Dynamic Planning

April 30, 2005 |

One part of David Allen’s Getting Things Done system I’ve discarded is the idea of sorting next actions by physical context bins, such as phone calls, paper work, computer work, etc. Maybe that makes sense if you travel 200 days a year or work in a high-interruption environment where you can’t concentrate for more than…

Visit the Library

April 29, 2005 |

When was the last time you made a trip to the local public library? In addition to some rather smelly books, my local library has a small collection of audio programs too, and I can renew most items online for up to 9 weeks before having to return them. You may not find the latest…

20 Ways to Improve

April 28, 2005 |

A simple yet powerful idea I learned from Earl Nightingale is to grab a blank piece of paper (or a blank computer screen) and brainstorm a list of 20 ways to improve. You can write down anything — ways to increase your income, improve your health, better your relationships, etc. The focus is on generating…

Integrity in the Moment of Choice

April 27, 2005 |

Whenever you make a new commitment to yourself, such as to begin a new exercise program, you will undoubtedly be challenged. A large part of life lies outside your direct control, and one of those external influences will eventually impact you and press you to abandon your original plan at least temporarily. It’s often unwarranted…

Quotes on Persistence

April 26, 2005 |

No man with a man’s heart in him, gets far on his way without some bitter, soul searching disappointment. Happy he who is brave enough to push on another stage of the journey, and rest where there are living springs of water, and three score and ten palms. – Brown Too many of us wait…

Countdown to Day 30

April 25, 2005 |

Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves, some turn up their noses, and some don’t turn up at all. – Sam Ewing For those of you taking on the 30-Day Challenge, how are you doing so far? If you’ve started by April 20th, you should have finished at least 5…

Join the Challenge – Update

April 19, 2005 |

A few pieces of advice for those courageous souls who are taking the 30-day challenge: 1) Focus on actions, not results. It’s easier to guarantee that you exercise every day vs. trying to lose a certain amount of weight. It’s easier to guarantee that you write for an hour vs. finishing a page of text.…

Join the Challenge

April 19, 2005 |

I’m pleased that many readers have already accepted the 30-day challenge (see the last paragraph of that post). If you’d like to join with us publicly, please express your interest by adding a comment (either on this post or the one mentioned above). On May 20th we’ll do a group postmortem, so if you want…

Build Fitness With Mild Interval Training

April 18, 2005 |

If you haven’t exercised in a long time and have gotten out of shape, mild interval training is a good way to rebuild endurance and cardiovascular fitness without killing yourself. Let’s say your exercise of choice is running. Maybe you can only manage to run a few minutes before your heart feels like it’s about…

Start With the Physical

April 15, 2005 |

If you have many improvements you’d like to make in your life — career, relationship, health — where should you begin? My suggestion is to start with your physical body. Improving your diet and level of fitness will produce positive results in every area of your life because you’ll have extra energy available to you…