Archive for the 'Personal Development' Category

Procrastination is one of those insidious forces that keep us from doing important tasks and accomplishing our goals. It comes in many forms, from the seductive TV show that draws you in, to the suspense caption on your web browser about the latest Hollywood gossip, or even the benign water cooler calling you to get up for another drink.

In our busy lives distractions come at all angles… phone calls, e-mails, drop in guests… If we want to get something done we need a way to stay focused on the important things throughout the day. We need some simple tools that can help us stay on track and are easy enough to use that we don’t have to think about them.

I’ve been experimenting with three tools that I think you might find useful. Each one of these is simple to setup and keep updated. The price is right too… You can try each one for free.

The first is a web site called Joe’s Goals. Joe has created a simple web based tool to put your daily goals on your browser screen where you can access them from almost any computer or browser enabled cell phone. The interface is clean and is setup in weekly calendar format. You just setup the categories on the left side of the calendar and track them in the calendar cells to the right.

When you have accomplished the goal for the day, you just click on the calendar cell and a green check mark appears giving you confirmation that the task is done. It’s simple and effective. You can also setup negative goals that you don’t want to do as in the eat out example in the picture above. If you do the negative action, a red check mark appears.

I like Joe’s Goals since I can pull it up at work or home and even on my smart phone. The basic ad-enabled site is free and it is simple enough to be effective. The web site even has a get inspired section to see how others are using it and a cool logbook section to journal your activities.

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The second tool is the Smart To-Do List by Scott Karstetter. This useful piece of software is based on David Allen’s Getting Things Done philosophy of next actions. You just install the software on your Windows PC and open the simple interface. You enter your projects one by one and then fill out a to-do list for each one.

If you are a GTD aficionado you can also tag each item with an @-Tag. For example, you can use the “@ computer” tag to mark items that you would do using a computer and a “@ phone” tag to do items that would require a telephone.

The interface is no frills but that is really its power. The software is very simple to use and can be left running on your machine throughout the day. When you have accomplished a to-do item, you just click the little X next to it and the step disappears.

You can filter by tag so you can see all the tags for a given item on one screen. For example, you can filter by “@ phone” to see all the phone calls you need to make. This one feature makes this a very useful tool. You can download a test version that is limited to two projects for free or pick up the full version for a reasonable $14.95.

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The last item on the list is our own “Walleteer” cards that help you take your to-do list or next actions with you wherever you go. This set of cards is printed out on Avery business card stock and can be displayed on your desk using a simple pencil and clip viewing station.

This set of cards has 9 different cards for common uses. Just print up a few sets and keep them by your desk. Use a Sharpie marker to fill out your daily goals and put the cards on your desk where you can see them. It’s a simple but effective system to help you overcome procrastination and truly get things done.

Using any one of these systems along with a 48 Minute Focused Work Philosophy will help you overcome even the toughest procrastination. If you find yourself struggling to get things done, why not try one of these tools today… come on now… don’t put it off…

Procrastination is an insidious thing. It creeps up and strikes even the best of us from time to time. In fact many of us may not even realize that we are procrastinating. As you read this, for instance, you may be putting off doing something important. Maybe it’s that report to your boss, a new sales call, or that phone call to apologize to a friend.

Whatever it is, procrastination can be overcome. It’s actually quite simple…

Just do it!

I know what you’re saying… Don’t you wish it was that simple. The fact is we procrastinate because we have too much to do and not enough time to do it. In our modern society we have a huge amount of things coming at us from all directions. The cell phone is ringing, e-mail is notifying, your calendar is screaming, and your boss is standing in your doorway.

Something’s got to give!

The definition of procrastination is…

Putting off or delaying or deferring an action to a later time. 

Given the amount of stuff we all have to do, it’s just natural that we have to put off some things to a later time or just not do them at all.

So the real question is… what do we do now and what do we put off until later?

1. Do we do the urgent?
2. Do we do the important?
3. Do we do what makes us feel good now?

The answers to these questions can really affect our future.

Dan Ariely, in his new book, Predictably Irrational did some experiments with a group of students to find out how structure effects procrastination. The results of his test are interesting and may give us some insight on overcoming this insidious problem.

