Know What You Like

0ptimizR is here to make sure that the public knows how to not waste their life. It has come to the attention of the author a very strange form of life wasting. It is no novel idea, it has been around since the beginning of time, and it is a trap that springs on even the best 0ptimizRs. In the quest to have more friends, people waste so much of their time falling in line with what they feel others expect them to do.

First, I would like to study two cases. 

Billie Jo is an average high school girl. Ever since middle school, her friends and her had always been in the school's chorus. Moving into her upperclassman years, she realizes that having taken chorus for so many years, she has missed out on other electives that she never bothered to even look into. When she brings the idea up to her friends, they shoot it down, and Billie Jo is expected to show up after the summer sitting in the exact same 1st soprano seat. 

And then there is Michael. Michael gives the impression that he hates the mainstream. His whole persona is to be so far away from pop culture that he seems to be living in another era. He swears that he listened to Dubstep in 2008, and then when Skrillex came out it "all went down hill". He wears mismatched socks under his shoes that have different color laces, and wears large poindexter glasses that have no prescription because he has perfect vision.   

These are two very different cases, but they have problems that are rooted in the same source: lack of originality and thinking for oneself. There is no real happy ending here. Billie Jo does what she is expected to do, and graduates with top honors in the music department, but then goes to college hating singing, and spends money on an introductory course in what she never knew she had a talent for: psychology, a class her high school offered for free. Michael goes the rest of his high school years unhappy with the way he is, because what he doesn't know about himself is that he is a natural born leader, and thus he comes to school every week with a different style because everyone starts to mimic him. 

There is however a solution to both of these issues. Here it is: Find what you really enjoy doing and do it. Especially now, high schoolers. High schoolers have so much opportunity to learn what they enjoy. High schools offer classes in everything from history to music theory to psychology to computer science to languages. If you take an elective and don't like it or get tired of it, drop it. That means it is not a passion for you. By all means, move on. 

Also, don't go against the crowd for the sake of going against the crowd. That's stupid. By no means am I condoning anyone to fall into a conformist pit of following those who are considered by all outside sources to be "better than you". But here is a hint: If many people like it, it may actually be good. Sure, society has a knack for exploiting the mess out of trends until you can't stomach hearing Adele sing "Set Fire to the Rain" not even one more time before you commit yourself to the happy house. But don't oppose it from the beginning because it is accepted. It is alright to like things others like. Its okay to not like things other like. 

Leading and Managing

Anyone with a sol;id Type-A personality knows the struggle to get a higher position in whatever they are doing, whether it is school or work or an extracurricular. Gaining a position usually means more authority, and the ability to make decisions. Not to mention, gaining position is a serious ego booster. 

However, there are two paths a person with position of authority can take: One may lead, or one may manage. Now the secret is to know the difference. That is 0ptimizR's role this week, to teach the difference. 

The simple answer: Managing has the connotation of keeping things running smoothly without much change, while leading has the connotation of moving forward. 

The not so simple answer: When we think of a manager, we tend to think of paperwork, reprimands, and general chores that a certain business goes through. He is the one who makes sure all of the workers are safe, and have fair moral. He ensures the quality and quantity of his product or service. While these things are necessary, he has no stock in moving the organization forward to the next level. 

Then we think of the leader. He focuses much of his energy on moving to the next level. He thinks to himself "What can we do to advance this organization?" and "What needs to be done to fulfill a greater desire?". He cares about his subordinates, not because they are a liability, but because he sees their value in progressing the organization. He has no stock in reprimanding minor offences or filling out paperwork.

While in most situations, there is quite a bit of overlap in the two descriptions, a leader and a manager have different and seemingly opposing end goals. And for a person with position to be an 0ptimizR, he needs to know which on his position calls for. 

How to Train Your Elephant: 0ptimizing Evernote

As an avid user of Evernote, I know the struggles and benefits of using the note-taking software. It prides itself on being a sort of everything box that is compatible and accessible on multiple devices through the web or mobile apps. Just take notes or clip articles from the internet, and have that information wherever you go.

One of the major complaints I see all over the web is that people just can't "get into" using it. I had the same problem, and I overcame it, and now I am devoted to the green elephant on my kindle fire. Here is the secret to that: you have to trust Evernote for everything. Absolutely everything. See here is the thing, Evernote may not be the fastest software out there for note taking, but it is really good at what it does. It keeps your notes and makes them accessible nearly anywhere on earth on any mobile device.

