Simplify Life

A System for Both Long-term Goals and Daily Productivity – Corbett Barr Since we’re getting close to the end of the year, I wanted to share with you the system I use for planning, goal setting and general productivity (can you believe it’s almost the end of the decade as well !?!). I’m not a big fan of most productivity systems because they usually focus too narrowly on day-to-day tasks and how to “get more done” without taking into account the bigger, more important things in life. In life planning and goal setting, I prefer a more top-down approach, starting with life’s big questions. This system I follow isn’t necessarily for everyone, and I’m not suggesting you should use it. I just wanted to give you a peek at how I operate, and you can feel free to borrow any part that might suit you. As I’ll explain, the system is tailored to my own personal traits. I’ve learned over the years that I have some tendencies that will take over and keep me from accomplishing what I really want to if I don’t build in some checks-and-balances. Important Areas to Focus On

My Blog – Jesus & Coffee How do you handle things when they don’t go your way? Do you talk to God? Do you ever ask yourself, “God what did I do wrong to make you punish me like this?’ Through out my life things have happened that I was defiantly not thrilled about. During my path of growth and faith maturity, I have learned a couple of things, 1. things happen and there is nothing you can do about it. 2. The definition of turmoil: a state of great disturbance, confusion, or uncertainty. I know a lot of times I used to get mad when things happened that disrupted my life. I’m telling y’all, the devil has a field day with my thoughts. But the truth is, it’s our own feelings and actions that cause us to think this way. When something doesn’t go your way, how do you react? I used to always ask “God, why me?” Failed relationship, “God why me?” You know I am broke, how am I going to pay this bill? I have to work longer hours, and I want to go out, “God, why me?” No money – God, I promoted you to a higher paying position

Tools to Help You Set, Track and Achieve Your Goals Updated September 23, 2016 Goal setting is important for every small business owner, in every stage of business. If you are not setting goals, you will quickly become stagnant in your business (and stagnancy is often the beginning stages of failure). Your goals should grow and change with your business so you are always striving to do things more efficiently and accomplish more. Whether you are just getting started with goal setting or are a SMART goals pro, having some kind of system for setting and tracking your goals is important. Here is a list of seven goal setting and tracking tools to help you create, track and achieve your most important goals. Goal-Buddy Goal-Buddy is an online goal tracking tool that helps you set and track your progress with the support of goal-buddies who share similar goals, motivate you and keep you accountable to stay on track. GoalEnforcer GoalEnforcer is a visual goal planning software for planning, focusing and accomplishing goals. Goalscape GoalsOnTrack

activeCollab - Project Management and Collaboration Tool Be More Productive Using A Mind Map As a Task List A mind map is a great tool for capturing ideas quickly, presenting them in a nice, graphical and hierarchical form. But can it be used as a task list? Your task list can exist in many different forms and you probably already have it on a sheet of paper, sticky notes or captured in some electronic device. Some people use good, old Notepad, but there are many applications to help you capture your tasks, such as Remember the Milk, Evernote, IQTell, OmniFocus, or simply Microsoft OneNote. I have been successfully using mind maps to store my tasks for several years and there are a number of people that have liked and adopted this idea. Starting out First, you need an application to build and manage the mind map. Name the root of the map as “Tasks”, “ToDo”, or simply your name, and add four basic sections: “Urgent” and “Projects” on the right-hand side, and “Delegated” (or “Awaiting”) and “Done” on the left-hand side. Using the mind map It’s visual It involves emotions It tracks delegated tasks

How to Create the Last Perfect Time Management System You'll Ever Use J.R.R. Tolkien once wrote, through the character of Gandalf, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.” If you want to know the secret to creating the world’s perfect time management system, then you need to listen to Gandalf. My own personal road to the perfect time management system was a long one, and it is littered with the carcasses of past attempts. They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. I’ve tried Gqueues, ToDoist, Google Tasks and every life-management trick in between. If you’re like me, you probably feel like you have a system that’s nearly what you need, but not quite. The perfect time management system should have the following qualities. That last one is like asking for the moon, isn’t it? Create A Time Management Assembly Line The ideal time management system should operate like an efficient assembly line. Putting The Pieces Together 1st – Create Your Master Time Management Sheet So here’s what I did. It’s clean and simple.

