Productivity @ Home

Giving Thanks for Productivity Tools

As we pause today to give thanks for the blessings that fill our lives, I thought I'd share a few words of gratitude for some of the resources that help me to give my best where it matters most:

• All things Apple -- for my iPhone, my Macbook Pro, my iPad and a multitude of apps, I am eternally thankful
• Abundant Free Wifi -- for the many places where I find a place to work and free, reliable wifi connections, thank you! And double thanks if -- like Panera -- you offer free refills!
• Alternatives to Paper -- for email receipts, Evernote, boarding passes on my smartphone, online banking, and other ways I've been able to eradicate paper in my life, a big "hooray!"
• eBooks - for my Kindle, for iBooks, and even for free pdf versions, thanks to those publishers who let me take my books with me wherever I go

What productivity tools are you thankful for this year?

Evernote 5 for Mac Improves Upon One of My Favorite Productivity Tools

If you're an Evernote User and a Mac, be sure to check out the awesome new update, Evernote 5 for Mac. I've been an Evernote devotee for the past few months, but I tend to use the online version of the tool.

But not anymore.

The Evernote 5 update is clearly popular. As I type this, it's currently topping the App Store's free listings. After playing around with the upgrade, I can say my favorite new features include:

• Shortcuts -- I can easily stash my frequently used templates at the top right sidebar for quick access
• Tags - Organized by both name and note count
• Atlas - Because I travel frequently, I actually love seeing where my notes originated
• Views - I love the variety of note views -- my current favorite is the "card" view, but that will likely change depending upon which notebook I'm using

If you've never checked out Evernote - now's the perfect time to fall in love with an awesome new productivity tool. Happy organizing!

 

Taming Twitter

I've been pondering a new approach to my favorite social media tool -- Twitter -- for the past few weeks. For the bulk of my time tweeting, I had a "reciprocal" friending method, which meant that I "followed back" anyone who followed me.

The result now is a huge mess that's pretty unproductive and unworkable. I've been pondering a major "unfollowing" but hesitate to do so becuase I don't want to alienate my online friends. So I'm looking at tools like JustUnfollow.com that identify non-reciprocal Twitter relationships.

What's your strategy for using Twitter or adding friends across your social networks?

Under Construction: 3 Lessons Learned from Site Redesign Project

We are currently in the process of a major rennovation over at my main website, CatholicMom.com. It's been a few years since the last refresh, so I figured it was time to take the plunge and bite the bullet. Thanks to my amazing designer, Tim Norton of 6WebDesign, the process has been relatively painfree. 

One of the things I've learned over the years is to try to look at moments of "growing pain" like this one with open eyes, and to learn something in the process. So for posterity's sake, I'm going to share a few notes here for myself (and perhaps for you too!) in order to remember what this process has taught me.

How Google+ Is Enhancing My Productivity

Have you signed on to Google+ lately? This new social networking venue that is gaining traction with 40 million users and counting has made a major difference in my workflow since I began using it shortly after the Beta launch. The following are just a few of the ways that Google+ is helping me to get things done:

1. Great integration -- I'm a Google girl, which means that I use gmail, google calendar, and google docs every day in my home office. The fact that I receive + notifications in each of these venues, but in a non-obtrusive manner, makes it easy for me to not "stop by just to check" as I do with Facebook and avoids major time dumps.
2. Great sourcing -- I've used my social networking venues for the past few years as great places to crowdsource, to get quotes and content for my writing, and to seek out experts. Since beginning to use Google+ I find the response rate there amazing: the information I'm able to get is high level, well thought out, and amazingly quick. While I have far fewer contacts there than at Facebook, the noise level tends to be lower and the interactions tend to be very high value.
3. Great friendships -- On Google+ I've reconnected in new and fun ways with contacts I've had for a while, but have also built some amazing new friendships. Using the "hangout" feature felt a bit awkward at first, but now I love the great conversations I'm having on a regular basis with folks who are quickly becoming good friends. When I recently has a chance to meet a few Google+ friends "in real life", our connection felt instantaneous. 

I have lots of friends who tried Google+ for a few weeks and left quickly, but for me it's one of my new "go to" solutions for productively interacting online. Have you used it and what do you think?

 

Topic Updates

With my second manuscript in the editing phase -- and thus off my desk and onto my editor's -- I have a bit more time to spend here at P@H.  I'm going to slightly update our agenda here and will be focusing on the following daily topics:

• Monday - Working Issues
• Tuesday - Family Life Issues
• Wednesday  - App Spotlights
• Thursday - Finance and Learning Issues
• Friday - Entertainment Topics and Fitness Solutions

Is there a topic you'd like to see discussed here?  Sound off in the comments below!