Another secret: Use the resources Evernote gives you. For example, the web clipper. On Chrome, it take the click of the Elephant icon in the top right of my screen, and I have the whole page or just a selection of what I am looking at forever at my fingertips.


In all, this is 0ptimizr's big spiel about Evernote, and that everyone should download it here. Until next week 0ptimizrs, stay safe, stay efficient.

Transitional Periods

There always comes a time in everyone's life where things change, our circumstances change, or we shift focus. For some, it is starting a new job, or getting married, or moving to a new place. One that hit cosest to home for me these days is high school graduation. It's the end of my primary school years, and the beginning of the rest of my life.

What many people don't know is that there is a way to 0ptimize this shift. Here are a few simple steps in doing so.

Circumstances Change, Relationships Don't Have To

One of the hardest things about moving or graduating is fear of losing all of your friends. However, we live in a time blessed with instant communication, textually, audibly, and visually. So, when things change and it is time to move on, remember that keeping contact is a two way street. Granted, things might change a little bit, but true friends don't let a changed circumstance get in the way of a good friendship. 

Embrace New Beginnings

One of the better things about moving into a new era of life is the ability to start fresh. There aren't people who know every excruciating detail of every screw up you've ever made, and there aren't mistakes lingering over your head. It is a new opportunity to start new healthy habits, like regular exercise or better work ethic. You have the opportunity to build your reputation from the start and not worry about roadblocks. So take advantage of new beginnings.

Finish Strong

One of the hardest things to do when you are aware that your circumstances are changing soon is to finish what you are doing strongly. In the case of graduation, it is a syndrome known commonly as senioritis. But, to 0ptimize the experience, you must finish what you are doing strong, or else you might regret it later. Why go into colege with a 3.4 gpa because you slacked instead of a 3.6? Or at rank 34 rather than 22, because "you've already made it so why does it matter"? That's setting you up for for a rough transition. 

As for this 0ptimizr, I need to start taking my own advice.

Break Time

I have found that there is a certain common misconception that being efficient means not taking a break until the task at hand is completely finished, and this misconception has seeped into businesses and work ethics of professionals for years. 

Coming into Spring Break, I found it an opportune time to try and break this for my readers.

Okay, so it seems counter intuitive. Because it is. To get a task done, you have to...stop doing the task? Yes.  Taking breaks has many positive effects, especially if you have been laboring on the task for a long time and put a lot of work into it nonstop. What are some of these positive effects? Here are some

1. Clears your mind to reorganize your thoughts later
2. It gives a fresh perspective when you resume the work
3. It lowers blood pressure, thus physically giving the ability to concentrate on the task better
4. Gives time to sort out any other distractions, like hunger or drowsiness

Here is the thing. This is not anything that is a secret. Stephen Covey wrote about taking a break in his book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and his son Sean wrote about it in his adaptation Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens. Lifehacker interviews CEO's of major companies and professors at Ivy League schools and asks them how they work and what their office looks like. Many of them, surprisingly enough, have a bed or a comfy couch in their office. Why? Because they understand the value of a break.

So students: Enjoy the mess out of your break. If you have been working hard, it is well deserved. If not, then you have a clean slate when you come back. It is a win win, really.

Create an Action Plan

This week I enlisted into the United States Marine Corps. It was a huge step in my life, and will consume many of my young adult years. I had supporters, and those who were maybe a bit more negative, but it was ultimately my decision, and I ultimately followed through with it.

But, I am by no means going to spend the rest of my life in the Marines. Make no mistake, I love the Corps. I loved it before I started the process of joining, and I love it even more now. However this is not my end-goal for my life. This is merely a stepping stone to my end-goal: to end human trafficking and slavery. That fight is my passion, and what I spend much of my time thinking about. So, why did I join the Marines? It was a means for the end. It serves as a stepping stone.

What does all of this have to do with an action plan? Let me break it down for you. Your parents want a clean house. That is their end desire, for the week at least. The clean house is not going to happen by you wishing for a clean house. That mess is for fairy tails.

How do you clean the house? First you figure out what all that entails: vacuum  sweep, mop, wash clothes, clean bedroom, clean bathroom, wash dishes. Now you know what needs to happen. Next step is to figure out what order would best suit your interests. You don't want to mop before you sweep, and you definitely don't want to wash clothes before you can get all of your towels and cleaning clothes in the machine. So the next step is to carry out that plan.

