2015 Book Roundup

Posted on January 4, 2016 by dailyplanit

To prepare for planning goals for 2016 I am reviewing the past year. Here is a look back at the top five books I read in 2015.

18 Minutes by Peter Bregman – Getting the Important Stuff Done
Start by Jon Acuff – How to Be Awesome in 10 Steps
Give and Take by Adam Grant – Book Review
The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson – Top Ten Ways to Improve Productivity
The Accidental Creative by Todd Henry – Finding Your Sweet Spot. I didn’t write a post about this book, but I especially liked the concept behind the Personal Idea Pad. It was a good reminder that combining ideas to come up with new ones is fun, and should be part of a regular review.

I plan to keep track of the books I read in the upcoming year with a printable My Reading List from Money Saving Mom. (pdf) For a free printable annual metric chart and annual planner for tracking regular reviews, see an annual review.

Posted in Books, Ideas That Work

An Annual Review

Posted on December 27, 2015 by dailyplanit

Once a year, it’s good to take a look at how things are going in different areas of your life. This big picture view let’s you evaluate how things are going and plan for what’s next. Download the free Keep It Super Simple Annual Review form pdf. See also PLANS for an Annual Review.

Part I – Review the past year

Look for GEMs in the results of weekly and monthly reviews from last year.
- Goals achieved: What were the biggest accomplishments of the past year? How many goals set for the previous year were completed? Was there good work/life balance? How have you grown or developed?
- Exploration: What were the best trips taken, events attended, expeditions, and adventures?
- Milestones and Media: Was there a significant change or progress? What were the best books, quotes, or articles read, and tv, videos, or movies watched?
Look at time LOST
- Lessons learned: what did you discover?
- Obstacles and challenges: what prevented progress?
- Solutions: what will you change? how can you add motivation and increase focus and flow?
- Time wasted: what were the biggest distractions and sources of procrastination?
Regular weekly or monthly reviews provide invaluable information for an annual review.
- Set a time and day that works in your schedule
- Take notes (on calendar, or with tools for tracking below)
- Examine and evaluate progress
- Prepare for next steps

Part II – Review mission – vision – purpose – values – goals

Review your personal mission statement. Does it still reflect your values and pinpoint what you do and why (purpose), or does it need to be updated? If you update it, how does that impact your goals?
Review your vision. What the world will look like if you succeed in your mission to solve a problem. What goal choices will produce value and move you closer to your vision?
Review your goals: Are your goals innovative and audacious? Are they big enough while still being realistic? Are you undertaking too much or not enough? How can you move from good to great? Are you still excited about them, or is it time to choose some new ones? (See Part IV- PLAN below)
Find more infomation at Purpose Planning, and tools at the Brand & Purpose Toolkit.

Part III – Review your system, routine, and workspace

Review your task management system. Does it still work well for you? Consider doing a time audit to see how you are spending your time.
Examine efficiency. Are there changes you could make to increase efficiency?
View your routine. Are you making the most of the way you use your days?
Implement improvements. How can you improve? Are there ways you can implement the Science of Productivity, increase energy, and work smarter?
Explore options. Learn more about productivity at Time Management 101.
Workspace – is your workspace designed efficiently? Is your office organized? Do you have an effective filing system to manage papers and information? Is your desk ergonomic?

Part IV – PLANS for the upcoming year

Prepare a plan: Choose goals in different life areas. Create written habit plans for the habits you wish to create. Other goals may require planning to make them SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-based). Learn more about how to set goals, find ideas for goals, and more tools for goals.
Look for top priorities. The Goal Shift Chart at Choosing Goals is a simple way to identify priorities. For a more in-depth status report, check out the Life Area Energy Level Gauge. It is similar to the Wheel of Life, but is quicker, easier, and gives a better overview.
Add action steps. Break large goals into smaller steps.
Note measures. Measures matter, so look for meaningful metrics to track. Some ideas for metrics and tools to track them are listed below. Attempting to track too much can be overwhelming, so choose carefully.
Select calendars and any updated lists to print if desired. Remember to keep goals visual and visible.

