The New York Times journalist Ivan Berger noticed that after upgrading his computer to a dual monitor set up, he noticed an increase in his productivity. After doing some research, he found that others did too. Survey after survey showed up to a 20%-30% increase in productivity during activities ranging from gaming to research and other general office work.

I went dual head over two years ago on my work desktop, and have not look looked back since. The extra screen real estate provided by my second monitor is incredibly useful, whether coding a website and being able to maximize both the source code and the rendered result at the same time or just being able to have a multitude of windows open at once and being able to see all of them at once. The only downside to having dual monitors that I have found is missing having the extra screen real estate when I go home to my single head desktop or have to work on my laptop.

Dual head monitors are definitely worth giving a try, and they are simple enough to set up (at least under Windows, I have never set up dual monitors under OS X) and less expensive than a single large monitor. All you need is either a second video card, a new video card that supports dual heads, or this little jewel from Matrox that allows you to connect two monitors to a video card that only supports one.

The Virtues of a Second Screen [via Lifehacker]
Technorati Tags: news gadgets computers dual head gtd productivity

Last weeks post about my favorite motivational phrases got me thinking about how to improve the effectiveness of motivational phrases (if you saw the post title flub last week, you already know that). I find that if I put up a motivational poster, its message often fades into the background noise as the poster becomes part of the permanent scenery. The same thing happens with pretty much any static display.

The solution I came up with was to use my calendar application (which I already use) to create a recurring notifications containing my favorite motivational phrases on days I am likely to need a pick me up (for me these are Mondays and Wednesdays). I do not recommend having the same motivational phrase set to notify you anymore that once a week though, because the phrase may become "worn out". You can make the notification schedules as simple or as complex as you want (and your calendar application allows). For example, I have two notifications set, one for Mondays and one for Wednesdays. You can also set up notifications for key points during a long project to help keep you focused and on task. The best part about using a computerized solution for this is (other than only having to set the notification up once) is that in most cases you do not have to look at your calendar to see the message, since most applications will either pop-up a reminder window or send you an email (in the case of Goolge's new calendar web-app) containing your pick me up. If you use an analog (read: paper) calendar to keep organized, you can use this method too. You will just have to put in a little more work up front.

Let me know what you think about my idea in the comments

Technorati Tags: GTD motivation productivity

An article about favorite motivational phrases over on Lifehacker got me thinking about my personal favorites. Of my three favorite phrases, two come from 80's cartoon series (whether meant to be motivational or not I don't know, but they seem to help me out of a slump all the same and seem to have stuck with me as I have aged, the third (also from my childhood) was something my grandfather always used to say. (Though, I am sure that everyone has heard it, as it is fairly common) They are... Drum roll, please:

1. If something is worth doing, its woth doing right. (My grandfather)

2. Nothing to it but to do it. (M.A.S.K.)

3. Knowing is half the battle. (G.I. Joe)

These are just some of my favorites, feel free to share your own in the comments. For 7 more motivational phrases, check out the Lifehacker article.

Getting To Done: My Favorite Motivational Phrases [via Lifehacker]
Technorati Tags: gtd motivation productivity

Whether for school or work, at some point every geek will have to give a presentation sometime in their life. So, why not follow in the footsteps of one of the greatest presenters in the entire IT industry, Steve Jobs. Regardless of how you feel about Apple or Jobs, if you have heard one of his presentations, you have to admit that he give a GREAT presentation. Business Week has a great article about how Steve gives his killer presentations.

How to Wow 'Em Like Steve Jobs [via Digg]
Technorati Tags: lifehacks organization public speaking