This month we launched a new website! Here you can read what the project is about, order freshly printed booklets, postcards and a Thank You stamp. For the really thankful people there is also a complete Thank Pack available, with two booklets, to sets of postcards and a stamp.

There are two other new things on the new website: You can choose a postcard, fill in a message and the address of the person you want to send it to and we will write the message by hand on a real postcard and send it off. You can also write your own Thank You sentence, which will appear on the website, and maybe even in a future version of the booklet!

Why are we doing this? It’s the small things in life that can make us happy. Just thinking about the people around us and what we could thank them for can make us feel good. Just one smile from a stranger can make our day. Those little things are important, and we would like to emphasize this. To not focus on the negative side, but on the positive side of things, of people.

If you would like to order a booklet, postcards, a stamp, send a real postcard to someone or write your own Thank You note, please visit www.thankyoutoo.org. We Thank You!

Thank You is a project by Joachim Baan and me.

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Streamlined Mind will not be updated for the next three weeks. From the end of july I will be back with more interesting subjects to prepare for a new, productive ands streamlined year!

Have a good summer!

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This time the list is not particularly focusing on the content of the slides we’re using but on our appearance and the structure of our presentation. Every situation is different of course. Some presentations are more important than others. Some presenters tend to be very nervous, while others seem very confident. A few things that might help you during a presentation:

1. Rehearse
   So you made a great slideshow and good notes, but when you don’t rehearse your presentation there are a few things you will not know beforehand. What is the actual time it will take you to say those words? How does your story connect with the information on the slides? Are there some sentences you’re struggling with you might want to change? Take some time and say it out loud!
2. Introduce Yourself
   Even if you’re almost sure everybody already knows your name, tell them again. You want to make sure your audience is aware of who you are and what subject you’re going to talk about. If you’re using slides you can have a title slide with just the title of the presentation and your name on it as an introduction.
3. Outline Your Presentation
   It depends on the situation if you want your audience to know what your presentation will cover and how much time you will spend on it, but when you show your audience the outline of your presentation before you get to the content it will give them a good idea of where you are and how you’ll make your point clear.
4. Address All Listeners
   I was listening to one student’s presentation the other day, and while she was presenting her work she was only looking at my colleague. Maybe she wasn’t even really aware of it, and addressing this specific person because it felt comfortable. Whatever the reason may be, make sure you address all your listeners. Even if you think some are more important then others, you’ll never make a good impression to the other people, and you want to make a good impression to your whole audience!
5. Have Notes on Paper
   In case you want to use a few notes during your presentation, use a small piece of paper or a notebook. If you have a computer screen in front of you you can use it, but it might not make you look very good. Just a few keywords on a piece of paper in the palm of your hand should be enough to get you back on track when you get lost in your words. In any case, avoid looking at the slides behind you at all times.
6. Start Over
   It might happen that those great sentences you prepared in your head don’t come out as well as they should. Having to speak for an audience can mess up the structure of your thoughts a bit. So you might end up saying something strange or inappropriate. Just stop, take a second to think about it and start anew.
7. Breath
   Take a deep breath before you start. It will make you feel more relaxed when you’re nervous. During the presentation, don’t rush, make sure your audience understands what you’re saying, and don’t get upset when they don’t. Breathe, then tell them again.
8. Be Yourself
   I witnessed how another student’s presentation was such a slick performance it was like he was trying to sell a car in stead of presenting his work. You can learn a lot about how to present (by reading articles like this one), but you don’t want your presentation to look like you just opened a box of tricks or showing off your presentation skills too literally. Don’t sell cars, rather be yourself and thus make it look sincere.
9. Keep an Eye on the Clock
   Be aware of the time. If somehow you find out you prepared to much material for the time you have, don’t just keep going. Also don’t rush through your slides like a maniac. Make a good selection of slides you want to show and skip the less relevant parts. Your listeners will be grateful!
10. Smile
    A positive attitude can make a big difference. Don’t be too serious, even if your presentation is of great importance. Try to create a pleasant atmosphere so your audience will enjoy watching you and you will feel more comfortable.

