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Archive for February, 2012
Getting Things Done with the Magic of Flow Concierge
Feb 29th
Ever have something that you know you need to do, but just don’t want to take the small amount of time to do it? Have tasks that are so menial that the thought of taking the time to do them is almost offensive? Well, that’s a little harsh, but you get the drift.
We have so many things to do in a day that we can get pretty backed up. We all know that delegation is a great way to take some of life’s todos off of our platter, but sometimes we don’t really have anyone to delegate to.
Flow Concierge
Enter the pilot program, Flow Concierge. Flow is the group project/task application that is simple, effective, and just darn beautiful to look at and use. They are rolling out a new feature that you can use to delegate tasks to a “Flow Concierge”.
You can basically ask your Concierge to do anything that can be done online; look something up, compare things, answer a question, etc. What they can’t do is anything physical (“go feed my dogs”), create content or writing from scratch, offer legal advice, or do anything that involves paying for something. Anything else is fair game.
The Magic
So, I had a magical experience (yes, in the Steve Jobs sense of the phrase) with Flow Concierge today. It showed me just how powerful and awesome having a mini “virtual assistant” would be.
My wife SMS’d me asking when her warranty for her MacBook was up (the bottom of it is falling apart). When I got the message a thought also hit me, “oh, boy. Our 2 year (marriage) anniversary is next week, too. What to do, what to do?” I had already been accepted into the Flow Concierge pilot so I thought I’d give it a go.
First task: “when is my wife’s MacBook warranty no longer valid (then gave them her serial number.”
Second task: “is there anything fun to do this weekend in the Erie, PA area?”
I then assigned the task to the Flow Concierge that is now built into my Flow interface. Then I went about my other work tasks that I had to get done.
About two hours later when I was clearing out my personal email inbox, I saw that my Flow Concierge had updated my tasks with a comment and then made a final answer and marked them as complete. I found out that my Wife’s MacBook warranty is sadly not valid (oh, the horror!) and that there isn’t really that much to do this weekend in Erie, Pa (other than go to the Philharmonic, which will work for our anniversary).
To say that it was like magic is sort of an understatement. Yes, finding these things myself would be easy enough, but I didn’t want to take the time to do it in the middle of the day. Rather than blow it off until later when I don’t have any energy, I simply delegated to someone that had the energy and time to do it.
This is a seriously awesome addition to a task app that is already excellent and the geniuses at Flow should be proud of themselves for such a great idea and implementation.
The drawbacks
One of the biggest things that I can see as a drawback going forward is the potential price of the Concierge service after the Pilot program. There would be nothing worse than using this in Flow and then one day they announce that it will be very expensive. Or, even worse, Flow could just cancel it all together.
The service does seem to be “too good to be true” so far, but hopefully it gets baked into the full Flow product.
Conclusion
Flow is a pretty awesome tool to manage your projects with a team or otherwise and the new Concierge pilot program makes it that much more awesome. To be able to delegate menial tasks that will take 3 – 10 minutes of your time throughout the day can add up quick in the grand scheme of things.
If you have a Flow account, try to get into the Concierge pilot program by checking out this link. You will be glad you did.
(Photo credit: Flow logo via Flow)
The Zen Habits Sea Change Program
Feb 29th
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change,
into something rich and strange …
~ from Shakespeare’s The Tempest
Post written by Leo Babauta.
Last month, I launched the Zen Habits Premium Membership with a mini-course on creating the habit of meditation. It went swimmingly, with many members creating a new lovely habit.
This month, I’m changing the program’s name: it’s now the Zen Habits Sea Change Program.
Unfortunately, registration has closed for March.
Why the name change? I wanted to more clearly communicate that the program isn’t just signing up for additional content, but is a tool for making small changes that can transform your life, as they have mine.
What’s in the Sea Change Program?
- Mini-courses (every 2-4 months) on user-chosen topics. Last month was the Meditation Habit (content still available), and April’s mini-course will be Healthy Eating.
- Articles & videos addressing topics and questions submitted by users. Topics include simplicity, clutter, habits, frugality, happiness, creativity, passion, relationships, family and more.
