Sometimes keeping things simple is the easiest way to ensure you don’t miss your appointments or lose all your data to a technical screw-up. The most basic way to keep a calendar would still be the good-old-fashioned pen and paper approach. This comes at a price though: not just the minor cost of purchasing a new calendar each year, but mostly the cost to your back from carrying it around every day.

A more back-friendly option is a digital calendar, and virtually any computer, phone or PDA you buy comes with such a device built in. The problem is that you need to either decide which of these devices to use as your calendar, or find ways to sync the same calendar onto different gadgets.

Keeping an online calendar

If you keep a copy of your calendar online, the obvious benefit is that you can access it from any computer, anywhere in the world. For those who commute to different offices or locations for work, or have off-site meetings and are generally not always carrying their laptops with them, this is a nice back-up option.

Similarly, if you sometimes find yourself without your laptop but need to add a quick appointment to your calendar, online storage is an easy solution. One simple but versatile system is Google Calendar. However, when keeping track of your daily appointments through different calendars, how do we get them to sync up with each other so you are not referencing three different sources all the time?

Syncing Google Calendar with iCal

It’s extremely easy to sync your google calendar with iCal (for Mac users), but it is only a one-way sync from google calendar, to iCal (not the other way around).

The only way this is useful is if you want to use Google Calendar to simply add appointments to your iCal, and not actually use it to reference all your calendar data. If you would like a mirror of your iCal information to be available in Google Calendar, then you need a two-way sync.

Two-Way Sync with GCalDaemon

If you are the experimental type, then the command line, cross-platform, beta-release application called GCalDaemon will get your blood flowing. Like any good open source application, the secret to setting it up lies in being comfortable editing the text configuration file. Lifehacker has a great description of this trick here.

Keep in mind GCalDaemon is compatible with both Mac and Windows, and can sync your calendars across multiple applications such as: Lightning, iCal or Rainlendar

Two-Way sync with Spanning Sync

Easier for the non-programmer than GCalDaemon is Spanning Sync. Spanning Sync does charge a subscription (or one time purchase) fee, but if you refer a friend you receive $5, and your friend receives a $5 discount. This can add up to a free subscription, or even some spare cash. There is a free 15 day trial version of the program, and you can subscribe for $25 per year, or pay $65 once for lifetime use.

Two-way sync with BusySync

Cheaper than Spanning Sync, BusySync offers two-way synchronization between Google Calendars and your iCal, as well as calendar sharing through a LAN connection (think: sharing your calendar with your assistant/secretary or between family or coworkers). It comes with a $25 price tag, and has a free 30 day trial.

Syncing your calendar to a mobile device

If you want to sync your Google Calendar to your mobile phone or PDA, then GooSync is your program. The supported devices are nicely listed, and pictured, here. Not surprisingly, the iPhone is among the supported cell phones for GooSync. There is a free version of the program, as well as a paid version to get more features, like the ability to sync your task/to-do lists.

To choose which option suits your needs best, consider whether you are using a Mac or a PC, and whether this means you are already automatically syncing your calendars with some device or another: some phone software allows you to sync information kept in outlook, while iCal can sync with any iPod you may already carry with you anyways. When it comes to inputting extra information, the iPod sync is not very useful, it only serves as a reference of what is already added to your iCal.

Ultimately, you would likely benefit from a Google Calendar to computer sync, as well as a sync between your computer and mobile device (cell phone or PDA). If you use your computer as a ‘master file’ of all your appointments and day to day activities, and sync these to both Google Calendar and your mobile gadget, then you can be sure you will always carry the most recent copy of your calendar with you, no matter where you are!

Drowning in research? If you are ever faced with reading hundreds of journal articles you’ll know how confusing and debilitating a paper avalanche can be. Even if you just need to move that pile of paper off your desk, but never find them back if you digitize them, then here is a trick for you!

Pause the music, and skip to your ‘document play list’ in iTunes instead.

If you love how easily you can find one of your 20.000 songs in iTunes by simply browsing a playlist, selecting a mood or genre or searching by keyword, think of how much time you would safe by organizing your documents in the same way. Now you can! iTunes is actually a very handy PDF organizer too, and it doesn’t cost you any extra hard drive space to find all your receipts, research, articles or any other document you can think of.

All you need to do, is convert any and all documents you want to organize in iTunes to PDF files. This is easy and fast if you have a Mac, but even Windows users can benefit with countless (free) PDF writers available on the web.

If you are converting hard copies into PDFs (very handy to make sure you get all your receipts and deductions filed for next year’s tax season), then you will also need a scanner.

To keep PDFs separated from your music files, here is what you need to do:

• Create a separate iTunes library for your documents:

  To create a separate iTunes library, hold down the ‘Option’ key on a Mac, or the shift key on Windows while you open iTunes. A dialogue window will pop up, from which you will select ‘create new library’:

  
• Now, name your document Library:
  

Technically, you are done setting up your new library. You can now just drag and drop PDFs into it. But, before you do… here are a few productivity tips to keep your hard drive clean, and your files perfectly organized:

• By default, iTunes copies all files you drag and drop into a library to the iTunes library folders. This means you end up with two copies of the same file; one in the original folder where you stored it, the other is placed in the iTunes library. To avoid this, you need to go into the iTunes preferences and select the ‘advanced’ tab, where you uncheck the following options: “Copy files to iTunes Music Folder when adding to library” and “Keep iTunes Music folder organized.”
• To avoid dealing with a bunch of empty fields under the ‘artist’, ‘album’ and ‘last played’ lists, just remove them by right clicking the the column header and unchecking all of these options. Because PDF files are not music files, all of these fields will be left as ‘unknown artist/album’ by default. You can use them to organize your files, but an easier way to do this is to use smart play lists.