Dan gave three of his classes different criteria for submitting their papers during a 12 week semester

1. The first class had no deadlines at all. They merely needed to submit their papers by the last class. They could turn the papers in early but there was no grade benefit in doing so.
2. The second class could pick their own deadlines for each paper at the beginning of the course. They could set them at intervals throughout the semester or just set them all for the last day of the class. Once the deadlines were set they could not be changed. Students would be penalized 1% of the grade for each day it was late.
3. The third class was given dictatorial orders. They would have to submit their three papers on week 4, 8, and 12 respectively. Their was no choice or flexibility.

At the end of the semester, the grades were tallied for each group. The group with the dictatorial structure did the best, followed by the class that set its own deadlines, with the free form group coming in last.

Structure was very important to the overall grades of the class. The class that was allowed to pick it’s own deadlines decided to follow a scheduling form that the teacher provided.

The take away is this… people do better in this order

1. Externally imposed deadlines
2. Personally imposed deadlines
3. No deadlines at all along the way

This has been my experience over the years with many different classes, goals, or other accomplishments. Over the next few days we’ll look at some structured ways to overcome procrastination in different areas of life. From diet to money management we’ll take a look at some successful programs that let you say…

Let’s get started… NOW!

Does the price of an item change your perceived value of it? If you price an aspirin at 50 cents will it relieve your headache better than an aspirin priced at a penny? Dan Ariely has quite a bit of research on the subject in his new book, Predictably Irrational.

In the book, Dan explores our perception of an item or service in relationship to its price. And what he found has important implications in our quest for personal development.

Dan and his team created a fictional drug called Veladone-Rx and created marketing materials stating its wonderful pain killing effects. In the test, patients were brought into a room decorated as a high-end doctors office and handed a brochure for Veladone-Rx by a professional looking woman dressed in a business suit.

The full color pamphlet with an impressive logo touts that “Clinical studies show that over 92 percent of patients receiving Veladone in double-blind controlled studies reported significant pain relief within only ten minutes, and that pain relief lasted for up to 10 hours.” The price of one pill is $2.50.

Patients were then taken to a lab room and hooked up to a machine that gave them varying intensity electrical shocks. The participants were asked to record their pain on a computer in front of them after each shock. The  range on the selection line was from “no pain at all” to the “worst pain imaginable.”

After a few minutes this first test is done. Participants are then offered a Veladone capsule and told that the pill will reach its maximum effect after 15 minutes. The test is then run again and almost all of the patients reported significantly less pain.

The results were amazing considering the Veladone pill was actually a standard capsule of Vitamin-C. The placebo effect was very great!

But what would happen if the price of the pill on the brochure was discounted from $2.50 to just 10 cents? The test was repeated on another group of volunteers, but this time the $2.50 price on the brochure was scratched out and replaced with a discount price of only 10 cents.

This time the results were considerably different. In the first test at $2.50, almost all of the participants reported pain relief. When the price was reduced to 10 cents, only half of them did. The effect was more pronounced on patients that regularly experienced pain in their lives.

The bottom line: You get what you pay for. Price can change your experience.

So how would price effect a personal development course?

Consider the following fictional courses.

The first course is a deluxe goal setting course with CD, helpful booklet, and step by step instructions. The benefits are listed in the ad along with a full color cover, motivational picture, and strong brand logo. The price is set at $79.00.

The second is a generic low cost toolkit. It too contains a CD, helpful booklet and step by step instructions. An outline of the contents are listed on the ad, but the whole package has a low cost look and feel to it. There are no implied benefits listed, but the price is a very reasonable $7.95

Looking at the ads, which package would you choose?

1. Do you think you could successfully set meaningful goals with the low cost package?
2. Do you think that the more expensive package would make you more successful?
3. What if you were told that the material was the same, but the deluxe package had pictures, illustrations and video clips compared to the text based generic package. Would you still make the same decision?

Does the price make a difference? 

Let me know what you think in the comments section.

And be sure to download our free goal setting toolkit!

Does free mean less value? Something to think about…

There is a dirty little secret that most people have. Hidden behind doors, and piled high in closets and garages is a stack of clutter. Clutter that sometimes defies description.

Dear readers, I hate clutter. I have a daily personal battle with it. It comes in the form of junk mail, impulse purchases, free gifts, and free samples. It creeps in when you least expect it and finds a place on any flat surface in your house. It loves the kitchen counter top and the kitchen table. Soon it multiplies and finds a way into the office, where it piles high waiting for action.

