Clean Your Desktop

By Matt:

I'll often glance over at a colleague's laptop during a meeting and see a desktop that is cluttered to the max with folders, files, icons, and various shortcuts. A typical desktop can fit up to 10 icons vertically and 15 horizontally... that's 150 icons on the desktop! It's hard to make out that pretty picture of the tropical beach you have as your desktop wallpaper when you have that many icons taking up space!

If you're this person who, for reasons I'm sure seem logical, keeps 150 icons on your desktop, I want to suggest the following desktop overhaul.

Many people use their desktop as their launching point, and for good reason - it's convenient and centrally located. But this efficiency is completely lost when you store too many items there. It becomes impossible to quickly navigate to the files and folders you want because you spend so much time manually sifting through the clutter. Here's how to increase your efficiency by removing up to 95% of your desktop icons:


Create A Current Files Folder
Navigate to your My Documents folder (or similar location) and create a folder simply called 'Current Files'. Next make a shortcut to this folder and place it on your desktop - yes, this is one icon that you actually get to keep.

Next do some serious housecleaning. Move every document, spreadsheet, picture, and video file currently sitting on your desktop into the newly created 'Current Files' folder. Anything that is an actual file, or a folder containing multiple filesm must go... don't worry about organization, you can take care of that later. At this point all that should remain on your desktop are your icons for My Computer, My Documents, Recycle Bin, and shortcut icons.


Cut Your Shortcuts
Now I want you to take a critical look at your desktop shortcuts. Shortcut icons include any quick-link that points to a file, a folder, a network drive, an application, or an online destination. I will venture to guess that most of these shortcuts do not get used during any given week, but there will likely be a couple key shortcuts that get used multiple times a day.

As you did for your files, create another folder in My Documents for 'Shortcuts', and again create a desktop shortcut for this folder. Next, move any shortcut that gets used less than five times per week into this new folder. If any of your shortcuts are outdated and never get used delete them. If you have shortcuts that point to a website, I suggest you move these to your internet browser - create a bookmark for them, or better yet, use a social bookmarking tool like del.icio.us.

You should move all application shortcuts - shortcuts that launch a program - to this folder. The exception to this rule are application shortcuts that are used multiple times per day; drag these key icons into your Taskbar to automatically create quick-launch buttons.

In terms of shortcuts, all that should remain on your desktop are high traffic shortcuts that point to critical and often-used files, folders, or network drives.


Analyze
The key to a clean desktop is that it becomes an efficient workplace - a launching zone from which you do your work. Consider these tips for keeping your desktop in prime working condition:

• Save new files and downloads that you'll be working on to your 'Current Files' folder to keep the desktop clean.
• Make use of the ability to filter in your 'Current Files' folder and sort by name, date, and file type... remember that you wouldn't be able to do this on your desktop.
  
• If you find that a certain shortcut icon is not getting traffic, remove it from the equation by demoting it to the 'Shortcuts' folder. Likewise, if you are having to dig through your 'Shortcuts' folder multiples times per day to find a specific icon, elevate it to your desktop.
  
• Periodically archive files in your 'Current Files' folder as they become dated and obsolete by moving them to an appropriate folder elsewhere on your hard-drive.
  

And Just For The Record
I have a nice 17" widescreen laptop as my personal computer, and as such can fit as many as 209 icons on my desktop. However, using the steps above I keep this whittled down to just five icons, and as a result maintain my sanity. Plus for all you tweakers, a clean desktop uses less RAM than one covered with icons.

In addition to My Computer, My Documents, and Recycle Bin, I also keep a 'Current Files' folder and a shortcut to a folder for 'The Corporate Hack' on my desktop. This method, partnered with Google Desktop as a hard-drive search tool, are all I need to keep every file I might desire at my fingertips.

To be clear - you cannot remove unwanted desktop icons by sticking your Macbook in the dishwasher. We want to hear additional tips you have have on making your computer desktop an efficient workplace - leave a comment below! Good luck with the cleaning!

Quick Tip: Fluorescent Lighting Is Terrible

By Jon:

I don't know about you, but I seem to have been getting a lot of horrible headaches lately. I took a step back a few weeks ago and tried to identify their cause. I didn't get them on the weekends and they weren't tied to caffeine use, so I was able to narrow it down to my workweek. I took a look around my workstation and realized one simple fact:

I had fluorescent lights beaming down on me from all sides.