This simple recipe can help you create the action plan for anything you need to get done.
1. Establish end goal
2.Assess the situation
3.Establish means by which short term goals can be carried out in order to reach end goal
4.Do it.


Yep. It's really that simple. Your going to be skeptical when trying it. I just ask you, try it. It helps me out so much that it has become methodical.


So here is another fun game. Please, feel free to get addicted. I need pageviews. And this one is from a more credible site, so I wont get a virus on my site.

Be An Individual

Okay, first and foremost, I want to apologize that 0ptimizR was down for a few days this past week. Apparently some malware got onto the site by way of the snake game, so I took it down. The post is still there though. That will not however be the last fun HTML content I will have, so stay tuned.

Now on to the good stuff. Your asking what being an individual have to do with personal efficiency.

Well, here is the thing. I watch people ride the coattails of their parents political, religious, moral, and practical beliefs, and honestly they are wasting their life. I have peers who claim a certain party affiliation, but their life or personality goes against that platform, and numerous people claim their parents religion purely because its the only thing they have ever known.

I repeat: THIS IS THE BIGGEST WASTE OF YOUR LIFE YOU COULD POSSIBLY ENDURE.

Am I saying become the opposite of what your family follows, leave your religion behind, and separate yourself from everything your friends believe? Absolutely not. If you didn't think similarly with the friends you have, they would not be your friends. What I am saying is, know what you believe and follow, and why you believe or follow it.

I'll give you a personal example. When I was little, I never really grew up in church until I was in middle school. I claimed Christianity, but only because I didn't know much different. When I entered middle school, I had the epiphany: What is it that I believe, and does it actually make sense. So, without any push from outside sources, or without any type of pressure, I began to actually read my Bible. I asked the hard questions: If God is good, why is there suffering? Why would Jesus die for sinners? What does the Bible say about dinosaurs and whatnot? So I did my own research. I understood that there were questions that needed to be answered, and I searched for the answers. If there were things I found in my search that were compleately illogical, or definitely disproved the existence of God, then I had no problem planting my faith elsewhere.

In my search I found the answers to all of the hard questions, and furthermore I wholeheartedly believe in the existence of a pure, good God, who sent his son to die for sinners, because he made people to love and to love Him, and without a sacrifice of His blood, there would be an eternity of separation from Him, thus our existence would have been void. I believe God is logical, and omniscient, and understands all things. I also believe that God is compassionate, and ever loving of not only His followers, but everyone He created.

But this post is not about my conviction. If you want to know how I believe, you can take a look at my buddies blog. He and I have very similar beliefs. This post is about you finding your own.

I had very similar experiences with my political and practical ideals. You may call it an awakening, but I call it simply knowing what you believe and why you believe it.

Until next week. 'Mericuh.

0ptimize Chrome with These Two Extensions

As we all know, an 0ptimizr's favorite web browser is Chrome. It works well with the tools at Google, and it gives the capability to log in from different computers, in order to keep all of your bookmarks and extensions, thus making your Chrome experience portable.

Chrome comes with a crap-ton of extensions that help make surfing the web more fun, productive, and helpful. There are two extensions that I fully recommend that are available on Chrome to further 0ptimize your experience.

FlashBlock

Whenever you search the web for long enough, you are bound to run into annoying advertisements that use Flash player. These advertisements slow down the page you are loading, so it takes longer to see what you want to see. FlashBlock stops all of that. It shuts off everything on the page that runs Flash. But what about the things I want to run Flash, like videos and games? The extension gives a little button at the top left corner to turn on flash for that portion of the page. So the extension speeds up your surfing, and give you control of what you want to run Flash.

The Great Suspender

We've all been there. Your a student working on a research paper with multiple tabs open or your working on a presentation for an executive at work. Your surfing the web, and have about seven tabs open. Web pages slow to a crawl to load up. It takes forever to get what you need done. Here is the problem, your browser is taking a ton of memory to keep all of those tabs alive. The Great Suspender relieves this stress. It can be configured to suspend any tab that has been open for a certain amount of time, meaning all of the tabs you are not working with at that particular moment stop taking up memory, making it faster to do what you are currently doing. When you want to bring the tab back, just click on the screen that comes up, and the tab instantly reloads. But what about the tabs that I want to stay open, like a playlist on Youtube or a Gmail account? The Great Suspender gives the capability to white list certain sites.  

