80 How-To Sites Worth Bookmarking
July 9, 2008
Sitting on my dining room table, I currently have half a dozen projects in various states of doneness. Some involve vivisected computer parts, others will eventually be wearable and a few are just cool things I’ve ran across on the internet. I like doing things myself — I think the DIY bug is one of the best communicable diseases in the lifehack community.
These eighty sites are the places I turn to when I’m trying to figure out how to accomplish any particular goal. Any time I’m facing a new project, I start searching for how-tos that will help me figure out how other people did similar things and how likely I am to finish the project with all ten fingers still intact. I’ve broken them up into a few different categories, just to help you narrow down what you might be looking for. Some are simply archives full of tutorials. Some are blogs that publish how-tos fairly regularly. Some are just great resource sites. But they all have provided me with the information necessary to carry through on a project.
Every How-To They Can Get Their Hands On
These ten sites are more than happy to host any how-to around. I’ve seen everything from computer hardware hacks to instructions for brewing beer on these sites. This is the place to start — you can narrow down your search as you get a better idea of your project.
- Make Magazine’s Blog
- Instructables
- How Stuff Works
- Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories
- wikiHow
- flickr
- Lifehacker
- Popular Mechanics
- DIY Happy
- Expert Village
What is the Value of One Hour?
May 23, 2008
When I was 21 years old a gentleman asked me what I thought the value of an hour was. At that point, I honestly did not know how to answer the question. He went on to teach me one of the most valuable lessons I have ever learned.
He suggested that the value of an hour was priceless. When this confused me some, here is what he went on to tell me this:
If you invest one hour each day in understanding yourself and your environment better, you will accumulate nine 40-hour weeks over the course of a year! As you can imagine I was blown away when he put it to me that way. Nine 40-hour weeks? This seemed impossible until I did the math. 365 days multiplied by one hour each is…yep, nine 40-hour weeks!
He went on to ask me how well I would be able to do something if I did it all day, every day for just over two months. Well you already know the answer to that…I could be awesome!
He went on to tell me that over the course of just five years I would have invested the equivalent of 1825 hours of focus on whatever I desired to accomplish in my life.
Imagine for a minute how incredible you could become at anything you did for one hour each day for the next year.
How physically fit could you get? How much more love could you give and receive? How much more money could you earn?
Let me suggest that one hour is a small price to pay in comparison to the payoff.
Just one hour each day may just be the razor’s edge you need to really get the results you want in your life.
For me the decision was easy. I have been studying human potential and the mind for over 20 years. Each time I think I’m getting a good handle on it, I am gently reminded of how much there is to observe and learn.
Is getting what you want in life worth one hour a day? I certainly hope so.
Regardless of the success I have achieved in my life, I still manage to set aside my hour to read motivational stories or listen to inspirational people. They are the fuel for my mind and it keeps me learning and yearning for more.
Please adopt an hour a day for yourself!
Pick one area of your life that you want to improve and commit the next 90 days to that one thing.
I assure you that the results you achieve will be well worth the decision!
And remember…you can’t get out of this life more than you put into it.
3 Steps to Better Public Speaking
May 7, 2008
The ability to communicate effectively is one of the most important skills a person can have. It often determines whether a leader is viewed as being effective or ineffective, a plan is considered successful or a failure, and whether or not a deal gets done.
For a leader, success, or failure, is often determined by one presentation, speech, debate or announcement. With a good performance, an unknown becomes somebody. However, with a poor performance, a promising future may sink into oblivion.
I have had the opportunity to work with leaders throughout the corporate and political worlds. It never ceases to amaze me difference that these three simple steps can make for most people, regardless of talent level, natural communication ability, or leadership position, when it comes to public speaking.
Step 1 – Slow Down!
We have all seen it. A business leader approaches the podium. This individual has a reputation for being knowledgeable, charismatic and informed. Sure enough, the leader makes his or her presentation, is engaging throughout, uses positive body language, yet when he or she glances at the crowd, everyone looks confused, and a little bewildered. The audience probably would have responded to the message being delivered, had they had time to process it.
Slow Down!
Slow Down!
Slow Down!
Public speaking is not a race. People want to hear what you have to say, but you have to give them the ability to. When you are addressing a crowd, whether 5 or 500, every second of silence feels like an eternity – to you. It does not feel like an eternity to your audience, it feels like – a second of silence!
Take brief pause, a breath, a sip of water, whatever you need to do to slow yourself down. Your audience will appreciate it.
Step 2 – Smile!
Smiling is contagious. Period. Smiling will improve your confidence, will improve the disposition of your audience, and will improve your speaking – dramatically. Smiling is the equivalent of body language 101. Nothing will get the audience on your side faster than an authentic, genuine smile.
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How Do You Spend That Hour Before Work? It Could Mean Millions
January 9, 2008
By Jack and Jill live in the same apartment building and work in the same office. They both wake up at 7:00 a.m., shower, have breakfast, and get to work by 8:00 a.m. It is at this point that their habits diverge.
From 8:00 until 9:00 (when the rest of the workers come into the office), Jill plans her day and gets to work on a job that is important to her long-term goals. Jack likes to get into work an hour earlier too, but he prefers to spend the time “relaxing into his day” with a cup of coffee and the morning newspaper.
Jack sees Jill working away and feels sorry for her. “We both get credit for getting into work early,” he thinks, “but she has exchanged happiness for money.” In his opinion, that makes Jill greedy, foolish, and, ultimately, self-centered.
David Niven, a college professor and author of the book The 100 Simple Secrets of Successful People would half agree. “Yes, Jill is acting out of self-interest,” he’d say, “but so is Jack.” Both of them choose to do what they do with their spare time because they believe they benefit from it.
Jack doesn’t like work. Thus, he doesn’t want to work any more than he has to. But since he has to work from 9 to 5, he figures he might as well do a good job during that time. And he does.
Jill does like to work. And although she doesn’t enjoy every single aspect of it, she especially enjoys the hour between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. That’s when she plans her day, figures out what she can accomplish, and gets some work done on a project that she knows will change her life for the better.
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