- Live video webinars with presentations from me and guest experts, and the ability to ask us questions. In March, we have happiness expert Gretchen Rubin (author of the NYT best-selling book The Happiness Project) and creativity expert Jonathan Fields (author of Uncertainty: Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance).
- A forum where users can help each other create change.
It’s a monthly subscription, though registration is now closed. You can read more about it here.
There Are No Do-Overs…But There Are Second Chances
Feb 29th
What’s done is done.
We can’t turn back the clock of time. Good or bad, right or wrong, it is done. It’s over!
- Once the ingredients are mixed, we can not separate them apart.
- Once a word goes from our mouth, we can not take it back.
- Once we do an action, we can not choose another one in its place.
- Once wood is reduced to sawdust, you can’t make it back into a board
- Once Humpty Dumpty fell, all the kings horses and all the kings men couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again
- Once today arrives, it becomes too late to live in yesterday
Despite the fact that no one can not refute the obvious statements above, it is not uncommon for many of us still finding ourselves reworking yesterday. As a psychotherapist, I am struck by how many of my clients can not seem to leave the land of “if onlys” and “woulda coulda shouldas.”
For those clients, yesterday prevents them from living fully in today as guilt, regret and hindsight makes them so much wiser. They cannot forgive themselves for not “knowing better” at the time.
If only we knew everything when we were four!
The good news is that there is an alternative to the emotional paralysis of, “I should have known better-itis.” Instead of wishing you had known better and kicking yourself that you didn’t, how about giving yourself a second chance?
Give Yourself a “Second Chance Checklist”
1. Turn unproductive regrets into productive regrets.
Regrets are important in our life to help us self-correct. The key is to recover from and build on the sharp sting of regrets to look for the lessons learned and take comfort in the fact that these lessons make us wiser.
2. Take comfort in the fact that regrets help us develop empathy for others.
How would we ever develop real empathy if we never made a mistake or a wrong turn? It is regrets that keep us in check from being judgmental and arrogant. Thus, we become better people who, in turn, have more compassion and empathy for others. Empathy is considered to be one of the cornerstones of emotional intelligence.
3. The more wrong turns you made in retrospect, you increase the odds that your future choices will be more informed.
With so many lessons from mistakes or regrets, you will be in better shape moving forward. It can actually make it easier for us to be happier by living in today instead of yesterday.
4. Ask yourself – Did I do the best I could at the time? Undoubtedly, the answer will be “yes!”
In my 35 years as a psychotherapist, I have never heard otherwise. I have never met anyone who tried to be toxic or dysfunctional. People generally try their best, even if their best is not objectively healthy. Unhealthy people make unhealthy decisions and behave in an unhealthy way. People do not intentionally make self- defeating decisions. So consider it a noble effort to try your best, even if your best felt short and was misguided.
5. Moving from regrets is a ripe opportunity to work on the ability to forgive.
A lack of forgiveness for oneself or others is one of the most common reasons for depression, anxiety and interpersonal conflict. Thankfully, regrets give you the opportunity self-correct, and to develop the ability to forgive – it brings them right to the surface to work on. Strive to be thankful for this golden opportunity to release yourself of bitterness and negativity for good!
6. Use the broken pieces of unrealized dreams and disappointments as stepping stones towards a better future.
If you see shattered pieces of your life’s dreams as stepping stones or as parts of a beautiful life mosaic, you can appreciate those broken remnants. All your disappointments, no matter how small or how large, can be part of something so beautiful that it can be hard to imagine and can pave the way for building a better tomorrow!
Conclusion
You cannot change what happened to you, but you can change what you do with what happened to you.
So what are you waiting for? Give yourself a second chance. You deserve it!
What can you do to give yourself a second chance today? Let me know in the comments below.
(Photo credit: Second Chance Avenue via Shutterstock)
How to Be Healthy and Lose Fat: The 3 Minute HIT Health Hack That Helps Burn Fat
Feb 29th
There’s new research out that suggests that you can make significant and measurable changes to your fitness. This research has uncovered how to be healthy without having to spend large amounts of time exercising…in just 3 minutes a week.
Yes…just 3 minutes of exercise a week!
To achieve this, it requires you to do High Intensity Training (HIT). In longer, more regular bursts, it can also be used to burn fat too. Science shows that low intensity, long repetition exercise is much more efficient at burning fat. However, for many people it’s a time-sink — it uses up far too much time.
