Dark chocolate boosts productivity.

Yup, this writer’s theory is confirmed- chocolate is so good for you that it’s practically a vegetable (and red wine is pretty much fruit…).

[Image: Flickr user John Loo]

To Be Healthier, Happier, And More Productive, Stand Up From Your Desk Right Now

“Sitting is the new smoking.” - Nilofer Merchant

If you must sit for work, the proper posture and breathing can help.

Here’s how.

We can all agree that the conference room is probably not where your best ideas are born. Which is why taking a run is far from a waste of time.

The Takeaway: Often, the most productive meetings take place outside the office.

One-Minute Email Triage For Those Kinda Sorta Useful Messages

Unroll.me is a service that, in a sense, puts health monitors on your inbox, shows you how it’s running, and asks you which email sources you can live without, or with. 

Here are a few alternatives:

- Nutshell Mail

- Otherinbox

- Outlook.com

Read more about Unroll.me and email triage here.

[Image: Flickr user Calypsocom]

The 6 Best Alternative To Do Apps

Here are some upcoming apps to suit all personalities, from the type-A’s to the guilt free procrastinators.

Mobile to-do lists such as Clear, Evernote, and Google Keep get a lot of love online, but they’re not alone when it comes to high-quality apps to keep track of everything you need to do in a day.

In fact, a simple “to do list” app search on Google yields 1.9 billion results, a lofty number to sift through if you’re already drowning in tasks. Thankfully, there are a few gems rising to the top of the to-do list category, including these six:

For the guilt-free procrastinator
Do It (Tomorrow) HD (iOS/Android - FREE; iPad - $4.99)

For the team leader
AnyList (iOS - FREE)

For the goal-setter
Lift (iOS - FREE)

For the task-master
Doit.im (iOS/Android - FREE)

For the inbox ninja
Handle (iOS - FREE)

For the big planner
Trello (iOS/Android/Windows - FREE)

What’s your favorite to-do list app?

4 Ways To Prevent Burnout Before It’s Too Late

This is what happens when you log one too many Red Bull-fueled 80-hour work weeks:

I remember coming home and curling up into a ball. I was so emotionally and physically exhausted, I couldn’t even move. My productivity was cut to nothing. The next day at the office, I found myself just staring into my computer, for hours. No movement, just staring.

That’s Andrew Dumont, the creator of Strideapp.com, describing his first startup experience. Just pushing through wasn’t an option—dude was burnt out.

Understanding burnout

• Exhaustion: feeling over-extended by your work
• Depersonalization: feeling alienated from your work
• Personal accomplishment: feeling like you can never get enough done

Preventing burnout

John Coates’ book, The Hour Between Dog And Wolf, goes deep into the physiology of stress. In it he observes that exhaustion, fatigue, and anxiety are all “messages sent from our body telling us what actions we should take”—which means that we need to listen closely. To get an idea of how, read our excerpt.

As the Burnout Inventory suggests, burnout isn’t only physical, but also emotional.

An antidote, then, is to do work that’s meaningful.

Thing is, you won’t have time to ponder the meaning of your days if you’re filled up with meaningless tasks.

If we don’t carve out the time to reflect, we sure won’t.

And remember: busy is the new lazy.

Finally, you won’t be able to think unless you eat well.

According to Dumont, “eating the right food can help extend your runway.”

And eating with the right people can extend your network. 

Avoiding Burnout

[Image: Flickr user Jan]

10 Little Known Apps That Entrepreneurs Can’t Live Without

Writer Leo Widrich offers a sneak peek at the next wave of productivity apps that top entrepreneurs like Tim Ferriss, Seth Godin, and Guy Kawasaki are working with daily.

Recently something terribly obvious—yet powerful—occurred to me: If you want to achieve things that no one else has done, you need to do things no one else does.

So, I thought, who achieves things that very few do? I made a list of the top 10 entrepreneurs that I learn from daily. Then I thought, which things are they doing that could really help more people? When I emailed the idea to my Fast Company editor, she came back with something I found valuable:

“One of the problems that crops up is that a lot of people get back with “I love Twitter, Dropbox, and Evernote!” Those are great tools, but might not add that much value for our readers.”

I thought that observation was spot-on. So instead, I asked my favorite entrepreneurs their absolute favorite, yet very little-known tools, they use to achieve everyday tasks.

After lots of correspondences and digging deep into these entrepreneurs’ toolkits, here are their unedited answers:

Tim Ferriss’s top tool: Jumpcut

Tim Ferriss is the #1 New York Times best-selling author of The 4-Hour Workweek. Tim is the master of finding unique lifehacks and techniques to help you live a smarter life. The one online tool he absolutely can’t live without is Jumpcut:

“I can’t live without Jumpcut, which saves my ass all the time. Have you ever cut and pasted two or three things, and lost a hugely important thing that you cut first? Jumpcut, which is free, allows you to store (and easily retrieve) 40+ copied or cut things from your clipboard.”

