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My Top 5 Productivity Tools

Fri, 27 Mar 2015 22:17:10 +0100

As an independent social media consultant, I have the flexibility of working from home (or mostly hotel rooms and wherever I am while traveling)... And while I very much enjoy that I can work in my PJs, wake up and sleep whenever I want to, work at my own pace while watching TV, and take a break or travel when I feel like it... I have to confess that it tends to get out of hand, and I easily lose focus and track of work. Try to separate work life from personal life when you work from your personal space, and your job is all about spending time online on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and the tons of other distracting social networks! So while my work life might look awesome on the outside, on the inside it is quite hectic, unorganized, confusing, and can get overwhelming... Up until I decided to restructure and organize it! And given how I'm all about tech, I of course turned to tech for help and began my search for tools and applications to manage and increase my productivity. Whether you work independently, or just want to make your job easier, here are the tools I recommend:

1. RescueTime

This is the first app that I found, used and was mind-blown by it... It is so simple yet very crucial! It basically tracks how you spend your time on the devices where you have it installed (I have it installed on my laptop and mobile phones) and gives a visual report of what the time was spent on with different categories, ranging from very distracting to very productive. You can set a goal of how long you want to spend on Business/Productive tasks vs Distracting tasks, and know exactly how to work towards that goal as you see where your time goes... The app has so many awesome features that you must check out, but I specifically like that it syncs across all my devices, and sends me a weekly summary, seen below, of how my time was spent, showing the most productive days, times, activities, and applications, and the most distracting apps that I need to learn to avoid (Whatsapp much?!).

What I love is that by knowing which time and day I am most productive, I can plan to have the most daunting tasks performed then where I am less likely to prone for distraction. The only issue however is that social networking sites are categorized as Very Distracting, which is realistic, but given that my work involves social media, I can not separate between the productive/business use of social networking sites and the distracting/personal use. Still, that's a problem you only have to worry about if you're in my line of work; otherwise, you're going to love it!

2. KanbanFlow

This is a web-based tool where you have a work board with tabs to manage tasks and to-do lists. It's quite easy to set up and use, and leave open in your browser for a quick glance to stay on top of your work responsibilities. The tool has so many useful features such as adding description, tags, color-coding tasks, adding due dates, subtasks, team members, sending you email reminders when you're approaching due dates or tasks are overdue, etc... Ok you get it, it has everything and it's awesome and I love it :P It's usually the first thing I check out every day and regularly update! FYI (for your information/inspiration), below you can see a snapshot of my own workboard...

I just love clearing out that "Do today" and "In progress" columns, and look at all the tasks I've "Done" to feel like I've accomplished something! As That itself increases motivation and productivity. The downside of Kanbanflow is that it is only web-based; it would be great to have a mobile version of it.

3. Handle

This beautifully designed app is an integration between email, to-do lists, and calendar; so it is the perfect app if most of your work happens on or comes from your inbox! I personally didn't use it much, as I was already using KanbanFlow to organize my projects' to-do list, but I recently felt that Handle can be better suited to "handle" those small tasks that are connected to an email message, and can save me the time to manually add it to KanbanFlow with a link. So you may want to save the large recurring project tasks to Kanbanflow, and use Handle for small/communication tasks. But even on Handle, you can organize to-do tasks by project, and add reminders and due dates that would sync with your Google calendar...

Unfortunately, I seem to be having trouble adding due dates, not sure why; the other downside is that it does not have a mobile app, but rather a browser extension/desktop app ... Don't these developers know we spend most of our time on mobile rather than desktop! But we can't complain, the app is practical and free, and would sure come in handy.

4. Toggl

This is more of a project time management tool that basically works as an automatic timer, with an option to add time manually, to track how much time you spend on each specific project, as opposed to RescueTime which tracks the time you spend on a specific application/website instead of project. It can be useful especially when different projects have different time priorities, and are costed differently based on hourly rate, to make sure that your time is spent on the most profitable/top priority projects, and you're being productive where it actually counts!

The upside of it is that there is a mobile version of this app, but the downside is that I personally often forgot to click "Start" for every task I started working on, and sometimes I forgot that I had the timer running for a task while I was not really working on it but was actually distracted or even away. Still, it can be useful if you can actually remember to use it, and it can especially come in handy where the other apps may fall short, like in tracking the time you spend on doing online research for work by visiting many different websites. You can then log in that time as "productive", when RescueTime would not recognize the significance of those sites separately and may even consider them distracting (unless you manually go change each site's categorization in the app).

