Finding a new way to manage my day. - By John Dickerson - Slate. Some people carry uplifting phrases with them for inspiration. "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away. " I used to carry around the opposite kind of reminder: a list of short sentences that instantly depressed me. My to-do list. Since childhood I carried the burden. To fix my problem, I tried to fix the list. By now some of you are nodding or shaking your heads. Back to the story of how I tried to fix my to-do list. The first thing I did was blow up my to-do list. The first trick is to turn the big project into little action items. The clustered item is a silent killer. The other thing that kept me from crossing off items is that I had only one list for all sorts of different tasks. So now I have three lists. My second list is what Mann calls a "Hipster PDA"—a stack of blank index cards that I carry in my back pocket.
Of course all those index cards are meaningless if you never check them. Does this system work? Green Sherpa: An Online Cash-Flow Management Tool * Get Rich Slo. A couple of months ago, I posted a list of 16 alternatives to Microsoft Money. GRS readers left nearly 200 responses evaluating the various personal finance programs available on the web and for the desktop. One feature that many users crave is the ability to project their future cash flow. While it’s important to track where your money’s gone, some folks find it valuable to predict where money will go in the weeks or months ahead. Why would you want to track your cash flow? Last week, I received a press release from an outfit called Green Sherpa touting their new personal-finance tool. Uses a check-register format to track your transactions.Automatically categorizes your spending.Allows users to edit transactions and categories as needed.Supports split transactions and bank reconciliation.Allows users to set and track financial goals.
But the feature that caught my eye (and the reason I’m writing this) is Green Sherpa’s ability to project cash flow. So, what’s the catch? The art of the doable to-do list - Email - Lifehacker. Take Back Your Personal Power (Part 2) - Stepcase Lifehack. Time to Make Waves In part one of this post we discussed the tendency some of us have to allow situations, circumstances, events and even other people to control our lives; in essence, giving away our power in an attempt to be accepted, valued, appreciated and loved.
By trying to “fit in and not make waves” (as someone shared with me recently) it seems that some of us have lost our identity and sense of self. The good news is that we can take back control of our life and still be that kind, generous and thoughtful person – who also happens to be strong, confident, assertive, productive, successful and powerful. And no, we don’t need to compromise our beliefs, goals, character or core values to do so. In fact, taking back our power can be the most important step towards living a life of true purpose, alignment (with our core values), integrity and joy. 1. 2. You can never take back your power until you confront the things that scare you. 3. Seek to be strong not nice. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Inbox Zero. Top 10 Productivity Basics Explained - Productivity. These are some things that I've found work for me: Dual screens. Some may view having dual monitors as a luxury, or simply just not necessary, but let me tell you, it makes a huge productivity boost.
Put all your non-mission critical stuff on one side (the left for me), such as iTunes, chat boxes, etc,... stuff you tend to keep open and interact with frequently but isn't the core of your work. Then use the other side as pure work mission control. Multiple input devices. My iMac acts as the first monitor (non-essential on the left) and my second monitor (mission control on the right) is a Wacom Cintiq 21ux mounted on an articulating LCD arm.
Take breaks. If you find yourself sitting and staring at blogs for hours on end wishing you could make yourself just get started on some work, you need to get up. Keep your space clean. I'm absolutely militant about keeping my desk as clean as possible. Deal with it. Snap out of it. My 2 cents. About ForceDo. Reader. Personal Budgeting Software. Personal budget software makes budgeting easier for you and your. Limited time offer! Until April 15, save 25% on Account Xpress version 3 39.99 29.99 Click here to place your order Are you looking for a great software product to keep track of your personal finances? Perhaps you may want to know what is your net worth at any given time or be able to follow a budget plan and find out where you can cut your expenses so you can get out of debt or start saving for your retirement.
Maybe you want to make sure that you have enough money in your bank account to cover the amount of the check that you are about to write or your next automatic withdrawal. Or maybe you don't want to have to call your bank each time you find an entry on your bank statement that doesn't look like any transaction that you can remember. Maybe you are self-employed and looking for a simple tool to automatically calculate the portion of your expenses that you can claim as business expenses for income tax purposes.