Michael Hyatt’s top tool: Clicky

Michael Hyatt is the New York Times best-selling author of Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World and he writes one of the best blogs on leadership and productivity that I know. Here is his most treasured online tool:

“My can’t-live-without online tool is Clicky.com. It’s what I use to monitor up-to-the-minute stats on all my websites. It uses Google Analytics, but presents the data in a more useful manner.”

Jay Baer’s top tool: Buffer

Ranked as one of America’s top 5 Social Media consultants and author of Youtility, Jay Baer built an incredible following as one of the most reputable and yet hype-free people in the industry. And he stays on top with the best tools all the time; his choice is Buffer (which—disclaimer time—I’m the cofounder of. Thanks, Jay!):

“Directing people to what I believe to be the most worthy social and content marketing resources every day—for years—is how I built my business. Buffer makes that process of sharing information to audiences so much easier. I can read articles in the morning and add them to my Buffer. From there articles then get posted well spaced out over the day, automatically.”

Hiten Shah’s top tool: Prismatic

One of my favorite tech entrepreneurs is Hiten Shah, cofounder of KISSmetrics, who, if you follow his Twitter feed, constantly inspires with amazing content. The one tool that he said he can’t live without is Prismatic:

“I love to find and share awesome content. Prismatic has made it easier for me to find the best content faster. Now with Prismatic, I don’t have to go to dozens of places to find useful, informative, and awesome content to share.”

Jason Calacanis’ top tool: 15Five

One of the most well-known entrepreneurs, Jason Calacanis has founded several companies to date and is now probably best known for his awesome ThisWeekInTV network. When I asked him for his favorite tool, he replied within a few minutes of sending the email without hesitation:

“15Five is my favorite app because it develops deep relationships on our teams quickly and efficiently. I liked it so much I asked to invest… and they took my money.”

Dharmesh Shah’s top tool: Pocket

There are very few people whose every step they take online I follow along with. Dharmesh, the CTO ofHubSpot, is one of them. He built a massive company with hundreds of people, and what helps him do his best work? He shared this:

“I love GetPocket.com. I’m easily distracted (I have “Hey look, interesting new article on the Internet!” syndrome). Pocket helps me stay focused by deferring things I want to read until later so I don’t break my flow.”

Seth Godin’s top tool: Keynote presenter view

Seth Godin, author of the most amazing books, and recently the Icarus Deception, writes a blog that is the only one I read daily. Asked for the one tool he he can’t live without, he said “the presenter view in Keynote, which shows me my next slide before anyone else sees it. I can’t imagine giving a fluid talk without it.”

Leo Babauta’s top tool: HackerNews

The infamous Leo Babauta writes the phenomenal blogzenhabits and is also author of multiple books. Whenever my day gets slightly too much, reading one of his articles for just a few minutes helps me clear my mind. So what helps Leo to get more inspiration and productivity? This:

“I use Hacker News for inspiration and ideas. I avoid most news sites, social media and other sources of information because there’s too much noise. But HN is curated by a smart group of users, has high signal-to-noise ratio, and is where new ideas and tiny startups are being tested at the street level, unfiltered by the media and mass markets.”

Rand Fishkin’s top tool: TINYpulse

Rand Fishkin is the CEO and cofounder of SEOmoz. Rand also gives some of the best advice for startups and businesses on his personal blog. When I asked him for his favorite, little-known tool, he had a great gem for you:

“One of my very favorite tools is TinyPulse. It sends a very short survey to everyone at Moz, asking two simple questions. It’s an incredibly valuable way to get honest, direct feedback about how things are going culture/team-wise.”

Guy Kawasaki’s top tool: Fantastical

Guy Kawasaki is a man who needs little introduction. He was the chief evangelist at Apple and has since then authored more than 10 books. When I asked him what helps him to keep up with his crazy schedule, this is what he came up with:

“Fantastical. Great way to see and edit your calendar without launching your calendar application and switching to it. Very smart, too: ‘4/24 7 pm Meet with Leo’ would create an event.”

[Image: Flickr user Zechariah Judy]

What is your favorite productivity app and what would you add?

Busy Is The New Lazy

If you’re telling everybody that you’re busy all the time, it’s time to rethink your ideas about productivity.

