01.15.10
With this first edition of Label & Narrow Web for 2010 we are focusing on productivity. Personal productivity has come a long way from the mundane time management techniques popular in previous decades. There is even a new term for it now: life hacking. According to urbandictionary.com, life hacking "is the act of making small tweaks to everyday activities in an effort to make them easier and more efficient." To help jumpstart your new year here we review some of the most popular life hacking blogs.
To call Lifehacker.com a blog is like calling a Ferrari a car. While it is technically true, it doesn't begin to tell the whole story. LifeHacker is one of the Top 25 blogs in the world, according to Technorati, and it is part of the Gawker Media blog empire. The team of writers at Lifehacker churn out 15-20 articles a day and readers add to the content by submitting dozens of tips of their own every day. To read everything would take a long time. You can do what I do and just scan the headlines, or if you are interested in something specific, Lifehacker makes it easy for you to subscribe to only the articles you want. Every post is "tagged" with several relevant words that give an idea as to the subject of the post. For example, if you have an iPhone you can subscribe to posts that are tagged #iPhone through the RSS button in your browser. Like most productivity blogs, Lifehacker has a technology slant, but it is certainly targeted at the general population, not just computer geeks.
As the name implies, Business Hacks is all about "hacks" with a business focus. It is really a business tips blog that describes itself as "technology tips, tricks, and hacks to make your workday work better." Business Hacks is part of BNET, the online business network that is owned by CBS Interactive, the online arm of CBS. There are two authors, Rick Broida and Dave Johnson, and they each post a couple of times a day. While the focus is technology tips, Business Hacks certainly doesn't make things complicated. They are targeting business professionals, after all, many of whom have only a limited knowledge of technology.
Productivity501 is the blog of Mark Shead, a management consultant for a small consulting firm in the Midwest USA. The focus here is on practical tips that you can use right away. For example, a recent post demonstrated how to create a Receipts file by saving individual emails from vendors as files in your My Documents folder. My only complaint about this blog is the ads at the top of posts. I don't blame him from running ads to try to make some money from his blog, but the Google Adsense ads certainly reduce the visual appeal of his blog. He writes only a couple of times a week, so you won't get overwhelmed by new content if you subscribe to this blog.
Getting Things Done (GTD) is the name of the popular productivity book by David Allen that was published back in 2001. A whole niche industry has been established based on the success of this book that includes such things as software, paper planners, file folders, and seminars. The GTD Times blog is also part of that industry. It is the official blog of David Allen and his company and the home of "all things GTD." To get the most out of this blog it certainly helps to have read the book, but even if you haven't there are still many sound productivity principles that anyone can use. Recent posts discussed the best way to track projects and managing email in Microsoft Outlook. The one negative point at GTD Times is that it is a little self-promotional with many of the posts talking about various GTD products. But for GTD disciples this blog is a must read.
Here is that term again: Lifehack. Stepcase (based in Hong Kong) defines lifehacks as "any tips and tricks that get things done quickly by automating, increasing productivity and organizing." Another wildly popular blog, Lifehack has a team of writers who present a mixture of personal and business posts. There are many "how to" articles, such as the recent "How to Stay Productive During the Winter Holidays" and "Keeping Your New Year's Resolutions." If you want a blog that you can enhance your business as well as personal life, then this might be the one.
Lifehacker (http://lifehacker.com/)
To call Lifehacker.com a blog is like calling a Ferrari a car. While it is technically true, it doesn't begin to tell the whole story. LifeHacker is one of the Top 25 blogs in the world, according to Technorati, and it is part of the Gawker Media blog empire. The team of writers at Lifehacker churn out 15-20 articles a day and readers add to the content by submitting dozens of tips of their own every day. To read everything would take a long time. You can do what I do and just scan the headlines, or if you are interested in something specific, Lifehacker makes it easy for you to subscribe to only the articles you want. Every post is "tagged" with several relevant words that give an idea as to the subject of the post. For example, if you have an iPhone you can subscribe to posts that are tagged #iPhone through the RSS button in your browser. Like most productivity blogs, Lifehacker has a technology slant, but it is certainly targeted at the general population, not just computer geeks.
Business Hacks (http://blogs.bnet.com/businesstips/)
As the name implies, Business Hacks is all about "hacks" with a business focus. It is really a business tips blog that describes itself as "technology tips, tricks, and hacks to make your workday work better." Business Hacks is part of BNET, the online business network that is owned by CBS Interactive, the online arm of CBS. There are two authors, Rick Broida and Dave Johnson, and they each post a couple of times a day. While the focus is technology tips, Business Hacks certainly doesn't make things complicated. They are targeting business professionals, after all, many of whom have only a limited knowledge of technology.
Productivity501 (http://www.productivity501.com/)
Productivity501 is the blog of Mark Shead, a management consultant for a small consulting firm in the Midwest USA. The focus here is on practical tips that you can use right away. For example, a recent post demonstrated how to create a Receipts file by saving individual emails from vendors as files in your My Documents folder. My only complaint about this blog is the ads at the top of posts. I don't blame him from running ads to try to make some money from his blog, but the Google Adsense ads certainly reduce the visual appeal of his blog. He writes only a couple of times a week, so you won't get overwhelmed by new content if you subscribe to this blog.
GTD Times (http://www.gtdtimes.com/)
Getting Things Done (GTD) is the name of the popular productivity book by David Allen that was published back in 2001. A whole niche industry has been established based on the success of this book that includes such things as software, paper planners, file folders, and seminars. The GTD Times blog is also part of that industry. It is the official blog of David Allen and his company and the home of "all things GTD." To get the most out of this blog it certainly helps to have read the book, but even if you haven't there are still many sound productivity principles that anyone can use. Recent posts discussed the best way to track projects and managing email in Microsoft Outlook. The one negative point at GTD Times is that it is a little self-promotional with many of the posts talking about various GTD products. But for GTD disciples this blog is a must read.
Stepcase Lifehack (http://www.lifehack.org/)
Here is that term again: Lifehack. Stepcase (based in Hong Kong) defines lifehacks as "any tips and tricks that get things done quickly by automating, increasing productivity and organizing." Another wildly popular blog, Lifehack has a team of writers who present a mixture of personal and business posts. There are many "how to" articles, such as the recent "How to Stay Productive During the Winter Holidays" and "Keeping Your New Year's Resolutions." If you want a blog that you can enhance your business as well as personal life, then this might be the one.