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The Lifehack Editors’ Fitness Chellenge: Week 1

Well, we’ve finshed up the first week of the Lifehack Editors’ Fitness Challenge and there is one thing that both CM and I have in common as of right now: We are both very sore people.

Let’s get into our own experiences with this challenge so far, shall we?

Mike’s Take

I’m certainly glad we took on the Rookie level of the NerdFitness Rebel Fitness Guide because for me that was a challenge from the get-go. I haven’t done any real exercise in many months (almost a year) and the 2 routines that are part of the guide are tough. One of the things I’ve been concerned about is proper form, as I don’t want to injure myself and/or not get the true benefits of each exercise.

I’m using resistance bands for my workouts, as I’ll be traveling several times during the course of this challenge. So I’ve had to watch videos on how to adapt certain exercises to be performed with resitstance bands rather than free weights. As a result, my workouts are taking longer to do than I’d initially thought – but once I’m in the groove I am pushing through. And that’s a good thing.

The running hasn’t been as challenging, as I’ve only been away from that for a few months. Still, the first half of each Run 5K app routine seems way longer than it should. Luckily i’ve got my own custom iTunes playlist to keep me company, along with a solid set of earbuds that manage to stay in my ears throughout (Note: If you’re in the market for some new earbuds, Lifehack Deals is currently offering BodyGuardz Moxy Earbuds for 50% off). Next week the stakes get a little higher as the time spent running during the routine will increase. I expect that’s when I’ll start to really feel the burn.

Speaking of feeling, did I mention that I’m very sore?

I’ve not altered my diet too much, but am definitely noticing that I really can’t eat as much pasta as I have. Same goes with breads in general. Maybe it’s time I start to look at going Paleo…

As for my weight, it has actually gone up by 1.2 lbs since I started. Go figure.

So, where am I at after the first week? My starting weight and measurements are in parentheses below, preceded by my current ones in this shortened week of the Lifehack Editors’ Fitness Challenge

Tale of the Tape: Mike Vardy

• Weight: 178.6 lbs (177.4)
• Waist: 36 inches (35.75)
• Hips: 41.75 inches (41.75)
• Biceps (flexed): 12.5 inches (12.5)
• Legs (mid-thigh): 18.5 inches (21)
• Total inches: 108.75 inches (111)

CM’s Take

I have to admit; I sorted of cheated a little on this fitness challenge as I started “working out the kinks” for the past couple of weeks. Because of that a lot of my soreness was worked out initially. To compesate for that I ended up doing higher amounts of reps this week in the Rookie level of NerdFitness. That made it challenging and kept me pretty sore. I realized after today’s NerdFitness workout that I need to add some weight to my squats and step ups at the beginning of next week. I will also add 5 pounds to all of my shoulder presses and rows.

As for the running portion of our challenge, I feel like it’s the perfect balance of walking and running. The first half or so of the workout is pretty easy, but once I get above 20 minutes, I really start to feel the burn in my legs and the workout becomes hard.

My diet has been somewhat paleo for almost a year now. I haven’t touched any bread since Fall 2011. The biggest change in my diet this week was to cut out processed sugars completely as well as make sure to drink around 8 to 10 cups of water a day. I haven’t necessarily had too much trouble with process sugars since I’ve gone paleo, but I made sure to cut them all out, at least initially to really cut the fat.

I have to say I am pretty happy with my first 5 days of results; I’ve lost weight and lost inches where it counts and am highly motivated to continue with the challenge. Also, as an indirect result of working out, I’ve found that my energy levels during the day are much more balanced.

Tale of the Tape: CM Smith

• Weight: 203.4 lbs (208)
• Waist: 42 inches (43.5)
• Hips: 43 inches (43)
• Biceps (flexed): 14.25 inches (14)
• Legs (mid-thigh): 23.5 inches (23.25)
• Total inches: 122. inches (124)

(Photo credit: Flexing via Shutterstock)

Mike Vardy is the Managing Editor at Lifehack. An independent writer, speaker, podcaster and "productivityist", you can read more of his writing at Vardy.me. He is @mikevardy on Twitter.

Ask the Entrepreneurs: 15 Ways to Clean Up and Conquer Office Clutter

Ask The Entrepreneurs is a regular series where members of those involved in the Young Entrepreneur Council are asked a single question that aims to help Lifehack readers level up their own lives, whether in a area of management, communication, business or life in general.

Here’s the question posed in this edition of Ask The Entrepreneurs:

What’s the coolest gadget (high OR low tech) you have to help you keep your office space organized?

1. Paint the Town Chalk!

Our office is an inspiration cave. We can draw and write on every surface, from the white board to the conference table to the windows to the chalk walls. This allows us to not only go with the inspiration but also to visualize our projects and workload.

-Yael Cohen, Fuck Cancer

2. No More Post-Its With Asana

After my teams switched to Asana for project management, I noticed there were far less Post-It notes, scribbles and half-filled sheets of scratch paper lying around my office. Entering and organizing our tasks in Asana was easier, and it has also eliminated the digital clutter of separate task lists and the old mile-long to-do list.

-Kelly Azevedo, She’s Got Systems

3. Old-Fashioned Post-It Notes

We use post-it notes as our teamwide “To-Do” list. We stick them on the wall in order to avoid clutter on our desks. We have a goal to pull the notes down every week after accomplishing big sales, operations and marketing goals!
-Aaron Schwartz, Modify Watches

4. Move to the Cloud

Move everything to the cloud, so you don’t need any gadgets. If you look at your systems, it is highly probable that you can move many online, so you really don’t need an office. Today, there is more technology than ever that can handle an increasing amount of tasks. Begin to move your work to the cloud and lose the office altogether.
-Louis Lautman, Young Entrepreneur Society

5. Work the Whiteboard

We whiteboard everything. From projects to team assignments, presentations to goals and numbers. It is extremely powerful to see your messages in big, dry erase markers every time you walk through the office. It reminds you why you are there and what you need to be doing. That keeps myself and my whole team organized.
-Greg Rollett, The ProductPros

6. Invest in IdeaPaint

We turned our walls into large whiteboards so that no matter where we are in the office, we can write just about anywhere. It comes in handy with the studio setup that we have, and creates a great creative visualization for us too.
-Ashley Bodi, Business Beware

7. Keep It Simple With a Kamban

We’ve tried all kinds of online apps for organization, and our favorite tool ended up being a physical 3′x4′ Kamban board. It’s essentially a whiteboard sectioned off into four parts: to-do, in progress, done (waiting for approval) and icebox (ideas that we put “on ice” for later). We pin colored index cards to the board, and we move them from section to section as we progress.
-Allie Siarto, Loudpixel

8. Mobile Office Grid

I use a product called Grid-It! by Cocoon to keep my “mobile office” organized. The Grid-It! is a board with a zipped storage compartment on one side and a mesh of elastic bands on the other. The compartment holds paperwork and discs, while the bands hold everything else (cables, gadgets, hard drives, etc). Simple concept, but it’s made my carry-on bag far more manageable.
-Colin Wright, Exile Lifestyle

