Paul Kondo

Free Tools to Access your Computer Remotely

Funny how things work sometimes.

Yesterday, I was talking to a client that inquired about ways to access his computer remotely. He said his company uses software now but it costs him a lot of money.

My suggestion was the standard. Logmein. GoToMyPC, Apple Remote Desktop.

Google Chrome Remote Desktop To the Rescue

Flash forward 18 hours.

As I was lying awake for some bizarre reason at 4:30am on a Sat morn, (YES, 4:30AM ON A SATURDAY), I start catching up on some reading material and I came across an article about Google Chrome Remote Desktop.

I installed and set it up in about 5 mins. Couldn’t have been easier. After downloading the iPad app, I was controlling my laptop with no issues.

Two days later, I accessed it from my iphone and it worked fine as well.

All for free.

* Just a note. You need to have a Google account for this to work.

Even though you may keep files stored on a cloud service, there’s always a chance that the only version of a file resides on a computer that you are not sitting next to.

This is a simple and free option for those that don’t need much power.

Mind you, the remote computer needs to be awake. This is where you may get into some more technical issues like Wake On LAN, which I’ll admit is not for the faint of heart.

Your Family’s IT Guy (or Gal)

Raise your hand if you’re the tech support person in your family.

I don’t mind the job but when you live 4 hours away from most of them, it can be really difficult.

The issue is that it has to be easy for THEM to give you access to their computer.

Over the years, I’ve tried several things, including iChat. But sometimes, that would get flaky for various reasons.

For the last year, I’ve been using TeamViewer and it has been insanely easy to use. What’s great is that they have a free personal version as well. My 92 year old father is able to quickly give me access with one click of a button.

I can completely take over his computer, see the problems and (hopefully) fix what ails him.

I actually forgot about this option as far as something that my aforementioned friend could use. It could do the same thing as Google Chrome Remote Desktop but it’s a tad more difficult.

Are There Better Options to Access Computers Remotely?

Are these the best two options for what I was looking to do?

Honestly, I have no idea. However, given the ease of using both Google Chrome Remote Desktop and TeamViewer, having them work right from the get go, and being no cost solutions, there’s no reason for me to look elsewhere right now.

Increase your Daily Focus using a Twitter List

Are you a Twitter user?

Are you overwhelmed by your news feed on a daily (or even hourly) basis?

After a long time, I begrudgingly started using Twitter. My profile says I joined in 2008 but it was probably a few years after that when I started to see the benefits.

I wouldn’t tweet myself but I was getting a lot of great information from a lot of different sites. The world was my oyster!

In the middle of last year, I took a step back and realized that I was following about 200 twitter handles. The accounts I was following ranged from my favorite sports teams, to software I use, to random news sites.

My twitter account’s feed was now pumping out more stuff than one could take in, regardless of the short character count allowed.

I was spending more time on Twitter to make sure I wasn’t missing anything important.

I was overwhelmed.

Worse, everything had the same priority. There was no ability to focus on what was important.

Something had to change.

Use a Twitter List to increase your focus on what’s important

My simple solution was this.

Twitter has a feature where you can organize twitter accounts into lists. So I created a list called ‘Focus.’

This new dedicated Twitter Focus list includes only those accounts that I deem important for me to stay current with at a particular point in time.

Those currently include:

New software that I’m trying out
A few favorite productivity and efficiency accounts
Software / tools that I use frequently
People that inspire me

As I write this, I now follow a total of 72 tweeters but only have 24 members in my Focus list.

During the course of the day, I only watch that Focus list.

When I have some free time to kill, I will look at my full feed. Perhaps it’s at lunch or in the evening when I’m winding down and relaxing.

Can you do the same?

A Productive Day Starts the Night Before

How many days do you start off struggling to get going?

I’m not talking about getting out of bed. When you finally sit down at your desk, are you one of the few that can just start cranking out productive work?

Do you immediately tackle your Most Important Tasks?

Do you at least tackle some smaller tasks to help build your momentum for the rest of the day?

Or do you find yourself doing stuff while an hour or two go by and you realize you haven’t done anything of significant importance – something that will help to achieve the goals you set out for yourself?

I swear, this tip feels so stupid to even blog about but it may be the easiest thing you can do to make your days more efficient and productive.

The night before, write down the 3 most important things you need to do the following day.

That’s it.