So there you go. Two extensions that help to make your Chrome experience a bit more efficient. These are by no means the only extensions that help to make Chrome a more productive atmosphere, but they are flexible for everyone, from the student to the professional.

Make Your Internet Life Easier Part 2: Going Deeper

Last week we delved into the basics of the internet, in order to get a handle on the simple things. We went over browsers, email, searching, and bookmarking. This week we will finish the two part segment, and learn about some of the more advanced things you can do to 0ptimize your online experience.

RSS Feed Readers

As a devoted Googler, and for purposes of keeping on the same platform throughout, I am obviously going to recommend Google Reader for this. An RSS Feed Reader is exactly what it sounds like, it reads RSS feeds. Now, the question is "What is an RSS feed?" I will  tell you. An RSS Feed is "a family of web feed formats used to publish frequently updated works—such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video—in a standardized format." Basically, whenever a blog or news site updates, it sends out a signal, called an RSS feed. What an RSS feed reader does is collect the signals that you want it to, say from your favorite personal efficiency blog (say, I don't know, 0ptimizr), you just put in 0ptimizr.blogspot.com into the feed reader, and it give you a notification every time 0ptimizr updates. What makes this helpful is if you want to keep up with multiple blogs or news websites, then you can have them all in on place, and don't have to manually go to them every day.

Power Searching

Okay, we went over the basics of web searching in the last part. However, we merely went over the basics. Anyone can type in a keyword into a search engine and shuffle through results. However, if you hone your skills enough, you could become a power searcher. For most search engines, the Boolean Operators OR, AND, NOT all work. If you want to search for synonyms, you use OR. Like, a search query might be [Women OR Females] (in honor of International Women's Day). Use AND to narrow searches. Like, if you were trying to find a lifehacking blog, that also might incorporate minimalism, the, you would type in [lifehacking AND minimalism]. Not filters out all unwanted words. Like if you were looking for how to slice an onion, but didn't want to know how to not cry while doing it, you would search [slice onion NOT crying]. All of these are better covered in the power searching courses that the engineers at Google just put out. I highly recommend them, and I went through both of them myself. Start with the normal, then move on to the advanced. Which leads me to my next point

MOOCS/Online Learning

As an 0ptimizr, I understand the value of learning, and how vital it is to never stop seeking new information. With the age of the internet and instant correspondence, learning has taken on a whole new form online. People can come together to learn an array of things online, from math and physics through the prestigious Khan Academy to the ins and outs of social media with the people from ivy league schools. One of the newest ways of doing this is through a MOOC, or "Massive Open Online Course". In a MOOC, people from all over the world correspond through YouTube, email, GDocs, and other programs. The teacher or teachers teach through a specific platform, whether it be through video or text lessons, and gives assignments. Most of the time, the assignments aren't graded, and you can go at your own pace. The best part about it is that most of the courses were at one time or are still courses that you can take at colleges. And I'm not talking about your average community college, I'm talking MIT has put these bad boys out. You don't get college credit, but that's not always the point. You get an education on the same level, for free. That is valuable.

Make Your Internet Life Easier Part 1: The Necessities

Now we are starting to get into the meat and bones of 0ptimizR. This is the first of a two part series on how to 0ptimize your Internet experience. The first one is a general starter course to Internet 0ptimization.

Browsers

If you are reading this, you are in a browser. So there is no doubt that you understand how to access the internet. Now doing so efficiently is what 0ptimizr is here to teach you about. Chrome is an 0ptimizr's favorite browser. Why? Because it is quick. Many people are caught up with Internet Explorer, and are afraid of change. Listen to me, IT IS OKAY TO CHANGE. Internet Explorer is standard on any PC, but it by no means is the best way to access the internet. Another noteworthy browser is Firefox. The only downside is the relativly slow startup. But, I will say again, ANYTHING IS BETTER THAN IE. 

Email

It is no secret that we live in a technologically advanced society. Email is the way to communicate with each other. So much so that it is putting the United States Postal Service in financial decline, causing them to take a day out of their workweek. But if you've been on the internet for long enough, you'd know that there are quite a few email providers out there, and choosing from the masses can be pretty confusing. As a previous user of three email providers, I find that Google's Gmail is the most efficient. And of course, efficiency is the name of the game at 0ptimizR.