So why do we keep doing all this humblebragging about how busy we are? It’s a question Choi investigates thoughtfully: She observes that people who are “legitimately occupied” with work or family rarely play the “too busy” card (clearly, we don’t know the same people)—or, may even go out of their way to make a connectionbecause they’ve been so swamped.

To Choi, when we say “busy,” we’re really trying to say something else—although what exactly that might be depends on the harried soul that’s complaining.

She supplies some translations:

I’m busy = I’m important.
Being busy gives people a sense they’re needed and significant, Choi says. It’s also a sign saying that you’re about to be on-ramped into somebody’s misguided ego trip.

I’m busy = I’m giving you an excuse.
Saying that you’re busy is a handy way to outsource your responsibility to your irresponsibility. Since you’re always distracted, you don’t have to do anything for anybody.

I’m busy = I’m afraid.
Look above at the “I’m important” part. Whether the speaker knows it or not, complaining of busyness is a subtle cry for help, one that reassures us that yes, we are in demand.

In this way, busyness functions as a kind of laziness. When we fill our schedules with appointments and hands with phones, we divest ourselves of downtime. When we’re endlessly doing, it’s hard to be mindful of what we’re doing.

How to eradicate busyness

Of course, it’s a interdependent issue. It’s hard to have downtime if your bosses subscribe to what Anne Marie Slaughter calls our time macho culture, “a relentless competition to work harder, stay later, pull more all-nighters, travel around the world and bill the extra hours that the international date line affords you.”

But don’t let that excuse suffice. You can convince your bosses—if you know how to approach the conversation.

Busyness is Not a Virtue

Read the full story here.

The Writer Behind “Dark Night” and “Man of Steel” On Multitasking, Meditation, And Using Your Good Ideas.

David S. Goyer, the writer behind “The Dark Knight” trilogy, “Man of Steel,” “Call of Duty: Black Ops” and the new Starz series “Da Vinci’s Demons,” credits a rigorous schedule and daily meditation with his multitasking successes.

Leonardo da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper, conceived of the helicopter and developed a rudimentary theory of plate tectonics (among many other things), making him one of the most famous figures in history. And yet we know surprisingly little about the Renaissance Man—all of which makes him ideal fodder for historical fiction.

Da Vinci is just the kind of superhuman figure that David S. Goyer relishes. The screenwriter who crafted the Dark Knight movies (he cowrote that trilogy with director Christopher Nolan) and Man of Steel (the upcoming reboot of the Superman mythology, directed by Zack Snyder and produced by Nolan) has created Da Vinci’s Demons, a new series debuting this week on Starz.

Goyer is no slouch himself. The last TV show he created was the one-season ABC series FlashForward; he has directed movies, including Blade: Trinity and Zig Zag; he’s written two novels and he developed the story for the wildly successful videogames Call of Duty: Black Ops Iand II.

In a tightly scheduled 15 minutes, Co.Create asked the master multitasker how he manages it all and how he balances the expectations of die-hard fans with his own creative vision. Naturally, we couldn’t help squeezing in a question or two about the much-awaited Man of Steel.

• Stick to a rigorous schedule- unless Zack Snyder calls.
• If you have a good idea, don’t save it. Use it.
• Help a director out.
• Find the hole in the history.
• Embrace Reinvention.

Here’s the full story.

fastcodesign:

5 Weird Habits That Make People Successful And Awesome

Argue: to steel your team’s beliefs.

Confront:You need to be ready to call someone out.

Be ruthless: It’s healthy to have high standards.

Seek out rejection: Some people live their lives afraid of rejection. Getting told “no” isn’t the end of everything you hold dear.

Isolate yourself: If you ever want to grow internally rather than court external validation, you need to get away from all the people. Reflect. Care for your inner introvert.

Read the full story here.

7 Ways To Get More Time To Think Today

There are little pockets of solitude in any schedule. You just have to know how to find them.

As Nate Silver describes in 
The Signal and the Noise, there’s a difference between knowledge and information. Knowledge is a verifiable, articulated signal, while information is ambiguous, coarse noise. And if we’re going to make wise decisions and awesome products, we need the signal, the knowledge.

But you don’t need to be Nate Silver to know that a key to processing signal versus noise in your own head is by having enough space and time to think. And as Ben Casnocha notes on LinkedIn, even us Twitter-addled technorati can find a little headspace. It’s not that you need to pull a Rodin and put your fist in your forehead—though style points if you do—instead, he says, you want to “obliquely engage” in two kinds of thought jogging—directed and undirected thinking.

Directed Thinking

Directed thinking is what happens when you take that monkey mind of yours and give it a job to do, like understand itself.

Undirected thinking

Do something with a minor mental load and let your mind creatively wander.

Read the full story here. 

Want more?

How Busy People Find Time to Think Deeply