Category Archives: Helpful Tips

Overcoming Inertia – 5 Ways To Motivate Yourself

Leave a reply

I needed help with this one today, thus it seemed like a good topic.  I have a few things that I keep in mind which help me moving forward and staying active.  Here is my list of 5 things to get you moving too.  Also, check out my Just Do It post for some other thoughts.

1. Know what you want to do

This seems obvious, but isn’t.  In order to get motivated to do something you need a clear idea of what you want to do.  Call this the planning step.  Figure out what you want to do and then come up with a plan.  Writing things down on paper or on the computer can help.  If you make a list of everything in your head it usually seems less daunting than when everything is floating around in a jumble in your head.  Also, once you have a plan you have already taken action and then it is that much easier to go ahead and execute your plan.

2. Schedule it

Don’t just think that you will make time; actually make time.  Put it on your calendar and when the time comes, don’t make excuses.  If it is something recurring, get into a schedule and then stick with it.  For example, I set a goal to add one new post a day to this site so I picked noon as my time to get it out.  If I miss my noon deadline, then I feel bad and that motivates me to get it done (even if it is late).  If you are running, biking, or working out you can help yourself by scheduling a specific day(s) and time and then stick to it.

3. Use the buddy system

This one works great.  If you want to do something like exercise then schedule it (see #2 🙂 ) with a buddy.  All last year I averaged one bike ride a week (usually during the work week), but this spring I started scheduling Saturday morning rides with a buddy and now my average has consistently moved up to two times a week.  This really helps for several reasons.  It is an extra motivating factor – you can both encourage each other.  Also, it adds a level of responsibility because you don’t want to let down the other person.  It is much easier to hit snooze or keep watching TV if it is just you by yourself, but if someone else is depending on you then that helps overcome the inertia.

4. Think about it

Take a moment to think about your life and see the direction you want to go.  Are you where you want to be?  Is there something – no matter how small – you could do to move you in a better direction?  By really thinking about who you are and what you want out of life it makes it much easier to get going on something that really speaks to you.  Last week I was watching Jesse James Is A Dead Man and something he said really stuck with me.

    I don’t know if you got the memo, but we’re all on a continuous march to death. I’m going to have as much fun as I can while I’m here before I die.
    [paraphrased from Jesse James – sorry; I’ll fill in the exact quote when I have time to re-watch it]

5. Change your perspective

Change the way you think.  Yes, this seems both obvious and ridiculous at the same time, but it is very effective if you can do it.  You have known yourself for your entire life, so sometimes you are your own worst enemy.  You hold yourself to the ruts and self-images you have about yourself.  Try changing your perspective on yourself.  This one is a little difficult to convey, so lets use some examples.

I grew up an introvert and always viewed myself as shy.  I kept telling myself that I was shy and I continued to believe it.  Once I moved away from my home town, I worked on having a paradigm shift and stopped telling myself I was shy.  I wouldn’t say that I am an extrovert, but I no longer consider myself shy and I don’t act like it either.

Another example came when I did a 10 day lemonade cleanse or lemon juice diet.  It was a great experience and I actually didn’t feel very hungry, but I really missed the action of eating.  Sort of like an ex-smoker missing the oral activity of having a cigarette in their mouth.  This was driving me crazy until day 3 of no food.  I finally had a serious talk with myself and just changed my attitude and perspective.  I got it into my head that I just wasn’t going to put any food in my mouth, and the rest of the 7 days went by like nothing.

Logan Challenge

So here is my challenge to you.  Find one thing that you have been putting off and get motivated to do it today.  I gave you 5 ways to motivate yourself, so you certainly can use them to do one thing today.  Be sure to post a comment with your results.  Good luck, and get off the couch!

Reduce Clutter

Leave a reply

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.

Keeping Track Of Your Thoughts

1 Reply

This post contains my most helpful tips for keeping track of your thoughts. I have tried a number of software programs to keep todo lists and things like that, but I still find that good old fashioned pen and paper are the best for me.

