The key is to recognize, capture and utilize the fundamentals, to take what works, and get rid of everything else.

“Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.”
~Paul J. Meyer

0:60 Become an Achiever
One of the biggest factors that causes procrastination is the belief that we do not deserve to achieve and succeed. Without any hype just make the simple decision that you do want to finish what you start and believe in yourself that you will be able to handle the responsibility.

0:55 Differentiate Between Productive Time and Unproductive Time
Which part of the day are you most productive and when are you groggy or low on energy? Schedule the most important tasks during your most energetic and focused time periods.

0:50 Identify Time Sinks
Whether you’re hanging out by the water cooler, surfing YouTube, or idling in front of the television you know what your own vices are. Think about the difference you could make in the world if you traded these time sinks for productivity.

0:45 Goals — Clarify
Clarify exactly what your goals. This will prevent you from being stuck in a position where you don’t know the next action and help you avoid times when you don’t know the reason for why you’re doing something. Make sure your goals are not only clear, but time sensitive, and that you have a concise reason for wanting to accomplish your goal.

0:40 Break Down Tasks
Another big reason for procrastination is that our goals seem too big for us to attempt to achieve. The simple solution is to break up your huge goals into easy to manage tasks and just go ahead and bump them off your task list.

0:35 Get Accountable
When your willpower is questioned, it helps to have people in your life to keep you accountable. Just like my friends who read this blog would not tolerate any negativity from me, you could start a blog, forum, or find friends, family, and co-workers to keep you accountable about your productivity ventures.

0:30 Lists, lists, lists
Have a to-do list running so that you aren’t caught with nothing to do. Whether it’s what you should clean, buy at the store, accomplish at work, read, exercise on, etc. make sure you’re never stuck sitting there with nothing to do. This doesn’t mean don’t relax, but when you do relax do it to your fullest, not because you’re stuck.

0:25 Finish What You Start <period>
When you take on a task you invest time into it. When you put a task off for later you have the potential to never return to it. This is a waste of invested time. Build up momentum and see your tasks through from start to finish without interruptions whenever this is feasible.

0:20 Say ‘No’
Whenever an interruption, or a task that will throw off your schedule presents itself, say no. Do not think that you are being selfish, or unkind to other people that need you — rather think of yourself as disciplined and productive and do not allow anything to be an excuse for reaching your personal goals.

0:15 No Excuses, Be Your Word
Just think of excuses as a breach of integrity where there is a disconnect between giving your word (to yourself or others) and doing the actions. Eliminate all excuses, no matter how good they sound, and do as Nike would do — just do it.

0:10 Breathe
Breathe because this has been an intense 60 seconds and because breathing will send oxygen to your brain and increase your focus. You’ll be rejuvenated for your very next task. Make a commitment to meditate for 15 minutes each morning when you wake up to facilitate high energy and concentration.

0:05 Celebrate Victory
Do a little pre-victory celebration; you deserve it. You now know everything it takes to be super productive. All you need to do is go out there and do it.

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“Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t
own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep
it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it
you can never get it back.”
~Harvey MacKay

Time is and always has been our most precious commodity. Unfortunately from the looks of the global economy it is very apparent that time is being taken very much for granted more so than ever before.

The interesting thing about human nature is that no matter which part of the world we live in we tend to waste time in a very similar way. It almost seems like a conspiracy really.

10 Biggest Time Management Pitfalls

• Solution: Live closer to work, you might even save money if you take all factors into account. Alternatively, you can now find an abundance of work online, so consider making that switch.

2. Buying Ridiculous Items. We’re working long hours, hours that could be spent with family, but we’re using that money to buy ridiculous things. Huge houses we could get lost in, expensive dresses we only wear to one party, platinum spoons with diamond handles, and television sets bigger than the walls of most houses.

• Solution: Spend conservatively on the essentials, work less, and spend more time with family.

3. Mind-Numbing Television. The world sits hypnotized in front of the television screens for hours each day. Is the information that’s going into the human brain through movies, main-stream media, and the gossip of real T.V. really that beneficial for us?

• Solution: Unplug and spend prime time doing activities that nourish our souls, pursue our dreams, and once again spend time with our favorite people.

4. Entertaining Bad Company. There really isn’t any excuse for subjecting ourselves to the company of people who are bringing us down in life. The type of energy vampires who suck the life, vitality, optimism and dreams right out of us with constant complaining, as well as their input on why life sucks and you’re going to fail.

• Solution: Get rid of them. The world is full of amazing people, I’ve seen a bunch. Surround yourself with the best people in the world, and keep them close.

5. Holding The Grudge. You do know that while you’re staying awake at night, being mad at how terrible someone is for the way that they wronged poor little old you, they are enjoying a good night’s rest, right? Take a moment to think about that.

