I use a lot of Google’s applications to stay organized and productive, but I’m especially fond of Gmail. In its standard form, it’s a fine email client that makes it easy to stay on top of that mountain of email, but with a little customization you can use it to become even more efficient. Here are six super ways to send Gmail into productivity overdrive.
1: Enable super stars.
You know how Gmail has the standard Gmail star, enabling you to highlight certain emails in your mailbox? Now you can make it a super star! Enable Superstars within Labs (found in “Settings”). Once enabled, you can select the super stars you’d like to use by dragging and dropping them within the “General” tab under “Settings.”
We like stuff, it’s fair to say, and I only just said so earlier today, in fact. But like having multiple applications running at the same time, having lots of gadgets close at hand will unavoidably split your focus — which is a bad thing if you’re trying to do more singletasking like me, and less driving yourself insane doing 50 things at once.
So as part of my new program of simplification, I’m re-evaluating what kind of kit I roll with on a regular basis. My weapon of choice used to be a large, multi-pocket bag (or two) with ample room for my computer, camera, and countless other attendant knickknacks including portable hard drives, USB keys, and most recently, a small secondary screen for auxiliary tasks like monitoring Twitter or my IM client. Read the rest of this entry »
Everyone has their favorite tricks to keep focused while working at the computer. Mine can be summarized as “out of sight, out of mind…but easily accessible.”
The Spaces function is one of the nicer features that I discovered in OS X when I started using a Mac as my main machine a couple of years ago. Spaces allows me to open programs in multiple virtual desktops, then move between them using mouse movements or hotkeys. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: adium, Facebook, Google Reader, Mac OS X, nambu, prism, remote desktop, songbird, spaces, twitter, virtual desktop
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The only reason I don’t have a dog yet is the prospect of morning walks in Paris winters. But I’ve survived three of those now, and have decided I’m going to get the dog anyway. So I’ve been trolling local animal shelter sites regularly. I thought I’d found one last week, but somebody beat me to him. The search goes on.
This is not only about my wanting a dog; it’s more about the lifestyle changes and bad habits that can gradually take hold when you start working from home, if you’re not careful. Read the rest of this entry »
I’ll admit, I haven’t always tracked my time when it comes to my clients and their projects. Although I always knew roughly how long things took me to complete, until recently, I never kept a more detailed record.
The longer I continue this practice, the more I’m coming to appreciate it. Here’s why it pays to track.
#1: It helps with finding the “time sucks.”
You might realize after tracking your time for a while that certain types of projects are less profitable than others. For instance, if you’re a ghostwriter, you might make considerably more writing blog entries than in-depth white papers. If so, you can adjust your pricing or service offerings to compensate. Read the rest of this entry »
Not all teleworkers are lucky enough to have a large house. This means that designated office space will be limited. In fact, many teleworkers I know work from a partitioned corner of their kitchen or living room. If you’re in a similar situation, planning your home office can be a challenge. What can you do to have an efficient workspace in a small area?
Spend time planning your space. It’s best to make a visual plan so that each square foot is accounted for. Doing this saves more time and effort over moving furniture around on the spot.
Read the rest of this entry »
I’m a compulsive digital fiddler.
Not often, but it happens. Sometimes I get so intimidated by work that I end up procrastinating online. I started my workday at 6 a.m. last Monday hoping to get the week off to a good start, but I found myself reading a Wikipedia entry on the many versions of “Blade Runner” three hours later.
While these incidents are few and far between, I’d rather avoid them altogether. Every time I catch myself returning to bad habits, I take the following steps to get right back on the wagon: Read the rest of this entry »
Editor’s note: With this post we welcome Amber Riviere to the WebWorkerDaily team. Amber is a web designer with BrownBugProject.com. She lives in Louisiana, working alongside her very old boxer, Annie, and her energetic love bird, Sebas (see-bass).
I can always tell when I’m just putting out fires (moving from one “urgent urgency” to the next).
“What? A client needs help with an über-pressing concern, and it has to be handled right now or his web site will explode? I’ll get on that right away!”
“What, Ms. Prospective Client, you have the ultimate web project, but you need a quote within the hour? No problem.”
It always starts with checking email first thing in the morning. Open, read, react, and an hour later, reply. Open, read, react, and an hour later, reply. On and on it goes, until it’s two o’clock and not one smidgen of paid work has been done, or if it has, it’s been done in a haphazard way, usually at the client’s demand instead of using my own tried-and-true schedule and system. By the end of the day, I’m zapped and feel like a heel for allowing my work to control me, instead of the other way around. There has to be a better way! Read the rest of this entry »