Download the Review & Plan pdf with ideas for metrics to track plus steps for daily, weekly, monthly & annual reviews.

Ideas for metrics to track for an annual review:

Mental: goals achieved, books read, classes taken
Career: Work projects completed, time audit of productivity
Financial: Income, savings, investments, net worth
Physical: weight, body mass index, blood pressure
Recreational: trips taken, new activities tried, screen time
Organizational: rooms decluttered, home projects completed, new recipes tried
Relationships: activities with family and friends, loving actions for closer relationships
Emotional: Acts of kindness, emotional intelligence score
Social: group activities, new people met, donations
Character: volunteer activities, creative work
Purpose: time spent in flow or contributing w/talents, Work/Life balance score
Spiritual: frequency of prayer, meditation, gratitude

Tools for Tracking Metrics

Download the Annual Metrics Chart pdf

more free printables:

The Weekly & Monthly Review Tracker

The Weekly & Monthly Review Tracker (see above) is one page with two forms for tracking reviews. Pair the tracker with the Review & Plan pdf.
A habit tracker and other printables at Tools to Plan an Awesome New Year.
A time audit chart from the Daily PlanIt.
the Annual Review Grid pdf.
The Annual Planner from the Daily PlanIt is also still available. It is a free 9 page pdf booklet with forms to capture the results of weekly and monthly reviews for a year. It includes weekly and monthly review action steps & review questions, ideas for metrics, and an annual chart to record progress.
The Annual Calendar from Vertex42 is great for planning and tracking progress.

Apps:

Wearable fitness trackers automate metrics on sleep and activity.
There are many habit tracker apps to track a variety of metrics: see Apps for Happiness and Personal Development.
Financial metrics can be tracked with an app like Mint.

The Annual Review Planner Binder includes Productivity Tools for a System & Routine, Goal Tools for Review, Brand & Purpose Tools for Focus. Or you can get 27 tools in the Annual Review Toolkit to stay on top of regular reviews and on target with goals that align with your values. If you want to keep it super simple, there is a one page form at Paused, or On Hold?

To learn more about setting and acheiving goals, check out the free Daily PlanIt short course on How to Set Goals, and my eBook, “Get Goaling.

Passport Cover for Book Lovers

Posted on December 21, 2015 by dailyplanit

Turn a Mead pocket calendar into a Passport Cover

Are you looking for a simple, inexpensive gift idea? You won’t believe how easy it is to make this for your favorite book lover!

Buy a Mead pocket calendar. These are available lots of places and only cost a few dollars. I found mine at Big Lots this year. The kitten in the picture is the calendar removed from the plastic cover.
Find an image of a book cover that the person loves online.
Right click and copy the book cover image, then paste it into a wordprocessor.
Resize the image to about 6″ x 7 1/4″ and print it-I used cardstock.
Alternatively, you could right click on the image and “save image as…” to save it to your computer. Then open the image in a photo editor to resize and print it.
Cut out the book cover image and slip it into the plastic cover of the Mead pocket calendar.

This can be used as a passport cover, a checkbook cover, or even as a pocket calendar. Anyone who loves books will appreciate this personalized gift!

Posted in Ideas That Work

In the Now

Posted on November 30, 2015 by dailyplanit

From a post at the Productivityist, I learned about the movement to create a now page started by Derek Sievers. What a great idea, and a wonderful way to stay focused on current projects!

I write about work skills, productivity and personal development to inspire learning skills for success that are not often taught. I do this to increase the skills employers want in the workforce to close the gap where skills are lacking. I create tools for life skills and share information.

What I’m doing now.

recently updated the Get Goaling ebook with new information.
reviewing metrics for an annual review, creating an annual planner, and plan to update that post soon.
creating an outline for a series of videos to delve into the motivation techniques from Alex Vermeer.
planning to put polishing touches on a release of all the information I’ve learned about productivity for a launch of a guide to creating a system that works the way you do: the Your Time, Your Way Workbook.