Budgets Get Real - personal money management software. Quicken Starter Edition Review 2009 - TopTenREVIEWS. Overall Rating Quicken Deluxe nearly has it all; it is the most the most comprehensive personal finance software available. This program allows you to collect all your bills, credit card statements and expenses in one convenient location. You can track the money going in and out of your bank account as bills are paid and received. Quicken Deluxe is very similar to the Starter software, but the Deluxe version incorporates many more features, including a personal investing and goal setting feature. Quicken Deluxe can access information from almost twice as many banks as the Starter program.
The Deluxe version has many similar features, but there are more financial institutions available so you can monitor more information. The Deluxe version of the Quicken product will help you plan even further ahead than the Starter version. There are other outstanding tax management features before you export them to the TurboTax program. Use Gmail and Google Docs to ... 50 Businesses You Can Start In Your Spare Time - Stepcase Lifeha. Most people want a few more dollars in their wallets. But between an employer and family, the time most of us can devote to a second job is severely limited. Running a small side business can provide a few more options: you don’t have to show up at a set time and you can use skills you already have.
Not all will be perfect for everyone, of course, and I’m sure that you’ll have a few ideas of your own after reading this list. If you’d like to share any other business ideas, please add them in the comments. Selling collectibles — From antique books to teddy bears, there are plenty of opportunities to buy and sell collectibles. There are plenty of offers that claim to provide you with the opportunity to make thousands of dollars a week.
Unfortunately, none of these businesses will provide that sort of income, but they aren’t scams either. Get Rich Slowly. 100+ More Ways to Organize Your Life. Last year we featured over 100 web applications to organize every aspect of your life, from your belongings to your social calendar, and more. Since then, many have been significantly improved and lots of new apps have been released. From basic to do lists to event planning, fitness, educational organizers, and more, here are 100 new applications to get you even more organized. Have a favorite? Tell us more about it in the comments. Organize Your Stuff LivingSocial - Organize your interests (restaurants, video games, books, TV shows, etc.) and share them with others. eMove.com - Online tools to help you move.
BookBump - Complete book organization, including in-depth management tools, instant bibliographies, and organized book lists. GuruLib - Home library organization application. allmythings - Secure home inventory software that offers both free and paid plans. WhatYah! PutPlace - Organize, store and backup all your digital stuff in one place. Organize Your Shopping Organize With Lists. Memiary, the weightless pocket diary. Back to Basics: Projects - Stepcase Lifehack. One of the things that is so hard to grasp about “next actions” or “tasks” is that they are single actions – buy something, call someone, go somewhere, look something up.
In and of themselves, they have no end goal other than their own immediate completion. People don’t think like that way, for the most part, and it is the challenge of productivity experts like David Allen or Stephen Covey to lead their students to do so. The first thing a newly-arrived student of productivity wants to put on his or her list is “write novel” or “write grant proposal” or “acquire Acme Co.” or “sue Google” or “save marriage” – big, huge undertakings that can’t just be “done”. You need a plan, you need resources that you probably don’t have immediate access to, you need coordination with other people, and you need time. These big undertakings are projects — “bundles” of actions devoted towards the achievement of some goal. But brushing my teeth is not a project. Heavy stuff for a project, yes? The Unsurpassable Productivity List: A Handy Guide to Getting Im. Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on Twitter. And now, for the list to surpass all lists.
The productivity guide you’ve been waiting for your entire life. The only resource you’ll ever need. Well, it might not be all that but I hope this list of my best productivity articles will be of some use to you. :) I’ve gathered together some of my best posts on productivity, ZTD and GTD, to help guide you if you’re having trouble getting work done. A bit of Zen Habits history for those of you who are new to this blog: ZH started as a productivity/GTD blog, but very quickly expanded beyond that scope to include simplicity, organization, happiness, family, finance, health and fitness articles, among others. My Favorites GTD Resources Simple Productivity And More. Spacejock Software. A Pattern Language for Productivity. Entries Tagged as 'A Pattern Language for Productivity' A Pattern Language for Productivity — Downloadable Version · 7 Comments While I was in the middle of reordering, revising and adding sections to the Pattern Language for Productivity series for a downloadable version, one of my more saintly readers, D.L.
