Planet Lifehacks

5 Motivational Tips to Get You Through the Day

2010-09-09T05:23:01+00:00

Photo Credit: The Pirata

Your motivation is what pushed you to succeed and determines to a large degree if you are going to succeed or fail. But even the most motivated person needs a little extra help sometimes.

When the going gets tough these 5 tips can help you turn the day around and get you back on track.

Getting out of a cold streak  I recall using these techniques with one of my salesmen; he was having a really bad week and was on the verge of just giving up, working just meant another rejection anyway.

At the beginning of the month we had set the goal that he was going to make two sales a week and agreed upon a very nice reward if he made it.

He was still motivated, as he really wanted the reward, but just couldn’t focus and get hungry about his work.

We went through these 5 tips (I will share the results with you below):

• Focus on Your Goals
Your motivation stands in direct relationship to how clear your goals are, they are the source of your motivation. When you feel down, focus on them, visualize them and think about how great it will be once you have completed them.

• Reward Yourself for Finishing Tasks
This is a great technique. Whenever you finish a task or complete a goal, give yourself a reward.
It can be a cup of coffee, a 10 minute break, a weekend away…. Anything that gets you motivated.
By doing this you train yourself to want to complete the goals and tasks as quickly and efficiently as possible, you will work hard to complete your goals, get the reward and move on the next. Always remember though, make sure you do the job well, you don’t want to have to go back and redo the task you already thought was finished.

• Take a Short Walk
Sometimes you need a break, to clear your mind and get yourself back on track. Taking a walk is a great way to sort your thoughts and refocus.

• Remember That When You Are Done, You Are Done
By this I mean that once you have done everything you need to do during the day, you are finished and can go home. That gives me a burst of motivation every time the day starts to feel long, it is up to me to make it go quickly so I can relax.

• Call a Loved One for Inspiration
Sometimes we cannot do it alone. Make sure to find a friend or loved one who can help you when you need motivation, who you can call and who you know will tell you that you can do it and that they know you are great.

That help really makes a big difference.

So how did it go for my colleague?
He started by getting out of the office and taking a walk. He then sat down and made an action plan listing rewards for finished tasks. He knew he wanted to complete the goal and was going to do everything in his power to complete it.
He got back to work and after 3 hours of hard work had made a dozen great calls, lined up some potential customers but still not made a sale.
He felt he was slipping back into his apathy, so he called his wife. She talked to him, listened to him and spurred him on.

When they hung up he had renewed his energy and got back to work. 1 hour later he had made a close and his confidence came rushing back.

2 weeks later he was back on course and on his was to break his personal best.
That is the power of these easy techniques.

If you are having a tough time, don’t let that get you down. Refocus and let yourself be all that you can be!

Action Exercises
• Set your goals
If you haven’t already, spend some time writing down your most important long term and short term goals.

• Determine a good reward that motivates you to complete tasks and goals

• Talk to someone you trust and ask them to be a source of motivation for you when you need it.

Daniel writes to us from Oslo, Norway. If you want to read more posts like this, visit Looking Into Business – where you can learn about Sales Techniques, Motivation and Success.

Ubieranie Kindelki - Kindle 3 Covers

2010-09-09T04:19:42+00:00

Kindelka, jak każda niewiasta, powinna dysponować garderobą na każdą okazję. Firma Amazon przygotowała dla niej dwa fasony skórzanych okładek - standardową oraz wyposażoną w ledową latarkę. Okładki te występują w siedmiu kolorach: czarnym, pomarańczowym, brązowym, różowym, niebieskim, zielonym i czerwonym. Żeby ocenić ich przydatność, postanowiłem kupić jeden egzemplarz standardowy (w kolorze niebieskim za $34.99) i drugi - świecący (w kolorze pomarańczowym za $59.99). Taka jest skala mojego poświęcenia dla drogich czytelników BIZNESU BEZ STRESU! :-)

Oto Kindelkowe ubranka - po lewej niebieskie, standardowe, nieco mniejsze od pomarańczowego, świecącego widocznego po prawej:

A to widok z góry - czarny narożnik z tworzywa sztucznego to schowana w tylnym skrzydle okładki ledowa latarka do czytania, gdy oświetlenie zewnętrzne jest niewystarczające (pamiętajmy, że papier elektroniczny tak, jak papier papierowy nie męczy wzroku, ponieważ nie świeci, ani nie jest podświetlany od spodu):

Na kolejnym zdjęciu widać, że okładka standardowa (u góry) ma czarne zaczepy do mocowania czytnika, zaś okładka świecąca zaczepy złocone, które służą także do zasilania ledowej latarki z baterii urządzenia:

Tak wygląda Kindelka ubrana w niebieską okładkę standardową:

A tak wygląda w tej okładce w ciemności:

Na kolejnym zdjęciu Kindelka prezentuje się w okładce pomarańczowej:

Żeby włączyć latarkę ledową należy ją wyciągnąć do oporu z obudowy. Sprężynujący wysięgnik ustawia światło pod odpowiednim kątem:

Latarka jest dostatecznie jasna, żeby rozświetlić absolutne ciemności:

Jednak oświetlenie całego ekranu nie jest równomierne. Treść w prawym górnym rogu widać doskonale (mimo odblasków na obudowie). Natomiast podczas czytania dolnych wierszy (szczególnie z lewej strony) niektóre osoby (na przykład ja) mogą odczuwać pewien dyskomfort:

Czas na podsumowanie.

Uważam, że okładka z ledową latarką jest ciekawym rozwiązaniem koncepcyjnym, jednak nie będzie sprawdzać się w większości zastosowań. Jak często czytasz książki z latarką w ręku? No chyba, że pod kołdrą...

Okładka standardowa jest nieco lżejsza i dobrze zabezpiecza urządzenie przed nieszczęściami w podróży. Jednak i ona ma poważną wadę - waży co najmniej tyle, co Kindelka. Podczas czytania ciężar ten daje się odczuć - pamiętajmy, że Kindelka waży zaledwie 241 gramów - tyle co zeszyt o tej samej grubości (to zupełnie inna klasa niż iPad ważący 680 gramów).

Chciałbym, żeby ktoś zaoferował bardzo lekkie etui, które służyłoby głównie do ochrony ekranu Kindle 3 przed uszkodzeniem. To - moim zdaniem - byłby strzał w dziesiątkę.

I jeszcze jedno: zaczepy okładek Kindle 3 są rozstawione szerzej niż w przypadku Kindle 2, więc nie da się użyć starej okładki do ochrony nowej wersji czytnika.

Simplify, and Savor Life

2010-09-09T02:45:26+00:00

‘The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive.’ ~Thich Nhat Hanh

Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on twitter .

These days we have an abundance of luxuries, but I’ve found that excess actually decreases my enjoyment of life.

Sure, we can get massive amounts of rich foods, feasting to our heart’s content, stuffing ourselves in alarming displays of gluttony … but is that really enjoyable on a regular basis?

And yes, television can be fun, and so can ridiculously large parts of the Internet, but if it’s always on, if we’re always connected, doesn’t that lower the fun factor?

Excesses lead to all kinds of problems, but the biggest problem is that life is less enjoyable.

I’ve been finding that simplifying things means I can savor life more fully.

Savoring life starts with a mindset. It’s a mindset that believes that excess, that rushing, that busy-ness, that distractedness, isn’t ideal. It’s a mindset that tries instead to:

simplify
do & consume less
slow down
be mindful & present
savor things fully

It’s the little things that make life enjoyable: a walk with a loved one, a delicious book, a chilled plum, a newly blooming tree.

And by simplifying, we can savor life to the fullest.

Some ideas I’ve been considering lately:

1. Coffee: Instead of ordering a latte, mocha, cappuccino with whipped cream and cinnamon and shavings … simplify. Just get pure, good coffee (or espresso), brewed fresh with care and precision, with quality beans, freshly roasted. Make it yourself if you can. Drink it slowly, with little or nothing added, and enjoy it thoroughly.

