One of the coolest new features in Windows Vista is the way folder structure is displayed in the locations bar. Vista organizes it in a way that makes it much more readable, and adds new features such as being able to back-track by clicking on folders in the location bar.

Just like any other cool feature on other browsers, someone has taken the idea and turned it into a useful extension for Firefox. Introducing Locationbar2.

There are three main features that make it worthwhile to install Locationbar2:

1. It decodes long confusing URLs that clutter up your locations bar.
2. It allows you to clearly see the website you are on, and its file structure. It makes it really easy to detect phising sites and other fake sites.
3. It lets you click on parts of the site structure to navigate to that directory.

Locationbar2 [addons.mozilla.org]

My laptop and word processor have saved me from the horrors of my awful handwriting. Below are some Microsoft Word 2002/2003 keyboard shortcuts and my particular use of formatting in my lecture notes.

Heading 1/2/3: Ctrl+Alt+1/2/3
To identify key concepts.

Bulleted List: Ctrl+Shift+L
Numbered List: Ctrl+Alt+L
Self-explanatory =)

Bold: Ctrl+B
For emphasizing key terms (followed by a definition in plain text).

Italics: Ctrl+I
For noting exceptions (beginning with “HOWEVER:”).

Underline: Ctrl+U
For key phrases.

Double Underline: Ctrl+Shift+D
For conclusions to questions presented by the professor.

Subscript: Ctrl+=
Superscript: Ctrl+Shift+=
Useful for math courses with exponents and bases. Also handy for making footnotes in essays.

For a complete list see Microsoft’s list of keyboard shortcuts for Word 2002 and 2003.

From grade school though grad school you will be doing presentations at least once a semester. Often these fall toward the end of the term and are your largest project. It is important to make them clear, concise, and memorable. So here are a wide range of tips, tricks, and guidelines to use. Read the rest of this entry »

It seems that nowadays everyone wants to work from home. It isn’t hard
to see why. The advantages to the employee are enormous: less time
spent commuting, more flexibility, and a more comfortable work
environment. So how do you convince your employer to let you work from
home? Sure there are advantages for him, but most employers don’t
trust their employees enough to work without supervision on the
payroll.

This is where clockspot comes in. Clockspot is a time-tracking
application for employers that lets them track employee time from
anywhere in the world. Not only does it let employees punch in and
out, but it logs what project they are working on, summary notes for
their session, and calculates how much you owe them.

From the employer’s view

The employer can log into the online interface and instantly see tons
of useful information about how their employees are working, such as
who is working right now, detailed logs of each employee, how much
money is owed to each employee, as well as vacation time, time
breakdown by project, and an interface to send messages to the
employees to see when they log in.

From the employee’s view

Arguing with your employer over time spent working is a thing of the
past. With clockspot you can clock in via web or through your cell
phone. You can fill out reports on what you did during your work
period so your employer always fells comfortable with you working at
home.

Potential for cheating?

The only problem I see with clockspot is that there is no real way to
see if someone is cheating or not. What stops an employee from
clocking in then playing games? I see they tried to integrate a phone time clock, but I don’t know how effective it is. Obviously the employer could tell
after a couple days when the employee hasn’t accomplished anything,
but it still makes me nervous that I might be paying money without
cause. At the same time, I think that only allowing trusted employees
might work.

Pricing

To top it off, clockspot is a fairly cheap solution. The service
starts at $10 per month, and you only pay $2 per employee and $5 per
manager that you add. I feel really good about this, because they
aren’t just appealing to the larger companies by charging lots of
money. By being completely scalable, they allow almost anyone to use
their service. In fact, I am thinking of using it later for one of my
projects!

Concluding Thoughts

As a student, I have no direct application for clock spot right now,
but boy do I want to! Clockspot is the best employee time-tracking online timesheet
I have ever seen. Not only is it full in features, but the interface
is slick and fun to use. Think Basecamp but slicker. For anyone who
needs an employee time-tracking application, I would highly recommend
Clockspot.

Clockspot: employee time tracking.

To read my complete journey to GTD Mastery see the main post.

Step 1 to GTD Mastery is: I have read Getting Things Done from front to back.

Duff, creator of the GTD Mastery 100, placed this as the first step. I believe that actually reading GTD is essential to attain a complete implementation.

I first read GTD during my high school summer break in 2005. The book created a dramatic shift in the way I thought about and defined working. Today, I can’t remember much of my pre-GTD days. I can’t recall what I did in terms of time management because I didn’t actually have a system. What I can remember was academics being much more of a struggle in my first two years of high school than the following years.

