The Zen of Tech: 12 Powerful Ways to Keep Your Online Life Simple and Peaceful

“Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.” - Alan Watts

I’m a tiny bit geek, I admit. Not hugely so, but enough that I do everything on the computer and use technology to do everything from communication to tracking to publishing to writing to networking to finances and more.

And still, it’s important to me that I keep things minimalist and peaceful.

I think that’s the true challenge of technology: how to get the most out of it without letting it overwhelm us. How to keep things simple but powerful. How to master technology without letting it become our master (to paraphrase Stephen Covey).

10 Steps to Become an Email Ninja

I just wrote a guest post for Timothy Ferriss of the Four Hour Workweek blog that I think you guys might like:

10 Steps to Become an Email Ninja

If you like it, please give it a Digg! Thanks my friends.

Btw, Tim is an excellent writer, and his book, The 4-Hour Workweek, is one of the top books I recommend for anyone looking to scale back and enjoy life more. Read more about Tim:

• Interview with Timothy Ferriss at Write To Done
• Timothy Ferriss on Wired
• Timothy Ferriss on Twitter
• Timothy Ferriss on Huffington Post
• Timothy Ferriss official site

Open Source Blogging: Feel Free to Steal My Content

I consider that the golden rule requires that if I like a program I must share it with other people who like it. - Richard Stallman

Editor’s note: This post isn’t directly related to the main topics of Zen Habits, so feel free to skip it if you’re not interested.

I get a lot of emails asking me for permission to reprint Zen Habits articles on other blogs, in newsletters, in conferences and in classrooms. I get requests to translate certain posts, or my entire blog, into dozens of languages. I get requests to translate Zen To Done or republish it in another format.

Until now, I granted limited permission, mostly for non-commercial use.

Now, I’m granting full permission to use any of my content on Zen Habits or in my ebook, Zen To Done, in any way you like.

I release my copyright on this content.

3 Ways To Claim Your Life Back - How To Step Away From Your Computer

“You do anything long enough to escape the habit of living
until the escape becomes the habit.”- David Ryan

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Lea Woodward of the Location Independent Living blog.

There is no denying that the rise of the computer coupled with the increasing availability of high speed internet, has made one of the most significant impacts on our lives in the past few years.

I know for sure that I’d be lost without mine and I’m not alone…a survey earlier this year by Kelton Research reported that 84% of responders stated that they were “more dependent on their home computer now than they were just three years ago” and that 65% of them spend more time with their computer than their own spouse.

16 Killer Apps to Put On Your Brand New Christmas Mac

Editor’s note: This guest post by Glen Stansberry is a special expanded edition of a post originally published on LifeDev.net.

It’s Christmas day and you’ve just unwrapped your shiny new piece of Apple goodness from your new favorite family member. You’ve installed the beautiful Leopard operating system, and are ready to conquer the world.

But you soon realize you don’t know which programs to install to perform your everyday functions on your mac. Sure, there are lots of programs you could install, but there are a few that you need to install first. The bread-and-butter, the staples of any mac experience.

Here are 12 must-have applications for your new mac. Trust me, you’ll be glad you installed these first.

Online Freelancing and Instant Messaging Tips

I recently wrote a couple of articles on other blogs that you might enjoy:

FreelanceSwitch: How and Why to Transition to Online Freelancing

Web Worker Daily: 17 Tips to Be Productive With Instant Messaging

NorthxEast: 8 Rules to Develop the Habit of Blogging 

In addition, here’s a new interview with me with a vegan angle:

The Veg Blog: An Interview with Leo Babauta

How to Get Things Done on Your Mac

“To be productive, we must be able to focus all of our energies on the task before us.” - Leo’s Mac Format productivity article

I’ve long been a fan of the Macintosh (since my first Mac Plus in the 1980s), and while the OS has changed drastically over the years, if anything its appeal to aesthetic people like myself has grown.

However, creative types aren’t known for their organization and productivity. While they’d like to have these qualities, there’s no doubt that it doesn’t come naturally.