Unlock Efficiency: Elevate Your Skills with Our Training & Videos

What is the best way to name your files? Well, here's a simple three step formula you can use by adding a subject, a date and a code to each of your files, it will make it that much easier for you to both organize and find your files in the future.

Here on the screen in front of you, I've got three different folders with different examples, all of them including a subject, a date and a code and a great thing about this formula is that you don't have to keep it in this order, you can mix and match it based on your needs.

So for example, in my first folder, I've got the subject name, followed by the code, followed by the date. In the middle folder, I have the date, followed by the subject name, followed by the code. 

And in the last folder, I have the code, followed by the name, followed by the date. Now let's take a closer look at what makes this file naming system so powerful.

Of course, when it comes to the name or the subject of your file, that's going to differ on each and every file type, but you will notice that I've included a dash between the file name anywhere where a space would normally appear.

Instead of writing a new space hire space process, I've included a dash. Why? Many applications still will not accept a file or process it correctly if you've included a space somewhere within your file name and in some cases they will add special characters in between those spaces.

So in order to make sure that your file can be used or shared with almost any application, I encourage that you include these dashes. 

You'll also notice that I've included an underscore which separates these three components. In this example, I have the date, underscore, the subject name and then underscore and then finally the code.

That makes it a lot easier to read and also to see the distinction between these three different parts. Now, when it comes to the date, I highly recommend that you use the following date format, the full four digit year, followed by the two digit month, followed by the two digit date.

And it doesn't matter what country you live in or what the standard date format is for your region, we want to follow this order so it can sort properly. By using the year, month, date format, we can always sort, especially if you've included the date at the beginning of that file name. 

Lastly, let's take a look at the final component of our formula and that is by adding a unique code or a unique identifier. Here within the left folder, the special code is as a version number.

Within the middle folder, I've got a combination of different things. I have some, which are the initials, perhaps of the last person who edited or who created this file. It could be a version number or, like in the last two examples, I'm identifying the difference between a draft and a final version.

And then in the right hand side folder, the unique code happens to be a purchase order number, which again makes it nice and easy for me to sort everything that is going on within this folder.

The other thing that you will notice is that I recommend that that unique code is in all capitals. 

By using capitals for your code, it will stand out that much more and you can better see the distinction between the three different parts of our file name.

Now, one thing to note, if you are using version numbering, I highly recommend that you use a two digit system like we see here, version zero one followed by zero two and so on.

Why? Even if you don't think that you will get to version 10 or greater, if you do, you want to make sure that this will sort or can be read easily if you do get two double digits. This will save an awful lot of headache and an awful lot of edits in the future.

So the next time you go to create or save a file, just remember this three-step formula of adding a subject, a date and a code, it will make organizing your files and folders so much easier.

Thank you so much for watching today's video and remember, being productive does not need to be difficult, in fact, it's very simple.

This video is brought to you by SaneBox More about them a little later in the video.

Are you tired of staring at a blank email wondering how you should reply or create a new message? Well, if you are a Google Gemini user, we can take advantage of AI directly here from within Gmail.

We're going to get started by coming all the way down to the bottom and to the right of your send button, you will see that there is an icon called Help me Write By Selecting This, we get this Help Me Write button and a few other buttons that will become available once we've added some text or once we've input some information.

So I'm going to go ahead and select Help me write, and this is where we can enter in our prompt. Now it's only a single line. I don't know what the maximum number of characters are, but of course you don't have to give it a whole lot of detail to get something worthwhile.

So here, I've given it this prompt. I wanted to write an email to a potential client who is wanting to pay at the end of the project instead of a deposit upfront. Express that I'm hoping we can revise the agreement to reflect this here. I can go to the right and select Create. 

And of course, AI is going to do its magic and it's important to note it's not going to input it directly into my email just yet. So before we get to the content of what it's come up with here, you can see that there's this line around the content and there's even a little X here, which I can use immediately to close or remove this.

But down at the very bottom of the email, you can see that we now have this big blue button, which will allow us to insert that content. Nothing will go into the email itself until we say so, but we also have a few other options available to us here as well. We can recreate, meaning we can ask it to do another version of this using the exact same prompt that we did, but we can also choose to refine it.

I'm going to come down here to this refine dropdown, and here I've got three options available to me. I can make it more formal. I can choose to elaborate, or I can choose to shorten. Now if I find that I haven't given it the most appropriate prompt, or perhaps it's not coming up with what I'm looking for, I've got one of two options. I can hit this X button here and this will close everything down and bring me back to the beginning where I can enter in a new prompt, or I can come right up here and select the prompt itself.

