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Time Management for Creative People

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No Stopping Mark!

Great Find: Time Managment for Creative People series . . .
Time Management #1: Why You Need to be Organised to be
Permalink: http://www.businessofdesignonline.com/time-management-why-you-need-to-be-organised-to-be-creative/
Target Audience: Anyone creative who has to get work done
Content: Mark McGuinness, who wrote the wonderful enneagram series here, is over at Business of Design Online (BODO) doing a series called Time Management for Creative People. The taghline tells both the focus of the series and its promise: Manage the mundane – create the extraordinary.

The eight posts in the series — which will form an ebook — break out as follows.

  1. Why you need to be organised to be creative
  2. Prioritise work that is ‘important but not urgent’
  3. Ring-fence your most creative time
  4. Avoid the ‘Sisyphus effect’ of endless to-do lists
  5. Get things done by putting them off till tomorrow
  6. Get things off your mind
  7. Review your commitments
  8. Resources to help you get things done

Time Management for Creative People is one of the ways business coach Mark McGuinness helps creative professionals and creative agencies succeed.

For more practical tips and inspiration visit his Wishful Thinking blog.

Bravo, Mark!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Find out about working with Liz.

A Nonprofit in Your Future? Read 501c Files

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Is that a Real Job

Over the summer and through the fall, I’ve been meeting more and more folks with a specialty in working with nonprofit organizations. Or is it that I’m more sensitive to the idea because the last in-house contract I had was with a nonprofit company? What makes a nonprofit a nonprofit and do they actually pay the people who work there?

This month b5 media started a blog about nonprofit businesses.

Great Find: 501c Files
Permalink: http://www.501cfiles.com
Target Audience: anyone with interest in nonprofits
Content:

What thoughts do you have about nonprofit organizations? Do you think about them at all? If you’re not aware of this sector of the business landscape, you could be missing out on opportunities for job placements, partnerships, and co-ventures of the same value that you find in any other business organization. The 501c Files can show you how to navigate this often overlooked territory.

Every post points to the place of nonprofits in the landscape of business. You’ll read about the Marine Corps Marathon, the Network for Good, the Detroit Stadium Challenge, the main difference between nonprofits and for profit business — and the main similarity, which both sectors often forget. Click the logo to go there.

It’s an excellent read.

Check it out. You might find a new boss, a new client, or a new partner idea.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

QuickStudy Reference Charts

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QuickStudy Offers Great Reference Charts!

Great Find: QuickStudy by Bar Charts, Inc.

Permalink: http://www.barcharts.com/

Target Audience: Anyone who uses a computer!

Content:

Bar Charts, Inc. produces laminated QuickStudy guides for academic and computer topics. You may have seen them in book stores. But, did you know they also offer free guides in pdf format? My favorite is Computer Shortcuts & Special Characters.

e.jpg

For example, do you ever forget how to add the accent to an é? I use these special characters occasionally, but not enough to memorize them. So I often turn to this guide.

This tool is on my favorites list because it’s:

  • Free
  • Convenient

Check it out yourself. Maybe there’s something that you will find helpful. Look for the “Free Downloads” link conveniently located on the banner. Click this QuickStudy image to go there.

QuickStudy

See you next time!

–Sandy, Purple Wren

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Great Find: Better Comments Manager — Reply INSIDE the WordPress Dashboard

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I Want One!

From the first I started corresponding with Keith Dsouza, he’s been a special one — talented and creative. He can ask a simple question and turn the answer into a blog post. . . . Keith is one surprise after another. The biggest of all was when I turned around at the problogger meetup and heard a guy say, “I’m Keith.”

Keith is the guy who developed Better Comments Manager for WordPress. If you’re on WordPress and you don’t know about it; you’re missing something . . .

Great Find: Better Comments Manager
Permalink: http://techie-buzz.com/wordpress-plugins/better-comments-manager-just-got-better.html
Target Audience: WordPress users
Content: Put simply the Better Comments Manager plugin allows publishers to respond to comments from inside the WordPress dashboard — rather than making us wait for another pageload to type in the comment on the page itself. The process is easy.

  1. Click reply.
  2. A box will appear.
  3. Type a reply in the box.
  4. Click save reply.
  5. A message will say it’s being saved.
  6. The reply will appear as a comment in the lists.

To check this out, click the title below.

This is cool.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
If you’d like Liz to help you find your strategy, click on the Work with Liz!!

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MemoKit Memory Manager

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No Kidding! Immediately!!

I’m a writer, not a gamer. I don’t need much from my computer. A few partitions to make feel safe when I wander the Internet blogging. Safety from nasty creatures that want to attack and room to move between multiple windows and social networks.

In the last few weeks, my computer has let me know that I’m asking too much of it. I stripped down the processes and even so, I was having to keep a watch on my memory. It was a pain. Things were slow.

It was serendipity that I came across this little darling that I have since shared with others who have had the same experience as I did.

Great Find: MemoKit by Software Benefits Inc.
Under US$30
Permalink: http://www.memokit4all.com
Target Audience: PC users
Content: I was having a problem with my virtual memory. I shut down all extraneous background processes, stripped my start up menu, and kept my cache clear. Yet I was still having memory problems that were slowing down my productivity and my sense of humor.

Enter a well-targeted program that does one thing well, MemoKit. I loaded it up and I was sailing again. This program’s basic function is to keep track of memory, give a view into memory leaks, manage them and allow me to it manually at a moment of severe memory shortage. It’s cool too. Just look.

MemoKit Main

What does it do? This from the easy read-me manual that is under that question mark in the nav bar.

Windows Page (Swap) – Basics

A virtual memory Page File (Swap File) is used by Windows whenever it is necessary to move (swap) some of the information from the Physical Memory (RAM) and store it temporarily on the hard disk. When the stored information is necessary, it is transferred back to the RAM again, and other information takes its place in the swap file. There is a permanent information exchange between RAM and swap file, which enables the PC user to work with more programs at a time than it is allowed by RAM only.

MemoKit Main with graphic demo

By moving the red line cursor across the graph to where the memory drops, I can see which applications are sucking resources, close them to see whether Windows lets go, or whether the resources hang in memory. (Programs that don’t release memory require that the machine be rebooted to get that memory back, but the culprits are identified.)

A trav icon keeps track of the resources and their state of us. A calculator can be used as a pullout. Lots of nifty details are fun to delve into.

If you’re having any such issues, get this program. I’ve had it for days and it’s lovely. I delighted with it.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

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Great Find: Five Things I Learned from Blog Comics

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It’s More than Reading the Funnies

Doing research for another post, I came across this one.

Great Find: 5 Things I learned From These Hilarious Blog Comics by Siziopedia

Permalink: http://www.sizlopedia.com/2007/06/24/5-things-i-learned-from-these-hilarious-blog-comics/#more-453

Target Audience: anyone who knows a blogs

Content: This article describes blogging made using blog comics as the talking points. The commentary is right on the experience of blogging. Click the comic below to read the article.

It’s short, sweet, and funny.

What more could you want for a Sunday afternoon?

–ME “Liz” Strauss