Searching

One of the main purposes of the internet, and the reason it it indispensable, is the fact that you can find out information on just about any topic on the planet, using the array of online search engines. As you will probably soon catch on, I am an avid Google user. So much so that I am a Google Power Searcher, but more on that later. Other noteworthy search engines are the up and coming Bing, and Yahoo. (0ptimizr tip: when you open yahoo, make sure your speakers are on and press the "!" at the end of the logo)

Bookmarking

Okay, now that we are on the internet, we found some good stuff, but everyday that we come back to it, there is new stuff, so we want to come back a lot. The address is long, and typing it is tedious, like 0ptimizr.blogspot.com. Is there a way to make it easier to get to my favorite web pages without having to type so much? Why yes, inquisitive reader, there is. All of the browsers have different bookmarking systems. Chrome has the star in the address box. So, every time you want to go to your favorite personal efficiency blog, all you need to do is go to 0ptimizr.blogspot.com, click the star in the address box, and then every time you press "0" in the address box, 0ptimizr will be in the drop-down menu to just click on. 

Note: If it is a blog, there is a much easier way to keep all of your favorite blogs in one place, called an rss feed reader. We will get to that in the next part of the series.

What does an 0ptimizr look like?

I know, it is in the first post of this blog, and I am lacking adequate suspense build up, but I feel everyone needs to know this--and as soon as possible. Here it is, the greatest piece of advice in history, coming at you first from 0ptimizR:

In everything you do, do it to the fullest of your ability. Do NOT be satisfied with mediocre.

I hear all of your complaints already. That is cliché. That is old hat. But really. Don’t stop reading.

Let us look at Tom. Tom is an average high school senior. He takes 2 AP classes, because he wants to look good for colleges. He wakes up every morning just in enough time to take a shower, eat a Poptart, and get to school in enough time to make it to class and not be tardy. He gets B’s, with the occasional A, as well as the occasional C. He is a midfielder in soccer, and stays after school three days out of the week for an hour to practice, but it is only recreational for him. Tom stays out of trouble, except for some infrequent arguments with his parents. He plays video games or hangs out with old friends on Saturday, unless he has a soccer game,  and gets up for his parents to drag him to church on Sunday, and starts the process again on Monday.

Please, don’t take me for saying that there is anything wrong with this life. If it is for you, then that is quite fine. However,  this is the reason there are people who crawl their way through the workforce who can only dream of having their high school years back, or forty something year old men spend their time buying luxury cars and cheating on their wives to “feel young again”.


That is precisely what 0ptimizR is looking to fix.

Michael also goes to Tom’s school. He also takes 2 AP classes, in which he excels, because he puts a lot of work into them. He wakes up every morning at least an hour before he has to leave for school. He takes a shower, makes a nice lunch for himself, and sits down to a bowl of oatmeal in front of his computer. He checks his email and the news, before he heads on to school. He’s not the first one to walk into the class, but never the last either. He holds A’s and B’s. He plays baseball, and stays after school two days out of the week for a couple hours to practice, and helped to take his team to regionals. He drives himself to church on Wednesdays and Sundays, and stays after to help clean up. He has a great relationship with his parents. On Saturdays, he spends his time at the batting cages with some friends on the team, in a study group with some of the guys from class, at a baseball game, or doing volunteer work at his church.

There is only one difference between Tom and Michael: Michael does everything to the fullest of his ability. He is not a haphazard type of person. Michael is a try-hard.

But the thing about Michael is that he doesn’t care if he is a try hard. He wants to do things well. He refuses to waste his time. Or anyone else's. Michael is an 0ptimizR. 

The moral of the story: Be a try-hard. Do things to the best of your ability. That is the battle cry of 0ptimizR. 

About 0ptimizR

Personal Efficiency. That is what this blog will be about. What even is that? I will tell you.

When we hear the word efficiency, we tend to think of machines and how much waste they produce in order to perform a task. We think of fuel efficiency in cars, which is how much gas they consume in order to reach their destinations.

So, personal efficiency is how much waste we produce when we wish to perform a specific task. No, I am not talking about human waste, although I'm sure there are blogs on that. I am talking about wasted time, effort, resources. Anything that you could save in the process of doing what you want to do.

More specifically, this blog will be delving into the world of minimalism, "lifehacking" culture, and how to not drain your life doing things that waste your time, effort, or resources.

We will discuss politics, fitness, technology, education, religion, and pretty much everything that Grandma said not to talk about at the dinner table.

Please be aware that I will never try to force my opinions on you. That would be a waste of my time, and the subject of a later post. But I will give you practical ways to be sure your making the best of your life.

Enjoy.