Title creation can be one of the more challenging tasks that bloggers and article-writers face.

I bet you know the feeling.

You’ve spent a good bit of time researching and crafting an article or blog post, and now you’re faced with that blank space where the title goes.

You want to convey something about your piece while capturing the attention of your target audience.

But you’re tired, bedtime beckons, and the last thing you want to do is spend a lot of time trying to come up with a catchy title. Read the rest of this post »

Multitasking is a very common practice, and one that many people erroneously think increases their productivity.  In reality, multitasking means that you create a situation in which you need to deal with constant interruption … from yourself.

Not only that, but multitasking also makes it necessary to transition back and forth between tasks, often setting you up to lose focus in the process. Read the rest of this post »

Tech tips are what we’re about here at The Time Finder. And today I’d like to share 3 tools and tweaks to help you use your time more efficiently when you are on line.

As always, with tech tips, the key is to find the ones that work for YOU!  It doesn’t save you  time if you’re always chasing after the newest, best, or most popular gadget or app.  In fact, that will cut down on your efficiency, because you will always be working with unfamiliar tools.

But, that being said, if one of these strikes your fancy, it may turn into a helpful addition to your toolbox.  So, without further adieu, here are 3 tips for your consideration today:

Tech Tips #1: Twipster

Twipster is a browser extension (for Safari and/or Chrome) created by Brent Jackson.  What it does is to strip everything out of your Twitter feed except the tweets.  If you like things clean and simple, Twipster will appeal to you.  It’s easy to install – and can be a real breath of fresh air in our ‘noisy’ and info-saturated world.

You can access your lists – everything you’re used to on Twitter – just with a simpler look. We’re still practicing with Twipster here at The Time Finder – but as tech tips go, this is one that looks like it holds promise. And what you see to the left is a screen print of a portion of my Twitter feed – brought to you via Twipster.

Tech Tips #2:  Tabman

Tabman is a Google Chrome extension that helps you manage multiple open tabs, making them easily accessible, even when you have LOTS of them open (a not-unusual state when things get busy on-line).

When you install Tabman, a button is added to the address bar, which opens a menu showing all of your open tabs.  From there you can go to a particular tab, rearrange your tabs, etc.  You can also create a keyboard shortcut to open Tabman.  And if you’d prefer to have Tabman always visible and available, you can detach it and place it to the side of your browser, for easy access. The popup window allows you to select a certain tab, to change the tab order and to search for similar tabs.

Tech Tips #3:  Event Noted

Event Noted is the last of our tech tips- and if you’re an Evernote user, I think you will love this.

Event Noted is an application (free) that allows you to connect Evernote with a number of on-line calendars (iCal, Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook and some others).  Linking Evernote to an on-line calendar means that you can remind yourself to read notes, or even have Evernote function as a To Do List.  Here are the (very) simple directions from the Event Noted site – for making this connection work for you:

Create a note or choose an existing one. Put date and time of the event you want to create in the title. Use your natural language to describe the event, like “this friday” or “in 2 weeks”. Tag the note with “event” and Event Noted will add it to your calendar.

That’s it – once you’ve followed the steps above, this new event will appear in your calendar – just as you’ve entered it.

I hope these tech tips are helpful as you work to streamline your on-line work and enhance your productivity!

”Busy” and ”Productive” are two very different ways of being and of relating to time.  I am pretty sure you know what I mean!  How often do you feel stressed, overwhelmed, and like you are chasing time and never catching up?  That’s being (and feeling) busy!

On the other hand, there are also days when  items on your to-do list are accomplished one after the next. That’s when you’re optimizing your productivity. It feels great, doesn’t it?

Busy to Productive

So how do you transform being Busy into being Productive?

It may seem counter-intuitive (and it can definitely be difficult to put into practice), but when you are your most stressed and ‘busy’ is when you need to slow down.  Pausing to catch your breath and get your feet back under you is like letting the dust settle.

Even after a few minutes, you feel more in touch with yourself, your priorities become clearer.  When you move ahead again, it’s with surer purpose and more focused energy.