So in this example, I'm going to say an email to a new client who has not been satisfied with my service. Suggest that we set up a free consultation. I'm going to go ahead and select update in this case.

And you will notice by the response that it's given that there is no mention of the agreement or the contract from the previous prompt. Just keep in mind, every time that you go to change the prompt, it is not going - To the previous one. You are basically starting fresh, or this is a single prompt line each and every time.

Let's say I am happy with this one. I can't edit anything yet until I select insert, and now it has been put into my email. I can go ahead and either add my name here or just remove it since I have my signature down below.

And of course, I'm also going to come up here and make sure that I mention them by name. You may want to do a double check in terms of how many brackets or boilerplate information is there.

The last thing you want to do is send out an email that says Hi client's name. So make sure to do a double check before you hit send.

Now, if you'd like AI to make managing your email that much easier, I recommend you check out SaneBox with AI technology. SaneBox prioritizes essential messages, saving you hours of time each week, and by learning from your behavior, same box will clean up your inbox, get rid of spam, and organize your emails into relevant folders. Best of all, same box works with any email provider.

To get started, go to same box.com/simplivity or click the link in the description below.

I love seedless watermelon.

Who wants to deal with those pesky seeds (spitting sounds).

So when I found out that there was such a thing as a staple-less stapler, I had to check it out.

Of course, we've all experienced the joy of unjamming a traditional stapler or, if we've run out of staples, being frustrated that we didn't have enough to finish the job.

Well, a staple-free or staple-less stapler solves both of those problems.

There's no staples!

So there is nothing to un-jam, there is nothing to run out of.

So how does a staple-less stapler work?

It uses a cut and fold method.

Let me staple these 2 pages together.

You'll see that it makes 2 cuts, a larger cut here and then a tiny slit at the top, which it uses to slip that piece of paper up to the top.

That's how it makes the bond between pages.

As a result, this is not going to be nearly as strong as a typical or a metal stapler.

But I find for most things around the house, whether it's receipts, most of the things that I need to staple are only 2 or 3 pages in depth anyhow.

This is perfect.

This is perfect for most things around the house.

Because of this cut and fold method, it's interesting that it actually makes a stronger bond the more pieces of paper that you use.

Here I've got a stack of 4 sheets, and this is actually an even tighter bond between the pages than it was between just the 2 sheets of paper.

You'll see right on the front that this is limited to 5 sheets, so you're not going to be stapling a booklet together.

You're not going to be stapling something that has a lot of pages together.

It's also very convenient.

As you can see, it's quite small and really designed to fit easily in your hand.

It doesn't take much effort to use and is very safe if you have a family with kids around.

You don't have to hide this away.

No one is going to pinch their fingers in there.

It's only paper that can fit into that slit.

A staple-free stapler can be purchased for less than $10 at your local office supply store.

So if you don't already own one, you can easily pick one up and check it out for yourself.

No staples and easy to use?

It's very simple.

The headphone industry is a two billion dollar a year industry, and that's just in the US alone.

So chances are you have not only one pair of earbuds, not only two pairs of earbuds; you have probably more like half a dozen pairs of earbuds lying around your home at any given time.

Now of course, we get our earbuds when we purchase a new smartphone or perhaps an mp3 player.

But chances are you've probably upgraded your earbuds to something that's of a bit higher quality or something that just fits a lot better.

Well today, I want to show you what's the most efficient way to travel with your earbuds.

So we know if we take our earbuds without a carrying case of any kind, if I just wrap them up against my finger like this and I throw this into my bag, that's going to be a knotted mess when I go to use them.

It might wrap itself up with whatever else I have in my bag, and I'm going to be spending time taking out knots and uncoiling this when I want to listen to my music.

So what's the solution?

Well, it's something that you might already have lying around your house.

It's a coin purse or a change purse.

You may have had a few of these when you were a child.

I know I had lots of fun with these.

They have a spring opener, just a gentle squeeze opens them up on the top; otherwise, they always remain closed and they're very, very thin—extremely thin.

So when I'm traveling, I use the same method.

I'll take my earbuds and I'll wrap them up against my finger like this, but then I can just tuck them into my change purse.

And look at that—it keeps it very, very thin.

I can slip that into my backpack, slip that into my briefcase, almost anywhere.

They're safe, and they're easy to get to.

But the added bonus is that they do not knot up.

The way that I put them in is the way that they remain.

So when I go to use them, I pull them out; I don't have to untangle anything.

I just pull them out, and I'm ready to listen to my music at any given time.

You can pick up a coin purse or a change purse at most dollar stores.

If not at a dollar store, you can certainly find them for less than five or six dollars.

They're usually made out of leather or synthetic leather, and they can also be used for many other purposes.

