…or 49 pages.

Came across this excellent guide written by Trent Hamm at his website simpledollar.com.  If you like what you see in this guide, it represents just a small portion of this great stuff he has on there.

What it all comes down to is:

1) Spend less than you earn

2) Live Frugal

3) Earn More

4) Manage Your Money

5) Control Your Own Destiny

Whether you are a blogger or someone who forwards YouTube videos to all your friends on your distribution list the following website gives some great tips on how to make YouTube more useful for you.

By adding the following extentions listed in the link to YouTube URL’s you can do such things as have a video start at a specific spot in a video, disable the related video feature, autoloop or autoplay an embedded video.  Great hacks to know

LINK: 10 YouTube URL Tricks You Should Know About

FYI for the increasingly larger portion of the population that is looking for work.  Tomorrow (March 10, 2009) the FedEx Office / Kinkos stores are going to be offering up to 25 free copies of your resume when you bring in a paper or CD copy of it. See the full story at lifehacker.com.

Lifehack.org describes it as “any hacks, tips and tricks that get things done quickly by automating, increase productivity and organizing.”

Lifehacker.com explains that its website, which is dedicated to publishing life hacks, as “tips, shortcuts, and downloads that help you get things done smarter and more efficiently.”

The term originated from a man by the name of Danny O’Brien who studied and polled a group of highly productive computer programmers versus their less fruitful piers.  O’Brien summarized his research in a 2004 presentation called Life Hacks: Tech Secrets of Overprolific Alpha Geeks. Sounds like a fun read!  From this point websites and blogs such as the two listed above as well as 43Folders.com and ZenHabits.net emerged – among others – as places to go to learn about such tricks and hacks.

In future posts I am going to focus more on some of these simple ideas I have picked up on.  In the meantime I thought I would provide some links to some of the better posts I have found online.

Top 10 Obscure Google Search Tricks lifehacker.com

Top 42 Exercise Hacks zenhabits.net

Peter Walsh’s Clever Hanger Trick 43folders.com

50 Ways to Make Your Home more Organized, More Attractive, and More Efficient lifehack.org

My first stab at a video blog.

If you want to see more about the Flip Note check out www.flipnotefan.com

I spent the day today at the FBR Open (aka Phoenix Open) in Scottsdale.  As witnessed again the FBR Open is unlike any other event on the PGA Tour.  It almost feels more like a college frat party than golf tournament – bottom line is that’s its a great time.  I count myself as one of those few people who actually like to watch golf on television although it may be for a different reason than you think.  For me it is the perfect backdrop for a weekend nap.  I can barely last 15 minutes when you combine the great scenery of a golf course along with David Feherty’s hushed and whispered take on the approach shot at the 12th hole .  If you are finding it hard to get in a good quality nap I urge you to tune in and I can almost guarantee instant REM.  But if that still doesn’t work for you The Boston Globe created the following Guide to Better Napping. For a clearer image please click here

In addition to napping this past year 60 minutes did a two part segment on the science behind sleep which I thought was very interesting.

Part One

Watch CBS Videos Online

Part Two

Watch CBS Videos Online

Do you set New Years Resolutions?  I have seen plenty of articles online over the past few days that argue the resons for and against the idea.  Regardless, I don’t think anyone can argue with the fact that people who not only set goals but also track them are much more productive than those who do not.

Yesterday lifehacker.com posted some links to sites that provide free online goal tracking apps.  Of all those listed my favorite is a site I have been using called JoesGoals.com .  As you can see from the screenshots the idea behind this site is very simple: list your goals, assign them a weighting with a point system and most importantly don’t break the chain.  One of the reasons why I think this site offers one of the best free apps online is that it is very customizable to be what you want it to be.  So once again check it out whether you’ve just put pen to paper or if you are looking for a better way to hold yourself accountable.

Its December 30th and I am sure many of you are reviewing and creating a list of goals or things you would like to accomplish in 2009.  Most research done about goal setting recently shows that almost everyone has a goal of shedding some pounds.  There are obviously better ways and worse ways of going about this but a recent article from Men’s Health talks about why diet soda may not be the best way to loose weight.

Men’s Health references 3 reasons why:

1) Even though its low or no calorie the artificial sweeteners lead us to crave more and more sweets.

2) There are many good things that you should be drinking every day – most importantly water, and if your drink consumption is wasted on diet soda which has no nutritional value at all you may not be thirsty for much more throughout the day.

3) Aspartame – although the FDA says its safe independent research shows signs of brain tumors, memory loss and headaches.

The story also provides a link to the 20 Unhealthiest Drinks in America here.

Read the full story here on Yahoo.com

Can Christmas be organized and if so, should it be?

The answer to the question of can it be is probably no.  Should it be – yes – at least I think so.  So often Christmas and the rest of the holiday season turns out to be such a stressful event for many of us.  Last minute shopping, work parties, family parties, and even waiting on our annual bonus check from Mr. Shirley so we can install the new family pool.

A new website I just found http://organizedchristmas.com/ not only suggests Christmas should be more organized but also gives you some calendars to help plan it out.  From now until Christmas I am going to be posting various thoughts and opinions on how to make the holidays more enjoyable by getting the right things done so that “stuff” doesn’t get in the way of the true meaning of it all.  Please post comments or suggestions on websites, tips, traditions and plans you make to help enjoy the season with your family.

Thoughts come at the most random times.  For me it is almost always while I am in the shower and while I am driving.  I still have yet to come up with the idea for the shower but I do have a solution for the car or in any other situation where you need to make a hands-free note: Jott.com.

My cell phone is programmed to dial up (866) JOTT-123 anytime I need to make a 15-30 second note to myself or even someone else.  Pulling out of work I will all of the sudden remember that I forgot to get Mr. Portwood the TPS report with the new coversheet on it.  Thats ok – I just dial Jott and say, “First thing in the morning make sure to get Portwood the TPS report.” Jott will then convert my voice into an email that goes straight to my inbox within about 10 minutes.

Until about 3 months ago Jott was completely free, however, most of the services still today come at no cost.  Additional things that I use Jott for are:

Updating my status on Facebook and Twitter

Sending myself a task on Remember the Milk (more on this cool web app later)

Sending someone an email or text message (now part of premium service)

Posting to my blog (tried and tested on Blogger and WordPress)

Give it a test.  Its not always 100% accurate, but I would say that about 90% of my words now are right on.  Do not expect Jott to serve as your personal secretary – the woman on the other line cuts you off at about the 30 second mark so dont expect it to transcribe your entire days notes at that incredibly captivating continuing education course you just sat through.

If you have an iPhone Jott has released a FREE app that will do all the dirty work minus a phone call.