Dumb Little Man | Tips for Life

Have you ever picked up a book on organization and thought, “Wow, this person is kind of over the top”? Or maybe your thoughts were a bit more along the lines of, “Aaarrg, don’t come near me with your labeler!”

Overwhelmingly, authors of organization and time management books use those pages to describe their systems. It’s simple, they think – just follow these precise steps and everything falls into place. Wrong!

There’s a major glitch in this approach. All those systems were created by someone that has no idea how you live. Their system may work just fine for them, but we are all different. In fact, I'd argue that there is no simple solution that everyone can simply follow and magically become organized.

When it comes to time management, productivity and organization, I’ve found that your personality and habits play huge roles in determining the techniques that are natural to you. There are four productivity personalities, and today I’m going to walk you through the basics of each and get you started on creating a system that fits with your brain. The more you know about yourself, the easier it will be to create a workable system that will organize your life.

The Fantastical
The Fantastical is a visual thinker. I’ve found that a LOT of creative entrepreneurs tend to be Fantasticals. If you’re a Fantastical, you excel at taking interesting problems and producing unique solutions.

Fantasticals fall farthest from the traditional files in alphabetical order organization scheme. If you’re a Fantastical, you need to have all the pieces of your work spread out in front of you. If it’s not within your line of sight, it may as well not exist. So when you organize your environment, leave space for all of your current project piles. You’ll know what’s in them. ;)

The Analytical
The Analytical is driven by ambition and logic. This is a person found in the board room, occupying the CEO’s chair, or in some other position of power. If you’re an Analytical, you’re able to quickly assess situations and link them to longer term outcomes, and you need information at your fingertips almost instantaneously.

You might think that lends itself well to alphabetizing, but that’s not necessarily the case. Analyticals often do well with entirely electronic systems that allow the necessary files and folders to appear with just a few keystrokes.

The Environmental
While the Fantastical focuses inward and the Analytical looks toward the future, the Environmental looks at the people around him or her. Are they comfortable, feeling well, and enjoying themselves? An Environmental is the person everyone goes to when they need help, advice, or a shoulder to cry on.

As might be guessed by the name, environment is extremely important for an Environmental. Sterile filing cabinets and strict systems don’t work well for you, but you will enjoy organizing by color and creating a system that’s whimsical and welcoming. You also tend to keep things indefinitely – someone might need them at some point – but instituting a toss after ten years rule does wonders to cut down on the volume.

The Structural
The Structural is the final personality type, and they’re the ones writing all of those books that the rest of us struggle to implement. Organization comes naturally to a Structural. Everything has its place and everything happens on its own schedule. They don’t understand the trouble that the rest of their colleagues have with their systems.

Trouble for a Structural comes in the form of volume. Their systems are often complex, and can buckle under an increase in work load. If you suspect you are a Structural, spend some time now looking for ways to break your system. What scenarios would cause problems? Are there changes you can make to streamline and avoid those problems?

Now that you know the basics, you can start creating systems that cater to your personality instead of working against it. You’ll find that these systems fit you perfectly - they’re easy to maintain, easy to tweak and when life hands you an emergency it will be easy to pick them back up again.

Written on 7/2/2011 by Kirsten Simmons. Kirsten started wondering why nobody considered personality type in organization, time management and productivity literature. She started researching the question, and before she knew it she had a business on her hands! Come by Personalized Productivity and take our free quiz. You’ll discover your type and get more detailed tips on how to build your ideal system.

Photo Credit: Rita H Cobbs

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Maybe all of your days tend to go smoothly. You're good at getting up on time, doing your work, and making sure that you relax. The problem is, you feel like things are not quite adding up. On a day to day basis, things are pretty good – but month-by-month, you don't feel like you're making progress.

Do you plan for the month ahead? Most of us don't – if I'm truthful, I don't always manage this myself. But a bit of forethought can make a huge difference.

Here's how to have a great month:

Step #1: Spend Fifteen Minutes Planning
You certainly don't need to schedule out every day of the month ahead – but spending just a few minutes planning can have a huge impact. Rather than just taking life day-by-day, you can look ahead to ensure that you're on track with bigger projects.

The rest of the steps pretty much require some forethought, so get your calendar ready. If you don't tend to do much planning or if your current system doesn't seem to be working, I highly recommend Charlie Gilkey's Monthly Action Planners.