5. gTasks

It's a little embarrassing perhaps to include this in the list with the others, but it is the first app I started using long before the rest. gTasks, or Google Tasks, is a simple task list app by Google that integrates with your Gmail tasks. The advantage of it is that because of how simple and easy it is to use, it saves you time and effort in adding tasks and due dates. gTasks is my go-to app when I'm out in a meeting, or moving around, and need to quickly make a note/list of things to do, before I move onto the other tools for more elaborate task management. You can also easily send the list by email, or share it in many other means; you can check tasks as done in one tap, and see everything in one place. The same developers also developed another similar app called TickTick that you can also check out if you need something like gTasks but more advanced. TickTick lets you add attachments, comments and location to your lists, as well as active links.

So this is it! That's all I need and use so far to manage my productivity and I hope you give them a try and find them as useful as I did... If you do try them, let me know what you think, and if you are using other productivity tools that work well for you, give me your recommendations below.

When Quitting Is Good

Thu, 12 Feb 2015 09:02:19 +0100

(Photo taken on top of Adam's Peak, Sri Lanka, after I quit climbing up the last 200 steps of the 5'500 steps; having been pushed almost half of it lol)

I have been having a lot of time lately to think about my life and where I want to go with it. I haven't figured it out yet, and I'd unlikely be able to do it by the end of this post. I've always had this philosophy, though it may not be to the liking of many, that I'd do what I can with what I already have, rather than seek to have what I may not... OK, that may have sounded too philosophical hehe... In simpler terms, I'd just make the best of comes my way instead of going out of my way to get what I believe is best for me. It may not be the best motto in life, but I've done well with it so far, I believe.

Surely there were times when I felt that that motto doesn't serve me well... In the times where I was actually tempted to want things, and felt driven enough to pursue them. Yet, in none of those times was I successful, which caused me to further believe in the validity of my motto!

Those things were on my mind again lately... Things I would want... Things I had previously pursued but not achieved. And in the midst of my thoughts, I came across the below post by a friend on Facebook.

First it had me thinking: Is it that I didn't want it bad enough? Did I not work hard enough for it? Do I not deserve it? Am I not good enough for it?... You know... All the typical self-doubt thoughts that drag its holder to a dark deep hole of self-loathing!
However, on the other side, are we not to believe that what is meant to be will happen? Of course it doesn't mean that we just lazily wait for things to fall in our lap, but perhaps to exercise diligence in our pursuits, hope and pray for the best while having faith that we will get what is written for us... As for what's not written for us, well, there's nothing we can do about that, except hope some more that there is something better in store for us instead! (And most people like to ignore the fact that perhaps there's nothing better for them, but let's not get into that dark deep hole now :P)
With those thoughts, I was prompted to leave my comment above, with the following questions:

"How long and hard must you go after something before realizing that maybe you're just being stubborn instead of persistent, and that perhaps it's time you focus your energy and time on something else that may be good for you too, even if you had failed to see it from start!"

I ask that question in all seriousness... How long and hard are we supposed to pursue something before we realize that it is better to quit? A month? A year? 5 years? Perhaps the time period is more relevant to the goal itself; like if your goal is to be a talented musician, that would come with hours of practice (about 10'000 hours according to the rule uncovered in Malcolm Gladwell's book "The Outliers", which I highly recommend you read!), but isn't it possible that talent and creativity are not an outcome of practice, that even with such practice, someone can still lack the "it" factor that'd make them successful or exceptional? But I digress...

In the same theme of thoughts, and by coincidence, I came across another comment I made five years ago on a blog post titled "How To Quit Being A Quitter":

Sometimes people keep pushing themselves to do something so they don’t end up being quitters, and in the end, that makes them hate what they are doing. If you need to actually push yourself hard to do something and finish it, then you probably shouldn't be doing it! No one ever quits on something he/she loves and enjoys doing.

