How To Work Smarter

I've been a fan of Wired's How Tos for a while (not least because I've contributed to the print version in the past), but recently, their venture into the How To wikisphere has produced several excellent and extremely relevant business-related pieces. Rick recently filled you in on how to get work done when you're working from home; Here are a few of my other recent favorites:

How To Stop Wasting Time Online Favorite Tip: Invisibility Cloak Greasemonkey users can download a script created by Lifehacker Gina Trapani called Invisibility Cloak and set it to blank out specific sites, like Gawker. The script also displays a message prodding you to get back to business.

How To Rock the Podium Favorite Tip: Don't stand still
Move about and engage the audience by using hand movements. Don't put your hands in your pocket. Try to create large V's, and Ws on the stage floor. Move to the front of the stage to create tension. Move to the middle to release the tension. Think breathing.

How To Traverse Corporate Fire Walls Favorite Tip: Use Web-based Proxies
A more sophisticated approach is to use a web-based proxy. CGIProxy is popular perl script that can act as an HTTP or FTP proxy. The site Peacefire offers a tool named Circumventor which wraps an automated installer program around CGIProxy making it easy for non-technical users to set up the script.
Another trick that sometimes works is to use Google's language translation service as a web proxy. Due to way the translation service is configured, it works as a proxy already. The trick is to tell it to convert from English to English (or your native language). The URL will look like this http://www.google.com/translate?langpair=en|en&u=www.dontgohere.com, where dontgohere.com is the site you want to see.

How To Cheat on the Need to Sleep Favorite Tip: Caffeine, then Sleep
Right before you crash, down a cup of java. The caffeine has to travel through your gastro-intestinal tract, giving you time to nap before it kicks in.