Step #2: Take a Full Weekend Off
We all need down time. It's a vital part of staying healthy and being able to work creatively. If you're working 9 – 5 in an office all week and then carrying on with your own projects (or chores) every weekend, you're going to be feeling stressed-out and tired.

When planning your month, find a weekend which you can block of purely for guilt-free leisure time. You can spend it however you like – but you might also want to look ahead to see whether there are tickets you want to book, or friends you want to meet up with.

It's easy to get to the weekend and end up watching television or playing video games, not because you especially want to, but because you don't know what else to do. Planning ahead can let you enjoy weekends that you remember all year.

Step #3: Tackle Some Bigger Goals
Most goals are too big to be accomplished in a single day, or even a week – but not so big that they'll take a whole year.

Maybe you're trying to cut down on caffeine. You might not manage it in a week, but across a month, you could see a radical decrease in your consumption. By planning ahead a bit, you can set smaller goals and targets: cutting down a little bit more each week.

Maybe you're trying to lose weight. You know you could be at your target within a year, but it's hard to stay focused when some weeks see your weight staying level for no obvious reason. If you plan ahead for the month, you can see sustained changes.

Step #4: Take on a New Project
A lot can be accomplished – not just started on, but finished – within a single month. Take NaNoWriMo, for instance, where participants write a 50,000 word novel during November – that's a challenge, but a possible one. Think how great your month would be if you accomplished something like that!

Of course, you don't need to take on anything hugely ambitious. Perhaps your project is to finally get the garage cleared out, or to sell a stack of old DVDs on ebay, or to do some work in your garden, or to learn to cook four new meals. Look for something which you can complete during a month – that way, you'll get the satisfaction of seeing real progress.

Step #5: Consider a 30-day Trial
Is there some big chance you're considering – like getting up at 6am instead of 8am, or quitting alcohol, exercising daily, or becoming vegetarian?

Maybe it seems like something you'd like to try, but which you're not sure about committing to. How about giving it a 30-day trial? If you decide the change doesn't suit you, just stop after the month is over. But if you decide that it's been worth it, then this month just might have been one of the most important in your life.

How will you make next month one of your best months ever?

Written on 3/27/2010 by Ali Luke. Ali writes a blog, Aliventures, about leading a productive and purposeful life (get the RSS feed here). As well as blogging, she writes fiction, and is studying for an MA in Creative Writing.

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A few years ago, my life was a mess. So was my house, my desk, my mind. Then I learned, one by one, a few habits that got me completely organized.

Am I perfect? Of course not, and I don't aim to be. But I know where everything is, I know what I need to do today, I don't forget things most of the time, and my house is uncluttered and relatively clean (well, as clean as you can get when you have toddlers and big kids running around).

So what's the secret? In truth, there aren't any secrets. There are simple habits that you can develop over time that will get you to where you want to be. These are habits that you can apply to your work, your home, your kids, your hobbies, your life. Instead of giving you specifics for how to organize something specific, like your desk or your closet, I provide principles that you can use over and over in every situation.

Are these obvious principles? Sure, if you stop to think about them. You've read them in various other places. But you might not be applying them to your daily life, and that's where the problem lies. I'm just providing you with a step-by-step guide to what actually works, based on my experience and that of others.

If your life is a mess, like mine was, I don't recommend trying to get organized all in one shot. It's overwhelming. Instead, start with the first habit, and work your way down. Do it a little at a time, one area of your life at a time, one area of your home or office at a time. Work on a habit for a month or so, then move on to the next one. Or adopt two or three if you think you can handle it, but don't do them all at once. I also recommend you set aside some time each day (30 or 60 minutes) for organizing, at least in the beginning, until you are fairly organized and have your system down. Then, you might need 10 minutes a day, just to keep things running smoothly, and every now and then you might need to have a purge session (every 6 months or so) to get rid of accumulated buildup.

So here are the 7 habits:

1. Reduce before organizing.
   The mistake most people make when trying to organize their stuff or their tasks or their projects is that they have a whole mess of things to organize, and it's too complicated. If you have a closet crammed full of stuff, sure, you can buy a bunch of closet organizers, but in the end, you'll still have a closet crammed full of stuff. Same thing with time management: you can organize a packed schedule, but it'll still be crammed full of tasks. The solution: reduce, eliminate, simplify.
   