9. Adapt With Batteries

I have a battery charger with a variety of different adapters. It allows me to plug most of the gadgets I carry around into it and recharge them. As an added bonus, I’m popular at conferences because I can always provide at least a little charge to anyone with a dying phone, giving us a chance to sit and chat.
-Thursday Bram, Hyper Modern Consulting

10. Rotating Paper File

David Allen’s GTD system recommends having a “tickler file.” Basically, this means that you have a file folder for each month and then a series of folders labeled 1 through 31. As paper material comes into your life, you put it in the correct day or, if it’s more than a month away, the folder of the correct month. This is a simple way to keep paper organized and accessible at the right time.
-Elizabeth Saunders, Real Life E®

11. Evernote for Everything

I scan everything into this program, then tag and sort it. It really takes away the need for me to have paper anywhere in my office. Also, whenever I need something, it is only a quick digital search away — even from my smartphone!
-Justin Nowak, Mobile Business Advisors

12. Monitors and Mice

To me, this is a no-brainer, but I make sure every person in my office has a second monitor and wireless mouse. Most people are unaware of how much faster they become with a mouse and second monitor, and I make sure everyone has that opportunity. Some people resist claiming that they “work better on their laptop trackpad.” Eventually, they realize.
-Lucas Sommer, Audimated

13. Keep the Cords Clean

I have a henge dock for my MacBook Pro that keeps all my connectors organized and clean.
-Anderson Schoenrock, ScanDigital

14. Cordies for Cables on the Table

The biggest source of office space disorganization is cords — they’re everywhere! Not only are tangled cables for computers a pain to look at, but they can also be a tripping hazard. Cordies — starting at just $9.99 — are available to help. Cordies, created by the cool crowdsourcing invention company Quirky, are design-friendly and effective in organizing stray cables.
-Doreen Bloch, Poshly Inc.

15. There’s a Job Position for That

A Director of Operations is the best way to keep a business organized. Startups are all about swift changes, and a human can help you adapt and keep pace with those changes a lot better than any single piece of technology can.
-Brent Beshore, AdVentures

(Photo credit: Bad Day at Work via Shutterstock)

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the world's most promising young entrepreneurs. The YEC promotes entrepreneurship as a solution to unemployment and underemployment and provides entrepreneurs with access to tools, mentorship, and resources that support each stage of their business’s development and growth.

The Best of Lifehack: May 2012

As we jump into June, it’s time to look at the month we left behind here at Lifehack. Our Best of Lifehack series showcases articles from the month just gone by, so that you don’t miss some of the best we had to offer at Lifehack.

Over the past month we featured articles on to-do lists, perfection, hacking you life, fitness routines and how to recognize what type (or types) of motivation work for you. As usual, we have a wide variety of articles that made the list this month — and even more that just missed out.

Here is The Best of Lifehack from May 2012.

Hate Your To-Do List? Try A Rolling List Instead!

Are to-do lists the only way to keep yourself on task, or an unrealistic goal that just stresses you out and make you feel bad about all the things you never get to? Should you keep a short list of the most essential items, or a massive running list of every task you’ll ever need to remember? Kelly Gurnett offers what could very well be a healthy alternative.

10 Essential Ways to Hack Your Life (Instead of Letting Life Hack You)

Tired of being out of control? Is your life ruling you rather than the other way around? Lifehack contributor Judy Belmont offers up 10 essential tips on how you can lifehack, rather than being hacked by life.

One Simple Thing You Can Do To Instantly Improve Your Day

Are you familiar with those days where you feel like you have too much going on – way too much work, a dozen errands, e-mails to check, voicemails to listen to, and a growing list of things you really need to handle? Sibyl Chavis offers up one simple thing you can do that can make your day much, much better.

Top 10 Camera Apps For iPhone + 4 Bonus Photo Editing Apps

There are hundreds of photo apps out there that take your iPhoneography to the next level. Tris Hussey picked the top 10 camera apps for iPhone, as well as including his top 4 favorite apps to edit and enhance photos just to round things out.

10 Great Tips for Success in Both Life and Business

Sometimes what helps us to be successful in our professional lives is not such a great idea in our personal lives — competition is a quality that comes to mind. At the same time, we all have a limited amount of time each day to do the things that we want to do. Robert Chen shares a list of tips that will help you be successful in both life and in business.

3 Diet Hacks to Help You Lose 10 Pounds in 21 Days

Lifehack contributor Curt Pedersen suggests 3 tips that you should make a part of your life for 21 days that will allow you to easily lose 10 pounds. (More importantly, they will become habits that you follow for the days, weeks, and months to follow.)

6 Types of Motivation Explained

There are many different forms of motivation. Each one influences behavior in its own unique way. No single type of motivation works for everyone. People’s personalities vary and so accordingly does the type of motivation, that is most effective at inspiring their conduct. Royale Scuderi explains 6 types of motivation so that you can determine which form of motivation is the most effective for inspiring the desired behavior — in either others or ourselves.

How to Fly First Class for Free

James Clear shows Lifehack readers a way to fly first class for free over and over again. The best part? It doesn’t require incredible negotiation skills or dumb luck. Just reading this piece will get you on your way…so go to it!

9 Detox Herbs That Will Make You Feel Like a Million Bucks

Maria Hill discusses 9 detox herbs that can help you improve your quality of life by removing toxins from you body and helping to feel like a million bucks.

What Can Software Developers Teach us About Crushing the ‘Perfection Bug’?

If perfection is slowing you down, help can be found from a surprising source; from the world of agile software development and Scrum. What’s Scrum? Timo Kiander explains what it is and how it can help you stave off the “perfection bug” in this piece.

(Photo credit: Golden Leader of Business Team via Shutterstock)

Mike Vardy is the Managing Editor at Lifehack. An independent writer, speaker, podcaster and "productivityist", you can read more of his writing at Vardy.me. He is @mikevardy on Twitter.

Why You Can’t Get Things Done (It’s All About the Ritual)

So, you have studied the GTD system for months or years and you still can’t get things done? That obviously makes you a failure, right? Not exactly.

One of the biggest problems that GTD practitioners face is that the don’t have a GTD ritual to keep themselves in the GTD mindset. You must keep a GTD ritual to make sure that your systems are clean, you have a clear focus of work and what needs done, and to know when you are taking on too much work (or not enough).

Here are the keys to keeping a GTD ritual so you can finally get some stuff done.

Weekly or daily review

If your GTD system is your entire life and brain put in one place, then the weekly review is the glue that holds it all together. GTD nerds tend to obsess with their taxonomies, project organization, what tools to use, etc. The sad truth is that it’s all for naught if you don’t review your projects and actions at least every week.

Make sure to block out around 30 minutes to do your weekly review. If that is too much, or if you have some fast moving projects at the moment, then a daily review may be better. Whatever you choose, just remember to review.

Hone your projects list

Even David Allen says that one of the most important lists that you can create is your list of active projects. Right now in my OmniFocus database I have 55 active projects (that is 55 things that aren’t done that require more than 1 action to complete). Some of these are ongoing while others will be finished within a few weeks to a few months.

