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Size Does Matter — Bigger Monitors Save 2.5 Hours a Day

146 Comments
Topics: CategoriesGadgets

Bigger is better? (Photo: ikelee)

According to University of Utah researchers, using a larger monitor could save you 2.5 hours per day.

Specifically, test subjects completed everyday tasks like editing documents and massaging spreadsheets 52% faster when using a 24-inch monitor than they did with an 18-incher.

Not sure who uses 18-inch screens (17″ and 19″ are more typical), but I’d be curious to see how productivity with a 24-inch screen without Expose compares to a 17″ Mac with Expose activated.

If they are referring to docs and spreadsheets, it would seem to be a mostly scrolling-based discrepancy, n’est-ce pas? I suspect that if we use double-finger dragging on a scratch pad to scroll vs. a mouse, this gap would narrow.

Any theories to explain the difference, and how to make a smaller screen behave like a larger screen? Top picks for afforable 20-24″ monitors? I’m planning on a 22″ Acer LCD in black and hope to quantify the difference over a 4-week period.

[Thanks to Scott Allen via Wall Street Journal for the tip.]

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How to Fly Without ID and Skip Lines

69 Comments
Topics: CategoriesTravel

Lose the wallet to enter the fast lane? Strange but true. (Photo: Dam)

In the world of orange alerts and terrorism, how do you fly without ID? Is it even possible?

I learned last week that–not only is it possible–it’s faster.

My wallet was stolen at ETech in San Diego 3 hours before my flight was scheduled to leave for Austin, TX. Panic set in, as I had to be on a panel the following afternoon, but I learned of a few work-arounds.

Here’s what I did, first from the hotel:

1. I took the clever Brady Forrest‘s advice and printed out a little-known (outside of techies) letter from the TSA, written to Senator John Warner, that outlines protocol for flying without ID. If the airport check-in staff or security stop you, this letter and requesting a supervisor is often enough to get you onboard. Continue reading “How to Fly Without ID and Skip Lines”

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GetFriday and the Cost of Success: Exclusive Letter from the CEO

57 Comments
Topics: CategoriesOutsourcing Life

Do you want to get a promotion, make $500,000 per year, appear on Oprah, or have 10x the number of customers?

Be careful what you ask for.

GetFriday, a personal outsourcing firm in India, was thrust into the limelight when The 4-Hour Workweek hit #1 on The New York Times bestseller list, and their client numbers jumped by almost 1000%. Outsourcing your life was now in fashion.

It’s not simple to handle unexpected massive demand, and this was reflected in complaints from new users who were frustrated with waiting lists, response time issues, and mistakes. New personal outsourcing services popped up to fill the demand, and the niche industry of personal outsourcing is now big business.

I asked the CEO of GetFriday, Sunder Prakasham, to explain the problems and address the criticisms. Below is his letter to me, an excellent description of the growing pains many of you will face if you become “overnight successes” or get sudden primetime exposure. Continue reading “GetFriday and the Cost of Success: Exclusive Letter from the CEO”

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24 Hours with Tim Ferriss, a Sample Schedule

119 Comments
Topics: Categories4-Hour Case Studies, Filling the Void

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The goal is NOT inactivity. (Photo: the super smart and sexy Pinar Ozger)

Perhaps the most common question I’m asked is “what do you do all day?”

I was recently interviewed by J.D. Roth on his popular personal finance blog, and one of his readers wrote in with the following:

“I would like to know as best he can give, what Tim’s average NON-mini-retirement day entails.”

Here was my answer:

My days almost never look the same. I ask my assistants to avoid phone calls on Mondays and Fridays, in case I want to take a long weekend on either end, and I almost always allocate Mondays for general preparation and prioritizing for the week, then any administrative tasks that I need to handle (paperwork for accountants, lawyers, etc.).

I put very few things in my calendar, as I do not believe most people can do more than four hours of productive work per day at maximum, and I loathe multi-tasking. For example, my day tomorrow [Tim: this was about 14 days ago] looks like this, with items in my calendar preceded by an asterisk (*):

Continue reading “24 Hours with Tim Ferriss, a Sample Schedule”

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Redesign Launching

99 Comments
Topics: CategoriesUncategorized

We are currently launching the new blog design and functionality – please play around. If anything looks off or isn’t working, let us know! Still working on getting everything running smoothly.

Postscript: A few questions:

1. LOL… some of you have said that one of the header photos is creepy. Which one? Just refresh and they should rotate. I’m assuming from the “too dark” comments that it’s the sunset from Panama — will yank that soon 🙂

2. Are the top photos rotating for everyone? Hit refresh and they should. Refresh a few times, as they might repeat here and there since it’s randomized.