At the end, I am not saying that we should all quit our pursuits as soon as we feel frustrated or we run into an obstacle... This is hardly a conclusion, but rather the opening of a discussion... And I really hope that one of you readers is an experienced psychologist and can advise me on the matter: Am I wise or am I a lazy quitter? lol

Arab Tech Women Entrepreneurs

Sun, 25 Jan 2015 21:24:56 +0100

On September 23rd, I spoke at The Arab Women In Leadership & Business Summit in Dubai on technology-based entrepreneurship. I felt quite honoured to share the stage with amazing leading women who are ministers, founders, CEOs, chairmen (chairwomen?!), and managers of international and major brands, while I was there representing only myself as The Manalyst... That made me realise even more the importance and power of technology-based entrepreneurship. When I launched my website and online brand, The Manalyst, in 2009, it was not for the objective of having my own business, but merely to make use of the free time and internet I had in learning and sharing about the latest trends in my industry, while overcoming the limitations of being a professional in a male-dominated world (whether for being in Saudi Arabia, or generally in the business world)... I never thought that first step would lead me to be one of the influential bloggers and social media professionals in the region, covering and speaking at various related events such as this one I'm writing about, being interviewed by the media, and most importantly, having helped various brands and people with using social media to achieve their goals.

In the 2-day event, I sat among the audience, of mostly women, listening to their stories, questions, concerns, and most of all... complaints. Some were legitimate complaints of social, cultural and work-discrimination struggles that might take long to change, yet many have overcame them; and some I found to be invalid, like the lack of role models in our Arab community... And that is what I aimed to prove wrong through my presentation, and this post.

First of all, one prevailing statistic in the Arab region is that almost over half of university attendees and graduates are female, yet that only translates to being less than a quarter of the workforce... So the problem isn't that Arab women lack the formal education or skills and capabilities to join or excel in the workforce. They're actually more likely to start their own business than to get a job, and even more women intend to do the same, yet that still doesn't transform into action.

There probably haven't been any formal studies or research of why there aren't more women in business, whether as employees or entrepreneurs, but common beliefs is that it is for one of the following reasons:

Cultural Pressures and Stereotypes, and Overcoming Women Unemployment Issues by Working from Home, with Flexible Hours

Even at this modern day and age, the role of women in the Arab world is still quite traditional... In most typical Arab families, a girl's priority is to get married and have kids. In some countries, such as Saudi Arabia, women are also often not allowed to work for cultural/social reasons or due to gender segregation laws. So while the majority of adult females attend university, graduate or even get to work, they do so as long as they are single. And those who have ambitions to pursue higher education and a business career face pressures from their families, or community, to focus on getting a husband instead, and if they're already married, then they should focus on their family and household instead. And in the business community, they're mostly viewed a "flight risk", as in, if hired, they might suddenly quit once married or with child, which makes them a bad investment. An example of a woman who faced and defied such pressures and stereotypes is Yasmine Al Mehairy.

Yasmine co-founded the Arabic parenting website Supermama with Zeinab Samir in 2011. She faced many negative cultural stereotypes as a single 30 year old woman entrepreneur but was positive about the startup ecosystem in Egypt being more supportive than it is in the West, and she was able to secure funding as bias towards male founders was not yet apparent in the Arab world as it is in the West. (Source: Middle East Monitor)

These cultural and employment issues that Arab women face is what drives some into tech entrepreneurship as they get the ability to work from home, or wherever they need to be, and with flexible hours thus having the ability to tend to their other affairs (whether they're students, wives and/or moms) at their own comfort. This is what drove Tasneem Salim, programmer and gamer, to co-find GCON -the world’s biggest and Saudi’s first girls-only yearly gaming convention and community in Riyadh-, encouraging girls to pursue careers in game development, and break the stereotypes that gaming is a boys-only industry. In Saudi, where gender segregation poses a challenge in the workforce, that consists only 20% of women, she believes that gaming can a powerful option for those who prefer flexible hours and working from home. (Source: Wamda)

Two other ladies who also found that drive to start their own tech business are Duna AlSiyari and Hussa AlShamran; two college students who kickstarted the eCommerce site Qurtsyah in 2012 as the first in Saudi to sell stationary online, enjoying the flexibility it gives them to work while also continuing their education. They are determined to grow their business to the GCC, and continue to apply their college learnings to practical business experience and starting their own line of Arabic-style stationary. (Source: AlEqtisadiah)

Funding and Financing, and How It is Countered by Low Costs/Barriers to Entry

During the event, some women were repeatedly mentioned in the discussion as role models for women entrepreneurs, such as Sheikha Moza, Queen Rania, and other prominent names... While their work is to be appreciated and admired, not all women in the Arab region have the same access to family money, status and connections to support their business initiatives. The average Arab woman has to strive to attain funds and finance her business. Either there aren't enough sources for funds in the Arab world with high competition, or there is lack of awareness in how or where to attain funds. In most cases, women who want to start their own business are either discouraged by lack of funds or they resort to financing their business with their own personal money which often slows their progress.