The secret is just to have a list. This list will give you a good idea of how much time you have in your life and what is on your plate as well as help you know what you should be acting on at any given time.

Review your Horizons of Focus

If you haven’t identified your Horizons of Focus, check out this article on how to do it. If you have identified your Horizons of Focus you need to review them regularly. Many GTD practitioners will create a nice list of the important things in their lives, but won’t take the time to go back and review them to see if their projects and actions reflect the areas they have identified to be important. Without this type of ritual, you run the chance of doing things that someone else thinks your should be doing, rather than what you know you should be doing to further your goals.

Also, reviewing these horizons will help keep your focus on the things that are important to you and help you overcome taking trips down endless rat holes.

Read Getting Things Done, again

If you haven’t [picked up the book](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0142000280/?tag=lifehack–20] yet, what are you doing reading this article? If you have the book, then read it again. I suggest reading it at least twice a year so you can get back to the basics.

Listen to some GTD talks, again

There are some really great podcasts that the David Allen Company has provided for free. They range in topics from setting up systems and best practices of the 5 phases of GTD to how to plan projects and how to actually make intuitive choices in the “doing” phase.

While some of the GTD audio products that you can buy from David Allen Co. seem a little bit overpriced, I have found that they can be helpful. But, in all practicality, there is a lot of great stuff in the free podcast library that will help you get things done.

Set dates to review your tool selection

Rather than obsess about GTD tools and which tool are the best for your personal system, pick one that meets your current needs, stop fiddling with it, and then set a date in the future on your calendar (at least 6 months out) to look into tools again. When you look into new tools you will have a better perspective of what you need and don’t need in a GTD tool.

By planning to review GTD tools in the future, you set yourself up to use your tool rather than it use you. This will help you focus on “doing” and less on the toolset that you use.

Start a GTD group

Something that I found to be a good experience as well as a great way to keep my system up to date was to find some like minded people that use GTD and start a mini discussion group. Most of the time this is quite informal but it at least has me revisit the core practices of the system on a regular basis.

You can also join the GTD forums to reach out to other GTD practitioners.

Do

The only way to get things done with a ritual is to make sure that you are actually doing everyday. If your system is fresh and organized, you should be able to open a context list and rifle through each next action. The ritual of “doing” is the most important one and the one that we sometimes forget to spend the most time on.

(Photo credit: productivity or motivation via Shutterstock)

How to Memorize a Numbered List Using Memory Pegging

Memory pegging techniques are particularly useful for remembering numbered lists. Every list can be treated as a numbered list. We ‘peg’ each item to a visual symbol for its number. The method I would recommend is a rhyming approach.

In fact, I’ve mentioned the list below in my book, How to Be a Brilliant Thinker:

1. Ton – One ton
2. Zoo
3. Tree
4. Door
5. Hive (with bees buzzing around)
6. Sticks
7. Heaven
8. Gate
9. Line (fishing line)
10. Den (e.g. the lion’s den)
11. Soccer 11
12. Shelf
13. Hurting
14. Courting
15. Lifting
16. Licking
17. Leavening (baking bread)
18. Hating
19. Lightning
20. Plenty (horn of plenty)
21. 21 Gun Salute

Say our task was to remember the first 12 elements in the periodic table. They are:

1. Hydrogen
2. Helium
3. Lithium
4. Beryllium
5. Boron
6. Carbon
7. Nitrogen
8. Oxygen
9. Fluorine
10. Neon
11. Sodium
12. Magnesium

Most people would find this a fairly difficult list to remember in sequence but we can do so by associating the image of the number with an image for the element. For example:

1. A hydrogen bomb with a one ton weight hanging below
2. Laughing hyenas at the zoo. They are laughing because they inhaled helium gas.
3. A tree in our garden lit at night. (Lit gives us Lithium)
4. Who is at the door?  It is Beryl
5. We imagine ourself boring into a hive full of bees – suddenly they swarm out.
6. We have some very old sticks which we are going to date using carbon dating.
7. The heavens at night. We think of a star-filled night sky. (Night gives us Nitrogen)
8. Behind the gate is a tent.  It is an oxygen tent and there is someone inside.
9. We pull up our fishing line and find several tubes of fluoride toothpaste.
10. There is a flashing light in the lion’s den.  The neon tube in the light needs to be replaced.
11. Next week we have to play Sodium United. Their nickname is the Sods.
12. On our shelf in the kitchen is a bottle of Magnesium Salts.

The more dramatic or ridiculous the image, the easier it is to remember.  Now we can easily remember any of the first 12 elements and give its Atomic Number. If you have to remember 40 or 60 items then you can do so by using a red list, a blue list and a yellow list. So 5 would be a red hive, 22 a blue zoo, and 51…a yellow soccer team.

Try this method when you next have an important list to memorize. After a little practice, you will be surprised at how well it works.

(Photo credit: Plenty on His Mind via Shutterstock)

Paul Sloane is an author and speaker on leadership, innovation and lateral thinking. His most recent book is The Innovative Leader. He helps organizations improve innovation, creativity and leadership. He is the founder of Destination Innovation. He has written 15 books of lateral thinking puzzles and hosts the lateral puzzles forum. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/PaulSloane.

9.5 Ways to Ensure That You Fail Every Time

There are all kinds of ways to succeed. If you’re interested in such things, you can read about there being no shortcuts, tips for both life and business success, or…well, how to realize success at pretty much anything.

If, instead, you’re interested in failing (with flying colors) read on.

Today I want to give you 9.5 ways to ensure that you fail in life. Every time. No matter what you’re doing.

The 9.5 Things

First of all, why 9.5 things? My answer…why not? 9.5 is far more intriguing than 9 and is distinctly more provocative than 10.

(In all honesty, there’s only 9…but 9.5 got your attention, right?)

So, here we go…9.5 things that will — without fail — guarantee that you fail:

