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

Is Your Genius at Work?

Posted on February 25, 2007 by dailyplanit

Notes on the book “Is Your Genius at Work?” by Dick Richards.

(Affiliate link: I receive a small commission at no additional cost to you if you click through and make a purchase with an affiliate link. Thank you for your support!)

Genius=talents
Purpose=the reason your talents exist

The author provides 32 exercises to assist in identifying your genius. The primary method is to give it a name that contains one gerund (a verb that ends with the suffix ing) and one noun. Some examples: Digging Deeper, Taking Care…the possibilities are many. You can make guesses as to what it might be, try it on and keep changing it until it feels right.

4 Key Questions:

What is your genius?
Is your genius at work?
What is your purpose?
Is your genius on purpose?

I’m still thinking about mine! This is the most helpful book I’ve ever come across to grapple with this question.

Here’s a free tool with word lists to inspire ideas for Finding Genius I created.

Posted in Books, personal development

Discovery of the Day

Posted on February 25, 2007 by dailyplanit — Leave a comment

How to Get Started with Getting Things Done on BNET. Lots of other neat stuff here too.

Posted in information management

Discovery of the Day

Posted on February 23, 2007 by dailyplanit — Leave a comment

Ageless Learner has a variety of interesting assessments and articles, including a learning culture audit.

Posted in information management

Are You Ready to Succeed?

Posted on February 16, 2007 by dailyplanit — Leave a comment

Notes from the book “Are You Ready to Succeed?” by Srikumar S Rao:

Happiness is not something you “get”-it is what you are.

Our perceptions shape our reality. Do you choose a negative reality?

Become aware of mental chatter, and shift from judgment to awareness to cultivate growth. Don’t feed your mind junk. The dog you feed will grow stronger.

Law of Increase: whatever you are truly grateful for and appreciate will increase in your life. When you change, the universe changes. Visualize what you want and combine doing with being. Recognize and surrender expectations about outcomes. We control actions but not outcomes. Accept outcomes that may be different than we expected without judgment. We think of freedom to…speak, practice the religion we choose. The greatest freedom is freedom from…the belief that something outside of us is the source of happiness.

Passion with detachment. Follow your path motivated to bring about a better outcome, accepting that we can take actions, but not the results are not in our control. Detach from emotional involvement in a particular result.

Set down the burdens of guilt and blame.

Law of Self-Interest: everybody always acts in their personal self-interest. Even our good intentions to help others are motivated by a need to feel good about ourselves. We do the best we can with where we are.

Change to a mental model of a benevolent universe that provides for us in ways we do not understand. You may be on a different path to get where you need to be.

Reconciling tragedy and suffering. Being human means we make mistakes. Being alive means tragedies happen, and we can learn and become stronger. We can gain strength to transcend the fire by connecting with the universe/higher power. We are responsible to do what we can to lessen suffering consciously.

The book contains many exercises to increase awareness.

Posted in Books, personal development

Share the love

Posted on February 14, 2007 by dailyplanit

Volunteering connects us with others and with a sense of purpose. Finding a meaningful cause we believe in helps to clarify our vision. It can be very satisfying to volunteer to help others with our strengths and talents. See more benefits of volunteering at helpguide.org. Find volunteer opportunities that match your Myers-Briggs Personality Type at Truity and Authory.

Download a printable Volunteer Bookmark pdf to locate how you might use your interests and skills for the needs of an organization for a cause that is meaningful to you.

Look for a social issue that you feel is most important to improve. What problems do you most want to change? What populations do you most want to help? What organizations serve those populations? What actions can you take to help? How can you contribute your talents and skills?

A to Z of problems or causes, actions, populations & places

A Abuse, addiction, alcoholism, animals, art
B Blood drives, book sales, building homes
C Computer literacy, climate change, conservation, community building
D Drug abuse, domestic violence, disabled, deliver meals, drive patients
E Education, emergency help, environment, events
F Financial literacy, fundraising, foster children, food pantry
G Garden-community, global warming, gun control
H Homeless, housing, hunger, health, hospitals, historical society
I Identity, illiteracy, immigration, inequality, isolation
J Justice
K Kids
L Loneliness, legal assistance, libraries
M Medical assistance, mental health, minimum wage, meals, mentoring, museums
N Nature
O Overpopulation
P Poverty, pollution, politics
Q Quiz – try a quiz to find a good volunteer match
R Reduce, reuse, recycle
S Suicide, seniors, shelters
T Teen pregnancy, transportation, tutoring
U Unemployment
V Violence-gang, veterans
W War, wildlife
X X-tra care
Y Youth
Z Zero waste–reduce carbon footprint

There are many opportunities available, many more than the partial list above which is intended to inspire thinking. They will vary depending on your community, so explore the possibilities!

Almost every organization has a need for financial support and fundraising. Maybe they need help maintaining a webpage, writing a newsletter, or help with landscaping. There may be people who need transportation to doctor’s appointments. You could spend time at a nursing home reading to someone or playing a game they enjoy. You could join a political campaign, or work in a hospital gift store.

Once you identify an organization you would like to volunteer for, contact them to ask what they need and listen to the answer. Offer ideas for ways you could use your skills to help. Decide what kind of time commitment you would like to make, then follow through.

GOAL STATEMENT

I will help [which group or organization] the arts council [when] every Saturday [how much] for an hour a week by [doing what] staffing the gift shop.

This is one of the weekly activities for a Year of Personal Development.

Tagged with: volunteer
Posted in personal development