your best productivity tips. Challenge yourself by picking your single best productivity tip (although this isn’t a requirement; you can give us more if you want!)
2. Include links to other people that have written posts, or include their tips in your post with proper attribution.
   

   Note: I’m not asking that you link to everyone in the group writing project meme; pick the ones you want to connect with. You certainly can link to everyone, but it’s not a requirement. I like leaving more decision making power in your hands so this isn’t just a link grab, but you’re thinking about what your audience & community wants to read about.

   A link back to this post is appreciated though, to help spread the word!

3. If you use Technorati Tags then tag your post “ultimate guide to productivity”.
4. Tag others in your post to spread the meme. Tag as many people as you like!
5. If you link back to Instigator Blog and email me I’ll make sure to include at least 2 links back to you. But this isn’t a requirement, it just helps me keep track of what’s going on.

Technorati Tags: ultimate guide to producitivity, Ben Yoskovitz, Dawud Miracle, Jenn Givler, Vickie Turley, Danielle Keister, Shann Vander Leek, True Balance Life Coaching

Where is that folder???

Do you have a lot of folders in “My Documents” and find yourself using a few of them quite often? Maybe you have to scroll for them because they are down a ways in the alphabetical chain? But you like to keep a tidy desktop and don’t like to create shortcuts for everything?

I’ve got a great solution for you.

Go into “My Documents” or wherever you have all these folders. Find one that you always have to scroll for. Click it once, wait a sec, then click it again. DON’T DOUBLE CLICK! Or you will open the folder!

The second click should highlight the folder name in a little box. Put the cursor in front of the first character and click - this should unhighlight the entire name.

Now - insert a space (hit the space bar) so that the first “character” is a space. You are renaming the file with the same name, just a space in front of it for those of you familiar with the process in renaming a file.

Click away from the folder to save the change - and WA-LA! The folder should now be showing first in the list!

Cool - huh?

Just don’t blame me if you do this with forty folders and still have to scroll!

This way, you can put a shortcut on your desktop just for “My Documents” or wherever you keep your most used folders and only have one shortcut and still save yourself a lot of time.

Clean computer desktop and a saved step - can’t beat that!

Oh, BTW - this works on PCs and Macs. I use a Mac myself for the most part and love to find tips that can be shared across the board.

~ ~ ~

Just a little side note: if you are a Holistic Business owner interested in networking - check out Holistic Business Networking. I’ll be sharing tips there too and be keeping my eyes out for specific questions about time saving computing tips. Believe me, being a Virtual Assistant has me always on the prowl for timesaving tips for myself and my clients!

Namaste ~ ~ ~

Technorati Tags: Holistic Business, Holistic Business Networking, Virtual Assistant

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later.

I received my first file that was saved on the new Windows Office 2007 System. Crud!

For those of you that don’t know - I’m on a Mac. Double crud! But - I do love my Mac!

I do also have a Windows based PC I not so affectionately refer to as my coffee grinder/lear jet because of all the noise it makes.

So, I didn’t even notice at first that this document has a .docx extension until I can’t open it. I didn’t want to have to fire up old Bessie and I felt certain there would be a way for me to open it.

After a quick online search I came across the answer as to how to open it and thought I’d share it here.

1. save the file to your desktop (or elsewhere, this is just easier I think)
2. click on the file name and replace the .docx with .zip
3. unzip the file
4. open up your Safari browser
5. choose -> File -> Open File
6. locate the folder on your desktop
7. locate and click the “word” folder
8. choose the “document.xml” file

You should now be able to read the text in your browser window. It won’t be pretty or formatted but you will at least be able to view the text.

What would be best is if users of the new 2007 applications continued to save under the old 3 digit file extensions (even those on a Microsoft PC won’t be able to open them unless they’ve kept up with all the Compatibility Packs) but that probably won’t happen.

I did read that a fix for Mac users is due out early Spring, but in the meantime hopefully this will help.

If you need help opening Microsoft 2007 files on your Mac, drop me an email.

I’ll spend some time on the old coffee grinder in the next few days and post for all of you on PCs that may not know exactly what to do when it comes to the updates and such to be able to open these files.

Advances - gotta love them . . .

Technorati Tags: love my Mac, Microsoft 2007 files on your Mac