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Posts tagged iPhone
The 5 Types of Work That Fill Your Day
Mar 11th
What type of work are you doing right now? Reactionary work? Problem-solving work? Insecurity work? A look at how to manage your work energy smartly.
2×4: An Interview With Stephen Hackett
Mar 11th
2×4: One series that examines two topics, creativity and productivity, by asking those who make things on the web the same four questions on both subjects.
Many of us appreciate the devices in our hand, on our laps and upon our desks. Few understand their heritage. Now heritage may seem like a strange choice of word for describing technology, but as the industry of personal computing matures, its history becomes more and more important, as do the people who truly know and understand their evolution. One such writer, a man so dedicated that he has Clarus the Dogcow tattooed on his ankle, is Stephen Hackett of 512 Pixels fame. The site that is named after the number of pixels across on the original Macintosh (which boasted a 9-inch, 512×342 monochrome display for those of you who aren’t running to Wikipedia).
Now with heritage and history often comes with an air of pomposity. Hackett has none of this. In fact, in both his writing and his various podcasts, the guy is relatable, inventing and often outright hilarious. He has the knowledge, but not the airs. His passion for technology encourages you (or at least me) to learn more about the devices I take for granted on a daily basis. If you’re at all interested in technology, journalism or design, you won’t do better than his 512 Pixels blog. Or the newly created 512 Podcast along with fellow 2×4 alum, Myke Hurley of the 70 Decibels network for that matter. His passion for knowledge also goes beyond technology and into a variety of (often unusual) topics on his podcast, Ungeniused.
Without further ado, here’s a look at informative look at the world of Stephen Hackett.
Creativity
Have you always considered yourself a creative person?
I have. As a kid, I always was writing or sketching.
What mediums and inspirations do you gravitate toward to realize your creative goals?
Sometime between 7th grade Art Club and giving up on my art degree two years in to it, I thought I could become some sort of artist as a living. You know, a hip graphic designer who could draw and paint, too.
It turns out while I am pretty handy with a Wacom tablet and Adobe software, I can’t draw or paint. Not even a little. I can, however, write. So I suppose my mediums of choice are the pixel and the written word.
If you had to point to one thing, what specific posts or creations are you most proud of and why?
2011 marked the first time I ever really wrote a lot of personal posts on 512 Pixels. That said, I am super proud of Two Years and The Fifth Floor, which are both posts about my wrestling with the fact that my three year old has brain cancer.
Any suggestions for those who feel they may not be creative enough to unlock their inner artist?
While I’m sure most people would say “Don’t give a shit about what others think,” for me, not caring what I think is more important in many ways. I often find myself dismissing one of my own ideas before I act upon it, censoring myself. Sometimes, that can be good, but for me, it often means that I don’t do things that I probably should.
Productivity
Can you describe your current personal and professional responsibilities?
Sure. First and foremost, I’m a husband and the dad of two small kids. With our son still in and out of the hospital for various tests and things like physical therapy, we’re busier than the average 4-person family, I believe.
From 9-5, I work for The Salvation Army as the IT/Multimedia Director for The Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center. The building is currently under construction, and is slated to open late this year. I oversee all of the IT, audio video and multimedia stuff. If it involves data, pixels or electricity, my department is there, ready to work.
How do you go about balancing the personal, professional and digital?
I get it wrong all the time. I am late to work because I can’t tear myself away from breakfast, but I check work email before bedtime. The system I outline below helps, and I’m trying to be more intentional about separating work from home.
What tools and techniques do you find yourself counting on to get through your workload?
I say this often: my life is in OmniFocus. I have folders for home, work and the website. Inside those folders, I have dozens of projects, with lots and lots of tasks.
For capture, I use Field Notes notebooks. There’s always one in my back pocket. A couple times a day, I take any tasks and move them in to OmniFocus. When in the car, I use that Siri-on-the-keyboard feature to get things in to my OmniFocus Inbox without crashing my truck.
Notes and reference information live as plain text files in Dropbox. I get to them via nvALT on my Mac and Notesy on my iPad and iPhone.
What is the best starting point for the unproductive amongst us, who are looking to get more organized?
Something like OmniFocus isn’t going to help you get off the ground. Get some colored index cards, assign a color for work, home and other and go to town writing stuff down.
Michael Schechter is a Mac geek who rambles about how technology impacts our productivity, our creativity and our lives. You can connect with him over on his blog Schechter or as @MSchechter on Twitter.