Tech Notes for Your Family #2

Each week on Thursday at 5:50 am PT, I have the pleasure of appearing for a short segment on the Son Rise Morning Show with Brian Patrick.

Brian and I chat about the latest “tech” news that impacts upon Catholic families.  I’ve decided to begin regularly sharing the links and topics here at CatholicMom.com in case you have an interest in “wired family” topics.  To listen to the radio segment, click here.  Here are the topics I’ll be looking at for this week’s show:

• Kinect - One of this year's most popular gifts is the Kinect Sensor with Kinect Adventures! for Xbox360, which has already sold 2.5 million units in less than a month.  If you have a gamer in your house, there are some great websites to help you familiarize yourself with products before and after purchasing them.  I recommend:
  • GetGameSmart.com - Learn to set parental controls
  • PluggedIn.com - Game reviews from Focus on the Family
  • TheOnlineMom.com - Weekly video game reviews written by a "wired" mom
• Tech firms work online programs to keep kids safe - USA Today on Internet Safety for Kids
• Jumo - A Social Networking site aimed at letting users discover and support charitable causes, now in Beta
• Connecting with Youth Via Facebook - A great article for parishes and youth ministers looking to really reach teens with social networking efforts that work and have meaning
• A Parent's Pledge to Raise a Responsible Digital Citizen - Have you discussed this important part of your role as a parent?

What Matters Now - What's Your Word?

I recently wrote a blog post elsewhere about my "word" for 2010 - "Intentional".  This was before I discovered the great e-book project What Matters Now by the incredible Seth Godin. 

Seth is offering a free e-book with the following encouragement:

Now, more than ever, we need to shake things up.

Now, more than ever, we need a different way of thinking, a useful way to focus and the energy to turn the game around.

In the book, which you can download freely here or purchase in print here, you'll find brief essays from talented thinkers that will inspire, ignite, and get you going in whatever way you may need it. 

I encourage you to download the book, share it with others, and imagine for yourself what you'd write if Seth Godin came knocking and asked you to be a part of his project.

No worries Seth, I know what my answer would be...

A Shocking Vision of Students, New Media and Technology

With a teen headed to college next year and a tremendous interest in New Media, this video caught my attention when I saw it recently on a friend's blog.  I've seen my kids "multitask", seen how they interact with their friends online and in person, seen them turn off the TV but live out loud to iTunes, and seen the way they obtain their information.  What are we, the grown ups who love them doing to realize and communicate with them in their changing world?  Fascinating - please take five minutes and watch this video.  I'd love to hear your take.

College Admissions and Facebook: To Friend or Not To Friend?

 Many of you know that my son Eric is in the throes of applying to college. It's likely during the next several months that I'll be writing a great deal on this topic, not only for those of you with high school seniors, but also for those with younger children too. You'd be amazed how quickly this process sneaks up on you, and it seems impossible to be "overprepared" to apply to college.

So many things have changed since I applied to college, including the many technological advances that now exist. So when I ran across this USA Today article this week entitled To friend or not to friend? College admissions in the age of Facebook, it caught my eye immediately. This article deals with the ethical issues that surround college admissions officers' use of social networking sites. Here's an amazing statistic from the article:

While 86% of college students have a Facebook account, according to a 2008 survey by Harvard University's Institute of Politics, only 13% of the 401 admissions officials surveyed this year say their schools have a policy about interacting with students on social networking sites, Olson says. "That's the picture of the changing landscape that we are in right now."

I'm certain that most of you with teens who are online are carefully supervising your kids' use of tools such as Facebook. But it's worth having a discussion today about the types of "friends" your child should be accepting online. We had a personal experience of this during the summer, when Eric received a personal letter from the Dean of Admissions at an Ivy League school. This professional shared all of the usual information about their wonderful college and then invited Eric to be his "friend" on Facebook. Thankfully, I was standing nearby when my son zealously grabbed the letter and headed to the computer. I was able to stop him and have an immediate conversation about the propriety of this use of Facebook. While I'm certain that the college official in question is likely simply using Facebook as another marketing tool, we were able to discuss the importance of Eric's personal profile - both his own postings there and what his friends write on his profile.

It seems that history is now being written about the role of Social Networking profiles in the college admissions process. We've always discussed around our home the need for Eric to have the attitude that his Facebook profile serves in a way as his "online resume". In other words, don't post (or allow the posting of) anything you wouldn't want a potential college or future employer to consider.

For those of you who use Facebook or have teens who are on any social networking site, I'm curious to hear how you handle these issues around your home. How do you regularly monitor your child's online presence? Do you feel it is ethical for colleges and universities to consider information posted online as part of the application process? Please chime in with your thoughts!