For a while I have been wondering why my energy has been lacking.

I wondered if it was diet, stress, workload, exercise. Of course all of those things are factors, but I couldn’t put my finger on why it was so unusually bad right now.

With the help of my iPhone I think I have found the culprit, or the largest.

My sleep is atrocious.

While I always knew my sleep paterns could be, well, less than optimal, I never expected to see a chart like this one. According to this, once I got to bed I had around 1 hour of actual deep sleep. We all know it is not so much how much time you spend in bed that counts but the quality of sleep you get while in there, and this shows mine isn’t so great.

Sleep Monitoring Gadget

The application is called “Sleep Cycle” (find it in your app store) and uses the sensitive accelerometer in the iPhone to detect your movements and therefore sleep pattern. I don’t know how to read these charts but even I can tell this does not look as it should be.

With lack of sleep we get lack of energy, stamina suffers and so does concentration. Peak productivity can’t be maintained while your body and mind are crying out for sleep.

Of course I have a lot on my mind, what with projects and an immigration to worry about on top of the usual family/business/life stuff, but I am pretty sure my productivity will take a leap once I can fix or mitigate this sleep problem.

Sleep Fix Project

Here are the things I am going to try:

1. Temperature – Too hot or too cold and I will never get decent sleep. No point in getting proper air conditioning only to leave it in the UK but I can bring up my portable office unit to see if that helps.
2. Pillow – I have one of those curved, firm pillows that are supposed to offer more spine support. This needs to be examined to see if it is right for me.
3. Timing – Sleep routine rather than random “keep working until I start nodding off at my desk” would probably help I am guessing!
4. Brain – Turn off the brain well before attempting to go to sleep to stop the mind continuiing to work long after it should be dozing.
5. Diet – Eating late or eating certain foods impacts sleep, as does excess or late caffiene/sugar intake. I practically live on coffee, and that needs to stop.
6. Exercise – IE. get some. I started before our recent trip to Australia and quit while we were away. Use up that adrenalin for something positive.
7. Daylight – IE. get some. Artificial glow from a computer screen is not a natural light substitute I am told. Strange that. We need sunlight to regulate our body clocks.

What else can I try to improve my sleep? What has hurt or helped yours? Do you get enough sleep? Please share any thoughts you have in the comments ….

As a disclaimer, these may or may not be considered Life Hacks by you, but a case is made that they fall under the general definition of Life Hacks. (Not to be confused with the General Lao Lao Smith definition of Life Hacks, which is another article entirely.) With that in mind, sit back and prepare to be astounded by some of the biggest Life Hacks throughout history.

Bill and Theodore’s Bogus Bone Tools … And the Ones that Worked

This short tale on our journey through history has us stopping tens of thousands of years ago to those first Life Hacks – tools made out of bone. There was, of course, the bone chair, which wasn’t very comfortable and was quickly scrapped (literally.) Then there was the bone birdhouse, which didn’t go over very well for some reason. Finally, man struck upon making hooks for fishing out of bone. Also, implements to get the hair in place. These were Life Hacks that were appreciated by many.

Ugh. Or … the Evolution of Language

While pointing and grunting must have been adequate to get some points across, the use of language was a Life Hack that had dramatic results. No longer hampered by spending two hours trying to gesture your point, humans were able to leap forward on the evolutionary scale. This was quite a productivity boost as you might imagine. Today, language allows us to learn about and share Life Hacks, making it indispensable. In fact, there are many Life Hacks that center around language and communication – making it easier than ever before.

Hey, That Caveman Isn’t Wearing any Clothes!

Yes, the invention of clothing. This was probably one of the earliest and most ingenious Life Hacks. It changed life, but it also allowed men (and women) to get around more in inclement weather and be a little protected against the elements. This led to revolutions in time productivity. How do you think the idea to keep dropping seeds in the same place came about? But seriously, the invention of clothing has to be one of the biggest Life Hacks of all time.