Is this list helpful for you? Do you have another great tip we all should know about? Please leave a comment and let me know!

Photo by melodygates

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As the first few articles were written in the very beginning, not a lot of people knew of the existence of Streamlined Mind. But slowly readers started to find their way to the site and I’m very happy to say I received quite some feedback, and all of it was positive. Now here are a few posts that received the most attention:

25 Worthwhile Student Productivity Websites definitely attracted the most readers of all posts. I’m glad a lot of people found this list as inspiring as I did.

Would a Paperless Life Make You Happy is second on the list. Quite a few people seem to be struggling with paper in their lives and are looking for solutions.

Gain Freedom by Disabling Your Network Connection, a somewhat older post comes third in the list of posts with the most pageviews.

I would really like to hear what your favorite post on Streamlined Mind has been so far, and if you have suggestions for new subjects to write about.

You can leave a comment, I would appreciate it!

Photo by mrbill

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So someone heard about you and searches for you on the internet. Your own website will hopefully one of the first things to be found. Your name is on it, they read the ‘about’ page and browse trough your work. Now what do they actually find out and remember about you? There are a few things to take in account:

1. Make a Great First Impression
   The next time visitors of your website hear your name they will remember what they read about you, and also the impression it gave them, how (un)professional it looked and how they liked or didn’t like your work. Because this website it the first thing people see from you, make sure you make a good first impression, so make it look like something you’d like to be associated with.
2. Show Us Your Style
   Make your website represent your own identity. Do you have your own style? Still developing your own style? Show it here! This doesn’t mean you’ll want to overdo your website with crazy colors if you’re a happy person, you can also make it personal by the way you write, the way you address your visitors. Your work provides the content, now find a design that fits this content.
3. Keep It Simple
   You want people to see or read about your work, so you don’t want to me your site very difficult to navigate. Of course it’s fun to make it look like a game where visitors have to guess where the links are and where they lead to, but don’t expect a lot of people will take the effort and spend ten minutes figuring out how to navigate your site and find some information about you. If you want to make a game, you can always present it in your portfolio section.
4. Use a Plain Background
   Using a picture in the background is not a good idea. OK, maybe a very subtle pattern is still acceptable, but as soon as you can recognize what is shows, it takes the readers attention away from the content. Next to that it also looks messy and reduces the contrast which can decrease the readability of the text.
5. Keep It Readable
   Don’t be too hard on your dear visitors. Another aspect of keeping your website accessible is using a font that is easy to read. Next to that, make sure you don’t write very long lines. If you want a lot of text on your website you could use columns. And try to keep the font size large enough to be read without extra effort.
6. Avoid Social Media
   Myspace, Facebook and Twitter may be good tools to keep in contact with your friends, to broaden your network and meet new people, but this doesn’t mean you should make your website look like a social media hub. Who wants to know more about you and your work probably doesn’t care about your friends and the conversations you have with them.
   You can always have a ‘contact’ page with your information and add links to your various social media profiles there.

These are just a few suggestions, and there are always exceptions to the rules. There are also a lot of details to keep in mind, some are obvious, like using a spelling checker on your text. So this list is far from complete but covers a few important items.

Make sure you also read my previous post on this subject: Should Students Have a Portfolio Website?

Do you have a good point to add to this list? Please let me know by leaving a comment!

Photo by ToastyKen

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On the 10th of June Apple introduced the new iPhone 3G, with GPS built in, a much faster network connection at a much lower price than the original iPhone. Next to that they introduced a better synchronization service called MobileMe, which will keep all our data on our iPhone, Mac and/or PC in sync. Could a combination of those two finally provide me with a perfect planning system?

In The Beginning…

It must have been at school when I first started using some sort of planner. The school agenda held all my homework and assignments. Later on I also added social events and meetings in the agenda. I relied on this paper solution throughout my high school years.

