Think About It

Have you ever just sat down and thought or pondered something? Nothing deep. Just a pure simple thought.

I'm getting ready to launch a new blog on makeup, skincare and mostly, nail polish. The name of the blog has to be catchy, explain in a few words what it is about and mostly, it has to have meaning. Meaning to me, then to my readers.

Titles were mulling around in my head. I had spent the evening researching other blogs and what they were called. Looking for inspiration, I found that other bloggers had done play on words, some has used their name in the title and many made the name something personal and close to them.

Without listing all the names that got me inspired, there were a lot (!) of them, many of them were giving me ideas. But it wasn't until I just sat on my bed, surrounded by the quiet and, let my mind wander that I came up with a few that have potential. There was no pressure to hurry up and come up with something. There was, actually, no right or wrong answer. It was just something that was going to be a pure creation out of my own thoughts.

My goal is to give an informative and fun blog about something I find fun: makeup. And my current addition...er, I mean fascination is with nail polish. I have lots and lots of ideas for the blog but, the most creative part was coming up with the name.

It wasn't necessary to get the name first and then the content. I allowed my creative side to just develop as the idea went along. Many times in the past, I felt I had to start off at the very beginning; coming up with a title and then the content. A year ago I had to write a paper for a class in Human Resources. Even though I knew what the subject was, I couldn't get past coming up with a title. I was stuck! After a considerable amount of whining, my husband told me to skip that part, just start writing! Well...duh! Sounds so easy, and it was. However, why in the world was I allowing myself to be stuck on doing the title first?

It seems that when I was a school kid, OK, that was a long time ago, however....when I was in school, the current way of teaching was to start at the beginning. Doesn't do much for creativity but, we were not being taught creativity. What would come if you ended up going to a liberal arts school. So, how completely stuffy was that thinking? Please, do tell me that education doesn't follow that train of thought anymore!!! Eeps!

And so, to those who feel they are not creative (yes, I thought I was, but I had to do it in a linear fashion), allow me to give you an alternative. What to create something? Start with where your first thought comes from. Is it a subject for a book? Is it an idea of a sweater you want to knit? Is it a room you want to decorate? If it involves creativity, give yourself permission to start wherever you want! Start at the beginning, if that suits you or, start at the end and then jump to the front. Doesn't matter...just start. And, we won't tell your teacher that you got out of line.

What are your current goals and where will you start?

43 Simple Ways To Simplify Your Life

Photo courtesy of Astrid Photography.

Post written by Sherri Kruger. Follow me on Twitter.

Simplicity. How can we make things simpler, more streamlined, or more efficient? Is this all just hype or is there actually something to this simplicity thing?

Reducing complexity in my life has reduced stress, increased free time, and top priorities are actually top priorities. When we simplify as much as we can we are better able to slow down and enjoy each moment as opposed to rushing through it. Here are a few ways you can simplify the various aspects of your life:

1. Turn off your cell phone.

2. Process email only twice a day.

3. Go to bed early.

4. Get rid of (or at least reduce) commitments that you do out of obligation.

5. Create a weekly meal plan.

6. Automate your finances.

7. Purge as much unneeded clutter as possible.

8. Keep your paper shredder on top of your recycling bin.

9. Add items you want to a wish list as you think of them.

10. Get a label maker or write labels out by hand.

11. Set your clothes out for the next day the night before.

12. Make your lunch for the next day the night before.

13. Make time to catch up with an old friend.

14. Just say no.

15. Ask for experiences not things for your birthday and Christmas this year.

16. Tell the truth.

17. Keep your list of addresses and phone numbers up to date.

18. Consolidate debt.

19. Create an organizing system that works for you.

20. Keep a bag for garbage in your car.

21. Cary a notebook and pen with you where ever you go.

22. Unsubscribe from emails, newsletters or RSS feeds that don’t provide value anymore.

23. Apologize immediately when you realize you’ve done wrong.

24. Enjoy the present moment as much as you can.

25. Take time to really see the little things in life.

26. Reduce the amount of TV you watch.

27. Get outside.

28. Create morning, daytime, and evening routines.

29. Ask for help.

30. Do things at home as much as possible (eat, date nights, entertain etc.).

31. Don’t get caught up in other people’s drama.

32. Let go of the self-imposed need to be perfect.

33. Focus on a simple, but healthy, eating plan.

34. Share responsibilities.

35. Reduce your wardrobe to a few versatile items.

36. Be positive.

37. Start a gratitude journal.

38. Finish old tasks before taking on new ones.

39. For every new item that enters your home set two free.

40. Want what you have not what you don’t.

41. Revisit what you carry with you in your purse or wallet.

42. Focus on one thing at a time.

43. Store new garbage bags at the bottom of your garbage can.

There are countless ways to simplify your life, these are but a few. I’d love to know what you’ve done to move towards a simpler life for yourself. Please share your ideas in the comments.

One Decision that Changes Everything

This guest post was written by Alex, author of Unleash Reality

.

• Money
• Success
• Freedom
• Happiness
• Glory

Mmmm. YUM. Sounds good doesn’t it?

And yet very few people ever live to become the success story they dream about.

Why?

Because all successful people have one excruciatingly simple thing in common.

And it’s the only thing that’s stopping you from being insanely, abundantly, super successful.

Taking Action

Successful people take action.

That’s it.

“Take action? Yeah, right!” It sounds too simple, doesn’t it?

Yeah, it does. But don’t be fooled. It is that simple. So before you stop reading this and go back to your blurry life of mediocrity, listen up.

Most people live in a complete daze. Actually, they don’t LIVE. They just ‘get by’ because they never take the necessary action to make things happen – to seek their dreams. Does this sound like someone you know?

But successful people…

They’re ALIVE. They make things happen because they take action.

They have that look in their eyes – undiluted determination and infinite appetite for possibility.

They live in constructive flow, always looking for a way – always taking the next logical step.

Productive Positivity

When you constructively move forward with a positive outlook on life, all of the self-induced barriers dissolve and you get out of your own way. Nothing feels impossible and you see potential and possibility in everything because you’re not limiting your focus with destructive negativity.

Successful people constantly live in a state of productive positivity. They don’t settle and they aren’t scared to fail. They try, and fail, and try again until they succeed. Because they know it’s possible, even if they haven’t yet figured out how.

Everything they do is soaked in a deep personal desire to move things forward.

They live for the feeling of accomplishment. You know this feeling…

It’s the feeling of complete immersion in what you’re doing – when you tickle your own brilliance and the distinction between ‘you’ and the task at hand blurs until it’s complete. It’s those moments when you’re taking action and constructively flowing with life

instead of aimlessly stumbling through it.

I know you’ve felt it. Maybe not often enough, but you have.

Ask Yourself

In every situation there is always a ‘most constructive’ path

to choose.

Whether you’re running a business, having a conversation, walking down the street and see someone you’d like to meet, or even just entertaining yourself by browsing online – there’s always a constructive path.

Ask yourself, “What can I do right now that will make me more successful in my own eyes?”

The interesting thing is that as you ask yourself this question, little electrochemical fireworks explode in your mind and illuminate your entire being with the feeling of what success will be like. Your mind automatically cycles through all the possible situations that will result from the different choices for an action that you take.

So ask yourself the question and think about what will help you move forward with your goals. Immerse yourself in thought. What is it that you really want? And what choice can you make right now that will help you get one step closer?

Momentum Builds

After awhile your mind will become trained to subconsciously think about success, so when you have a little time and are deciding what to do, that image of success that came up will poke its head into your plans and make you think twice about zoning out in front of the T.V.

Sure, sometimes it’ll be a small action like reading a book, but momentum builds and as you begin to feel the possibilities for success, you’ll stop limiting what you deem ‘possible’ and you start taking on bigger projects and more promising endeavors.

And as you do it more and more, it becomes less of a question and more of an overall state of being where all you will want to do is move forward towards success. And it feels really good. It brings purpose into your life.

And it doesn’t have to be just material success – deciding to read for pleasure, meditate, exercise, or spend time with a loved one are all valid decisions toward success. The definition of success, after all, is up to you.

