Category Archives: Logan Challenge

Reduce Clutter

Stuff weighs you down.  You really don’t need so much stuff in your life.  Think about it: what if you suddenly had the opportunity of a lifetime come up, but it required you to move quickly – across the country or around the world.  Would you be so mired in all your stuff that you couldn’t take advantage of the opportunity?

Reduce!

Start getting rid of stuff.  Go through everything you own and either sell it, donate it, reuse it, or trash it.  If you haven’t used something in a year, the chances are pretty good that you don’t need it.  There are always exceptions to this.  I find it hard to part with books, for example.  Even if I haven’t read a book in a year, I still keep some of them.  Make exceptions for a small number of things – what ever works for you.  Do not make exceptions for everything though!  Find bigger things to get rid of too – getting rid of lots of little things is beneficial, but getting rid of large items that you just don’t need will really make a difference.  When we got a big HDTV, We got rid of our huge entertainment center and the TV sits on a small table.  Even though the TV is bigger we have so much more space in our living room and it feels like a more comfortable room now.

Don’t Pay For Clutter

There is no excuse for having a paid storage area that is just clutter.  The same goes for a house that is too big for you.  Take the opportunity to get rid of your clutter and stop paying for a storage area, or even downsize to a smaller house to save money.

Start Small

Yes, it can be overwhelming when you start to go through all of your stuff.  Pick one room or even one part of one room and start somewhere!  Once you get the hang of it and see the positive impact it will be easier to keep going and going.  Make sure you don’t get stuck and stay small though.  Keep going and work your way through your house, garage, or where ever your clutter is.

Keep It Up

Once you have gone through all of your stuff and reduced it, you aren’t done.  Make a lifestyle paradigm shift and continue to periodically purge your stuff.  Yes, maybe that survived the last purge, but do you really still need it?  Continually go through your stuff and reduce your clutter.

Logan Challenge

Now it is your turn.  I challenge you to go through at least one room and reduce your clutter.  Post your results, tips, or feedback here.

Just Do It

Yeah, I know that is the Nike slogan and is overdone and overused, but it is still great advice to live by. Actually take a look at it and listen to the great advice instead of just hearing the marketing slogan.

We all have those long-forgotten To Do lists, those tasks we are “eventually” going to do. Take today and Just Do It for something.

Just Do It (Today)

I have found that the more you put things off, the less likely they are to happen. Stop making excuses and do something today that you have been wanting to do. If you get in the habit of doing things right away you can change your way of thinking and become a person of action.

Just Do It (Be Active)

The general idea behind this is to be active instead of passive or inert. Stop watching the world do things around you, stop being a passive watcher and be a doer.

Just Do It (Something, Anything)

Stop making excuses, stop feeling tired, stop placing blame. There is nothing stopping you from doing what you want. Find your it and just do it. Start small or start big, just pick something. Make sure you see it all the way through and finish it. In that sense, starting small can be a good idea because you can build on your accomplishments. Sometimes, however, you need to totally shake things up and find something big to do.

So my Logan Challenge for you today is to find something and Just Do It. Comment here and let me know what you did and how you feel.

Weight Loss And Weight Control – Part II

This is a followup to my previous post Weight Loss And Weight Control – Part I.

As I discussed previously, I got up over 210 pounds at my heaviest.  I started eating better and excercising and lost a few pounds here and there.  Then I made one change and proceeded to lose 10 pounds in two weeks time.  What was that one thing?  Simple.  I stopped drinking canned soda.  My company – being a hip development shop – provides free soft drinks so we have refrigerators full of soda.  I used to drink 3+ cans of soda a day and in an effort to get healthier I had cut back to only one can a day.  I figured that was ok and I could still lose weight, but boy what a difference that final one can of soda made.  I decided to completely cut out that last can and switch to drinking only water and the occasional juice.  I couldn’t believe the impact!  The pounds melted away!  I was so struck by the difference that one can of soda made that to this day I still don’t drink soda at work.  I drink exclusively water, VitaminWater, and the occasional juice.  I do still drink soda occasionally when I go out to eat, but not on a regular basis.

Also, I discovered a great soda made with cane sugar instead of the high fructose corn syrup crap in regular soda.  It is called Jones pure cane soda and I get mine at our local Target store.  Check them out at www.jonessoda.com.  I like the cream soda flavor.  Be careful because they also sell soda with aspartamine, which I think is terrible.

On that note – before you suggest diet soda, I hate any and all diet sodas for two simple reasons: 1) they taste terrible and 2) the “artificial sweetners” they use are harmful and toxic.  Sounds like a good topic for a future post!

So, my Logan Challenge for you today is to completely cut out soda for a week, a month, or more.  See what the impact is on you and report back here in the comments or email me at logan@loganpaulson.com.

Clean Space – Clean Mind

This is a really simple thing, but I continually forget and rediscover the benefits of this one.  The tip is: clean up your space!  This can be your office, home office, living room, kitchen, anywhere that you work.  If you are having a hard time concentrating or working then look around you and see if you are surrounded by clutter.  Taking 10 minutes to clean up your workspace will save you more lost time in the long run.  It also has the added benefit of clearing your mind so you can think better.  If you haven’t touched something in a while, then you probably don’t need it so recycle it, throw it out, sell it, or donate it.  You will feel much better with less stuff around you.

I hadn’t updated this blog in a while and it was a little daunting to think about all the things I wanted to acomplish.  I have a list of topics I’m waiting to get down on the site and also a ton of ideas in my head for the site design.  Before beginning I took a few minutes and cleaned up my home office and now I feel like I can go all night!

This is a great starting point for my future topic of reducing your possesions to live a simpler life.  I’ll link to it from here once I get it written.

Also, this is a great place to introduce a new concept that I call Logan Challenges.  These will be simple things that I challenge you to do.  Post a comment about what you did and the results.  So here is your first Logan Challenge – clean up the space you are working in right now!