2. Tea: I recently had tea with Jesse Jacobs, the owner of Samovar Tea Lounge, and he poured two different teas from tiny tea pots: Nishi Sencha 1st Flush and Bai Hao Oolong tea. It was fresh, hand-made tea from real leaves, not a tea bag, and it was simply delicious. Drink it slowly, with your eyes closed, fully appreciating the aroma … wonderful.

3. Workouts: I’ve been a fan of simpler workouts recently. While others might spend an hour to 90 minutes in the gym, going through a series of 10 different exercises, I just do 1-3 functional exercises, but with intensity. So I might do some sprint intervals, or a few rounds of pushups, pullups, and bodyweight squats. Or 400 meters of walking lunges. Let me tell you, that’s a simple but incredible workout. Another I like: five rounds 85-lb. squat thrusters (10 reps) alternated with pushups (10 reps). Today’s workout was three rounds of 15 burpees and 800-meter runs. No rest unless you need it. These are great workouts, but very simple, and very tough. I love them.

4. Sweets: I used to be a sugar addict. Now I still enjoy an occasional dessert, but in tiny portions, eaten very slowly. What I enjoy even more, though, is cold fruit. A chilled peach, some blueberries, a few strawberries, a plum: eat it one bite at a time, close your eyes with each bite, and enjoy to the fullest. So good.

5. Meals: While the trend these days is super-sized meals of greasy, fried things (more than two people need to eat actually), I have been enjoying smaller meals of simplicity. Just a few ingredients, fresh, whole, unprocessed, without chemicals or sauces. My meals usually include: a breakfast of steel-cut oats (cooked) with cinnamon, almonds, and berries; a lunch of yogurt, nuts, and fruit; a dinner of beans or tofu with quinoa and steamed veggies (or sauteed with garlic and olive oil). These simple meals are better because not only are they healthy, each ingredient can be tasted, its flavor fully enjoyed.

6. Reading: While the Internet is chock full of things to read, I’ve been enjoying the simplicity of a paper book, borrowed from the library or a friend (borrowing/sharing reduces natural resources consumed). When I read online, I read a single article at a time, using either the Readability or Clippable bookmarklet to remove distrations, and in full-screen mode in the Chrome browser (hit Cmd-F on the Mac version or F11 in Windows). It’s pure reading, no distractions, and lovely.

The 3-Step Stress Detox

2010-09-07T23:46:28+00:00

Stress is toxic.

Actually, that’s not quite true. Long-term stress is toxic.

In the short term – say, for getting away from a tiger – stress is very useful. It turns you into a temporary superhero. Your senses become sharper to detect danger, your memory is enhanced (so that next time you’ll remember not to blunder into the tiger’s territory), and your blood fills with energy-boosting and protective chemicals and rushes out to your arms and legs so that you can a) hit the tiger hard on the nose and b) run away quickly. So far, so good.

The long-term not-a-tiger problem

The problem is that in 21st-century cities, what we have is not a tiger (which you either escape from quickly, or… not). We have debts and relationship issues and work pressure. You can’t hit them, you can’t run away from them, and instead of being resolved in 20 minutes they can go on for months or years.

That’s when stress becomes toxic. The blood that’s stuck out in your extremities isn’t helping you, for example, to digest your food and otherwise run your internal organs. It’s at high pressure, and it’s thick with all of the chemicals that are there to boost your speed and protect you from infections, allergies and pain. But they never get used, and either you run out of them (and get the infections, allergy and pain), or they lurk around and potentially clog or burst your arteries.

Your memory keeps getting poked: “Remember this. Remember this. Pay attention.” Eventually it can’t cope any more and starts dropping things out.

It’s toxic.

The 3-step stress detox

So what can you do to get out of this toxic state?

Here are three simple steps.

1. Connect. This seems totally unintuitive at first glance. Our instinct, faced with bad things happening, is to close them out of our awareness – but that’s fighting against the stress reaction, which is saying, “Danger! Warning, Will Robinson! Pay attention, this is important!”

We can end up putting an awful lot of energy into that struggle that we could be using for something more helpful – like resolving the situation.

Most of the techniques that psychologists refer to as “maladaptive coping” are ways of distracting ourselves from unpleasant situations. I’m talking here about everything from cutting yourself to overeating, drinking and smoking (or just working too hard). The stress is too big and scary, so we turn away and hope it won’t eat us.

The problem is, in doing so we’re trying to ignore the alarms that are going off and signalling that something’s wrong. By “connecting” I mean paying attention to the alarms – not to the fire, just yet, only to the alarms. Connecting means becoming consciously aware of what’s happening in your body, where you’re holding tension, how you’re feeling.

When that’s clear, move on to step 2.

2. Welcome. Again, this goes against all our instincts. But we’re not welcoming the bad situation, we’re just welcoming the feelings that tell us about it. And we welcome them by name. “Welcome, anger.” “Welcome, fear.” The feelings are there to help.

Naming feelings is very important. It creates a link between the rational, language-using part of your brain and the irrational part that is experiencing the feeling, and starts to draw off some of its activation.

You’ll feel that start to work, your body starting to calm down – because you’re still in touch with your body from step 1. Those stress chemicals will take a minute or two to be pulled out of your blood, but that’s all right. The process has started.

3. Let go. As the feelings start to fade, let them. Release them in your mind. You might want to say something like “I let go of anger,” or whatever the emotion is. You might even make a releasing gesture with your hands.

Breathe out.

You’ve just shifted your body from its activated state back into what should be its normal situation – with the blood flowing smoothly to the internal organs, the muscles relaxed and the mind calm.

The Welcoming Practice

What I’ve just described is the Welcoming Practice (or Welcoming Prayer), created by Mary Mrozowski within the Benedictine Centering Prayer movement. (Yes, it’s not just Buddhists who can do this kind of thing.) I use it to calm myself down whenever anger, fear or stress threaten to hijack my body and brain in one of those not-a-tiger situations.

The consequence is that I can move on quickly to a state of mind where I can start to think about how to resolve the situation – if that even needs doing after I’ve calmed down.

After all, sometimes, my toxic stress reaction was going to be the problem, the whole problem and nothing but a problem.

Are you stressed? Try the three-step detox right now, and tell us about your results in the comments.

Hypnotherapist Mike Reeves-McMillan blogs on health and personal development at Living Skillfully. For even more stress relief, get his free online course, Simple Stress Management Techniques.

Staring Out Over the Bridge

2010-09-07T14:39:04+00:00

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Chris Guillebeau of The Art of Non-Conformity. Follow him on Twitter here.

When you were a kid and wanted to do something your parents or teachers didn’t like, you may have heard the question, “If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you?” The idea is that it’s not good to do something stupid, even if everyone else is doing it. The logic is think for yourself instead of following the crowd.

It’s good advice, regardless of the motivations of the authority figure giving it to you. But one day, you grow up and suddenly the tables are turned. People start expecting you to behave very much like they do. If you disagree and don’t conform to their expectations, some of them get confused or irritated. It’s almost as if they are asking: “Hey, everyone else is jumping off the bridge. Why aren’t you?”

Every day, you’ll encounter the bridge in countless decisions and conversations—but the choice of whether to jump or not is completely up to you. How can you back away and make your own choices?

Try this:

1. Ask why. A powerful, annoying question, why is frequently used by three-year-olds but usually abandoned by adults. Support the why revolution. Start asking why of everyone, including yourself.

2. Clarify. What’s it all about? What do you really want to do, and how can you make that the priority?

3. Simplify. That’s what minimalism is all about—letting go and living the dream. But the best part of simplicity has nothing to do with how many socks you own; it lies in being clear about your intentions and motivations.

4. Do … more. That’s right, do more, not less. When you don’t know your core passions and are staring out over the bridge, it’s good to back off and strip everything down. But when you’re crafting a remarkable life, why wouldn’t you want more of it?

Here are a few options for step four: learn a language. Write a book. Take a trip. Learn to walk on hot coals. Enroll in trapeze school. Volunteer.

Or do something else—it’s a big world out there. The main question is: How can you wake up tomorrow and live the life you want, while also connecting with the world around you?

Most of us don’t really want the simplest possible life. We want a life that is free from clutter, yes—but we need to connect our lives with a greater purpose. We don’t need to own things we don’t use, but we should spend freely on meaningful experiences. We should invest in ourselves and invest in others.