   If you take your closet full of 100 things and throw out all but the 10 things you love and use, now you don't need a fancy closet organizer. Same thing with time management: if you have 20 things to do today, and reduce it to just the three most important tasks, you don't need a schedule anymore.
   
   How to reduce: take everything out of a closet or drawer or other container (including your schedule), clean it out, and only put back those items you truly love and really use on a regular basis. This will leave you with a pile of other stuff -- get rid of it by tossing it, donating it, selling it or giving it to somebody who will love it. If you can't bear to part with some of the stuff, put it in a "maybe" box and store it in your attic or basement or other storage space. Label it with a description and date, and six months later, when you haven't needed any of it, toss it.


2. Write it down now, always.
   Our minds are wonderful things, but they leak like a sieve. We don't remember things when we need to remember them, and they continually come up when we don't need them. Instead of using your mind as storage for things you need to remember, write it down. I carry a small pocket notebook wherever I go, and write things down immediately. Then I process the ideas and tasks later into my calendar or to-do list, so I don't forget.


3. Have one inbox & process.
   Well, actually you need two inboxes - one for home and one for work. But many people have many more than that -- paper comes to their desk and lands in a number of places. Phone messages get placed everywhere. Notes to self are posted all over the place. Instead, have one inbox, and put all incoming stuff in there. Then, once a day (or once a week at home if that works better for you), process the inbox to empty. Take an item out of the inbox and decide what to do with it, right away: toss it, delegate it, file it, put it on your to-do list, or do it now. Do the same thing to the next item, until your inbox is empty. Don't defer these decisions for later.


4. A place for everything.
   Related to the above tip is to have a place for each item in your life. Where do your car keys go? You should have one place for them (next to the door is best) and you'll never lose them again. Where do your pens go? How about your magazines? I teach my kids to find a "home" for every toy or other item in their rooms (even still, their toys are mostly homeless wanderers, but they're kids) and that's a concept that works for us grown-ups too: each item should have a home, and if it doesn't, we need to designate one. Labels can help you remember where those homes are. Now, if you find something on your table or counter top or on you bed or on your desk, you know that it doesn't belong there. Find its home -- don't just toss something anywhere. The same concept applies to information: do you have one place where you put all your information? If not, try a personal wiki -- it's accessible from work and home, and you can create pages for each type of information in your life -- schedules, goals, to-dos, movies to watch, books to read, notes on projects, etc.


5. Put it away now.
   Most people have a habit of putting something on a table or counter top or on their desk with the intention of "putting it away later". Well, this is how things get messy and disorganized. Instead, put it away now -- in its home. It only takes a few seconds, and this one habit will save you a lot of cleaning and sorting and organizing later. When you find yourself putting something down, catch yourself, and force yourself to put it away now. After a little while, it will become second nature.


6. Clean as you go.
   Closely related to Habit 5, this habit is effective because it's much easier to clean things as you work or as you move through your day than to let them pile up and do a big cleaning session later. So if you're cooking, try to wash your dishes as you use them, and wipe the counter, instead of leaving a huge mess. Same principle applies to everything we do. If it's easier to do it in smaller increments, we are more likely to do it. If there is a huge mess to clean, we are more likely to be intimidated or overwhelmed by it and leave it for later.


7. Develop routines & systems.
   If you've gotten everything uncluttered and organized, you might sit back and enjoy the pleasantness of it. Being organized and having a simplified working environment or home is tremendously satisfying. But the problem is that after a little while, things tend to start to get disorganized and cluttered again. Things tend to gravitate towards chaos. The solution: you need to develop systems to keep your organization in place. For example, the inbox processing mentioned above is a system: you have specific procedures for processing all incoming papers, and you have a routine for doing it (once a day). All systems follow the same guidelines -- specific procedures and a routine that is done at a set interval (three times a day, once a day, once a week, once a month, etc.). It's important that you identify the systems you have in your life (and they exist, even if you don't know they do -- but they may be complicated and chaotic) and write them out so that you can make them efficient, simple, and organized. Develop systems for dealing with paperwork and mail, with kids schedules, with errands and laundry and chores and exercise and everything else. Once those systems are in place, you need to be vigilant about keeping them going, and then things will stay organized.

Written for Dumblittleman.com on 06/07/2007 by Leo Babauta and republished on 12/31/10. Leo offers advice on living life productively simple at his famous Zen Habits blog.

