Two Tips to Save a TON of Time Online

In reading through some blogs this weekend, I just came across two very useful tips that have already saved me a ton of time. I thought I would pass these on.

The first tip is a way to eliminate 90% of the clutter in your email inbox. If you are like me, your inbox is full of email from shops that you have registered for and actually want, but that you certainly don’t have to read. I could just delete those emails or unsubscribe, but online shops like Staples and buy.com always have specials and when I’m ready to buy something, I like to have the coupons handy. So what I’ve done is set up Gmail filters to mark them as read, archive them and move them to a folder called “Retailers”. That removes them from my inbox but still keeps them around for the future if I ever need them. While setting up the filters is mildly tedious, once they are set up you will have a virtually clutter-free inbox. This tip was part of a post on life without advertisements on Get Rich Slowly, which you can check out for more tips on that topic.

The second tip is a way to weed out all content that is not text from a web page, so that you can focus on what you are reading and not be bothered by the ads or other “fluff” in the margins. It requires a tool called Readibility and takes about 2 seconds to install and another second to learn to use. Combine that with AdBlock Plus on Firefox and you will be down to only the core content you want to see on most sites. Of course you can – and should – create exceptions for your favorite blogs, as of course you want to keep those ads visible. You can check out Zen Habits for more tips on faster web browsing.

Let me know if you have any other tips or how these work out for you.

Why Be Alert When You Can Be Aware?

If you’ve ever taken the subway in New York City, you have doubtless heard the announcement reminding you to “Please remain alert! (…And have a nice day.)” Upon hearing this yesterday it got me thinking about the difference between being alert and being aware.

While the words are often used somewhat interchangeably, “alert” has undertones of stress, fear and danger. Alertness is a state that no one short of a marine on night patrol in Falluja should maintain for very long. (Even in their case, we can see the unfortunate results of being on that high level of alert for too long in the mentally destroyed men and women returning home from combat.) Quite simply, remaining alert will certainly not lead anyone to have a nice day. Read more »»

The Movie in Your Mind

My therapy over the past few years and my ongoing pursuit of personal growth have taught me many things but one of the most important is this: the future is just a projection, no more real than a movie. Many of us, myself included, tend to fill our movie versions of the future with nothing but tragedy, misfortune, loneliness, loss, shame and heartbreak.

Maybe this is based on past experience projected forward as fact, or maybe it’s just fear of the unknown, or lack of confidence. Whatever the root cause, we have trouble seeing a movie about our future filled with happiness, joy, pride and fulfillment – and with the perfect Hollywood ending.

But since both versions of the future are nothing but figments of our imagination, what harm is there in making the comedy instead of the drama? What if we admit that, yes, both versions are theoretically possible, while at the same time projecting only the happy one on the screen in our mind? Read more »»

Making Connections

One of the things I have always found the hardest is approaching new people and striking up a conversation. I mean what if I say something stupid? What if they don’t like me? What if they think I’m weird? What if? What if? What if?

There are always two choices in this kind of situation. Do nothing or do something. Doing nothing is almost certainly guaranteed to result in nothing. Doing something can result in the following: utter failure and embarrassment or nothing. That was how I used to see the choices, so of course I would end up doing nothing, since nothing was the least bad outcome.

But what if the possible outcomes of doing something were expanded to include an interesting conversation, a new friend, an amazing business connection, a potential romantic interest, or at the very least a worthwhile growth experience by putting myself out there. Read more »»

Overcoming Shame – Or, How This Blog Got Its Name

For as long as I can remember, I have hated my name. Not “Jim”. That’s a fine name, if a bit average (number 15 baby name in 2007).  The name I always hated was my last name, Hohl.

Really, let’s face it – it is a stupid name. It means what you think it means. Why the first Hohls in Germany back in the 1600s or whenever chose that name for themselves is beyond me. But they did. And thus it was passed down over 20 generations to me and my brother, who hates it so much he decided back in high school to start pronouncing it as “Hall”, and I can’t say that I blame him.

I always have to spell it for people even though it’s only four letters. More often than not it’s mispronounced (Hoyle, Hohul, Hull, or even “Hoho” – I mean, seriously? Hoho?) And when it is properly pronounced, I sometimes instinctively cringe at the sound of it: “HOLE”. I mean who wants that for a name, right? Read more »»