Dictate It
If you find yourself wishing for a secretary to type that all-important report or you’ve had a few near misses on the road because you were texting on your smartphone, then you need Dragon Dictation. The app offers a new hands-free solution to your typing woes. Just speak naturally and instantly see your text appear on your iPad or iPhone screen. This free app also allows users to dictate statuses that are uploaded to Facebook or Twitter accounts, or send themselves reminders using voice memos.

Weekend Warrior
Are you tired of long hours at work and then wasting your weekend away trying to recover with little success? Then maybe you just need to get away from it all for a few days. Grab your swimsuit and go to Ras Sidr, a two to three-hour drive from Cairo in the Sinai Peninsula. This scenic, desert beach town offers several options for sports lovers. Try wind surfing in Moon Beach or kite surfing at La Hacienda Hotel’s water sports center. But before you do, check the weather conditions to make sure there’s enough wind to make the drive worth it. You don’t have be particularly athletic or an experienced surfer to try these sports, but you do have to be persistent to master the moves that surfers describe as some of the most liberating experiences on the water.

Avoid the Jams

When Cairo’s traffic turns ugly, it often adds hours to your already exhausting commute. If you’re tired of spending all your time guessing which routes will be clear (and failing), check out  wasalny.com.

Enter your current location and where you’re going and it will respond with the path of least resistance. You can download the app for your BlackBerry, iPhone and other smartphones as well.

If you’re in a helpful mood, you can also participate by sharing info on traffic jams, accidents and the like. And why not, if you’re stuck in traffic — it’s not like you have anything better to do.

Go Old School

Laptops, mobiles and other handheld technology have stolen the joy of writing on paper or in a special notebook that ages with time. But that doesn’t mean they’ve become extinct. To design your own notebook or choose something one of a kind, visit the AbdelZaher shop next to Azhar mosque. You can also take an old book and have it bound with leather and then embossed with your name.

Educate Yourself

Break Your Own Rules: How to Change the Patterns of Thinking That Block Women’s Paths to Power by Jill Flynn, Kathryn Heath and Mary Davis Holt is a great read for businesswomen and female working professionals.

The authors all have experience in the ‘C-suite’ world that make them capable of giving advice. They’ve also spent a decade coaching and mentoring over 5,000 women in business.

In the book they identify six rules women must break to move up in their organizations. If you can’t find the book in a local bookstore, order it online at amazon.com.

Get Creative

If you’re traveling this season and happen to end up in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Zurich, Chicago, London, Berlin, Vancouver or Stockholm, join the Creative Mornings group at their monthly breakfast lectures.

They are free and the lectures are only 20 minutes, followed by another 20 minutes of discussion and free coffee. The lectures center around time management and other useful tips to organize your mornings. They are also available on the video-sharing site Vimeo.

Deconstruct Your Workweek
The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss is a fun book that helps professionals restructure their lives so they’re not all about work. If you feel you’re stuck in your job, with too many hours spent at the desk, this is the book for you. It offers numerous timesaving and productivity tricks and a step-by-step plan to work smarter, not harder. Ferriss’ approach forces you to challenge how you manage your time in the workplace as well as any misconceptions about what is possible to achieve in life. bt