• Solution: Thought about it? Did you think about just letting the grudge go?

6. The Lack of Presence. Ever notice that while you’re supposed to be paying attention your mind wanders to something else? When you get to that something else your mind wanders to the next thing? When you’re living in this state of future, you aren’t giving your 100% to what you are doing. You are constantly wasting the time away.

• Solution: Give your 110% to whatever you are currently undertaking. If whatever is at hand is not worth your 110% than that’s a sign that you should drop it and pursue what’s real for you.

7. No Vision To Strive For. Are you living your life lost without a major goal or life plan? If that’s the case you’re probably finding that you spend your days drifting, like in The Graduate, instead of working hard to accomplish what’s important.

• Solution: Spend some time on planning what you want out of life. This investment will be priceless once you get focused and on point.

8. No Experience of Pleasure. Are you using all of your time for work, work, work? If so, you’re missing out on the point of life, which is to experience all the pleasures that were created for you to experience.

• Solution: Read 55 Momumental Ways To Enjoy Life’s Greatest Pleasures, and take time to do everything on the list.

9. Sleeping Too Much. There really is a thing known as sleeping too much. Six-eight hours is plenty for most people, but they get more than what’s necessary. The reasons could be a lack of health, over-eating, drugs, depression, etc.

• Solution: Have a real purpose in life. This will get you off the drugs and depression. Eat small portions of non-greasy, plant-based whole foods- this will fill you with vitality.

10. Not Being Valuable. The biggest waste of time and oxygen that you can be is not being a valuable person. Not valuable to yourself, to your family, to society, and to the planet.

• Solution: By the time your time expires, make sure you can answer how you’ve left this world a better place than you got it.

Focus On The Goal

I might be stepping over my boundary here, but I was under the assumption that work was mainly to provide the means to support and spend more time with our beloved families. I believe that if we keep that goal in mind we will not only free up our time, but increase our happiness like killing two birds with one stone.

“Time is more valuable than money. You can get more money, but you cannot get more time.”
~Jim Rohn

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Photo by Jametiks

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“You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land, there is no other life but this.” ~Henry David Thoreau

Have you ever wondered what would be possible if you could press a button and stop time? With time stopped you would be able to squeeze as much pleasure out of every morsel of food, delicious kiss, majestic mountain or awe inspiring sunrise. These are things that most of us rush through in life, because we’re too busy, or off chasing the next best thing. We never find the next best thing, because we’re always searching, instead of appreciating all the pleasures that life has already laid out for us.

Today I share with you the secret of forgetting the past, eliminating the future, all within the only time which really exists- now. The key is to recognize what pleasure really is, because if we can see what it truly is, we can truly stop, become present, and enjoy it. Keep reading to learn the identity of the 5 levels of pleasure of human existence.

The Five Levels of Pleasure Worth Being Present For

5. Physical and Material Pleasure

This level of pleasure is one that we all enjoy, it’s anything that we experience with our fives senses. Such as delicious food, great music, a great view, beautiful clothes, a pleasant perfume. The awesome thing is that this is just the beginning, and actually the lowest of the five levels of pleasure. So if you like this it’s just going to get better! But wait, the point is to really stay present and enjoy this level too!

In order to squeeze the most out of the fifth level of pleasure:

1. Enjoy Your Taste. This world is absolutely full of foods and drinks that have an awesome taste. It’s considered a sin to not try a new fruit, because we are lucky enough to have all these amazing fruits, instead of nutrient filled yuck. So it is our duty to try the fruits, the wines, and even the cakes that are available to us. By chewing the food slowly, we can savor every morsel, and enjoy this basic pleasure that is available to us.
2. Enjoy Your Hearing. Our ears are such an incredible sense. It allows us to hear a great symphony, the cries of our young child, the intimate whispers of our significant other, and to even find our way around in the dark. It is our duty to enjoy great music and great conversations, without thinking about where we need to go to next.
3. Enjoy Your Touch. Our skin, fingers and loins were all meant to touch, feel, and experience the pleasures of our lives. We’re meant to touch every fabric, play with every new texture, and experience every nuance of loving and embracing each other.
4. Enjoy Your Sight. The world isn’t one big flat desert. No, it’s full of beautiful trees, flowers, gardens, animals, people, sunrises, buildings, paintings, and colors. It is our obligation to appreciate our eyes and look at and enjoy all of these creations.
5. Enjoy Your Smell. Our strongest sense is our sense of smell, yet we often take it for granted by not smelling every amazing thing we can get our noses on. There are an infinite number of aromas for us to choose from, from natures flowers, to man’s pastries and perfumes, we can smell to our hearts desires. Nothing forges a stronger memory in our mind than smell, so smell, and associate that smell with all things great.
6. Enjoy Your Possessions. Whether it’s your money, cars, clothes, jewelry, vacation, or home, enjoy it and do not take it for granted. You don’t always need the bigger, newer thing. By mastering the art of enjoying what you have, you’ll never feel need, and you’ll always be happy where you are.