Fuller, preempted me and sent in PDF and RTF versions, which I’m making available now. [Read more →] Tags: A Pattern Language for Productivity. Take the tour. • Goals Goals are a tool to concentrate your effort and move you in a direction. Set goals in each of your life's areas, along with the timelines you are committed to accomplish them by. "We are what and where we are because we first imagined it. " - Donald Curtis • Projects Action plans that map to one of your goals. . • Tasks and Next Actions Break out each project into specific tasks (actionable items), and decide what the next action is going to be. • Contexts Context is where or how a task is accomplished. • Checklists Use checklists for your repeating/recurring tasks, things that you must handle weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc as well as action items that may be tied to a specific month (e.g. wax car every April and November).
You can tie them to your goals. . • Schedules Schedules are tools for organizing your daily activities, with exact timings. . • Calendar Use the included calendar to keep note of and remember your "set-in-stone" activities, that need to be done at certain dates. 18 Five-Minute Decluttering Tips to Start Conquering Your Mess | “Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity; From discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” - Albert Einstein I’ve written a lot about simplicity and decluttering (I can’t help it — I’m passionate about it!) And I’ve noticed that a lot of readers share my ideal of having an uncluttered home or workplace, but don’t know where to start. When your home is filled with clutter, trying to tackle a mountain of stuff can be quite overwhelming.
So here’s my advice: start with just five minutes. Then take another five minutes tomorrow. For those who are overwhelmed by their clutter, here are some great ways to get started, five minutes at a time. Designate a spot for incoming papers. “We don’t need to increase our goods nearly as much as we need to scale down our wants. 10 Signs You Will Be Poor at Productivity501. Here is a list of signs that indicate someone is likely to be poor in the future. If any of these apply to you, it might want to consider making some changes. 10. The only type of CDs you know about play music. Not understanding basic investment tools is one sure sign that you will mismanage your finances. This is especially true because a basic financial education is so readily accessible on websites, through library books, etc. 9. Your bank account balance goes down each month. You don’t need any fancy charts to see if your net worth is improving or decaying. 8. Normal interest rates on credit cards are extremely high. 7.
Not participating in an employer matched retirement plan is one way people leave money on the table. 6. A large tax refund usually means you didn’t plan ahead correctly. 5. If the first price you notice on a new item, is the cost per month you aren’t thinking like a financially responsible person. 4. Social Security may still be around when you retire. 3. 2. 1. Felonspy.com - You need to know who your neighbors are. Especial.
50 Tricks to Get Things Done Faster, Better, and More Easily - L. Feature: Run Your Personal Wikipedia from a USB Stick. Free ebook - Stop Procrastination Now. » 26 Things to Do When Business is Slow and in Downtime ModeAll. Six Thinking Hats - Decision Making Techniques from Mind tools - Looking at a Decision From All Points of View Look at decisions from many angles, with James Manktelow & Amy Carlson. 'Six Thinking Hats' is an important and powerful technique. It is used to look at decisions from a number of important perspectives. This forces you to move outside your habitual thinking style, and helps you to get a more rounded view of a situation.
This tool was created by Edward de Bono in his book '6 Thinking Hats'. Many successful people think from a very rational, positive viewpoint. Similarly, pessimists may be excessively defensive, and more emotional people may fail to look at decisions calmly and rationally. If you look at a problem with the 'Six Thinking Hats' technique, then you will solve it using all approaches. How to Use the Tool You can use Six Thinking Hats in meetings or on your own. Each 'Thinking Hat' is a different style of thinking. White Hat: With this thinking hat you focus on the data available. Example Key Points. Habit List. Bellygraph - Have a laugh while you graph.
Joe's Goals - Free Online Habit Tracker. 25 Rules to Grow Rich by ~ Everything Finance. Get organized and stay organized: Backpack. Personal unit tests. 50 MYTHS ABOUT MONEY. 10 Articles That Changed My Life · LifeReboot.com. How to Actually Execute Your To-Do List: or, Why Writing It Down. BankoNET. 73 Great Debt Elimination Tips | zen habits. » 10 Ways to Make Laziness Work for You. Massive GTD Resource List | zen habits. 33 Rules to Boost Your Productivity. Getting Finances Done » Applying GTD principles to your personal.
Micro Persuasion: Turn Gmail Into Your Personal Nerve Center. Simple todo list manager: Todoist. The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Web 2.0: Top 25 Apps to Grow your Bu. Unusual Businesses Ideas That Work.