That is what Hanan Khader, a programmer and mommy of 3, had to do when she launched Aqar-estate.com in 2008, a real estate digital platform for the MENA, which was a challenge in a male-dominated industry that she had to finance herself until she secured seed investment from Oasis500. 2 years ago, she also started HelloWorldKids, teaching programming to kids and inspiring them to be tech entrepreneurs.

With the low cost and barriers to entry of tech-based industry, in case of most businesses, many women have taken up to the internet to start their own small businesses, starting from scratch depending on whatever knowledge or skills they have, and financing their business further with the earnings, until they're able to make some steady income from it... Which is the case with Farihan Amin, owner of Simplecious, an instagram-based home baking business.

The Need for Women-Focused Support Network, and What YOU Can Do to Help!

It is safe to say that women can never be equal to men, we may want equal rights but at the end of the day, we will always be different, especially in the Arab/Muslim world because we believe in our role as housewives and mothers, even if we weren't all born to have that typical life or if we wanted to be businesswomen on top of being wives/mothers. So the aim is to have a business ecosystem that understands the characteristics, requirements and challenges of Arab women entrepreneurs and support them through their journey & in their lifestyle. That's not saying that Arab women can't already compete, succeed and flourish in the current ecosystem among men! May Attari, a Palestinian student, has certainly accomplished that, along with her peers, through her university's leadership program "Qiyadat", by co-founding Fadfid, an online psychotherapy platform that connects patients seeking expert psychological advice to specialists across the Arab world.

Think of how many more innovative startups we'd have, in addition to the economic benefits, if more women are supported and encouraged to become entrepreneurs! You can start encouraging them from a young age, by raising girls to overcome negative stereotypes and explore their interests in a gender-neutral environment, and learn tech skills from resources like: Scratch; Hackety; Khan Academy; Code.org; Tahrir Academy; The Little Engineer.
Female students can also be encouraged to aspire for an education & career in tech by nurturing and developing their innate skills, and using educational technology to teach and inspire them, from resources like: Khan Academy; Code Academy; TechGirls; EdSurge.
And as entrepreneurs and business owners, share your experience and knowledge with them, support their entrepreneurial activities and intentions, and welcome opportunities to mentor and guide women with entrepreneurial activities/intentions, through platforms such as Wamda Mix n’ mentor; Arabnet; Wamda 4 Women; and various Linkedin Groups.
And lastly, as part of the community, support them, enable them, encourage them, share their stories, give them feedback… You can start by sharing this post or its presentation below, in hope that the women I mentioned here can serve as inspiration and role models for others out there who are just waiting for the right motivation to rise and flourish!

Why Women are Better Than Men

Mon, 02 Feb 2015 14:03:05 +0100

Men, before you start sending me hate comments, the title is just an exaggeration of some aspects in which women are better than men, rather than a factual generalizing statement that all women are better than all men :P Now that we cleared that out, you can put your chauvinistic pride aside and read on! (Relax, I'm just teasing you lol)
As I was trying to sleep, I decided to listen to something useful, and the podcast below by Freakonomics, titled “Women are not men” (DUH!), caught my attention... The episode covers research results of studies done on the differences between men and women from an economic and social stance, and it got me thinking...

To summarize what particularly caught my attention in the podcast, and on what my title is based:

Women can be more competitive than man, but aren't!

(Credit: ollyy via iStock)

But that’s only because they are brought up in cultures with male-dominance, such as liberal Western societies as well as African tribes where women have absolutely no rights (and where a woman is worth 10 cows!). However, in cultures where women are treated as dominants and have superior rights, they tend to be more competitive than men, even at a higher percentage than men in male-dominant cultures.