Goals are meant to be Broken – Jesus & Coffee September will be my month for sure! Every month I set goals for myself, and I strive to break each and everyone of them. However there are times when things happen and I can’t. I never allow a goal I didn’t reach hold me back from breaking my other goals. I usually write them out and leave it on my desk so there is a daily reminder for me. I look at them throughout the month to keep myself on track and it also helps me not lose focus on my goals. Goals are a great way to keep yourself accountable for your work. If you set unrealistic goals you are more likely to just stop and not want to do it any longer. I put my goals just far enough out of reach that I have to put work into them. These small goals are just the minimum, I am using these small goals to get me to the big goal. Breaking goals is a passion for me. I know very well what I am capable of and I know that with hard work and dedication I will get there. I have lots of ideas, but putting them on paper is another story. ~Blessings

Way of Life - The Ultimate Habit Building App Getting Started | Markdown Guide What is Markdown? Markdown is a lightweight markup language that you can use to add formatting elements to plaintext text documents. Created by John Gruber in 2004, Markdown is now one of the world’s most popular markup languages. Using Markdown is different than using a WYSIWYG editor. For example, to denote a heading, you add a number sign before it (e.g., # Heading One). You can add Markdown formatting elements to a plaintext file using a text editor application. Depending on the application you use, you may not be able to preview the formatted document in real time. The overriding design goal for Markdown’s formatting syntax is to make it as readable as possible. Why Use Markdown? You might be wondering why people use Markdown instead of a WYSIWYG editor. Markdown can be used for everything. Kicking the Tires The best way to get started with Markdown is to use it. You don’t even need to download anything. How Does it Work? To summarize, this is a four-part process: Websites Documents Notes

Don't set goals for yourself—instead, create systems that make it easy for you to succeed A lot of my friends are spending the month of January “going dry” or giving up sugar or training for marathons. I can relate. As a Type-A, goal-oriented masochist, I tend to make deeply ambitious New Year’s resolutions each year. Witness Exhibit A: My resolutions from 2016. I’m embarrassed to say that not one lasted even a month. (That’s what you get when you resolve to limit dessert in terms of “units per week.”) So this year, I decided to give up on making resolutions altogether. I created the dashboard because I’d found that it was hard to stick to goals like “eat healthier” or “exercise more” on their own; to make these kinds of changes, I needed a specific plan of action. So I set about creating a system, using the project management app Trello, that would give me a bigger, birds-eye view of how I live my life. The four points of the Intentionality dashboard are listed below: I’ve set this dashboard up as a public template in Trello. Micro-habits Intentions Success statement

How to define your goals. Avoid the mistakes that set you up for failure - Goal Buddy Most of the people fail to achieve their goals. They take the necessary time to set goals, then do the best they can to achieve them and at the end, they simply fail. Some of the researchers say the number of failures is 70% of the people; others say it’s 92%. Words matter The main reason for failing is hidden in the words. Recently I’ve been playing with the details of goal definition and goal progress measurement. As you may already know, in Goal Buddy goal setting system we have only two types of goals: 25-year visions and 90-day action goals. The goal hierarchy is the following: A vision for life is represented by 25-year visions which consist of 90-day action goals that are achieved by making small next steps. Goal setting approaches Often people are very clear about the next steps they want to do in the near future (e.g. this week/month) but in most cases, they lack a clear definition and proper way of measuring the progress of the bigger goal they are up to. Goal definition Definition

GoalEnforcer - Visual Goal Setting, Goal Planning, Goal Managing How to Use Excel Like a Pro: 19 Easy Excel Tips, Tricks, & Shortcuts Sometimes, Excel seems too good to be true. All I have to do is enter a formula, and pretty much anything I'd ever need to do manually can be done automatically. Need to merge two sheets with similar data? Excel can do it. Need to do simple math? Need to combine information in multiple cells? In this post, I’ll go over the best tips, tricks, and shortcuts you can use right now to take your Excel game to the next level. Download 10 Excel Templates for Marketers [Free Kit] What is Excel? Microsoft Excel is powerful data visualization and analysis software, which uses spreadsheets to store, organize, and track data sets with formulas and functions. Find more Excel alternatives here. What is Excel used for? Excel is used to store, analyze, and report on large amounts of data. Excel is primarily used for creating financial documents because of its strong computational powers. You can also download Excel templates below for all of your marketing needs. Excel Basics How to Use Excel Excel Formulas 1.