Links for 20 October 2007

There are two articles I wrote recently over at lifehack.org which you might find useful:

• Productivity Tip: How Not to Overspend Your Time On a Task
• How to Be a Friend of Yourself

Also, Jonathan Fields asked some bloggers including yours truly a question on blog marketing. The article is an interesting read, especially if you are a blogger: Top bloggers reveal how to build traffic off-blog without spending a dime.

And here are some interesting links I found since the last link post:

• The Art of the Finish: How to Go From Busy to Accomplished by Cal Newport
  We may get busy without accomplishing anything. But “the most common trait you will consistently observe in accomplished people is an obsession with completion. Once a project falls into their horizon, they crave, almost compulsively, to finish it.” This article gives you some tips on how to develop this trait.
• The Pmarca Guide to Career Planning, part 0: Introduction – part 1: Opportunity – part 2: Skills and education – part 3: Where to go and why by Marc Andreesen
  These articles give great advice on career planning. Here is one of my favorite quotes: “The issue is that without taking risk, you can’t exploit any opportunities. You can live a quiet and reasonably happy life, but you are unlikely to create something new, and you are unlikely to make your mark on the world.”
• The Top 5 Reasons to Be a Jack of All Trades by Timothy Ferriss
  Being a generalist is better than being a specialist. Why? Because “it’s the big-picture generalists who will predict, innovate, and rise to power fastest”. And here is a key characteristic of generalist: “Generalists take the condensed study up to, but not beyond, the point of rapidly diminishing returns.” Interesting read.
• 7 Ways to Overcome the Fear of Failure by John Wesley
  Fear of failure is a common problem faced by many. This article offers some tips on how to overcome it such as considering the cost of missed opportunities, putting the worst-case scenario in perspective, and burning the boats.
• How to Recall an Entire Book in 5 Minutes or Less by Luciano Passuello
  This article explains an interesting idea on how to read a book effectively: commit yourself to create a mind map of it. It enables you to recall the content of the book quickly.
• The One Hour Project: Thirty Ways To Use One Hour To Improve Your Finances – And Open The Door To More Riches by Trent Hamm
  Doing certain things one hour a day can improve your finances. Here is a list of 30 such things you can do.
• Get Smart: How to Boost your IQ by 10 points by Ririan
  We can increase our IQ with proper training. This article gives you 27 tips to train your brain to boost your IQ.
• 24 Warning Signs You Cannot Afford To Ignore by IsItYourNeed
  When there is a problem in your health, the earlier you take action the better. Watch these warning signs to prevent something worse from happening.
• Why Money Doesn’t Buy Happiness by Sharon Begley
  We often hear that money can’t buy happiness. And here is why: “the most important commodity you can buy with additional wealth is choice”, but too many choice is “overwhelming, leaving (people) chronically on edge that they could have chosen a better one than they did.”
• The 7 Energy Sinkholes (and How to Avoid Them) by Scott H Young
  There may be things in our life that drain our energy and stress us out. We should recognize them so that we can avoid them as soon as possible.