1. Don’t visualize your end goal before you start. One of the best things you can do to ensure that you fail is to choose not to envision where you’re headed to before you head there. Don’t look at a picture of the finished 2,500-piece puzzle before you start. Don’t look at the architect’s rendering of the house before you start building. Don’t envision your successful business before you open the doors. Just don’t visualize your goal. That’s for successful people. Leave the visualization to them.
2. Don’t do your due diligence before you start. Doing reading and homework before a test? Who does that? Only the successful people, of course…and who wants to be one of them? If you want to fail correctly, don’t check the real estate out before you invest in it. Don’t do any research before you start to write the grant. Don’t come to the table prepared.
3. Don’t count the cost before you start. If you want to fail, and fail well, never count the cost of the completed project…in money, time, or energy…before you begin. Those who fail well know that you don’t need to assess what a task is going to cost you before you start. You should always just jump in head first. You’ll find out that the pool is only 3-feet deep once you dive in. No need to worry about breaking your neck before you jump.
4. Start at the last minute. Need I say anymore about this one? The top-tier failures know that one of the best ways to avoid success is to start the exam as close to the final bell as possible. It’s far easier to fail if you take a nap for the first hour and worry about the exam as time runs short.
5. Never get organized. Organization…yet another habit that only the successful have. If you want to fail with the best of them, make your entire life like your office already is…papers all over the place, 500 to-do lists crammed into your brain, your pockets, and your dryer’s lint trap. Make sure that you have no idea what needs to be done and when. And by all means, make sure you don’t know who needs to do what.
6. • Refuse to ask for help. A closely-held secret of A-list failures is that you can do everything yourself. Everything. It doesn’t matter if someone else has actually been educated on the topic, you know the information better. It doesn’t matter if you have 95 things to do and only 2 hands to do them with. Your 2 hands are far more effective than the 4 hands you’d have if you let your co-worker join in the fun. It’s far better to be a month late on that major project deadline than it is to allow your less-than-omniscient peers to contribute to the project and get it done on time.
7. Always use the first idea that pops into your head. Never brainstorm. Just open up your brain and run with whatever falls out first. If it comes out first, it’s got to be the best, right?
8. Never ask for feedback along the way. Constructive criticism is for those weak-minded people who think they can’t do it right the first time…by themselves. If you want to fail successfully, ignore any midterm assessments. It doesn’t matter if your customers don’t like it when the product is halfway finished…they’re guaranteed to like it when it’s completely finished. Because you’re the one who completed it. When you want someone’s opinion, you’ll give it to them.
9. Don’t try it again if it flops on the first attempt. If you want to remove any chance of eventual success, just remember that true failure occurs after the first attempt flops. Never try anything again. If it’s worth doing, it will work out on the first try. Always. So, don’t bother with repeat attempts. That’s only for those who are determined to succeed.

Failing is not hard work. It just takes developing some good old-fashioned bad habits.

So, go ahead. Give it a shot. (But only one shot.)

Brock Henry is a personal productivity writer. His belief is that productivity can be ignited by using a smart combination of strategy and simplicity. He can be found blogging at strategic simplicity. Connect with him on Facebook or Twitter.

Book Review: iDisorder – Understanding Our Obsession With Technology and Overcoming Its Hold on Us

As someone who spends a lot of time on and with their iPhone, I’ve found that the times where I unplug and disconnect tend to be the moments where I’m actually the most connected with the task at hand. I’ve been in situations where i’m out with friends having a drink and they are all typing away on their smartphones, socializing with others that aren’t with them “in real life” rather than actually socializing the old-fashioned way. I’ve seen parents plunk their kids’ in front of the toys provided at coffee shops so they can engage with their phones – instead of with fellow patrons or the children they brought with them. I’ve seen the glow of cellphones on until the last possible moment in a movie theatre, showing that the users are waiting until the last possible moment to “untether” from their devices and escape into the film they’re about to watch.

In other words, I’ve seen iDisorder all over the place.

In his book, “iDisorder: Understanding Our Obsession With Technology and Overcoming Its Hold on Us”, Dr. Larry Rosen not only explores research (both pre-existing and his own), but also tries to give readers the resources to avoid falling prey to this type of behaviour – a type of behaviour that is sweeping the globe.

I’m pretty well-versed with the mobile landscape, and have a good sense of not only knowing when to put the phone away but also how to lead by example to my two young children. But not everyone does, and iDisorder is well worth reading for those not only having trouble finding that balance for themselves, but also for those who are parents and want to help their kids with any struggles they may be having. Rosen offers several suggestions in this regard, from adopting better sleeping habits to creating a better connection with family by disconnecting at dinner. We’ve gotten to the point where notifications are being treated as commands rather than alarms (something we can choose to respond to), and iDisorder is a book that brings that to light in a very precise and accessible manner.

What is extremely helpful is that Rosen offers up end notes at the end of each chapter to help the reader break any bad habits they may have when it comes to the effects of iDisorder. Simply by following these, one can take steps to avoiding the problems that come with being connected all the time.

The book is a bit of a heavy read, and is best left for those who know they have a problem and want to take the steps needed to overcome it. It is loaded with research and tips, which can be overwhelming to many. I’d suggest that you ease into this book first and see where it takes you. Don’t expect it to cure all of the symptoms of iDisroder – “everything in moderation” is a good motto with which to approach this book.

(And I’d further to suggest that you read the paper version of the book rather than the electronic version…for obvious reasons.)

Overall, iDisorder is an important book to have available to the public. As we find ourselves further immersed in being connected in a world that is teaming with information that can come at an instant – and non-stop instances at that – knowing when you’re too connected is key. iDisorder can help you break that pattern and disconnect from your devices.

And that’s a very good – and important – thing.

(Photo credit: Finger Touching Touch Screen via Shutterstock)

Mike Vardy is the Managing Editor at Lifehack. An independent writer, speaker, podcaster and "productivityist", you can read more of his writing at Vardy.me. He is @mikevardy on Twitter.

6 Simple Hacks to Increase Your Energy

Getting things done quickly and well requires mental and physical energy. The better more you have the better your results. This applies to all every area of life from getting in a good workout to performing your best at your job. Unfortunately, energy isn’t something we always possess. This is especially true when we’re under stress, haven’t gotten enough sleep, or are distracted by having too many things to get done.

In this article I provide 6 tips to increase energy. Some work immediately and others provide their benefit over time. I use all of them regularly myself. They’ve helped me get through 80 hour work weeks while running a start-up business without having to overstimulate myself with too much caffeine.

1. Explode

I don’t mean lose your temper or find a way to self-combust. What I do mean is to perform explosive exercises like jumping in place as high as possible or burpees. These exercises help ‘wake up’ your nervous system and will have you feeling more alert and energized.

The key is to not wear yourself out. This is done by doing several sets (5-10) of low reps (1-3) of 1-2 exercises. Rest about 30 seconds between each set. I like to perform 1 upper body and 1 lower body exercise. Body weight and kettlebell exercises are best but you can do weighted movements too. If you do, use a very light weight.

Perform this type of exercise when you are feeling tired for a quick pick me up at work or before you workout to boost your energy all workout long.

2. Take a Shot of Tyrosine

This amino acid is used to make the chemical dopamine that’s found in large amounts in your brain. This chemical sends signals to your brain that tell it to get to work and stay focused. Studies on soldiers show that supplementing with l-tyrosine can help boost mental and physical performance, even when you are sleep deprived and exhausted from performing hours of exhaustive exercise.

You can buy l-tyrosine supplements at any health food store. Start by taking 500 mg to see how it works for you. Increase the dosage if necessary in 500 mg increments. Studies show that 2-3 grams (2000-3000 mg) is the most effective dose.

3. Eat Some Protein

Eating a protein rich meal will give you more energy for several hours. Studies show that eating protein is superior to one that’s high in carbohydrates at increasing attention span, memory, and the time it takes to make a decision.

The reason for this, it seems is that a protein rich meal helps to better stabilize your blood sugar levels and therefore providing our body and brains with a steady source of fuel High carbohydrate meals on the other hand cause large increases and then rapid decreases in blood glucose and mental energy.

