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How to Live Well Instead of Just Doing Well

August 24, 2011 in Happiness, Simplicity with 0 Comments

In the process of cleaning up my blog from my comment spam attack, I came across a post from Tim Ferriss that I wanted to reshare with you… The Difference: Living Well vs. Doing Well

A lot has been going on in my life and I’ve been taking it easy mentally, trying to focus on the core things that are ahead of me.   Sometimes we get so wrapped up in the day-to-day that we don’t take a step back and evaluate where we’re going…ever.

If you’ve been in a rut or feel like you’ve been just slogging away at your work with no results, you might want to check out this post.

The post is a short, inspiring read. The focus is on vagabonding, but in the intro to Ferriss gets at the key takeaway for me:

“Living well is quite different from ‘doing well.’ In the quest to get ahead — destination often unknown — it’s easy to have life pass you by while you’re focused on other things. This post is intended as a reminder and a manifesto: keep it simple.”

Another excerpt from the post that hit me over the head:

Vagabonding sage Ed Buryn knew as much: “By switching to a new game, which in this case involves vagabonding, time becomes the only possession and everyone is equally rich in it by biological inheritance. Money, of course, is still needed to survive, but time is what you need to live. So, save what little money you possess to meet basic survival requirements, but spend your time lavishly in order to create the life values that make the fire worth the candle. Dig?”

The key takeaway for me is to invest your time wisely for things with big payoffs for you and forget the trivial things that are big time sucks.  Do more things that make you feel great and cut out the rest of the bs.

Simplify your life down to the core elements and focus on getting more out of life.   Invest your precious time in collecting experiences, not STUFF.

Photo courtesy of h.koppdelaney

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Go Ahead and Splurge (a little)

June 1, 2011 in Financial Freedom, Happiness with 0 Comments

If you’re on the savings track, it can be hard to spend your hard-earned money on something fun that’s not in your budget.  Stop agonizing over it.  Sometimes, you just have to splurge on yourself.  Go to the mall with your friend and buy something you’ve been eyeing up for a while.

Having your Financial Freedom plan in place doesn’t mean that you have to be all business and no fun.  Allocating each and every penny you earn to a goal can be tedious and overwhelming.  You’re going to crack under the pressure.

Have fun once in a while and don’t worry about the money part too much.  If you live below your means and you max out your 401k and you have a fully funded Emergecy Fund, you can live a little more.  Go ahead and do it. 

In short, don’t stress so much over your hard-earned money that you become cheap.  Frugal, yes, but cheap and a penny-pincher, not so great.

If you’re worried about self-control, then do yourself a favor and automatically set aside a set percentage of your take home pay for fun, guilt-free spending and did I mention fun?

By the way, the best thing to spend your “fun money” on are experiences and not things.  Experiences last a lifetime and they’re the things you’re going to remember years from now, not the pair of jeans you bought, regardless of what the marketers and advertisers tell you.

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Your Attitude Determines Your Altitude

May 11, 2011 in Career Advice, Happiness, Unstoppable with 0 Comments

I’ve had hundreds of career discussions with people in-person and online and regardless of the person, their skill set or the organization, there was one factor in common the successful ones always had: the right attitude.  Sure, they had determination/persistence and passion for their careers, but these two things are a given.

Once you have your career track figured out (passion), it’s time to do the work at hand (determination & persistence) and you’re on your way down the path to a great career.

But if you don’t have the right attitude, you’ll find it hard to stay on the track you’ve set for yourself.  Every little stress in life or on the job is going to have a more negative effect on you than necessary.  Every little obstacle you face will be easier to tackle if you have the right attitude.

“If you have a positive attitude and constantly strive to give your best effort, eventually you will overcome your immediate problems and find you are ready for greater challenges.” – Pat Riley

If you have a bad attitude – regardless of why or what that attitude is based on (your upbringing, company culture, your boss, your peers, your experiences to date) you’re never going to get to the top.  Every little bump in the road encountered on that career track you set for yourself will be viewed in a negative light.  You’ll instantly replay those negative scripts in your mind.

In short, your attitude determines your altitude in your career…and your life in general.

Bad Attitude = Sucky Career Guaranteed!
Lastly, if your attitude sucks, your career will suck too.  It’s just plain inevitable.  Well, that’s at least what TJ thought and I think the careers of every successful person has proved him right.

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help with man with the wrong mental attitude.” – Thomas Jefferson

How about you?  What are your thoughts like?  Do you have the right positive attitude right now to attack your days and get your work done in a manner that will take you to the NEXT LEVEL?