Take a hard look at the life before you. Are you staring out over the bridge? Take a step back. Decide for yourself what’s best.

The rest is entirely up to you.

Chris Guillebeau travels and writes for a small army of remarkable people at chrisguillebeau.com. His new book, The Art of Non-Conformity, is now available online and in bookstores everywhere.
—
Some recent posts on mnmlist you might be interested in:

Steve Pavlina Facebook Fan Page

2010-09-07T01:39:39+00:00

By popular request (i.e. constant nagging for the past year), I finally created a Steve Pavlina Facebook fan page. If you have a Facebook account, please feel free to friend me there by clicking the “Like” button on that page.

My regular personal Facebook page has been maxed out at 5,000 friends for more than a year, so I’ve been stuck with an ever-growing queue of hundreds of friend requests I can’t approve. I’ve only been able to add new Facebook friends as people drop off, but the waiting list always grows faster. I’m also unable to add new friends of my own choosing. Even when I drop down to 4980 friends or so, Facebook says I’m still too close to the limit to let me send out any new friend requests.

The nice thing about fan pages is that they provide essentially the same functionality as a regular Facebook page, but as far as I can tell, there’s no limit on the number of connections you can have. The best part for me is that I don’t need to manually approve requests to follow a fan page — as you might imagine, doing that for a page with thousands of requests can get a bit tedious.

I just put the Facebook fan page up within the past hour, and dozens of people have already connected to it. I suspect it will eventually overtake my personal Facebook page in terms of the number of connections.

I’m not sure what to do differently with the fan page vs. the personal one, so for now I’ll probably clone the status updates on both. In the long run, I’ll probably pay more attention to the fan page as the number of connections grows, using it as a place to stimulate discussion and feedback on a variety of ideas.

I’ve been into online social networking since 1994, so I’ve been very active on Facebook and Twitter. If you’ve seen my personal Facebook page, you’ll know that it’s quite lively.

The catalyst that finally pushed me over the edge to create a fan page was reading the book The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World by David Kirkpatrick. This is a fascinating read if you care to learn about the history of Facebook. I purchased and read it on my iPad.

Learn how to make faster progress in your career, finances, relationships, habits, health, and more. See Steve at the Conscious Growth Workshop, October 29-31, 2010.

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Monday Tip: Stealth Disco

2010-09-06T14:11:04+00:00

It’s Monday and time for yet another Monday Tip.

I’ve got two words for ya: Stealth Disco.

According to Wikipedia, Stealth Disco is:

The act of being videotaped dancing or rocking out behind or near someone who is doing something serious and does not notice.

Now go Disco. Stealthily.

Update – I’ll go first:

This is me Stealth Discoing my associate Jon. Now it’s your turn. Feel free to document it in the comments :o)

The Chief Happiness Officer’s Monday tips are simple, easy, fun things you can do to make yourself and others happy at work and get the work-week off to a great start. Something everyone can do in five minutes, tops. When you try it, write a comment here to tell me how it went.

Previous Monday tips.

Przepis na sukces w szkole

2010-09-06T04:33:39+00:00

(photo by: Rex Pe )

Jeśli chcesz lekko i bez stresu przebrnąć przez szkołę z pozytywnym wynikiem, zebrałem dla ciebie kilka rad, które już wcześniej pojawiały się na łamach BIZNESU BEZ STRESU. Zastosowanie tych sposobów pozwoliło mi bezproblemowo ukończyć szkołę podstawową, liceum, dostać się na studia, obronić pracę magisterską w terminie i zająć się działalnością, którą lubię i za którą wiele osób chętnie mnie wynagradza.

Zanim jednak przejdę do moich rad, muszę podkreślić jedną, bardzo ważną sprawę, o którejś też już kiedyś pisałem. Pamiętaj, że człowiek sukcesu:

Szuka w sobie siły, by zaakceptować to, czego zmienić nie sposób.
Szuka w sobie odwagi, aby zmieniać to, co można poprawić.
Szuka w sobie mądrości, która pozwoli mu odróżnić te dwie kategorie spraw.

A teraz mój przepis, jak osiągnąć sukces w szkole:

Ułóż swój ramowy plan dnia uwzględniający tygodniowy rozkład zajęć w szkole, zajęcia pozalekcyjne, czas na odrabianie lekcji i - co najważniejsze - czas na sport, rozrywkę i odpoczynek. Mój plan dnia wygląda tak: Mój plan dnia, ale oczywiście nie musisz wstawać o 4:45 rano. Wystarczy, że nie będziesz spóźniał się na pierwszą lekcję.
Konsekwentnie stosuj procedurę odrabiania lekcji POL 2.0 - Procedura Odrabiania Lekcji wersja 2.0. Nie da się ukryć, że odrabianie lekcji zajmuje więcej czasu niż nic-nie-robienie, ale jeśli twoim celem jest nic-nie-robienie, to nie zawracaj sobie głowy czytaniem BIZNESU BEZ STRESU, bo twoje życie będzie albo żałosne, albo pełne stresu.
Weź kartkę papieru i stwórz swój kompaktowy kalendarz taki, jak ten który zaproponowałem 2 lata temu Kompaktowy kalendarz 2008/2009. Notując w nim terminy sprawdzianów i większych prac domowych będziesz miał pełny przegląd czekających cię zadań. Nie przygotowałem w tym roku odpowiedniego pliku PDF, ponieważ uważam, że samodzielne przygotowanie kalendarza umożliwi ci przyjrzenie się całemu rokowi szkolnemu i zdanie sobie sprawy, ile czasu masz przed sobą - do wykorzystania lub stracenia.
Zastosuj zasłonę dymną (Zasłona dymna w szkole), żeby poświęcić swój czas na to, co cię naprawdę interesuje, wiedząc, że pozostałe sprawy (przedmioty szkolne) toczą się właściwymi torami.

Powodzenia!

I tylko nie mów: "Nie dziękuję."

Ludziom sukcesu podziękowania nie szkodzą!

10 Inspirational Quotes to Apply To Your Finances

2010-09-05T03:14:38+00:00

EVERYONE likes handy little money-saving tips, but getting control of your finances sometimes takes much bigger ideas.

Why not take these ten inspirational quotes and apply them to your finances?

“Worry, like a rocking chair will give you something to do, but it won’t get you anywhere.” – Vance Havner

Most of us are guilty of worrying about money, and whilst it might be justified in some circumstances, the actual worrying won’t solve any problems – and worse still, it can be bad for your physical and mental health.

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.” – Albert Einstein

When it comes to your finances, it’s important to learn from your mistakes. It means you will find yourself better off and more able to ‘live for today’ and have ‘hope for tomorrow’.

“Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need.” – Tyler Durden, Fight Club (via author Chuck Phalanuick)

Anti-consumerist and anarchist Tyler Durden’s methods might have been extreme in the novel/movie Fight Club, but the nihilist offered some wise words on mass-consumerism.

Think carefully about what you spend your money on – do you really need it?

“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” – William Arthur Ward

The causes of your financial problems and the chances of them improving are both academic unless you do something to improve the situation yourself.

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” – Leo Tolstoy

Tolstoy’s sentiments are similar to William Arthur Ward’s. If you have money troubles you can get bogged down in what caused them. You can’t change the economy and you can’t change the way finance works, but you can change the way you spend and save.

“Have patience, and endure” – Shakespeare, Much Ado

If you apply Shakespeare’s advice to your finances, and realise that things are not going to change overnight, you can alleviate some of the stress you put upon yourself.

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” – Lao-tzu

Combine the logic of Tolstoy and Shakespeare, and you get something resembling this quote from sixth Century philosopher Lao-tzu. Start by changing your own habits, like Tolstoy says, but think small.

Even if it’s only something like opening a savings account like a cash Isa and putting a small amount of money in it, ‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.’

“Both optimists and pessimists contribute to our society. The optimist invents the airplane and the pessimist the parachute.” – Gil Stern

Of course it’s important to stay positive, but don’t let a rose-tinted view of your finances stop you from preparing for difficulties. If you’re going to fly a plane, you’d want to know there was a parachute on board wouldn’t you?

