Hack the Day

I know, I know: I promised to make this a bi-weekly column and, so far, I only wrote one article in the series for the past two weeks. But, please, indulge me a bit: last week was a busy one for me - I wrote an article as a guest blogger for none other than Zen Habits, I had a lot of work to do for my day job, and above all I had to take a trip to Paris, France for some personal and administrative purposes.

But now I’m back and gettin’ serious. So, here’s my best links of the week selection:

• CNN’s article on How David Allen mastered getting things done - an amazing insight on the daily life of the GTD inventor. If you loved the book, take a look on this article as well to see who’s the man behind the system.
• How to be great at networking - How to Work the Room - you know it too well, success comes mostly by social means. Being the right person at the right time is also a matter of knowing the right contact. So take a look on this list, it might change your life!
• How to brainstorm domain names gives you a basic view on how to pick the names for your online business. I have a lot more to add on the subject, but I’ll come back someday with a detailed article…
• Innovation is a 4 hour process - how to check if an idea is good, bad or great? Give it a try for 4 hours, the time to get your feet wet.
• Gina Trapani from Lifehacker - Separate your email from your to-do’s practical advice on productivity; this time, about the importance of separating your systems
• Planning a startup? Here’s Crash Course In Startup Assumptions and Lessons Learned - never hurts to hear a fresh opinion on a startup, right?
• This week’s personal favorite? Life Learning Today’s Break These Rules for Success! - change the rules, think outside the box, stop bending to social conventions

Old habits die hard, and as much as the continuous progress wants us to change we still fight these artificial urges. We are builders, makers, do-it-yourselfers; or, at least, the heirs of some. My grandfather used to do by himself all kinds of stuff around house - masonry, carpentry, agriculture and much more - he had built his own bed, sofas, fireplace; even his own motorcycle, from the spare parts of two different models bought in the junkyard.

Me, I’m not a builder, but I do love getting things done once in a while, especially when I get to save a few bucks. Call me cheap, but I really don’t see the point on spending 30 bucks for a laptop sleeve I can make on my own for less than 1$. For less than 10 cents even.

Read »Make yourself an unique laptop sleeve on the cheap«

One day (this Monday) I felt like jinxed - plenty of unfortunate coincidences, one after the other, tens of minor ingredients adding up to the classic recipe for a bad day. I was angry, furious. I know, sh*t happens, but I hate it when it happens all at once. Maybe Karma has something to do with it or it could be just God’s way to show us he still exists.

Then I remembered an article I had read over here: people who smile get happier, even against their will. Our brain is so used to associating the feeling with the gesture that it actually works both ways.

Angry as I was, I forced myself to smile. And, against all odds, it worked: I instantly felt better. Like magic.

So, yes, here’s the magic tip - whenever you feel down, just SMILE! Doesn’t matter what you’re thinking of. Just smile.

That’s it. The single best happiness tip.

Enjoy

Here comes summer, holidays and trips to foreign countries…

I lived in Paris and its suburbs since 2003 to 2006. No big surprise that I fell in love with it - I sincerely believe that it’s the most beautiful city in the world(though Prague, visited 2 years ago, isn’t bad either). Now, after having left France’s capital for more than a year, I’m returning there this week in a short 5-days trip with my girlfriend.

But please, shed no tear - it’s the perfect moment to write down what I missed most about this beautiful city, and start a blog tag game, named Your favorite city’s 5 best spots. While this is not necessarily a post on productivity or life improvement, it is about discovering the not-so-obvious beauties of your favorite city . So please feel free to join in!

The rules are classic - if you’re tagged you must join in, if you’re not but would want to, do it anyways, but also drop a comment below so we can keep the record: write the blog post about the best 5 places/things to do in your favorite city, link back to the blog who tagged you and, at your turn, tag three other blogs.

Me, being a stinkin’ cheater, I’m going to break the rules and share with you a 15 things to do in Paris, as in 3 times as much:

• 5 main tourist sights in Paris
• 5 romantic getaways in Paris
• 5 not-to-miss eating spots in Paris

Read »The 5 best spots in your favorite city«

A post I wrote as a guest blogger on ZenHabits.net came out today, and you’d better be interested in it:

8 practical tips to cure your internet ADD - I talk about the quick ways to discover and track your internet dependency, and a few easy steps everyone can do to keep their internet addiction under control, remaining productive by eliminating distractions.