Lifehack Presents: The Doit.im Mini User Guide
Mar 10th
There are a host of free task and project management applications on the web as well as for Android and iOS. But, Doit.im is a fully cross-platform application (Windows, Mac, Web, iOS, Android, and mobile web) that seems to fly under everyone’s radar even with its new interface and awesome features.
Here is a Mini Guide to using Doit.im to get things done.
Adding tasks
Getting your tasks into Doit.im is pretty easy, mostly becausethere are interfaces for both web and iOS/Android. That means you can add tasks quickly from anywhere.
On the web
To add a task simply tap the Add task icon at the top left of the screen. The Add Task dialogue will appear. From here you can fill in your task details like it’s name, a brief description, whether it’s a next action, a deadline, a project, context, flag, tag, repeats, reminders, and even delegation to a contact.
Of course, when collecting you may want to just do the infamous, “brain dump”, and then add these details later. You can do that by clicking on the Inbox selection on the left under the Collect heading. There, you can add tasks quickly by typing in the text box and hitting enter to add it to the list. You can also us the Smart Add Shortcuts for adding tags, projects, contexts, due dates, etc.
On your mobile device
You can simply tap the big ol’ plus button at the bottom of the screen and enter your task information.
You can fill in all of the task details if you want, but if you don’t, the task will go to your inbox for later processing.
Process tasks
Next, you need to process your tasks that you added to the inbox. You can make your tasks into projects, give them due dates, assign them contexts and tags, and even schedule them for next actions, someday/maybe, or waiting for. Before you do that we need to setup some contexts.
On the web
To add a new context click on the ‘+’ button on the bottom of the left sidebar and choose New Context. A dialogue will popup and you can add a new context like Online, Mac, PC, Phone, Office, etc. After you have added contexts, you can process your inbox by dragging them to the left sidebar on the appropriate context that they need to be completed in.
You can also drag your inbox items to a different “focus”, like Today, Next, Tomorrow, Scheduled (which is actually done when you give them a due date), Someday, and Waiting. Once you drag your tasks from your Inbox to a new Focus, they will reside on that list and not be in your Inbox anymore.
On your mobile device
Processing tasks on your iPhone or Android is a little less intuitive, but you can still have a go of it when you are on the go.
To process a task that is in your Inbox go to the Inbox from the home screen, tap the task you want to process. You can easily move the task to a different Focus by tapping the Move To button at the top right of the screen and choosing a focus. If you want to change any of the details of the task like contexts, tags, project, etc., tap the Edit Task button at the bottom of the View Task screen.
The only way to add new Contexts on your mobile is to create a next task, scroll down to the context option, tap it, scroll to the bottom of your contexts and tap the New Context button. Once you do that for one task though, the context will be available for all tasks.
Dealing with projects
One of the best features of Doit.im is the way what it supports grouping tasks by projects.
On the web
To add a new project, click on the ‘+’ button at the bottom of the left sidebar and choose New Project…. From there you can fill in the project details and even give it a default context. After you have created your new project you will see it in the left sidebar under the Projects menu.
To view a project, simply click on the project’s name in the Projects menu on the left sidebar. Here you will see all of the tasks that are related to the project, the ones that are marked as next, scheduled, someday, waiting, and even the completed and archived ones. To add a new task to the project you can drag the task from the inbox (or any other list) to the project in the left sidebar, or you can add a task with the Smart Add box at the top of the Project view screen (the same way you can add them to the inbox).
Another way to add a project is to use the handy Convert to project button at the top of the Inbox. Simply highlight a task in your inbox and click the Convert to project button. The project will be added to the Projects list and you will be taken to the new project’s view.
On your mobile device
To create new projects on your mobile, on the Home screen tap Projects and then tap the ‘+’ button at the top right. From there you can enter the important details of the project.
To view a project you can go to the Projects list and tap the project whose information you want to view. You can see all of the info that you can see on the web version, like you next actions, waiting fors, scheduled tasks etc. To add a new task, simply tap the huge “+” at the bottom of the screen to add a task directly to the current project’s next actions.
Filters and Grouping
Another nice touch to Doit.im is the new Filters feature where you can filter your tasks and create other views (think Toodledo’s search feature and/or OmniFocus’s perspectives). Also, you can group your tasks in any way you see fit on almost any list. As of now Filters are not supported on the native iOS and Android clients.