Using HIT can help you burn more absolute amounts of fat in a shorter amount of time and you can improve your insulin sensitivity. It’s a great way for everyone to be healthy.
How does it work?
- When you perform high intensity exercise, you use a lot more of your body’s muscles; around 80% of your body’s muscles are active.
- It moves sugar from blood into the muscle so that it can be readily burned.
- It releases adrenaline which acts as an appetite suppressant.
- You can release hormones that break down fat.
- High intensity exercise causes microscopic tears in your muscles as it strengthens. This healing uses up calories.
- Insulin regulation occurs due to release of growth factors such as IGF-1.
- Metabolic rate increases, which means you will burn more calories when resting.
How do you do it?
There are several exercises that can be done to do this. Here’s just one example that you can follow:
The Exercise Bike
- 2 minutes of gentle cycling to warm up on the bike
- Go flat out for 30 seconds
- 2 more minutes of gentle cycling to catch your breath
- Go flat out for 30 seconds
- 2 more minutes
- Flat out for the last 30 seconds
And that’s it.
Okay, so this is basically 6 minutes of gentle exercise and 1.5 minutes of HIT, but you can adjust it to suit your needs. The HIT part of the exercise should not last longer than 30 seconds for each time. Do this once a week to help keep insulin levels healthier. If you want to burn fat, you want to be doing this a bit more regularly (like 2-3 times a week).
“HIT is really good at improving glucose uptake into the muscles in a very, very short time,” Professor James Timmons, leading the research at Birmingham, said. “With really intense exercise, you release hormones that can help break down fat. This may help burn that fat over time, after HIT is done.”
UPDATE: Added link to the research
(Photo credit: Woman Showing how Much Weight She Lost via Shutterstock)
Hoi Wan is a mobilist who blogs about smartphone trends and analytics. He is also an avid home cook and sports enthusiast. Hoi has lived and worked in the UK, Japan, Hong Kong and USA and holds a BA in Sport and Recreation and an MBA. You can see his profile on LinkedIn or follow him on Twitter.
The Missing Letter in Your SMART Goals
Feb 28th
I love the SMART goal setting technique. It really helps me break my goals into smaller and more manageable pieces.
However, there is one crucial element (or letter) that is missing from this acronym. This missing letter can potentially make it harder for you to reach your goal – no matter how well you have broken down your goal into different pieces and action steps.
Playing the SMART game
If you are not familiar with the SMART goal setting technique and what the acronym means, here is a brief rundown with a simple example:
- S = Specific
Your goal has to be specific enough (“I want to lose 4 inches off my waist”)
- M = Measurable
“My waist line is measured every week, on Saturday mornings after waking up”
- A = Achievable
“Do you think that you can do this? Or are you going too far by getting rid of yet another 10 inches? Or should the goal be 5 inches instead, maybe that would be more achievable?”
- R = Realistic
“Is your lifestyle stable enough that you can commit to this goal? Are you mentally prepared to do this? Do you want to achieve this goal by next week or in six months?”
- T = Time-framed
“It’s January 2012 now, so I want to achieve this by July 1st 2012.”
As you can see, when you break down your goal like this, they become much more manageable and concrete than just saying “I want to to be slimmer”.
All fine and well, except that there is a crucial letter missing in this package – another letter “A”.
So, what is this missing letter “A” all about?
Other letter “A” stands for accountability and this is a great way to make sure that your defined plan is actually executed and it is not left just on the talking or planning level. Even if you crafted a masterful plan by using the SMART goal technique, it becomes useless if you don’t actually execute it. To make sure you start the execution phase, you want to throw some accountability into the mix.
By having some external pressure on your back (in the form of accountability), you are more likely to take action on your goal steps than if you just kept the plan to yourself. Accountability is based on the fact that you want to stand behind your words and save face. When you announce your goal to the world, you realize that the world is now watching you and you don’t want to let the world down.
Accountability is also about keeping the expectations of others. If you announce a goal or a task in public, other people are expecting you will achieve the tasks and goals you have laid out for yourself.
