5 Simple Things – Getting My Groove Back

Posted by The Happy Rock on December 2, 2009

In case you haven’t noticed, I have been out of sorts for a while. Probably since July when I shut down Top Blog Posts after being burned out. I haven’t been burned out for months, but I just never really got my groove back. I still don’t have an answer as to why. Maybe I just needed an extra long break after having 2 children and completing an MBA in the last 3+ years, who knows? It doesn’t matter, I am ready to move on.

This is where my idea for 5 Simple Things comes into play. The plan is to create 5 simple goals, one for each of the most important roles/areas in my life. And when I say simple I mean very simple. Simple enough so that you can get your victory juices flowing again. Simple wins that help get you keyed up for larger changes. Its very similar to the psychology behind the debt snowball.

Here are the main areas that are important to me:

Husband
Father
Disciple(Christian Faith)
Entrepreneur
Employee
Outside Relationships(Friends and Family)
Personal

Obviously I am not going to address all of those with 5 simple tasks and honestly that isn’t the point. The purpose is to see what is important to you and make an intentional decision as to what you will tackle to get things moving in the right direction. Below are the 5 simple things I chose to accomplsih in list form so that I can cross them off as I go.

Plan a date with for my wife(Husband)
Get more sleep(Father)
- Go to bed at 11:30 on 12/2
- Go to bed at 11:30 on 12/3
- Go to bed at 11:30 on 12/4
Write a blog post(Entrepneur)
Spend5 minutes in prayer before work(Faith)
- 5 minutes on 12/2
- 5 minutes on 12/3
- 5 minutes on 12/4
Spend 10 minutes working out each day(Personal)
- 10 minutes on 12/2
- 10 minutes on 12/3
- 10 minutes on 12/4

There you have it. Uber-simple. Easy too accomplish. Very important to me and in a relatively short time frame.

I didn’t overextend myself, yet it will still require dedication and effort. I will reevaluate this weekend to see how I feel and what I think the next step will be. If anyone is interested in joining in with their own 5 simple things, I would love the company.

Update: I call the experiment a success even though I technically failed. Twice my littlest son woke up sick at about 11:15 right once during my work our and once on my way to bed. I did accomplish everything on the list, although bed times were slightly off due to circumstances out of my control. The success did give me a boost; unfortunately I am crazy busy at work which will cause a life imbalance until the month is over. I think I will have to wait until the new year until I will have the time and energy to kick some more todo butt.

» Filed Under Productivity, Time Management

The Big Switch…Analog to Digital TV Signal Debacle

Posted by Debt Destroyer on September 2, 2008

The ads are everywhere, you can’t escape them.

No, I’m not talking about political ads, I’m referring to the PSA’s for TV’s, the Big Switch. On Feb 17th, 2009 you’ll only be able to receive digital signal which means that old analog TVs that don’t utilize cable or satellite to get a signal will be useless without a converter box.

Luckily for those of us which this effects, the federal government has provided $40 coupons to help ease the financial burden of having to get a box. Go here to apply for a coupon.

We haven’t had cable in the Debt Defier household since early 2001. And to tell you the truth, we hardly miss it. I miss ESPN and HBO and my wife misses TNT & TBS (she loves reruns of sitcoms). I’d love to be able to tell you that it has cut down on our television watching, but I don’t think that the case. We watch plenty of network programming (other than ABC…we don’t get that station very clearly).

Needless to say I was a little nervous about all this talk of converter boxes and digital signal.

I’d really hate to have to start paying to watch TV again. It just makes no sense to me (the airwaves belong to all of us and it’s all ads anyways). Then this summer my in-laws added to my concerns by saying they heard the stores couldn’t keep the converter boxes in stock. My mind quickly filled with images of crazed shoppers going mad over the boxes, much like you see during the holidays for whatever the newest fad is.

So when I heard about the coupon program I signed up right away. It took several weeks to get here, but it finally arrived. I got mine and went right to the store to get me a box.

I went to a locally owned store and I already wish I did some research on these things, cause I ended up spending $31 even with the $40 coupon. But the clerk told me I got a good one. Alright…I dont’ want a bad one.

I rushed home to hook it up. With my recent cancellation of netflix, I was excited to have some digital entertainment in our house (not sure what that means, but I was excited). The excitement quickly dissipated.

I went from being able to get 5 stations to 1 station.

Panic set in and I quickly unhooked everything and tried it again. It got worse…no stations.

