Audio CD Ready

Just a quick note to let you know that my audio CD is ready!

How to shorten your working day by 2 hours?

Tomorrow I ‘ll let you know where you can buy it…

I am so happy that I have reached my goal to have it finished by the end of 2008! Jihaa!

Happy New Year and enjoy tonight,

Bert Verdonck
Lifehacker & Life Coach

Audio CD

A lot of people are asking me to speak more often in public, even in other parts of the world. Others want me to publish a book. Then some are requesting audio-files, so they can listen to them on their iPod, at the office or while driving to it or while traveling. I’ve been thinking lately on how to fulfill everybody’s needs…

So, I have decided to create a bunch of products in the coming 12 months. Currently, I am in the process of creating a downloadable Audio CD, which will be sold on the internet. Last weekend, I recorded the last 5 tracks of it. This means that very shortly my Audio CD will be launched! Isn’t that great?

If you are interested already, mail me and enjoy a pre-launch discount of 3 €! The Audio CD will be sold for 19,95 €, including taxes. This means you only pay 16,95 € if you order now.

Oh, and the subject of this Audio CD? Right, I almost forgot to tell you this 🙂

“How to shorten your working day by 2 hours?”

I’ll share 17 genius shortcuts or lifehacks to help you do more in less time!

Enjoy Christmas,

Bert Verdonck
Lifehacker

Productivity Myth

Some people tell me they don’t have time for (creating) a system. They need to change right now, but have no time for change. So, they keep running things like before. And guess what? Yes, they actually get similar results! On top of that, they keep on complaining, because nothing ever changes and they keep on going nowhere.

Another thing they believe is that if they spend time setting up and maintaining a todo-list and doing regular (weekly?) reviews, they’ll never get anything done.

Of course, most systems take some time to get set up, but once you start using your system, the time you use in “maintenance” is more than compensating for the time you save not having to think about what to do (next)– or making up for the things you didn’t remember to do.  So, you see, having a system creates extra time!

I know, improving your system will save you more time, so you have to invest in making things better…every time! This will cost you more time in the beginning, but it will save you more and more. Now, if someone shows you a shortcut on how to get things done in a smarter, more efficient way, you are actually improving a lot.

Then the choice is yours what you would do with the extra time you have saved. You could invest it in saving more time in other areas of your life, or you could have more fun with friends and family or you could spend it with doing nothing and not using the shortcut at all. This way you can continue to complain and demotivate others  But that’s not who we are, right? 🙂

So, what would you do? And what does your system looks like?

Read this article, if you want to read more on productivity myths.

Enjoy every day,

Bert Verdonck
Lifehacker

Google Efficiency

Ok, I admit it! I am using Google a lot. Not only the search engine, but also other great stuff like GMail, Google Reader, Google Maps, Google Desktop, etc.

As a lifehacker I learned a couple of extra shortcuts to make my life easier and more efficient.

Here is a (first) cheatsheet of interesting shortcuts:

Sample queries   Google responses pages with…
bert lifehack     both words: bert and lifehack
Hawaii OR Bali     1 word: Hawaii or Bali
+I love    both words: I & love (force Google not to ignore I)
lifehack -computer    the word lifehack but NOT the word computer
“Enjoy every day”    the exact phrase: Enjoy every day
iPod €100..€500    iPods between €100 and €500
part-time    the words part-time, part time, or parttime
life ~coach    the words Life & both coach & its synonyms
Indian food site:about.com    Indian food from the website about.com
whales filetype:ppt    finds whales in Powerpoint files

Have fun,

Bert Verdonck
Lifehacker

PS : did I mention that yesterday Google Chrome (Google’s Browser) is officially out of the Beta phase. Download it now!

Extract Audio

Do you also receive these unbelievable, extraordinary Powerpoints or slideshows from friends and colleagues? Some of them contain really beautiful pictures and great sounds. They are very inspiring and sometimes I would like to reuse some of their content. Then the challenge starts! Rather than creating everything again from scratch, I try to reuse bits and pieces. But how do I get embedded audio out of a Powerpoint? How do I get pictures extracted from a PPS-file?

I found out that there is no standard way to extract images or sounds from Powerpoint-files or slidewhows, but you can still save them (and reuse!) if you follow these 3 simple steps:

1. Open the PPT or PPS-file in Powerpoint.
2. Save the file as a Web Page (“Save As” => Web Page)
3. Open the folder where you saved this web page and there you’ll see the audio file in the list, next to the images you wished for.

That’s it! 🙂

By the way, I am not a fan of stealing from others, but linking to your source in a respectful way, will often get you (official) permission to (re)use their material. I learned this lifehack from Amit Agarwal. Thanks Amit!

Enjoy every day,

Bert Verdonck
Lifehacker

Not knowing

I was born unknowing,
and have had only a little time
to change that here and there.
– Richard Meynman –

I was also born unknowing and the older I get, the more I realise that there is always more to explore, to create and to learn. The amount of knowledge seems to grow exponentially. Time goes faster and faster too!

