To the point of no return(s)

Posted on March 21, 2007 by dailyplanit — 1 Comment

Interruptions and Distractions

Over at Creating Passionate Users, Kathy Sierra talks about Is Twitter Too Good? There’s a great illustration about how the newfangled ability to be constantly ~~connected~~ interrupted and distracted has shot dramatically up. How can we focus and accomplish ~~great things~~ ~~something~~ anything? We need to be aware and take control of our tools! Know when you’re at the point of low return(s) and absolutely pull the plug when you’re at the point of NO return(s)!

By the way, some blogs I read to kick-start, dial-up, get in touch with, and just plain old inspire creativity. Creating Passionate Users is awesome for this! Sometimes I do serendipitous typing, and ended up with Crating Passionate Users…no, no, no…we definitely do not want to box up our users or our creativity. Think outside the box!

Posted in information management

Work Ethic

Posted on March 21, 2007 by dailyplanit — 5 Comments

People who succeed possess a trait called work ethic. A person with a good work ethic:

• Works hard: nobody succeeds without putting in a lot of time and effort
• On time: they are reliable and consistently show up
• Reaches performance goals: achieves outcomes with quality work
• Knows the value of hard work in developing character
• Eager to learn
• Takes pride in providing an honest day’s work: feels satisfaction from a job well done
• Has a positive “can do” attitude and is proud of their accomplishments
• Is pro-active: anticipates needs and goes above and beyond the expected
• Committed to providing their best effort

Develop work ethic with DESIRE:

DESIRE:
• Discipline [apply grit]
• Exercise willpower
• Steady effort
• Inspire flow [how to increase flow]
• Remember purpose [purpose planning]
• Exclude distractions [TEND to focus]

Watch: How to Develop Insane Work Ethic

Explore more at Develop Work Skills and Top 10 Skills Employers Want

Posted in work skills

The Joy of Journaling

Posted on March 18, 2007 by dailyplanit — 2 Comments

Journal writing can be a spiritual journey that lets us explore and clarify our thoughts.Try the spinner with 31 journaling prompts!

31 Journal Prompts

1. What would tell your 12 year old self if you could?
2. What is a favorite memory of your childhood?
3. What would your future self tell you to do now?
4. What makes people happy?
5. When have you been happiest in life?
6. What is the best compliment you ever received?
7. What is the best gift you ever received?
8. What is the nicest thing anyone ever did for you?
9. What is your favorite place to go?
10. What is the most interesting place you’ve ever been?
11. What is the best trip you ever took?
12. What super power would you like to have?
13. What causes you to experience flow?
14. What do you love to talk about?
15. What is one of your earliest memories?
16. What is one of your biggest strengths?
17. How would someone else describe you?
18. What is something you possess that you especially value?
19. What social issue or cause would you most like to improve?
20. What has been the biggest challenge you’ve ever overcome?
21. Who is someone that exemplifies courage or integrity?
22. Who was your favorite teacher and why?
23. What inspires you or gives you hope?
24. What makes you feel peaceful?
25. Do you have a dream that you’ll always remember?
26. What is something that others might be surprised to know about you?
27. If you knew that you would not fail, what things would you like to do?
28. Is there a project you’ve done that you are especially proud of?
29. What do you most like about the work that you do/have done?
30. Is there something you’ve never done that you’d like to try?
31. What was the best advice you ever received?

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

The journal prompts also work well as conversation starters! See more ideas at A Networking Game Card.

For those who are grieving, here are 50 grief journal prompts.

Consider asking yourself at the beginning of each day:

what possiblities do I want to explore today?
what do I want to create?
where do I want to go?
who do I want to talk to?
what can I give to share with others?
how can I be courageous?
what thoughts do I want to think?
what do I want to learn?
what am I grateful for?

And at the end of the day:

what possiblities did I explore today?
what did I create?
where did I go?
who did I talk to?
what did I give to share with others?
how was I courageous?
what thoughts did I think?
what did I learn?
what am I grateful for?

More ideas at the journal prompts Pinterest board. Scott H Young writes about the power of writing.

Posted in personal development

Get out of that rut!

Posted on March 15, 2007 by dailyplanit — 2 Comments

OK, I admit it. I like to find a product that I really love and stick with it because I know it works well. I like to find the optimum way to arrange furniture in a room and leave it that way. It’s the efficient way. It’s also the boooorrrring way! Somewhere I read that hair actually needs a shampoo change every now and then, or it gets too used to the one you’re using for it to work well anymore. So every now and then…

Shake it up!

Try something new and different.

Drive a different route to work.

Get a new perspective

maybe even….move some furniture around.

Posted in personal development

Complete

Posted on March 14, 2007 by dailyplanit — 1 Comment

To complete yesterday’s post about the productivity cycle:

Don’t procrastinate
Just get started
Stick with it
Follow through
Keep looking at the benefits of results
Be determined
Hang in there
Overcome obstacles
Adjust course as needed
Be willing to do the difficult
Never give up
Until it’s
Finished!

Posted in productivity

Discovery of the Day

Posted on March 14, 2007 by dailyplanit — 5 Comments

The original site I saw this at is now gone, but here is the productivity cycle at the Daily PlanIt:

Reminder to self: Don’t get stuck in one part of the cycle!

