I have tried a couple of day using iCal on Mac, similar to Google Calender, which help you to organize your schedule, telling when you need to do this and that. First off, this seem good to me as it can help me organize my daily task, I know what I am going to do in what time, but the fact is, this kill my daily productivity.

I am extremely low productivity when I was using a schedule for my daily task. It was an alarm clock keep on warning that it is time to start to do something and you have to finished it before sometime as there are still lot of tasks waiting in a minute or an hour! OMG, this is suck, I can’t really concentrate on what I am doing but keep on counting the time like a human time tracker.

Then I give up this application and focus on 1 app for my task management which is Things, a To-Do list apps, you can list all the task you have to do, come with a due date management and scheduling, yes, a scheduling function, but unlike iCal, it help you to schedule some repeating task like jogging in 3 days a week, from Wed to Fri, then the app will pop up the task on the specific day for you.

The reason why I like this app is because it tell you what you have to do rather than tell you when you need to start doing this and how many hour remaining. I can more concentrate on my task and more relax when I performing.

This post is short, I will show you the simple step how I get things done.

1. Have Enough Sleep, So you will wake up earlier and have more time.
2. Make Your Schedule, well organize will improve your lifestyle.
3. Use To-Do List. So you know what to do.
4. Write your note. So you won’t forget something.
5. Clean your workspace, less distraction.
6. Listen to Music while you are working. Music, not rock song or any other which you make you dance with.
7. Don’t watch TV while you are working. You will forget there is a off button on your remote control.
8. Don’t chat while you are working. I am pretty sure you won’t stop after all.
9. Ask some one to help you, if you really out of time.
10. Last one, is simple, DO IT!

31 Dec 2009, today is the last day of 2009, I don’t wake up in the early morning, I don’t have lots of stuff to do, I don’t have any plan of party tonight, instead today is just like every single day in 2009.

There are lots of thing I have done in 2009, some are crazy minded, some are living stuff, so what I have achieved in 2009?

1. I quick my day-job, and working at home.
2. I have tons of books in my room, but I yet to read every book, the math is like: I bought 2-3 books while I am reading a book, and I just bought another book in the morning!
3. I got my Macbook Pro, which was on my wishlist for years.
4. I have earned extra money by doing affiliate marketing(not much).
5. Have my tiny workspace in my room.
6. Made donation to Tzu Ji charity program.
7. Tried bowling game (Yeap, the first time in 24 years!)

and what have I failed to achieved in 2009?

1. Have my portfolio website ready. (Planned to complete it today, couple of day delay but not long)
2. Save tons of money.
3. Switch from Ipod shuffle to Ipod Nano.
4. Donate a kid.
5. Fluent in Japanese (Do nothing about it in 2009, my biggest failure)

Here are some of the list I can think of now. There are still a lot but I need to crack my mind for that, small achievement. The biggest decision I have made is to quick my day job, and now I am working for myself, I can wake up anytime I want, have my own working hour and so, the only thing which is not good is I don’t have a steady income after that, which lead to some of the failure of achievement in 2009 like buy things on my wishlist, donate a kid, and save tons of money (may be I spent all my money on Macbook Pro), haha.

Hello 2010!

I come out a wishlist for 2010 few days before, it is a big list, hard but possible. And here we go:

1. Earn $15,000 in year 2010
2. Have my steady freelance career
3. Make My Living Online (affiliate marketing, make money blogging and so)
4. Donate a kid
5. Fluent in Japanese
6. Read 100 – 150 books
7. Buy Iphone
8. Buy Ipod Nano

A sketch list, not a static plan. Will make some adjustment during the year, or some update! Some on the list are things I want to overcome, which I have failed in 2009. Earn $15,000 in year 2010, approximately RM51,000 and RM 4250/month. Kind of big challenge to me as I don’t have a steady income, doing work at home, but why not to make a big goal and go forward? Wish me luck!

That’s it, enjoy your last day in 2009, and happy holiday!

It’s been a long long holiday for me, since I am doing my work at home, it really make me feel like holiday is everyday. I got my free time to do anything I want, I can do my work anytime I want. Sound really great right? The problem is that I am far far away from getting back to my working routines. I work a little everyday, productivity is kinda low. I can’t even remember when was the last time I code my website. I am still designing everyday, but no coding at all. Hopefully I still remember how to do it.

So first thing I am gonna to do after the holiday(1/1/2010) is getting back to my routines, it is difficult but it is possible. I just need some discipline on that.

1. Clean my workspace, make it clean and less distraction.
2. Follow a working hour, 11am to 4pm, 5 hour working each day.
3. Go out to work, may be Starbucks, or any other coffee shop which provide wireless connection.
4. Well organize my task, scheduling, I am doing it now.

I think following a working hour is best for me, so that I can be more concentrate on my work, just like how I did when I am reading a book.

Anyway, this is the plan of 2010, before that, let’s enjoy the holiday and new year!

During the Christmas Holiday, I have earned some affiliate sales commission from my blog, not much, but I can use it to buy some books and write the book review for you all, it is awesome!

I am really excited every time when I received a notification email about my affiliate sale! Here are 1 of those email:

Thanks for all the ppl who  bought the product I recommend on this site or others by my link, really appreciate and I am sure you will like the product! Enjoy!