Unfortunately, if I let my guard down for just one day, clutter will get a foothold. When I have a busy week with many important projects, I can have a real battle on my hands. I call it “The Curse of Stuff,” and it really can take time and energy to overcome it.

I have had an experience over the last two weekends that have really taken this problem to a new level. It’s called “Other People’s Stuff,” and it came in the form of 50 years of clutter from my dad’s house. My dad passed away two years ago and his stuff was moved to my sister’s house. My sister is now in the process of moving to a smaller house with little storage space and something had to be done.

In this stack of stuff were important papers, antiques and collectibles, old clothes, tools and supplies, and basically anything you would probably find in your own home. Unfortunately procrastination had reared it’s ugly head for many years with these items. My dad had put off dealing with it for years, and my sister never found the time to go through it.

The clutter basically got moved from place to place numerous times and got bigger and more unruly each time.

I set one rule this time… I’m not moving it again!

But here was the problem, neither my sister or I knew what to do with it. It was an overwhelming problem causing a huge amount of stress. We needed help and we needed it bad.

I started asking friends if they knew anybody that could help and one name came to the surface… it was an organization called Clutter Stop.

Clutter Stop is run by Sheila McCurdy, who is the author of a popular book on clutter control called The Floor Is Not An Option. I called Sheila and she made arrangements to look at the problem.

When she arrived, she opened the door to my sister’s garage and was faced with a floor to ceiling mess. She spent a few minutes assessing the situation and also looked at the three storage sheds of additional items. She immediately formulated a plan and set an appointment to tackle the problem in two weeks.

She ordered a dumpster and hired a crew. On that fateful Saturday, she arrived early with her sidekick Millie and four helpers. The door to the garage flew open and everything was taken out and sorted on the front lawn. The garage was thoroughly cleaned and important furniture was brought back in and set in rows.

Antiques and collectibles were brought in, sorted and displayed on top of the furniture for an appraiser to look at. Important papers and photographs were put in their own section. The rest of the items were sorted for a garage sale and if the item was not sellable it was thrown away.

Her crew was amazing and at the end of the day we filled the dumpster twice over and had a very organized garage. I can’t tell you how nice it was to have someone take charge and tackle a very overwhelming problem.

We have since hired an appraiser and had someone who works with estate sales sell the antiques and collectibles for us. My sister’s older children are coming next weekend to do a huge garage sale. While we still have a ways to go, Sheila’s commitment to tackling clutter got us over the hump.

I have ordered Sheila’s book and just looking at the reviews I know she’ll have some great tips to help me with my own house. If you find yourself facing the agony of clutter, be sure to log onto Clutter Stop for some very helpful resources!

As a speaker or presenter, how do you really reach an audience? I’ve seen many different approaches in my years as a Toastmaster, but I had the chance last night to sit in on an amazing presentation. One that reached almost everyone in the audience in an informed and engaged manner for over 90 minutes.

The presenter was Sheryl Roush, one of only four women in the world that has reached the coveted Accredited Speaker designation by Toastmasters International. Sheryl was speaking to a diverse audience of educators, toastmasters, and professional business people at the school district where I work.

Sheryl’s presentation was entitled “Sparkling Secrets Of Speaking Success,” and was directed to those who want to connect better with their audience. Her  approach was centered around the theory of Multiple Intelligences put forth by Howard Gardner. This theory includes 7 different personal styles that include…

1. Linguistic: People that like to work with words and stories
2. Mathematical-Logical: People that like numbers, systems and statistics
3. Visual-Spatial: Visual people that like pictures, charts, graphs and video
4. Musical: People that enjoy music and can remember tunes and lyrics
5. Kinesthetic-Physical: People that learn by doing, a hands-on approach
6. Inter-personal: Interaction with other people, team activities.
7. Intra-personal: The need for quiet working atmosphere and introspection

Right from the start, Sheryl’s presentation was focused on individual members of the audience. When you walked into the room before the presentation you noticed upbeat music playing in the background. If you were a musical person you instantly had focus. And if you were a linguistic person, her “sparkling” title on the screen was sure to engage you.

As you walked in you were handed a multi-page handout with an interesting cover font and graphics. The kinesthetic’s had something in their hands to work on, while the visual people had an interesting font and graphics. The Math-logicals were sure to notice the numbered test on page two.