Zen Habits is an amazing blog on zen, healthy living and productivity, written daily by the extremely talented and very cool Leo Babauta. If you were to pick the one blog you MUST read to make your life better, Zen Habits would be it. I swear!

This is the last of a 3 article series on dealing with the stress of an upcoming event. We talk about an exam, but most tips apply to tests, interviews, business meetings.
Go read, if you haven’t already, Part 1 - The evening before
and Part 2 - The morning before

Stress handling during the exam

Pointers:

If blocked out, breathe
Don’t panic
take a break, think of something else
break the writer’s block - write down anything
reread the subjects
underline the key points
sketch out ideas of solutions

Read »20 easy steps to handle the stress of an upcoming event - Part 3«

This is part 2 of a 3 article series on dealing with the stress of an upcoming event. We talk about an exam, but most tips apply to tests, interviews, business meetings.
Go read, if you haven’t already, Part 1 - The evening before
and, once you’re done with this one, continue with Part 3 - Handling the stress during

I guess you had a nice pleasant sleep after all the relaxation from the evening before. Or, yet again, maybe you didn’t. You woke up at 6 AM although your exam, interview or presentation only starts at 10 AM. You might have had nightmares that you went unprepared and woke up sweating in fear. Read »20 easy steps to handle the stress of an upcoming event - Part 2«

This is part 1 of a 3 article series on dealing with the stress of an upcoming event. We talk about an exam, but most tips apply to tests, interviews, business meetings.
Once you’re done with this one, continue with Part 2 - The morning before and Part 3 - Handling the stress during

I don’t handle stress very well. When I was a little tiny insignificant secondary school student, the stress before exams was unbearable - I felt sick, couldn’t focus, couldn’t remember a thing. Luckily I grew up and now, after being through a LOT of such experiences, I developed my own stress-handling routine - it’s now a habit that I apply subconsciously, whenever facing a stressful upcoming event - exam, interview or business meeting.

Let’s, for the story sake, assume you’re having a final exam for a class with a high failure rate. Or, if you prefer, a job interview with lots of applicants and several tests involved. Stress is building up in stages, starting with the evening before the event. Try to follow along the most important stress relief pointers: Read »20 easy steps to handle the stress of an upcoming event - Part 1«

Starting today I’m going to put together a bi-weekly link roundup of the best articles that I read in the field of productivity & computing tips and personal improvement. After all, it’s a pity to spend so much researching my favorite hobby and not share my findings with the world

• 10 Diet Hacks to keep you slim  (lifehack.org) I particularly digged  the part with “accelerating your metabolism by eating 5-6 small meals a day”. I’ll tell about it to my mother as well, she’s been trying to get slimmer for ages.
• Here’s a Tip: Start Thinking for Yourself - I agree, sometimes I fear thinking in “tips” might become the default way our society sees things, and analytical thinking will disappear hidden somewhere in Wikipedia’s pages.
• How To Get Off The Treadmill: A Detailed Guide To Becoming Self-Employed -probably the most detailed and complete article on the subject. Better, for instance, than Steve Pavlina’s  series on self-employment : 10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job or 10 Myths About Self-Employment
• Lifehacker’s detailed how-to  on Virtualize AND dual-boot the same Windows on your Mac -I was always reluctant to install BootCamp on my Mac, being afraid I might mess things up. This detailed tutorial walks you through it and, even more, details using BootCamp with Parallels.
• Zen Habits has one amazing piece detailing, by the minute, the blogger’s life - How I Work: Zen Habits Applied to My Life - yes, apparently living a full and productive life IS possible.

It’s been a couple of years since I had my last university exam, but I still remember a thing or two from it - especially from the exam season(the rest of the time I was working or simply skipping classes). My girlfriend, on the other hand, is right now in the heat of her summer finals. This collection of tips on how to study better for your exams is dedicated to her and to all the readers out there who still need to pass an exam or two once in a while.

Read »How I aced most exams (in spite of skipping most classes)«