The Invention of Time (Well, the Calendar or Keeping Track of Time)

The invention of the calendar – be it lunar, solar, or the long-view Mayan calendar – has to be one of the most amazing Life Hacks ever. Set aside nifty iPhone apps that link this or that calendar with yours and just think about what it must have been like before calendars. Okay, perhaps it would have been a little less stressful and more fun. Still, do you think a lot was done before the calendar? Oh yes, Mr. Chong, we will pay you back … eventually. Poor Mr. Chong with no way to say, “Hey, you need to pay by this time or else!” And that led to a more productive world in general. Progress ensued.

Peer to Peer Books and the Printing Press

Before the invention of the printing press (in China or the West), things were being written down, but books were tedious to make and were expensive. Only the rich owned them. There were great libraries, but when disaster struck like in Alexandria, a lot of human knowledge was lost – some of it forever. One of the greatest Life Hacks ever, the printing press allowed books to be mass produced. The invention led to a lot of other inventions over the years, but taken by itself, it’s quite a LifeHack. Nothing against the Monks who were put out of work soon thereafter, but it was one of the better things to happen in the history of man.

Watson, I’m not Home Right Now…

You may have thought I was going to say the phone is one of the greatest Life Hacks of all time because it allowed people far away to talk and collaborate, I’m going to go in another direction and say the answering machine (or voicemail) is one of the greatest Life Hacks. Without voicemail, there would be no call-screening. Well, until caller ID was invented. Okay, I’ll lump all telephony equipment and technologies together for this one. The truth is, some of today’s smartphones have more processing power than the Space Shuttle, and the original IBM computers put together. Expect to see many more Life Hacks in this space.

You Have Reached the End of the Internet

The fact that this can’t really happen, that the Internet is still expanding and growing makes it one of the most important Life Hacks ever. As with some of the others, it has spawned mini-Life Hacks that would not have been available if it wasn’t for the Internet. This really makes it one of the biggest Life Hacks ever. And until the invention of time machines, transporters, or flying hover cars, there doesn’t seem to be an invention that will have as big an impact as the Internet has. As for as Life Hacks go, the Internet itself – the World Wide Web – is an intricate and ever-growing LifeHack that can help or harm.

The Future of Life Hacks?

Some of the so called Life Hacks you read about on the Internet today may pale in comparison to these shining examples of LifeHack-ish-ness (if you’ll excuse us that word), but that doesn’t mean it’s not important to keep in the loop. If you want all the latest Life Hacks that have the potential to change your life for the better, be sure to bookmark us (speaking of time saving Life Hacks…) Productivity is all about utilizing the latest and greatest tools to help you better manage your time (and your life.) While we’ve had some fun looking at the big “Life Hacks” throughout history, being productive is actually serious business.

The corporate instant messaging platform was so we could turn off the rest, and be able to focus on work, but the reality is that all instant messaging needs to be turned off to really get a good amount of work done. Any interruption to your focus, or what I call my “groove”, will distract you from your goals, stop you from getting things done, and cost you time and energy that could have been put into work tasks.

Writing conversations, even just in short form instant messaging takes much more concentration than talking on the phone to someone, as it uses both your sense of sight and touch, where talking via an audio medium, through Skype or the phone, only uses your hearing.

The biggest productivity tip I can give you is to turn off your instant messaging programs during your blogging time. Schedule when you will be available to be accessed through such means, and let people know they can e-mail you, or if it is an emergency or very high priority, they can take the time to call you. I know calling can be a distraction as well, so make sure they realize that it is only in extreme situations that calling would be acceptable.

Instant messaging tools are productivity killers, and in this highly competitive world, the last thing you want is to be unproductive. If you have any tips like this, contact us and let me know.

To begin the process your first step is to take a look at what your web hosting needs actually are. Do you need to help customers find your business? Are you wanting to establish a community with interactive features for your members or site visitors? Or do you need a great way to showcase your portfolio that lets you sell your talents to potential clients or buyers? Finding a web host that offers a ton of great features is not going to be very helpful to you if you do not know what you actually need or how you can incorporate those features in your web hosting needs. To get you started thinking about what you need and how you can incorporate some of the more popular web hosting features into your online identity, here is a quick over view of the more common features offered by a number of web hosting providers.

