Kapil's Korner » gtd http://kapilb.com/blog Simple happenings in the interesting thing called LIFE. Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:16:43 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 5 super tools which power my office PC http://kapilb.com/blog/2010/07/06/5-super-tools-which-power-my-office-pc/ http://kapilb.com/blog/2010/07/06/5-super-tools-which-power-my-office-pc/#comments Tue, 06 Jul 2010 12:00:35 +0000 Kapil http://kapilb.com/blog/?p=745 It’s often seen that people spend too much time doing the most basic computing operations. Here is a list of some of my favourite tools which power my PC at work.

Launchy

Always a problem finding the right file? Look no further. Launchy has been the most useful piece of software to get me directly to a file/folder or application by just typing out it’s name. Of course you need to make sure you index your hard disk, the right way. [Download]

ObjectDock

stardock objectdock

Is your desktop messed up with short-cuts to files & folders? Get ObjectDock, the Mac look alike taskbar. Easy access to folders and other applications without cluttering your desktop. [Download]

IrfanView
Simple, light-weight image editor. Crop, re-size your images quickly without having to load a heavy application like Adobe Photoshop for simple actions. Also with a few plug-ins it will let you view some of the more complex image formats without those heavy software installs. [Download]

Dropbox
A popular online storage which I only recently started using and it’s been super useful. I don’t bother with file transfers to the USB pen-drive anymore. Just copy the file in the Dropbox folder and it syncs with my Macbook at home. So I have access to important files at all time. [Website]

GTD wallpaper
If you don’t fancy those lovely desktop wallpapers here is something which is great to sort the files and shortcuts on the desktop. [Download]
Layered Desktop

And here is a bonus:

AvaFind/Google Desktop
If you’ve been unsatisfied with the search results given by Windows default search engine then get yourself one of these application. Google Desktop does a superb job of indexing content of the files, email applications so you can probably end up finding that needle in the haystack. [Ava Find Home Page / Google Desktop Download]

What’s your favourite piece of software that makes computing easier for you? Share your thoughts in the comments area.

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]]> http://kapilb.com/blog/2010/07/06/5-super-tools-which-power-my-office-pc/feed/ 0 How to spend time effectively during a recession http://kapilb.com/blog/2009/04/23/how-to-spend-time-effectively-during-a-recession/ http://kapilb.com/blog/2009/04/23/how-to-spend-time-effectively-during-a-recession/#comments Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:56:00 +0000 Kapil http://kapilb.com/blog/?p=765 If your work is recession hit and you’ve got some free time on hand, here’s something to help you spend that time effectively.

Recession (by Bolo-head Man)

Review your expenses
Credit Card, Mobile Phone, Internet schemes can be reviewed. This could be a good time to move to the that budget friendly zero commitment scheme. Unsubscribe from newspapers/magazines you don’t bother reading.

Spruce your business branding
Maybe you started your venture at the peak of the market and never really got the time to see how your business stationary looks like. Browse around and get a design school student to work out some interesting designs. A good branding exercise will help you later when pitching for new business.

Use the Internet
Online presence for many company’s is a low priority, yet. Take a look at your website and see if something more can be done with that tool to attract new business. If you don’t already have a website, maybe you should think of getting one. And if you can’t afford to get one designed how about starting a blog at one of the free hosting websites to at least establish your base online.

Get active online and register yourself in business directories, join forums/communities and check out what people are talking about your industry, competition, trends etc.

Get yourself introduced to GTD
Life is a mess – missing due dates, phone calls never returned, unanswered emails and a cluttered desk. If that’s how your life is, it’s time to get introduced to David Allen’s GTD [Getting Things Done]. Here is a good place to start.

And of course, above all let’s not forget this recession will hopefully be a phase and we shall tide over this one very soon. So, get out of office spend some quality time with your loved ones and build the attitude to help you move forward.

How are you beating the recession blues? Got any tips to share, put them in the comments area.

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]]> http://kapilb.com/blog/2009/04/23/how-to-spend-time-effectively-during-a-recession/feed/ 0 GTD: Search contacts easily on your mobile phone http://kapilb.com/blog/2008/03/08/gtd-search-contacts-easily-on-your-mobile-phone/ http://kapilb.com/blog/2008/03/08/gtd-search-contacts-easily-on-your-mobile-phone/#comments Sat, 08 Mar 2008 10:09:11 +0000 Kapil http://kapilb.com/blog/2008/03/08/gtd-search-contacts-easily-on-your-mobile-phone/ Here’s a little tip which might help you search for contacts easily on your mobile phone. Most of us save contacts in this format:

[Contact Name][Company Name]

However there is a good possibility that a few months later you may remember the name of the company but not the contact’s name. Happens with me all the time and so I decided I could make things easier for me by reversing the format. So now I store the number like this:

[Company Name][Contact Name]

Besides making it easy to search it also lets me get a quick view of all the people I know from that particular company.

