« Library Software - A Love-Hate Relationship? | Main | Boosting Teamwork with Wikis »
February 18, 2008
LifeHacker Overload
It's ironic, really. Regular reading of the blog that offers "Tech Tricks, Tips and Downloads for Getting Things Done", LifeHacker, is a sure route to information overload. I mean, come on now, if I read all of these great ideas, I wouldn't have time to get anything done! And isn't that the opposite of what they're going for?
But I can't stop. This is great stuff. Today's feature, "How to Stop Checking Email on the Evenings and Weekends" makes a very interesting point. If you want to stop getting so much email, you need to stop sending it! Of course, why didn't I think of that. The more we try to get done, the more inundated we become. Here's another piece of advice I particularly like. "Don't scan email if you can't immediately fix problems encountered." It's true, I've been guilty of taking a quick look on a vacation day, but I'm trying to break that habit for this very reason. Nothing ruins a good vacation day than reading an email with a problem you can't fix until you get back to the office.
So, you see my problem. My RSS reader says I have 414 LifeHacker entries to catch up on. How can I truly be efficient if I can't keep up with blog entries on how to be efficient?
Here's my LifeHacker-like solution. Instead of reading the entries on a regular basis, I've been searching LifeHacker when I have a question. For example, when I needed to know how to create a slideshow of my Flickr photos, off I went to LifeHacker to run a search on "Flickr" and "slideshow". I'm researching web conferencing tools, so I run a search and find an interesting entry on a free service call Yugma. Hmm, I'm definitely giving this one a try.
Browsing LifeHacker by category is another way to go, and yields some interesting stories. I couldn't resist clicking on "Pets", which is how I found a great article on a pet travel web site, Plan a Pet Friendly Route with PetsWelcome.com. This is perfect for my "other" web site, CarGoDogs. And if you're particularly interested in a specific category, you can opt for the RSS feed for future articles on that topic.
Now, where was I? Ah yes, I was researching web conferencing tools when I was distracted by LifeHacker. I've obviously digressed. So many LifeHacker tips....so little time.
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)
