Life Management & Event Control Archives - Page 4 of 6

February 27, 2020October 13, 2020

Bound To The Past

Leftovers from yesterday, last week, last month or last year clog up your space and keep you from living in the present moment. Clear up the open loops from past projects and you are better able to deal with your current projects and activities. Live in the present moment, not bound to the past by items cluttering your space and your life.

Holdovers From The Past

Here is a thought that occurred to me the other day as I contemplated the stacks of papers, files, books, and other detritus covering my desk and work space. This clutter, these holdovers from the past, keep me from living fully in the present.

The unfiled papers, the books that haven’t been put away, and all the other clutter and debris keep me bound to the past and make it difficult to function in the present moment. As long as those stacks are there, I have open loops [1] — unfinished business. It is difficult to remain in the present moment, in the Now, with so many open loops.

January 16, 2020October 24, 2020

Paraphernalia

The law of abundance says that things flow into our lives and things flow out of our lives. To experience true abundance, you must keep the flow going. It’s difficult to do if you get clogged up with paraphernalia.

“Messy surroundings and an untidy life reflect a weakened metaphysical and psychological state. If you are powerful, you will dominate your life, you will find time to clean up and order things, and you will want to do that as a part of your personal discipline. Mess is the external manifestation of the ego’s disquiet and laziness.” ~ Stuart Wilde

Well Equipped Backpacking

My friend, Spock (no, not the Spock), and I did a lot of backpacking when we were younger. Now, when you are backpacking, generally you are concerned with how much weight you are carrying. I usually went with the basics – sleeping bag, canteen, pot and spoon, dried foods, stove, soap, matches.

Spock, on the other hand, loved paraphernalia. He had 3 or 4 metal water bottles – in different colors. He had a dozen carabiners that he used to hook stuff to the outside of his pack. Besides that stuff, he had an extendable aluminum rod that he used as a hiking stick. And he had his camera with an assortment of lenses.

October 17, 2019October 29, 2020

The Willpower Question

Willpower is like a muscle, according to some research, and gets depleted with use over time. Newer research has not replicated this finding, however. Other researchers believe willpower may get depleted because we think it will be. This is at the heart of the willpower question.

Cookies And Radishes

It was a cruel and heartless experiment . . . at least for the hungry college students taking part. They were told not to eat anything for several hours prior to the experiment so they were hungry when they arrived at the lab.

The students were divided into three groups. Group 1 was given a plate of warm, freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies. And a plate of radishes. They were told they could have all the radishes they wanted, but they were not to touch the cookies.

Group 2 was given a plate of cookies and a plate of radishes and told they could eat all they wanted from either (or both) plates.

Group 3 was given nothing.

September 26, 2019October 29, 2020

Rules Of Thumb

A rule of thumb is a type of heuristic that can help you perform desirable behaviors more consistently. Applying rules of thumb can also eliminate some mundane decisions, thereby conserving willpower.

Decision Making Short-Cuts

“Eat a fruit and a vegetable at every meal.”
“Pay yourself first.”
“Fill your gas tank when it reaches 1/2 full.”

These are “rules of thumb” – common sense guidelines that provide guidance in daily situations. They are short-cuts to decision making.

The phrase rule of thumb refers to “a principle with broad application that is not intended to be strictly accurate or reliable for every situation. It refers to an easily learned and easily applied procedure or standard, based on practical experience rather than theory.” [Wikipedia]

July 25, 2019November 2, 2020

Time To Be

To discover and understand your purpose and to organize your life around it requires time . . . time to think about how you’ll manifest your purpose and time to reflect on your performance. Organize your time and your calendar to explicitly schedule in these activities.

A Tale Of Two Workers

This is a tale of two workers. Call them Tom and Tim.

Tom works hard. He’s busy all day. Here is a typical day for Tom. When he wakes up, Tom immediately reaches for his phone to check for messages and e-mails. Before he gets out of bed, his mind is already teeming with thoughts of what he has to do today. He gets up and rushes through showering and dressing for work. He skips breakfast — who has time? He’ll grab a fast food sandwich and a cup of coffee on the way to the office.