So the conclusion is: Competitiveness isn’t particularly a matter of (male) nature, but rather an effect of nurture.

The question is: Do we really want women to be more competitive? Wouldn’t competitiveness trigger aggression?

Women are not so happy in this modern world

(Credit: Loyall Sewall/www.jupiterimages.com)

Although women, in most liberal societies, are now having more choices in life and more rights, and enjoying more benefits from the improvement of their academic, social, professional and economic status, they are less happy than they were before the liberalist/feminist revolution in the 1970s. Logically, women should be happier as they have achieved a higher/freer status than they had in the past, but they are not, and no one knows why. Some researchers speculate that it is perhaps they are still making less money than men, even at the same jobs, because they don’t negotiate for better salaries, and as previously stated, they don’t compete as much.

So the conclusion is: Women were happier in simpler times, with fewer choices and less confrontation.

The question is: Would more money make women happier? Is it not believed that money doesn't buy happiness, yet rich people tend to be happier than poor people?

Women are catching up to men, except in crime

In so many aspects, women are finally enjoying the same life as men, and having similar rights, yet they are far from committing as many criminal offences as men. In the US, 75% to 80% of criminal offences are committed by men, and only two criminal offences have more female offenders than male offenders… Can you guess which two?! Well, prostitution (go figure!), and runaways (juveniles reported as having run away from home). There is still no explanation as to why women are committing less crimes than men… Or is it perhaps because they are too smart to get caught :P.

So the conclusion is: Even though women are becoming more like men, in the way they live their lives, they are still far less likely to commit crimes.

The question is: What is it that drive men to commit crimes, and that women seem to be immune to?

Before you answer any/all of the questions above, let me leave you with some other research results that were shared in the podcast:

Men are less likely to do favors for others.
Men are less likely to wash their hands.
Men are less likely to answer a question with “I don’t know” when they really don’t know the answer.

So, is it just me, or do women seem to be better than men?! And guys, do me a favor and go wash your hands, and then answer my questions only if you know :P

If you liked reading this post, then please subscribe, share and comment below! I would appreciate this turning into a conversation outside of my head lol

A Day in My Life on Bayt Blog

Mon, 02 Feb 2015 14:01:08 +0100

I never really thought of how I spend my work day, although many did get curious of what I actually do as a social media specialist, until Bayt, the #1 Employment site in the Middle East, asked me for a "Day in the Life..." feature in their blog. You can read the Bayt version with their own edits here, or continue to read mine below with links to my own resources:

As an independent Social Media consultant, my work days are finally how I’ve always wanted them to be. I have honestly never been a morning person, but to work for a living, that can’t be avoided in most typical cases… But I am far from wanting or enjoying what’s typical, and that’s why I love my work in social media.

Waking up between 9 and 10 am, first thing I do is check my phone’s notifications to see what I missed during sleep… Not a good habit, but I believe most of us are guilty of it; at least I get to justify it as part of my work!

While most people can’t kick-start their day before their sacred cup of coffee, I’m wholeheartedly a green tea person. Lately, I’ve gotten into the habit of taking my breakfast outside, in the sun and beautiful weather, with some relaxing uplifting music, to start the day with a good mood. It doesn’t make sense to me to rush out of bed, right into work, without taking that little time to get myself ready to have a good productive day.

During breakfast, I start planning the day ahead by checking my GTasks mobile app, or my Planner Plus iPad app, to see what tasks I have listed for the day, and to list any new tasks I got from the notifications. I prioritize my tasks according to ease, urgency and time required to finish... Starting off with light tasks like responding to emails, social media notifications, writing formal documents such as reports and proposals, and leaving the heavy tasks that require creativity, researching and brainstorming to produce output for later in the day. Although flexibility is one of the major advantages of working independently, it can also be a drawback if you can’t organize yourself and structure your work and time effectively. So I make sure to set myself deadlines and reminders, and even enlist the help of a friend in some cases, to keep my progress on track.

In between tasks, I take 10 to 15 minutes to scroll down my Facebook newsfeed, or my Twitter/Hootsuite timeline, interacting with people, and seeking interesting content to read and share. I also love using Feedly mobile app to curate content, read, share and bookmark for later reading. To make sure that I don’t overshare during my reading slots, I use Bufferapp (available on web, chrome extension and mobile) to schedule sharing content across Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin in different times. It’s quite an indispensable tool in my personal as well as my work arsenal.