Site Builder:  This is one of the important areas that you need to deal with at the very beginning; how will you design your web site? If you already have web design software that you want to use to create your new masterpiece or will be hiring a designer to take care of that aspect of your web site for you then using a host that offers easy FTP access or an easy editor to give your design team room to create will be very important.  You can also find a professionally designed template that you can purchase then customize and upload to your web host.

But what if you are not a web design guru and you do not have a budget large enough to afford the luxury of hiring a design pro? This is where selecting a hosting provider that offers an easy site builder will be very important. Most site builders are WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) drag and drop editors which mean that all you have to do is choose from a selection of predesigned templates and plug in the information and options that you want to add to your page.

Who Is It For: This is perfect for those who do not have a lot of time to put into designing the look and feel of their web site or for those who do not have the design software or know how to create their own web sites.

Blog: Blogs are being used today for everything from personal journaling to full blown magazines but are they an essential component for your web site needs? Blogs can help you to easily update information on your site and communicate with your web site visitors or customers. There are many blog hosts available and most hosting packages include easy to install blogging platforms such as WordPress that allows you to easily customize your blog’s look by choosing for a variety of themes or uploading your own. 
Who Is It For?: A blog is great for web site owners who want to offer regularly updated information or online newsletters for their customers or members on a daily or weekly basis and for those who will be offering more detailed information that they want to use to draw more visitors to their websites. A blog can easily be used to supplement your current needs; for example, a bridal shop could use a blog to display how to articles and feature on selecting the right dress, etc.

Community Features: If you want to engage your site visitors and have them returning to your web site frequently, adding community features can be a great way to go. Community features can range from a simple discussions forum to a full scale content management system that allows users to post articles and comment on content. Adding polls or a guest book is also another simple way to get your customers or visitors engaged with your site.

Who Is It For?: If you want to keep your customers on your site, get a lot of feedback from them, or encourage users to help grow your content then community features will be important to you. You will need to decide what level of visitor interaction will suit your needs in order to determine which community features you need. Those who only want to get basic feedback on a particular issue or two may make due with a simple poll where as web masters who are looking to create a full, robust community will need to find hosting that offers a forum and content management features that allow you to assign users the ability to add content to your site.

Email: If you want to communicate under your own brand, such as Your Name@YourDomain.com then finding a host that provides email services will be important. This is an area where you may want to think long term as well. If you want to offer email services to your site members with your domain then you will need to locate a host that provides larger email services that can be accessed by others. If ; however, you only want email for yourself or other key members of your company or organization then basic email services should work fine for you.

Also, you should consider how you want to access your email. Do you prefer web based email that can be accessed from anywhere or do you want the flexibility of using POP email services that allow you to use an email reading program such as IncrediMail or Microsoft’s Outlook? Knowing which options you prefer will help you to choose the best web hosting solution.

Top Recommendations:
To help you in your search, here is a quick review of some of my favorite options for web hosting.

Site 5 Hosting: This is one of my top picks for hosting with tons of options, great features, and an easy to use control panel that allows you to host single or multiple sites from one easy account. Site 5 has unlimited space and unlimited bandwidth plus they offer tons of preinstalled scripts including blogging platforms such as WordPress, forums, and CMS (Content Management Systems) including phpNuke, Joomla, and others. They have an easy to use site builder for chooser from a series of predesigned templates or you can easily use the ftp option to upload your site designed with software elsewhere. With free unlimited email and easy to manage domain tools, Site 5 is top rate choice that you can also feel good about because Site 5 is a green host and they plant a tree for every new account. With a 30 day free trial and money back guarantee you can not go wrong with this hosting option which is great for all levels of expertise, even those new to web hosting. They also offer Moodle for those needing to add educational elements to their sites or communities.
Who is it Best for? New users and professonals alike, Site 5 is great for anyone looking for a great all in one solution that is easy to use, especially those looking for professional WordPress hosting or need the great educational tools offered by Moodle.
Costs: Rages from $4.95 per month to $13.95 per month depending on package and term with no set up fee.
Cons: You do not get as much control over the design elements offered online; however, you are free to use any design software that you want and upload using ftp.