Different ways to implement the letter “A” in your goal
1. Keep it to yourself
I was a bit hesitant to include this, since in this scenario you are not telling others about your plans or tasks. However, for some people this might work since your conscience is your accountability partner in this situation. And you don’t want to let your conscience down.
2. Announce it to the people you are dealing with
Your people could be your colleagues at work, your local golf club buddies, the subscribers and readers of your blog or your Twitter followers. I would say that accountability is more effective when dealing with “offline people”. Being accountable face-to-face to someone is very effective.
I’m in no way underestimating the power of “online people” either. If you are trying to form solid relationships with others online, you want to keep your word – even if you don’t necessarily meet the people in the same sense as in offline world.
3. Accountability partner
A little bit more intimate way of being accountable is to report to your friend or spouse about your doings. When this route is chosen, you might decide to call your partner on a frequent basis how you are doing and how you are progressing on your task that you promised to do.
4. Stickk.com
If none of the above ways work for you it’s time to put Stickk into play.
Stickk.com is a web site where you can announce your goal (“Commitment Contract”) and to make you even more committed to reaching that goal, there is money on the stake. Money is not mandatory to get set up with Stickk, but knowing that you will lose a certain amount of money if you don’t reach your goal, can give you an extra push to get stuff done.
5. Mastermind groups
Mastermind group is a group of like-minded people, gathering on a frequent basis (online or offline) trying to push each other closer to their goals. This type of accountability is very common in business world. When you are in a mastermind group and you have set the objectives you want to achieve by the next meeting, you want to get stuff done and fulfill other’s expectations.
Mastermind groups are a great way to improve your productivity and reach your goals with the help of others.
6. Coach
If you really want to get personal attention to your goals and a person who will make you to reach your goals (much faster than what you could do by yourself), then hiring a personal coach may be the best way to stay accountable.
Not only are you accountable to your coach, but you also have to pay for his/her attention. This makes the coach option even more effective. You want to make sure you do everything you can to get the assignments done before the deadline you two have set. So there is a money factor to keep you accountable as well. Since you want to quickly move forward, this option is a very effective for staying accountable with your goals.
Next time set the goal using “SMARTA” instead
The next time you are set on reaching a goal, add that letter “A” to the SMART goal setting technique:
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-framed, Accountable.
The accountability factor of reaching your goals may be just the thing you need to make them a reality.
(Photo credit: Letters and symbols in fire via Shutterstock)
Timo Kiander is a productivity and time management enthusiast who blogs at Productive Superdad – a site that helps work at home dads to balance their busy lives and improve time management skills. Visit his blog and grab the free e-book: “222 Tips For Becoming a Productivity Superstar”
What Am I Worth? The 7 R’s of Personal Management
Feb 28th
You can further your personal effort to increase your salary by engaging in the seven Rs of personal management. These seven Rs are: rethinking, reevaluating, reorganizing, restructuring, reengineering, reinventing, and refocusing.
In rethinking, you take time on a regular basis to think about who you are and where you are going, especially when you discontented for any reason. You can ask yourself this question: How much should I earn? and What am I worth? Since everything is changing so rapidly around you, more options are available to you now than ever before. And because it is very likely that you are going to be doing something completely different in a few years anyway, you can begin thinking today about where you want to be in the future. You can rethink and re-plan your entire career, and do it in a way to earn more money.
Reevaluate Your Situation
Reevaluating is the process of standing back and looking at yourself in terms of the marketplace. Whenever you experience frustration, continual roadblocks, or stress at work, you need to take time to reevaluate your situation and be sure that you are on the right track.
Your problems at work may be caused by your not working at the right job for you, or working at the wrong company, or with the wrong people. Your dissatisfaction may be caused by your selling a product or service that is wrong for you, or for many other reasons. Perhaps your heart is no longer in your work. It gives you little or no pleasure. Sometimes, the very best thing to do in a situation like this is to change the work you are doing or the company for which you are working, so that your work life is more consistent with your talents, abilities, desires, and values. Ask yourself, what is my future with this company?
Reorganize Your Life
In reorganization, you examine your daily activities and question whether or not you should do things differently if you want to get better results. Look for ways to work with greater efficiency and perform your tasks more effectively. Continually try to increase your output relative to your input of time and money. Look for ways to earn more money in a more efficient way.
Restructure Your Activities
In restructuring, you continually look at the specific things you do that contribute the most value to your company and to your customers. You focus more and more of your time and talent on the 20 percent of activities that contribute 80 percent of the value of all the things that you do. You concentrate on those activities that represent the highest payoff for everyone involved. This is a how to earn more money.
Reengineer Your Career
In reengineering your personal service corporation, you stand back and look at the entire process of your work, from the first thing you do in the morning to the actual results that you get for your company or your customer. You analyze this process and look for ways to streamline it by reducing steps, consolidating activities, outsourcing parts of the work, and even changing the process completely so that you can achieve the same or better results with less time and fewer resources. Reengineering shows you the way how to earn more. Reengineering is an ongoing process of simplifying your work and your activities so that you can get things done in less time.
Reinvent Yourself Regularly
In reinventing, you stand back from your work and imagine starting over again. Imagine that your job or industry disappeared completely. Imagine for a moment that you had to move across the street or across the country and begin your career or your business all over. What would you do differently? Where do you want to be in your career in three to five years? What changes would you have to make in reinventing your business to create the future that you desire? Ask yourself how much should I earn?
One of the best ways to reinvent yourself is to determine what it is that you really enjoy doing more than anything else, and then to begin figuring out how you can find or create a job doing more of it.
Refocus Your Energies
The final R stands for refocusing. This is really the key to the future. It is your ability to concentrate your energies single-mindedly on doing those few things that make all the difference in your life.
In most cases, people are unsuccessful because they spend too much time doing things that contribute little to their lives. They spend more and more time doing things that have less and less value. On the other hand, highly successful people do not do a lot of things, but the few things they do, they do extremely well.
This seems to be the secret to great success and achievement in every area of life.
Become a Master of Change
The advantage of practicing the seven Rs is that they allow you to regain control over your present and future. With a sense of control comes a feeling of personal power, greater self-confidence and self-esteem. When you focus on these techniques you learn how to earn more money, feel happier, and have control of your own life and future, rather than allowing them to be determined by the unpredictable winds of change.
Topics included in this article include
How much should I earn
Increase salary
How to earn more
Earn more money
What am I worth
Hope you enjoyed this post. And keep asking yourself this question: What am I worth? Please leave a comment and share with your friends!
Adopting Simplicity: How to Become Productive with Less
Feb 28th
I’ve just spent the past two weeks in South Africa. I love South Africa, its people, its diversity, its beauty. But one thing that I am reminded of every time I visit is how life in Africa can be much simpler. Time moves more slowly and life takes on a different rhythm; the majority of African people have learnt to live with less. This is my goal and my current journey; to live life with more simplicity, to unburden myself and to eliminate the excess in all areas of my life.
In the first phase of my journey to become more productive. I sought ways to work faster, to do things in a more efficient manner. I never thought to rid myself of the excess, to eliminate the unnecessary or to minimize and simplify. Phase two of my journey is in progress and it’s focused on simplicity. I am actively trying to eliminate the excess in all areas of life which will create freedom from stress, complexity, and excess.
Here are the areas which I am currently working on:
Excess information
We are constantly bombarded with information of all sorts from all realms of life, Modern life has been coined the “information age”. We have it at our fingertips, the phones which we carry in our pockets connect us to the answers of the Universe ( or rather will connect us when we find the answers). We can play a game, book a flight, call in dinner, buy a tree or anything else at the click of a button and all the information required to make those purchases lies in the palm of our hands. Fantastic yes, but overwhelming at times. One page or link leads to another and another. When is it enough information? When can we say stop?
Suggested Solutions
- Reduce the number of newsletter and websites you subscribe to, only subscribe to websites you can’t live without. Rather than let the information come to you, go to find the information on your own time and terms.
- Consume less media. Rather than reading a daily newspaper or watching the daily news try reducing it to once a week catching the highlights. (This won’t be possible for everybody in every country but for those who can, consider it)
- Reduce the number of meetings you attend, try to get summaries or minutes instead. Only go when your presence is totally necessary
- Introduce one low tech day a week. A day where you don’t use the internet, email, or electronic device. If this is impossible try it for just a morning. It’s an amazing way to reduce distractions and create an environment for focus.