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There are three things that remind me of my father’s car: the Beach Boys, ChapStick, and a clock that is intentionally ten minutes fast. My father is one of those people who lives in his own time zone: Jeff Standard Time, sandwiched somewhere between Greenwich Mean and Mountain.

I used to tease my father for setting his clocks fast to try (and rarely succeed) at fooling himself into punctuality. Now I find myself doing the same thing. I know my alarm clock is set ten minutes fast, but there’s some glimmer of hope that in the fog between sleep and wakefulness, I’ll read the blaring red numbers, forget that I’m playing games with myself, jump out of bed, and get the proverbial early-bird worm.

Excuses, Excuses
Why are some of us chronically late while others are predictably punctual? A lot of reasons. We learn it from our parents. (Thanks, Dad.) We learn it from our culture. (In some countries, like Ecuador and Peru, tardiness is so culturally ingrained that the governments have initiated public punctuality campaigns.) We are better or worse at quantifying measurements like time. (I’m also hopeless when it comes to estimating distance or how many people were at a party. Jelly beans in a jar? Forget it.) We value and perceive time differently. (I like to think of it as a jumping-off point for negotiations.) We want or don’t want attention. We’re focused or easily distracted. We try to do too much. We are thrilled or repelled by the anxiety of running late.

There are myriad reasons. There are also myriad excuses.

Do Something About It
When I lived in New York, I could blame my tardiness on the city. There seemed to be a thousand and one obstacles to getting anywhere on time in Manhattan: subway maintenance, visiting dignitaries, spilled coffee, construction, street musicians, bagels, man on the tracks. I readily offered these excuses as I plopped down ten, fifteen, even thirty minutes late to work or a drink with a friend. “You would never believe the traffic on Broadway,” I’d sigh. The city was conspiring against me, and like Alice’s White Rabbit, I was perpetually late for a very important date.

Recently, I moved from New York to a smaller city, where I have a car and more control over my schedule—which means fewer available excuses. I also have a friend who has redefined the word “late” (she has a personal record of three hours) and has put me on the other side of the fence. I’ve made some progress. And as they say on TV, now so can you! Before you give up and move to Peru, try some of these strategies for making yourself more punctual:

1. The first step is acceptance. Admit you have a problem and enlist help.
2. Surround yourself with clocks (not just the one on your cell phone).
3. Bring something to read or occupy you, so if you arrive early, you don’t feel like you’re “wasting time.”
4. Give yourself a handicap. If you’re a bad estimator, double the time you think it will take to get there.
5. If you’ve never been where you’re going, look up directions beforehand (not at the time you’re supposed to be walking out the door).
6. Before you accept invitations for engagements, ask yourself if you really can, or want to, attend. If you’re hesitant, perhaps it’s better to politely decline than rudely arrive late.
7. Don’t try to do too much. Keep a detailed schedule and don’t be distracted by tasks not on it.
8. Fine yourself a dollar (to your piggy bank) for every minute you’re late.
9. Hypnosis. Hey, it can’t hurt, right?

And for those of you who always arrive on the dot (well done), but are frustrated by your unfashionably late friends and colleagues, try these tips:

• Calmly let the person know you’re irritated.
• Impose some kind of consequence, playfully at first. For example, if your friend is late for a coffee date, she buys.
• Give her a taste of her own medicine. On your next meeting, show up as late as she was the last time.

Time is not money for everyone, but it is a resource. If you waste someone’s, they can’t get it back. Punctuality is about consideration, and it’s something I’m working on. I’ll keep you posted, but now I’ve gotta run. I’m late.

Written on 8/25/2010 by DivineCaroline. DivineCaroline a place where people come together to learn from experts in the fields of health, spending, and parenting. Come discover, read, learn, laugh, and connect at DivineCaroline.com.

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It is a common complaint, “I don’t have enough time.” In fact, I'd bet that you said these exact words in the last 48 hours.

“I don’t have enough time to...

...finish my work,
...get in shape,
...start a hobby,
...spend with my family.”

While we all have the same amount of time in the day, why is it that some people seem to accomplish a ton more than you? From the President to the postman, people all have the same time frame but accomplish loads more than in a single day that you seem to accomplish in a week.

Why is this? Why do some struggle and drown in their obligations, while others make the impossible seem effortless? Why are some people time poor while others are rich? Which are you?

The only difference is how you choose to spend your time. Here are some things to consider so that your days are loaded with accomplishments.