Our whole office uses fluorescents because they're cheaper and last longer. Even my desk lamp was a FL! I emailed our facilities team and asked them if there was any way to kill the lights above my head. A short email and 24 hours later and two massive lights above me were turned off. That was weeks ago and I've felt better since day one.

Sometimes all it takes is a simple email and your facilities/maintenance team can do a lot for you. Since then, I've gotten a wireless mouse, a wireless ergonomic keyboard, a new lamp and I'm working on having a section of my cubicle desk removed to increase the size of my available office space. The sky's pretty much the limit, considering all this is available elsewhere in our building and it's not costing anything to our bottom line. Send some emails and see what you can get out of it.

Create A Powerful Resume With A Profile Statement

By Jon:

It's time once again to dust off that old resume, check it over and make sure it's all updated. Don't get antsy, nobody's going anywhere -- it's just good to have that thing updated just in case. I mean, you never know what could happen.

Fire Your Objective Statement
When you're crafting your resume, think of your prospective employer. How would they feel about seeing the following as the key point of your resume?

OBJECTIVE: To obtain a position of employment in the field of applied actuarial economics.

Other than thinking, 'wow, what a nerd,' they'd probably be skimming over that statement and moving on to other sections of your resume. Do you really want to waste that valuable top level real estate on something so bland?

I mean, you did give them a resume for an open position right? There's no mystery here. You don't need an objective statement as a form of consent. A good cover letter should have made your honorable intentions more than clear. Let your resume do it's job -- selling you as a good candidate.

Introducing The Profile Statement
I'd much prefer a great Profile Statement sitting at the helm of my resume, giving the all-important elevator pitch right after my contact info. In a worst case scenario, if the employer doesn't read anything other than my Profile, they know who I am in a nutshell and how to get in touch with me. Perfect, right?

Here are some things to think about when building a profile statement:

• Abilities: Are you smart? Are you fast? Are you skilled?
• Experiences: Team player? Deadlines? What have you done?
• Goals: Why should we care about you?
• The High Points: What's the key things from each major section of your resume?

With these guidelines you should have a nice set of keywords that can be used to describe you. Let's try putting them together into something cohesive. I'd recommend a short paragraph that's easy to follow but loaded with good terminology about yourself.

Let's use a different example than our actuary friend above; I have no idea about calculus or insurance. How about, well, my profile statement?

PROFILE: Works well in challenging, fast-paced, high-stress and deadline-oriented environments individually or as part of a team. Proficient in project management and digital technology as well as operational supply chains; also heavily experienced with customer and employee relationships as well as technical support. Knowledgeable in creating detailed reports, documents and presentations. Focused on consistent quality work and a desire to simplify and innovate the daily operations of corporate culture and the industries of music and technology.

In four sentences I've boiled down my whole career and goals into a quick morsel of info. Now, as always, your mileage may vary, but from my experiences, interviewers tend to really enjoy this profile (tip: don't steal mine verbatim unless you're all those things too).

A well crafted Profile Statement is much easier for interviewers to swallow than an entire resume, and it opens up the interview to lots of detailed questions right out of the gate. I can use the profile as my jumping off point and reference specific areas in the resume to back up my explanations.

Best of luck getting your resume formatted just right, but remember, the resume always takes a backseat to actually being fun to talk to, being good at your job, and knowing people to get you in the door.

Use Summarize To Get To The Point

By Jon:

DISCLAIMER: This is a function for Apple users only. I know, I know, I use a PC at work too, but this is so cool I had to share it with you.

Have you ever received an email or been passed along an article that you're encouraged to read, only to find that it's 16 paragraphs of solid text? Rather than spend twenty minutes digging through this text, a hidden but incredibly valuable tool can help you get right to business.

The app is called Summarize, and it's normally located in the Services menu of any Apple app you may have. It's also located in the Services folder of your Library for quick access. Personally, I use it in conjunction with Quicksilver, so I'll be sure to explain that incredible app in a future post.

Here's what you do:

Select a block of text in an email, a website, or a document, then access the Summarize function. It'll pop up this display (I've selected a recent post of ours as an example):

As you can see, I've got the slider set to 100% and the whole article is displayed. Let's drag the slider down to, say, 4 sentences.

As you can see, it's pulled out 4 unique and important pieces of info from this post; this gives us a general idea of what the post is about and what it's explaining. Turns out Apple uses an algorithm to deduce how often this sentence is referenced (or how unique it is) and how important it is to the overall structure of the piece. Fancy.