Filters on the web
To add a new filter, click the Advanced link next to the search box in the header. At the filter dialogue you can put in information like the status of the task, priority, a deadline, the context or project. You can even sort and group the tasks buy a number of attributes. After you have set your properties of the filter you can give it a name and save it. The new filter will show up in the left sidebar under the Filters section.
These filters are very powerful. For example, you can view tasks that are related to only work projects, require a phone and a computer, are due in 2 days, and sort them by due date. You are only limited by what you can think up. To bad we can’t add these to our mobile devices yet.
Grouping
You can easily group tasks in any list by clicking the Group by link at the top of the list and choose which attribute your want to group by. Couldn’t be easier.
A seriously, deep application
I’ve been watching Doit.im for a little over two years now and I have to say that it is finally starting to come into its own. With it’s excellent project handling, easy task input, grouping and filtering, Doit.im seems to be a seriously underrated task management application.
Doit.im does have some issues, sometimes slow syncing and app responsiveness as well as lack of continuity in design and features, but overall, Doit.im is one of the best free GTD/task/project management apps available today.
With the help of this Lifehack mini guide, start using Doit.im to get some stuff done on any platform.
How 30 Minutes a Day Can Increase Your Intelligence
Mar 9th
If you ask me, where humans go wrong is with their lack of patience. That, and their recent acquired taste for instant gratification.
The reality is that things take time. Richard Branson didn’t become a millionaire overnight. Madonna was not an overnight success. David Beckham was not born a superstar footballer.
That said, it’s actually pretty easy to improve yourself. Why?
Because most people don’t bother.
The majority of people don’t do a single thing to improve themselves. They just coast along expecting the world and everyone else to change for them and then get frustrated when they end up stuck in a rut.
So I’ve come up with a new theory: The Half Hour Theory.
I love it because it’s actually pretty easy to integrate into your life. The general idea is that you do one small thing every day for half an hour and then as time goes by you gradually improve. Sounds obvious, doesn’t it? You’d be surprised how many people don’t do the obvious. They do a lot of ‘talking about the obvious’ – but rarely do they take action.
This could take the form of half an hour’s reading every day. Doing so for one year will mean you have read the equivalent of 24 books – that’s more than most people read over a decade, let alone one year!
You may even want to improve the speed of your reading so you can learn faster. It could take the form of half an hour of study everyday – a new language or a new skill. This would equate to a full 6 week course by the end of the year.
This theory could even rely on you taking a half an hour every day spending time on the Internet, researching into something that really interests you. Doing this will ensure that you are always up to date with new trends and breakthroughs in your area of interest.
The point is that by dedicating a small amount of time every day to something that will expand your intelligence or improve your life in some way, you will (after a while) notice a large result.
How half an hour can increase your intelligence
Here’s how to implement The Half Hour Theory:
- Pick something you’ve always wanted to learn or become more proficient in.
- Schedule in a half an hour everyday to devote to learning the new skill (early morning is often a good time as there are no distractions, times during a commute are also great as this is dead time).
- After a considerable amount of time (a few months at least) check in to see what you’ve learned. You’ll be surprised to see how much progress you’ve actually made.
- Don’t beat yourself up if you miss a few sessions – simply get back on track. Remember: you’re doing more than the average person even if you fall a little bit off course.
- Be patient. Don’t expect results overnight. It takes time to build up a new skill.
(Note: If you’re not sure how to get started, here’s a handy list of 60 ways to improve yourself in the next 100 days.)
(Photo credit: Post-It Note on Screen via Shutterstock)
A Survival Guide for Beating Information Addiction
Mar 9th
Post written by Leo Babauta.
Are you suffering from information addiction? It’s a growing problem as people spend more and more of their time online — and while online tools are amazing, being addicted to checking them can steal most of your day.
You know you’re an information addict if you:
- Check email, Facebook, news, or some other social network first thing in the morning and last thing at night.
- Are constantly on your mobile device when you’re away from home/office.
- Can’t get away from the computer in order to get outside, exercise, or spend time with people while disconnected.
- Are constantly posting to Facebook or Twitter or Instagram, or texting/emailing, when meeting with other people.
- Can’t get important work done because you have to check your messages.
- Feel anxiety if you’re completely disconnected for more than a few minutes.
- Can’t imagine spending an entire day disconnected.
Now, if none of these seem like a problem for you, even if you do them, then they probably aren’t a problem. But if you see yourself in one or more of these and want to change, this guide is for you.