As Sheryl was introduced, her Mac based Keynote presentation started slide by slide in the background, reinforcing what the person introducing her was saying. The music faded out and all eyes were on her.

Sheryl engaged the audience and let everyone know that we would be working individually on projects included in the handout and then we would share our results as a group. This let the intra-personal people know that they would have a quiet work space for a few minutes and also engaged the inter-personal folks with a group activity.

The first activity was a Multiple intelligence test. We all turned to page two on the handout and she led us question by question through a numbered list of 28 items segregated into 7 columns. As we finished up she had us add up the columns and find out what our highest scores were. I scored highest in the linguistic, kinesthetic, and visual categories.

This was a lot of fun and as we finished up the test she went around the room and had different people share their different styles. Everyone was engaged at this point. Over the course of the next hour she led us through a mind-map activity and a very engaging keynote (Powerpoint style) presentation.

Her keynote slides all had an engaging title for the linguistics, pictures for the visuals and had numbered points for the math people. She also included very animated transitions between slides which added additional visual interest.

As she went along she used amazing vocal variety and even sang a few bars of a song to bring in the musical types. This was a hands-on, visual and audio masterpiece.

When she finished up after 90 minutes, I felt like it had only been a half hour or so. The crowd reaction was amazing and she took questions and answers to finish up the night.

Overall I was struck by how effective her presentation was. She engaged everyone in the room and definitely reached out to all of the intelligences. I learned SO much by just watching the interaction of the event that this list of 7 styles will definitely become a CHECKLIST for my next presentation.

Sheryl is also a published author of numerous books that inspire and motivate. One of her newest is entitled Heart of a Mother, a heart warming and engaging book that is the perfect gift for mothers day.

Heart of a Mother by Sheryl L. Roush Read more about this book…

I love my iPod. I’ve had numerous models over the last few years and each one of them has filled a unique niche. My video iPod has seen the most duty as my main conduit for audio books. The large capacity and small size of this unit make it ideal for taking audio along in the car.

I have found that listening to audio books while I’m driving is a great way to learn new things in an otherwise unproductive time. I’m a Kinesthetic learner (hands-on) by nature so the actual motion of driving (steering etc) makes it easier to learn things from these books than just sitting in a chair or lying in a bed listening.

My smaller iPods (mini & nano) have been very useful while exercising and on outside walking trips. Nothing makes a walk more enjoyable than invigorating music or a stimulating audio book. The small size of these units make them ideal for the high motion of physical activity. The Nano is especially useful as it is based on Flash memory which is not prone to skipping when the unit is jostled around.

Over the last year I’ve listened to over 60 audio books while driving or exercising. This has been an amazing experience as I have fulfilled my goal of participating in a successful Personal MBA program. Audio books are more limited in their selection, but there are hundreds to choose from in the business and personal development areas.

One of the new developments that represents a huge opportunity for parents is the new lower cost iPod shuffle. You can now get a 1 gig unit for $49 which will hold multiple audio books and uses flash memory that is perfect for the high activity lifestyle of kids.

Now you can get each child their own iPod and download age appropriate audio books. They can listen while walking to school or on the bus. The really cool thing is that many of the books that school age children are required to read for class are available in audio format.

Now your kids can literally do their book reading homework while in the car or out riding their bikes. This small iPod shuffle is the most bullet-proof of the iPod units and the light weight means they can take it almost anywhere.

Whether it is Huck Finn for the younger kids or Steinbeck for the older crowd, the audio version makes a great addition to the written book. I know when I was a kid that my reading sometimes meant skimming the book on the way to class. With audio books they will have heard the entire story through and will easily be able to go back and give a detailed book review.

The nice thing about the Apple iPod versus other units is the bookmark function. If you pause the audio at any point the iPod automatically puts in a “bookmark” which makes it easy to come back to exactly the right spot. Many other MP3 units do not offer this feature which makes studying the audio book much more difficult.

In short, the new less expensive iPod shuffle can help your kids learn while they play and get better grades too. If they should happen to drop the unit, it will most likely survive unscathed because of the lightweight design. And in the unlikely event they lose it, you’ll only be out $50, instead of hundreds for the other units.

Audio books are widely available through Amazon.com or from direct download from Audible.com or iTunes.