Homestead: If you do not have a lot of technical ability and you just want easy to use web hosting without a large learning curve, then Homestead is a great choice. You can choose from hundreds of predesigned templates or have complete control with true drag and drop features that allow you to put any element anywhere on your page without predesigned restrictions. You can also easily add a customized web form or predefined guest book to your site with just a click.
Cons: No community features available such as blogs or forums, and no member management to allow visitors or customers to log into your site.
Who is It Best for? Individuals or Businesses who want basic hosting features without a complicated user panel or want complete real time control over the look and feel of their site.
Costs: Packages range from $4.99 a month for a simple 5 page site to $49.99 a month for an unlimited number of sites and pages.

Pro-Stores: If you just need an e-commerce solution instead of a full blown web site then Pro-stores may be a good option for you. You can choose from professional templates, edit customizeable options including html, and even run coupon offers or generate logos for your online store. If you want to establish a full featured, professional online store front, then this is the perfect solution.
Who is it Best for? Retail businesses looking to put their entire product line online in an easy to use, professional store format.
Costs: They offer two packages, $29.95 for up to 5,000 products or $59.95 per month for up to 100,000 products; both with a 0.5% transaction fee.
Cons: Designed for large retail businesses, if you only have one or two items to sell this may not be the best option and a standard web site with PayPal integration may work better for your needs.

In addition to my top picks, you may also want to check out a couple of these other great options:  

• 1&1 Hosting
• Lunar Pages
• Host Gator
• Fat Cow Hosting
• Start Logic

Ed Note: All links above are affiliate links. Clicking on them for your purchase helps support Niki and her great writing.

By the end of most days, I couldn’t tell you anything about what I had done that day because my brain was just overwhelmed. Sometimes my wife would feel a little slighted because I couldn’t even remember conversations or events during weeks where I was intensely busy. It was a rotten feeling and tiring. I was waking up each day feeling like I was multiple days behind in my job, and that the To-Do list was long enough to crush me under its weight if I printed it out on paper.

Then I started to realize that it didn’t have to be that way.

Remove

The simplest way to deal with information overload is just to start removing things from your list each day. Do you really need to check e-mail every time you receive one? Do you really need to read all the articles on that blog you are subscribed to, or better yet, do you really need to be subscribed? Start removing things, one at a time, until you reach a point where you can list all of your must-do daily tasks on your fingers. No using toes to lengthen your list!

Many blogs allow you to subscribe to a single author or category. Take advantage of this feature to reduce your daily reading list.

Combine

There are some things that you don’t really need to remember because you might just have a low-level connection with them. Things that usually fall under this category for me include Facebook and most other social media sites like it. I combine these into a “single” task for the day, and go through them all quickly. I usually leave it as one of the last things on my list, so that if I run out of time in the day, there is no real harm.

Combining tasks to streamline and optimize your work day is never a bad idea. Much like remove, you can put all your e-mail checking as something you do at the start of the day, and then at noon and one last time before you finish your work day. Combining your e-mail checking (especially if you have multiple accounts) into blocks of time, rather than reading, responding, and organizing e-mails throughout the day will allow you to focus on important things, and not feel like you spent your whole day in your e-mail inbox.

Outsource

Outsourcing can seem like it is out of reach for some people, but the biggest limitation on your attention and resources is usually you. I’ve had my own experiences with hiring virtual assistants, some good, and some bad, but in the end, it usually saved me time, energy and allowed me to focus on more important tasks. If you take your time to find a good assistant, or some people you can trust to do good work, you might just free up the time you need to take a break between tasks and get your thoughts more organized.

I’ve even outsourced things that I am good at so that I could focus on potential problems and pitfalls, and with so much competition online, there are many savvy web workers that can help out for a reasonable cost. A great example for me is WordPress themes. I can code them myself, but the time it takes me to do it right, and make it work on all browsers can eat up a few hours. If I outsource it, I get that time back and the cost is less than my hourly wage, so in actual fact, I saved myself the difference and am not distracted by another item on my extensive to-do list.

