It’s been a long week for me as we had the half term holiday here in the UK…
Normally I love to spend extra time with my daughter but unfortunately a trip to Emergency last week turned into a full blown diagnosis of asthma this week so we’ve been getting to grips with inhalers etc.
Luckily, my daughter has a well-developed sense of humour and insisted on being photographed looking all ninja with her inhaler mask, camo gear and a pair of shades but it’s not all been fun…which is why this week I’m not only sharing some useful time and money-saving tools with you but also some uplifting stuff.
Feel free to skip the latter if you’re already floating on clouds of contentment most of the day!
First up, I wanted to remind you about Office Online – or let you in on the secret if you’ve never heard of the free versions of Word, PowerPoint etc you can access here:
https://www.office.com/start/default.aspx
If you want a free PDF editor/tool then I heartily recommend PDFEscape because it offers all kinds of advanced features, such as allowing you to create and fill out PDF forms and password protecting as well as saving and printing:
I use the notepad on my laptop the whole time but it is rather limited – a great notepad with far more features is Zoho’s version which not only lets you save text, video and audio all in one place but allows for sharing so you can collaborate on projects if you wish:
http://notebook.zoho.com/nb/login.do?serviceurl=%2Fnb%2Findex.do
Don’t forget that Evernote is another excellent solution:
Managing your projects effectively is one of the keys to success (and completing them!). Clocking IT is a fab free tool that lets you do just that, enabling you to plan and timetrack whatever you’re working on as well as collaborate if necessary:
Thinking up strong new passwords can be a pain but is absolutely vital when every other week there’s a new hacking scare (eBay anyone?). I like this for generating passwords in a couple of clicks:
http://passwordsgenerator.net/
On to your Kindle freebie recommendation and this week’s offering is a snappy guide to using Pinterest to grow your business:
http://www.amazon.com/Pinterest-Savvy-Strategies-Plans-Business-ebook/dp/B00B86DKL6/
And now for your dose of inspiration…
I loved these ’10 Life Lessons I Learned From a Navy Seal’ taken from the Commencement Address given by Admiral William H McRaven (no, he’s not one of my Scottish relatives) at the University of Texas:
http://www.lifebuzz.com/10-lessons-from-navy-seal/#!TivMT
As for your TED talk this week, this is hilarious, blunt and inspiring in equal measure:
