Debt and Debtor’s Disease
August 9, 2008
Debtor’s disease is a silent killer. Killer of respect, marriages, self control, and families. There isn’t a part of your life that it won’t touch and destroy with it’s deadly power. Some of you won’t even know you have it for many, many years. It’s a sneaky affliction; creeping into your life and slowly but surely taking control of every part of your existence.
Seems a bit of a dramatic description, doesn’t it? But, the sad part is, it’s all true. Even though we often hate to admit it, debt will control our lives totally. Even when we first realize it, we won’t do anything about it. We will deny it, continue to feed it, and give it all it needs to thrive within our lives. Oh, you’ll have help, no doubt about that. There are many ways we fuel the fever. Falling into the credit card trap is just the beginning. Self justification is your worst enemy. Why, the human mind is masterful at justifying just about any action, or purchase, given the right circumstances.
Woman Saves $12,000 by Collecting Fives
July 23, 2008
A sum like $12,000 doesn’t usually make the news, but one Boston Globe reporter has managed to trick herself into saving that amount by adopting a creative way to save. With two daughters in college and a mortgage to pay, Marie Franklin and her husband didn’t have any extra money to put into savings. While perusing online, she came across a saving trick that suggested saving every five she acquired and depositing them into a separate savings account.
Once she’s collected ten fives in her wallet, Marie deposits the $50 into her designated savings account, and once that account has $2,000 she purchases a CD to earn higher interest. After three years of saving all of her fives, she has accumulated $12,000 in savings. Marie acknowledges that this method of saving requires discipline, but her unconventional habit has obviously worked for her.
80 How-To Sites Worth Bookmarking
July 9, 2008
Sitting on my dining room table, I currently have half a dozen projects in various states of doneness. Some involve vivisected computer parts, others will eventually be wearable and a few are just cool things I’ve ran across on the internet. I like doing things myself — I think the DIY bug is one of the best communicable diseases in the lifehack community.
These eighty sites are the places I turn to when I’m trying to figure out how to accomplish any particular goal. Any time I’m facing a new project, I start searching for how-tos that will help me figure out how other people did similar things and how likely I am to finish the project with all ten fingers still intact. I’ve broken them up into a few different categories, just to help you narrow down what you might be looking for. Some are simply archives full of tutorials. Some are blogs that publish how-tos fairly regularly. Some are just great resource sites. But they all have provided me with the information necessary to carry through on a project.
Every How-To They Can Get Their Hands On
These ten sites are more than happy to host any how-to around. I’ve seen everything from computer hardware hacks to instructions for brewing beer on these sites. This is the place to start — you can narrow down your search as you get a better idea of your project.
- Make Magazine’s Blog
- Instructables
- How Stuff Works
- Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories
- wikiHow
- flickr
- Lifehacker
- Popular Mechanics
- DIY Happy
- Expert Village
24 Daily Habits to Make the Most of this Life
June 9, 2008
We first make our habits, and then our habits make us - John Dryden
I have previously written about how the habit of Exercising Every Day has helped me tremendously. Doing something every day is such a powerful way to form a habit that I thought I would make a list of 24 habits that are worth doing on a daily basis. Note: I have divided these into morning, day and night although some could obviously be under different headings.
The Morning
1. Wake Early: I am a big fan of waking at 5am and spending time working on myself before going to work. I have written more about this habit here.
2. Exercise: when I had the goal of exercising 4 times a week I found it was very easy to tell myself I will exercise tomorrow instead. Setting the expectation of daily exercise removed this as a potential excuse and I have since reaped the benefits of this daily habit.
3. Review or (even better) Rewrite Your Goals: each day I try to get closer to achieving my short, medium and long term goals. Starting the day by reviewing or rewriting my goals means that I have better awareness of them throughout the day. As Robin Sharma says:
With better awareness you can make better choices and when you make better choices, you will see better results.
4. Read and/ or Listen to Motivational Material: in the morning a whole day of endless possibilities lies ahead. I motivate myself to play my best game by reading and listening to inspirational books/ audiobooks.
5. Visualise the Day Ahead: I like to take a few minutes to shut my eyes and visualise what I want happen in the coming day. It’s amazing how often my desires become reality when I do this.
6. Write a “To Do” list: I like to write out a list in my diary of the important tasks I need to do that day. As they are completed I put a line through them. So simple, yet so effective.
7. Check the News Headlines: I think it’s important to have an idea of what is happening in our community and the world. Also if don’t at least check the main stories, I find it is easy to feel left out of conversations throughout the day.
8. Take a Multivitamin: I try to eat a well balanced diet, but taking a multivitamin daily reassures me that I obtaining the proper amount of vitamins and minerals that I need (**Update: see comments).
9. Tidy Up: a cluttered house can lead to a cluttered mind and fuzzy thinking. I find it’s best to stay on top of things by tidying up each day.
10. Take Time to Look Good: it’s a reality of life that people judge us by our appearance. I take a few minutes each morning to ensure I go out into the world looking the best I can.
The Day
11. Put First Things First: Many people have their day controlled by tasks that are urgent , but not necessarily important. Examples include interruptions, some email and some phone calls. The habit of putting first things first is about organising and executing your life around your deepest priorities.
12. Connect with Nature: I find spending time outdoors in nature is great for my sense of wellbeing. I have written about this here.
13. Blog: blogging makes me think and write - two things that I can’t get enough of each day. I have written more about the benefits of blogging here.