1. You Don’t Say No
   One of the biggest mistakes people make is to take on burdens that do not belong to them. When you don’t say no, you find yourself doing other people’s work. This happens both in the workplace and in day-to-day life. Ever find yourself doing someone else’s job simply because you couldn’t say no?
   


2. You Don’t Know Your Obligations
   How can you tell if you are going to overflow your bucket if you don’t know how full it is? It is common to over commit your time if you are not aware of all your obligations. You need to make a commitment list. List out and budget all of your commitments from work, life, and community. Only then can you know your remaining time balance.


3. You Have Too Much Life Friction
   Life Friction is self-inflicted time management. In other words, you create your own crises by your own actions and disorganization. Life friction means extra re-work, increased stress, and wasted time. Ever get back from running errands and realize you have to go back out because you forgot something?
   


4. You Lolly-gag
   It is amazing that some of the same people that complain they don’t have enough time are the same ones that lolly-gag and waste it. Ever see that person who arrives late to work and then spends the next hour and 15 minutes getting ready to start working? You don’t need to spend every second of the day under a stopwatch, but be aware of when you waste time whether it is gossiping, surfing the Internet, or recapping the weekend for the third time.


5. You Don’t Put Your Priorities First
   Ever finish a busy workday only to think to yourself that you didn’t get anything important done? If you don’t put your priorities first, it won’t matter how fast you work, you may never get to what is important.
   
   You have to be able to say, “I am not going to do this, because something else is more important.”


6. You Try to Do Everything Yourself
   We all have the same number of seconds in the day. At a certain point, the only way to get more done is to have someone help. But, some people have trouble letting others do work because they feel that no one can do it as well as they can.
   
   This can be particularly troublesome when a leader will not let their team do their duties and instead tries to take on everything themselves.


7. You Don’t Finish Things
   When you don’t finish tasks, you are only creating more work for yourself. Tasks undone actually create more work for you. They take more time to pick back up when you return to them. They create unnecessary complications when you leave them to the last minute.
   
   Ever leave an expense report undone for a long period of time? It ends up taking 5X’s as long to complete compared to if you had done it right away.

What habits or behaviors do you have that keep you time poor?

Written on 7/21/2010 by Craig Jarrow. Craig writes the blog, Time Management Ninja, whose mission is to "Win the battle against wasted time, disorganization, clutter, and all other things evil..." Grab his RSS feed for some great productivity tips.

Photo Credit: bareknuckleyellow

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Take a look in your closets, garage, junk drawer and even your day planner. Are your valuable spaces uncomplicated and organized or cluttered and cramped? If your answer is the latter, it may be time to simplify your life by getting down to the bare essentials.

For many people, a good number of items which currently clutter up your home are redundant, useless, in need or repair, or just taking up space. We simply do not need all of the possessions we have accumulated. These superfluous items can cost you valuable time and money as you sort through them on a daily basis.

Simplification and getting down to the bare essentials will save time and money while reducing stress as well. Although there are many areas of our lives we could simplify, here are a few examples to give you a good start.

1. Simplify your wardrobe.
   Most people wear less than 20% of the items in their closet on a regular basis. A simplified wardrobe can relieve a great deal of stress. Fewer options will expedite your outfit selection each morning. Stick to mix and match clothing pieces that are classic and timeless. Eliminate items that our outdated, waiting more than 6 months for repair or alterations, or worn less than twice a year. The increased space in your closet will also make it easier to view the remaining clothing you have.


2. Simplify your garage and storage area.
   As the seasons change, swap snow shovels and ice picks for rakes and garden shovels. Store the unused items above in the rafters. If you have multiples of outdoor tools, garden tools, or sporting equipment, select the one in the best condition, and eliminate the others. Most importantly, if you have boxes in your storage area or garage that have been unopened for over two years, consider discarding it. If it's been stored that long, you likely don't need it.
   


3. Simplify your children's toys.
   Some toys, such as building blocks, are a staple in a child's toy repertoire and should be kept. Classic games and toys should be retained so long as they are regularly played with. Others like board games or puzzles which are missing pieces, trendy toys (remember Tickle Me Elmo?) that now sit on the shelf collecting dust, or gifted items that your children never had any real interest in should be discarded or donated. More than likely, your child will never miss those items and their playroom shelves will look considerably less cluttered.