Don’t be Unproductive Paul

I have to admit that even though this is so simple and I’ve known about it for decades, even I’ve forgotten to do it in the past.

And this is what inevitably happens the next morning.

I sit down at my desk
I check my emails and reply to those that seem important
I look at my calendar
I look at my big task list and figure out what things I need to do that day.

An hour or two can easily go by without me tackling the critical items on my task list.

Don’t be like Unproductive Paul. Or worse, Meathead Rob Lowe.

Get a Jump on Your Productive Day

The night before, whether it be right before you leave your office or maybe after dinner before you begin to relax and wind down, write down the 3 most important things you need to do the following day.

In the morning, you’ll waste no time trying to figure it out. It will be clear and hopefully, with purpose. No futzing around.

You also may find that it helps you sleep better.

The reasoning is because now, there’s no uncertainty about what you have to do in the morning. Clarity.

(Please note that I’m not any kind of doctor so I can’t substantiate this claim.)

If you are a downhill parker, then write 2-3 quick tasks to help you get started along with your 3 most important tasks. Just be honest with yourself and make sure they will take less than 30 mins to complete all of them.

If you use some sort of task management system like Omnifocus or Todoist, do a nightly review and flag the critical tasks or make them the priority 1’s for the day.

Lastly, do this even for the weekends. Sure, maybe you aren’t focusing on work but that doesn’t mean you can’t put some quick planning on the great fun you want to have.

Volunteering at America’s Grow a Row

You say tomato, I say volunteer!

Recently, I volunteered at America’s Grow a Row, an organization in Pittstown, NJ.

America’s Grow-a-Row’s mission is to positively impact as many lives as possible through a volunteer effort of planting, picking, rescuing, and delivering free fresh produce.

Late last year, I started looking for ways to do some volunteering. A friend of mine, through a company function, had recently done some at America’s Grow a Row, picking corn. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into but one day, I ended up in a big patch of tomatoes with a girl scout troop and a religious group. In the 2.5 hours we were working, I believe we boxed up about 3,500 pounds of tomatoes that were going to be taken to a food bank the following day.

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Purging to Increase Focus and Efficiency

Cluttered Desk Drawer

Have you ever watched Hoarders on the A&E network?

Do some of those houses make you nauseous?

How messy is your house or your office? Have you ever thought about decluttering your space?

Decluttering and tidying up seems to have become a huge trend recently. Marie Kondo wrote a book called The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing that apparently a zillion other people have read beside myself. She’s everywhere, including The Wall Street Journal.

For me, this was life-altering. It’s all I could talk about and think about for about a month straight.

I purged. I donated. I did it all. (Ok, maybe not all since I’m still not finished.)

Recently I was asked to be interviewed by the great folks at UnStuckable and also to write a guest post about my experience with purging. Granted, I was nowhere near the level of these tv examples.

In the podcast and the article (links coming soon), you’ll get a pretty good picture of the benefits I found in doing a huge purge.

I can’t recommend it enough.

Decluttering and purging brings great focus

What I don’t elaborate in those pieces much is that purging brings great focus.

Here are some random office examples and the benefits they brought me:

My desk is now clear, which allows me not to be distracted
Computer cables and adapters have been severely minimized and stored, decreasing the time and hassle of finding what I need
Getting rid of office supplies frees up drawer space that can be utilized more efficiently. No need for finding other ways to store things (i.e. another cabinet)
Books have been donated allowing only those that I truly value to take up space. One large bookcase has been removed (out of two)

My new office space is a place where I can now focus, increasing my efficiency and productivity. Not only that, I love being in there now!

Tidy Up Your Task List

Don’t stop at your physical space. Bring this concept to everything you do, including your task lists.

I recently met a client who uses task management software. When I glanced at it, I saw a list about 30 items long. And that was just what I could see on the screen. That list went on for a few screens.

I get it. We all have a lot of stuff to do.

My list is long too. One main reason is because I write everything down.

If it’s not written down, it doesn’t exist.

However, with a little bit of organizing, my list looks a lot more manageable and not so overwhelming.

I can focus on the most important things. The MITs. The Frogs.

Every month, I also reflect on my list to see what truly needs to stay on it. Nobody wants a long laundry list of tasks so do some purging.

Circumstances change in your life. It’s ok to purge things that you once thought were important to do.

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