This enables you to be productive and spend your precious time more wisely.  In a matter of a few minutes, your time is transformed. Your energy feels different, and the proof is in what you are then able to accomplish.

Let Go of Being Busy to Claim Your Power

For many of us, being busy can be part of our identity.  So, ironically, letting go of this trait, even though it is unproductive, can feel quite difficult.  It takes discipline to pause in the midst of overwhelm, breathe deeply, and allow yourself to take charge of your time, rather than chased by it.

You don’t have to let being busy define and constrain you.  Having the insight to recognize when being busy is undermining your productivity is the first step.  Then having the courage and discipline to stop in your tracks and transform all of that frantic energy – now THAT is what Finding Time is all about!

Transitions are happening all the time.  They can be disruptive, as any change will be; and usually they are not linear.  As with seasonal transitions, a sudden frost can send springtime back toward winter … or a thaw can make us feel like warmth has arrived when we’re still  icy weeks away from that in reality.

Today I want to share 5 timely tips to help you navigate transitions and move successfully through uncertain times. Read the rest of this post »

Goals and Values:  When you have them in sync, the sky is the limit.  But when they are out of sync, you’re likely to find yourself mired in confusion and procrastination.

This recent post on The Happiness Project takes a quick look at Decoy Habits – and speaks to this dilemma about goals and values.  Here’s what Gretchen Rubin writes:

A decoy habit is a habit that a person claims to want to adopt—but really doesn’t intend to do. Often, decoy habits reflect other people’s values or priorities. “I want to cook dinner every night.” “I want to finish my Ph.D. thesis by the end of the year.” “I want to give up coffee.”

The decoy provides cover—we don’t have to acknowledge the habits that we actually follow, because there’s this other, better habit that we intend to adopt.

Read the rest of this post »

Time-saving tech tools streamline your on-line work.  The trick is to find the ones that suit your work style, and then use them enough that they become part of your flow.

It’s important, too, to not get so caught up in using the latest and greatest time-saving tool that you are constantly tweaking and adjusting the way you work.  Familiarity is important, and an older tool that you use well is probably going to save you more time than the newest bright and shiny object on the horizon.

So, here at The Time Finder we like to share time-saving tech tools each Monday (our weekly Cyber Monday) for your consideration.  You’re invited to peruse the offerings and see what strikes a chord for you.

Read the rest of this post »

Focus is a (if not the) key to your productivity; and finding focus when you are working online can be a huge challenge!

The online world is teeming with information, interactions, and fascinating distractions.  Indeed, many believe that our attention spans are diminished by the rapid changes in how we gather information – and the sheer volume of what we are sifting through!  So, in your online work, do you find yourself challenged to maintain your focus?

Focus:  Not a one-size-fits-all proposition …

I believe that finding focus, for each of us, varies from task to task.  Optimizing your efficiency when posting on social networking sites involves a different kind of thinking (and focus) than does writing a blog post or article, or creating an info-product.

Read the rest of this post »

Time management tips for spring cleaning free up more time to celebrate the season! Five proven strategies energize you as you rid your space of clutter. Clear out stale thinking and sail through your work in a sunnier frame of mind.

Tailor your cleaning environment to your preferences, and use these 5 following strategies to set your pace.

5 Time Proven Spring Cleaning Strategies

1. Create a template.

Templates can be simple and quite straightforward. List what you’d like to accomplish in spring cleaning according to their priority. Note what supplies you’ll need. Then group what you need to purchase according to store to streamline your shopping. Record good ideas as you go along, and file the template where you can pull it up easily for next time.

Read the rest of this post »

Time-saving tools are always helpful, and the simpler they are, the better they are.  That’s why I was intrigued to read about this free Chrome extension for jotting quick notes.

It’s called Google Keep and it’s very easy to install and use.  Once set-up, this  time-saving tool can be available on your android phone, as well as your PC or your Mac.  (It’s not yet available for the iPad, but it sounds like that is being worked on, too.

Time-Saving and Simple

Google Keep serves a function similar to Evernote and many of the other notepad applications that are available for computers and mobile devices.  Like those other apps, it will save and sync your notes across devices.

Read the rest of this post »