Hugh's Blog

Trying to be more efficient is a worthy goal – fortunately there are some cool tools to try out for us computer-bound slaves. Here are some of the ones I have been using for the past year that work. Try them out and let me know if they help!

Evernote – indispensable for collecting random thoughts, articles, quotes or pictures and finding them again. Look like a genius with memory (or at least one of these). You can add the icon to your browser and it will easily pick up that fascinating article about Lady Gaga. http://www.evernote.com

gmail - sync your calendar and contacts and know that whatever breaks on the road has been backed up and accessible from that hotel lobby. Plus copy important documents into Google Docs for safekeeping and sharing. Google start page – this is a great way to customize and aggregate your news, blogs, notes – even favorite stocks. http://www.google.com/ig

Dropbox – this is a great tool for moving huge files over the web (we use it to send raw video to our editor quickly) or backing up your data. You get 2Gig of free data and it’s cheap to upgrade and get 50G (plus they happily give free storage for every referral you send out). http://www.dropbox.com/

1Password - or roboform (www.roboform.com/) Load it with all your log-ins, passports, credit cards, rental car info., whatever. It syncs seamlessly with my phone and is fast at finding my hotel account number while standing at the counter or filling in annoying shopping cart fields (like mine) or your identity information when registering with new companies on-line. Make sure to load the icon into your browser for fast access. http://www.agilewebsolutions.com

Tripit – a simple way to sync your travel plans with your calendar. This free app will work with Outlook, ical, iphone, Google calendar, Lotus notes just forward your travel confirmation email and it shows up where you need it. Cool. http://www.tripit.com

A notepad and pen – revolutionary! These work even unplugged and are rugged for tough travel conditions. Proven in the darkest Congo and the streets of Chicago. Available everywhere. 

Hugh Culver (www.hughculver.com) is the breathless new author of Give Me a Break: the art of making time work for you and uses his iphone daily to look smart.

Tags: accountability, business, business growth, effectiveness, growth, productivity, success, time, time management

Where have I been? I’m obviously not getting out enough, meeting the right people, checking out the new scene! I must have F.O.M.O..

I was meeting with a financial advisor yesterday. Nice guy. We were talking about my book Give Me a Break (Oh, I think I just gave it a plug). Actually, I was talking about my new book-he was pretending to listen.

And then he said, “You know what the real problem is? It’s FOMO.”

“FOMO”, he went onto explain, “is Fear Of Missing Out. It’s wanting to be involved in this cause, be at that party, and meet these people.”

This was a new one on me. And having just written a book (did I mention the title?) about taking your time back and re-creating your best life I was fascinated by a movement that points in the opposite direction.

According to Urban Dictionary (www.urbandictionary.com) FOMO can be: “The fear that if you miss a party or event you will miss out on something great. ‘I can’t decide if I should go out tonight, but I know that if I don’t I know I’ll get chronic FOMO.’”

Even better, here’s an excerpt from one Facebook entry:

“FOMO What are the warning signs for F.O.M.O? When you’re at a party and get 3+ text messages from a friend saying things like “how’s the party, are you having fun? Who’s there? Got any good stories?” Then you can simply reply: “Sorry about the F.O.M.O., buddy!”

Here’ my alternative.

F.A.K.U. (Forget About Keeping Up). Take it easy, do what makes you happy, don’t look around-look inside for guidance.

Yup, FAKU – try it. It kinda rolls off the tongue.

PS. Did I mention I have a new book out?

Tags: change, commitment, culver, freedom, growth, happiness, health, humour, motivation, organization, productivity, resolutions, small stuff

Sometimes I think that we are all delusional.

We talk as if our woes are permanent when nothing is really permanent.

We think that we are powerless yet every moment we operate the most sophisticated life form on earth.

We blame ourselves for screw-ups yet we ignore all the small examples of our success.

One human design is universal: we are hard-wired to spot the man-eating tiger and fixate on it. The problem is that the tigers have been replaced by our own fears, life pressures, and work demands.

But our negative, self-defeating, repeating self-talk doesn’t have to be that way. In fact, we all know the solution-we’re just bad at it.

The solution is to refocus, by choice.

Do you feel stuck, like nothing will ever get better?

Refocus on what is going right for you.

Feeling powerless?

Refocus on what you control.

Are you fretting over a mess you were a part of?

Refocus on what you did right.

Tags: change, commitment, conflict, culver, decisions, effectiveness, happiness, health, inspiration, motivation, productivity, resolutions, small stuff