4. Simplify your kitchen.
   Keep your cupboards organized by eliminating dishes and appliances you rarely use. You only need enough dishes to serve your family and a reasonable number of guests. Donate any extras. A single set of mixing bowls and cooking utensils is all that is necessary. While decluttering the kitchen, take a look under the sink and combine or discard multiples of cleaning supplies as well. Then find time to take a look through your pantry and donate any non-perishables you will not eat in the next month to a food bank.


5. Simplify your finances.
   Multiple credit cards make it easy to accumulate debt and easy to miss a payment as well. If you have debt, consolidate it into one loan or credit card. An even better option is to become debt-free. If you are married and still have separate accounts, merge them into one. If you have money in the stock market, buy and hold rather than playing the ups and downs. Package services such as insurance (car, home, life) and technology Internet, cable, phone) whenever possible. One bill is easier to keep track of than three. In addition to simplification, you may find that packaged services at a discounted rate as well.


6. Simplify your schedule.
   Avoid taking on too many social engagements. Carefully consider your availability before joining any groups, committees, or clubs. Limiting your social commitments will allow you do give each its due attention. Additionally, simplify your family obligations by grouping appointments together whenever possible. Take one trip to the dentist instead of 5 separate trips. If your children are involved in after-school activities, find another family that will carpool with you. Life is much simpler when you only need to drive the kids to soccer once a week instead of 3 times.

Getting down to the bare essentials is a straightforward way to simplify your life. By taking the time to whittle things down to the fundamentals, you will save both time and money. You will spend less time making decisions when there are fewer options and save money by reducing unnecessary purchases. In the process, you may find some unexpected
benefits along the way such as reduced stress, increased personal satisfaction, and more free time.

Written on 5/11/2010 by Maria Gracia. Maria is the founder of www.GetOrganizedNow.com and specializes in helping people get better organized to live the kind of stress-free life they've always dreamed of. Visitors to her web site can get a FREE Get Organized Now! Idea-Pak and sign up for her weekly organizing newsletter.

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What did you achieve last year? What progress did you make towards your goals?

Those are questions that, a few years ago, I’d have had trouble answering. Perhaps I could point to some money saved up, or to the next step of a qualification earned, but it was hard to see whether I’d really made much progress. Often, I’d feel bad that I hadn’t achieved more – even when I’d actually done quite a lot.

If you don’t already have some way of tracking your achievements, I’d urge you to adopt this as a habit. I’ll take you through the way I do it, and explain why it’s important.

• Step 1: Get a Notebook
  Buy yourself a really nice notebook; don’t feel bad about spending a bit more money than you normally would. If you have something beautiful to record your achievements in, it’ll mean more to you than a scrappy $1.00 pad. Plus, you’ll want to keep this for years to come!


• Step 2: Write Your Goals (optional)
  It’s up to you whether you want to combine your record of achievements with your goals. I find that this is useful, so long as I don’t get hung up on making sure that what I achieve is an exact match to what I hoped for!
  
  On the first page of your notebook, write down “2010: Goals” and list no more than three or four key goals for the year. Make them specific (e.g. “Lose 50lbs”, “Get three articles published”, etc.).


• Step 3: Write Your Achievements, Monthly
  A month is a good length of time to look at what you’ve achieved: it’s long enough to have accomplished something meaningful, but not so long that you’ve forgotten everything you’ve done!
  
  Sit down somewhere quiet, at the end of each month, for just five or ten minutes. Write down in bullet points anything that you feel qualifies as an achievement. You might like to record:
  
  
  
  • Anything you’ve tried for the first time (skiing was on my list last year!)
  
  
  • Any large projects you’ve completed
  
  
  • Progress in a particular area – eg. steps taken towards your business
    
  It’s useful to think about your work life, your personal life, and your family life. Hopefully, you’ll find that writing down your achievements puts you in a positive frame of mind – you’ll be able to see what you’ve accomplished, and even in slow months, you’ll be surprised what you can find to celebrate.


• Step 4: Celebrate Your Achievements
  When you’ve accomplished something big – perhaps a milestone on your way towards a goal – take time to celebrate! That might mean going for a meal out, opening a nice bottle of wine, buying a new book or DVD that you wanted, or simply giving yourself some guilt-free time to relax.
  
  The act of recording and celebrating what you’ve achieved will encourage you towards further growth. Rather than dwelling on things which went wrong or didn’t work out the way you hoped, keep your focus on the areas where you’re developing and learning.