Although it might not work for most people, but I love to mix business with pleasure; in fact, I almost can’t work, or even eat, if I am not entertained at the same time. That’s why I always work in front of the TV, watching something in the background that keeps my mind lively, or alternatively listen to music. To me, having fun is as important as working, and I keep a balance by getting both aspects fulfilled. I guess it’s very befitting that I work in social media then, where the lines are blurred between what’s work and what’s personal. Reading and sharing content, engaging with the online community, internet browsing for inspiration and creative input, traveling and meeting people are all a major part of my personal life in terms of what I enjoy as well as work life in terms of what I do for my current clients, or how I reach new clients.

Great meeting & talking to @ahmadaa & @KatieS from @Twitter. Thank you for answering my questions ^^ #GCF2014 pic.twitter.com/biPJMbW7wq
— Manal Assaad (@TheManalyst) January 20, 2014

You might have guessed that, given I am not a morning person, I am a night owl! My creativity and productivity kick in late night where I work on the heavy tasks, until my mental energy starts draining out around 3 am... I can’t possibly sleep if my brain hasn’t been entertained or worked up enough! So I end the day how I started it, with a cup of green tea and checking my GTasks, to cross off what I’ve finished, and get to sleep with a sense of accomplishment.

Happiness is Regular Treats

Mon, 02 Feb 2015 14:00:11 +0100

I saw that at a costa coffee stand at the airport in Dammam, after a trip to Riyadh that had its highs and lows... And it got me thinking:

I have been recently feeling unusually happy... Not for a specific reason, but rather a general mind state of accepting my life and liking the way it is heading, including the unknown... Waking up to a cup of green tea and breakfast in the sun with good music (I seem to be stuck on the track below, try to listen to it while reading this... It's worth it!), and a good conversation, all do wonders for my mood too. Small things like that can make you happy when you just feel like being happy. So is happiness more of a state of mind or due to events of life?

The costa coffee motto sort of decoded it for me. Happiness is regular treats... It needs to be "regular", so not too often nor too rarely, and not a constant state, or it would become the norm and would feel too plain for the mind to enjoy it. It must come as treats... Beautiful interruptions of the usual normal state.
Like treating yourself to something you've well earned: a relaxing break after working hard for hours, or a delicious piece of cake after dieting for days...
Or someone treats you to what they believe you deserve, a sign of love or affection or appreciation or just a mere random act of kindness... Not necessarily a gift; more often getting someone's genuine undivided attention is the most pleasurable treat, for someone to look at you and actually see you and ask "How can I make you happy at this moment now?". Sometimes just the intention of treating you, without the act of treating, is rewarding enough and can make you happy...
And the third and most important form of treats that can make you happy is when YOU treat someone else... Why wait for someone to treat you and leave your happy moments at their control when you can take the initiative and make someone else happy and feel good about yourself in return!

Happiness is contagious... That is not just something nice to say; it's been scientifically and psychologically proven that our brains emulate the emotions they perceive, caused by the mirror neuron... If you look at someone smiling, you are instinctively driven to smile... And if you yourself start smiling even as a forced emotionless act, you will start to feel happy. Just see the video below and try it, and if it made you happy, then pay it forward and make me happy by sharing my post :P

5 reasons yoga is good for you... Lenovo Yoga!

Mon, 02 Feb 2015 13:59:18 +0100

Starting your day in a healthy active way is a must to ensure the rest of the day goes well… Perhaps you wake up early, work out, take a warm shower, and have a nice breakfast before you head out to work. Ideally, that’s how most of us want to start the day, but chances are, like many of us, you start your day with your phone or on your laptop!

Good morning! I start my day with yoga... The @lenovo laptop, not the physical activity :p How do you start yours? pic.twitter.com/wDZmsR88sQ
— Manal Assaad (@TheManalyst) January 26, 2014

As a social media professional, I start my day and spend most of it using my laptop, and in the brief moments I have to step away from it, I stay connected using my smartphone. Needless to say, the devices we use are an integral part of our day, and can help “make it or break it”… Well maybe not as dramatic as that, but I can’t imagine anyone having a good mood using a laptop that is slow, and keeps freezing and crashing! I know that too well from my previous experience with the Macbook White, even after upgrading its RAM from 2GB to 4GB, it was slower than Saudi customs officers. (Sorry, I had to sneak in this joke :P haha)

But fortunately, about 2 months ago, and after the news about the rise of Lenovo, I switched to Lenovo Yoga 13.

