If you’re at a loss for how to get started on - or stick to - your New Year’s resolution for 2009, the U.S. government is here to help. ( ! ) Someone at USA.gov has compiled a list of the top 13 most popular New Year’s resolutions and has provided links to resources to help you learn how to make each happen.
The 13 most popular New Year’s resolutions are:
- Lose weight
- Managing debt
- Save money
- Get a better job
- Get fit
- Eat right
- Get a better education
- Drink less alcohol
- Quit smoking now
- Reduce stress overall
- Reduce stress at work
- Take a trip
- Volunteer to help others
Click on the links above for more information to help you get started. Happy New Year!
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Oh. My. God. I will spare you the gory details mostly because I don’t want to relive the experience, but bottom line: we were to arrive in Albany, NY yesterday at 4:08PM - flying from Lincoln, NE via O’Hare.
Our plane touched down in Albany at 1:26AM this morning; we reached our hotel at 2:07AM. What a day!
In any event, we’re alive, we’re here, and it’s Christmas Eve. Happy Holidays to you and your family - I hope you are able to be together during this most special of times!
P.S. I get to do this all over again on Sunday - returning home via O’Hare! . 
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Here are several popular Practical Hacks posts from the past 10 months that you may wish to check out in case you missed them first time around:
If you anticipate moving during 2009, definitely check out this post from July of this year, “4 great websites for anyone relocating.” Even if you’re not moving, one of the sites I mention will enable you to check out the value of your home.
Ever send an email and immediately realized you shouldn’t have? Check out this post from May - “How to save yourself from sending idiotic messages!”
Going back to the early days of Practical Hacks, one of my first posts focused on how to conduct online research on companies: “21 great resources for researching companies and & competitors.”
If you’re traveling by car this holiday season, you ought to check out “Create your own roadside emergency kit.”
Speaking of safety on the road, take a few minutes and make sure you’re covered should you be incapacitated in an accident or other mishap: “Critical information & numbers to store in your cell phone.”
A recent post, so forgive me if this is redundant for you, but I’m particularly excited about this one - “Tabata training: 60 minutes’ benefit from a 4 minute workout.“ I’m shedding pounds and have already lowered my resting pulse significantly after doing Tabata workouts for a couple of weeks - check it out if you missed it first time around.
You can bet I’ll be employing these strategies on our trip back home this week: “9 steps for minimizing TSA security checkpoint hassles.”
Finally, a simple but neat post from late April: “5 indispensable Excel keyboard shortcuts everyone should know.”
Did I miss any of your favorites? Let me know - or if you have ideas for future posts, please share them with me by commenting. Have a great week!
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We’re heading home for the holidays tomorrow, returning on the 28th. We’ll have a chance to see both our sons, our families and some good friends. Can’t wait!
I’ll post a couple of times this week - so stay tuned. I hope you all have a wonderful Holiday and especially that you stay safe.
Here are a few things I came across in the last week that I thought you’d enjoy…
In a post from earlier this fall, GeekLikeMe gives a great rundown of Deal sites you may not have known about, but should. In addition to woot.com, the author covers several lesser-known sites for deal-seeking shoppers.
In case you covet an iPhone but are looking for a non-Apple alternative, GearCrave covers The top 10 alternatives to the Apple iPhone. Of course the Blackberry Storm would now need to be added to this list published in mid-November!
I guess I should re-read this Smarter Travel article in the next 24 hours… “Be prepared for Christmas travel;” it does a good job of covering the basics.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette published a piece yesterday on how 2009 will bring travel bargains.
I’m dieting (I know; crazy timing!) so I’ll have to enjoy this one vicariously - from the Simmer till Done blog - Sizzling Banana Sundaes. The photos produce a sort of Pavlovian response from me — beautiful!!
Enjoy your week, your family, and stay safe!
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Companies large and small around the world are struggling with a once-in-a-generation economic crisis, and all of these companies - no matter how dissimilar - have one thing in common: they are looking to cut costs. A simple truth: you could be one of those costs.
You may feel that “crisis” is too strong a word: it’s not. Just the U.S. as an example: we’ve lost two million jobs in the last year; the financial sector is a disaster; U.S. manufacturing is in recession; the housing market still hasn’t hit bottom; consumer confidence is at all-time historic lows; last quarter, this quarter and the 1st two quarters of 2009 will be marked by negative GDP growth; the auto industry is nearly in bankruptcy… should I keep going?
You may feel you’re indispensable at your company: you’re not. No one is.
There are several solid strategies for surviving a recession, but there’s one thing you can do today that will help you try to ensure that you save your job. And it’s relatively simple.
Here it is: go in to your boss’s office and ask him or her if there’s anything extra you can do to help out as things slow down. If there’s an area in your function or elsewhere in the company that’s shorthanded already, ask if you could help out there. If you are aware of a cost reduction opportunity, by all means suggest it.
This simple act - at this time - is one of the wisest things you can do. Face it: your boss may very well be under pressure to cut heads. She could be compiling a list right now. Convey your willingness to support the company in whatever ways are necessary NOW - it could make a significant difference.
We happen to be short in Purchasing at the moment, partly because someone resigned recently. I was talking to a younger member of my staff about the situation and kiddingly said, “You wouldn’t want to work in Purchasing for a while, would you?” The next day he came back to my office and offered to help out in Purchasing if it would help the situation at all. Guess whose stock went up in my mind - immediately?
Do it. Offer to help out or take on extra work. It’s the right thing to do at the right time.
My apologies for posting this during Christmas week, I know the timing is unfortunate, but doing this could be the best Christmas gift you’ve ever given yourself.
Finally: I’ve linked to this article at Fortune magazine in the past, but it’s worth revisiting: “8 ways to recession proof your job.” It’s a quick read - check it out if you haven’t seen it before.
Best of luck to you, and I hope you and your family have a wonderful Holiday.
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“According to most studies, people’s number one fear is public speaking. Number two is death. Death is number two. Does that sound right? This means to the average person, if you go to a funeral, you’re better off in the casket than doing the eulogy.”
-Jerry Seinfeld
Does Seinfeld’s joke ring true for you? Do you get hyper-nervous at the prospect of speaking before groups of people? As someone who was very shy as a child and who absolutely dreaded public speaking when I was in my teens and twenties - and who now is roundly regarded as an effective and entertaining speaker - my 4 steps - the “4 P’s of Presentations” - can help you.
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“It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things.” -Theodore Roosevelt
“Life grants nothing to us mortals without hard work.” -Horace
“No pain, no gain.” -Anonymous
Are you interested in getting maximum exercise benefit while minimizing the amount of time you spend exercising? Want to significantly build your aerobic and anaerobic capacity? Burn fat and lose weight? Jump start your metabolism? If yes, you need to check out the Tabata workout - a version of high intensity interval training that provides extraordinary benefits - all from a 4 minute workout.
What is Tabata?
Spoiler alert: there’s a catch. As the quotations above suggest, those 4 minutes are tough. The Tabata workout calls for 20 seconds of maximum intensity exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest, done 8 times without pausing - for a total of 240 seconds - or just 4 minutes.
The Tabata protocol is named for Dr. Izumi Tabata, a former researcher at Japan’s National Institute of Fitness and Sports. Tabata and his team studied this routine, originally developed by the coach of the Japanese speed-skating team, and compared its conditioning benefits to those obtained with 60 minutes of endurance training. (In both cases, test subjects performed their routines 5 days a week.) In a study published in 1996 in the journal “Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise” (click here for an abstract of the article) the team’s conclusions were simply amazing:
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