For those first two years, I was a fairly average student. My parents always instilled in me the importance of education so I studied hard, but didn’t study smart. As a result, I would just squeak into a spot on the honour roll. I specifically remember last-minute essays, unproductive group meetings, and a lack of extracurriculars. I was disenchanted with the concept of all work and no play. I dedicated that summer to finding a solution.

It didn’t take long. A quick search on time management brought up Wikipedia’s article on the subject. As I read the article there was a profound statement by David Allen:

You can’t manage time, it just is. So “time management” is a mislabeled problem, which has little chance of being an effective approach. What you really manage is your activity during time, and defining outcomes and physical actions required is the core process required to manage what you do.

It was after picking up GTD that I actually began to enjoy academic life. The predominant result was better grades (much to the pleasure of my parents), but I wasn’t actually studying any harder (they didn’t need to know). In fact, I found myself doing less work. My classmates were still stuck in the cycle and I felt guilty when they would exclaim their frustrations (which I used to echo). I now have big plans for dealing with that guilt, the topic of a future post.

With a self-generated decreasing workload, I put the free time to good use joining the tennis and volleyball teams. I also took on a co-head coach position for both the girls volleyball and softball teams. This was definitely the most rewarding aspect of my high school years. Athletics to this day is a large influence on my life and it was amazing being able to give back to something that has given me so much.

GTD gave me the time to give and that is just as important as a mind like water.

The 50 or so readers of my original blog, ttGTD, know that my original intention for blogging was to document a student’s journey of completing the GTD Mastery 100. This series of posts will do just that.

This will be the anchor post to reference my completion of the steps in 100 other posts.

The Basics

1. I have read Getting Things Done from front to back.

2. I have a calendar, which is always on hand.

3. I use my calendar for appointments and day-specific items only.

4. I have a physical inbox, which I use daily.

5. I have an email program, set up the way I want it.

6. I have voice mail, set up the way I want it.

7. I always have a way to capture ideas and get them out of my head, in all contexts (notepad, laptop, voice recorder, etc.).

8. I have a place or places to keep Next Actions lists, accessible in the right context.

9. I have a Master Projects List.

10. I have listened to GTD on audiobook.

11. I have a list for tracking “Waiting For” items.

12. I have lists for tracking “loaned out stuff” and “stuff I’m borrowing.”

13. I have a folder marked “inbox” on my computer for downloaded files.

14. I have a tickler file or reminder system in place which is fun and fast to use.

15. I have a paper file system which is fun and fast to use, perhaps using an automatic labeler.

16. I only have physical actions on my Next Actions lists—no multi-step projects.

17. I have a weekly review scheduled for each week.

18. I maintain a “Someday/Maybe list,” and regularly review and update this list during daily and weekly reviews.

19. I have dedicated physical office space set up.

20. I have all the office supplies I need (p. 92).

21. I have mobile office space set up, if needed.

22. My computer files are set up for maximum productivity.

23. I attend a weekly productivity group centered around the GTD methods.

Freezing food this holiday? Be sure to read up on this guide to freezing food.

Feeling unlucky lately? If you think you are suffering from a streak of back luck, read How to Crush your Losing Streak over at Dumb Little Man.

Pouncy emailed in and recommended iTunes Export, which lets you export your iTunes library file as a standard playlist file.

That College Kid tells us what not to do in a formal paper.
Lifehack talks about why it’s better to aim for an A in school than an A+.

Dumb Little Man says what we have been saying all along, that more screen equals more productivity.

Rebecca outlines the differences between High School Writing vs Scholarly Writing.

Frusterated that you can’t get WiFi on your laptop from upstairs? No worries, try this hack to double your WiFi strength.

Snag-it is an extremely useful piece of software that captures sections of a screen, scrolling windows, menu items, etc. and allows you to fiddle with the images, including call outs, effects etc.  I use it all the time, particularly for putting together presentations.  If you can find it somewhere and show it on your screen, you can capture it and use it easily and elegantly.

GTDWannabe posted about it today.  You can get a fully licensed version of the software for free.  Now, it’s a version behind, but it is fully and legally licensed.  You can try it out for as long as you want.  If you decide to buy the upgrade, the price is half the new purchase price.

You can download (English version) and request a license from TechSmith’s site.  I have done everything I’ve ever needed with the version they are now giving away for free, so while I will be evaluating the new version the free version is fully featured and includes most of what a student will ever need.