Nov 4, 2013 | I switched from Mac to @Lenovo with #Windows8. #tech #apple #pc #microsoft by TheManalyst on Keek.com

After a couple of years of using a Mac, it was a bit uneasy migrating back to a Windows device, especially since the Windows 8 was quite different than the earlier Windows OSs. However, after a little of getting used to it, the experience was quite pleasing… Without getting too technical, since you can find tons of technical and specs reviews through google, here’s why Lenovo Yoga is great for me and would be good for you too:

1. Light weight, heavy multitasking:

I travel around often, so I need something easy and light to carry with me that won’t take much space in my luggage or add too much weight. Smartphones and tablets might be a substitute but they can never fulfill all my requirements: multitasking between internet browsing, working with documents, while also watching a movie/TV series (sometimes all together!). At 1.5 Kg, a 13” screen, and Intel® Core™ i5, Lenovo Yoga 13 fits the job perfectly!

2. Long battery life:

Stressing on the importance of a light-weight heavy-multitasking device, a long battery life goes hand in hand, if you don’t want to have to carry the charger with you, and desperately seek and get stuck near power outlets. Lenovo Yoga 13’s battery will last up to 8 hours, so it is quite efficient when I’m out and about for the day. I know that it at least lasts for the train trip between Dammam and Riyadh, which is over 5 hours. Yes, that train is even slower than Saudi customs!

3. Multitouch Screen:

Touchscreens have become the norm, rather than the trend. I sure dreaded when smartphones quit tactile keyboards and turned all touchscreens; typing is one of my main activities and it’s just not as easy on touchscreens. But then you get used to touchscreens, and depend on them on your smartphone, and your tablet, so it only makes sense that your desktop PC or laptop joins the club! Using the touchscreen on the Lenovo Yoga makes multitasking easier as it gives you faster control over the task at hand, since you can just reach for what you need.

4. Different Modes of Use:

Lenovo Yoga is called so because of its flexibility, and the different modes (positions) it can assume. I use these modes depending on my need, flipping from full mode (typical laptop with keyboard) for heavy tasks to tablet mode for light tasks. It certainly helps to have one device fit for both roles, so I don’t need to also carry my tablet if I just wanted something sleek in my hands to browse through.

5. Windows 8 OS:

Although many may point out the flaws of Windows 8, I haven't experienced any of them yet, fortunately. The OS is fast, and even with my HD almost full, tasks have been running smoothly, with no major crashes as I recall. Another notable feature is the InstantResume; I'd be watching something, pause it, put the laptop to sleep, and when I awaken it, it takes barely 10 seconds, and I can resume watching directly like the system was never interrupted! To someone with my impatience, seconds make a world of difference :P

So this has been my personal experience with the Lenovo Yoga so far! If you have any specific questions, post them in comments below. And subscribe to the blog to follow my updates about it or any other cool gadget I get ;)

Highlights of Arabnet Riyadh 2013

Tue, 10 Dec 2013 14:55:55 +0100

Last week, I had the pleasure of attending Arabnet Riyadh conference and it was a great experience as I anticipated, as I have attended almost all of of Arabnet's conferences so far, and have written about them in my blog, and it was always worth it!
If you have attended the conference, you would've benefited from the great connections you make during as well as the useful content and knowledge you learn. If you didn't attend, then you would have probably benefited from the live coverage via Twitter through the hashtag #عرب_نت. If you also didn't catch up with the live coverage, then you can at least get to know what went down in the conference by reading my article on Wamda: Women's entrepreneurship and social media: the two hottest trends at Arabnet Riyadh

Did you attend Arabnet Riyadh? What did you think of it? What other conferences have you attended and liked? Leave your opinion and recommendations below, and please share this post for your peers to pitch in as well.

Thank you for reading and subscribe to stay updated!

Yes, your mind is playing tricks on you!