• Step 5: Review the Year
  When you come to the end of a year, look back over your achievements. It’s almost certain that you’ll see some great patterns across those twelve months. Perhaps your first try at public speaking in January led to your first competition speech in June and your first win in September. Or maybe your first piano lesson in February saw you pass an exam in October.

Written on 3/1/2010 by Ali Hale. Ali is a professional writer and blogger, and a part-time postgraduate student of creative writing. If you need a hand with any sort of written project, drop her a line (ali@aliventures.com) or check out her website at Aliventures.

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I recently opened my journal to jot down my thoughts at the day’s end. This is fairly normal as I write in my journal often. However, I only journal when I feel like it; it’s never a forced action. So, while I am writing articles and academic related papers daily, my journal is more of a refuge, a place for stress relief, and to record my aspirations and goals.

Earlier this November, I had just gotten home from work and was in need of some serious winding down, so I started writing effortlessly and carelessly. I completely forgot what I’d written about that night until I cracked it open two weeks later. You see, I’d made some pretty lofty goals for myself earlier in the month of November. I mainly wrote about how I needed to finish some work on my website and my goal to complete a certain project that I’d put off for far too long; it was simply time to be finished with it.

I was shocked when I read my previous journal entry because everything I had written concerning what I wanted to accomplish had come to pass. I achieved all of my short term goals for the month, and the best part was that it all seemed effortless. I began asking myself, “How can journaling help us reach our goals?”

As I pass over previous entries, I can locate multiple instances in which I’ve set out to do something and written it down, only to find it’s been accomplished and taken care of.

So, why record our goals in a journal?

• It Keeps Us Accountable
  When you write something down, it serves as a commitment. Think of it like a contract; when you sign a contract, you are participating in some form of agreement – you are now obligated to fulfill your end of the deal. As you write your goals, they become visible; they possess meaning. If you recorded them with some form of emotion; they now have sentiment.
  
  Upon my discovery, I could vividly revisit the moment I crafted every single word. I could recall the cold air against my cheeks as I sat on my back porch; I remembered how anxious the moment was as I scribbled out what I hoped to accomplish by November 22nd 2009. The intensity was obvious, due to my sloppy handwriting, as I felt the need to record every detail as quickly as possible.


• Writing Our Goals Makes Them Believable
  Writing your aspirations serves as a starting block. It’s the foundation of getting anything worthwhile completed. I’ve often found myself in a state of uncertainty; a place in which I have so much I wish to accomplish but feel so behind and overwhelmed. That is until I write out my goals, and begin working backward from the desired result.
  
  An example of this is how I wrote my first eBook. I’ve written many articles over the last year but every time I thought about writing anything over 2000 words, I would panic and self doubt would set in. I then, just imagined a small eBook was nothing more than 8-10 of my usual articles, all lumped into one. Now, I was onto something. I started to believe how easy this might actually be – publishing my very first eBook with no stress or extra effort.
  
  This was actually one of the goals I managed to accomplish by November 22nd. I simply broke the task into manageable chunks and executed like nobody’s business. I made the eBook into 9 sections and treated each one like an article in itself. Before I knew it, I was performing the final edit and publishing the PDF. What a wonderful feeling it was; I’ll never forget it.


• Journals Serve As Record Keeper
  I began journaling my first year of college, but I wish I’d started sooner. I love to sit back and read all of my previous entries, simply to see what I deemed important at any given time in my life. I love retracing previous aspirations that have come to fruition and the long(er) term goals I am still working toward.
  
  The ability to recall my personal ramblings reminds me of where I long to be, and more importantly, where I’m headed. It also serves as a kick in the pants when I get distracted from my personal and long term goals.


• My Encouragement To You
  If you choose to use journaling as a method to reach your goals, make sure you keep these principles in mind.
  
  
  • Write when you feel like it – never force anything.
  
  
  • Write the date at the top of your entries; this serves as the record keeping part of the equation. You will appreciate it 2 years down the road when you gleam over your accomplishments.
  
  
  • Write whatever you like. There are no rules and you have complete freedom. Write anytime you wish and make sure it’s authentic and real. Never hold back.
  
  
  • Write your long and short term goals. Work backward from the goal and set dates accordingly. Nothing compares to gazing over previous entries and smiling because of your accomplishments.

Written on 1/6/2010 by JC. JC is the author of JCDFitness, where he writes about fat loss and a No BS Approach To Looking Great Naked. Follow him on Twitter.