So, instead of having a meal of pasta, rice, or a sandwich on a roll opt for salad with steak or chicken, an omelet, or a seafood and vegetable stir fry. If you’re pressed for time, a protein shake will do the trick too.

4. Eat Smart Fats

This tip applies specifically to mental energy and focus. If you want to have lots of each you need to give your body the right fats every day. The best types for this benefit are the omega 3 fatty acids EPA and DHA. They way these super fats help you is by increasing levels of certain chemicals in your brain which enable you to focus and deal with stress better.

The best way to get these fats is to eat fatty fish (i.e. mackerel, salmon, sardines) several times a week. While I strive to do this, I find that taking a fish oil supplement is the best way for me to get enough omega 3’s into my diet to see a benefit.

Aim to get 2-3 grams of EPA and DHA into your diet every day. This is equal to a large serving of salmon, 4 fish oil supplement capsules, or a tablespoon of liquid fish oil.

5. Take a BCAA Supplement

This is my favorite way to boost my energy. Nothing gives me more energy so quickly. No even caffeine. Studies show that supplementing with branch chain amino acids can decrease fatigue when you are stressed from physical or mental work. Research also finds they’re good for boosting your mood. The better your mood, the more you will be able to focus on getting things done.

The best way to get an adequate dose of branch chain amino acids is with a nutritional supplement. Start by taking 2-3 grams and increase the dosage until you find what works for you. You’re likely to find the best results by taking them on an empty stomach.

6. Take a Nap

Last but not least, the best way to feel mentally and physically energized is to give your brain a rest so it can re-charge. The best way to do this is to get 6-8 hours of sleep every night. We both know this isn’t always possible, especially when you’re busy at work. One way to give yourself a mental boost is to take a nap. Studies show doing this …

Don’t nap too long or you may find yourself feeling as tired as you did before sleeping. Studies show that a 10-15 minute nap is all that it takes to feel more mentally alert.

Conclusion

Now you know 6 great ways to boost your energy. The next time you find your body and mind feeling sluggish, give them a try and experience their effectiveness for yourself.

Sources: Fischer K, Colombani PC, Langhans W, Wenk C. Carbohydrate to protein ratio in food and cognitive performance in the morning. Physiol Behav. 2002 Mar;75(3):411-23; Hassmén P, Blomstrand E, Ekblom B, Newsholme EA. Branched-chain amino acid supplementation during 30-km competitive run: mood and cognitive performance. Nutrition. 1994 Sep-Oct;10(5):405-10; Lovato N, Lack L. The effects of napping on cognitive functioning. Prog Brain Res. 2010;185:155-66.

(Photo credit: Running Man via Shutterstock)

Curt is the founder of Stayfitcentral.com, a website which features reviews, guides, and other information to help people buy the right nutritional supplements and fitness products for their specific needs. Curt has published numerous fitness, nutrition, and health related articles online at leading online publications including: eDiets, iVillage, and Askmen.

Tips for Having Great Virtual Meetings

(Editor’s note: The following post is an excerpt from the book The Collaboration Imperative: Executive Strategies for Unlocking Your Organization’s True Potential by Ron Ricci and Carl Wiese. Ron Ricci is the vice president of corporate positioning and has spent the last decade helping Cisco develop and nurture a culture of sharing and collaborative processes. In addition, he has spent countless hours with hundreds of different organizations discussing the impact of collaboration. Carl Wiese is senior vice president of Cisco’s collaboration sales — a multi-billion global business. He has presented on the importance of collaboration to business audiences in dozens of countries, including Australia, China, Dubai, India, Mexico and all across Europe and the United States. For more information please visit http://thecollaborationimperative.com.)

New technology and the reality of working in global organizations means we are replacing traditional in-person meetings with travel-free, technology-enabled, face-to-face collaboration that can occur at anytime, with anyone, anywhere in the world.

The virtual workplace has many advantages, but it also introduces new challenges. We work with people we’ve never met before, and we cannot bond in the same way we do when we are sitting across the table from them.

The three most important ingredients of a successful virtual meeting are trust, communication and ready access to information. Here are a few tips to help you succeed:

• Before the meeting, make sure attendees have all the preparation materials they will need and the time to review them.
• Begin with a quick warm-up. For example, start the meeting by asking remote attendees to describe what’s happening in their country, town or office.
• During “blended” meetings, where some attendees are gathering in person and others are participating virtually, address remote attendees first and then offer the opportunity to speak to in-person attendees.
• Identify in-person attendees. In-room speakers — whether presenting or making a comment — should introduce themselves so that remote attendees know who is speaking.
• Ask remote attendees to be vocal. Emphasize that it is their responsibility to let in-person people know if they cannot hear or follow the discussion.
• Don’t assume everyone is comfortable with the virtual collaboration technology. Communicate and publish the location and guidelines for the tools you’re using.
• Rotate meeting times. Ensure that each time zone has a meeting scheduled during normal business hours.
• Solicit participation. Regularly ask remote attendees if they have comments and encourage participants to post a message.
• Assign a meeting monitor. Keep an eye out for questions, IMs or chat postings and interjects from remote attendees.
• If your virtual team includes customers, partners, suppliers or vendors, ensure the security of your documents and corporate information.
• Avoid colloquialisms, acronyms and corporate-speak if you have nonnative speakers.

(Photo credit: Businessman and Businesswoman Having Meeting via Shutterstock)

5 Life Lessons from Solitaire

We’ve all played a little computer solitaire, right? Perhaps it was a slow day at work or you just had some time to kill before quittin’ time. I have played my share too, and had some insights about solitaire strategies and how they relate to real life lessons.

1. Move the aces first.

Everybody knows this – you always play the aces as soon as they come up. If you are lucky enough to have a few showing at the beginning of the game, even better. We are all “aces” at something – play those cards first. If you are a good communicator, make sure you are using that skill. If you have a knack with math, use it! If you don’t know what your “aces” are, do a personal skills inventory or personality type quiz to find out.

2. Play all the cards you can.

Once you’ve moved the aces up, it’s time to start clicking on cards to make the familiar red-black chain, right? Do you ever hold back from clicking on a 2 or 3, hoping you will get the ace right away and be able to move them directly up? I’ve discovered that it never helps to hold back in this way – play whatever cards you can now, even if they don’t seem to be very strategic at this moment. Each play reveals a new card and builds on the chains you have. You can’t reveal any new cards (opportunities) unless you play the ones you can.

3. You need both red and black.

Have you even started a game and had all black come up, and then the first few cards from the deck are black, too? It seems like a bit of an omen, and it can really makes you wish for hearts and diamonds! Without some reds, the game cannot progress at all. The same is true in life; you need a mix of both red and black – a balanced life – to make the game work. It can’t be all one way. Try to keep a healthy balance between work and recreation, busy and slow times, stress and fun, activity and sleep. The “reds and blacks” are all just a part of the contrast of life.

4. All the cards (answers) are there, just waiting to be revealed.

You have all the cards you need to win the game. Only seven are revealed at first, but they lead to every card being played. Every card in a winning game becomes a part of those red-black chains. If you feel like you are looking for answers in life, rest assured they are there. You just haven’t played enough to discover them yet.