So there you have it—the most efficient way to carry your earbuds.

Until next time, it's very simple.

It's become far too easy for us to look at a dashboard to determine if we slept well last night or if we had a high-intensity workout.

But how do you actually feel?

Do you feel well rested?

Do you feel good?

Stop telling me how busy you are! I don't care and it sounds pathetic.

When someone makes a request of your time, do you catch yourself saying, "Sorry, I'm just too busy"?

Now it's bad enough if we stop there, but for most of us, we continue on with some kind of story like, "I'm working 80 hours a week, and I'm on this very special project, and I'm also working in this organization, and I'm volunteering on the weekends, and I'm helping my neighbor with project X, Y, and Z, and my kids are involved in this, that, and the other thing so that pretty much books up my Tuesdays through 2027."

Now at first glance, it may sound like we're complaining about how busy our schedule is. But I think often we find ourselves boasting about our schedule in an attempt to try and out-busy someone else. I think we do this because unfortunately, we correlate busyness with importance and that's simply not true.

When we say, "I'm too busy," it sounds like we have no control over our schedules. When I hear someone go on and on about how busy they are, I don't think, "Wow, they sure must be important"! No, if anything, I feel sorry for them because it sounds like they have no control over their schedule.

The other problem with saying, "I'm too busy," is that it's usually a lie. If we really wanted to do the request or the activity that was being asked of us, we would make time for it. But the easy excuse is to say, "I'm too busy" or "I don't have time."

So let's stop saying, "I'm too busy." Instead, we can tell the truth by saying, "That's not a priority for me right now."

Changing the words that we use can remind us that time is always a choice. And if we don't like the way that we're spending our days, well then, let's change our priorities.

It's not that difficult, in fact, it's very simple.

Thank you. Pomodoro—it's the Italian word for tomato. It's also the name of a very powerful time management technique.

Here's how it works.

Step number one: be very specific about what you want to accomplish in the next half hour.

Number two: get yourself a timer and set it for 25 minutes. 25 minutes is a traditional Pomodoro time interval. You can use your app, you can use a desktop timer, you can even purchase a tomato Pomodoro timer online.

Then work exclusively on that task for the next 25 minutes without interruption, without distractions.

When the timer goes off, stop. Take a short break. This is the real power of the Pomodoro Technique—taking short mental breaks before returning to that task or perhaps a new task.

Once you've finished your break, again be specific about what you want to achieve and repeat the Pomodoro interval.

Until next time, it's very simple.

Wallets. We need them to carry around our cash, our coins, ID, credit cards, and loyalty cards. But how can we slim back? How can we reduce the bulkiness and the weight in our pockets? This used to be my wallet. Big, bulky, thick. It felt uncomfortable and chances are you could probably see it in my pocket a mile away.

So here are my 2 tips for slimming back: Number 1: Reduce the amount of plastic.

Reduce the amount of plastic

Reduce the number of cards that you carry in your wallet on a day to day basis. Can you get by with just 7 essential cards? 7 or fewer. Chances are that is going to drastically reduce the amount of bulk in your wallet. If you can't, I suggest using an app such as CardStar.

Use an app

CardStar allows you to scan in any card that has a bar-code and then you can use it at checkout. As long as it has a bar-code, such as a loyalty card, a library card, anything with a bar-code, you can put it into your smartphone.

Slim wallet design

Second tip: Consider investing in a slim wallet design. I'm a big fan of Bellroy. I currently use one of their slim wallets. They are designed to fold flat. They are designed to be very, very thin. I even like the fact that they have designed it so that they have only 3 key cards at the

Conclusion

front of the wallet. They have other places where you can store additional cards. But even their design of where to store cards have been very, very efficient. So, 2 tips: One, cut back on the number of plastic and number two, consider purchasing a slim wallet. Until next time, it's very simple.

Toothpaste—we've been producing it in tube format since the year 1880, and ever since that time, we've had this same problem: trying to squeeze all of that toothpaste out of the tube.

You know what I'm talking about—you get near the end of your tube of toothpaste, and you keep pinching, you keep squeezing, and thinking, "I know there's more in there."

Well, today I've got a tip to help you solve that problem. You probably already have this tool in your kitchen—it's a plastic bag clip. And if you have one of the larger kinds, you can open it up, squeeze it on the end of your tube of toothpaste, and then just gently roll it down the side.

Not only will it squeeze all of the toothpaste up to the top, but it stays in place. Now you can get all of that wonderful toothpaste out of the tube.

Until next time, it's very simple.

Pomodoro is the Italian word for tomato. It's also the name of a very powerful time management technique. Here's how it works.

Step number one: be very specific about what you want to accomplish.