But more than anything, success hinges on the simple act of making a decision to live – to absorb yourself in the process of going after your goals.

So make that decision…

And take action.

Alex writes about personal development and how to dive into reality on his site Unleash Reality

. You should check it out right now. And subscribe

too.

Boost your productivity with Hemingway’s hack

I have read many valuable "5 tips", "10 ways", "50 hacks" provided by productivity gurus to help you move forward when you have trouble being productive. To my surprise, none of these lists mentions an easy to grasp rule Ernest Hemingway applied to his writing process. His hack is perhaps too nonconformist to be part of the "getting things done" gospel…
The winner of the 1954 Nobel prize in Literature explains in simple words how to keep the momentum going and how to avoid writer’s block, a common affliction amongst authors. But his hack applies to any task related to an important goal. Here’s what you should do to avoid being stuck and maintain the flow state that maximizes productivity.

The quote :

The best way is always to stop when you are going good and when you know what will happen next. If you do that every day … you will never be stuck. Always stop while you are going good and don’t think about it or worry about it until you start to write the next day. That way your subconscious will work on it all the time. But if you think about it consciously or worry about it you will kill it and your brain will be tired before you start.

Ernest Hemingway

Roald Dahl’s comment :
Let’s see what another famous writer, Roald Dahl, has to say about Hemingway’s hack (excerpts) :
« I never come back to a blank page; I always finish about halfway through. Hemingway taught me the finest trick : “When you are going good, stop writing.” You don’t go on writing and writing until you come to the end of it, because when you do, then you say, well, where am I going to go next? You make yourself stop and you walk away. And you can’t wait to get back because you know what you want to say next. »

To summarize, Hemingway tells you :

Don’t finish your daily task if you want to keep the momentum going :

• Make finishing your task your « next task »
• Stop when you know what you will do to finish it
• Stop when you feel the drive to finish it
• Stop when you reach a creativity peak
• Stop thinking about it until the next day

The benefits. You :

• Avoid being stuck
• Keep the momentum going
• Start your day by the rewarding work of finishing a task
• Boost your self-confidence and motivation levels before starting the « next task »
• End your day on a high note
• Put your brain to purposeful rest when you stop working
• Allow you subconscious to work profitably on « it » = « the bigger picture » = your goal.

My comment
Of course if you want to get into the completion habit, you should start by finishing your daily task (related to an important goal), no matter how sloppily you do it. But often, if you limit yourself to this way of getting things done, you cannot help worrying about the poor quality of your work and feeling dissatisfied with it until the next day.

And this is not good for your self-esteem. What is not good for self-esteem is not good for motivation. And without boosting your motivation level you cannot get into the completion habit.

My experience
With some practice, you can go from don’t stop when you get stuck to avoid being stuck. In my 22-year career as a professional journalist I went through all the stages : I started by being a perfectionist , rereading and rewriting every sentence of an article, therefore getting stuck all the time. I moved on to practicing sloppy drafts whenever I was stuck and improving them afterwards. Until one day, when I stopped when I was "going good". Why ? Because it was a beautiful summer evening, because I wanted to listen to the Rolling Stones, because I knew exactly what to do to finish my article.

Since then, I always make myself stop when I know what I am going to do next ( and not when I want to listen to the Stones on a summer evening - which is what I dream of doing all the time). And I learned to apply this rule to other tasks, when I decide to clear up my wardrobe or to sort out my record collection for an easier access to my 325 Stones records (pretty obvious).

Written by: http://www.secondactive.com Tessa Ivascu

7 Ways To Find Happiness Through Simplicity

This guest post was written by Dayne, the author of TheHappySelf.com

.

Happiness can be elusive

when life is too complicated.

As daily commitments multiply, we find ourselves becoming conditioned to shifting between multiple tasks, creating lengthy to-do lists and juggling complicated schedules. When we’re not overwhelmed, we may feel proud that we can keep up with it all. It’s all part of making a living, but in the end it can stand in the way of making a life.

Does your schedule leave you time for things that bring true happiness?