Let me know if you have a better idea. Meanwhile you can also read my other GTD post on marking notes.

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]]> http://kapilb.com/blog/2008/03/08/gtd-search-contacts-easily-on-your-mobile-phone/feed/ 1 GTD: Marking my notes http://kapilb.com/blog/2008/02/01/gtd-marking-my-notes/ http://kapilb.com/blog/2008/02/01/gtd-marking-my-notes/#comments Fri, 01 Feb 2008 06:43:27 +0000 Kapil http://kapilb.com/blog/2008/02/01/gtd-marking-my-notes/ Although I haven’t got a chance to read David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) book I have been a follower from online resources and keep making notes of interesting and useful tips for better productivity.

In recent meetings I have started marking my notes with little brackets like this: [ACTION], [THINK], [FUP], [PA] where FUP=Follow up with client for information, PA=Pro-active thinking required with creative team.

This has been rather useful because when I get back to my desk I can quickly glance through the notes, see the items marked [ACTION] and send off emails to necessary associates. The rest of the notes can wait till I have some more free time on hand for thinking and pro-active initiatives as maybe necessary.

Taking it further I am also thinking of having 2 word documents on my desktop which are titled "thinking" and "pro-active" so that all thoughts collected in the meetings are put in there and looked at every week to see how I can serve the client better.

Let’s see how it goes. Do you have a GTD idea you can share with me? Put your thoughts in the comments area.

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]]> http://kapilb.com/blog/2008/02/01/gtd-marking-my-notes/feed/ 3 Podcasts I have enjoyed http://kapilb.com/blog/2007/12/05/podcasts-i-have-enjoyed/ http://kapilb.com/blog/2007/12/05/podcasts-i-have-enjoyed/#comments Wed, 05 Dec 2007 07:01:46 +0000 Kapil http://kapilb.com/blog/2007/12/05/podcasts-i-have-enjoyed/

Productive Talk Compilation: 8-episode podcast with GTD’s David Allen
It’s about a year now I guess since I have been following David Allen’s Getting Things Done system. I haven’t read his book yet so when his interview by Merlin Mann of 43 folders popped up I was more than keen to see what’s in store. He does share a few GTD nuggets like email management and what things should go off your head immediately. Merlin shares MP3 files, iPod friendly chapter files and an Odeo powered file for online listening.

podcasts_icon20060429Deliver Authentic Leadership by Robin Sharma
A 4 minute talk where Robin explains us that Authentic Leadership has nothing to do with position or title. It’s all about taking responsibility over your life, its problems, challenges you maybe facing and how you strongly over-power them.

  • Click here to download the MP3 file.
  • Nirav shares the transcript of the talk here.

The Four Hour Week
Extract from Nirav’s post: 

Yes, you read it right, “Four Hour” week, not a “Four Day” week. Timothy Ferriss has written a book on how you can work only for four hours a week, yet deliver much more productivity and results. Not all of us may be able to shrink our work weeks to four hours, but the principles he talks about can certainly take off five to fifteen hours off the week, allowing you to do something else you enjoy.

If you have any favourites I would like to know what are you listening. Leave your pick in the comments.

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]]> http://kapilb.com/blog/2007/12/05/podcasts-i-have-enjoyed/feed/ 2 A better way to organise your desktop http://kapilb.com/blog/2007/11/29/a-better-way-to-organise-your-desktop/ http://kapilb.com/blog/2007/11/29/a-better-way-to-organise-your-desktop/#comments Thu, 29 Nov 2007 11:35:59 +0000 Kapil http://kapilb.com/blog/2007/11/29/a-better-way-to-organise-your-desktop/ I don’t know if this qualifies as a GTD (Getting Things Done) tool, but I would like to call it that because it makes things easy for me. I have always preferred to have a clutter-free desktop and this "Layered Desktop" not only does keep it neat but also a bit more focused and productive.

You can use it to organise your icons in groups, like:

  • the paper area for work stuff;
  • the aluminium plate for personal projects;
  • the wooden desk for yet to be categorised elements, like finished or in-progress downloads.
  • the post-it for urgent elements (I usually have the files I am currently working on in here).

Download the high-res file and instructions on how to fit it to your desktop.

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