So, it’s time to sit down again, reflect on what I am doing, where I am going and what I want to achieve in life. I am creating an ecourse on life coaching and as a test, I am going through it myself now. And I am excited about the results already 🙂

What I have already learned, is that my ability to learn is improving every year. Next to that, I am aware that I am only skilled in a very few fields, compared to the universe of knowledge. That is not stopping me of sharing and helping others with the little knowledge that I have. 🙂

I have been privileged to work at the forefront of emerging environments, such as the commercial internet almost 15 years ago and biometrics, which is still a quite unknown field for a lot of people. Recently, I have moved on to life coaching and lifehacking. These fields of expertise are now building at an incredible speed and it reinforces my contribution to those unaccustomed to the benefits of the digital age. I will create more and more practical guides and tools to help everyone to master the magic of technology. I tell you this, because these are areas where I have changed from not knowing to knowing.

What about you? What did you learn? What do you know now?

Something to reflect on, right?

Enjoy every day,

Bert Verdonck
Lifehacker & Life Coach

Shift Happens!

Did you know?

After posting this outstanding presentation on several forums, people asked me why I did not publish it on my own blog? Great question! So, I decided to step-up and just do it  🙂

So, enjoy the movie!

[YouTube=”http://www.youtube.com/v/pMcfrLYDm2U&hl=en&fs=1″ ]

For my Dutch-speaking friends, there is a Dutch version available (Shift Happens in het NEDERLANDS).

You can find more info and background on this project at Shift Happens!

My personal feedback on Shift Happens :

“Everyday Shift Happens!

I believe now is the best time to step-up and gear ourselves for the future.

It is about our bigger purpose that shapes our destination.

It is about our ability to change that upgrades the world.

It is about our ability to inspire others that will create extraordinary people.

It is about our ability to earn that will create success for all.

It is about our ability to serve others that will make the difference.

It is about our  ability to contribute to the needed that will satisfy our own needs.

It is about our ability to connect to others that will unite the world.

It is about letting go to get everything you want.”

Enjoy every day,

Bert Verdonck
Lifehacker & Life Coach

Schmap me!

When visitors are coming to see you, how do you let them know your location? Now you can share a personal schmap.me page, one that displays your map and contacts perfectly on a PC or Mac, and on pretty much any mobile device (iPhone, BlackBerry and many more).

“Ok, our meeting on the 15th at 2PM is hereby confirmed. Just “Schmap me” to see the location!”

“Excuse me?”

“Oh, you haven’t heard about “Schmap me” yet. Sorry! My schmap.me page (www.schmap.me/bertverdonck) displays all my contact details, including Google Maps, perfectly on a PC, Mac, and most mobile phones (iPhone, BlackBerry, Nokia, Palm, Sony Ericsson and more). You can immediately print it, save it as a vcf-file (Outlook Contact or business card) or click it for directions!”

This is how an actual conversation can take place. No need for difficult websites or search at Google Maps anymore. Everything is ready in 1 overview. No fuss, no hassle and free!

Get your own schmap.me page now!

Enjoy every day,

Bert Verdonck
Lifehacker

Paulo Coelho Rocks!

Paulo Coelho is one of my favourite writers! I frequently inspire others by giving his books away to friends and clients. If you don’t know who Paulo Coelho is, you probably have no clue how he sold 100 million books in 1 year. Wow!

Why am I telling you this? Well, Paulo Coelho is sharing his books online for free! Paulo wants his readers to “try his books for free”, so you can download his ebooks freely! How cool is that?

Next to “the Alchemist”, “11 minutes” and “the Zahir”, all his books are free downloadable 🙂

This is the best link to start downloading his books. Oh, by the way his books are available in English, Dutch, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Polish, Russian, Castellano and many more!

“The ultimate goal of a writer is to be read. Money comes later.”, according to Paulo. “Most people still prefer to read a real book however, (pirated) ebooks are more often used to preview.” so he states.

Sources : Pirate Coelho and TorrentFreak

A big thank you from a big fan! Paulo Coelho, you ROCK 🙂

So, what are you waiting for? Start downloading now! And if you want to speed up the process, check out my lifehack on learning how to read at least 3 times faster in just 15 minutes!

Enjoy every day,

Bert Verdonck

Create, Connect & Contribute

Mac vs. PC

I started as a Mac-fan, but changed to PC ages ago. Now I am thinking of switching again.

So here is a brilliant Apple campaign ‘I am a Mac’ , to convince people why you should be using a Mac or rather very recognizable situations when using a PC… This clip is a compilation of several ads. Stay tuned, because most of them are hilarious 🙂

So, why should I change to Mac? Or should I rather stay with my PC? Should I upgrade to Vista? Looking forward to your feedback!

Enjoy every day,

Bert Verdonck
Lifehacker & Life Coach