Set up Folders

To file several related ‘playlists’ in one folder (for example: taxes 2006, taxes 2007, etc, can be filed in one central ‘taxes’ folder), simply click on File -> “new folder” -> a new folder is added to the playlist field, and you can rename it:

Setting up a smart playlist

You should use smart playlists to organize your files, for the simple reason that once you name them and drop them into your library, they are automatically added to the correct folders (i.e. playlists). This cuts back on lost time dragging and dropping hundreds of files one by one into the correct playlist, and although we all like to think we are perfect… it’s too easy to miss a file with this archaic strategy. Here is how it’s done:

1. Select “new smart playlist” from the file menu:
   
2. Select the correct parameters (as below) and enter a keyword. This will be the same of the smart playlist as well, and any documents that contain this keyword in their file name will automatically be added to the smart playlist. So, every time you upload a new reference document you want to file under ‘guidelines’, make sure the file name contains this keyword and it will automatically be added to your ‘guidelines’ folder:
   

Why use iTunes as a document organizer

Like any other productivity system: it depends on your personal preferences and organizational style to determine whether using iTunes as a PDF organizer makes sense. However, here are some major benefits beyond just saving your PDF files in document folders on your hard drive:
instead of replacing document folders, iTunes works as a complement. You still have to store files in document folders, but iTunes just helps you find them much faster. It is useful if your documents can be organized in several folders at the same time, as you can just add the same document to several playlists, without having to physically copy it (and thus lose hard drive space). This makes it easier to retrieve your files, and keep them organized and accessible, without restructuring your entire hard drive and regular filing system. Basically, instead of surfing from document folder to document folder, you can have all PDF files easily accessible in one place. It cuts down on search time, and decreases the chances of forgetting about a crucial document in your research or reference system.

Here are some writing leads posted across the web within the past twenty four hours! I’ll try to post only those writing jobs that seem as legit as possible, but always perform your own due diligence before taking a freelance writing job.

The diverse range of writing jobs below include jobs for freelance script writers, freelance bloggers, a staff job at classmates.com and work for a marketing writer.

Freelance Blogging Jobs:

• Digital Home Tech Blogger
• Blogger @ Charity Mile (flat fee per post, payment amount not mentioned)

Freelance writing/editing job leads

• Marketing Writer [work from home - $15-18/Hour]
• Song/Jingle writer [Noe Valley - negotiable pay]
• Senior writer/editor @ classmates.com [Renton, WA - competitive salary]
• Mockumentary writer needed (Los Angeles, CA)
• San Francisco Writer / Interviewer [San Fransisco - $75 + expenses]
• Marketing Writer [Home based - per hour/per project compensation]
• Production Journalist: Writer/Producer (Venice, CA)
• Writer (Wyoming – $25-28/hour)
• SEO writer

Good luck everyone!

Not everybody loves to write, but even those who get turned on by the prospect of spending a few hours at their keyboard, hardly skip a beat at the prospect of typing out their email signature ten times an hour.
If you think about how much time is lost, in a cumulative sense, constantly rewriting standardized phrases or information, it makes sense to try and cut back on these routine tasks.

The simple, electronic, solution
A simple solution, for information that is longer than a few words, is to create a word document that has some standard paragraphs you often find yourself writing when responding emails or writing memos. A simple example is the email signature: some of us may have more than one email signature, making it difficult to program into popular email clients. In some cases, we may not be interested in including a signature for our personal mail, but rather only when sending work-related messages. A straight forward solution that doesn’t require any software is to keep a simple text file open at all times from which you can quickly copy and paste the desired text, instead of writing it again and again throughout the day.

The high-tech solution: software
There are some great applications out there that help you cut back on your writing, and effectively make you write a lot faster, provided that you can remember some shortcuts.
TextExpander is such a tool. You simply set it to replace certain keywords with a bigger block of text. It is a small program that runs in the background, but it is remarkably powerful.

One area where I use TextExpander is for email signatures. If you wear more than one hat (freelance writer, vs. investor), or want to restrict the amount of information you send to certain people, then you can’t really set an automatic signature. Instead of retyping the same information for each email, and wasting minutes to hours a day, I just type in esig1 or esig2 depending on how I’d like to end my messages.

Why this beats having a text file with standard phrases: you always think you place your text files somewhere sensible, but does it always work out that way? I always think my system makes sense, but for some reason my misc file collection always gets filed all over the hard drive.
Instead of hunting for your templates, you can just type a short snippet and be done with it.

If you still operate in the dark ages, there is a windows alternative.
Note Books
The good old fashioned notebook can be found in any jacket these days. Large, small, leather, hard/soft cover, designer or dollar-store. The good old pen and paper is still going strong, despite the many gadgets that are supposed to provide you with any productivity tool you might ever desire.

What might you use this time tested ‘gadget’ for? Well, consider this scenario: you’re on the bus, bored to tears but somehow you are struck with an inspired idea. You figure you’ll remember by the time you get to your destination, but three days later you realize you both forgot to write down your brilliant idea, and forgot the idea itself.
Writers and entrepreneurs lose great ideas for very bad reasons: not taking the time to write them down, arrogantly assuming they have super-human memory, and forgetting to carry a simple little note book with them.
Once you compile a number of ideas, or even keep track of your to-do list, using a note book you can easily refer to it when you find some time you would otherwise spend procrastinating or trying to generate brilliant thoughts from scratch.
Anyone who has ever tried to come up with a little piece of brilliance on the spot knows that good ideas take hard work. Why waste them when they come effortlessly? If you know where you’re going, you get there faster, and it is no different when writing!

Moleskins are notebooks that naturally inspire to write.