Now let's drill it down to just one sentence:

A-ha! This is a one sentence summary of what the post is going to be about -- unconventional directions.

This might seem a little confusing at first, so I'll toggle over to paragraphs for a little more clarity:

Interesting. The article is teaching me how to find directions based upon the sun. The summary also includes the caveat paragraph, good if I don't live in the Northern hemisphere.

This is just an example, but I've seen this get used to great result with company emails, presentations and other corporate memos. If I just don't have time to read something, I'll fire this up and get to the heart of it immediately.

Tell Direction With Your Cell Phone and the Sun

By Matt:

There are a number of articles available with tips on how to orient yourself out in the wild. You can put a stick in the ground and watch the shadow's movement for thirty minutes, and you can even use an analog watch to create a makeshift compass.

But here's the thing - when I'm on a business trip driving in an unfamiliar place, and I'm late for a meeting, I don't have time to pull over and put a stick in the ground. In spite of that, I can quickly orient myself and get a general sense of direction using nothing but the clock on my cell phone. Here's how...

These are a few simple guidelines to keep in mind for our Northern hemisphere readers:

• At 12:00 Noon the sun is directly South
• At 6:00 AM the sun is directly East (even if it hasn't risen yet)
• At 6:00 PM the sun is directly West (even if it has already set)
• Facing the sun before Noon means you are looking between East and due South
• Facing the sun after Noon means you are looking between due South and West
  

Based on these rules I can estimate the four cardinal directions - North, South, East, and West - and quickly be on my way:

• For instance, if my cellphone says it is 9:00 AM the sun is going to be halfway between East and South (or Southeast). Approximate South by visualizing a 90-degree angle with the left line pointing towards the sun, and bisect the 90-degree angle to arrive at South.
• If it's 3:00 PM, the sun is halfway between South and West (or Southwest). Again visualize a 90-degree angle, this time with the right line pointing towards the sun, and bisect the 90-degree angle to arrive at South.
• Basic geometry can help you find South at other odd times. At 2:15 PM, use the same 90-degree angle process as the 3:00 PM example above, but this time adjust for the fact that it's earlier in the day. Bisect the angle again, but this time South will be slightly farther to your right (not more than 15-degrees, as the sun moves across the horizon at 15-degrees per hour).

Disclaimers And In Practice
Now it is important to remember is that these are approximations, and just a basic way to get a general sense of direction. Our Southern hemisphere readers will have to remember that at Noon the sun is directly North, not South, and the tips above will need to be reversed to account for this. Also, the guidelines are further complicated by Daylight Savings Time - which will shift your results by 15-degrees - but again, these are just basic orientation tricks.

With some practice you'll be able to glance at your phone, and glance at the sun, and determine your direction within a matter of seconds. So if you're driving along the Interstate and your hotel is located North of downtown, but it's Noon and you're driving away from downtown with the sun blazing through your windshield, then you're traveling the wrong way!

I hope these tips will aid to ease your mind during your next "I'M LOST!" panic attack... let us know how it goes!

Unsolicited Rant: Skipping Meeting Not Kosher When You're The One Who Called It

By Jon:

So early last week, I get a meeting invite with one of our clients.

The meeting was scheduled for two hours and was set to go over their biggest products of the year. It was apparently high profile enough for our SVP to announce it during our division meeting at the beginning of this week. Big event, I figure - I'll make sure I'm present.

When I arrived, our whole marketing team (about 10 people) are sitting in our boardroom, waiting for our client. Everyone's complaining about a two hour meeting and they all look ready to hunker down (with water bottles, etc). Ten minutes pass, and no one shows up.

We call down to their offices, and no one answers. Another call to their receptionist later, and we've got their head of sales on the phone. He remarks that he doesn't have the meeting on his calendar and didn't know he was needed.

Umm... he's the ONE WHO CALLED IT.

We all sort of stumble through it and leave feeling slightly more aware of their plans and products, but overall I don't feel like anything good was accomplished. Seriously people, you have GOT to make sure your email/calendar programs work, and you have GOT to bring an agenda to a meeting that long. Otherwise it gets off task or worse, off your calendar.

The Simple Beauty Of A .TXT

By Matt:

Ever since I started hacking corporate life I've been trying to figure out what I should do with all of the notes that I take. From meeting notes to conference call notes to personal brainstorming sessions... I've got notes everywhere.