These things vary for each of us, but for most people true happiness consists of spending time with loved ones and engaging in activities that reveal the richness and beauty of the world around us.

To get the most out of these activities, you must approach them from a place of stillness, peace and calm.

A busy life can be personally fulfilling, but it may leave you feeling too frazzled to achieve the stillness and peace that will allow you to connect with deep happiness and the underlying beauty of life. You can’t just walk away from the responsibilities that fracture your time, but you can simplify your life so that your mind is calmer and more open to the hidden treasures in life.

Here are 7 ways to get started with simplifying your life and working towards a more peaceful state of mind.

1. Question your dependence on material possessions. Recognize the difference between things you need and things you want. Our culture bombards us with messages about material things that will make our lives better. The reality is that most of these things will clutter our lives without bringing true happiness. Free yourself from the culture of excess and learn to be content with fewer possessions and greater simplicity.
2. Think for yourself. If you spend your life playing out a role that society or someone else defines, you’re missing out on the chance to follow your own desires. Your inner life is diminished when you are limited by conformity. Why give up your freedom and allow all of your decisions to be defined by what you think you “should” do? Become a non-conformist and think for yourself, letting your passions be your guide.
3. Rethink your commitments. Life is full of opportunities to earn money, give service, learn new skills and make new friends. Some of us want it all and fill up our calendars with activities and obligations. Over-committing is the surest way to banish stillness and calm from your life. Rushing from one activity to another leaves you with no time to slow down, observe and let things happen. No matter how worthy you think your commitments are, rethink and prioritize them. Keep the ones that are most important and eliminate the ones that are adding to the hectic pace of your life with little return.
4. Create more free time. Once you’ve balanced your commitments, find ways to increase your free time. Eliminate time wasters and re-evaluate your chores. If you spend hours each week cleaning house, see if you can do a little less and have more free time. Eliminating clutter from your home will make it easier to clean. Once you’ve created more free time, fill it with activities that develop your inner self. Spend some time alone and spend some with the people you care about most. Focus on calming activities
   .
5. Savor the simple pleasures. How often do you prepare a healthy and delicious meal and then savor every bite of it? Instead of rushing through meals, barely tasting what you’re eating, take time to enjoy them. Invest time in other simple pleasures – work in your garden, take a relaxing soak in a hot tub or bath, bike or hike through a nature preserve. Unless you’re retired, you probably can’t do these things every day, but fitting them into your schedule even once or twice a week will have a calming effect on your life.
6. Focus on the present moment. When you’re over-committed, you can end up rushing from one thing to the next without enjoying or even being very conscious of the world around you. There’s always the hope that when things slow down you’ll have time to enjoy life. Maybe you look forward to the weekend or an annual vacation, thinking that you’ll be able to find a way to slow down. Instead of looking to the future, learn to focus on the present moment. Enjoy what you’re doing in the here and now. You can find serenity in even the most mundane task if you really give it your attention and do it mindfully.
7. Give up some control. No matter how much we plan, we can never predict what the future will bring. Trying to exercise too much control can just lead to frustration, in addition to frustrating the people around you. Since you never know what the future will bring, it’s futile to try to control events. Instead of attempting to control the outcome of events, learn to relax and enjoy the journey. Letting go of the need to control will give you more freedom to live in the moment. By planning less, you’ll be more open to unforeseen opportunities that come your way. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still have goals, but that your focus shifts from the ends to the means.

Remember that simplicity is a process, not a destination.

For most of us, there is no escaping the inherent complexity of our lives. However, by deciding to simplify your life and spend more time seeking true happiness, you’ve started on a road that can lead to profound changes in your life.

There is no final destination at the end of this road.

Because life is forever changing and evolving, and you are evolving along with it, you will never reach a point of perfect simplicity and endless happiness. But each moment you spend on the path to simplicity does have the potential to bring more serenity and happiness into your life.

“If you want happiness for an hour – take a nap. If you want happiness for a day – go fishing. If you want happiness for a month – get married. If you want happiness for a year – inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime – help someone else.” – Chinese Proverb

This is a guest post written by Dayne from TheHappySelf.com

, a fantastic blog about personal transformation and simple self-development. Be sure to check out his blog, or follow him

on Twitter. Lastly, don’t forget to download your free ebook Living Naked

here.

