Pimp Your Work - Improving Your Work Day Efficiency

24 opinions for It’s a pimpalicious Pimp Your Work contest! You can win cool stuff, easy.

• A View from the Isle
  Dec 5, 2006 at 6:15 pm

  I want to give you stuff on Pimp Your Work. Pimp Your Work contest!…

  As you know, I have a couple b5 media blogs.  PimpYourWork is my newest one and it is a ton of fun.  To add to ……

• Scot Herrick’s BizBlog » Blog Archive » Contest at Pimp Your Work!
  Dec 5, 2006 at 7:38 pm

  […] Stop on by and join in the fun and check out what we’re doing at It’s a pimpalicious Pimp Your Work contest! […]

• Scot Herrick’s WriteBlog » Blog Archive » Contest at Pimp Your Work!
  Dec 5, 2006 at 7:49 pm

  […] Stop on by and join in the fun and check out what we’re doing at It’s a pimpalicious Pimp Your Work contest! […]

• Tom Hodgers
  Dec 6, 2006 at 5:42 am

  Hi Triss,

  A few words about a lesser known product from Gyronics (semi-included in GyroQ).

  GyroActivator: How to further control MindManager and ResultsManager?

  Have you ever thought how to easily further control MindManager using “hot-key” macro software?

  Download the GyroQ free-trial software, install and take a look at the .chm help file for GyroActivator, which is a small piece of software that provides a link between “hot-key” macro software and Mindjet’s MindManager® software.

  The following instructions are taken from the “Start Here” section:

  ” …. MindManager has a range of built-in keyboard shortcuts for the most popular commands. For example, typing Alt+F, N, D will create a new default map in MindManager 6. However, more complex operations are difficult to create with keyboard shortcuts alone, and some operations do not have keyboard shortcuts.

  Third-party “Hot-key” software such as ActiveWords can be used to develop more advanced keyboard shortcuts:

  For example, ActiveWords® can be configured so that typing “todo” and pressing F8 will send a command to MindManager to open the map “todo.mmap”. Hot key software can typically either send keyboard shortcuts that the software application understands (like the “Alt+F, N, D” above) or can launch a programme with a named file.

  GyroActivator creates a bridge between hot key software and MindManager, providing a richer language for sending instructions to MindManager:

  For example, the above can be configured so that typing “idea” and pressing F8 will cause ActiveWords to send the following text to GyroActivator:

  { map:’my ideas’ new:maintopic:’?Enter your idea?’ icon:lightbulb complete:0 startdate:0 }

  In turn, GyroActivator will then instruct MindManager to do the following:

  Open the map “My Ideas.mmap” in your default Maps folder, unless it is already open. If it does not exist, it is created.
  Ask you to enter some text, using the prompt “Enter your idea”.
  Create a new Main Topic, using the text you entered.
  Apply the “Lightbulb” icon to the new topic.
  Set the “Percent complete” value for this topic to 0%, marking it as an action item.
  Set the start date on this new topic to today’s date, so you have a record of when you created this idea.

  The above sequence would be tricky to create using MindManager’s keyboard shortcuts alone.

  There are three steps to getting started with GyroActivator:

  Install a third-party hot-key utility such as ActiveWords®, if you don’t already use one.
  Understand how the GyroActivator Commands work and how to control MindManager and ResultsManager with GyroActivator.
  Configure your hot-key software to send commands to GyroActivator. ”

  If I am a winner in the competition I would like as a prize:

  GyroQ or ActiveWords (or both).

  Cheers,

  Tom

• Pimp Your Work - How do you plan your work travel?
  Dec 7, 2006 at 3:57 pm

  […] BTW … there haven’t been too many entries for the contest yet.  You don’t want to miss out do you?  Here’s a little poll that I think should set things straight …. Do you like winning free stuff […]

• Alfa
  Dec 7, 2006 at 9:31 pm

  One of my best work tip gets me to be more productive:

  Have siesta or a nap to refresh your mind.

  Not all companies or working arrangements allow it but for those who can, especially those who work at home, making it a habit can actually help you stay alert and be more on the go for the rest of the day.

• Amit Agarwal
  Dec 8, 2006 at 1:02 pm

  The demo of GyroQ is very impressive. Would make a great utility for bloggers - they can quickly jot down the ideas for the next blog post via GyroQ and blog them later.

  The advantage is that ideas would be shown as a brain map making it easier to decide what should in and what should go out.

• Tris Hussey
  Dec 8, 2006 at 4:02 pm

  Greatb tips so far! Let’s keep them coming!

• Scott Goldblatt
  Dec 9, 2006 at 5:10 am

  Buy some good coffee.

• Pimp Your Work - PYW Contest extended
  Dec 13, 2006 at 2:29 pm

  […] Scot and I talked last night (virtually) and decided we need to extend the contest another week.  Frankly while we have some awesome entries, we need more. […]

• Mary Jo
  Dec 13, 2006 at 2:40 pm

  Know when to stop.

  Whether it’s time to stop writing, stop goofing off, stop research, or stop the endless cycle of the rat race.

  Life is about balance, and knowing how to stop means knowing how to start.

• Jul
  Dec 13, 2006 at 2:48 pm

  My tip: quit your job. I’ve become a much more productive worker since I started working for myself. :)

• Tom Hodgers
  Dec 13, 2006 at 3:59 pm

  Using GyroQ with MindManager.

  Why use GyroQ for quickly capturing random ideas and thoughts and not just type them straight into MindManager?