I think I've finally hit upon the solution, and it wasn't near as complicated as I thought it would be:

Reviving Plain Text: The Power Of A .TXT
One of the most basic programs that come standard on any computer is a plain-text editor. On Windows systems this would be Notepad, and on Macs TextEdit. These simple, no-frills programs capture plain unformatted text and allow you to save it as a Text file (or .TXT).

I've recently started logging all of my notes - whether entered directly, or transferred from my Moleskine journal - into Text files. Here's why:

• Text editors have a minimal impact on your computer's RAM so they open quickly and run fast
• The text is plain so time isn't spent "beautifying" your notes - bolding, underlining, making pretty tables with colors, etc.
• The files are extremely small and easy to move, upload, and share cross-platform

Where To Store
It's important to keep all of your Text files in one central location. I've created a folder called 'Text Files', creative I know, and have placed a shortcut to the folder on my desktop so I can get to it in one easy click. Ultimately it doesn't matter where they are stored, as long as they're together and easy to get to.

I also maintain a subfolder called 'Archive' and periodically move outdated and unused files here to keep down on clutter.

How To Name The Files
File naming is critically important to maintaining your family of Text files, and there are several elements that go into each of my file names:

Uber Marker | Project | Filename | Date .txt

• Uber Marker: Is a general differentiator that denotes what the category of the file is. I use three categories - Notes, Lists, or Reference
• Project: The project level component defines what the broad subject of the document is - this could be an account name or the name of the person I met with
• Unique Filename: This is the most specific part of the name which drills down to the specific topic of the document
• Date: My date format is yyyymmdd, so April 9th, '08 would be represented as 20080409

My Uber Markers -

• # - Notes: Notes from meetings and phone calls. I use the "number" symbol because 'number' starts with "N" and so does 'notes'.
  
• @ - Reference: Reference documents are long-term files containing information that is relevant in my day to day job on an ongoing basis.
  
• ! - Lists: These are quick simple documents that contain exactly what the name suggests... lists on everything from to-do items to groceries, and marketing concepts to ideas for pranks to pull on co-workers. An exclamation mark looks like a lowercase "L", and 'list' starts with "L".
  

Example File Name -
So based on these guidelines, an example filename for a document of notes from a conference call w/ an account called "Stinson", regarding the launch of a product called "Widget 35X" would be...

# Stinson Widget 35X 20080410.txt

File Tagging
A final identification practice I do is "tagging", and this happens within the document, usually after I have transcribed my notes. On the first line of the document I enter in several keywords that I would associate with this particular file - things that would come to mind when trying to search for the document, but may or may not have been explicitly use in the notes themselves. This aids in searching for the files later, for example:

TAGS: Stinson, Widget 35X, Widget Launch, Spring Promotion Plan

Recall: Searching For Your Text Files
Being able to call up your notes quickly, on the fly, without hesitation is key to this entire process. PCs and Macs both have built in search functions, but I find these somewhat clunky and slow. Ultimately everyone has their own search preferences, but the key to my searching success is Google Desktop.

Google Desktop brings the power of Google's search engine capabilities to your hard-drive and networked drives. It is a powerful, and in my opinion, unmatched resource.

I do not use the Google Desktop Gadget - these eats up computer RAM. Rather, I use the keyboard shortcut - pressing 'CTRL' twice - to bring up the search dialog. If I am searching for a notes document, I simply type in a combination of keywords, and immediately the file I am looking for appears:

EXAMPLE SEARCH: .txt # stinson spring promotion

Two final notes on Google Desktop, and a matter of personal preference:

1. I set my default search option to 'Search Desktop' as oppossed to 'Search Web' - with Google Desktop I'm primarily concerned with finding things on my hard-drive and not on the internet
2. I also tell Google Desktop to index everything except Web History... again, I don't want to pull up my browsing history in my search results
   

Tying It All Together
Proper note taking, integrated with your ability to manage your to-do list and maximizing personal productivity are core components of GTD. Admittedly, the note-taking aspect of GTD has taken the longest for me to perfect, and due credit needs to go to Merlin Mann at 43 Folders for his insight on the process. My tips written out here are a modified form of his TXT Setup.

I'm curious to know your thoughts on this subject: How do you catalog and store the notes you have taken? What program do you use to search for notes you've stored on your computer? Do you even look at notes after a meeting... or are they just a time killing process for you?