Keeping in mind that time is relative, in the now now I’ve been preparing for Christmas, shopping, getting cards and presents ready to go.

bear

I’ve come up with an awesome gift idea for your honey or really for anyone, on many occasions, and it can be repeated each year for those hard-to-find-gifts-for people! Introducing the Have a Beary Merry Christmas present. (For birthdays, it can be Bearly 80, or whatever the age) I found the gift bags with bears at the Dollar Tree store, and many of the inside ingredients can be found at either a dollar store or the grocery store. I got all the ingredients for around $10.00. Here’s some things to include:

A honey bear
Bit-o-honey
Honey grahams in a bear shape
Honey roasted nuts
Gummy bears
Honey buns (these are dated, so don’t get too far ahead of time)

I can hardly bear what a sweet idea this is!

In the now, nowest:

Making a now page!

I invite you to follow the Daily PlanIt, right now!

Posted in productivity

Learn How to Use Google Apps for Productivity

Posted on November 16, 2015 by dailyplanit

If you have read about the Daily PlanIt Keep It Super Simple System, you know that I am a big fan of Google Apps. The KISS System is a simple, free, task management system that combines the benefits of electronic systems with the ability to print lists and calendars if desired. Learn more about how to use Google Apps to increase productivity with the following resources.

The Google Workspace Learning Center and Google For Work videos at Youtube.
GCFLearnfree.org has great tutorials on Google Drive.
Makeuseof has a Google Drive Cheat Sheet and 5 Killer Ways to Use Google Tasks.
A short video about Google Keep.
Pinterest board for Google tutorials.

This Youtube video demonstrates Creating tasks and to-do lists in Google calendar.

Steve Dotto also has several helpful videos on Google apps at his DottoTech channel.

Learn more about productivity at the free Time Management 101 tutorial.

Posted in productivity, videos

10 Ways to Be Like Dollar Shave Club

Posted on November 3, 2015 by dailyplanit

I have a new goal: Be Like Dollar Shave Club, because they know how to do things right.

First they captured my attention with humorous commercials. They made me feel like this would be a fun club to join.
They offer a great solution to a really annoying problem at a great price.
Their fun vibe continues on their website. At the same time, they simply and efficiently answer questions and make it easy to sign up.
They follow up. I received a friendly email to check and see if all was going well, and if I was happy with what I ordered. As it happens, I hadn’t received the package and wasn’t sure what to do next.
They give great customer service. They immediately responded, apologizing and sending out a replacement package. They even said the next set of blades are on them for the inconvenience.
The new package arrived exactly on my husband’s birthday and I was able to give him his gift on his special day. Woo Hoo!
The packaging is really fun too.
It’s a great product. The razor is way superior to the products we had been using, and my husband absolutely loves it. Plus we never have to think about replacing the blades. Win Win!
When you get great customer service, and become a devoted fan of a brand, you want to share the love. I put a post on my Facebook page, and now I’m sharing on my website. And the positive word of mouth continues to spread.
I’m thinking about how I can be like Dollar Shave Club. Anyone who provides a product or service should consider it too.

Read more at Billion Dollar Shave Club and about an email showdown at myemma.com

Tagged with: customer service, Dollar Shave Club
Posted in Ideas That Work

The Empty Box

Posted on October 26, 2015 by dailyplanit

It’s the time of year when we think about the things that scare us the most. Ghosts, monsters, zombies…and the grim reaper standing over an empty coffin with our name on it.

There is another box that is even scarier. Imagine a box that represents your time here on earth, that is either filled with the things that you wanted to put into it. Or it’s not. The thing is, you get to decide what goes in it. That is a thought that is both liberating and frightening.

Timebox2

What will you put into the box of your time today?

What do you want to put into the box of your time? Do you want to fill the box with creative, completed projects, with good work well done? Do you want to build great friendships, raise wonderful kids, share big ideas? When you think of each day as a file box, can you put what you wanted to into the box by the end of each day? This is the only way to have a box full of treasure when you see the other box with your name on it. If you get side-tracked by procrastination and other time-wasters, you end up putting nothing of value in your box. Nothing is scarier than the final grains of sand in your hourglass running out while the box that represents your time is empty of the things you wanted to put in it.