“Learn all you can from the mistakes of others. You won’t have time to make them all yourself.” – Alfred Sheinwold

Listen to your friends and family if they have experience in any of the financial areas you’re thinking about. Ask your parents about their first mortgage, ask your grandma how she used to save money and make use of their advice.

“Go forward without fear.” – Abraham Lincoln

Don’t bury your head in the sand! Tackling financial problems requires action, and things won’t get fixed if you try to ignore them. Don’t let fear hold you back.

Glossary of terms

APR

This stands for Annual Percentage Rate. Any firm that lends money is required by law to quote the APR. Introductory rates do not include arrangement fees you may be charged and also don’t reflect any higher rate of interest that your borrowings will ultimately revert to. The APR takes into account the interest on a loan plus and additional charges making it easier for you to compare products. In general, the lower the APR the better the deal.

Balance Transfer

Balance transfer rates are applied to existing card debt that is being moved from one issuer to another or a consolidation of other debts. These rates tend to be lower than standard rates and apply to the debt transferred or consolidated for a specified term or until it is repaid in full.

Credit Card

Credit cards are a form of borrowing used to purchase goods and services, to obtain cash advances and for consolidating debt.

Direct Debit

This allows an organization to take money directly from a persons bank account

Minimum payment

The amount you must pay each month to keep your account in order

Interest-free period

The time between when you buy something on the card and the date when you must pay your monthly bill. This can be 50 days or more and is interest-free. So if you settle your bill in full every month, it’s free borrowing.

Promotional Rate

A rate that is applied to your account until a given expiry date. Thereafter it will revert to the rate applicable to your account at that time.

[Mark Hooson writes for Moneysupermarket.com about money-saving, consumer issues and personal finance.]

How to Be Successful When You Can’t Plan Ahead

2010-09-04T16:47:09+00:00

I was talking with a friend recently who took a voluntary lay-off to go to a new position at a start-up company. When the hiring executive at the new company went to his boss to make the hire, however, he was told he couldn’t bring my friend on full-time. By then his old position had already been reassigned, and if he were hired back, it would mean several other people would lose their jobs. In a matter of a day, he went from a planned, orderly transition into a new job to being without a job as the sole provider for the family.

At some point, everyone faces challenging situations where what we thought would develop or happen doesn’t. Some people fall apart. Others deal with the curves thrown their way seamlessly, functioning as if nothing out of the ordinary has happened.

Dealing with these moments productively, as my friend appears to be doing, depends on quickly figuring out your new reality and stepping through a process allowing you to focus and implement successfully. These fifteen steps will help you do that more effectively when the world around you appears to be crumbling:

Define (or redefine) what you’re trying to accomplish. Figure out if your original goal is still valid or needs to change to reflect the new situation you’re facing. Once you’ve decided, make sure your team knows what the goal looks like right now.
Identify critical priorities that can’t be compromised. Some things may be more important than others. Maybe it’s a timeline that absolutely can’t be moved; at the same time, some deliverables you expected to accomplish by the deadline may now have to be jettisoned from your plan. Make these determinations right away.
Figure out what fundamentals still hold. Although your situation has changed, it’s likely some things you’ve come to depend on are unchanged. Make a quick check of what you DO know and can depend on in your now unfamiliar situation.
Quickly secure access to critical information flows. If you need to move forward before everything is sorted out, devote some mental resources to soliciting multiples inputs about the situation – from those on your team, from listening to and observing other participants, from previous information sources (realizing they may now be compromised), and from anywhere else you can.
Stay mentally active and engaged. There can be a tendency to shut down in uncertain situations. Don’t let yourself become indecisive, especially if you’re trying to process new data sources. Instead, rapidly assess the information’s viability, add it to your knowledge base as appropriate, and keep moving.
Imagine the range of relevant possibilities that may unfold. Develop likely scenarios and their implications. Even with what may feel like extreme uncertainty, also look for common elements among the possibilities. Figure out actions you can take that make sense irrespective of which scenario plays out.
Develop mini-plans. With the potential scenarios, figure out what you can reasonably prepare for, just in case. Use mini-plans – checklists which contain two or three steps – to plot your potential courses of action. With a series of mini-plans, your timeline from start to finish is short (which is fitting in an unfamiliar situation), and as variables change, you can choose from among the most appropriate mini-plans.
Inventory available resources. Identify what’s at your disposal to advance your situation. The inventory should include the relevant talents and experiences of you and those on your team plus other physical and intangible resources you have. Identify redundancies, gaps, and superfluous resources in the inventory.

Take action on your resource inventory. Shed any dead weight among your resources which won’t be necessary and could slow you down. At the same time, secure the very basic resources which allow you to function in as many scenarios as possible.
Increase your ability to maneuver. Beyond shedding resources for flexibility, prioritize early decisions and actions which keep the greatest number of current options. Flexibility is valuable, so hang on to as much of it as you can for as long as you can without compromising achieving your objectives.

Secure resources to operate in the most likely scenarios. You may not be able to get all the support you need to fill your gaps. Because of this, prioritize resources which will work across multiple scenarios, even if they might not be exactly the best fit. It’s about the greatest flexibility and impact from the fewest resources possible.

Accept acting amid uncertainty. This is easier for some people than others, but you need to become comfortable right away with not being able to figure things out ahead of time. If you don’t have time on your side, you’ll have to advance with incomplete information and be open to adapting as you go.
Be open to spontaneity and depending on your instincts. You’re facing a different situation, so the standard tools and tricks you’ve used may be much less effective. As a result, open yourself up to solutions which you wouldn’t have previously considered. Instincts can become even more important in dictating what your next move should be.
Share information with those on your team. It takes information to co-participate successfully. If you’re moving ahead with mini-plans and a higher degree of spontaneity, it’s important to provide cues and information to your team so they can move with you.
Gauge your progress, adapt, and keep going. By using mini-plans, you’re never more than a couple of steps away from reaching an interim objective where you can gauge progress and adjust for the next mini-plan. Make sure as you do this you’re seeking input from your team and monitoring the environment around you to see what others are doing.

While these steps are presented separately, the activities may all have to take place in a few moments, some in a split second. That’s why it pays to practice by putting yourself in unfamiliar situations to develop your skills. Then if you have to divert from your original plan and wing it, you’re in a better position to go forth creatively and boldly. I’m not sure having to innovate on the spot in important situations gets any less nerve racking, but with these steps, you can better flex and still strategically deliver results no matter what gets thrown at you personally or professionally.

Mike Brown leads The Brainzooming Group, helping organizations succeed more rapidly by expanding their strategic options and efficiently implementing innovative plans. He authors the Brainzooming™ blog, shares innovation ideas on Twitter, and wrote the ebook “Taking the NO Out of InNOvation.” He's also a frequent keynote presenter.

Winter Blues

2010-09-03T21:57:41+00:00

Studies have shown that in areas where winters are long cold and grey the depression and suicide rates increase during those months. In those same areas, during the summer those rates decrease, which to me indicates that we have the same troubles throughout the year, but during the winter months when the outside is cold [...]

Friday Spoing

2010-09-03T10:59:17+00:00

This Friday we have a slo-mo Spoing for ya:

I have no idea why this is so funny, but it is :o)

Have a very happy weekend!

The Myth of ‘Wishing Upon a Star’: 5 Real Ways to Get Things Done

2010-09-03T05:42:51+00:00

All of us have dreams. All of us wish we could be someone we aren’t today.

Just like poor little Pinocchio, wishing he was a “real boy”.

The question is; will a star grant our dreams?

From what I have learned I think that if you wait for your dreams to come true on their own, it will be a long wait.

On the other hand if you take charge and make things happen for yourself, it can go very quickly.

5 Steps to Accomplishing Your Goals:

Clarify your goals
Write down your goals on a piece of paper; make sure they are goals you can measure. You want to know when you have completed them.

For example, don’t set the goal; “I want to lose weight”.

Instead, set a target, a deadline and right it in the positive present tense, as if you already completed it e.g.; “I weigh 150 lbs. by the 31 of December 2010”.

This method activates the subconscious mind to start pulling these goals into your reality.

2. Make Plans

“Failing to plan means planning to fail” is a popular quote and it is very true.

When just starting out on the path to your goals, it will feel like making a plan is impossible, you often don’t really know how you are going to complete the task so you just start throwing ideas against the wall to see what sticks.

This is good, the more you try the better your chance of success is, but you should still plan.

Each time you have an idea and want to try it out, spend some time making plans for how you will make it as successful as possible.

Ask the four questions:

- What is the goal of the project?

- What needs to happen in order for that to happen?

- What needs to be done?

- In what order?

When you have the answer to all four questions it is time to start the project.

3. Focus on your goal

Make sure you focus on your goal. Don’t let yourself be distracted by opportunities that pull you away from your dream, even if it seems too good to say no to, if it isn’t your dream it is not worth doing. Unless of course the offer is of the magnitude that it completely changes your dreams!

4. Be ready to change your plans

Things will not go as you hope, you will have setbacks and you might even notice that what you want now isn’t the same as what you wanted only a few months ago.

That is okay!

Be ready to change, adapt and grow as a person and let your dreams grow as well.

5. Take Action

Whatever you do, take action.

It doesn’t matter if you skip all the other steps, taking action is the most important.

It is the only thing that can make you succeed.

Even if you do all the other 4 steps, if you don’t take action on it, nothing will happen.

Discipline yourself to go through with your decisions and make your dreams come true.

All of a sudden you are living the dream

Completing your goals doesn’t have to be harder than this.

Follow these 5 steps and before you know it, you will be living your dream.

Just remember, don’t wait for someone else to give it to you. Get it for yourself!
Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.

This was a guest post by Daniel M. Wood of the popular blog Looking To Business he writes about Sales, Motivation and Success.

I suggest that you start with these articles as they are a collection of his best work and can help you find additional techniques and motivation.

Good luck!

Don’t Forget To Follow PickTheBrain of Twitter!

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Words That Heal and Empower

The happiness empire expands

2010-09-02T12:32:51+00:00

Yesterday we expanded our company headcount by over 30% when our newest associate Arlette Bentzen joined us.

And of course there were flowers:

Arlette (on the right) has a background int the travel industry and in fitness. She will be doing workshops and speeches and she will also be our event manager and run our conferences and other events. Arlette is a wonderful person who has a lot of energy (pretty much a requirement to work for us) and we’re very excited about her :o)

And here’s the whole team:

4 Fool-Proof Methods for Slaying Health-Sucking Vampires

2010-09-02T06:07:33+00:00

We live in an age of vampires. And their numbers are on the rise.

No, I’m not talking about the blood-sucking ones (I leave those to Buffy and Blade to deal with). I’m talking about health-sucking vampires.

Health-sucking vampires are those twisted creatures that consciously or not drain us of our vitality, vigor, and overall well-being.

You’ve met these villains of vibrant heath already – those that criticize your health endeavors, those that mock you for your health diligence, and those that would drag your health quality down to their unacceptable level.

It’s time to fight back. It’s time we become health-sucking vampire slayers!

1. Emotional Holy Water

Health-sucking vampires are nasty creatures. You certainly don’t want them to linger around for too long. But like any good tactician, your initial response to a vampire threat should be a controlled and measured one.

Enter emotional holy water – the delightful yet stealthy weapon against health-sucking vampires.

Let’s first explore how holy water works. Ordinary vampires are repulsed by any potent substance or symbol of genuine goodness. Holy water is the embodiment of that idea. And when sprinkled (or flooded) upon them, the vampires cringe and flee.

We’ll use the same approach when contesting health-sucking vampires. But instead of dousing them with holy water we’ll drench them in a bath of radiant and positive emotions.

This tactic is quite easy to execute. Simply share to the confrontational vampire how euphoric you feel when conquering health challenges. Convey how energized and confident you become when eliminating sugar-coma inducing foods from your diet. Vivify how magnificent it is to have near-limitless vitality for all the activities you love. And so on…

Such an emotional barrage has profound affects on humanoids – people and vampires alike. Both are hard-wired to be viscerally receptive to emotional arguments. So if you can effectively articulate the emotional benefits you reap from your life of vibrant health, then that positive force field will block the health-sucking vampires attack. Even better, they’ll recognize you as a powerful opponent and thus turn away in search of weaker victims.

You’ll slay most health-sucking vampires with emotional holy water. That’s the best of outcomes because you’ll have effectively regulated your energy output, minimized your stress, and also avoided using more contentious means.

2. Crosses of Conviction

Sadly, some health-sucking vampires will elude your emotional holy water dousing. If that’s the case then it’s time to break-out your crosses of conviction.

Vampires of traditional folklore cannot tolerate the sight and influence of religious crosses. The crosses are too pure for them to cope with. Why? Because such righteous symbolism conflicts with the very essence of a vampire’s vile treachery and outright wickedness.

Health-sucking vampires are equally sensitive to forces that conflict with their unhealthy spirit. Such conflict is a war of conviction – beliefs. Healthless vampires believe fabulous, joyful, and vibrant health is either unattainable or unimportant. This is toxic and seductive mindset that compels them to attempt inflicting others with it.

Your response to such health threats is an unleashing of your indestructible convictions for fearless health. Share your beliefs on why good health matters to you, how vibrant health makes you superhuman, and why healthlessness is a game for suckers.

The trick is to unleash these convictions in a positive and passionate manner. We don’t want an all-out war if it can be avoided. So don’t preach to the health-sucking vampire – merely convey the full extent of your healthy lifestyle beliefs.

The magic of pure health convictions is that they’re rooted in ideals far stronger than the every-changing whims of vampires. Such health-sucking demons follow trends. They’re loyal to no one cause. That’s precisely why they’ll never be as tenacious and valiant as you can be.

3. Blasts of Audacious Sunlight

Alas, sometimes health-sucking vampires get past your onslaught of fearless health convictions. If that happens then it’s time to up your game and let loose some audacity! But before becoming the James Bond of health, let’s first understand how this works.

Bright sunlight unnerves even the staunchest of conventional vampires. They wither at it’s presence and thus seek havens in the depths of darkness. The reason is simple – sunlight is raw and pristine energy.

Hitting health-sucking vampires with an equally concentrated dose of energy has the same effect. But with this breed of vampire, your audacity is your energy powerhouse.

Audacity, of course, is the apex of boldness. It’s not a force easily deflected or defeated. The thing with audacity though is that it only works at full-throttle. So if you have to get audacious with healthless vampires then don’t half-ass it. And by this point, it’s okay to be a bit edgy.

Precisely “how” you get audacious is up to you. Here are a few ideas – convey your sentiments for radiant health in absolute terms; contrast the status quo’s declining health standards with your own uplifting health spirit; verbally illustrate how your remarkable health is a gateway to euphoric life experiences unattainable by those less healthy.

Final tip – your blasts of audacity should be focused on you, not them. This keeps your audacity bold yet not fully antagonistic. As we’ll see next, shifting the focus onto them is the more provocative and lethal option.

4. Silver Daggers of Truth

If emotional holy water, crosses of conviction, and blasts of audacious sunlight haven’t fully rid your life of health-sucking vampires then it’s time to deploy your alpha-weapon – silver daggers of truth.

Daggers are the most direct and lethal means in your anti-vampire arsenal. Thus, they shouldn’t be used lightly. Consider them as the option of last resort or for first-strike attacks against exceptionally vile vampires.

Silver daggers of truth are so deadly due to a simple and universal reality – the truth hurts, and hurts a lot when they are inconvenient facts about you. If you need to escalate your attack to this level then don’t be ashamed to do so. Just know that you won’t be converting the vampires into your best-friends-forever.

So when launching your silver daggers of truth go for the heart. Call out how they’re subjecting themselves to suffocating amounts of health care costs and debts, either now or in the future. Share in no uncertain terms how their approach to life itself is more about talk and half-measures than actual substance. Nail them with the inescapable truth that their poor health promotes a destiny of unfulfilled dreams, forsaken opportunities, and maddening regret.

Yes, this approach isn’t for the faint-of-heart. It’s a direct assault on them. Thus, use with caution and don’t have an itchy trigger finger. But sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.

Congrats – You’re Now a Health-Sucking Vampire Slayer!

Health-sucking vampires shall continue to live all around us. It seems that’s just a truth of the times, tragically.

And there are health-sucking vampires you may never be able to slay completely. But with these four fool-proof methods you’ll at least be able to keep those vampires at bay.

In the end, you have the ability (and now the know-how) to successfully take-on and defeat these creatures. And at a certain point, health-sucking vampire slaying may even become fun! Enjoy!

Author Bio:

Matt Gartland is a proud health geek, writer, world traveler, nonconformist, coffee fanatic, and more. He writes at Healthy Lifestyle Design where he unleashes his passion for audacious, remarkable and unconventional living powered by a vibrant healthy lifestyle. He’s also the author of Fearless Health – a manifesto for optimizing the human experience and changing the world.

Photo: Little Blue Hen

Czy wiesz, czego nie robisz?

2010-09-02T04:40:55+00:00

David Allen - twórca metodyki Getting Things Done (GTD) - bardzo często powtarza:

Tylko wtedy nie martwisz się tym, czego nie robisz, gdy dokładnie wiesz, czego nie robisz.

Moim zdaniem ten cytat wymaga istotnego uzupełnienia. Oto moja wersja:

Tylko wtedy nie martwisz się tym, czego nie robisz, gdy dokładnie wiesz, czego nie robisz i akceptujesz wynikające z tego faktu konsekwencje.

Do przemyślenia na koniec wakacji...

How I’m Getting a Smartphone, While Avoiding Crazy Habits

2010-09-01T23:44:48+00:00

What makes a smartphone “smart?”

This may sound like a dumb question, but I have actually been asking it ever since I made a commitment to upgrade my time management system with the purchase of a shiny, new 2011 smartphone in January.

Setting aside the question of the costs (which I understand can top US$2,000 per year when internet charges are included,) I am focused on discovering whether or not I can boost my productivity with an intelligent choice. In doing so, I realize that I could end up deciding to maintain the status quo: a cheap Nokia cellphone and an old Palm PDA.

Important: this is a productivity effort on my part, not a shopper’s comparison.

I have never owned a smartphone, and after seeing some of the ways in which they have been used and abused by their owners, I am wary. I don’t want to become another smartphone addict who can’t stop themselves from using bad habits daily. Instead, I have delayed purchasing a smartphone, and I have decided to ignore the advertisements in order to make a decision.

So far, what I’ve gleaned about these devices has been interesting.

One of the main lessons I have learned is that smartphones aren’t all that smart when it comes to enhancing an individual’s productivity. To understand why this is the case, let’s first define what I DON’T mean by using the word “productivity.”

Convenience, not Productivity

Many of the most recent smartphone innovations have more to do with convenience than productivity. For example, if I’m traveling on the road and need to take a picture, a smartphone could take the place of a forgotten camera. Smartphones have been continuously redesigned to replace electronic tools such as:

- a camera
- a DVD / video player
- an mp3 player
- a camcorder
- a voice recorder
- simple browser
- an instant messaging system
- an email and text messaging system
- a GPS device
- a cell phone
- a radio
- a gaming device
- a laptop

It appears that smartphone manufacturers have focused their attention on cramming as many electronic tools as they can into as small a case as possible, which is has been an amazing thing to watch as a non-user. Even though the miniaturized, smartphone versions of these devices are usually not quite as robust as the original, it must be fun to be able to pull out a smartphone that does the trick every time, rather than having to lug a knapsack full of the technological gadgets listed. Friends and family should be impressed as I switch from one device to another as I sit on the beach.

When a smartphone replaces a knapsack-of-gadgets, that must be a good thing. But is using fewer muscles and taking up less space the same as being more productive? Isn’t that really about a little added convenience?

Convenience is not really what I’m after… I am more interested in being productive in the meat and potatoes kind of way: getting more done, making fewer mistakes, doing stuff cheaper, and pleasing those who are the recipients of my work. “Convenience” seems to be a lesser matter.

Entertainment, not Productivity

I imagine that with smartphone access to ebooks, music, pictures and videos that I’d always have a source of content to prevent me from ever getting bored. I’d always be able to escape some mind-numbing task, and disappear into something interesting and more captivating.

Of course, you may not like it if you happen to be giving a presentation at the very moment at which I decide that I’m bored, and I turn to my device t osearch for something more interesting. Yet this is exactly what’s happening around the world as smartphone users drift to better quality entertainment in the middle of meetings, conversations, weddings, dinner dates… heck, I’ve even heard that people reach for them while they are lying in bed, or sitting on the toilet.

A more entertained life has its advantages. The most recent research shows that jumping from one text to another floods parts of the brain with dopamine. (link here: http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/video?id=7397649) As welcoming as that sounds, it has little to do with productivity, unfortunately.

Information, not Productivity

If I were to leave for a business trip I imagine that while I’m in the taxi to the airport, I could check to see if my flight were on time. I could also see the news as it develops in the moment, plus watch stock prices, bond yields and currency fluctuations as they happen in the minute. A storm happening 3,000 miles away would be information that would be at my fingertips.

It’s obvious that I’d be better informed, and I imagine that I could save some time with the information that I could use to decide to change my travel plans. But would that translate into greater productivity for me? Maybe a little, but it wouldn’t replace the information I could get from a phone call or laptop.

Converting Down Time, not Productivity

At the same time, a smartphone does seem to facilitate a particular thought that runs as follows:
“Here I am sitting in the doctor’s office with nothing to do. I wish I could be doing something else instead, such as
sending email / watching a movie / reading an ebook / surfing the internet / creating a video / purchasing a nick-nack on ebay, etc.”

Smartphones make it easy for us to switch tasks from something that we don’t want to be doing to an electronic activity that we’d prefer to be doing.

Surely, that must be a good thing!?

Maybe not for me. I have a neat habit of taking naps in doctor’s offices, or anyplace where I’m seated and waiting. I also like to meditate in quiet moments, and I just love the serendipity of finding an old magazine with an interesting article.

Would I be less productive if I engaged in any of these activities instead of using my smartphone to IM a friend at work? Probably not.

At the same time, I have been known to travel with my mp3 player and Palm PDA to locations in which I know I’ll be waiting for some time. Combining these devices into my cellphone, which I have with me all the time, would give me more choices around converting my down time. I could still take a nap, but I’d do it with my smartphone in my hand, knowing that I could be doing something electronic when I wake up.

That’s a little more productivity… perhaps.

Sex-Appeal, not Productivity

In airport terminals all over the world for the past few weeks, people have been looking over the shoulders of those who possess the latest and sleekest gadget – the Apple iPad. I actually borrowed one the other day for a few minutes and it felt like an amazingly beautiful creation. Undeniably sexy. Used anywhere in public, it could hardly fail to attract attention with its design and functionality.

Gaining other people’s attention and admiration, as ego-boosting as it might be, is not an increase in productivity, however.

Real Productivity

The cases mentioned so far address the hype that has been used in smartphone ads. What I have noticed is a very different vibe around these devices than the vibe that existed around other time management tools that I introduced in my daily life in past years.

1991

As a new employee at AT&T Bell Labs, I remember seeing the first DayRunners and DayTimers and thinking that I needed to get one of those. I ended up with the former, and there was no mistaking the fact that the system of folder, little pages and inserts was for a single purpose: productivity enhancement. They were not for entertainment, communication or replacing anything in the knapsack-of-gadgets in a cool and sexy way.

Back then, having a planner showed that you were serious about being productive. (Or so we thought.)

1997

When the Palm Pilot was made available in the mid-1990’s, I remember being relieved. Not only could I manage my most important information more securely (with multiple electronic backups,) but I could also carry that information with me wherever I went.

As other software programs were released for the Palm, I saw them as interesting toys, but hardly the reason why the Palm existed in the first place. Like the DayRunner, the Palm was all about productivity.

2010

Now, I am attempting to make the next upgrade, but as you may have noticed, I am struggling to see what, if anything, a smartphone will add to my productivity.

When I adopted the DayRunner and Palm Pilot, it was clear to me that the new habits I needed to adopt to make these devices work would help me to be more productive. In the case of the DayRunner I learned to:
- bring my diary with me everywhere
- have backup refills
- browse OfficeMax for improvements
- check my calendar before making new appointments

With the Palm, I learned that I needed to:
- synche it with Outlook and the Palm Desktop every 1-2 days
- keep it well charged
- travel with a charger at all times
- always look for new software or hardware upgrades

These habits were new ones, but they were worth the investment of time and energy because of the overall productivity gains. Looking back I can see that any upgrade to my time management system requires that a user develop some new habits in order to realize the necessary improvements.

When I review each of these habit changes, however, I now realize that I was making upgrades to what I call the Fundamentals of Time Management: Capturing, Emptying, Tossing, Acting Now, Storing, Scheduling, Listing, Switching, Interrupting, Warning and Reviewing. Each of them is a physical action that is profoundly affected by the choice of tools that are used.

For example, the DayRunner changed the way I did my Capturing, as I now almost always had a pad of paper with me. I also was able to upgrade the method I used to Store addresses and phone numbers, keeping the same pages for years at a time.

When I bought the Palm, it also affected the way I did my Storing, as I could now backup all my information in several places and never have to worry about ever losing it. Also, having an electronic Schedule meant that I could do away with Task lists, Todo lists and Next Action Lists and make plans for time slots occurring days, weeks and months in the future, something that was too hard to attempt with pencil and paper.

These two upgrades made sense to me in a practical way — they changed how I executed the 11 Fundamentals. Meat and potatoes productivity.

Now, in 2010, the more closely I look at modern smartphones the more confused I get, because I can’t clearly see the productivity advantage. I don’t want to waste my time and money on fluff.

As I mentioned before, what really scares me is the fact that I might pick up some of the bad habits I have seen. According to the New York Times, the devices enable digital distractions, a modern-day addiction that is just as hard to break as any other.

One company I know well even banned smartphones from the boardroom because its directors and executives could not control the addictive habits that they have developed. And I’m sure I’m not alone in having friends who continually interrupt meals, movies, conversations, meetings, play dates with kids, sporting events, etc. to pick up their smartphones in anticipation of a ring, beep or buzz.

I am desperate to avoid falling into this trap, partly due to the etiquette and health risks, but also because they are so unproductive – the very opposite of what I am trying to accomplish with an upgrade. I don’t want to be distracted to the point where I don’t know what I’m doing.

It’s not that I think that smartphones will always be useless. Far from it. I believe that the combination of several devices into one could be potent, but they will only become so when the capabilities of one device are combined with another to impact one of the 11 Fundamentals in a new and innovative way.

For example, the calendar could be used to block certain kinds of interruptions, until I am ready to work on them during designated times for “Emptying.”

If I could challenge smartphone manufacturers I would say:
“Imagine a knapsack filled with all the gadgets now being squeezed into smartphones: a laptop, camera, mp3 player, radio, etc. Apart from the obvious convenience of a smaller size, how is the smartphone better?”

If I can’t clearly answer that question by Christmas, then I’ll be sticking with the cellphone/PDA combination that I use today. I’ll be tracking my progress in making the decision on my website and I welcome your reactions, questions and ideas in the comments below.

I own a management consulting firm in Florida, and recently moved to live in Jamaica. Shortly after arriving, I began to study time management techniques when I found that my old system didn't work. I eventually coined the term "Time Management 2.0" for people who are continuously upgrading their own, custom approaches. Find out more about Time Management 2.0 and the MyTimeDesign training.

find stillness to cure the illness

2010-09-01T22:43:15+00:00

“Silence is a source of great strength.” ~Lao Tzu

Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on twitter .

It’s a busy day, and you’re inundated by non-stop emails, text messages, phone calls, instant message requests, notifications, interruptions of all kinds.

The noise of the world is a dull roar that pervades every second of your life. It’s a rush of activity, a drain on your energy, a pull on your attention, until you no longer have the energy to pay attention or take action.

It’s an illness, this noise, this rush. It can literally make us sick. We become stressed, depressed, fat, burnt out, slain by the slings and arrows of technology.

The cure is simple: it’s stillness.

Pause

Take a minute out of your busy day to do this little exercise: pause in the middle of all you have to do, all that’s going on around you. Close your eyes, and sit still. Breathe in, and breathe out, and pay attention to your breath as it comes in and goes out. Just sit still, for about a minute.

This stillness might seem like inaction, which we’re taught is a bad thing. It’s lazy, it’s passive, it’s against our Puritan work ethic. And yet, this simple inaction can change our world.

Stillness calms us. It gives us a small oasis of quiet that allows us to hear our thoughts, that allows us to catch our breath, that gives us room to breathe at all. It is the antibody to the stress and rush we feel daily.

“Activity conquers cold, but stillness conquers heat.” ~Lao Tzu

The Strength of Stillness

Stillness has a calming effect on the world around us as well. By becoming still, we cause others to pause, to pay attention. Our quiet also quiets others. We set the mood for those who work and otherwise interact with us.

When we rush and set a frenetic pace, it stresses others and inspires them to rush frenetically too. Stillness has the opposite effect. It slows the world down, allows us to focus, gives us time for contemplation, for what matters most.

It takes strength to be still when others rush. It takes courage to be different, to go against the stream. But while others might think us weird at first, that’s OK. Sometimes it’s the weird ones that make the most difference. And soon, as our stillness inspires others to find stillness of their own, we won’t be the weird ones — we’ll be the ones with wisdom.

It takes strength to find stillness when the world around us is a chaos of activity, but it’s a strength that’s in us, and we need only to find it. Paradoxically, it’s stillness that will allow us to find that strength. Be still, look within, and it’ll be there.

Finding Stillness

It’s pretty simple, really, and you don’t need me to tell you to do this: to find stillness, you just need to take the time to sit still, every day that you can.

Find a time in the morning, when the world is still fairly quiet, to sit still. Don’t do anything, don’t plan your day, don’t check email, don’t eat. Just sit, and learn to be comfortable being still.

In practice, we’ll gradually find that comfort, and we’ll become good at it. If mornings are no good, find time during your lunch break, or after work, or just before you go to bed.

Find a place to be still. It can be a chair in your house, or a front porch, or the roof. It can be a park bench, or the beach, or a path in the woods. Let this be a ritual that you come to look forward to.

From this small place of stillness, calm will carry to the rest of your day, radiating like a soothing force. You’ll be calmer throughout the day, and learn to find little pockets of stillness everywhere: when you first start your workday, when you are ready to sit down and create, when you’re about to eat, when you are ready to exercise, during a meeting, even.

Practice, regularly. Practice, and learn. Practice stillness, and the stillness becomes a canvas upon which you can paint the masterpiece of your life.

“Let us be silent, that we may hear the whispers of the gods.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Distinguishing Between Price and Value

2010-09-01T06:09:35+00:00

If a book costs $50, is that good value?

Your first response might be “no way!” It seems like a lot of money for a bunch of pages bound together.

If a book costs $2, is that good value?

“Hell, yeah!” That’s a bargain-basement price.

The problem is, the price of those books doesn’t necessarily bear any relation to the value which the books have to you. A textbook packed with useful information for college might be well worth $50. On the other hand, a trashy, badly-written novel might not be worth even $2 – especially when you factor in the time cost of reading it.

“Cheap” Doesn’t Mean “Good Value”

Most of us find it hard to resist a bargain. Maybe we’ve got a coupon for a particular store, or we see something marked down to a great price. Of course, advertisers and marketers know just how to push our buttons too.

But just because something’s cheap doesn’t mean that it’s good value.

Perhaps it’s a shoddy product. You could pick up some cheap garden tools, but they might work badly and need replacing after a month – in the long term, you’d be better to invest in some quality tools which last for decades.

Perhaps it’s a perfectly good product at a very decent price, but it’s just not right for you. Sure, that sweater might be amazingly cheap, but if it’s not a color and style that you like, you’re just not going to wear it.

Be very wary of bargains, coupons and money-off deals. Marketers aren’t acting out of altruism – they’re trying to part you from your cash.

“Expensive” Doesn’t Mean “Bad Value”

Conversely, sometimes it’s worth spending more money than you might initially feel comfortable with.

Let’s say you’re setting up a new business. Paying $200 for an hour of consulting might sound like a massive expense – except, if that $200 results in $1000 of extra sales within your first month, it’s looking like a much better value proposition.

Try to look beyond the price of something to assess the value of a particular product, service or event. Maybe those conferences won’t come cheap – but the networking and learning you do there will be worth much more than the ticket price. Perhaps you’re investing quite a bit of cash in training materials – but once you’ve worked through these, you’ll be in a great position to raise your rates.

Value Isn’t the Same For Everyone

We often think that items and services have a particular market value, set by invisible yet powerful forces. Of course, this is the case to some extent, particularly with popular goods like groceries.

On a day-to-day level, though, in your personal life, this sort of “value” isn’t really too relevant. What matters is being clear about what you consider valuable.

Perhaps the easiest example is the price of a ticket to a big soccer game. You might be willing to pay hundreds of dollars to see your favorite team play – but your mate Bob, who hates soccer, wouldn’t pay a penny.

Any time you’re weighing up a purchasing decision (or secretly judging a friend’s choices), bear in mind that your “value” isn’t the same as everybody else’s.

The price might be high, low or somewhere in between. What matters is whether or not that particular product or service is going to be valuable to you.

To test for value, ask yourself:

Will this help me to make more money – perhaps by saving me time or teaching me new skills?
Will this enhance my life?
In a year’s time, would I be more likely to regret buying this or regret not buying it?

Yes, it’s always going to be a subjective judgment, and sometimes you’ll get it wrong. But by recognizing that there’s a difference between the fixed price and the value that you’ll derive, you give yourself a much higher chance of getting it right.

Don’t Forget To Follow PickTheBrain on Twitter!

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The Minimalist’s Guide to Cultivating Passion

2010-08-31T20:14:29+00:00

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Cal Newport of Study Hacks.

“I did stand-up comedy for eighteen years,” Steve Martin recalls in his 2007 memoir, Born Standing Up. “Ten of those years were spent learning, four years were spent refining, and four were spent in wild success.” If you do the math, this sums to fourteen years of hard work before Martin saw returns on his investment.

Fourteen years.

That’s a long time to remain focused on a goal without reward, especially when the path is ambiguous (“The course was more plodding than heroic,” Martin recalls). But as he makes clear in his book, Martin found a Zen peace in the simplicity of his pursuit. He describes with relish, for example, the importance of “diligence” in becoming a star — a term he redefines to mean the ability to not work on unrelated projects — and he labels “loss of focus” as an “indulgence” that success cannot afford.

Martin’s story should resonate with those of us interested in the minimalist lifestyle preached here at Zen Habits. He injected minimalism into his life by orienting his world around a single passionate pursuit: innovating stand-up comedy. For Martin, there was never any doubt what his Most Important Task would involve each morning, and jettisoning unrelated commitments and distractions came naturally. As he discovered, when you know what your life is about it’s easy to sidestep all that threatens to clutter it.

In other words: passion breeds simplicity.

Even if we agree on their value, however, how do we find these simplicity-generating passionate pursuits in our own lives? This is the thorny question I address in this post.

Passion Paralysis

Faced with the task of identifying their “passion,” most people have one of two reactions:

The first is a frantic search of their lives with the aim of uncovering some magical pursuit that unmistakably sings to their soul. As a writer of student advice, for example, I frequently receive e-mails from young people that begin: “I’m trying to decide what my passion should be…” (If only it were that easy.)

The second reaction is paralysis: faced with the life-changing importance of this discovery, many people freeze — hoping for a sign from above that will make things clear. (Spoiler: This can be a long wait.)

Neither of these approaches succeed, as passion is not something that can be forcefully identified, and though it sometimes bubbles up serendipitously, this is not something you can count on happening any time soon. So what’s a passion-seeking minimalist to do?

I found an answer in an unlikely place…

Do Less. Get More.

In the winter of 2009, I began researching a book on college admissions. Inspired by the type philosophy taught here at Zen Habits, I sought students who followed a Zen path through the college process — getting into good schools while still living uncluttered and authentic high school lives. It soon became clear that the students who pulled off this feat shared a common trait: like Steve Martin, they had organized their life around a passionate deep interest. (This interest, in turn, made them irresistible to admissions officers weary of reading the files of chronically over-scheduled and stress-addled applicants.)

To make my book useful, I needed to discover how such passionate interests are formed. After months of research, I arrived, finally, at Penn State University, where a professor named Linda Caldwell had made a career out of studying interest formation.

Excited by her results, and wondering how to translate them into everyday life, I gave her a call:

“You need to be exposed to many things,” she told me. “You should expose yourself even though you might not know if you’ll be interested.”

When you find something that catches your attention: follow-up; see if it sticks.

In other words, discovering passion requires a dedication to unstructured exploration. You have to leave large swathes of free time in your schedule (a technique I call underscheduling), and fill this time with the exploration of things that might be interesting. Of equal importance, when something catches your attention you must leverage your free time to aggressively follow up.

As Caldwell’s research reveals, true passion can’t be forced. You can participate in personality tests and self-reflection exercises until you drop from exhaustion, but it’s unstructured exploration coupled with aggressive follow-ups that most consistently leads people to a life-consuming interest.

Here are some examples of this idea in action:

In a gap year following high school, Ben Casnocha booked an open-ended trip around the world. He left his schedule undefined, traveling with only the general goal of journaling and meeting interesting people. During this process he noticed a recurring interest in writing. Because his time was unstructured, he was able to aggressively follow-up on the interest by calling up his contacts in the publishing industry. His efforts led him to a book deal and he went on to finish the manuscript in the exotic international destinations left in his trip. He continues to write professionally today both on his blog and in magazines; he’s also a frequent commentator on NPR.
In 2003, Dee Williams, a toxic waste inspector, was living in a spacious bungalow in Portland, Oregon. (Depending on the source, it was somewhere between 1500 to 2000 square feet of luxurious living.) Her time was consumed by the standard traps of middle class life: an extensive remodel on her home, car problems, the struggle to pay bills, and so on. A committed environmentalist, she realized she was tired of walking the walk and wanted to talk the talk (“I was a slackavist,” she recalls), so she simplified her life, selling her house and moving into an 84 square feet “tiny house” made out of found materials and parked in the corner of a friend’s yard. This move to simplicity opened time in her schedule for exploration. She soon stumbled into a community of people who were using tiny houses as a way of promoting sustainable living. She left her job as a waste inspector and started Boxcar Woodcrafts, a small woodworking company, and now dedicates her newly copious free time to teaching classroom programs on green living and sustainability.
As a high school student, Maneesh Sethi was adamant about leaving free time in his schedule. (During his senior year, for example, he arranged a schedule that allowed him to return home after lunch each day.) He filled this free time with exploration: among other pursuits, he became Internet famous for demonstrating how to transform a tube sock into an iPod case. A computer enthusiast, Maneesh found himself one weekend afternoon at a trade conference where he met an editor of programming books. This led him to discover that the editor was considering a book on computer game programming for teenagers. Leveraging the free time in his schedule, Maneesh aggressively followed-up on the opportunity, sending over a collection of sample chapters, and finally convincing the publisher that a he, as a teenager, was well-suited to write their book for teenagers. This led, among other things, to a follow-up book, and a recurring segment on a TechTV show. Maneesh now writes full time about living an unconventional lifestyle.

This advice can be hard to follow at first. When we think about passion we think about action: we want to start doing big things right now! But the reality of passion is more subtle. You have to do less to get more in your life. It’s a virtuous catch-22: by embracing a minimalist lifestyle now, you are more likely to develop the passionate interest that will support the lifestyle in the long run.

Put another way: take a step back; relax; then open your eyes to patiently take in all that’s out there.

Read more from Cal at his blog, Study Hacks, or subscribe to his feed.