Life and Work Hacks

Personally, I like to do it when packing for a trip. Not only does it take less space when you only need one pair of black or brown shoes. But I especially love that I don’t need to think when getting dressed because no matter which combination of pants, socks, shoes, shirt and belt I pick out of the suitcase, I know it all matches. 

The best way to organize your collar stays.

A few years ago (ok, it might have been 18 years ago), I moved into an apartment with a roommate who had already been living there for a while. At the time I moved in, the new roommate had accumulated all sorts of paper and clutter in piles all over the apartment. What I quickly realized was that she didn’t throw anything away, because she didn’t have enough garbage cans. It sounds funny, but the problem went away once I put a garbage in every room. #easy

For example, I could use a flat head screwdriver to pinch hit for a phillips head screwdriver, but the job just gets done a lot faster with the right tool. Besides, it only costs about 20 bucks for a set of screwdrivers, they don’t take up much space (even in my New York studio) and it’s pretty handy to have them when I need them - even if that isn’t very often. 

You might still be left with a bill that needs paying or something else, but out of the gate, you will have cut half of the inbound paper from your mailbox with very little effort!

Her point was that you have to think about balance from a broad perspective. We all know that we won't necessarily get balance hour to hour or day to day, but as long as you have time for the things that are important to you, then you're getting to a pretty good place in terms of balance.

Back in the old days, we had to worry about things like if and where we saved a document, and version control on documents (who has the latest version?!). Now, thanks to cloud based software like Google Docs, you no longer have to worry about where to find the latest copy of a document, because every team member can access the same document, at the same time! You can even see each others’ changes in real time. Not gonna lie, it's pretty darn cool! GDocs which is my software of choice for this purpose definitely has its limitations, but on the whole, the ability for all team members to collaborate on something together in this way is more than worth the trade-offs in functionality.

So if you too could sometimes use an extra set of hands, I encourage you to check out a virtual assistant service!

Staying in touch with friends and family is very important for me, and one of the ways to do it is with micro-social networks. I think of these as a way to stay in touch with the inner-inner-circle. It works as long as both parties agree to have (or maintain, or augment) their communication in this way. iCloud photo feeds are one micro-social network for me, and Path is another one. Path is an app that is based on some research that any person can only have 150 close friends at any given point in their life. I use Path as one way to share moments that might be interesting to a very close friend, but that I probably wouldn't share on Facebook, and that would likely never come up even in a phone call with a close friend who I am linked to on Path. How do you keep in touch with your inner-inner circle?

This! Genius garment bag from Hook and Albert.

Do you have any micro-social networks? 

What's your favourite feature in Flipboard?

In the old days, I used to carry a folder of things I wanted to read in my briefcase. Over time it included white papers colleagues had written, the famous Steve Jobs commencement speech at Stanford, articles I'd saved from magazines, etc. None of these things were urgent, but were all great reads that I would dip into, usually on an airplane or a train.  With the advent of smartphones and tablets, that folder in my briefcase has been largely replaced by a combination of apps, but especially by Pocket (formerly Read It Later). Pocket has apps to install across all of your devices so that you can easily save content into Pocket, and retrieve on any device at any time. It also lets you easily email content into the app, and share content out of the app to other people you think might be interested.  For the most part, I use this in two ways: 1- if I see a headline on the web or on Twitter, but I don't have time to read the article then, I can save it to Pocket with one click; 2- when I have a few minutes of free time, usually on an airplane, or in a coffee shop, I can pull out Pocket and have a folder full of articles ready to read.  How do you use "read it later apps?"

Any tool that can help you aggregate, synthesize or discover things is an opportunity for a life hack. When Twitter first launched, I wasn't sure what it was good for, but I immediately signed up for an account because I wanted to claim a good user name while it was still available! Two years later, I still didn't see myself tweeting about anything, BUT, I realized Twitter was an amazing tool to find and discover content. I follow a variety of people and publications on Twitter from my industry, and others that are of general interest. What's amazing about it is that you don't have to look for information of interest, it just comes to you. I've also heard people say that Twitter is a way to "plan to add spontaneity" to your life, an interesting - and accurate - twist on the notion of being spontaneous.  Even if you don't have time to check Twitter often, it's a pretty cool tool to have at your disposal anytime you might have a few minutes. How do you use Twitter?

I am NOT an investor in MobileDay, but I freakin' love this app! It reads your calendar and literally gives you one touch access to your conference calls... No more having to flip between your calendar and phone to remember the pass code. Easier if you're at your desk, safer if you're walking down the street. ❤️