Weekly Round-Up #149: Your Morning Sidekick, Ted Talks & Conversations And Why You Should Track Your Time
This week we take a look at how journaling in the morning can make you more productive, happy and healthy, there are lots of sets of 15’s this week in terms of tips, videos and books, why small-talk is so important and how you can use it to improve your relationship with others, and why tracking your time is beneficial (and how it doesn’t have to be a drag).
Welcome to this week’s round-up. This week we take a look at how journaling in the morning can make you more productive, happy and healthy, there are lots of sets of 15’s this week in terms of tips, videos and books, why small-talk is so important and how you can use it to improve your relationship with others, and why tracking your time is beneficial (and how it doesn’t have to be a drag).
Morning Sidekick Journal – Habit Nest
We’ve written in the past past about the importance of a great morning routine and there is a technique that is becoming a cornerstone of successful people’s morning routine and that’s a “Morning Journal”. I have to admit I have purchase one but not taken it out of the packaging yet as I’ve still to reach a level of routine that allows me the time to journal in the morning. If you do have the time but aren’t sure what it will do for you, or what all the fuss is about then check out the Morning Sidekick Journal – you can download their first chapter for free so you know what you are getting yourself in to!
8 New Google Calendar Features You Should Start Using Now – Zapier
I’ve just got access to the new calendar interface and whilst there may not seem to be a massive amount of difference the layout makes your appointments a lot more readable. There’s also some additional functionality that this article from Zapier covers in depth.
The 15 Best Books for Creative Inspiration – Invaluable
Are you stuck in a creative rut? Looking for a bit of inspiration to get your creative juices flowing? Perhaps you’re in the middle of NaNoWriMo and need a bit of a time out to see how other people wrote about a situation. If that’s the case then one of these 15 books is bound to help you get your motivation back on track and allow you to put pen to paper (or brush to canvas, or fingers to keys!)
15 of the Best TED Talks for Sparking Creativity – Invaluable
Sticking with another post fromt the “Invaluable website, if their 15 books haven’t given you inspiration the how about 15 TED talks? You don’t need a lot of time to check out any of these videos – most TED talks are under 18 minutes (you can read more about the organisation here) so you can fit them in during your morning coffee or train journey home.
15 Extreme Ways Technology Is Improving Our Health – Balance Me Beautiful
You might think that technology that helps your health is limited to the Fitness tracker you wear on your wrist but it’s now going much further than that. Your doctor may use Virtual Reality to train or you may be able to use it to get a completely immersive exercise experience that really challenges you.
How to Have More Meaningful Conversations – On Stride
You might think that general chit-chat isn’t that helpful when it comes to building relationships but you’d be quite wrong. You may think that it’s just idle gossip or a way to pass the time, but having a chat with someone is a great way to get to know them and build a fantastic relationship – it is certainly a major step in Stephen Covey’s 5th Habit – Seek First to Undertstand, the be understood. So, if you’re not sure how to start a conversation, this infographic will give you some pointers.
5 Steps (and 50 Tips) to Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck – Credit Loan
We’ve written in the past about how to avoid living paycheck to paycheck and our article covered 5 tips to bring in extra cash to help you bolster your finances. This article from Credit Loan takes a look at the root causes of your overspending, how you can set up a workable budget and increase your savings. So now you have no excuse for putting money away for that new laptop or a deposit for a holiday – and you can download my penny saver chart here if you want to get saving in the New Year.
Benefits of Time Tracking And How To Use It Effectively – TimeCamp Blog
I’ve mentioned Timecamp in the past and they recently reached out to me to let me know they have a blog that covers great productivity hints and tips, and covers some great project management tips too. I’ve been tracking my time with TimeCamp for quite a while now and I love the overview it gives me as well as a weekly email so I can see whether I have been more productive than last week or not (this week I have – by 8%!) If you’re not sure whether you need to track your time, or if you’re not sure whether it will give you any great insights then this article should explain the benefits for you. If you’re looking to take part in the Become An Email Ninja Course and would like to set a benchmark figure of how long you’re currently taking to process your emails I’d highly recommend timecamp as the desktop app can track usage in the background in case you forget to start the timer!
41 Sneaky Ways To Eat More Vegetables (With Recipes!) – Huffington Post
Depending on what day of the week it is, and what newspaper you’re reading, 5 portions of fruit and veg a day is fine. Some other places say you need 7 portions, some say 10 portions and others say 3! Whatever portion size you accept is right for you, we all know we need to eat vegetables so use these 41 sneaky ways to eat more veggies to get more goodness down you.
Fort Knox: The Bullion Depository – Storage Centres
Your light reading for this week is all about Fort Knox. Being “Built Like Fort Knox” is a phrase that has entered popular culture thanks to the building’s reputation for being impregnable, but how much more do you know about the famous finacial institution? There’s certainly some interesting facts about this famous American Institution.
Have A Great Weekend
I hope you have enjoyed this round-up, as always if you have any links you like to share with me and my readers please contact me through the website or send me a tweet.
Until next week, Stay Productive!
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