The Short but Powerful Guide to Finding Your Passion

The joy that results in doing something you love.

“The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play.” - Arnold Toynbee

Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on Twitter.

Following your passion can be a tough thing. But figuring out what that passion is can be even more elusive.

I’m lucky — I’ve found my passion, and I’m living it. I can testify that it’s the most wonderful thing, to be able to make a living doing what you love.

And so, in this little guide, I’d like to help you get started figuring out what you’d love doing. This turns out to be one of the most common problems of many Zen Habits readers — including many who recently responded to me on Twitter.

This will be the thing that will get you motivated to get out of bed in the morning, to cry out, “I’m alive! I’m feeling this, baby!”. And to scare your family members or anyone who happens to be in yelling distance as you do this.

This guide won’t be comprehensive, and it won’t find your passion for you. But it will help you in your journey to find it.

Here’s how.

1. What are you good at? Unless you’re just starting out in life, you have some skills or talent, shown some kind of aptitude. Even if you are just starting out, you might have shown some talent when you were young, even as young as elementary school. Have you always been a good writer, speaker, drawer, organizer, builder, teacher, friend? Have you been good at ideas, connecting people, gardening, selling? Give this some thought. Take at least 30 minutes, going over this question — often we forget about things we’ve done well. Think back, as far as you can, to jobs, projects, hobbies. This could be your passion. Or you may have several things. Start a list of potential candidates.

2. What excites you? It may be something at work — a little part of your job that gets you excited. It could be something you do outside of work — a hobby, a side job, something you do as a volunteer or a parent or a spouse or a friend. It could be something you haven’t done in awhile. Again, think about this for 30 minutes, or 15 at the least. If you don’t, you’re probably shortchanging yourself. Add any answers to your list.

3. What do you read about? What have you spent hours reading about online? What magazines do you look forward to reading? What blogs do you follow? What section of the bookstore do you usually peruse? There may be many topics here — add them to the list.

4. What have you secretly dreamed of? You might have some ridiculous dream job you’ve always wanted to do — to be a novelist, an artist, a designer, an architect, a doctor, an entrepreneur, a programmer. But some fear, some self-doubt, has held you back, has led you to dismiss this idea. Maybe there are several. Add them to the list — no matter how unrealistic.

5. Learn, ask, take notes. OK, you have a list. Pick one thing from the list that excites you most. This is your first candidate. Now read up on it, talk to people who’ve been successful in the field (through their blogs, if they have them, or email). Make a list of notes of things you need to learn, need to improve on, skills you want to master, people to talk to. Study up on it, but don’t make yourself wait too long before diving into the next step.

6. Experiment, try. Here’s where the learning really takes place. If you haven’t been already, start to do the thing you’ve chosen. Maybe you already are, in which case you might be able to skip to the next step or choose a second candidate to try out. But if you haven’t been, start now — just do it. It can be in the privacy of your own home, but as quickly as possible, make it public however you can. This motivates you to improve, it gets you feedback, and your reputation will improve as you do. Pay attention to how you feel doing it — is it something you look forward to, that gets you excited, that you love to share?

7. Narrow things down. I recommend that you pick 3-5 things from your list, if it’s longer than that, and do steps 5 & 6 with them. This could take month, or perhaps you’ve already learned about and tried them all out. So now here’s what you need to ask yourself: which gets you the most excited? Which of these can produce something that people will pay for or get excited about? Which can you see yourself doing for years (even if it’s not a traditional career path)? Pick one, or two at the most, and focus on that. You’re going to do the next three steps with it: banish your fears, find the time, and make it into a career if possible. If it doesn’t work out, you can try the next thing on your list — there’s no shame in giving something a shot and failing, because it’ll teach you valuable lessons that will help you to be successful in the next attempt.