Excess Stuff
We all have too much stuff, too many clothes and shoes, CDs and DVDs. Excess goods tend to cause clutter and clutter is negative energy. Learning to live without too much stuff is a lesson everyone should learn early in life. Your things do not define you, who you are or who you intend to be.
Suggested Solutions
Clean as you go
- Regularly de-clutter and donate or recycle your possessions you no longer use.
- Use the one in one out rule. Every time you make a purchase you must throw something out. This is a great habit for children to implement, it makes them aware of the value of the things they have and the things they want.
- Don’t go to shopping centers/malls unless you absolutely can’t buy something elsewhere. If you are in a mall you will always find something you think you need and most of the time you could actually live without it if you hadn’t seen it.
Excess Work
Working too hard or too long is usually counter productive. If you are constantly overwhelmed with work the next step is illness or burnout. You need to take steps to eliminate time wasting activities and reduce your workload where possible
Suggested Solutions
- Schedule your work. This will show you what can physically get done in the time you are prepared to spend working daily. Remember when you say “yes” in work what are you saying “no’ to in your personal life. Is your family suffering because you have agreed to take on extra work?
- Take regular stretch breaks, if you can go for a short walk or get some fresh air this will be even better. Do a yoga pose or simply breathe deeply. This will prevent muscular and mental fatigue which will help you stay alert and focused for longer.
- “Only do what only you can do” I don’t know where this quote comes from but I love it. A regular reminder to delegate and outsource where possible. Don’t try to do everything yourself. If you work for a company and can delegate do so. If you are self employed only do what you are good at, use your strengths and let the experts in other areas do what they are good at. And if you have no control over your workload, do your work to the best of your ability with the highest quality so that you can be proud of what you achieve in a day. As Robin Sharma would say “Be the Bono of the Mail room”
- And of course the most important suggestion of all. Take it easy – life is too short to sweat the small stuff.
Conclusion
If you can reduce the noise and clutter in your life, and eliminate that which is unnecessary and excess you should be able to see through the woods to focus on what matters. In this way you will get more of the important work done in less time with less stress.
“Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand…”
Henry David Thoreau
(Photo credit: field of grass and perfect sky via Shutterstock)
Ciara Conlon is a Personal Productivity Coach and author. Her mission is to help people achieve their best through working efficiently and being positive and present. “With Productivity and Positivity there is little you can’t achieve” Find out more about Ciara and sign up for her tips, articles and links at Productivity & Positivity
The Nike Guide to Overcoming Procrastination
Feb 28th
You aren’t doing what you know you should be doing.
And it’s eating at you. Every time this task you’re postponing and postponing crosses your mind, you feel stress and anxiety.
But somehow you just take your mind to something else again, and postpone once more.
And that’s exactly what procrastination is… The postponement that never ends.
It steals your peace, joy and creative energy. Instead of crafting awesome words, works of art, or solutions, you sit with worries, stress, anxiety and a subtle realization that you’re still not the productive, task-accomplishing machine that you hoped to be by now.
Just do it!
Nike’s slogan is old news to all of us.
Still, when it comes to procrastination, it’s such good advice. No matter which way you look at the constant postponement that we label procrastination, there’s simply just one solution.
Just do it!
That task that you’re postponing that’s stealing your joy… Start with it, and start it now. There’s no such thing as tomorrow. We always only have the present moment. And we should use the present moment to do what needs to get done.
Watch your thoughts
Yes, this all sounds a bit easier in theory than it is in practice.
But some simple awareness can help you overcome your obstacles. When you think of a task that you’ve been postponing, and you decide to do it, watch out for mental sabotage.
Some thoughts will arise with reasonable excuses for not doing the task right now. These thoughts are the very reasons why you’ve been postponing the task in the first place.
“I’m a blogger, so I’m not sure it’s a good idea to start webinars. I should rather just focus on my writing.”
Or…
“I know it’s important to sort out my office and I do believe the clean working space will give me more creative energy, but today’s a busy day, and I don’t have time for admin. I need to keep my clients happy…”
These thoughts are the little foxes that sustain procrastination. You need to have your guard up, be on the lookout for them, and as soon as they appear, you need to counter them.