You gotta love technology.

When I settled down, I emailed my local stations asking what as up. As of this writing, only two have answered me. One channel uses a low power station to provide analog signal to my town and plans to continue to do so well after the Feb 2009 deadline. They think they will upgrade that channel to digital sometime in 2010. The other channel has informed me that they have no plans to convert our area to digital.

So much for being on top of things.

Now I have to try to unload this box on a buddy of mine who lives in Sioux Falls. I’d try to take it back, but I’m very rough on packaging (big hit at Christmas time, but not so much though with things that need to be returned).

So for you rebels out there that dare to live cable-free, how have your converter boxes been working out for you? Do they actually work if you don’t live in the middle of nowhere?

Or is the “Big Switch” really the “Big Bait & Switch?”

Until next time,

-DD

» Filed Under Misc., Time Management

I Need Help Canceling Cable – Save Time And Money

Posted by The Happy Rock on July 16, 2007

My wife and I are struggling to cancel the cable once again. We talk about it every time our Comcast bill goes back to normal price. We have internet + digital cable + DVR for about $122 a month. I usually call and tell them I am going to cancel, and they start offering some deals. I never take the first deal or two, and usually end up negotiating to a price to around $85/month for about a year. I have actually been paying full price for way too long now. Why?, because I really want to cancel cable. I am scared that I will call and renegotiate rather than actually canceling. Once that is done I will probably settle in for another year. So instead, I am ‘wasting’ $40 dollars a month, because I can’t pull the trigger(but want to). I need help. My wife and I both are willing to go for it, but neither of us has been motivated to action. If we wait until fall, when new episodes of Lost, Heroes, and the Office come back on, we will be sunk. With that said, here is the plan…

First, I did a little research for ammunition and motivation. I will share the highlights of that research in an upcoming post.

Step two is where you, the reader, come in. I hope to use The Happy Rock to get some feedback, success and failure stories, advice, and motivation. Here is what I am looking for :

I know most of us cringe or rebel when we entertain the thought of ditching cable, so let me know why I should keep it.
For those that were bolder them I am, let me know how getting rid of cable has worked, or not worked.
Possible alternatives. The family would only really miss a few shows, no more then ten : The Office, Lost, Heroes, So You Think You Can Dance, etc… I was thinking about Apple TV as a replacement for cable. A half dozen series passes would be much cheaper than the $700 plus it costs for cable. Any other options?
Kick in the butt, slap in the face. Tell me I am a wimp, wasting money, time, whatever.
Anything else I am missing?

Step Three : Cancel the cable, or keep cable and negotiate a deal again. My research shows canceling cable will save us a lot more than just money.

Share that wisdom! PLEASE.

» Filed Under About Me, Money Savers, Productivity, Time Management

The Happy Rock’s Addendum to the Unmanaged Time Laws

Posted by The Happy Rock on May 7, 2007

So you thought we were done talking about the tip offs that our time is probably not being used as wisely as possible……………not so fast.

Here are the Happy Rock’s additions :

Unmanaged Time Flows Towards Immediate Gratification

This one isn’t as ugly as it sounds. I noticed that in those times when life was piling up and I had a multiple stressful tasks that needed to be done, I would often gravitate towards inane tasks. If I had a 10 page paper, a test to study for, and a big life decision to make, I would feel compelled to reorganize my bookshelf(something I might do every few years). I suspect that part of it was avoiding the stress and hard work, but deep done I think I wanted to ‘excel’ and complete in something I had complete control over. The darker side of this one is watching yourself fall into the same habits over and over again when there are lots of things that needs to be done. For me it was withdrawal from people, and video games. They could be even more destructive than that, but hopefully we each know what our struggles are.

Unmanaged Time Flows Through The Path Of Least Resistance

Just hikers tend towards the easiest path around a mountain, our use of time will flow towards the easiest path. I would often find myself with free time, but unable to think of something worthwhile to do. I would then waste a few hours watching the TV or surfing the net until bedtime. As I close my eyes to enter dreamland, I would be flooded with the bills I could have paid, or the person I wanted to call, or the wash(Yes, I said wash not laundry. I think it is a Philly thing) I wanted to do. I had no plan for what tasks were important to me and how I would accomplish them. My mind was quite eager to aid and abet by conveniently forgetting any tasks of real value. I think the appropriate example would be when we forget to give dinner the proper forethought. Instead taking just a few minutes each day toensure we can eat a healthy balanced meal, we peruse the cabinets, each some potato chips, grab a soda, and then order a cheese steak from the local pizza shop.