3. Other bugs? Comments working for all?

{democracy:2}
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Is Technology Failing to Simplify Life? Tim Ferriss on Economist.com

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Topics: CategoriesLow-Information Diet

Do you think technology simplifies or complicates life?

I was recently invited to participate in a debate sponsored by The Economist, and it just went live.

The proposition: If the promise of technology is to simplify our lives, it is failing.

Do you agree or disagree?

There are some fascinating points made by both debaters, and I add a few observations of my own. Be sure to read their “opening statements,” which are what I focus on, before their later rebuttals. Here is the first part of my commentary as a “featured participant”:

I receive 500–1,000 e-mail per day.

To contend with this, I have virtual assistants in Canada and sub-assistants in Bangalore who filter my inboxes using processing rules in Google Docs. Connected via Skype and compensated via PayPal, this team translates a 10-hour task into a 20-minute phone call…

[Read the rest of this one-pager here]

It will be obvious why I voted “pro”.

In order to vote — and I find this ironic — you need to first “register” in the top right of the screen, then get a screen name, then click on “pro” or “con”. Simple. 🙂

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Real Life Extension: Caloric Restriction or Intermittent Fasting? (Part 2)

115 Comments
Topics: CategoriesPhysical Performance

There are options for extending your life, but is it worth it? (Photo: Megan*)

This is the second half of our two-part article on real experiments (and successes) in life extension, authored by Dr. Michael Eades. Part 1 covers supporting research for caloric extension (CR) and intermittent fasting (IF).

—

Dr. Eades continued from Part 1:

We fooled around with a number of different eat-fast-eat regimens and came up with something that works pretty well. We set up our cutoff time as 6 PM. On the day we started, we ate until 6 PM, then fasted until 6 PM the next day. On the next day we ate supper right after 6 PM and ate breakfast and lunch (and a few snacks) the next day until 6 PM when we started fasting again.

Continue reading “Real Life Extension: Caloric Restriction or Intermittent Fasting? (Part 2)”

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Real Life Extension: Caloric Restriction or Intermittent Fasting? (Part 1)

53 Comments
Topics: CategoriesPhysical Performance

Can you slow the sands of time? The research say yes… but what’s the best option? (Photo: Thomas Ellis)

Most people don’t want to die.

Since even before Ponce de Leon and his search for the fountain of youth, man has been on a quest to achieve immortality.

Some people think we’re getting closer. In recent years, caloric restriction (CR) has been demonstrated to increase lab rat lifespans more than 20%. “Intermittent fasting” (IF), a much lesser-known and more lifestyle-friendly alternative, has shown results that even surpass CR in some respects.

Following up on the popularity of his last post on this blog (The Science of Fat-Loss: Why a Calorie Isn’t Always a Calorie), Dr. Eades examines these two options and his personal experiments with both.

If you want to live longer, this two-part article is an excellent place to start for avoiding common mistakes, pain and wasted effort. Continue reading “Real Life Extension: Caloric Restriction or Intermittent Fasting? (Part 1)”

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Beating the Morning Rush: The 3-Minute "Slow-Carb" Breakfast

233 Comments
Topics: CategoriesPhysical Performance

Breakfast is a hassle.

I want it to do one thing: provide nutrient-dense food and proper macronutrient ratios in the least time possible. It’s a functional meal.

The above is a video of the 3-minute high-protein and “slow-carb” breakfast that I find perfect for fat-loss and cognitive performance. Continue reading “Beating the Morning Rush: The 3-Minute "Slow-Carb" Breakfast”

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Escaping the Entrepreneurial Seizure: Interview with Michael Gerber (Plus: Tim Speaking)

66 Comments
Topics: CategoriesAutomation

Michael Gerber, the E-Myth evangelist.

Michael Gerber’s name should sound familiar.

I recommend his bestseller, The E-Myth Revisited, as the must-read classic on automation. It brief, it discusses how to create scalable businesses that are based on rules and not outstanding employees; and how to become an owner instead of constant micromanager.

Michael also had a enormous influence on me as a first-time writer. His words to me were simple during our first lunch:

“If you’re going to write a book, write a f*ing book.”

Don’t hedge and don’t think small. I didn’t hold back material for a sequel, I aimed for the top of the top, and I credit Michael’s advice as, in part, responsible for the subsequent success of the 4HWW. It was that recalibration of ambition that made it all possible.

His latest book, Awakening the Entrepreneur Within, examines how to recalibrate the scale of objectives and other facets of the core entrepreneurial experience, which we recently sat down to discuss… Continue reading “Escaping the Entrepreneurial Seizure: Interview with Michael Gerber (Plus: Tim Speaking)”