Tue, 01 Oct 2013 13:37:42 +0100

I read this article, titled "8 Common Mistakes in How Our Brains Think and How to Prevent them", and the number one common mistake was: Confirmation Bias...

Away from psychology jargon that you may not be interested in as I am, confirmation bias is "when we proactively seek out information that confirms our existing beliefs". That hit me too closely that I had to tweet about it:

#Psychology: Confirmation bias is when we proactively seek out info that confirms our existing beliefs; i.e. you only see what you want!
— Manal Assaad (@TheManalyst) October 1, 2013

If when we believe in something, our brain only let us see what further supports our belief, how can we even call ourselves "open-minded"? Which lead me to this other quoted tweet:

Most people are open-minded about ideas they already agree with. #quote #psychology #truefact
— Manal Assaad (@TheManalyst) October 1, 2013

I have always been fascinated with the world of psychology, with understand how the human mind works and how to take advantage of its strengths and avoid its pitfalls... More than anything, like any one of you I assume, I am interested in learning the tricks of the mind, which would allow me to live life happy and not fall into a trap where I am my biggest enemy and make my life miserable while being convinced it's just my bad luck, instead of actively trying to overcome my own mistakes.

Our minds play tricks on us, and it's most destructive when we don't realize it. But once we realize it, shouldn't that automatically make things better and make us overcome those tricks? Remember back to when you were a kid and saw your first magic trick... You were probably amazed, puzzled and believed it's more of magic than an actual trick. But once you grew up, and learnt how that trick is done, the "magic" was gone and you can now see things for what they really are... An entertaining and simple demonstration is seen in the following video:

But apparently, the mind is more treacherous than we realize. It is stubborn in sticking to its bad habits, even when we have come to acknowledge how bad they are. Then what we need is not only to know what the trick is, but why we choose to believe it in the first place... That underlying cause/motive/drive is the key to it all, and it's not something that can be easily uncovered... Some people spend years and years in psychotherapy in order to uncover such truths, and even then, the road to recovery is difficult and lengthy.

Without further rambling on, I want to commit to myself that:

1. I try to seriously look at the pure facts, instead of what my mind interprets of a happening.

2. I separate myself from my mind in the times it tries to play tricks on me, and acknowledge the tricks even if I can't stop them from happening.

3. Eventually, hopefully, perhaps, I trick my mind into not tricking me!

Is your mind playing tricks on you? And how are you trying to overcome them, if you are?

Just be yourself... or Don't?!

Tue, 30 Jul 2013 18:30:42 +0100

I was having a conversation with a friend about all the things that make me “me” and how it affects my life, perhaps adversely. His advice was “just be yourself”; an advice often given in such situations, but does it often work? Sometimes, you feel you have been yourself long enough but it hasn’t resulted in what you need it to. So I started thinking:

Anyone who has ever dealt with people -long enough to form a relationship, any kind of relationship like friendship, neighboring, business, etc., and even in our relationship with our family- understands compromise. We often give up pieces of ourselves, in order to comply or fit in with others, voluntarily. As simple as an outing with a group of friends, perhaps everyone wants to see a romantic movie, which you don’t like, but you go along anyway so you don’t end up watching an action movie on your own. There is no right or wrong about this, things are just either the way you like them (which is often ideal and improbable) or they are a compromise to something that all parties involved can “accept”. Is there a point to being yourself all the time, if it means that you don’t come to terms with anyone else most of the time?

Another thing to consider when being “yourself” is: what if you are a despicable jerk? Hehe ok I am just being dramatic, but let’s say that the whole of you include many bad habits that alienate people, or if you don’t care about alienating people, then at the least hinder you from achieving your ultimate goals, whether happiness or success, or inner peace. Does trying to be better go against “just being yourself”? Would it make a difference if you decide how you’d like to be better or if others told you what you should change? We can certainly change ourself to better in order to be happier and have people around us like us, but wouldn’t it mean so much more if we are accepted and liked for who we are, without stressing ourselves out to change?

There are definitely many questions in my head when it comes to self-identity, but as a main theme, I’d like to ask you:

1- Would you rather be yourself, to be true to yourself, or control who you are in order to fit in generally?

2- Should you accept yourself as you are or try to change for better?

Let me hear your own thoughts below, and don’t forget to subscribe and share if you like what you read!