Lifehacks Tools for Productivtity

The term "lifehack" is derived (if a term still in its infancy needs derivation) from the technical hacks that programmers and other geeks have set up for themselves to make their lives easier. This usually means methods of organizing data, little utilities to synchronize files, one-off scripts that automate daily tasks, etc. These things are all personal, often suited entirely to the situation and not shared with anyone. The term surfaced when there was a suggestion to share these and see if others could benefit from these "life hacks".

The term, being more generic than the original derivation, was expanded to a broader definition as the meme spread. Today, lifehacks are basically anything that is a solution to an everyday problem, frustration, etc. As a result, we're seeing the term used to describe solutions to getting organized, losing weight, public speaking, doing your professional job better, time management, etc. As such, the current useage probably more accurately reflects the term itself.

"Life" is a generic term we all use to describe pretty much everything other than the thing we're primarily paid for or really dedicated to. We often ask people how work and life are going and mean pretty much everything in that person's "life".

The terms "hack", "hacking" and "hacker" have a long (and troubled) history in the computing and geek communities, particularly within the open source crowds. Like many other truly useful terms, outright definitions are difficult because "hack" is just the right word for the concepts involved. However, according to the Jargon File (typically the authority on the term), the quickest summary is "an appropriate application of ingenuity" to a problem.

Excepted from "What is a LifeHack or Lifehacking?" on the Glass is Too Big

If your hard drive is your outboard brain, you're a lifehacker - someone who loves to tweak your computer for optimum productivity to make it an ally instead of an adversary. Life hacks apply technology creatively, reprogramming your personal workflow to save time and effort. This book serves up 88 of them, outlined step by step and categorized by cost, platform, and level of geekiness. If you're overwired, overwhelmed, or totally tangled in the very technology that is supposed to simplify your life, this book is for you.

Lifehacker: 88 Tech Tricks to Turbocharge Your Day by Gina Trapani

This book isn't a computer user manual, and it isn't a productivity system. It's a mashup of both. It's where you learn to practice big-picture productivity methods on your very own computer desktop. Whether you're a Mac or Windows user, know only enough to get by or are the family tech support geek, there are tricks here for you. Whether or not you've been turbocharging your day with the tips from Gina's first Lifehacker book, you'll feast on this buffet of new shortcuts to make technology your ally instead of your adversary.

Upgrade Your Life: The Lifehacker Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, Better by Gina Trapani

The human brain is very different from a computer. Whereas a computer works in a linear fashion, the brain works associatively as well as linearly - comparing, integrating and synthesizing as it goes.Association plays a dominant role in nearly every mental function, and words themselves are no exception. Every single word, and idea has numerous links attaching it to other ideas and concepts.

Mind Maps, developed by Tony Buzan are an effective method of note-taking and useful for the generation of ideas by associations. To make a mind map, one starts in the center of the page with the main idea, and works outward in all directions, producing a growing and organized structure composed of key words and key images. Key features are:

Organization
Key Words
Association
Clustering
Visual Memory - Print the key words, use color, symbols, icons, 3D-effects,arrows and outlining groups of words
Outstandingness - every Mind Map needs a unique center
Conscious involvement

Mind Maps are beginning to take on the same structure as memory itself. Once a Mind Map is drawn, it seldom needs to be referred to again. Mind Maps help organize information.

Because of the large amount of association involved, they can be very creative, tending to generate new ideas and associations that have not been thought of before. Every item in a map is in effect, a center of another map.

The creative potential of a mind map is useful in brainstorming sessions. You only need to start with the basic problem as the center, and generate associations and ideas from it in order to arrive at a large number of different possible approaches. By presenting your thoughts and perceptions in a spatial manner and by using color and pictures, a better overview is gained and new connections can be made visible.

Mind maps are a way of representing associated thoughts with symbols rather than with extraneous words something like organic chemistry. The mind forms associations almost instantaneously, and "mapping" allows you to write your ideas quicker than expressing them using only words or phrases.

From http://members.optusnet.com.au/~charles57/Creative/Mindmap/

Mind Pad allows to create mind maps basing not just on creating and linking text blocks. Mind Pad allows organize in mind maps objects with any properties set.

With Mind Pad scripting you are able to create your own rules for data management and representation.

Mind Pad suggest a new approach to mind mapping. Now the mind map is not just a lot of linked text blocks. Mind Pad allows to create your own frame objects with unique properties that are most suitable for your business. You can organize those objects into some hierarchy.

Imagine a software program to help us organize each day of our life? Try Personal Assistant - powerful personal information manager and day planner. This profesionally developed and well designed software will track your everyday tasks, save you diary, remind about holidays, birthdays and other special days.

Personal Assistant will help you manage appointments, to-do lists, schedules, and more. Set it up to send a visual or audible alarm to notify you of things to be done in the day of our life. Create and manage to-do lists, and set alarms for individual entries.

Tony Buzan invented mind mapping. Not satisfied with other software programs to produce mindmapps, he developed his own called iMindMap.

iMindMap produces MindMaps exactly the way Buzan describes them in his many books. To find out more and get a free trial, visit this link.

Mind Maps on Wikipedia

A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged radially around a central key word or idea. Mind maps are used to generate, visualize, structure, and classify ideas, and as an aid in study, organization, problem solving, decision making, and writing.

The elements of a given mind map are arranged intuitively according to the importance of the concepts, and are classified into groupings, branches, or areas, with the goal of representing semantic or other connections between portions of information. Mind maps may also aid recall of existing memories.

By presenting ideas in a radial, graphical, non-linear manner, mind maps encourage an unorthodox brainstorming approach that can generate ideas without regard for a more formal, hierarchical org...
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