Then I started to get into electronic gadgets. I’ve been using a Palm Zire for a while. It worked quite well and synced with my computer, but it was a hassle to carry it around together with my mobile phone. I stopped using it, not because I didn’t like the system, but it just didn’t seem particularly smart to carry around those separate tools.

Laptop at the Dentist

First I used the software that came with my Palm, then I synchronized the thing with iCal and when I stopped using the Palm it was just iCal on my laptop. Not a very easy-to-use device. I was carrying it around everywhere I went and when I was at the dentist and had to make a new appointment I had to get my laptop from my bag to see which dates were available. It made me feel quite ridiculous at times.

Why not use a mobile phone? Well, I didn’t like the interface of the calendars on most mobile phones, but still in search of the best solution I bought the Sony Ericsson M600i. The touchscreen made it easy to input data and was carrying my phone everywhere anyway. So why did I stop using it? First of all it didn’t sync with iCal, so I had my appointments only in the phone. I didn’t get used to the user-interface too, it wasn’t as flexible as I hoped it would be.

Back to Paper?

So this year I went back to paper, with the Moleskine Weekly Notebook. I really like it, it’s flexible and it feels much more personal. I use the lined pages on the right for my weekly to-do lists. There’s only one big disadvantage: it obviously doesn’t sync with my Mac.

The new iPhone 3G combined with the new MobileMe service will definitely integrate nicely with iCal and Address Book. The intuitive user interface of the iPhone will be a big improvement compared to my old phone, so I’m expecting it to be a joy to work with. It’s also becoming more affordable now. The high price of the iPhone was one of the main reasons I didn’t buy one in first place.

But will it be the perfect solution? One thing I’m concerned about is checking my calendar and inputting data during calls. The user interface of the M600i made this almost impossible, so I wonder how it will be on the iPhone. If you already own an iPhone and know the answer to this, please let me know!

Do you own an iPhone and do you use it as a planner? Or are you going to buy one after the recent upgrade? Or do you have your own system? Please leave a comment, I’d really appreciate your opinion!

Photo by: Steve Keys

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Especially if you’re studying at an art school, a portfolio website is a good first step into the big outside world. Graphic designers, painters, writers, composers, theater makers, architects, all forms of creative students. On the other hand, sharing interesting research results, papers or case studies can be done in any kind of field, so there’s no need to stop reading if you’re not an artist.

What are the benefits?

Why would you want to do this? Some of the benefits of having your own website as a student:

1. Online presence - The easiest way for people to find you and contact you is by looking up your name on the internet, and if you can’t be found, people might forget about you.
2. Technical skills - You will learn the basics about building a website and managing it’s content.
3. Professional look - If you do it right you can make a good impression on your teachers, your fellow students and possibly potential future employers.
4. Knowledgebase - Sharing your work with others will make it easier for them to build on the results you found, so there’s no need to invent the wheel over and over again.
5. Collaborations - People can see, hear or read your work. You might get in contact with others to collaborate with.
6. Analitics - How do people find you? Keep track of your website’s statistics, and find out what keywords people used who visited your website. I like Google Analytics. It’s easy to install and provides a lot of information.
7. Newsletter - By sending an email newsletter every time you make changes to your site or you added a new interesting project, you keep people aware of you and your work. Only do this a few times a year though, don’t spam.

No need for perfection

There’s quite a chance you don’t really want to show all your work to your friends, and that’s OK! You’re still developing your own style, forming your opinion. Be aware though: there’s no need for your work to be perfect. There’s a chance that in your own eyes it will never be perfect. Don’t wait for that moment, be honest to yourself and select your best work.

You can keep it small and simple. Don’t worry too much about making the best impression, as this is the time to learn. After a few years you will know what works well for you, and when you enter the professional field you can always hire a webdesigner to make your online image exactly the way you want.

No web design skills?

What if you would like to have your own website, but you don’t know how to put it together? It might seem like a big problem to create a website if you don’t have the technical skills to build one. Luckily there are a lot of easy to use tools available, and to use them it’s not necessary to know html or php. You have several choices, depending on the kind of website you want.