5. Don’t stress out about dealing again.

Sometimes, the cards you need just don’t show up and you have to admit you are stuck. You might not win every game, but you can always start over. Don’t be ashamed to start over again in life – it beats sitting, looking at the cards, unable to move and unable to win.

Finally, I’ve noticed a distinct difference in how the game goes depending on my attitude. If I am exhausted, it often doesn’t go far before I’m stuck. If I am well-rested, I usually win. I have tried saying a short, two-second affirmation for a good game, and it’s amazing how things go smoother. Try saying a short affirmation for good traffic, good weather, or electronic devices to work properly – anything that seems to be “chance” (like how cards are dealt) – and see if it helps!

I doubt whoever invented the first version of computer solitaire had any idea how popular and iconic it would become. You might be working on the next “big thing” – so keep playing each card as it comes and keep your eyes open for opportunities to make your next move.

(Photo credit: Man Playing Cards Thinking About Next Move via Shutterstock)

Teresa Griffith is a renaissance woman and author of Love Your Skeletons -- the skeletons in your closet. She enjoys blogging, knitting, canoeing, kayaking, inventing stuff in her head and serving on the fire department in her home town. You can follow her on Twitter as @LoveYoSkeletons.

5 Awesome Project Management Tools to Get Your Team on Track

We talk a lot about project management tools here at Lifehack, but mostly on how to setup your own personal project management systems. As project teams are becoming more and more distributed and our work becomes more and more digital, it’s important that we have good team-based project managment tools to augment our personal productivity systems.

Here are 5 project management tools that will ensure your team stays on track.

Asana

Lifehack’s editor, Mike Vardy has taken quite the liking to Asana, in fact, we here at Lifehack use Asana for our internal project management. Asana is a great, fast project management solution for teams and can even work for personal use.

You can use tags, projects, due dates, assign tasks to coworkers, and comment on each task. One of my favorite things about Asana is how fast and responsive the web app is and how the use of the TAB key gives you some very useful ‘hot keys’ to make your task processing even faster.

Orchestra

Orchestra gives you the ability to create tasks, create lists of tasks (sort of like projects), assign due dates (but no due times), share tasks with people and of course comment on each task. Using Orchestra is a treat and is pretty neat to see real time updating of tasks as you are working with others.

When we were looking for team project management tools for Lifehack we tried out Orchestra for 30 days, mostly because of the strong use of conversations and collaboration around a given task. Also, the iPhone app is top notch and quite beautiful.

The app is still in beta but is free to use.

Flow

One of the prettiest project management tools around, Flow, helps you plan and execute projects with teammates. Flow let’s you create tasks, comment on them, add tasks to lists, tag tasks, assign tasks to others, and even has a cool Flow Concierge service for lucky beta testers where you can assign “simple” tasks to a personal assistant. Amazing.

Flow also has a great iPhone app that is updated regularly as well as a Mac companion app for easily adding tasks and viewing updates. Flow is $99 a year for all of its functionality and has a 14 day free trial.

Google Docs

Google Docs is one of the best team project management tools because almost everyone that does anything on the web has a Google account. And with a free account you get shared spreadsheets, documents, presentations, email, and storage (that is if you consider access to your information so you can be marketed to, free).

I can’t even explain how many times I have used Google Docs in a project setting whether it be for school, work, or Lifehack. Even with all of it’s small bugs that I have found from time to time, the time and energy that Google Docs has saved me and the many teams I have worked with is priceless.

Basecamp

Basecamp is sort of the “grandad” of all team project management apps online. I recently had the priviledge to test out Basecamp 2, and while I’d rather use something more feature rich like Asana or Flow for team project management tools, Basecamp is definitely an awesome way to keep your team on track.

For the base price of $20/month you can get 10 projects and unlimited users for Basecamp. With that comes task and project creation, discussions, due dates, tags, and more. Also, Basecamp SSL data encryption and daily data backups for all plans.

Are you and your team using any of the project management tools mentioned above or are you using something completely different? Let us know in the comments.

(Photo credit: Three colleagues are discussing a round-table draft house via Shutterstock)

Is Fear of Success Limiting Your Productivity?

Most people will readily admit that they are afraid of failure.

But what about fear of success? Is it possible that you are afraid of success and it’s limiting what you want to do in life?

Do you often wonder why you are not as successful as you know you could be – or should be?

Do you blame it on circumstances? Time? Money? Or do you ever, gulp, blame it on yourself?

No way…right?

The truth is a lot of people are afraid of a lot of things. And there is lots of good advice out there to help you overcome many types of fears. But when it comes to success, most people who are afraid of it are not even aware of it.

So, how can you tell? How do you know if you’re one of those people who are afraid of success so you are unwittingly the one responsible for holding yourself back? CNN Money has a quiz you can take which includes the following questions:

• Do you feel guilty about your own happiness if a friend tells you s/he is depressed?
• Do you find yourself not telling others about your good luck so they won’t feel envious?
• Do you have trouble saying no to people?
• When you start a project do you suddenly find a bunch of others things you suddenly have to take care of?
• Do you believe that people who look out for themselves are selfish?
• Do you avoid asking for help because you’re afraid of bothering someone?

Did you answer “yes” to some of those questions? If you did, it’s entirely possible you’re afraid of success. But does it really matter? Is your fear really limiting you?

People who are afraid of achieving success can experience the following:

• A noted lack of effort in achieving goals, personal, school, or financial
• Self-destructive behavior
• Inability to make decisions and choices
• Lack of motivation
• Underachievement
• Belittling your achievements
• Feeling guilty when you do succeed
• Making the “wrong” choices to ensure you will not be happy and successful
• General negativity

Clearly the answer is if you fear success then your life is less than it could be.

But what can you do? What can you do to overcome success-fear so you can get on with creating the life you want to live?

Step One

You can begin with taking about 10 minutes to examine an area of your life where you are not as successful as you would like, or know you can be. Ask yourself, what will happen if you really succeed in that area. Be realistic in your considerations and don’t forget to examine the “downside” of success in that area. For instance, if you lose weight will you suddenly get noticed in ways that feel stressful? Will you have to spend a lot of money you don’t have on new clothes? Make a list of everything that comes to your mind.

Step Two

• After the examination period, ask and answer the following
• What can you do to accept yourself as successful?
• What can you do to eliminate your “excuses?”
• Who can you call on to give you honest feedback when you go into self-destruct mode?
• What can you do to keep a closer eye on your motivations and commitment’s to goals so you can more quickly get back on track?
• What can you do to learn to accept compliments and recognition?

Step Three

This is the most important step of all. We often tend to put ourselves around like-minded people without even realizing it and that makes it even harder to break a pattern. So go out of your way to surround yourself with successful people rather than others who may also fear success. Start today.

Karen Daniels is a top selling amazon author of many titles that cover a range of topics including creativity, self-help, and fiction. She has her Masters in Educational Psychology, teaches seminars on writing and creativity, and is an online content specialist. She is unconventional, spiritually focused, and you can use her blog, Zencopy to help claim your own write to success.