The point is that is if we see any of these six behaviors patterns then we are probably in need of a tweak or overhaul to our time management system. We need to reevaluate how we record, process, prioritize, and plan our time. Ultimately we want to be making decisions that get us closer to the most important goals in life.

-The Happy Rock

» Filed Under Productivity, Time Management

In search of some public attention

Posted by The Happy Rock on May 6, 2007

The fourth of Gordon MacDonald’s laws is : Unmanaged Time Gets Invested in Things that Gain Public Acclamation

This one might not be as obvious to spot as the others, but it very well could be the most dangerous. Without a plan for the use of our time, we can be tempted to pursue actions that might garner us some praise from others. I picture a busy father, who takes his son out to buy the newest toy, rather then plan some quality time were he can help build up his son’s character and deepen their relationship. He truly wants to be a good father, but the disorganization in his life may be deterring him from fully accomplishing that goal.

I think the principle at work here is that if we are not able to accomplish and take joy in the achievement of personal goals, then we are inclined to seek actions that will give us fleeting positive responses from others. We desire to feel good about ourselves, so if we are not receiving internal rewards from our personal life, we will go externally to feel good about ourselves. A person who is truly in tune with their joys and dreams and working hard to achieve them, will probably see that the actions the garner public attention and fame may not be the best use of their time.

-The Happy Rock

» Filed Under Time Management

Who really wants to be a fire fighter anyway?

Posted by The Happy Rock on May 5, 2007

Law three : Unmanaged Time Surrenders to the Demands of all Emergencies

This law is similar in principle to Law 2. If our time is not budgeted for the things that we want and need to accomplish, the last thing that demands our attention will often win out. In the computer programming world, we call that a LIFO system. Last in first out, or fire fighter mode. The structures in our lives only realistically lets us deal with the emergencies of our lives. Surprisingly there are even many work environments that operate like this. This type of environment often leads to burn out and high stress.

Picture someone walking to the mail box and grabbing the mail. As she flips through the stack of letters, she notices a Old Navy credit card bill. Just to be safe, she checks the statement and pays the bill. It isn’t until a month later when she receives a late payment notice(with exorbitant fees and interest) from the Mastercard that she remembered that there was another bill that was stashed away earlier in the week when she was in a rush. If an hour on Sundays was budgeted for finances, the bill could have been filed and processed at an appropriate time. The proper focus and attention to detail would have been given to such an important task. What happens is our focus, energy, and memory are spread thin over multiple short encounters, robbing us of efficiency and productivity with all tasks. With finance time budgeted there would be no need to worry that bills aren’t getting paid, because the system and the budgeted time provide piece of mind.

Planning your time for the days, weeks, and months to come, can rescue us out the frantic ‘fire fighting mode’. It is also worth noting that if we are in the habit of making conscious decisions about how we will spend our time up front, many emergencies in life can be avoided.

-The Happy Rock

» Filed Under Productivity, Time Management

Our time is not our own……but it can be

Posted by The Happy Rock on May 3, 2007

Time for the second law : Unmanaged Time Comes under the Influence of the Dominant People in my World

Intuitive, you bet! If I don’t have a plan for my time, then every phone call, email, meeting request, and lunch date can take time away from the tasks I truly desire to accomplish. For example, if my best time for accomplishing work is the early morning, then I should schedule that time for myself. When your my good friend calls the night before and asks if I want to go to breakfast, I can confidently respond with “I already have something in that time slot, but I would love to grab a bite at lunch”. Effectively, since my time was already budgeted, I can make conscious decisions about the priories i want set for my time. Without that time blocked off I may have accepted the invite and totally enjoyed myself, only to realize that it took me 4-5 hours that afternoon to do what I could have done in 2.

It also helps to remember that the word dominant here doesn’t have to be a negative term. It refers to anyone who has a valid claim on our time: parents, children, spouse, co-workers, friends, etc. Not budgeting our own time can often lead to undue resentment towards these dominant people in our lives. We unjustly view them as keeping us from our goals. In reality it is my own problem, since I should be in charge of my time. Ultimately, the desire shouldn’t be cut people off and live a self-centered life, but we should be willing to consciously submit our time, even our best time, to those people that are important to us. Budgeting your time will hopefully allow us to serve them better by making us more discerning, productive, efficient, and happy.