  GyroQ does not need MindManager running to capture ideas so you don’t have to keep MindManager and your In-tray map open all the time.

  Remember that when you’re in MindManager, the temptation to develop and embellish an idea is almost irresistible so, to maintain your focus, use GyroQ for queuing quick ideas and eventually send them to MindManager maps without having MindManager running all the time and capture more of your work in map form.

  Maps are great places to re-think and develop ideas and when you get to work on these in a map you can develop them much more quickly.

• Tom McManus
  Dec 14, 2006 at 11:36 am

  I use the GTD methodology and have added an @delegated category to my task list. When an something is delegated, the task is created with the persons intials as the first part of the task description. This makes it easy to sort and query all assigned tasks to this person.

  Also if an email comes in and the action is delegated, just drag the email to the task button and a new task is created with the content of the email is added to the notes field.

• Speedlinking - 15 December 2006
  Dec 14, 2006 at 4:02 pm

  […] Pimp Your Work has a competition running at present (it’s been extended a week) with some great prizes for people who submit their best ‘work tip’ (it could be software tips, work life tips, meeting tips etc). […]

• Andrew Flusche
  Dec 14, 2006 at 7:18 pm

  I just stumbled on your blog, due to Darren’s speedlink. Good stuff here!

  My tip: take regular, periodic breaks. I use a program called Take a Break. It’s free!

  You can define a “work” interval and a “break” interval, then the program reminds you when it’s time to do what. For example, set it for 50 minutes of work, 10 minute break. This way you can get away from your desk, stretch your legs, etc.

• Alpesh Nakar
  Dec 14, 2006 at 9:15 pm

  Hi There!

  I just came across, thanks to Darren’s speedlink.

  I use HP iPaq Pocket PC and would like to share my tips on automated backup of Pocket PC. It is a life saver and I am sure it will help, whoever uses a Pocket PC :-)
  http://alpesh.nakars.com/blog/2006/12/02/scheduled-backup-of-pocket-pc/

  Season’s Greetings to all and have a great new year!

  Cheers!
  Alpesh Nakar

• Andrea >> Become a Consultant Blog
  Dec 14, 2006 at 9:24 pm

  My best tip is to get a second job, especially as a freelancer or consultant, so that you can save for trips, credit card bills, student loans, retirement or whatever else your heart desires. In fact, getting a second job is also a great way to transition to working from home.

• Pimp Your Work - If MindManager isn’t for you, maybe try Freemind for mindmapping
  Dec 15, 2006 at 9:55 am

  […] Liz Strauss has a guest post from Grigor Ćorić on mindmapping.  Grigor recommends FreeMind as an alternative to commercial mindmapping tools.  Okay, I’ve tried FreeMind and I didn’t like it. I was spoiled already by MindManager from MindJet.  Hobie Swan introduced me to MindManager and gave me a license to use.  MindJet is also one of the sponsors of our contest (still open until next week).  That bias aside, if you want to get into mindmapping and aren’t sure about it, try FreeMind.  I think the process of mindmapping is more important that the tool you use to do it. […]

• Reality Wired » Traffic tips from the Pros
  Dec 16, 2006 at 5:54 pm

  […] Finally, I jumped to a perfectly purple site called Pimp Your Work, enticed by the “Pimpalicious Pimp Your Work contest“. With a title like that, one can’t help but check it out. The contest is up for another couple of days and your asked to leave your best work tip. Let’s see… being guilty of this one and having actually recovered from it, I’d say. Don’t piss off your boss. No matter how right you think you are. […]

• Mark Levison
  Dec 19, 2006 at 5:57 pm

  Always chasing little scraps of paper around the office? Then consider “My Life Organized” (MLO) as a task manager.This is a very short review because I know I have another five tasks to achieve before I shutdown my computer tonight. How do I know that I have five tasks? Because I use a combination of David Allens “Getting Things Done” (GTD) system and “My Life Organized” (MLO).

  In a nutshell MLO is task outliner. It allows you keep track of all of the things you want to do now, tomorrow and ever. The outliner looks and works like the windows folder system. If that was all MLO offered it would be a good tool.
  ….

• Pimp Your Work - The contest is over! Now the fun begins
  Dec 20, 2006 at 3:01 pm

  […] Scot (speaking on his behalf) and I want to thank everyone for entering our little contest.  There are some great entries.  Now the fun begins, picking the winners.  I expect Scot and I will be able to announce the winners this week.  What are people going to get?  I really want to keep that a surprise, but I will say this, the best tip is going to get a ton of stuff. […]

• Business and Blogging - Cool Prizes for Work Pimps
  Dec 20, 2006 at 9:02 pm

  […] But I wanted to understand better, especially as Tris and Scot are having a competition and I wanted to help spread the word. Their blog post announcing the competition is It’s a pimpalicious Pimp Your Work contest! You can win cool stuff, easy. There was that word again, in a couple of forms. Clearly I needed to get some clarification, if not for the sake of readers unfamiliar with the finer (?) nuances of North American slang, then at least for my own sake. […]

• startupspark.com - Get In On The Pimpalicious Pimp Your Work Contest
  Dec 22, 2006 at 6:50 am

  […] Over at Pimp Your Work (a fellow b5 Business Channel blog) they’re running a great contest for some free software. […]

Have an opinion? Leave a comment:

• Use this area to discover new blogs and content in the b5media network.
• Beauty & Style
• Business
• Celebrities
• Entertainment
• Health & Wellness
• Lifestyles
• Music
• Sports
• Team Blogs
• Technology
• Travel & Culture
• Video Games