The last month has been one of the most productive of my life.

PersonaDev.com is growing comfortably. My work seems easier. I am getting up early and attacking assignments and tasks with enthusiasm rather than regret.

I am getting in better shape. I am eating right and I am exercising daily.

In general, I am getting things done and my short-term goals are being met earlier than I am setting new ones.

I sat down the other day and asked myself “Why has your last month been so productive?”

I came up with 5 activities and concepts that stimulated my month:

1. Sleeping Better – I despise waking up late. When I wake up late, I feel like I’ve wasted so much time and it puts a damper on the rest of the day. This month, I’ve been rising early. First, figure out when you are most productive. Are you an early bird? A night owl? Now try to wake up 5 minutes early each day or stay up 5 minutes later every night until you are awake for the majority of your “most-productive” time.
   
   
2. Eating Better – Eating right can be an amazing energy boost. Cut out fried foods as much as possible. Stick to chicken and salads whenever you can. Make sure you get the right intake of protein for your weight and activity level. Eat breakfast! Just a few minor changes in eating habits can improve your vigor significantly.

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Good communication skills are perhaps the most invaluable skill one can have.

No matter how much you know or how good you are at a specific task, without the ability to express yourself clearly and efficiently, you’ll never progress as far in life as you could have if you had this ability.

Luckily, great communicators are made, not born. The 8 tips below along with some practice will put you on a streamlined path to communication excellence.

(1) Understand Your Message - If you don’t understand what you are trying to say, how can you expect to others to understand? Try summarizing in one or two sentences what is the main idea of what you want to say. I find this works best by writing your intended message down.

(2) Remove Ambiguity - Look for any ambiguous words in your message and replace them with something more certain. There are two types of ambiguity for which to look.

• Definition Ambiguity - In the English language, most words have more than one meaning. For example, saying “I need a couple reports by this afternoon,” could mean a few reports or exactly two reports. In this case, it would be best to replace the word “couple” with an exact number or range of numbers.
• Sentence Ambiguity - Also known as Garden Path Sentences, it is possible for a sentence to have an unclear meaning. An example is “I know a man with a dog who has fleas.” Does this mean the dog has fleas or the man has fleas? Consider revising this sentence to something like “I know a man with a flea-infested dog.” The meaning is much clearer in the latter sentence.

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Well… intellectually stronger.

A few days ago, a buddy of mine asked me something like “Tim, what websites do you visit a lot?”

I answered with a few of the more popular one off the top of my head, but there were many more I forgot to mention.

In honor of this question, here is a quick list of my top ten most frequented websites.

These websites will help you increase your productivity, save time, and just make you smarter overall.

They are in no particular order, so don’t let placement have any affect on your trial.

1. RescueTime – This website provides you with a lightweight app that records and graphs how you spend your time on your computer. Taking small “quicky” breaks can often turn into a 20 minute excursion to read an article on SlashDot or check out the latest on Digg. RescueTime will allow you to see exactly how you spent your time and will even send a weekly report to your email.
2. Skype – Skype isn’t really a website, but I decided to include it anyway. Instead of using a landline of cellular phone to reach people you talk with often, use Skype. For a small fee, you can call anyone in the world from your computer.
3. DumbLittleMan – A great source of 15-20 weekly articles with emphasis on how to get the most from your life. Examples include 20 Things I’m Glad Life Taught Me and 9 Ways to Have A Better Day Than Yesterday.
4. Zen Habits – ZenHabits is about “achieving goals … and successfully implementing good habits.” Some examples of the type of content you’ll find there is: 12 Pratical Steps for Going With the Flow and Top 20 Motivation Hacks.
5. LifeHacker – A very frequently updated blog with tips on increasing your productivity. A few examples: Improve Your Vision at the Computer and How to Avoid Impulse Shopping.
6. Google Reader – If you do not yet use a feed reader, start. Instead of individually visiting all your normal blogs, just subscribe to their feeds. This’ll put all the articles you like into one neat little location for quick and easy reading.
7. StevePavlina – One of the forerunning personal development blogs on the internet today. Steve talks about ways to master your time management, nurture motivation to reach your goals, and how to develop balance within your life. Steve has written articles like 10 Reasons You Should Never Get a Job and 30 days to Success.
8. HowStuffWorks – HowStuffWorks houses tons and tons of articles about how pretty much anything you can imagine works. Ever wonder how exactly an automatic transmission works? How about how exactly a digital camera works? If so, this site is for you.
9. 43folders – 43folders provides many methods to “improve efficiency and get things off your mind” as well as “ideas about modest ways to improve your life and reduce stress.”
10. LifeHack – A life hack is “any hacks, tips and tricks that get things done quickly by automating, increase productivity and organizing.” Some of my favorite articles are 10 Tricks to Get Your Writing Started and 5 Ways to Deal With Irresponsible People.

Well, there you have it.  Try visiting a few of these websites daily or a few times a week and let me know if you’ve learned anything!

Photo by striatic

Have you ever found yourself driving completely out of your way to pick somebody up when it would have been better for both parties to drive themselves?

Have you ever spent your Saturday helping your sister’s boyfriend’s mother-in-law’s aunt with tedious yard work instead of heading to the ball game or working on your own yard?

In fact, if you’ve ever found yourself muttering or even screaming the words “Why I am doing this?” then this article is for you.

You are about to be let in on one of the best kept secrets of mankind: The ability to get what you want without asking. You will also learn how to be aware of when this is happening to you.

This is a 5-step process:

(1) Compliment: Compliment him on something he has done in the past. This is perhaps the most important step. This works best if you are complimenting him on something that relates to what you are going to get him to do. For example, if I want a buddy of mine to help me install a new pool filter, I might compliment him on his recent handiwork with Jacuzzi pump systems. The more you stress his skills and the more related the compliment is what you want, the higher the success rate.

(2) Explain What You Want: …but do not ask for anything. Just present your overall goal. At this point in the above example, I would say something like “Yeah, I’m looking at installing a new pool filter. The old one just crashed on me.” Short and sweet. State your goal, that’s it.

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