This survival guide isn’t the ultimate guide to beating an addiction, however — it’s a set of tips and techniques I’ve used to survive the constant pull of the online world.
First Steps
Don’t know where to start? These first steps can be done today.
1. Assess your habits. What are you addicted to most? When are you most likely to be sucked into your addiction? For the rest of today, and the next several days, keep a handy little piece of paper and a pen/pencil with you, and write down the things you check often, putting a tally mark next to those things each time you check them. A TV news channel? Facebook or Twitter or G+? Pinterest or Reddit? Keep a tally so you know what you’re dealing with.
2. Introduce the pause. Addictions are something we often do automatically, without thinking. Start to break this chain of trigger-habit auto-response by wedging a small pause in between them. When you get the urge to check something you’re addicted to, notice this urge, and pause for just one second. During this pause, simply ask yourself, “Do I really want to do this, and why?” You can then go on to do it, no matter what the answer, but the important thing is having at least the briefest pause.
3. Take a break every hour. Even if you’re stuck on the sites you’re addicted to all day long, take 1o minute breaks once an hour. Set up an hourly reminder on your computer, and when that reminder pops up, get away from the computer. Take a walk for 10 minutes. Stretch. Do some pushups and squats. Clean your messy house. Write in a notebook, or sketch. Talk to someone in person. Drink some water and have a fruit. Meditate. When you come back to the computer, try closing the browser for a few minutes and doing some non-Internet work before going back online.
Changing Habits
Over the long term, you can change your habits. This will take a month or two, so you’ll want to fully commit to a change. Any change done half-assed won’t last.
1. Start with your biggest trigger. Assuming you’ve done the assessment and introduced the pause as recommended above, you should know your most common triggers — the things that cause you to go check something. That might be things like: starting a work task (and wanting to avoid it), getting on a bus/train, waking up, eating, getting a notification on your phone or computer, being bored or stressed, thinking of something you want to look up. Whatever your triggers are, pick the one that happens most. If there are several, just pick one of those randomly.
2. Pick a replacement habit. What do you want to do instead of checking email, Facebook, Twitter or the like? Pick something positive and fun that you can do in 5 minutes every time your most common trigger happens. That might be: reading a few pages of a novel, journaling, doing pushups, taking a walk, drinking water, meditating, writing, painting, practicing a language, writing a letter with paper and pen, etc. You’re going to try to do this every time the habit happens, instead of the actual habit.
3. Do the new habit after the trigger, every time. Don’t allow any exceptions, or you won’t form the habit. A new habit is formed much faster, and more strongly, if you do it extremely consistently after the trigger. If you’re inconsistent, and still do the old habit, you are allowing the old habit to stay in place. Now, just because you miss once or twice doesn’t mean you should give up — just start again and try to be more consistent, figure out why you failed, and plan to beat that obstacle. But set a rule that you’ll allow no exceptions!
4. Use positive public pressure. Having accountability helps. Blogging about your new change, or posting it on Facebook or Twitter (I know, a bit ironic), can help you feel some public accountability. Tell everyone you know that you’re not going to check Facebook (for example) within 15 minutes of starting an important work task. My friend Michael Ellsberg uses negative consequences (something I’ve done in the past as well): if he eats sugar or refined carbs, he has to make a donation to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign (not a good thing for Michael, who is not a Romney supporter). Leverage the power of social media to beat social media.
A Balanced Life
In the long run, it’s good to have an idea of what life would be like if you’re not controlled by an information addiction.
How will you work? What will you be like if you’re not checking things all day? Some things to consider:
- The goal isn’t to eliminate all information sources and be shut off from the online world. It’s not to throw out your iPhone or laptop. These tools are incredibly useful and powerful — obviously I make my living using them, and they have changed our lives in so many positive ways. The idea is simply not to be controlled by them, and to have a balanced life that includes other activities.
- Schedule time for non-Internet and non-media activities. That means actually block them off on your schedule. If you want to exercise, block off some time during the week for exercise (even just 30 minutes 3 times a week). Schedule time to spend with your friend and loved ones. Schedule time for a walk in solitude.
- Work without distractions. Each morning, figure out the 1-3 important things you’re going to get done that day. Do the first one first, before diving into email and online distractions. Shut down your browser if you can. If necessary, do the work somewhere without Internet, or unplug your router and give the router cord to someone to hold for an hour. Turn off all notifications on your computer and mobile device. Close everything but what you need to do your task. Learn to focus.
- Schedule a limited time for your information sources. How often do you want to check email and Facebook (or other sites)? Pick a time and schedule for using these tools in your life, and set a limit — twice a day for just 15 minutes a session, for example. This limit allows you to use these tools but also have time for other things, and it forces you to decide what’s important within that limit and to use the limited time efficiently.
- Choose your sources wisely. Cull your information sources and tools to the most important. Sometimes we use things just because everyone else is, but they might not be really adding much to our lives. For example, I deleted my Facebook account last year, and haven’t missed it. My life goes on! You might decide to delete your Instagram or Pinterest account, to save yourself from endless browsing of things that aren’t really important, for example. You might decide to only read 10 really good blogs instead of 50 ones that take up your attention. Your attention matters — you should only give it to the things that make your life better.
- Get some sleep. A lack of rest makes us less able to focus, and more likely to deviate from a plan of any kind of self-control. It also makes us more likely to be distracted by the Internet, according to a new study. Make rest a priority.
How to Write for Lifehack
Mar 9th
If you’ve been a reader of Lifehack for any length of time, first off – thank you.
Secondly, you’ve probably noticed that we have a wide variety of guest contributors who offer up tips, tricks, tutorials and more. But have you ever thought about contributing yourself?
If you have and you’re looking to do so, we’re always on the lookout for fresh material. And this piece here will let you in on how to write for us here at Stepcase Lifehack.
The Application Process
Everyone who wants to write for us here at Lifehack has to apply using a short application form. The form asks just a few simple questions (along with gathering the email under which you’d like to apply):
- Who you are and whether or not you own/have a website you write for. This portion is pretty self-explanatory. It’s best to put something in the website spot – even a Twitter URL will work so that we have a sense of a presnece online that you have control over how you present yourself.
- Which topic(s) do you want to write about? The main categories we have at Lifehack are as follows: Communication, Productivity, Management, Lifestyle, Financial and Technology. They are fairly broad in scope and while you may be able to write for all six categories, don’t feel you have to do so. There’s a lot to explore in each category, so if you only feel proficient enough in one of them then only mention that one. You can always expand your areas out later on if you begin to write for Lifehack. Take a look around and see what’s been written here both in the past and currently to get an idea of what we’re looking for in each category.
- Do you have any sample work? This is key. Whether you provide us single URLs for an entire website that you are the sole contributor for or you send us samples from across the web, if you don’t put anything in here then your chances of making it through the application process are slim to none. If you write for a site that features multiple authors and you want to showcase your body of work there, you can usually do that by clicking on your name in a post you’ve written – that will give you a URL for all the posts you’ve written there.
After you submit your application, give us a couple of weeks to review it so we can decide if you’re going to be a good fit for Lifehack. If you don’t hear back from us within that time frame, it means that your application didn’t make the cut; there are a number of reasons why this may happen, so please don’t be discouraged by it. You can always re-apply at a later date.
If you’re approved, you’ll get a welcome email from one of our editors, outlining some of the basics you’ll need to get started writing for us right away. Some of these particulars include your username and password, a link to sign up for a newsletter that allows us to regularly update our contributors and a request for a bio for us to use beneath your articles.
Now you’re ready to contribute for us. So what else do you need to know?
The Basic Guidelines
Every submission for Lifehack must meet the following criteria to make it to the editing phase:
- Articles should be at least 600 words in length.
- Articles must be original work from the author – and unique to Lifehack.
- Articles cannot contain any self-promotion – including links and/or references to authors’ own business, or affiliate links. Your bio is where this kind of stuff can go (excluding affiliate links and in a limited fashion).
As a Lifehack contributor, you also must agree to our Content Contribution Policy, which is listed on our Contribute page.
So…Are You Interested?
Writing for Lifehack will give you and your work quite a bit of exposure, and you’ll be able ot say you’ve written for a site that has worked with the likes of Chris Brogan and Leo Babauta. Both of these former Lifehack contributors have gone on to do spectacular things, and you can start to head down a similar path by doing some specatacular things right here and now.
So what are you waiting for? Now that you know how to write for Lifehack, it’s time to start the journey to actually writing for Lifehack! We’ll hope you’ll look into joining us soon.
Questions? Feel free to leave them in the comments area below.
(Photo credit: Green Key via Shutterstock)
Mike Vardy is a writer, speaker, and "productivityist". You can read more of his writing and learn more about him at Vardy.me, and he can be found on Twitter as @mikevardy.