Photo Credit: basykes

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It seems to me that people are busier than ever these days. We’re constantly running from one activity to the next and seem to leave a trail of debris in our wake wherever we go. There’s so much to do, I can’t possibly be bothered with things like “doing laundry so I’m not dirty and disgusting.” Whatever that means.

Here’s the problem, though: not being organized actually makes us slower, which is something we certainly don’t have time for. If we don’t know what we’ve got, where it is, and how to find it, we run into serious problems, lowered productivity and raised stress levels.

I’ve frequently found that taking just a few minutes to get organized will actually save a ton of time; and these things really only take a few minutes. Here are eight ways to get organized in only five minutes. Some are only for your computer, others can be applied anywhere in your life.

• Digitize
  We’ve all got lots of notes lying around – notes to yourself, things to remember, reasons why we’re fantastic (that one might just be me, come to think of it). Take a few minutes, and type them up. Phone numbers, addresses, tasks, personal notes and the like are all easier to find, edit and use when they’re digital.
  
  Try an application like Evernote, which is great for pulling together all the disparate and random notes and thoughts that come to your attention on any given day.


• Consolidate
  Maybe you’re not a computer person (they are evil, after all). Take all those disparate, loose notes, and consolidate them. Take a single, large piece of paper, and copy over everything you still want or need onto that one sheet. Having everything in one place makes it easier to find, and gets rid of some of the clutter that has inevitably entered your space. Even if you do use a computer, the same idea applies – pull all your loose text files, or sticky notes, into one easily accessible place.
  


• Pick a Space
  This is one of my favorites and definitely one of the most satisfying ways to spend a few minutes organizing. Pick a small space, like the top of the refrigerator, or underneath your bed; clean that like crazy - I mean it needs to be immaculate. When done, move on to another small spot and declutter that. Breaking this down into small manageable projects will make getting organized a ton less intimidating.
  


• Mind Dump
  This is one of the best things you can do, both for your sanity and your productivity. Periodically sit down with a pen and paper (or computer, or a napkin), and write down everything in your head. Things you need to do, things that are bothering you, things you want to know; whatever it is, get it all out of your head. It’ll free your brain to think about other things and give you an idea of what, exactly, is on your mind. You can mind dump anywhere, and you’ll always feel better having done it.


• Mass-Trash
  Go through your stuff, ignore everything you want to keep, and simply have a throwing-away party. I do this with digital files all the time, but it works equally well in your home or office; just get rid of stuff. Usually, what takes the longest is figuring out what to do with the stuff we still want. So don’t do that. Just get rid of everything else, and marvel in how much less junk you’ve got to deal with now.


• Systemize
  Filing is the not-so-fun, but logical, next step from the mass-trash bonanza. It can be made a lot more fun, and simple, by having a system in place. So, before you start filing things willy-nilly, create a simple system for it. Think about the ten things you have the most of: where does each one go? What do you want to do with them? Once you’ve got an obvious, no-brainer system in place, knowing where everything goes and putting it there just becomes muscle-memory. And that’s much better than filing otherwise.


• One Thing, One Place
  This is all about avoiding the overwhelm that can come from trying to get organized. Instead of dealing with everything at once, just pick one thing – say, movies. If you’ve got 300 movies lying all around your house, and nowhere to put them, just work with those. Find a home for them, get them all in their right place, and organize them to your heart’s content. There’s no wondering where each new thing goes, because they all go in the same place. Just put everything in the same place, and leave the rest of your stuff for later. If nothing else, at least one thing’s easier to find now.


• Make it Searchable
  This one’s obviously only for your digital life (if you’ve got a way to search through all your real-world stuff, let me know! Blank check is yours). One of the great advantages of the speed and power of our computers, as well as the Internet, is how powerful the search functionality is – you can find almost anything with just a few clicks. Google does it for the Web, and there are a bunch of solutions for searching your computer stuff. If you’ve got a PC, Google Desktop is a great one, as is Copernic Desktop. Mac users: Spotlight is your best friend. Searching is faster than filing, not to mention more complete. Pick a folder on your computer, dump everything into it, and search away!

Written on 8/06/2009 by David Pierce. David Pierce is a college student, freelance writer, and lover of all things Web-based. His blog, offering tips on how to thrive in a digital world, is The 2.0 Life, and he can frequently be found on Twitter.

Photo Credit: evelynishere

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