Posted in productivity

Asking the Right Questions

Posted on March 9, 2007 by dailyplanit — 3 Comments

Asking the right questions is an important skill to:

generate ideas
discover direction
reframe thoughts
learn about others
clarify communication
manage well

I’ve gathered together some thought provoking resources here that answer the question: “What are the right questions to ask?”

Questions

Goal setting and time management questions:
Generating Goals

What do you want more of?
What change do you want to make?
Imagine you are old and list your most important accomplishments
If you only had 6 months to live, what would you do?
What would your ideal life be like?
What would you do if money was not a concern?

Evaluating Goals

Why would this be a good goal?
Will this goal help me or others to learn? To grow?
If you could only complete one goal, which one would it be?
What resources will be needed?
Which goal will give the highest return for resources invested?
What obstacles will need to be overcome?
How difficult will it be to reach?
How much time will it take to reach?
How much do you want to achieve the goal?
Do I have the enthusiasm and the courage needed? Am I willing to make the commitment of resources required?
Are the benefits achieved worth the costs?
What is the measurable outcome?

Next Actions

What is the next physical, visible activity needed?
What needs to happen before the next step?
What can be done today?
What activities am I not doing now, that might help me reach goals if I did them?
What is the most effective use of my time right now?

Paper Management

Is this only for my information, and now I know it?
Is this quality information? Objective? Reliable? Timely? Useful? Clear?
Does this information exist elsewhere? If needed in the future, could it be replaced?
Under what circumstances would I want this information?
What words would first enter my mind when looking for it?
Where would you most likely look first?

Simplify

Do I want to do this?
Do I need this?
Can I afford it?
Is this worn out, broken, or damaged?
Is this a gift that I just don’t like?
Does this fit?
Do I love the way it looks or works?
Have I used it in the past year?
Does it have strong sentimental value?
Can it be easily replaced?
Will it be used in the future?

Organizing

Is this the best place to keep this?
How often do you use this?
Where do you use this?
How much space does it need?
Is this the best way to keep this?
What bothers you the most? Why?

Systems

What is the best place to do this?
What supplies and tools do I need to do this?
What organizers could be helpful?
What steps should be done in what order?
When is the best time to do this?

Questions Are the Answer by Hal Gregersen, TED talk What are you dead wrong about today? [Amazon affiliate link to the book provides a small commission that helps to support the Daily PlanIt]

Learn more at 10 minutes, 10 questions for goals, Time Management Questions, and the Not So Big Life.

Posted in goals, personal development, productivity

Control Clutter

Posted on March 7, 2007 by dailyplanit — 2 Comments

The IDLE Method: Identify the clutter category, Decide how to delcutter, Locate or let go, Evaluate your clutter rules.

The FAST Method: Fix a time, Anything not used in 12 months goes, Someone elses stuff, The Trash can is your friend.

Cut Clutter from Organized Home

Clutter 101 from Simple Productivity

How to Declutter from Zen Habits

Get Rid of 50 Things

52 Weeks to an Organized Home from Home Storage Solutions 101

Declutter Your Kitchen (printable pdf)

A Decluttering Checklist from the Daily Planit

Posted in productivity

Discovery of the Day

Posted on March 1, 2007 by dailyplanit — Leave a comment

150 ways to connect with others at BetterTogether.org.

Posted in personal development

Wake up calls

Posted on February 27, 2007 by dailyplanit — Leave a comment

Have you had your wake up call today? Sometimes we get wake up calls when major life events happen to us. Sometimes little things conspire happen to make us become aware of what’s really the truth. Maybe it’s something we read, something we see, something we hear. Be alert. Listen. Do you see it? Do you hear it? What’s it telling you?

When life slows down or maybe throws some difficult things your way, of course there’s nothing wrong with taking care of yourself. But the fact is life includes pain, which is part of the risk of being fully alive.

I’m always looking for those shortcuts to save time and have that comfortable life I thought I wanted. I’ve learned: There is such a thing as too much time and not enough to do. If it’s something that takes too much effort I haven’t tackled it. Maybe it’s time now to stretch a little bit more.

Reality check…Ring, ring: craigharper.net

Then you start looking around for meaningful activities…something useful to do with your life. But how can little old me make the world a better place? In my obituary, they might say “She sure did read a lot of good books and watched some great tv and movies.” Oh, boy. Is my snoring waking you up? Not likely.

Ring, ring:

“Is Your Genius at Work?”
“It is our responsibility to do what we can to conciously lessen suffering” –“Are You Ready to Succeed?”

Ring, ring: I haven’t seen “The Secret” yet, but did see it discussed on Oprah. I’m not completely sure what I think of the Law of Attraction, which is probably why it hasn’t worked too well for me. I’ve read before about the connection between our thoughts, feelings, and actions…but this is a different way of thinking about the connection, where a powerful energy is generated by all three working together.

Ring, ring: The song “Wise Up” sung by Aimee Mann from the Magnolia soundtrack (also Jerry Maguire) says…it’s not going to stop til you wise up. Are you unhappy? Why?

“Your life is the result of the choices you have made.” -Brian Tracy
We do not have to be defined by our past…Dr. Phil McGraw
“Wake up, Neo” -The Matrix

Ring, ring. Are you going to answer the call?

Posted in personal development