You can have a static page or a blog page with easy to update articles. A few suggestions: If you’re working on a Mac you can use iWeb or RapidWeaver. If you want to have a blog, you can use services like Blogger or WordPress.
And there are also online tools available, which let you create a website from within your browser. Like Google’s Page Creator or Weebly.

Do you think a portfolio website could help you, or do you already have one? Please leave a comment and let me know!

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That’s why I would like to share  this list of interesting student productivity resources with you. Not all of the websites and blogs mentioned are specifically targeting students, but on all of them you will find helpful information on various student productivity related subjects. I hope they will be beneficial to you!
In no particular order:

1. Student’s Blog
   Useful tips for a good student life. I like the ‘Go Green on Campus’ post!
2. Productivity501
   Brings us regular tips and tricks to help increase our personal productivity. Also providing email based courses.
3. 43 Folders
   The blog of personal productivity enthusiast Merlin Mann. A great source of inspiration.
4. Productive Scholar
   The name says it all. Too bad this blog is not being updated lately, as I really like it’s articles!
5. Mindful Ink
   Articles about ‘life, living and productivity’.
6. HackCollege
   Teaches college students about using open source tools. There’s a video podcast too.
7. GTD in Academia
   Dr. Mike Kaspari explores the strategies and tactics of the academic life.
8. Success In Academe
   ‘Helping students and faculty get stuff done and find real satisfaction while doing it’.
9. Lifehack
   Lots of productivity, lifehacking and GTD tips. Multiple bloggers provide us with a daily stream of interesting articles.
10. Lifehacker
    Well known blog covering all kinds of lifehacks with a main focus on technology.
11. That College Kid
    Mac-using college kid Sidney shares her tech tips, recipes and college tricks.
12. Writing Power
    Good writing is very important for every student. You can do your research, but you have to know how to write things down. Loren Blinde can tell you.
13. Proto Scholar
    Nice personal blog of Rebecca, PhD student in Education Policy.
14. Academic Productivity
    ‘A survival guide for the 21^st century researcher’. Lifehacks, too.
15. Gearfire
    A student productivity and organization blog, started by a group of students.
16. Academic Coach
    Interesting tips for getting your academic work done.
    
17. Academhack
    Tools for academics. With a lot of great tech tips.
18. Ben Casnocha
    A college student sharing his thoughts with us. Books, writing and entrepreneurship.
19. College Being
    Articles only writting my college and university students. Interesting for, well, students.
20. Study Hacks
    Cal Newport’s blog, and one of the largest blogs in this category. Cal wrote two books too: How to Become a Straight-A Student and How to Win at College.
21. DIY Planner
    If you love paper, and you love productivity tricks, this is the website for you.
    
22. Student Hacks
    This blog provides us with online research tools and advice for succeeding in school.
23. Efficient Academic
    Exploring the use of online tools for scientific writing, presenting etcetera.
24. University Blog
    Study tips from Martin, who just became father, too.
25. Student Help Forum
    Tips to help us organize our time, and beat procrastination.

Do you know and like these websites? Do you know of any other sites that should be added to this list? Please leave a comment!

Photo by tanakawho

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As a Mac user I have to say I don’t see all my favorite Mac applications in the list, although it contains over 2300 tools. But especially if you’re looking for a hosted service and have a good overview of it’s competitors, this is a great directory to check out. They also have a list with their Top 100 Tools for Learning 2008 selected by 159 ‘learning professionals’. It’s worth taking a look at.

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When I saw Brian Gardners work and especially this theme, I immediately fell in love with the clean look of it. So here it is. With a new logo too. I’m still making a few adjustments so if things aren’t working the way you expect them to, let me know, and I will have a look at it!

I might still change some things here and there, maybe the some colors or fonts, but this is the design I want to stick with for Streamlined Mind.

If you have any questions or remarks on the new theme, please leave a comment and let me know!

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