Once at the office, Tom checks his e-mail again, then his calendar. He has several back-to-back meetings scheduled. He also has a major project that is due by the end of the week but he hasn’t had time to work on it yet. Maybe he can get to it today. And oh yeah, there was that upset customer that called yesterday . . . he still needs to call her back.

May 30, 2019July 24, 2019

Don’t Be Good

Moral licensing gives you “permission” to do something “bad” after or because you’ve done something “good”. So don’t think of your actions as being “good” or “bad”. Instead, see yourself as being committed to your goal or to your self-improvement.

Good? or Bad?

Suppose you decide to exercise more. You plan to get up every morning and hit the gym. For three days, you’re there when the doors open. On the fourth day, you decide you need a rest and so you sleep in. Do you think that you’ve been “good” on the days you exercised and “bad” when you didn’t? Or suppose you intend to start eating a healthier diet. On Monday, you have a salad for lunch. On Tuesday, you have a salad for lunch. On Wednesday, someone brings doughnuts and you decide you deserve a treat for being “good” the last two days. So you eat a doughnut . . . maybe two. At lunch, you decide you’ve already blown your diet for the day so you order a double cheeseburger and fries.

May 2, 2019October 1, 2019

What’s Holding You Back?

“Show me someone who keeps getting in your way, and I’ll show you someone who keeps making excuses.” ~ Note From The Universe — Mike Dooley

What Is Holding You Back?

What’s holding you back? What is keeping you from reaching your goal, fulfilling your purpose, and creating your best life? Given the opening quote, you probably suspect that this is a loaded question and you may be reluctant to trot out your usual litany of excuses, er, umm, I mean “reasons”.

Don’t get me wrong. Nobody that I’m aware of follows a straight, open, easy path to success. (If they do, then they’ve set their sights too low. They should aim higher.) All of us encounter obstacles, bumps and potholes, detours, blocked roads and locked doors. That’s part of why we are here and one of the big reasons for having goals in the first place. It’s called “Learning”.

February 28, 2019July 15, 2019

An Orderly Life

“As within, so without.” Our external world is a reflection of our internal world. If your external world is peaceful and ordered, then your inner life is peaceful and ordered. If your inner life is chaotic, your external world is likely to be a mess.

An Experiment In Decluttering

A number of years ago, I devised an experiment. In an effort to remove clutter and begin living an orderly life, I decided to get rid of — toss, give away, or recycle — two items every day. And for 60 days, that’s what I did.

I kept a record of what I cleared out, which I still have on my computer. Analyzing it, I see that about 40 percent of the items – 47 – went to Goodwill and 41 items were tossed in the garbage. The rest were recycled. The most items I discarded were books (22) and clothes (19). Other items were memorabilia of various sorts, old medications, and just plain trash – broken things, old receipts, outdated product manuals, and some papers I could no longer identify.

February 7, 2019February 9, 2019

Willpower Offense

Those who use willpower wisely don’t use it to fight temptation, they use willpower to avoid temptation. Instead of willpower defense, they play willpower offense.(1)

Choose Once

When I stepped on the scale and it hit 265, I decided it was time to do something about my weight. So I joined Weight Watchers.

The Wednesday evening sessions I attended had two leaders, Paul and Marlon, both of whom had successfully lost many pounds. Both were engaging and funny. And they both understood the ups and downs of weight loss. Marlon once told about going on a cruise and gaining 15 pounds in one week. And he was a Weight Watcher leader at the time!

January 24, 2019January 26, 2019

Simplifying Simplicity

“Our life is frittered away by detail… simplify, simplify.” ~ Henry David Thoreau

Searching for the next Big Idea

I am in love with ideas. I am intrigued and fascinated by them. One of my Signature Strengths his Love Of Learning. I like to learn new things and new ways to do old things. I am constantly searching for shiny new ideas and new twists on old concepts.

One reason is that I, like many people, am basically lazy. I want to have and do and be various things — and I want to have and do and be them NOW with the least amount of effort. So I am regularly on the look out for the newest big idea that will get me what I want. I flit from this book to that audio CD seminar to the latest program of something or other.