Our family loves all things Harry Potter. Several years ago we visited Universal in Orlando for my wife's birthday. If you are a fan of the books or movies and get the chance to go, I highly recommend it. The first time you step into Hogsmeade or Diagon Alley, it feels as if you have apparated into that world.

There is also something magical about the Kindle. Being able to store hundreds of books in a slim, lightweight package, never losing your place again, and bringing your local bookstore or library to you. So wonderful - until it stops working. Enter technical troubleshooting hell.

This happened to me the other day to me as I attempted to download a copy of J.K. Rowling's the Cursed Child onto the Kindle. For some reason, it wouldn't download and just displayed a "Pending" message. I tried the usual, obvious fixes:

• Turn WiFi off and on - check

• Turn the Kindle off and on - check

• Redeliver from the Amazon store - check

For all my efforts, all I received was the same "Pending" message.

Luckily, there is an EZPZ fix for a stuck Kindle:

Step 1: Hold the power button for about 20 seconds (even when the screen goes black, make sure you keep holding down the button)
Step 2: Release the power button. The screen should flicker. Next you’ll see the Kindle start-up screen and a fill-up bar.
Step 3: Go back to the book that was stuck and if it has not downloaded already, try again and it should work this time.

Thanks to Scott Allen at ScottAllen.com for originally sharing this information. You are a champion!

Try these EZPZ steps first before becoming this guy.

P.S.

Now that your Kindle is working, do you want to leave it to chance whether you connect with someone or not? Do you enjoy the awkward silences that litter professional meetings, conferences and social events?

I've created a FREE guide to turning on your ability to click with anyone, anytime, anywhere. With one simple switch, you will dramatically change the way you experience the world. Get it HERE.

Next post Saturday, 6:30 a.m.

Picture this. It's late afternoon, you're buried under a mountain of work and you are feeling like Rocky looks in Round 12. You're probably hungry and thirsty, too, but you don't realize it and haven't taken a break in a while.  

Then, an upsetting email comes in and boom, Krakatoa! How dare he/she? Now you are in full S.W.A.T. mode and you return fire via a less than professional email (e.g., nasty, passive agressive, outright aggressive, or sarastic - pick your poison) that you would not have written under better conditions. As soon as you click "Send," probably not more than 10 seconds later, you regret it. But like that time you said those words you wish you could pull back, it's too late - or is it?

I came across a great little set-it-and-forget-it hack on HBR that can gives you Doctor Who-like powers to travel back in time. By setting all your outgoing emails on a 2 minute delay, you can go back and revise or delete any emails after you've pressed "Send," but before they are actually sent.

EZPZ Email Time Travel

1.   Go to the “Home” tab and click on “Rules”

2.   Click “Manage Rules and Alerts”

3.   Under “Email Rules” click “New Rule” and under “Start from a blank rule” click on “Apply rule on messages I send.” Click “Next,” (you don’t need to choose any conditions), and click “Next” again.

4. Check “Defer delivery by _ minutes” and fill in the blank.

5. Click “Next,” then, click “Next,” again and last click “Finish.”

Now test this by sending yourself an email. You should see it hanging out in your Outbox for 2 minutes before it is sent. Now you can go into your Outbox and delete or revise a nuclear email. Other useful scenarios include adding a person or attachment you forgot or when you realize you didn't read all the emails in the chain.

The well-written HBR article on this by Katie Smith Milway (@KatieSMilway) has additional information for different versions of Outlook or for Gmail users. Check it out!