Why You Should Work While Others Are Sleeping
Mar 9th
“If only I had more time in the day…”
Everyone wants more time in their life.
Well, you have time.
You just aren’t choosing to use it.
The Magic Hours
When people say that they don’t have time to pursue their dreams, they often say it is because there are not enough hours in the day.
I ask them, “What are you doing from 4 to 7 AM?”
I usually get incredulous looks, followed by threats if I affect their sleep time.
Then I ask, “How late were you up last night? …And what were you doing?”
This is usually followed by confessions of hours of TV or web surfing.
When I suggest they get up early to pursue their goals, most people say that they are not a morning person.
Yet, for most people, the early morning is one of the best times to do important things.
To workout… to write that book… to pursue that dream… whatever it may be.
The hours from 4AM to 7AM are magical hours.
Most people are sleeping.
This is when dreams get done…
Goals become real…
And the impossible happens.
What could you accomplish during these magic hours?
How Badly Do You Want It?
Every goal has a cost. Every dream requires dedication and sacrifice.
Are you will to do what is necessary to reach yours?
Or will it always remain… just a dream.
Here a 5 Ways to Use the Magic Hours to Reach Your Dreams:
- You DO Have Time – You have the time, you just aren’t using it wisely. Stop staying up til midnight watching mind-numbing TV or endlessly surfing the Internet… or worse. Get some sleep. Then get up early and get to it!
- Do What Others Will Not Do - Doing the extraordinary is not easy. If you want something badly enough, you have to be willing to do that which others will not. Successful people do things that most people view as impossible.
- It IS a Choice – “I couldn’t do that.” “I am not a morning person.” Wrong. You could do that… you just aren’t willing. You could be a morning person, but you choose not to be. Instead, work while others sleep.
- Pay the Price -You want your dream, but are you willing to pay the price for it? You have to be truthful with yourself. For example, you want to get in shape, yet you are not willing to get up and go running each morning at 5AM. Every dream has a price, they are never free.
- Early Gets it Done – Getting your important work done early is a powerful motivator. You will have accomplished more before others get up, than they will accomplish all day. While others are dragging themselves into work, you will have a spring in your step knowing that you have already done great things.
Find Your Magic Time
4-7AM.
This is magic time.
It is when uninterrupted work gets done…
It is when dreams get built…
It is when dedicated individuals pursue things that others choose not to do…
Stop having dreams and start making them happen.
Find your magic.
Question: Do you use the magic hours of the early morning?
Facebook Pages: A Look at the New Timeline Design Features
Mar 9th
As with everything it does, Facebook divided opinion recently with its controversial move to a timeline design that according to the social networking giant will ‘tell your life story through photos, friendships and personal milestones’. There are those who really like the new layout, enjoying further levels of customization on their profiles, and viewing the changes as an opportunity to completely control the way their viewed online.
And then there those who utterly loathe Timeline, either because it reminds them too much the Myspace of ol’, suddenly brings to light ill-advised status updates and embarrassing photos from years past, or perhaps because they just can’t deal with change.
Whether we like it or not, Timeline is here, and it’s coming to Facebook Pages too.
If you manage a Facebook Page, you’ve probably noticed the large box looming ominously over said page announcing that from March 30th, all pages will get a new design. Facebook have given us all a few weeks to preview the new design, which comes with the following new features:
Cover images
Perhaps the biggest and most noticeable difference with the new design is the cover. If you’re not already familiar with this, the cover is a large image you can place across the top of your page.
If you use a Facebook Page to advertise your business, you’ll probably be disappointed by guidelines which insist your cover image must not include promotions, advertisements or any other kind of call to action, including:
- Contact information including website addresses
- Anything encouraging visitors to ‘Like’ or ‘Share’ content, including placing arrows from the cover image to those buttons on your page.
- Any price or purchase information, so no ‘50% off from mywebsite.com’ or anything like that.
That said, this does give you the chance to be creative with your cover image, selecting something that’s both appealing to the eye and which creates a great first impression.
Default Landing Tab
There’s further bad news if you’re using your page to sell and make money, with the announcement that the Default Landing Tab, which were previously used to direct first-time visitors to a tab other than the Wall, shall be no more.
It’s still possible to point people on Facebook to a tab of your choosing by paying for an advertisement linking to that tab, but to entice people towards that all-important ‘Like’ button without shelling out the cash, you’ll need to find creative ways to do so from within your timeline.
