|
Dear alan russell,
Welcome to the latest edition of our irregular and irreverent newsletter. In this issue, you'll hear about my 5 favorite new digital tools, 3 tips from one of America's top personal finance gurus, a preview of the next edition of Office Hours, and more.
Let's
get started . . .
5 NEW
DIGITAL TOOLS I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT
Ponder
for a moment the following: The iPad. Cloud computing. Apps. A few years ago,
they barely existed. Now they're part of our lives. That swift journey
from nonexistent to indispensable seems to happen a lot these days -- which
got me thinking. What digital tools was I not using two years ago that
today I can't imagine living without? Here are my top 5:
1. Dropbox -- This
might be the most famous name on the list. It's online storage space that you
can access from your phone, your tablet, even your computer if you're still
using one of those. I relied on the free version (up to 2GB) for about 18
months. But this is the first product that I actually wanted to pay
for -- so I upgraded to 50 times the space and I'm now using it even
more.
2. Instapaper -- Ever see an article online that looked interesting but that
you didn't have the time to read or the inclination to print? Enter
Instapaper. With a tap of a button installed in your web browser, you can
save that article and read it later on your tablet. I now do a big portion of
my reading this way.
3. IDoneThis --
At the end of every day, IDoneThis will send you an email with a simple question:
What did you get done today? You reply to the email and IDoneThis logs it in
a calendar. I've been using this every day for nearly two years -- and it's
proved to be a fantastic way track progress and provide a sense of daily
accomplishment. (Full disclosure: I like this product so much, I
recently decided to make a small investment in the company.)
4. TypeIt4Me -- In
emails people often ask me for my mailing address. Instead of typing it out
each time, I simply type adrs -- and the full address magically
appears. That's TypeItForMe -- a Mac-only text expander that costs only 5
bucks and is easy to use. All the seconds it's saved me over the last year
probably add up to a few dozen hours -- which I can use to answer more email!
5. Up Band -- My
newest obsession is the Up band from Jawbone. It's a high-tech bracelet that
tracks an amazing array of information about your behavior -- from how many
steps you take each day to how much and how well you sleep each night. The
band costs a pricey $129, but it connects easily to your phone (iOS or
Android) and provides some really useful information that has increased my
physical activity and probably my health.
3 TIPS
FOR SPRING CLEANING YOUR FINANCES FROM JEAN CHATZKY
Ah,
spring. It's the time when flowers bloom, baseball returns, and the longer
days shine additional light on how messed up our personal finances have
become. Fortunately, Jean Chatzky is here to help. Jean is one of the
smartest, yet most down-to-earth, personal finance gurus around. In her work
on the Today show, as well as in her many books, she has shown an uncanny
ability to explain complicated topics in plain English. Now she's entering
the world of online education with a series of inexpensive classes in her very own Money School.
Having
looked at the stack of bills and receipts teetering on my own desk, I asked
her to share some simple tips for sprucing up our finances in a new season.
Here's what she recommends:
1. Take
it in stages.
Spring
cleaning your finances can be a daunting process. So don’t force
yourself to do it all in a session – even in a day. First, gather
all of the paperwork that has gone astray and put it in one
place. (The dining room table often works if you’re one of those
people who rarely eats in the dining room.) If that takes a while,
stop and walk away. If you have a door on the dining room, feel
free to close it. Day two, categorize. (Keep a shredder at
the ready to get rid of paper copies of things that also live online.) Day
three file and put away. And note: While you’re doing that, if
you’ve already paid your 2012 taxes, pull last year’s files out of your main filing
cabinet to preserve space. Put them in a file box and move them to
the basement.
2. Adopt
a new habit to keep yourself clutter-free.
People
who pay their bills when they come in are happier. This I discovered
when conducting a Roper study of 5000 people on money and
happiness. I believe it’s because paying your bills in real time
allows you to adjust – i.e. spend less through the rest of the month -- if
you receive one that’s larger than you expected it to be. Also,
you don’t have to sit down to face a pile of bills and watch a huge chunk of
your money flow out of your accounts and into those of your
creditors. Paying your bills as they come in will also assure that
all the spring cleaning progress you’ve made lasts a little longer. So when
you open the mail, make a small stack of items to pay. Add those
to any that have electronically pinged you to know that funds are
due. And set aside a couple of minutes a day to do the
deed. You’ll be glad you did.
3. Give
your credit a spit-shine.
You're
entitled to three free copies of your credit report a year from annualcreditreport.com,
one from each major credit bureau, and I recommend spreading them out every
four months. The report will show you where you stand and tell you what you
need to do to give your report a good scrubbing. One quick action: Pay down
high-interest-rate debt, which is costing you money and, depending on your
credit limit, could be costing you valuable credit score points. Aim to keep
your utilization ratio -- the amount of credit you're using compared to the
amount you have available -- under 10%.
For
more, check out Jean's site and
the new classes available at her Money School.
OFFICE
HOURS IS BACK -- AND IT'S STICKY!
Office
Hours -- our super-cool, call-in, radio-ish program -- has been on hiatus for
a few months. But we're coming back with a great show to kick off our 2013
season.
On Friday
April 12, 2013 at 2:30pm EDT, I'll be talking with Chip Heath and Dan Heath,
authors of MADE TO STICK, SWITCH, and their newest bestseller, DECISIVE,
which is all about how to make better decisions. You can listen live -- and
ask the Heath brothers anything you want -- by dialing this number
(206-402-0100) and entering this passcode (203373#).
If
you're new to the newsletter and don't know what Office Hours is, here's a
quick reminder: About once a month, I open the phone lines and a special
guest and I take your questions about work, business, technology, personal
productivity, and anything else you want to discuss. Think of it as "Car
Talk" . . . for the human engine. You can find more information on
the Office Hours page and
download previous episodes on iTunes.
Office
Hours with Chip Heath and Dan Heath
April 12, 2:30pm EDT Phone number: 206-402-0100 Passcode: 203373
TSIH: 3
WAYS TO HELP
Many
thanks again for your great support of To Sell Is Human.
You've made it the second bestselling business book of the year -- and one of
the top 10 new nonfiction books of 2013. If you'd like join all the great
folks spreading the word -- no obligation obviously -- here are 3 things you
can do:
As
always, thanks for reading. Enjoy the spring.
Cheers,
Daniel Pink |
Friday, May 10, 2013
Digital tools can not live without- Daniel Pink a re post and one many saw
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment