How's your year so far?

Occasionally, I go off script and instead of giving success advice, I just open up and shoot from the hip. This is one of those times.

It's almost April, so I ask, how's the new year go for you so far; how about those resolutions?

According to the University of Scanton's Journal of Clinical Psychology, only 8% of people are successful in achieving their resolutions.

That just absolutely floored me and got me to thinking about how I was stacking up as it came to my new year's goals.

As March 2016 is wrapping up, I recently spent a lot of time just reflecting on where I came from in just 4 short years. We can't successfully get to where we want to be if we don't understand where we have been.

Here is just a few highlights of my personal journey...

I very clearly remember being part of the 92% of people who failed to meet their resolutions, not just that year, but for many years.

For years I knew that I couldn't create a better life for my daughter by working a dead end job that kept me bound by someone else's schedule, so I tried everything to get out of the rat race; I built an engraving business, got into e-commerce, even tried my hand at authorship, but nothing worked and I kept finding myself in a position where I was having to go back to a 9 to 5 or be a stay at home dad where we barely lived paycheck to payccheck. Nothing seemed to click.

 

• I was a slave to the job, a slave to the clock, a slave to my creditors.

• I had no time to do the things I enjoyed.

• I had no energy to enjoy time with my family.

• No extra money, so no savings, no vacation, no splurging, no emergency fund.

To make matter worse, I couldn't get on facebook without seeing, what seemed to be everyone around me, being more successful than I was. It sucked. Friends taking off in the middle of the week to travel across country, new cars, new house, blah blah blah...

It seemed like everyone around me was successful while I had to listen to my daughter (4 years old at the time) crying because I couldn't afford a happy meal for her.

I kept asking myself,

"Why is this so hard?"

I definitely had a bruised ego, but I still had this dream that I could make a little extra money while spending more time with my family and not chained to a desk or getting stuck in traffic.

I started thinking that the only way to make money online was to sell stuff on eBay or turning into some sort of sleazy MLM type marketer (not that all MLM ventures are pyramid schemes). It was heart breaking because I did not want to do that.

Being able to help people and actually get paid for it was unfathomable to me and, though I saw it done, I felt that you had to be an expert with over 20 years expertise and the title of guru to be able to be successful online.

I was wrong!

Way wrong. Looking back on it, I was always just a few steps away from my dream, I just didn't see it or understand what it was that I was missing.

My goal for the past decade or so, was to figure out how to get out of the rat race. Breaking the golden handcuffs once and for all.

I finally found the secret to having a successful life; After years of trial and error, Zig Ziglar has been giving the answer for years; "You'll get everything in life that you want if you help enough people get what they want."

This is the reason for this blog series. My goal, now that I am out of the rat race, is to show as many people as I can how to do the same.

Now it's your turn

What is your resolution? How can I help you climb out of the maze? Not everyone has the same definition of success, nor do we all have the same hurdles to jump over, so what do you need help with?

Drop me a note and let me know.

 

Organize and Maximize for 2016

“An end-of-the-year checklist to help get things in order for the upcoming year.”

It's the end of the fiscal year for most, but this isn’t the time to rest on your laurels and wait for the New Year clients to come in. By maximizing this time, the beginning of the new year, you can set yourself up to be more productive in the coming months.

Here are some things that you can do that will help you hit the ground running in 2016.

1.       Evaluate the virtual assistants that are in your arsenal.

If you are not aware of what a virtual assistant is, it’s anyone that doesn’t directly work under you, but takes over tasks that you can’t do, don’t want to do, and shouldn’t be doing. These are the administrative duties keeping you from actually doing your business. There are companies that can do your administrative jobs for you. Your virtual team includes tax attorneys, website wizards, marketing firms, PR agencies; the list goes on and on—anyone who takes on parts of your workload, whether part time or full time, in order for you to get focused on the business at hand which is actually working on your business.

2.       Show appreciation to your clients.

Whether you are sending holiday cards, thank-you notes or even having a giveaway, this is a good practice to get going in your business. Showing appreciation tells the clients that they are not just a dollar sign.

3.       Finalize all of your “C” priorities.

Your “C” priorities are those things that aren’t very pressing, but still need to be done at some point; why not now? The unanswered e-mails, follow up calls, un-filed or misfiled information.  After reading an email, if it is something that is worth keeping, have a folder system set up to transfer it to, do not simply leave it floating in your inbox. By setting up email folders, you keep yourself more organized. If it is something that is of no importance, delete it immediately, clutter causes chaos.

4.       Maximize your website.

Hopefully you are utilizing a service for keeping your website current, but even if you are, go though it anyway and determine if any changes need to be made. By keeping up on it yourself, you keep your techs on their toes and have less site errors. Make sure that your website is not just an online brochure for your business, but is actually gaining clients.

5.       Create or review your email campaigns and contact lists.

If you are not utilizing contact lists and keeping in touch with your client base through e-zine or newsletters, you are leaving a large sum of money on the table. It’s all about effective marketing and effective marketing is all about the relationships. Eluding back to number one, people want to feel remembered and appreciated.

6.       Upgrade, update and clean up that computer.

If your system is bogged down, obsolete or just full of junk that makes finding documents difficult, you need to fix it now. End of the year sales makes for some great deals on new systems, new programs, etc. Your computer generally holds most of your important information, so make sure to take care of it. Upgrade the OS if necessary, make sure that all programs, apps, and system updates are all up-to-date. Get rid of unnecessary files, archive old files to an external hard drive, add more memory and Ram if possible, and defragment your harddrive. This will help keep your computer from crashing.

7.       Clean, clean, clean.

When was the last time you tackled your filing cabinet?  When was the last time you saw the top of your desk? It is now a good time to organize and clean the workspace. Trust me, when you decllutter, you will find that it relieves stress and helps you focus when you are in a clean, clutter free environment. Knowing where everything is will also maximize your time. Spending 15 minutes looking for a lost file is a waste of 15 minutes that you could have gotten one or two new clients, you could have used that time to draw up a new product, you could have even used that time to make some of those return calls and emails that have been piling up. Dusting will help your health also, just saying.

8.       Where did you drop the ball?

Very simple exercise that has the potential of being extremely powerful. Get rid of any distractions, set down with a pen and paper. Now think about and write down the top 10 to 15 things that didn’t go to well for you this past year. Then, before you have time to get depressed, go over each and write down what could have been done to change that situation for the better. By doing this, you are addressing the problem and creating a solution, so the next time a similar situation occurs, you jump right into the solution and, therefore create a better outcome.

9.       Where did you score?

Now, on another piece of paper, write down the top 10 to 15 things that went right for you in the past year. Get as detailed as you can about it. Don’t be embarrassed to show a little pride in yourself. Concentrate on each one and try to come up with a way to do it better. There is always room for improvement. For these accomplishments, did you reward yourself? Very important that you reward yourself for jobs well done.

10.   Set your goals

Decide what you want to do in this upcoming year and write them down, start figuring out how to accomplish them. Goals are like a road map; they get you focused on where you need to go. If you have already set goals, re-evaluate them. Sometimes goals change as our circumstances change. Keep your goals updated and fresh on your mind.

 

Now relax, make a cup of hot chocolate, kick back and enjoy the rest of the holiday season knowing that you are ready for 2016.

 

Your Brain's Response To Acute Stress!

 

Stress is a feeling that's created when we react to particular events. It's the body's way of rising to a challenge and preparing to meet a tough situation with focus, strength, stamina, and heightened alertness.

 

The precursors that lead to stress are referred to as stressors, and they can cover a wide range of situations; everything from outright physical danger to making a class presentation to having a bad dream.

 

Particularly in a normal working life, much of our stress is subtle and occurs without any obvious threat to our survival. Most comes from things such as work overload, conflicting priorities, inconsistent values, deadlines, conflict with others, unpleasant environments and so on. Not only do these reduce our performance as we divert mental effort into handling them, they can also cause a great deal of unhappiness. These mild levels of stress are classified as ‘acute stress’ and we all experience it in one way or another.

 

The best way to envision the effect of acute stress is to imagine yourself in a very base-level, primitive type situation, such as being chased by something in the woods.

 

In response to being chased, a part of the brain called the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) system is activated.

From here there is a release of Steroidal Hormones. The HPA systems trigger the production and release of two specific hormones Glucocorticoids, which includes the primary stress hormone Cortisol. This particular hormone is very important in regulating and maintaining systems throughout the body that including the heart, lungs, circulation, metabolism, immune systems, and skin in order to quickly with stressful situations.

 

Next, we have the release of Catecholamines. The HPA system also releases certain neurotransmitters (chemical messengers) particularly known as dopamine, nor epinephrine, and epinephrine (also called adrenaline).

 

Today's world is changing at the most accelerated rates ever, and our bodies, minds, emotions and spirits are all being affected by these larger changes.  Many people are feeling a heightened sense of emotional intensity, so we are seeing more stress.

 

Not all stress is bad. It is important that we understand this. Stress, in the right amounts can keep us healthy, safe and more mentally aware. In my next entry I will talk more about this, so until then, God bless.   

 

Law Of Success: Part I

 

The last few months, I have been immersing myself in the teachings of Napoleon Hill and would like to share with you a summary of the main principles that I have learned from his book, “Law of Success: The 21st-Century Edition.”

 

Unless you are new to learning success strategies, then you know the name Napoleon Hill. But for the benefit of those who are new to this and just now starting to purposefully work on making their lives more successful and don’t know the name; Mr. Hill is quite arguably the author of the world’s first practical philosophy of human achievement. Many NLP theories came from him before there was even a name for Neuro-Linguistic Programming. 

 

Commissioned back in 1908 by the great steel magnate, Andrew Carnegie, Hill spent well over 25 years researching the lives of over 500 of the most successful people on the planet to find out what actually made them so successful.

 

What makes his findings so amazing is that most of Hill’s work didn’t come from second-hand research but first-hand knowledge from personal, direct contact with some of the greatest names of the day including people like Henry Ford, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, John D. Rockefeller, and US Presidents Woodrow Wilson, William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt.

 

While “Think and Grow Rich” is certainly Hill’s most popular book based on the results of his exhaustive research and I would suggest that it be in the personal library of anyone who wants to learn about success, the “Law of Success” (which was first published in a set of eight volumes) is Hill’s most comprehensive work of achievement, I’d almost say that it is the world’s first and foremost encyclopedia of success.

 

I would rank Napoleon Hill’s “Law of Success: The21st-Century Edition” as the foundational book for developing a practical success philosophy that anyone can easily apply to their lives. The fully revised and updated 21st-Century Edition comes in at 1035 pages containing Hill’s deep analysis of the 17 proven principles of success, many personal examples and stories from his own life experiences, and new commentary from the editors providing modern parallels with contemporary events and the latest management theories.

 

In this special three part series, I will attempt to give you a brief summary of each of Napoleon Hill’s 17 Principles from his classic bestseller; master these principles and you will master your destiny!

 

Principle # 1: The Master Mind

 

The mastermind is basically a friendly alliance of two or more people working together in full cooperation towards achieving one goal. It’s used for creative problem solving, the mastermind group is created from a combined group’s spirit, which can accomplish far more than any individual member could possibly hope to achieve independently.

 

The way Mr. Hill recommends forming a workable mastermind group is with ideally six to twelve like-minded individuals who will support the chief aim of the group, who are generally like-minded, and who are willing to meet with you regularly to help you accomplish the aim of the group by everyone helping each other and holding each other accountable. You must offer each group member something in return that will reward his or her participation in your mastermind group.

 

Whether you choose to develop a formal alliance or not, the Master Mind principle will still have a powerful influence over your life – for better or worse. It is said you are the average sum total of the people you spend the most time with which will either help or hinder you. Choose your friends and associates carefully.

 

Principle # 2: A Definite Aim

 

Without a definite purpose backed by a definite plan, it could be said, is like a rudderless ship in the middle of the Atlantic. Good intentions and hard work are not enough. You need a purpose, you need a plan, and you need a whole lot of perseverance backed with a burning desire to achieve your goals in life.

 

To realize your direction and main goals, Hill suggests writing out your WWWH and reviewing it daily: “know what you want, when you want it, why you want it, and how you intend to get it.” Also include what you plan to give in return for reaching your dream.

 

Note: I have found that the what, when and how are important, but the most important is the why. If your why is big enough, all of the other answers will come.

 

By reviewing this manifesto (if you want to call it that) on a daily basis (I suggest first thing every morning), with intense feeling, you will begin attracting the people and circumstances in your life to make your wildest dreams come true.

 

It may sound a little “woo-woo” but you do find that you attract that which you spend most of your time concentrating on. Try it for a week.

 

Principle # 3: Self-Confidence

 

To be self-confidant you must know yourself and know your business. Know your strengths and weaknesses, your greatest fears and deepest desires. Those who do not know live in constant fear and anxiety. A leader must know.

 

Keep a log of all your accomplishments and all the praise you receive and review it frequently. Tell yourself daily about how successful you are becoming.

 

Fill your mind with positive, inspiring thoughts. Surround yourself with people who will empower you. Have faith in others and see the good in people because how you view others is a reflection of yourself.

 

Principle # 4: The Habit of Saving

 

Pay yourself first by developing the habit of consistently saving a portion of your income. Hill and many others suggest saving at least 10% of your earnings.

 

Tip: if you’ve accumulated high-interest debts such as credit card debt, student loans, etc. it’s a good idea to use the 80/20 rule and allocate 80% of your savings to paying down the debt in order to avoid that debt from growing faster than the rate of return you’re getting on your savings.

 

Note: After my wife and I lost our house, one car, facing bankruptcy and about to lose our other vehicle, we found ourselves over $100,000 in debt and used Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University to start getting back on track.

 

Those who have will be given more. Having even a modest savings account will increase your self-confidence and will attract many opportunities that would normally not come your way without that extra cushion.

 

Successful people will be more willing to back your idea or promote you within their enterprise if they see that you yourself have developed the self-discipline of saving.

 

Hill recounts several instances in his book where people who had built up a little savings account were able to invest in new business opportunities, attract financing for their ideas, or enter into partnerships that would later result into untold millions.

 

Principle # 5: Initiative and Leadership

 

“Do the thing and you shall have the power.” – Emerson

 

According to Hill, leadership is “doing the right thing without being told.” Leadership is ultimately about taking initiative and getting things done. Bottom line is that successful leaders get paid for results not warming an office chair.

 

By always providing additional service without any expectation for pay, you will build your initiative muscles. Make it a point to go above and beyond.

 

Leadership requires self-sacrifice. Leaders are givers. Inspire and help others and you will be rewarded in direct proportion to your efforts. Zig Ziglar, likes to say, “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.”

 

I hope you enjoyed Part I of this “Law of Success” series. For Law of Success Part II, it will be posted shortly.

 

In the meantime, take this week to follow these 5 principles, share these principles with your peers, discuss the concepts and teach other people what you’ve learned. There’s no better way to learn than by teaching others.

 

To get your copy of Napoleon Hill’s “Law of Success: The 21st Century Edition” Click here. It's worth the investment.

 

 

The Egg in the Nest- A Moral for Change

 

The only thing certain in the world, and in this life, is CHANGE. No matter what people think or what they will try to believe, everything is changing all of the time, as we breathe in and out, as we eat and sleep and grow and go through our lives, change is happening all around us. Some changes are big while others are very minuscule, but change is happening no matter what.

 

This is a text version of a moral story of change I modified and illustrated for my daughter.  

 

There it is, and it just sits there in its nest of straw.

 

It doesn't DO anything.

 

It doesn't change shape, it doesn't change color, it doesn't move, it doesn't roll around; you could look at it for DAYS AND DAYS and you'd come away thinking that it was just that and that was that. (Trust me, because that is what I have done).

 

And yet, if one were to extend one's feelers in a different way, one might become aware of the riot of change that is taking place inside, a storm of re-organization, feeding and growth, of total transformation (change) as a bunch of random cells become a fish-like thingy, which in turn becomes ever more defined and more complex, more organized in every way, more mature, more fantastic with every heartbeat, every instance that passes.

 

One day, and we know not when, that egg that lay so motionless for so very long and seemed to be nothing will begin to rock, and then it will crack, first a beak, then a claw and the newly born dragonet will emerge, spread its wings for the first time and take its first small steps.

 

Yes, there was change. No matter how big or how small, change happens and from the smallest, unseen changes often comes the most beautiful results. Expect change to happen and look forward to the results…Even when you don’t see them.

 

I enjoy writing for children, but this is by no means a story only for children. If you are starting your own business, trying to grow an existing business or even trying to accomplish something not even related to business, often times you look and look and see nothing for your efforts, but I am here to tell you that just because you do not see those changes, doesn’t mean that there aren’t changes going on.

 

Don’t give up, expect change and change will happen “…Even when you don’t see them.”

 

Leadership Is Action... Not Position

 

People respond to good leadership! Period! It is in all aspects of our lives, not just business. A true leader is highly ethical, honest and respected, not only in his/her field of expertise, but as an individual.

 

In our society we have leaders and followers. Are we born to one or the other? No. Do some have more of a natural affinity toward leadership roles, yes. Can you hone your leadership skills and become a great leader even if you don’t have a born knack for it? Absolutely!

 

There are certain attributes of a great leader that stand out. The leaders that I admire for example seem to have all of these in particular attributes that I strive to emulate:

 

a) They think BIG. They have a glass ceiling in place and continuously strive to break it. No limits are set as to how big or how much better something or someone can be.

 

b) Their goals are firmly set in place and they constantly re-evaluate to make sure they are on the right path.

 

c) They effectively present their goals and desires to those around them, causing those around them to become raving fans.

 

d) They concentrate on respect not fear and have a fully developed understanding that they are not the same.

 

e) When goals are met they set new goals or raise the bar. With goals that aren’t met, they re-evaluate, re-implement and strive for a better outcome and do not waste time wallowing in unmet expectations.

 

People will follow your lead willingly if you are honest, ethical, if you are consistent and treat them with respect. Rewarding someone when a job is well done is always appreciated. A good leader will also off-load someone quickly who consistently hinders the group who is just not a team player rather than allowing them to continue to affect and infect the team dynamic.

 

You can improve your own self- respect and become an inspiration to others by becoming the leader that it inside of your. Remember that successful leadership isn’t a destination but a journey. Stay on the path and keep moving.

 

 

Secrets of a Million dollar Mindset

Millionaires were once normal people like you and I, except that they now have plenty of cash with them. How do they create those additional cash and turn themselves millionaires over time? This article presents to you the five secrets of self-made millionaires:

Millionaire mindset #1: True focus on what they want to achieve

Set clear goals. Imagine yourself being a millionaire and what you would do to achieve it. As Robert Collier says, “if you see yourself as prosperous, you will be. If you see yourself as continually hard up, that is exactly what you will be.” Don’t focus on the current state of affairs, but rather where you want to be.

Millionaire mindset #2: Work on what you are passionate about

According to a research conducted by Thomas J. Stanley, author of The Millionaire Mind, more than 80% of all millionaires admitted that they would not have been as successful if they were not passionate about what they were doing. Just take a look at the countless rich people in the news today- Bill Gates, Donald Trump, the list goes on. They all talk about their work passionately. The question you need to ask yourself now is, what is YOUR passion?

Millionaire mindset #3: Be a learner, educate yourself

One major hurdle to making money is, surprising, not understanding how money works. Ask yourself, how much do I know about money management, investing, etc? If we have zero knowledge on finance management, how do we expect ourselves to earn any level of financial success? 

Millionaire mindset #4: Grow your assets. Life is a struggle if you live paycheck to paycheck, especially with the forever increasing inflation while your monthly wage stays the same. Self-made millionaires work hard to make extra money for investing and not hording; they put their money where it will work for them and where it will do the most good. If you want to get rich, control and manage your income, just like Benjamin Franklin once says, “He does not posses wealth that allows it to possess him.”

Millionaire mindset #5: Be willing to take risks. If you read biographies of self-made millionaires, you can see many of them have often gone through countless failures. What invariably makes them who they are today is the persistence and never-give-up attitudes that they maintained while going through the rough times.

Out of these five mindsets, #5 is the most important. Never give up, no matter what. My ultimate goal from sharing my knowledge and experience with you is for you, no matter if you are a wantrapreneur, solopreneur, entrepreneur or even a sidepreneur, I want you to succeed, so let me know how I can help.  

When it comes to mindset, one of my greatest mentors was Jim Rohn. I found this on Amazon on sale. If you want to change your mindset in order to get higher, earn more and live more, click the link and get it now. Or, in the very least, check to see if you can find it in your local library.

Power Question:

What research could you do to move you forward in taking the next step toward your success goals?

The Importance Of Routines

 

Organization is like any other positive habit, it involves developing routines when it comes to cleaning out clutter, closets, and drawers as well as cleaning your home in general. You are better off to have a schedule or some sort of date in mind when it comes to cleaning or your work will never be done. If you get into a habit of cleaning and organizing on a regular basis, your home will not only look cleaner, but also you will feel much more relaxed. This is also true for the office, or at least your section of the office should you be in a cubical type setting.

 

Whether you are cleaning by yourself or with a partner (or partners), you should develop a routine as to when you do your cleaning. You can take one job a day to make it easier, or you can clean your entire house from top to bottom in one day.

 

I have found that the average house can get cleaned to the point where it looks pretty presentable within two to three hours. Start with the basics by dusting and sweeping. My room of choice to start in is always the kitchen, emptying things out of the refrigerator before they become science experiments, cleaning the counters, sink and wiping down the cabinets. Then I take the mop out and clean the floor last. The entire room can be done in a half an hour, usually.

 

After that, I go to the living room, straighten the couches, dust and vacuum. This is another project that only takes about a half hour. I , then, move to the bedrooms and then head off for the bathrooms last. The reason for this is that the bathrooms have to be scrubbed down and disinfected. With the use of proper cleaning supplies and doing this on a regular basis, the cleanliness will easily last a week.

 

I am often sorely tempted to clean my daughter’s room as she often leaves her room like a tornado whipped through it, but as this would not be teaching her anything, I bite my lip and my wife or I will go in and ‘help’ her do it. Never do it for them if you can help it. No matter how old they are, it they are at least helping in the efforts to clean their room, it develops independence as well as a sense of accomplishment.

 

The main thing is to have a routine. I know just how to get started and when it is over. By developing this routine and doing it in a repetitive way that I come to expect, it gives me a great satisfaction when it is all over, the house is clean for a while and I know that next time, I will do it again.

 

If I just cleaned whenever I felt that the house needed it, I could be cleaning all of the time and my work would never be done. I would find myself cleaning certain areas more than once while not touching other areas but every two to three months. The routine gives me a sense of accomplishment and also allows me to relax and not worry about cleaning again until the next week, unless something happens to interrupt the routine - like someone spilling something on the floor.

Routines are not just about cleaning your house, they are a way for you to maintain order and organization in your own life. In addition to cleaning, I also have a cooking routine. I plan out my meals when I go to the grocery store. By organizing your menu for the week and having an idea of what to cook, you not only save time, but save money. Eating out all of the time can be expensive and who wants to fret over what they are going to eat for dinner every night?

 

In addition to helping you with the house, routines will also help you when it comes to raising your children. Little kids thrive on routine. You know how important it is for babies to be fed regularly and changed. Babies thrive on routine as it gives them a sense of security. The same goes for children. I wouldn’t ever be too strict when it came to mapping out each second of their lives and never would them to live in an environment where they had no time to just play or be kids, but a healthy routine teaches them that there is a time and place for everything.

 

Set a bedtime early on for you and your kids. Before bed, have a routine for settling down. This was something that your children will look forward to every night. When they are younger, this is a good time to read to them and get them to enjoy reading. As they get older, begin to have them help read the books. This inspires a love of reading and allows a steady transition into them reading to you which then moves into them reading on their own. You are probably wondering how and why I moved on to this rabbit trail, but setting up routines that lead to your children being self efficient, will lead to you having more time to yourself later which leads to you having more time to organize your own thoughts and prepare for the next day.

 

People with dogs also know the value of routine. If you have a dog, the secret to getting it housebroken and becoming a well-behaved dog is routine. Dogs, like children, thrive on routine. Cats don’t care as they are in a world of their own, although it does matter to them that you regularly feed them, change their water and clean their litter box.

 

Kids and dogs, however, are not the only things that thrive on routine. Adults also feel a sense of comfort at enjoying routines. It does make them have a more organized life as well as a healthier life. If you go to bed the same time each night and wake in the morning at the same time, it is better for your body. If you watch a certain program on TV before you go to bed or read a certain amount of time, you will feel as though you have something to look forward to each night. Most of us all have an innate desire for some sort of structure in our lives.

Routines, however, are not etched in stone.

 

There are times when routines are broken. This happens now and then and you should not get anxious about it. Simply fall back into the routine when whatever situation drove you out of the routine has calmed down. For example, bedtime routine are going to get broken on many occasions such as holidays, parties, overnight trips and vacations. While you want to establish a routine that will make everyone feel more secure and yourself more organized, you also do not want to feel like you are running a boot camp. Becoming so rigid in your routine that you cannot alter it now and then will not make anyone feel more relaxed as you will be so worried about the routine that you skip things that break into your schedule.

 

So, while the secret of good organization is routine, it should not be one that is so rigid that it defeats the purpose and actually causes anxiety. Learn to try to stick with a routine as much as possible, but do not pop a vessel if something happens to upset the schedule. Just go with the flow and get back into the groove when you can. The routine should be a tool you use to stay organized, not a prison that confines you to a rigid schedule.

 

The purpose of these blog posts is to help you strive to be more successful and to create a life worth living, so I never want to end a post without giving your some sort of “power question” to ponder over. Answering these questions will help you to take action.

 

Power Question for the day:.

What’s one thing that you would love to do before you die?

Why Get Organized?

If you are like most of us today, you are probably feeling that you have too little time and too much to do. As a result, you try to ‘multitask and often end up not getting the things done that are needed. Even little things grow into mountains of work that you feel you can never quite reach the summit on.

 

I spent years being very unorganized. I had a desk that was a mess at school and a room that was a mess at home. As I grew older, I found myself with a messy desk at work and a messy car in the driveway and multiple messy rooms in my house.

 

It wasn’t until I came to the conclusion that I needed to change the direction that my life was going that I realized how things as little as a cluttered desk could be keeping me from reaching my goals and having a better life. It was then that I determined that I had to get organized, why it was so important and how to teach this to my child so she would know how to stay organized as well in order to give her a head start advantage that I didn’t have.

 

The purpose of this series is not just to tell you how to clean your home or desk so that everything is where you can find it, but also how to organize your life so that it is easier to manage and alleviates overwhelm. Although I eventually realized that it was much easier to have my important papers in a place that I could have easy access to as well as the value of having a home that didn’t look like a pigsty, I found that my mind was still unorganized throughout much of my life. I often felt like a hamster on a wheel. It wasn’t until much later when I learned not only how to organize my home and work place, but also my mind.

 

This series, I hope, will teach you how to organize every aspect of your life - from your home, your work and even your entire lifestyle. It will also teach you some valuable tips and teaching secrets that you can pass on to your children so that they can learn the value of organization as well. You will learn valuable lessons on organization that you can use to keep your life in order and avoid feeling overwhelmed all of the time as well as read some anecdotes that perhaps you can relate to.

 

It will also teach you how you can stay organized even when things occur that throw you off your routine. We are not robots, we’re humans. And as everyone knows, we have things that come up that are unpredictable that can throw us off. You want to be organized, but you do not want to be so rigid that you can’t handle a break in the routine without being able to adjust.

 

Organization is essential for you to live a healthier life in both mind and body. When you feel as though you are well organized, you also feel as though you have more control in your every day life. It makes those around you more comfortable and can also lead to more harmony with those around you. Why get a little organization in your life? The answer is simple - to keep your sanity, make you more efficient and to also give some sort of structure to your life and those around you.

 

No matter how unorganized you are, you can become the epitome of organization by taking the tips from this series. The first step is to realize that you did not get overwhelmed all at once, it took months, years or even a lifetime for you to get to the state you are in now. However, even if your house is a total wreck, your kids are sapping all of your energy, your dog is constantly having ‘accidents’ and leaving your ‘presents’ around the house and your work life is a mess because you keep skipping from one project to another or you spend part of your day just looking for stuff, you can get it all back on track. It is important to know the first step in the process is to remember the old question, “how do you eat an elephant?” The answer…One bite at a time.

 

Remember that you have to train your organization skills “one bite at a time” and start with small goals that will eventually lead up to the big goal, which is having organization in your life, work and home. Trust me, if I can do this, so can you.

 

The purpose of these blog posts is to help you strive to be more successful and to create a life worth living, so I never want to end a post without giving your some sort of “power question” to ponder over. Answering these questions will help you to take action.

 

Power Question for the day:

Make a list of negatives in your life; now, how can you make those into positives?

Time Management - Pareto’s Law

Time management is an efficient tool of performing the tasks within a given time limit. In this context, Vilfredo Pareto found a law i.e., 80-20 law.

 

The origin of the 80/20 rule

 

The law finds its roots in the year 1906. Vilfredo Pareto was working on finding the explanation to the economic disparities in the world. His theory had many takers and backed by various experts of that era.

 

Meaning:

This 80-20 rule lays emphasis on the lesser of anything. It says that the greater portion of anything is usually the least important. As Pareto’s findings state, there is a small group (20%) who owns a major share (80%) of world’s wealth. As per the law, the most significant are less in quantity. And what is in ample amount is generally the least significant.

 

Detailed Analysis

The time and the task management ensure that this theory fits perfectly in any condition. The stress is on the need to manage the few. This significant part would ensure the attainment of the larger part. This could be well interpretive in the super star theory. According to which efforts must be directed to manage the 20% to achieve 80%.

 

Obviously, this is in overly intellectual speak, so in layman’s terms, if you concentrate most of your efforts on the 20% and spend less time on the 80% then the 20% will lead to the 80% getting taken care of.

 

Steps To Adopt the Theory

This law, as it pertains to time management, can be applied in day-to-day life. You do have to take these points into account though for it to work:

 

1: Avoiding Useless Tasks.

 

The most important part of time management is to avoid tasks that take up a lot of time with little to show for it. This is general chat on social media sites when you have a project with a deadline due, surfing the internet while supposedly typing up a proposal, etc.

 

2: Foresight.

 

While planning, the tasks must be selected diligently so as to ensure secure future returns. As today’s solutions have definite impact on tomorrow’s outcome.

 

3: Keep an Eye on Highly Valued Task.

 

The overall efforts must be streamlined in order to concentrate on the most important 20%. If you work in this way over a period of time, the outcome can’t help but become beneficial.

 

Time management works on this 80-20 principle. Maybe not exactly, but close enough that if you try to concentrate on the most important actions first, you will find that things are getting done and you are having more time in the day to work on the other 80%.

 

Keep an eye out for my next installment in this series when we discuss time and money.

 

The purpose of these blog posts is to help you strive to be more successful and to create a life worth living, so I never want to end a post without giving your some sort of “power question” to ponder over. Answering these questions will help you to take action.

 

Power Question for the day:

 

By now, you have at least one goal that you are working on for the new year, so in what way could you make this goal (or all of your goals for that matter) more specific or measurable?

Organize, Organize, Organize!

When you go on a diet, are you “good” every single day?  If you blow your diet by going out one night, do you give up on your goal?  The answer (hopefully) is ‘no.’ Likewise, if your goal is to get a master’s degree in theology and you haven’t done anything about it today, do you give up on your goal?  The answer (again, hopefully) is ‘no.’ Most people focus too much on the long-term goals or too much time on the day-to-day tasks and ignoring the long term all together. They expect the long term things in their life to work themselves out.  The truth is that you must focus most of your concentrations on the in-between, look past the day-to-day tasks, but not get overwhelmed with the long-term goal. Concentrate on the intermediate goals that need to take place in order to accomplish the long-term goals.

 

Think about how you walk.  If you can physically do this exercise, then try it. If not, then just imagine yourself walking. Only walk by looking down at each step you take.  You have been walking for so long now that you may not stumble, but you will certainly lose track of exactly where you’re headed.  Now, try to walk by looking at a destination far off; you might reach your goal if you don’t fall down the stairs or get hit by a car as you cross the street!  To walk effectively, you must look forward – not a mile forward, but just a few steps ahead. It is vital that you treat your goals and the effective use of your time the same way that you walk.

 

To effectively achieve your long-term goals, you must first break them down into intermediate goals, goals that can be reasonably achieved in a week, couple of weeks, a month, etc.

 

You will want to keep a detailed monthly calendar. This will allow you to see your goals in print. Day Timer has a two page calendar system that you can get that allows you to keep track of goals, journal your progress and break down tasks. I like physically applying my goals to paper; something about writing it down makes it more solid in my mind. I also can physically mark a line through it, so that I can still see it, but I know it is finished, which gives me a since of accomplishment. If you are, however, so inclined to be a part of the modern world and take things digital, there are numerous digital calendars out there. I personally like Google Calendar myself. You will also want to keep track of appointments, meetings, and other business action items on this monthly calendar as well; this will enable you to quickly see how packed or free any specific week will be.

 

Daily Planning

 

Having long-term and intermediate goals are the first two steps to “managing time.”  The third step is to ACT!  As the saying goes, “The longest journey begins with the first step.”

 

Many people – all with good intentions – ignore the realities of the day when they first start integrating their intermediate goals in their daily regimen.  They forget that they have meetings they’re supposed to attend, job commitments they’re expected to fulfill, and other things that pull at their available time.  As a result, they become frustrated with their lack of progress on their goals and become angry about the things like work and/or family obligations that are taking up all their time.

 

Here are 3 steps to take that will help you to organize your schedule better, so take a few minutes each morning to plan your day like this:

 

1. Identify your appointments, meetings, and other business action items.

 

Your first step in planning your day is to transfer appointments and other business action items from the monthly calendar into the daily calendar (most digital calendars will do this for you automatically).  These are the non-discretionary things that  you have already made commitments to do. 

 

2. Plan your daily duties.

 

Your second step is to plan your daily duties such as phone calls, mail, inbox items, etc.  These are activities that are less defined than action items but still require a portion of your day.  By planning these duties, you allot time for them without letting them drive your entire day. Many people find themselves answering emails up to 4 and 5 times a day. Let’s not even get to how much time is sucked away by social media sites.

 

3. Make appointments with yourself.

 

Your third step is to ‘make appointments with yourself’ by identifying which intermediate steps you wish to tackle today.  Transfer these discretionary activities (intermediate steps) from your Goal Planning page.  This makes discretionary items non-discretionary by the simple act of recording the item in the daily plan.  You move the future into the present so you can act upon it now!

 

By simply taking more control of your daily schedule, you will find that you have gained more control over your time. Here are just a few more tips to help you “manage time” and achieve long-term success:

 

• Limit the number of activities you plan for a day.  Commit to, and complete, a few activities rather than over committing yourself. This will lead to frustration, irritation, and self-deprecation when you miss a targeted goal.

 

• Make a habit of planning for 15 minutes every day. I generally suggest that you take 15 minutes the night before to plan the next day’s activities.

 

• Do your priority items first.  Period.  Include a quiet time with absolutely no distractions in order to accomplish your top priority for the day.

 

• Take a long-range view of your commitments.  Does your calendar fill up quickly?  Should it?  Space your non-discretionary time carefully week to week. Just because you can squeeze another project in, doesn’t always mean that you should.

 

• Take a medium-range view when planning time for your intermediate steps. “What is the number one thing that I can do THIS WEEK that would have significant and positive results in my department, career, and/or personal life?”

 

• Use your time management system to keep important information such as your department, career, and personal goals and intermediate steps; your appointments, business action items, and other commitments; as well as your contacts; this will give you your entire day at your fingertips.

 

Next time I want to discuss Pareto’s law (the 80/20 rule) as it applies to time management. Talk to you then.

 

The purpose of these blog posts is to help you strive to be more successful and to create a life worth living, so I never want to end a post without giving your some sort of “power question” to ponder over. Answering these questions will help you to take action.

 

Power Question for the day:

What are three things that you are doing regularly that doesn’t support or serve you? In other words, what are three things that you selflessly do for others on a regular basis?

Time is a Unique Resource

 

Time management is not about squeezing more into a day or eliminating distractions.  It’s about managing activities to achieve goals.  This article shows you how.

How many times have you thought or said, “There just isn’t enough time in the day.”  Reality is that when we say this, we are actually saying, “I just don’t have the ability to organize my time wisely enough to account for all I need to do.” 

 

By taking a brief look at time, you will see that I am correct in what I am saying.

 

Time is a unique resource.  It cannot be saved, stopped, or replaced.  In fact, it is the only resource that can never be regained once it is spent.  This then makes it interesting to see that not very many people actually organize their day out better..  Some people seem to be able to manage the time they are given better than others and are subsequently able to make better use time.

 

The real fact of the matter is, these people cannot ‘find time’ or even manage time any more than the rest of us.  Time cannot be “managed” or “found”.  We all have the same amount of time in a day, a week, a month, and a year.

 

24 hours in a day

168 hours in a week

8,736 hours in a year

 

With the current average life expectancy for a man being 76 and women being around 81, figure out how many hours you approximately have left in your life?  Take a minute to calculate the time.  Now look back at your life spent so far and compare the amount of accomplishments you have achieved in the time you’ve already lived with the goals you want to achieve in the time you have left.  Are you pleased with where you are? What about the time you have left, are you focused on how you will spend your remaining years? What are your goals and how have you planned the achievement of those goals?

 

Ask yourself how you can use the remaining time to accomplish job, career, and personal goals that are meaningful for you.  Ask yourself, “What is the one thing I can do TODAY that would have significant and positive results in my department, career, or personal life?”

 

Truth… managing time isn’t about time at all; it’s about managing priorities.  It’s about those achievements that are most important to you when all is said and done.  It’s about setting achievable goals and using a set and proven methodology for achieving those goals amidst the many forces out there vying for your time each and every hour of each and every day.

 

Align Your Goals With Outside Forces

 

Have you ever started a diet around the holidays?  Unless you opted to go to a health camp for the holidays, you probably succumbed to the many temptations of holiday treats and foods that seem to show up and stick around during these times.  The fact that no one else around you seemed to be on a diet didn’t help matters much either!  In short, your goal of losing weight wasn’t aligned with the realities of the time frame in which you started.

 

The same is true of any goals or objectives.  Goals are easier to achieve if they are aligned with ‘outside forces’ or what’s going on around you.  As an example, if your professional goal is to organize a missions trip to another country but that particular country is looking at reducing or halting the amount of missions-based groups it is giving visas to, your goal is not aligned with the outside forces of the country and you will have a challenge meeting your goal.

 

Furthermore, if your goals ARE NOT aligned with that country’s goal and you try to force the issue, you may be seen as a malcontent or a troublemaker and not only guarantee your visa application revoked, but others as well.  If your goals ARE aligned with country’s goals, you are seen as being in support of their decision and your team is seen as a contributing force willing to work within their guidelines and you are more likely to have your visa go through at a later date.

 

Ask yourself, “Will the achievement of my goals help others achieve their goals?”  If your goals MIGHT NOT align with the goals of those around you, you may wish to revisit your goal.

 

Anchor Your Goals to Inside Forces

 

It’s also important that you have your goals anchored to your inner forces or values.  If you don’t value the achievement of your goal, or the achievement of your goal goes against your core values and principles, your goal will be difficult to achieve because self-sabotage will kick in.

Ask yourself, “Will the achievement of this goal reinforce who I am as a person, leader, minister, or person?”  If your goal does not reinforce who you are, you may need to revise your goal or change it all together.

 

Link Your Goals With Other(s’) Goals

 

As alluded to earlier, achieving a goal is easier if it is linked to another goal that you have or to another person’s goal. You may find that several of your goals may link together nicely; by working on one, you can easily work on several.  Even more powerful is linking your goal to another person’s goal.

 

Ask yourself, “Who else might benefit from the achievement of this goal?”  Discuss your goal with this person to see if there’s a possibility of working on mutually beneficial goals (win/win situations).

 

By aligning, anchoring, and linking our goals, they become easier to achieve.

To quote Zig Ziglar, “You can get everything out of life you want, if you help enough people get what they want.

 

Next time I will discuss in more detail, ways to better organize your day to help eliminate wasted minutes, which add up to, wasted hours. Join me.

 

The purpose of these blog posts is to help you strive to be more successful and to create a life worth living, so I never want to end a post without giving your some sort of “power question” to ponder over. Answering these questions will help you to take action.

 

Power Question for the day:

In a previous post I asked about what you wanted more of in life, so now I am asking, What do you want less of in life?