Notebooks

I keep a notebook for each component of my life.  I currently have three: one for work, one for personal, and one for this blog and other entrepreneurial ideas.  I prefer spiral bound notebooks or composition books over the legal pad style notebooks.  Since I never tear out pages and just keep working my way through them, flipping over pages from a legal pad makes them unwieldy and hard to flip through them back and forth.

Take a sharpie and write your name, the topic, and the start date on the front cover of the notebook.  Now get going taking notes!

Specialize

I want to really stress the importance of keeping the notebooks separate.  I originally started with one notebook and wrote down work and personal information.  I found it was that much harder to locate information when everything was jumbled together.

Don’t be afraid to start new notebooks for new things. When we moved across the country, I started a separate notebook just for the move. This was always by my side and had all my information in one place. I had information for the actual move – moving company, plane info, car transport, plus things like canceling the old utilities and starting up the new ones. This was essential during the move and I referred to this one for a long time after the move.  Also, when we moved again I had a great template for replicating a lot of the details.

Write Down Everything

Every time I talk to someone on the phone I write it down in the appropriate notebook.  Always get the person’s name and always write the date in the margin.  This has helped me so many times that I want to stress it again – write down the name of the person you talked to.  Then months later when there is a problem, you can flip back and say something like “I talked to Mary on February 12 and she said she would reverse that charge”.

Write Something

Even if you aren’t doing anything spectacular or don’t have any todo items to write down, try to write down something as often as you can. This helps to give a frame of reference when you are looking back through the pages. If you are trying to find a particular note it helps to have other things written down which happened at a similar time.

I have gotten in the habit of starting my day off by writing the date in both my personal and work notebooks. I then write up a list of todo items that I want to accomplish that day, if I have any.

Take Them Everywhere

Get in the habit of taking them back and forth to work or wherever you go. I always pack them into my laptop bag with my laptop so I have them at work or at home.  It is very frustrating to not have your notebook when you need it. I also keep the last archived notebooks in by laptop bag too.  Once you find yourself not referring to older notebooks, then safely archive them somewhere at home.

Check Boxes

This is a really handy tip that I do automatically now.  If you write down a todo item in your notebook, make an empty square in the margin on the left.  When you finish the todo item, check it off!  Now you can easily scan the page and see what you have done and what you still need to do.  As a variation, you can draw one line of the “X” when you start working on it and then write the next line of the “X” upon completion.

Use Them As Reference

When you fill a notebook, write the end date on the front cover and save it! I now have years worth of notebooks for reference and can flip back to discover exact dates and names of people that I talked to previously.  If you find yourself coming back to particular information, stick a post-it at that location for quick reference next time, or copy the information to your current notebook.

Thoughts?

Your first todo is to give me feedback! Do you already do anything like this? Is this helpful? Do you have a better system? Please post a comment or email me. I’d be especially interested if you have a great software based solution that you use.

Just Do It

1 Reply

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.

Parenting Tip – White Washcloths

Leave a reply

This is a really simple tip for parents of young children. When kids are first in a high chair and starting to eat solid foods they make a huge mess and it is a big job to clean up after them. We started using paper towels and odd rags, but nothing worked real great. The tip is to go to your local linen store (I don’t remember which ones have gone out of business and which ones are still around!) and get about 20 basic white washcloths. They should come in big multipacks and are very cheap. We always had a big stack of washcloths available and they made cleanup so much easier! They are soft for the kid’s faces and hands and also very effective on tables and the floor. You also keep all those paper towels out of the landfill. Keep a bag of dirty washcloths near your laundry machine and when you get low just wash the whole bag of dirty ones. It saves paper towels and is much easier and cleaner. This one tip has saved us a ton of time over the years with three kids in high chairs. As the washcloths got completely frayed and worn out we periodically picked the worst ones and moved them to the garage for use as dirty rags and bought another multipack to replace them.

Now as our kids have gotten older and we don’t need them for mealtime, they have turned into general purpose rags and are still useful. Whether they are being use to clean up the cat throwup or if the boys missed the toilet, they are still so handy.

Weight Loss And Weight Control – Part II

Leave a reply

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.