Mottainai (pronounced moht-tai-nai) is a Japanese word meaning "a sense of regret concerning waste when the intrinsic value of an object or resource is not properly utilized". There is no direct English translation, but it is similar to the idea of 'waste not, want not' and making proper use of resources.

In my Toolkit workshops, I often come across people who are already using some of the digital tools, platforms and apps I recommend. But rarely are they using them to their full capability.

Today, in the spirit of Mottainai and using things properly, I wanted to share 5 lesser known functions of 5 popular tools to encourage you to make the most out of your digital life.

1. TweetDeck: New Followers

TweetDeck is a third party Twitter application that you can use to manage all your social networks from one place. Whether you are using TweetDeck on your phone, your desktop or on the web, TweetDeck is a time-effective way of staying up to date.

A little know feature of TweetDeck is the ability to set up a New Followers column. By default, when you set up a Twitter account, you're sent an email every time you have a new follower. Exciting at the beginning, annoying when you start to have more followers. By setting up a New Followers column in TweetDeck, you can view the person's photo and bio and decide whether to follow or block (if they are spam) them straightaway.

To set up the column go to Add New Column > Core > New Followers.

2. Dropbox: Getting More Space

Dropbox is a neat tool that creates a 'mini-server' for your documents accessible from your desktop, the cloud and your phone. Your free account comes with 2GB of storage and you can increase this (250MB each time) by using your referral code to invite friends to join the service.

But did you know that there are other ways of easily increasing your storage? This article from LifeHacker suggests ways of increasing your storage by 768MB by social sharing on Twitter and Facebook, following Dropbox on Twitter, and by giving feedback to the Dropbox team.

To sign up for your free account, visit Dropbox today.

3. LinkedIn: Get Introduced Through a Connection

I am sure you are familiar with LinkedIn - the social network of choice for professionals. There are too many great features of LinkedIn to mention here, but one underused feature I wanted to flag up is the ability to get introduced to someone through an existing connection.

To contact someone through LinkedIn, you either have to have worked with them or know their email address. However, if the person you wish to connect with is connected to one of your 1st connections, you can ask your connection to forward a message to them.

I have used this successfully in the past to contact potential speakers for events I have run. I think that if a request comes through a trusted connection, this can be much stronger than an unsolicited email.

First search for the person you wish to connect with in the People Search box. If they have a 2^nd connection beside them, have a look at who connects you to them (see screenshot).

Then click on ‘Get introduced through a connection’ and fill out the required details. You can also leave a message for your LinkedIn contact so they know why you are trying to contact this person.

The more you build your LinkedIn connections, the more potential people you can have access to, and the more useful this feature becomes, so start building those connections today.

Start by connecting with me - I know lots of people ; )

4. Gmail: Keyboard Shortcuts

Gmail is my email platform for choice because of its powerful features that allow me to get through my Inbox super fast and get on with my important work.

An often overlooked feature of Gmail is the extensive keyboard shortcuts. Using these shortcuts and my computer mouse allows me to process email quickly and get on with more important things.

The shortcuts I use the most are:

# = delete. Use this shortcut to read/delete quickly.

e = archive. If you have set up Filters to add Labels to your emails as they come in (recommended), than use 'e' to quickly read/archive.

! = marks as Spam and removes this email from your Inbox.

s = stars the conversion.

To turn shortcuts on, go to the Gear icon > Mail Settings > General > Keyboard Shortcuts On.

5. WordPress: Schedule Posts

WordPress is the powerful content management system that allows you to build static and blog based websites like my website 8fold. (Do check out the free WordPress eCourse on the website if you want to know more.)

When you write a blog post, it is dated by default on the day you write it. However, you can use the date function in WordPress to schedule posts to run in the future. This can be incredibility useful if you know you are going to be particularly busy one week and miss your posting schedule; or if you have a run of inspiration and write three posts at a time; or if you are going away on vacation.

What are your favourite 'hidden' features of these popular tools? Do share in the comments.

This week I am reading a fantastic book called 'Your Brain at Work'.

The author David Rock, spent three years talking to neuroscientists about how the brain functions and why we act and react the way we do at work. One of the insights from the book refers to our pre-frontal cortex - the part of the brain that controls 'conscious thought' - those activities that require mental effort. David's research found that this cortex is a hungry beast and uses up a lot of glucose or sugars when it is hard at work. These sugars deplete quickly which explains why we reach for sugary drinks or cakes during the afternoon lull.

Essential to the proper working of this cortex is giving it a refreshing break now and again and using other areas of our brain either through physical exercise or meditative practices.

