Ever forget where you parked your car? Do you wander the parking lot using the car remote to try to locate it by sound? Do you wish the signal went a bit further? And have you ever seen someone inexplicably holding their keys up to their chin?

As it turns out, and for reasons I will not pretend to understand, holding your car remote up to your head is an EZPZ way to increase the signal. I usually put it under my chin. This might seem silly, but it totally works!

Some music to find your car by...

Next post next Saturday, 6:30 a.m.

First thing in the morning, I'm not at my best. My mind feels like it is paddling through molasses so that even simple tasks can be draining. I learned a tip from a coworker that if I put my computer to sleep instead of shutting down, I could skip the step of opening my applications in the morning. This helps automate my morning and jump starts my day. However, sometimes you need or want to restart your computer.

Luckily, there is an EZPZ way to have your computer open the programs you use every day for you on Startup. This is how we do it.

And some music for changing your computer settings...

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!