Top 10 Mac OS X Tips

Ever watch someone who really knows how to use a Mac and OS X? Sometimes it just seems like magic how they can make windows move, images appear, apps launch, and all kinds of cool stuff—and their fingers never even seem to leave the keyboard. I can’t claim to know that many Mac tips and tricks, but I do have a bunch of tricks up my sleeve that you might find useful. Some of these are pretty common and a few a little obscure, but they will all do something great that you bring you a step closer to being a Jedi Master of your Mac.

Yes, padawan, here are my top 10 Mac OS X tips:

1. Shift-Click Maximize Button to Fill Screen

You know the red button on a window is close and the yellow one is minimize and the green one is maximize, right? Okay, so you also know that some apps (like Chrome and Word) don’t fill the entire screen when you click the maximize button. Sure that’s find most of the time, but sometimes you actually want the window to fill the screen. Next time you want the current window to fill the entire screen, just hold down the shift key when you click the button. Poof! Big window!

2. Terminal Tricks—Purge

One of the essential tools in a Mac Jedi’s toolkit is Terminal. Oh Terminal, such power you hold over the entire system. A lot of people are a wee skittish about using Terminal. All the horror stories of people typing rm * in the wrong place and wiping out their Mac will have that effect on people. Okay, fair enough, but here’s a simple command that will…well it’s pretty cool. The command is “purge” and it does one very simple thing—it frees up RAM on your machine. As your Mac is running and you’re launching apps, surfing the web, and all the normal stuff you do on your Mac, RAM (memory) is allocated to do that. Sometimes when an app has been running for a while it doesn’t release all the RAM it was given, even if it doesn’t need it any more. Before I learned this tip I would just reboot my Mac if RAM was running short (and I had quit all the apps I didn’t need), but with purge… Purge forces apps to release RAM they might be holding on to (that they don’t need). All you need to do is launch Terminal from your Utilities folder and type “purge” (no quotes) at the prompt and hit return. It’s 100% safe and can get back a bunch of RAM. I’ve gone from a few megs of few RAM to a couple gigs in a few seconds! (Important: While purge is running your Mac will be unresponsive for a minute. Don’t worry! This is normal and okay!)

3. Launch Spotlight with Command-Space

Looking for something? You know Spotlight can help you quickly find files, emails, look up words, even launch apps…but do you know that a quick tap on command-space will open up Spotlight on the menubar for you to start typing? Simple as that you can quickly type command-space then something like safari then return and launch Safari…and your fingers didn’t even touch the mouse! Want to turn that up to an 11? Then just download Alfred for free from the Mac App store and do all this and more! Once you do, don’t forget my 10 Awesome Alfred Tips!

4. Drop Files onto the Dock to Open in an App

I like to keep Preview as my default app for opening images. Preview is pretty fast and easy when I need a quick look at something (or just need to resize the image quickly), but when I want to edit an image I use Acorn. So how do I open an image in Acorn? You’re thinking, launch Acorn, go to the File menu… Nope, easier. I have Acorn on my Dock all the time, so all I need to do is drag and drop an image file onto the icon and … Acorn launches (or comes to the front) and the image is opened! This trick works with just about all apps and can save you a ton of time.

5. Custom App Stacks

My dock was getting pretty cluttered. Lots of apps that I “needed”, but you know I didn’t use them all that often. So I made a custom App stack for them. This is a multi-step process:

1. Make a folder somewhere (I made it in ~/Applications which is different than the system-wide Applications folder (see tip 7 for more on these directories).
2. Open your Applications folder in another Finder window.
3. You’re going to make aliases to your real apps in this step. Hold down command and option and drag an app you want quick access to and drop it in the folder you made.
4. Repeat for as many apps as you wish
5. Drag the folder with all the aliases to the right side of your Dock, just to the left of the Trash.
6. Enjoy! That’s it. The folder will have aliases to all your apps!

6. Remove Icons from the Menu Bar

I know we like to have icons on our Menu bar, but sometimes it gets a little crowded. For some icons on your Menu bar (mostly System related ones), just hold down the command key, click the icon and drag it off the Menu bar! Come on, you don’t really need the volume/speaker icon there did you?

7. Get to your Library Folder

One of the “improvements” in Lion was to hide your Library folder from you. Okay, I get it. You shouldn’t need to muck about in your Library very often, but hey sometimes you do. Sometimes you need to clean out stubborn files or something. Here’s the easy way to get to your Library folder (and the Applications folder from tip 5 too). With the Finder active hit command-shift-g and you’ll get a Go to folder: window. Just put “~/Library/” (no quotes) and click Okay. That’s it. For tip five use ~/Applications/ instead.

8. Finder Sidebar

Since we’re talking about the Finder, I’m sure you noticed all those folders and items on the left side of your Finder windows (if not go to the Finder and from the View menu and select “Show Toolbar”). You know you can add your own folders there right? Yeah, just drag any folder to the side and that’s it. Now the cool part isn’t just that you now have one-click access to that folder, but anything you drop onto that folder will be copied or moved there! Nice!

9. Take a Screenshot

Ever need to take a screenshot of something on your screen? Maybe it’s an error, maybe it’s just a graphic, but you need it…but how? Easy. Command-shift–3 will take a picture of the entire screen and command-shift–4 will let you select a part of the screen or a window. Of course if you want to step things up, just download Skitch for free and crank up your screenshots a few notches.

10. Control the Apps that Launch at Startup

You know after a while your Mac seems to be taking longer and longer to finish starting up. Oh you see the Desktop okay, but then app after app loads. You have control over this. Just go to System Preferences -> Users and Groups. Then look for the Login Items button. Yep those are all the apps that launch for me. But if I get tired of waiting for one app or another to start, I just select the app from the list and click the “-”. Gone! Faster startup here I come!

These are just a few of the tricks I have up my sleeve. I’m sure you have a few you’ve picked up over the years, so…

What are your favorite OS X tips? Share them in the comments below.

(Photo credit: Question Mark on Mac Keyboard via Shutterstock)

Tris Hussey is a technologist, author, teacher, and Canada’s first professional blogger. He has written several books on social media and technology including Create Your Own Blog (1st and 2nd editions), Using WordPress, Sam’s Teach Yourself Foursquare in 10 Minutes, WordPress Essentials (video lessons), and Sam’s Teach Yourself WordPress Themes in 24 Hours (forthcoming in late 2012 with Catherine Winters). You can read Tris’ posts on TrisHussey.com, the FutureShop Tech blog, and other sites around the Internet.

How to Take Smart and Massive Action in 6 Simple Steps

Every now and then you hear someone saying, “You need to take massive action in order to get stuff done”. While this type of work is something you should strive for, it has also flaws if you follow the advice blindly.

In fact, I’m willing to say that working like this can actually make you procrastinate and burn your energy levels to zero on the long run, if you don’t pay close attention to what you are doing.

Massive action defined

Let’s first define the term “massive action”. In my understanding it means taking many big and focused action steps at once that can bring you big results in return.

For example, you could be writing a book. Instead of getting 3 pages ready in a day, you set yourself a goal to write 10 pages instead.