Merry Christmas to all of you! Traffic jam is everywhere, yes, traffic jam is everywhere in Melaka. It is tired to go out in this two day, will probably spent most of the time inside the car! I don’t like it!

It is odd that why people come to Melaka to celebrate their Christmas? no Christmas celebration party, no Christmas decoration along, why? I think it would be best to go places like Singapore or KL, I am sure you can feel Christmas if you are there. Melaka? Nothing special, just traffic jam…

Anyway, wish you all Merry Christmas, & Happy Holiday! Have fun and be patient for traffic jam.

I read an article today, is the “7 Questions, 7 Designers” series from echo enduring blog, it is interesting to know that what tools people are using now, and I found some interesting software I have never heard of too, so I think it is fun to have my version here. Lets start!

1. Computer: Mac and PC, but mostly(90%) Mac
2. Browser: Firefox
3. Email: Thunderbird
4. RSS Reader: Google Reader
5. Imaging Software: Photoshop
6. Code Editor: Coda
7. Twitter: Tweetie
8. Blogging: WordPress
9. Task Management: Things on mac, Pen and Papers
10. Extras: Mouse, LittleSnapper(To snap everything I see for my inspiration), Evernote, 160GB External Harddisk(I think I will buy a 1TB storage next year).

What is your version?

I recently spent some of my daytime to read book, and I found that my reading skill is improved. I read fast, and I remember most of the thing in the book. Like I can call back the story, the character name in a novel, for instance.

I used three method:

1. Use a pointer, this is one of the fundamental fast reading technique you will find in every article which teach you about fast reading. What it really help me is to reduce the distraction from my eye, lead my eye to focus on the sentence or the word.
2. Don’t read it out while you are reading, previously when I was reading a book, I like to read it out, I like to hear what I have read and think that it is good for me to remember what I have read. The fact is, it will only reduce your reading speed. That’s all. But if you like your voice, then do it.
3. I use a timer, normally I will set the timer for 2 to 3 hour when I am going to read a book. This is not to force me reading but make me more concentrate on what I am doing. When I set the timer, I will be more focus on reading the book. If there is something I need to do during the time, I will just pause the timer and get back to read when I have completed the task. As I said, I use timer to guide me, not to force me do something, and I used it for some task, like designing a website, learning, and so. It really help!

I have read 4 books in 6 days, somewhat a record to me. Normally I read 1 book a week or two, but I am glad that I can read more and more now!

Some of my friends was asking that why I put ads on my blog? hmm… I want to earn some extra money to buy book, yes, this is my final answer. What type of Ads I got on my blog? Google Ads and Affiliate Ads.

Google Ads

The big ads over the right hand side is google ads, when you click the ads… I earn a few cent from google.

Affiliate Ads

Those 6 small 125 x 125 ads are affiliate ads, if you click it and buy the product, I earn some commission. It is just this simple, but I won’t simply put some ads on it. I bought all the 6 products over there and I really like the product.

1. Wootheme – This blog is using Wootheme as the wordpress theme, beautiful right?
2. Digging Into WordPress – A book by Chris Coyier, a 400 pages wordpress book, I think this is the best wordpress book in the market. It tell you everything you need to know about WordPress, And you get free update whenever Chris updates it.
3. Rockable Press – 1 of the awesome website in Envato Network, they publish “how to be a rockstar” series on their website, I actually bought 2 books (How to be a Rockstar Freelancer and Rockstar Worpress Designer) from them now and 1 (Freelance Statistic Report) pending (when I got my paycheck).
4. 31 Days to build a better blog – A workbook by Darren Rowse(The well-known problogger), this workbook teach you what, why and how to do the blogging task in 31 days and make your blog better. I haven’t applied all the technique yet, but I have learn so much from this workbook.
5. Cloud Living – A book by Glen Allsopp, he is awesome, traveling the world now and making his living online while traveling. Sound Interesting right? And yes, this book teach you how to make money online by two way – Affiliate Marketing and Blogging. Unlike others money making book, this book tell you how to make money online step by step and provide some awesome interview. And I also bought his new book – Reality Switch (A good additional to Cloud Living)
6. Hostgator – This blog is not hosted at Hostgator, it is actually hosted at my Exabytes reseller account, you may wonder why I recommend Hostgator, it is just because I am using it and love the service they have provided. I hosted some other website over there and all the website is running well without any problem at all. I like their customer support the most because every time when you submit a ticket and ask something, you will actually get the response very fast! I have never wait longer than 30 minutes to get their response (2-3 time experience, since I don’t have problem on my hosted site).

OK, I think is clear enough about the ads on my blog, and yes, all the links in this post are affiliate link too. Click the link, buy the product if you like it, then I will earn some commission to buy more books, of course, a big thank you if you really buy something from my link.

PS: This won’t make me a millionaire of course, and I don’t think it will make my living. I do this just for books. haha.

In my previous post, I talk about I am working on my portfolio website, the full design is confirm, and hopefully it can be done in this week or next, I took lots of time on it, redo and redo again just to make it better and better. Below are two design I want to share with you. The first one is the website layout and the second is a wallpaper, you can download it if you want and make it as your desktop wallpaper.

Click Here to Download My Wallpaper