- The Happy Rock

No related posts

» Filed Under Productivity, Serving Others, Time Management

Budgeted Time Flows Towards Your Strengths

Posted by The Happy Rock on May 2, 2007

Let’s dissect the first law of unmanaged time : Unmanaged Time Flows Toward Your Weaknesses

This idea makes intuitive sense, or at least it did to me. We spend more time doing things that we are not good at. With tasks that align with our strengths, we know that we can put in much less energy, but still produce quality output. Many times we are much more passionate about activities that align with our strengths. The desired results happen much faster, and then we are left with the less attractive tasks. It will take much more effort to produce an adequate result in our areas of weakness. Included in this is the idea that difficult tasks force us to face our foibles and zap our motivation.

For me, the beauty of this law came when I thought about the application for the inverse rule: Budgeted Time Flows Towards Your Strengths

The idea here is that when we put ourselves in a place to make active decisions about how we will spend our time, we usually choose activities that we excel at an those that bring us joy. I decided that I wanted to create habits in my life that empowered me to spend the majority of my time on the activities that were aligned with my strengths. Maybe we could hire a cleaning person or a grass cutter to free up an extra few hours a week. We could get rid of debt to save time stressing and managing payments. Even if we don’t have the money to outsource unproductive tasks, hopefully we can be creative about how to free ourselves from their bondage. Some tasks we just can not escape no matter what we do, but with this rule in mind it helps us to not drag them out. Power through those boring tasks using the motivation that you will free yourself to partake in the things you love.

Cheers

» Filed Under Productivity, Time Management

Finances aren’t the only things that need a budget.

Posted by The Happy Rock on April 30, 2007

Taking a lead in from my previous post on the book Ordering Your Private World by Gordon MacDonald, let’s talk about my favorite section of that book.

In a section called ‘Recapturing My Time’ MacDonald presents ‘MacDonald’s Laws of Unmanaged Time’. I found myself constantly referring to this list. It was so simple, but made so much sense. I will introduce the four laws and my brief interpretation, and then cover them in depth in the subsequent posts.

Unmanaged Time Flows Toward my Weaknesses – We often find ourselves spending an inordinate amount of time on the tasks that we are not proficient at. We instinctively know that we can manage fine by putting in only a small effort in the areas that we are gifted.
Unmanaged Time Comes under the Influence of Dominant People in my World - The dominant people in your life will be able to exert influence on your time choices when our time is not budgeted.
Unmanaged Time Surrenders to the Demands of all Emergencies – Without a plan for your time, we usually get stuck in a first come first serve time management system for the people and tasks that make demands on our time.
Unmanaged Time Gets Invested in Things that Gain Public Acclamation – Unbudgeted time will flow towards action and events that will give us the most immediate gratification and\or public recognition.

» Filed Under Time Management

How to move a rock! Part 5

Posted by The Happy Rock on April 30, 2007

Finally, we come to the last book that has made a deep mark on the life of the The Happy Rock. Well, at least for now…..I am sure that this list will grow over time. I already have a possibility or two on the horizon, but it takes months and years to truly figure out the impact a book may have on your life.

Order You Private World by Gordon MacDonald

Now that I had my dream, I started evaluating my behaviors and thoughts in light of this revelation. I honestly didn’t have the skills or track record to convince myself that I could get anywhere near the huge dream that I felt called to pursue. I had to do some proverbial soul searching, and it was at that time I started reading Ordering Your Private World. The premise of the book is that our beliefs shape our thoughts and then our thoughts shape our behavior. If someone’s private\outer world is in order, it will be because they believe that their personal\inner world governs their outward actions. For a Christian this is not about being more driven or working harder, but rather being someone who stops to listen to the intricate, subtle, and mysterious calling of their personal faith. Be one who is called not driven. This idea blew open the doors of my personal life. I began to question and seek answers for the habits and beliefs that didn’t align with my dreams and faith. Why wasn’t I very productive? Why did I lose energy and quit before goals were accomplished? Why do I procrastinate on the most important tasks in my life?

Amazingly, asI began to explore some of my inner depths through prayer, reading, and mentoring, my actions began to change. The journey continues and will always continue. The drastic change is that my focus is not on my actions, but rather on the core of my being.

-THR(The Happy Rock)

» Filed Under Favorite Books, Productivity, Time Management