To fill the empty box, first spend some time thinking about what you want to put into it. Think about the personal qualities you want to reflect in your character, the values you want to express as part of your life, the goals and important work that you want to accomplish. Maybe you want to focus on Stephen R Covey’s Quadrant II of the Time Management Matrix: things like creative thought, planning, relationship building. Perhaps there are small Daily Disciplines that you want to develop into habits for a daily routine to maximize your time.

Next be very aware of the time thieves that will sneak in and quickly kill your time if you let them. Defeat procrastination and fear so you can fill the box of your time each day with the treasure you value. Are you spending your time on the things you treasure, or on things that have no lasting value to you? Remember the final line of the book “The Pigman” by Paul Zindel: “Our life would be what we made of it. Nothing more, nothing less.” Look into the empty box of the day ahead of you, but don’t let fear stop you from filling it with what you want.

Top Ten Ways to Improve Productivity

Posted on October 12, 2015 by dailyplanit

Top-10-Ways-to-Improve

I recently read the book “The Slight Edge” by Jeff Olson, which is about the small choices we make about the daily actions we take that, over time, either lead us closer to success, or farther away from it. They are simple small actions that are easy to do, but they are also easy not to do. Often results are not immediately visible, and the actions that make a difference seem insignificant. But they aren’t.

Daily Disciplines that can make a Difference:

Health: eating right, exercise.
Finances: save, don’t spend more than you make.
Happiness: practice gratitude, meditate.
Relationships: listen, communicate well, use the Five Love Languages.
Personal Development: read 10 pages a day of a book to learn something, take one action a week for a Year of Personal Development.
Career: establish productive habits, use a to-do list, plan a goal.

Simple, right? We all know these things are important. It’s all about making the right choice in the moment, on a regular basis. And it will make a difference. To apply the Slight Edge to productivity, start with small daily disciplines. Top10WaystoImprove

Download the free printable pdf The Top 10 Ways to Improve Productivity

Top Ten Ways to Improve Productivity

Choose a system to manage your calendar, tasks, and lists that works well for you.
Set priorities.
Use your system to Plan weekly, Plan daily, schedule, add and delete tasks.
Eliminate clutter and unnecessary stuff.
Break large tasks down.
Remind yourself of tasks with timers, alarms, and/or a tickler system.
Organize the information you need in files.
Automate repeating tasks as much as possible.
Maximize your use of available free time.
Have a regular time to review progress.

Learn more at The Keep It Super Simple Productivity Award, the Daily PlanIt Keep It Super Simple (K.I.S.S.) System, and The Science of Productivity.

The slight edge as it applies to the six pillars of self-esteem at Experience Life.

Plan your work for today and every day, then work your plan. Picture Quote #1

Posted in Books, productivity

The Monthly Review

Posted on October 1, 2015 by dailyplanit

A Monthly Review is a look back and a look forward, similar to a Weekly Review but with the time frame of a month.

• Prepare needed information & tools
• Realign priorities
• Outline a plan
• Check systems
• Execute updates
• Select next projects
• Schedule steps

Steps for a Monthly Review

Review major accomplishments of the past month.
Review the results of any metrics you are tracking for an annual review.
Plan the next month, reviewing monthly repeating tasks and upcoming annual repeating tasks.
Review your value statement.
Evaluate progress on goals and projects.
Review ideas and decide whether to take action on any of them.
Print calendars and/or lists if desired.

Monthly Review Questions

How does what actually happened in the past month compare to what you had planned?
What went well? Was progress made on projects and goals?
Do all tasks, projects and goals align with your value statement?
What didn’t go so well? Where are you stuck and what can you do about it?
Did you make good use of your time?
How can you increase productivity? What changes can you make to reduce or eliminate time-wasters?
Did you spend enough time with family and friends?
Did you spend enough time on fitness, leisure and spiritual activities?
What will you do next month?

The Monthly Review lets you see how busy the upcoming month is. You can see times that are less busy to schedule tasks for goals and projects. The Free printable Annual Planner at An Annual Review has forms to capture results of a weekly and monthly review.

Further Reading

Monthly Review at Higher Awareness

Posted in goals, productivity