Pins and highlights
That’s not to say you’re completely doomed, as the new design does offer a couple of handy tools to make your biggest stories stand out. First, there’s the chance to ‘highlight’ a key story, placing it prominently on your page simply by hovering your mouse over the top-right corner of a post and hitting the star button.
If you decide that a post is so important that it should be the first one people see, you can ‘pin’ that post permanently at the top of your page in much the same manner.
Edit your tabs
Further customization options allow you to rearrange the order in which you display the various tabs on your page. Your Photos tab must stay first in the pecking order, but from there, you can hover over any tab, click the little edit button, and chose to swap your remaining tabs in any order you see fit.
Admin panel
Another major change comes in the form of the new Admin Panel. Those used to locating their admin functions (number of notifications, page insights, etc) on the left-hand side of the page, will now find them in a huge, and I mean huge, box at the top of your page.
This has its benefits.
Everything is laid out nice and simply, with page notifications, most recent ‘Likes’ and a handy graphical display of page insights down the left, and, most useful of all, a messages function on the right. This is a big step for Pages, meaning fans can now send a direct private message to the page, rather than to your personal account, and that you can respond in kind.
If you decide you don’t want this option, it can easily be turned off in your admin settings, easily found in a big drop-down menu marked ‘manage’ at the top of this panel.
The only downer on what is otherwise a great tool is the size. Again, the thing is enormous and is quite the distraction if you’re only interested in getting at your page content. Still, flicking the ‘hide’ button at the top of your panel solves that problem, whilst accessing the panel is as easy as hitting the ‘Admin Panel’ button.
Where to next
Once you’re comfortable with the big changes to your page, it’s time to play around with some of the smaller features, such as adding milestones to tell your story. However you decide to use it, have fun, get creative and enjoy your timeline. After all, it’s here whether we like it or not.
(Photo credit: past, now, future words in vintage wooden letterpress via Shutterstock)
The Secret Weapon: A No BS Approach to Productivity
Mar 8th
I’ve always known the folks behind Brain Toniq were into getting things done, but I had no idea that they were going to build a secret weapon to create a “no BS” approach to do so. But they have, and it’s a pretty compelling system.
Here’s what The Secret Weapon is, as described by its creators:
The Secret Weapon is a free organizational methodology for both professional and personal aspects of life that re-organizes emails, ideas, and every to-do big and small into one system that stays synchronized across a person’s computers as well as their smart phones.
The power behind The Secret Weapon comes from the way it takes the best aspects of David Allen’s popular GTD methodology and bringing them together with what is perhaps the most popular productivity application in the world, Evernote.
It’s really quite brilliant because Evernote is one of the best tools for capturing ideas, notes and the like because of its ubiquity. It is available on virtually every platofrm, and syncs across all of them. That means you can be literally anywhere and Evernote can capture everything you throw at it, locking it down for you to access when you want – whether that is now, soon, or later on.
The Secret Weapon is a system that allows you to better sort out your tasks wherever you want within Evernote (largely based on notebook orientation and tags) and lets you focus your attention on the long-term aspects of your work and life in a much more visible way. And since all aspects of The Secret Weapon are free, the barrier to entry is much lower than other systems that profess to accomplish the same mandate.
Video walkthroughs are available on The Secret Weapon website that outline the approach and the front-end work you’ll need to do within Evernote to make The Secret Weapon take shape. And once you’ve fully implemented it, all of the ideas and tasks in your life await you in a better (and safer) organized manner — and are put into the proper contexts as well. You control The Secret Weapon, which allows you choose when and where you will focus on your ideas and tasks. With The Secret Weapon, the idea is that you’ll achieve that ever-elusive Inbox Zero as a result – and you’ll wind up reaching your long-term ambitions at a far more or efficient and effective way.
Well, I’m going to put that theory to the test.
I’ll be putting The Secret Weapon approach through the paces over the next 30 days, so watch for a follow-up on this in our “30 Days With” series at Lifehack sometime next month. Hopefully after reading that, you’ll know if this is a weapon worth having in your arsenal.
Photo credit: The Secret Weapon
Mike Vardy is a writer, speaker, and "productivityist". You can read more of his writing and learn more about him at Vardy.me, and he can be found on Twitter as @mikevardy.
Getting Better vs Being Good
Mar 8th
Perfection isn't everything. By setting goals based on improvement - rather than looking smooth - you can stretch your potential and reduce your anxiety.