{ xenovoyance do stuff } » Lifehack

Whiteboard can now be everywhere

Martin Karlsson — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:10:00 +0000

Whiteboards have become a standard today in schools, conference-rooms and even in private personal work spaces. Big glossy surfaces in cheap framing nailed to walls is a great way of improvising productivity and creativity because it makes the process of brainstorming so much easier. Still they have remained glossy surfaces sitting in cheap frames. Well that has been the case up until now – let’s pain a whiteboard everywhere.

You have most likely seen chalkboard-paint before, to make every wall a painting in the making. However these boards have also a great negative aspect of bringing allot of dirt into the room where they are located. The whiteboard do not do this and can also be in higher contrast using multiple colors and so forth. And this weekend I found out about a company called Ideapaint who sell whiteboard-paint on the gallon so that you can actually make every wall in your home a surface on which you can draw, brainstorm or write a novel on.

The great pros of whiteboard-paint does not end there. When we have the ability to pain everything in this manner we can create tables, kitchens or even bedrooms where we have surfaces just waiting to get scribbled upon with great ideas.

No more tears from cutting that onion

Martin Karlsson — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:42:40 +0000

Onions is both a source of great flavour and healthy contents for our body. For quite allot of people the handling of these beautiful vegetables is a pain though due to the burning sensation they might cause on the eyes. So is there actually a way of stopping your eyes from burning while chopping onions? I though I’d put some time and effort in using ye old friend – Internet, so see if there is any ways out there which do the trick. For simplicity I collected a bunch and created a list of my findings for easy access.

Icy water – Start by filling a container with ice and cold water. Cut the onion in two parts and let both parts lay in the icy water for a few minutes and then do what you need to do with them.
Flowing water – Chop your onion next to the flowing stream of water from the water-tap.
Boiling water – Chop your onion next to the flowing stream of water steam from a pot of boiling water.
Freezer – Put the onion in the freezer for five or ten minutes and then take it out and cut directly.
Shaper knife – By using a sharper knife you minimze the cells being crushed when cutting the onion.
And of course for a last resort, put on your scuba-gear and cut that onion away like there was no tomorrow.

If you ever wondered why it is that the onions do irritate your eyes by the way it is due to the enzymes released when you collapse the cells of the onion. These enzymes react with the rest of the onion and release a gas that together with water becomes an acid. And due to the fact our eyes is watery, the gas when it reaches our eyes become acid and the eyes begin to get irritated. This is why a pair of swim-goggles or scuba-gear will prevent your eyes from burning.

10 ways to stay concentrated at the office

Martin Karlsson — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:05:55 +0000

Working at a office today there is so many things around us which will compete on stealing your concentration. The information overload is upon us and at the same time we use the computer as a tool just as much in our work as in our private life. Social networks, multiple mailaccounts, calls and news-flow – they all need you attention at all times which will be a struggle to hold back while at work. Here is a few tips on how you can try to maximize your concentration while at work.

Shut down automatic mail-fetching – The flag in your system tray may be small but every time it lit up you lose a bit of concentration. Not only this but quite often you may find yourself starting to work at the issue you just recieved instead of working on what you did from the start. Task-switching is dangerous.
Use an alternative browser without private bookmarks – If you have one browser at your work-computer I bet you have bookmarks there for your personal sites, news-sites and networks. By installing an alternative browser in which you keep only work-related links you wont get distracted by that link to amazon.
Read up on material – Do not start working on a task until you understand the problem you’re facing.
Regular breaks, routine is your friend – If you usually have your morning-coffe at 9, plan it so that your body knows that you’ll get it at 9. By doing this you wont get an urge until the time is right anymore.
Scheduele planning time for each day – Start each day by going through what you should achieve before your day is ended.
One task at a time – Multitasking and task-switching is time-consuming. Work at one task at a time, creating sub-tasks to narrow down what it actually is you are to do.
Keep a calm workplace - If you are working on one project, don’t let the papers for your ten other projcts linger on your desk. By just having them in your field of view you might have a big portion of your mind in the other things you did earlier.
Reward yourself by not working on breaks - If you are on a break, take a break! Do not read mails, make work-calls and such, just take the time to restore some energy.
Minimize surrounding sounds - If you work in an open area or in a cubicle, get a pair of headphones which stops sounds as well as play good sound. Wear these even if you are not listening to music, if so only to get a more silent work sphere.
Socialize – Comunicate with people in your workplace or if you’re working from home, comunicate with your customers. Speaking will get your body going on that something is worth taking notice of and you will work better afterwards.

Is my post-it unbeatable?

Martin Karlsson — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:51:49 +0000

I am a great fan of the GTD-method of working and pushing my days forward. Up until just some year ago I was one of those people who say that they will fix things and do stuff just a bit later then now. And just as everyone else saying the famous phrase ‘Sure, I’ll look into that a bit later’ I always forgot what I was supposed to do and it all ended up with me doing all but what I had to do. This was before as I said, until the day I found my soulmate – The Post-it.

There is something almost religious about throwing away a post-it with a task completed. The feeling when you do it is so great that you rush towards finish your tasks just so that you can destroy that little piece of damned paper. The method is great but it has one big negative aspect; if you were to bring all your post-its with you at all times you may need a trailer or a couple of square-meters of wall. This might not always be the most convenient way, sometimes a trailer is just to big to bring for a conference or a meeting. This was why I started to look for an electronic alternative I can have at my computer or in my phone, just about anywhere I can reach it in multiple locations.

About the same time I tried out my hundredth note-taking application I found Evernote and was saved in a way. Evernote for those who don’t know it is an application and a web-interface where you can store text and images which then can be searched through from your computer or phone. In my book it is THE best note-taking software on the market and the simplicity it brings makes and saves my day over and over again. Mails I need to remeber goes directly into it, I take pictures of good wines or places to remember etc. Now you may think that this was the solution to note-taking as well? Well, WRONG!

There is one thing missing about Evernote to use it as a post-it replacement. There is no visual representation of finishing a task off and I want my cookie! So I had to keep on looking for that replacement. And I continued until I finally found Things for my iPhone. Awesomeness divine.

Things is just as simple as I want, you create notes and say if you want to do it today or another day. When you have finished it you click it and a nice checkbox get checked. And I have my visual cookie for completing my task. The bad thing is though that I think that what tool works for just you is as personal as what color is your favourite for your socks. I’d love to say that get Evernote and Things and you will be forever happy – The End.

But I think you just have to through all stuff you can find on the internet and try them out for yourself. Or you just take my word for it and use Evernote and Things. We’re all lazy, isn’t it beautiful?