If not, what are you waiting for?

How to Have a Positive Attitude
I’m not going to create a laundry list of ideas with explanations because of two reasons:

1) They’re self-explanatory
2) I want you to stop reading and take action on one of them….as in right NOW…

(Okay, so I couldn’t resist adding a little commentary for clarification purposes).

Eliminate Your Negative Thoughts - Listen to your inner dialogue and stop yourself when you start thinking negatively.  Replace those negative thoughts with positive ones.

Read Motivational Books - One of my favorites that always seems to work

Read Motivational Blogs - Similar to books, great bloggers who have a positive message to share will inspire you to control your destiny

Hang Around More Positive People

Turn Off the News (it’s always negative anyway)

Put Your Positive Goggles On - Start seeing the positive in every situation

Laugh More Often - Rent a comedy, watch a sitcom

Get Active – Any form of exercise is a natural stress reliever

Listen to Self-Help Audios - Anthony Robbins got me through a tough time in my life, so have Napoleon Hill, Zig Ziglar, Les Brown and even people like Gary V and Tim Ferris.  Plug in, listen and feed off their energy and ideas.

Be More Grateful, More Often – You’ve got it better than you think.  Just take a step back and think about it for a second and be grateful for what you have.  Millions of people in this world have it worse than you.

Recharge From Time to Time – Take a day off and do nothing.  Sometimes all we need is a little rest and relaxation to help us stay focused on the important things in life.

Those are some of my top ideas for developing a positive attitude.  What would you add?

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Putting Pen to Paper

May 2, 2011 in Inspiration, Random Musings with 0 Comments

It seems so old-fashioned these days, but I still like to pull a stack of blank sheets of paper, grab a great writing and feeling pen and go to town.  Whatever the issue, whatever the roadblocks I’m encountering; it all seems to make sense when I draw it out.

Now I’m no Dan Roam of Back of the Napkin fame, but writing and drawing out my thoughts just gives me a way to think things through.  Another side benefit is that you give your eyes a rest from the computer screen.  I also find that using my hands by actually writing instead of typing makes me instantly more creative.  Or I could be just thinking it does, but that’s how it feels.

Give it a try when you’re stuck and having trouble finding the solution to a problem or trying to figure out a path forward on a project.

By the way, I love using a pen and paper to sketch out my presentations a la Dan Roam style.  Try it for yourself and you’ll see how liberating picking up a pen and stack of paper can be.

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Organization Tips: Donate Something (Anything Really)

April 18, 2011 in Happiness, More Time, Organization with 0 Comments

Here’s a simple tip I just thought of while thinking about the amount of clutter and stuff people tend to accumulate through the years.  I was inspired to write this after watching some poor soul unloading a bunch of stuff into a storage facility.  He might have been moving somewhere, but I instantly thought about how many people have too much stuff in life, myself included.

I am in the process of moving into my new home and it’s been great walking through the empty house trying to figure out where everything will go.  We’ve got new couches to buy, TVs and a host of new things, but more than anything, we have to find a home for all the things we already have.

I’m living in a rental right now and things are a bit tight as we’ve been packing up things.  Sometimes I’m amazed at the amount of stuff my wife and I have acquired through the years.  When I come to the rental at night and see the boxes of stuff we’re preparing to move, I just want to throw everything away.

Well, not literally throw my stuff away, but donate the clothes and items I no longer use.  These things are just taking up space and just thinking about it now gets my heart racing.  Clutter kills, I know it does.  How? By adding to the stressfulness of your days (not to mention your credit card bill and debt if you’re not paying cash up front for all that stuff).

What’s the flip side of getting rid of clutter?  Peace of mind.  When things – clothes, books, magazines, paper, cups – are put away from sight, I feel more at ease.  I bet you know what I’m talking about and have experienced this yourself.

I say why not take half a day, perhaps a lazy weekend and go through one room in your house and fill up a box or a bag with stuff to donate.  Be ruthless in your approach – if you haven’t worn something in years, donate it.  If you have old furniture, books and other stuff in your basement, attic or garage that you haven’t touched in years, get rid of it.

Your next step is to move the boxes and bags or items to your garage or the front of your house and take a trip to your local Salvation Army.  In fact, you don’t even have to bring the stuff as the Salvation Army and other non-profits who accept donations will come to your house and pickup your unwanted stuff.

You can move from room to room over the course of a few weekends and your house will instantly be de-cluttered.  Make sure to get your receipt and now you not only have de-cluttered your house, but you’ve got a nice little tax deduction as well.

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