With that in mind (no pun intended!), here are 4 digital ways to get your Zen on at work:

1.   Equanimity App 

Equanimity is a neat little app for the iPhone. Set a meditation time, for example 5 minutes, and a Tibetan bowl will ring once. Sit quietly, eyes closed and focus on your breathing. Focus on the sound of the breath as you inhale and exhale. Feel the cool air of the in-breath and warmer air of the out-breath as you breathe. 

After your time is up the bowl rings three times and it’s time to get back to work. A great way to refresh and refocus during the day.

2.   Just-a-Minute Meditation 

If guided meditations are more your thing, then have a look at Just-a-Minute with their free one minute guided meditations, with or without background music. Choose a concentration meditation at the beginning of the day to get you focussed on your important work. Listen to an energising meditation after lunch to counteract the afternoon lull. Follow a relaxing meditation during stressful moments in your day. 

Meditations can be played direct from the site or downloaded to your iPod or smartphone for listening on the go.

3.   Shibumi App

Shibumi is a Japanese word with its roots in the Zen aesthetic ideals of art and architecture, encompassing ideas such as elegant simplicity, effortless effectiveness and beautiful imperfection.

Matthew E. May wrote a book, The Shibumi Strategy, about these concepts and how they can be applied to everyday life, and there is a handy app to go with the book. Part of the app is the shibumi card deck with 52 cards. The 11 Principle cards contain explanations of Zen aesthetic and design ideals such as Kanso (simplicity), Datsuzoku (break from routine) and Fukinsei (imperfection). Practice cards lead you through Japanese business techniques such as Hansei (reflection) and Mantra (purpose). Path cards contain introspective questions to help you on your Shibumi path. Philosophy cards contain inspirational quotes.

I use Shibumi if I am stuck on a problem, having a frustrating day or simply looking for some inspiration. I flick through the beautifully designed cards on my phone, reflect on the concepts, and usually find something that inspires or helps me move forward.

4.   Meditation Reminders 

There are a host of meditation timers and reminders that you can either download to your desktop or set up in a web browser and set them at specific or random intervals to chime. I use them as a reminder to stop what I am doing for a moment and recalibrate. I ask myself: "am I working mindfully and with intention or am I just being active and busy?". I also use them as reminder to get up from my computer and take a walk around the room or even just stretch my neck and head to ease tension from sitting hunched over the laptop.

Two good reminders are this one from Dart Frog Media which sits on your desktop or this browser or desktop based one from Mindful Technology.

I hope you have a Zen day!

[image with thanks to pittaya via CC]

To kick off Social Media Week here in London, I hosted an interactive panel discussion at The Hub Islington. Entitled Tea and the Zen of Social Media I asked holistic marketeer Kathyrn McMann and creative thinker Harry Mylonadis from design and branding agency Minimoko, can we be both mindful and connected at the same time?

It was a lively discussion covering a range of topics from unplugging strategies to using the right (and Zen) digital tools.

Enjoy.

Tea and the Zen of Social Media from Sinead Mac Manus on Vimeo.

Readers of this blog or my ebook will know that Leo Babauta from Zen Habits is one of my favourite writers (the 'Z' in From Apps to Zen is for Zen Habits, Leo's world famous blog). So of course I have been waiting to read his new book Focus: a Simplicity Manifesto in the Age of Distraction ever since he announced on his blog that he was writing it. 

After a more traditional writing approach for his first book, The Power of Less, Leo tried an experimental process for this new book - posting each chapter on his blog for feedback and comment as it was written. This allowed him to test and refine the material and has resulted in a beautiful book. Unusually the book is also 'uncopyrighted', so that the content of the book can also be shared freely.

Focus observes that we live in an unprecedented Age of Distraction with multiple activities competing for our attention at any one moment. We convince ourselves that we are excellent multi-taskers even through research shows that single-tasking is a more effective way of getting things done. And our brains are continually working against us always anticipating the dopamine high of an email or a status update - much more exciting then the task we are working on.  

Leo says "  ... the key to many of the struggles we face these days, from being productive and achieving our goals, to getting healthy and fit in the face of fast food and inactivity, to finding simplicity and peace amidst chaos and confusion ... is itself simple: focus."

This wonderful book comes in two 'flavours' - free and premium. The premium version contains bonus audio and written guides including contributions by some of my other heros: Everett Bogue, Gwen Bell and Michael Bungay Stanier.

Leo starts the book with a great quote from the famous Zen Buddhist teacher and author Thich Nhat Hanh:

“Smile, breathe and go slowly.”

In the Age of Distraction I suggest you keep this in your mind when reading Leo's book and give this book some real focus.

Download Focus: A Simplicity Manifesto in the Age of Distraction.