And there’s only one way to counter such thoughts. You need to take decisive action, right now. Let me show you how…
Take five minutes
This is a short blog post. I like writing longer posts, in the region of 1,500 words. I kept this one short (at less than half my preferred length) to save you at least five minutes.
And no, you can’t go on a tea break or catch up on the latest sport news.
I want you to use that five minutes right now.
As you read this article, your conscience would have shown you a task that you needed to have done by now. What task was that? If there’s more than one, just pick one. Any one.
It could be redoing your website’s about page. Or (more likely…) it could be starting that book you’ve been dreaming about for years.
I want you to take 5 minutes right now, and start with that task.
The idea is not to complete it right now.
Just get a start. And don’t think bigger than five minutes. Only use five minutes.
What might happen is that the energy you get from starting is so great that you work on it for an hour.
Or after five minutes you’ll stop, but the feeling of accomplishment and the fact that you took five minutes and actually worked on it might get you to take another five minutes this afternoon or tomorrow.
It gets the ball rolling…
Oh, and right about now your mind will be coming up with some clever little excuses. These are mere thoughts. The ones that cause procrastination. Awareness is key.
Please ignore them and start. Take action. Do something! Right now…
And then commit to taking five minutes (yes, only five minutes!) to work on your project every day.
You’ll be amazed by the results. Just do it!
I would love to hear about your experiences and your progress in the comments section below.
(Photo credit: Motivational Phrase via Shutterstock)
Dries Cronje is the founder of Productive Entrepreneur, a blog that helps online entrepreneurs work clever and hard to build a solid online income. He’s the author of 10 Easy Steps to ‘Mission Accomplished!’ – Simple, Practical Advice for Completing Your Next Big Online Project.
Spentable: Track Your Expenses Quickly and Easily [Giveaway]
Feb 27th
You buy a cup of coffee every morning, and you probably think it doesn’t amount to much. How much does it really add up to during the course of a month? Then you make a bunch of impulse buys. It really adds up and those coffees and impulse buys may have tipped you over the edge of your monthly budget…but it’s too late! You only notice the cost is significant afterwards!
It’s usually the reason we don’t have much money left towards the end of the month and when “tax season” is approaching we ask ourselves, “Where did my money go?“
Enter Spentable.
Let’s take a look to see how Spentable can help us to track expenses. It’s available on Android and iOS. The basic version is free and there is a pro version that provides many more features.
How to use Spentable to track your expenses
Spentable has some pre-created categories for your spending. The default categories are food, transport social and retail. To record what you have spent, simply select the category and type in the amount. This makes it simple to segregate your spending into different areas. It shows you how much you have spent and how much you have left in your monthly budget. Before you make a purchase, add it into the app and you can see if you will go over budget.
Customize and adjust your budget
Do you have extra categories that you want to add or want to adjust the amount of your monthly budget? Press the “cog” in the top right corner and from there you can create new categories and set the budget. You can even export the data to a file and send it by email to use elsewhere. (Note: These options are only available in the pro version.)
Track your history
To see an overview of your spending, press the button on the top left and it switches to a list view, detailing everything that you have spent. Made a mistake in one of your entries? You can delete it by swiping across the incorrect entry and you will be given a delete button to remove it. At the bottom, your total spending for that month is displayed. You can scroll through the months to look back at your spending habits.
Spentable is a convenient, in-your-pocket app that helps you to track your expenses and make purchasing decisions. Spentable helps you to see how your spending is distributed so that you can rebalance if necessary. And because it’s an app, it can always be in your pocket — making it easy to form a habit to track your spending.
Free offer for 30 Lifehack readers
We’re giving out free copies of the pro versions of Spentable for Android and iPhone to the first 30 people who register using the following form:
Click here to register for Spentable
And if you miss out on the pro version, give the free one a try. It very well could be the app that saves you time — and money.
Hoi Wan is a mobilist who blogs about smartphone trends and analytics. He is also an avid home cook and sports enthusiast. Hoi has lived and worked in the UK, Japan, Hong Kong and USA and holds a BA in Sport and Recreation and an MBA. You can see his profile on LinkedIn or follow him on Twitter.
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