When you keep working like this, the benefit is obvious; you finish your tasks or projects faster and can move
quickly  onto other projects.

The downside of taking massive action

The big problem with taking massive action is that if you are taking action for action’s sake, you are going to burn out fast. You are just keeping yourself busy, but you are not getting meaningful things done.

For instance, you could be promoting your latest blog post by posting it to hundreds of social bookmarking sites out there. Sure, you are taking massive action, but are you getting any results? Are you focusing on your target audience or “just anyone out there”?

Instead of taking massive action that way, shouldn’t you just focus on a handful of bookmarking sites that are related to your niche and where your target audience hangs out? Even if you just did this, the impact would be much bigger and you would be less-stressed. In addition, you would saved some time.

What are the benefits of taking action the smart way?

Smart massive action means focus – it gives you the reason “why” (why am I taking action?). You are not just taking action, but you also know what that action relates to. The focus comes when you have set goals and when you take action that is related to those goals.

Taking action the smart way can also be a motivational booster. When you act, you know you are not procrastinating and that improves your self-confidence. Also, when you take action the smart massive way, you see results faster, which make you take even more action.

Finally, smart massive action means time savings and less stress. This is quite obvious, since you are focusing on very specific actions. The rest of the “stuff” can be dropped out and eliminated.

How do you take smart massive action?

Now that we have looked at the differences between massive and smart massive action and the benefits of doing the things the smart way, let’s discuss how to put this theory into action.

In order to take smart massive action, you can take the steps below. Don’t worry about the example I’m using and whether it’s realistic of not (I don’t know nothing about the dogs :). The main purpose is just to illustrate the action steps.

1. Set your main goal you are trying to reach. The crucial part is to define the concrete goal(s) before taking any action. If you take action, know your “why”. This is your target that you are trying to reach when you take smart massive action. For example, if you are passionate about dog training, you could decide to become an authority in dog training market. You have decided to write a book on dog training, because that would increase your recognition amongst the dog lovers and enthusiasts.

2. Set sub-goals and time limits. To keep you better on track, you need to split your big goal into sub-goals. This way you know your milestones you want to reach and you are able to see better if you are making steady progress. In this dog training example, you could decide that in order to complete your book, you to have the outline of the book ready in the next 7 days. The next sub-goal would be to have 4 chapters ready (of your 8 chapter book) in the next three weeks. The final 4 chapters would be written in the following 3 weeks after that, so the book writing would be completed in 6 weeks.

3. Eliminate and outsource. One important part of taking smart massive action is to get rid of tasks that you shouldn’t be concerned of. This way, you are reducing the amount of “waste work” and you can focus on the essential tasks in your projects. You love to write, but graphic design is not your thing. Yet, you realize that you have to pay attention to this aspect in your book too, so you decide to outsource the design work. You also decide to outsource the proofreading part as well. (Note: To be even more specific on the dog training topic, you could decide to focus on Beagles only, so you are able to eliminate all the information that is not related to this breed.)

4. Act! Now it’s time to take your smart massive action! This requires raw work. In fact, even in the situations of “work smart, not hard”, you still need to put some hours in even if you are focusing on the essential tasks only. This means just raw writing part. However, you don’t settle for finishing 3 pages per day, you decide to come up with 5 pages per day. Now you are truly taking smart massive action, because you are doing something that truly matters and relates to your goal. In order to make the writing part even more productive, you decide to use a timer and work in blocks to get more focused work done.

5. Block some time, get rid of distractions and choose your location. To get more stuff done with less distraction, you have to figure out the times when to do the work, where to work and how to be the least distracted as possible. By doing these three things, you have a clear work structure in place and you are making sure that your action is not interrupted by something that could have been avoided with a little planning. You realize that the best writing times for you are between 06.00 AM and 10.00 AM in the morning and between 5 PM – 9 PM in the evening. You block the time off your calendar and let your spouse and kids know about this. It is quite obvious, that you mute your phone and disconnect from e-mail or instant messaging during the time you are working. In addition, you know that you are at your most productive in your work room during the working hours, so you “isolate” yourself there.

6. Review your progress and adjust if needed. Once you start working, you may become blind to your work. This causes you to miss the bigger picture (your “why”) and you are doing things you shouldn’t be doing. To prevent this, you review your action steps and progress on a consistent basis (once again, block some time off your calendar). If necessary, you take corrective action that put you back on track. You come to realize that you have been able to produce only 2 pages for your book for a couple of days. You make a careful analysis and realize that you feel tired when you work. You decide to take some power naps but also get your nightly sleeping patterns improved for better alertness and productivity. This action puts you back on track and you feel much better when you do your work.

As you can see, just taking massive action blindly is not going to take you anywhere. Instead, you should plan you actions a bit, so that you can get the best results in return.

When you take smart massive action, you are truly making progress on those things that matter.

(Photo credit: Chess Player Playing via Shutterstock)

Timo Kiander, a.k.a. Productive Superdad, teaches WAHD super dad productivity for work at home dads. If you want to get more productive in your own life, grab 222 of his best Tips for Becoming a Productivity Superstar.

The Problem with Personal Development

Personal development. Type the term into Google and you get 115 million results, give or take a blog or two. That’s not surprising. The personal development industry is worth billions of dollars. And that number will keep growing now that the global economic downturn has left millions out of work, reconsidering what they want to do with their lives and looking for new ways to get ahead.

But there’s a problem. With hundreds of programs, thousands of books, and what sometimes seems like millions of blogs, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. And, much like Barry Schwartz discussed in the paradox of choice:

“…with so many options to choose from, people find it very difficult to choose at all.”

Analysis Paralysis

And it gets worse. “Even if we manage to overcome the paralysis and make a choice,” Schwartz continues, “we end up less satisfied with the result of the choice than we would be if we had fewer options to choose from.” In other words, we end up blaming ourselves because we feel we could have done better.

Breaking through the noise

Fortunately, there’s a way for us to solve these problems:

• We need to focus on timeless principles. After reading dozens of books for my research on The Monumental Life, I noticed that the same basic ideas came up over and over again. That’s why I don’t get the big deal with EFT, NLP, LOA, or other confusing self-help terms. We don’t have to chase the latest and greatest techniques just like those silly magazines that come out with the “best ever” ab routine every single month. Instead, we should focus on what’s been shown to work over the long-term.

• We need to focus on taking action. Be honest: How many times have you read a great self-help book or gone through a brilliant personal development program only to soon forget all the principles you learned? I’ve lost track of how many times this has happened to me! It all turns into a waste of time because what we learn doesn’t make a difference in our lives or in the lives of anyone else. And isn’t that the point? That’s why we need to focus on applying what we learn. Unless what you’re taking in isn’t going to be applied in some way, you might as well not even bother.

Great Expectations

Schwartz concluded his TED Talk by saying that the key to happiness is lower expectations. What do you think? Should we expect less from personal development? Or should we simply make better choices when it comes to our inner growth? Please share your thoughts in the comments!

(Photo credit: Stressed Businessman via Shutterstock)