Single Task Processing

Multitasking is bad. I know some of you will cringe when I say this, but increasing medical and psychological evidence points to the fact that other than the few exceptions to the rule, people are horrible at multitasking. I used to think of myself as a master of multitasking, but this only contributed to my issues with information overload.

Selecting one task and seeing it through to completion before beginning the next allows you to focus all of your time and energy onto that task, speeding up how long it takes to complete, and allowing you to let the depth of any problems or issues you may have to deal with really sink into your mind, helping you remember the task more vividly later on when you might need to recall details regarding it.

Reflect

When I first started, I just pushed through the days quickly, looking forward to getting paid, and didn’t give much thought to the tasks I had completed in the course of any given day. Days melted together and projects started to get a little disorganized. I realized fairly quickly that at the end of each day, I need to think about how I did and reflect. I also used this time for self managing, asking myself “did I get done everything that I could have?” Usually the answer that my brain quickly shot back was “No, but you did everything that had to be done today, and there is always tomorrow.” Without labeling this time as reflection time, I was still conscious of the need to have it, and its benefit. It helped me unwind, relax and see my accomplishments.

Relax

Of course this brings me to the most important way to deal with information overload and that is to relax. There is no single person or job where one bad day will traditionally bring the end of the entire world (save for the guy with his finger on that nuclear missile launch button), and so reminding yourself that while everything you had to get done was important, it isn’t the end of the world if you miss something, forget something, or don’t complete something. Making sure to find time to relax will help you remember things, organize your thoughts and not feel so worn down. You might not be able to take a vacation in Europe, but you can find small things that bring happiness and relaxation to your life, thus helping you battle the stresses of work and life more effectively.

In the end

In the end, it is up to you to decide how you want to live your life, but being in a constant state of overload will eventually lead to things breaking down. If you want to stay passionate about your work and life, you need to find coping mechanisms, systems and strategies that work best for your life. If you can take one tip from this list and effectively apply it to your own situation, you’ll be a step ahead of where you were, and that’s better than where you’d be in a year if you didn’t take some of this advice.

Until a few years ago I had to keep my geekiness to myself. Then all of a sudden it seems that the geeks have inherited the Earth! Here are a few areas where being a geek helps me in both business and in life…

Systems

After all those years of programming, I have started to think in terms of systems. This means I look for the cause and effect in whatever I am doing, and try to create repeatable approaches. Why is this a benefit? I can show other people how I do stuff, which comes in handy with teaching but also with outsourcing, plus I can improve results because I go through steps consciously. These systems help me to plan, and failing to plan is like planning to fail.

Testing and Measurement

Following on from the previous item, I am constantly testing and measuring. I don’t just hope for the best but observe the inputs and outputs and can track my progress. This means when I tweak my systems I can tell if the tweak was successful or not. As the saying goes, what you measure you get more of!

Productivity Software

It’s not just a systems approach but my geeky nature leads me to use computer systems to automate and improve. Geeks are not lazy, they just outsource to their computer what they don’t want to do or do not have time for.

Doodling is Good for You

I love doodling. Lucky for me because doodles, in the form of Mind Maps, are a great productivity and memory aid! Check out my post on productivity mindmapping with software.

Social Networking

While face to face networking is brilliant, I can network online more efficiently. Using social media tools I have gained access to people I could have only dreamed of in the days before I fired up that ancient 9600 baud modem all those years ago. I love you internet!

The Internet

Talking of the internet, I shudder when I think of what I did before I got online. Telephone directory sized computer manuals, telephone directories, stacks of magazine subscriptions, encyclopedias, sending memos, having to go to the library, no e-commerce … ewwwwwwww!

Are you a geek or do you have one in your life? How does geekiness help you? Please share in the comments.

Today’s guest post comes to us from Chris Garrett, co-author of Problogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income.

Check out his blog for more insights into blogging and how it can benefit your personal life and/or your business.