8. Banish your fears. This is the biggest obstacle for most people – self-doubt and fear of failure. You’re going to face it and banish it. First, acknowledge it rather than ignoring or denying it. Second, write it down, to externalize it. Third, feel it, and be OK with having it. Fourth, ask yourself, “What’s the worst that can happen?” Usually it’s not catastrophic. Fifth, prepare yourself for doing it anyway, and then do it. Take small steps, as tiny as possible, and forget about what might happen — focus on what actually is happening, right now. And then celebrate your success, no matter how small.

9. Find the time. Don’t have the time to pursue this passion? Make the time, dammit! If this is a priority, you’ll make the time — rearrange your life until you have the time. This might mean waking earlier, or doing it after work or during lunch, or on weekends. It will probably mean canceling some commitments, simplifying your work routing or doing a lot of work in advance (like you’re going on a vacation). Do what it takes.

10. How to make a living doing it. This doesn’t happen overnight. You need to do something, get good at it, be passionate about it. This could take months or years, but if you’re having fun, that’s what’s most important. When you get to the point where someone would pay you for it, then you’re golden — there are many ways to make a living at that point, including doing freelance or consulting work, making information products such as ebooks, writing a blog and selling advertising. In fact, I recommend you do a blog if you’re not already — it’ll help solidify your thinking, build a reputation, find people who are interested in what you do, demonstrate your knowledge and passion.

I told you this wouldn’t be easy. It’ll require a lot of reflection and soul-searching, at first, then a lot of courage and learning and experimentation, and finally a lot of commitment.

But it’s all worth it — every second, every ounce of courage and effort. Because in the end, you’ll have something that will transform your life in so many ways, will give you that reason to jump out of bed, will make you happy no matter how much you make.

I hope you follow this guide and find success, because I wish on you nothing less than finding your true passion.

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” - Confucius

If you liked this guide, please bookmark it on Delicious or share on Twitter. Comments? @zen_habits me.

Creating a Habit of Lists

It was totally against my habit, but I wrote down a 'to do' list today. Over the past few years, it seems that I forget that one thing that had I made a list, I would not have forgotten.

You probably have experienced it too. You go to the grocery store to get a few things. Not a lot, but just a couple of items for the weekend. Then, after you get home, or start to prepare dinner, you realized that you forgot to pick up the shredded cheese for the casserole. Aurgh!!!

This will happen to me when I go to the book store to check out a few books I'm interested in. I get to the book store and then...what was the name of that book? Who's the author again? And, I cannot for the life of me even remember it.

Mid-term exams are this week. I'm studying and going over my notes. Also, work has increased and I have several irons in the fire with that project. Add to that my husband went out of town for a meeting and I realized I had several things I needed to talk with him about. How was I going to remember all these things?

I have to admit that I have had some resentment about making 'to do' lists. It is almost an admittance that I cannot remember all I need to do. That in turn makes me feel that I'm not competent enough to do what I need to. However, to get all my tasks completed and done on time, I sat down and made two lists. One was for the topics I needed to speak to my husband about. The other list was exactly what I want to accomplish tomorrow. I wrote down everything but make the bed, brush my teeth, eat, etc. What I listed were all the things I did not want to forget. And, writing out this list not only keeps all those items in the forefront of my thoughts, but also, helps me with my focus and concentration.

Then there's that sly ego benefit of marking the items off and gloating to myself for a job well done.

I realized that this is a habit of a highly organized and focused person. There's no shame in keeping lists. There's actually more repercussions should I forget to pack my my school book. If you read business or organization books, what is one of the key things a successful person does to stay on track? Yep, lists.

Get out a pad of paper and a pen. Keep them in the place where you do the majority of your work. For me, that's right here at my desk. However, it might be at your dining room table, a counter in the kitchen or at your nightstand. Test different places that make it visible and handy for you. Experiment with writing your to do list two or three days out. I like to do that for immediate tasks as I can add to the list as that particular day approaches.

I'm remembering the items to pick up at the grocery store, having the conversations with my husband when we have dinner, and creating focus for me for the entire day. I am less distracted with the work at hand.

Try these tips for two or three days; just as a test. See how it can improve your day to be more successful. Let me know how it works for you.