4. Love (not Infatuation)

Infatuation is merely a physical attraction, and it leaves us just as easily as it comes to us. That’s not what love is, real love is pretty permanent. You wouldn’t expect a parent to stop loving their children, would you? The little secret about real love is that it’s not completely simple and easy. It takes making a commitment to each other, REALLY getting to know each other, and investing yourself by putting time and effort into creating a beautiful, delicious relationship. The goal of course is to create a life time of passionate friendship with the person you love.

In order to squeeze the most out of the fourth level of pleasure:

1. Get To Know Them. Whether it’s your parents, grandparents, siblings, children or significant other the greatest gift you could give them is to listen to them, get to know them, let them express themselves, and support them. You cannot give them full support unless you know what they really want and to find that out you will need to be a proactive listener.
2. Learn Together. To make ourselves better is an underlying purpose of our existence. To share this with another, to learn together, to grow together physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually is a magnificent bond forming activity. With every book, class, workshop, talk, experience, journey, or adventure you co-create a relationship that is deeper and stronger than it was before.
3. Talk Intimately. Couples often talk for hours when they first meet, but sometimes stop as the novelty of the person wears off. This is where you need to get aware of this and bring the conversations back. Bring them back with family and friends you haven’t talked to in awhile. Don’t just check in to see how today was, check in to see what they’re dreams are and what they’re grateful for.
4. Kiss and Embrace. Make some eye contact and really embrace each other. Not only is hugging an excellent bond, but when you hug your brain releases oxytocin, a chemical that’s also associated with touch and orgasms. Don’t rush your kisses, but stop what you’re doing and enjoy that kiss with the person you love. It’s such a great way to enjoy each other, relieve stress, build self-esteem, and feel well all around.
5. Share Sex. So you might want to wait until you are married, but whenever IT happens, you are now sharing one of life’s greatest physical pleasures together. I feel like the more people you have sex with, the more you are desensitized to sex as a more meaningful connection. Let’s just take the romance out of it for a moment and say that sex is just sex, when you’re hot you’re hot, and when you’re not you’re not. The pleasure that you do share when you’re both hot can be tremendous, and should be shared together often.

3. A Great Cause

It’s hard to imagine giving up true love for anything. Surely no amount of money would justify giving away the love of our life, or our beloved child, right? Well that’s not exactly true. We would give up love, children and even our family for a greater cause. In fact, people would do a whole lot in order to live out their life purpose, or to do something that they believe to be the greatest good.

In order to squeeze the most out of the third level of pleasure:

1. Save a Life. This doesn’t mean you have to find someone that’s currently drowning, not literally that is. You can save a life by changing a life, and you can do that by listening, being supportive, offering your time, money, and love in order to feed, empower, educate or in any way enrich someone’s life. Few things are more fulfilling than saving a life.
2. Create Peace. I’m not talking about joining an army and “creating peace”, there are many more passive ways, ways that can bring peace to your nation, and all nations of the world. It includes ending the prejudice, racism, and hate within yourself. Just within yourself. If everyone did this just within themselves than we would have no alternative but peace, right?
3. Feed The Hungry. Buy, make, or grow some food for a hungry family. How fulfilling would it be if you found a way to end hunger for hundreds of thousands, millions… all the people in the world? With the amount of food that is wasted, thrown out, or allowed to spoil, we have enough to make sure all the hungry mouths in the world are fed. Even better than giving them food is to teach them how to grow and obtain their own.
4. Promote Education. Illiteracy plagues many places in the world. You could mentor, tutor, and find many other ways to donate your time and money to promote education in all parts of the world. Higher education among everyone in the world will likely solve many of the other problems, don’t you think?
5. Promote CANI. CANI means Constant and Never-ending Improvement. It’s one of the things I have commitment myself to doing every day of my life. If you, and everyone you know, and everyone they know, etc. participate in making themselves better, than the rest of the world will follow. It starts with one person, and it spreads when you lead by example.

2. The Power To Create

The power to create is above physical pleasures, above love, above fighting for a great cause. If you believe in God than the reason is that God is the ultimate creator, and by creating, you are getting as close to God’s essence as humanly possible. If you aren’t a believer, than think of creation as the ultimate act of self-control, where your mind and body are in sync to produce a unique result.

In order to squeeze the most out of the second level of pleasure:

1. Paint, Draw, or Sculpt. Your mind takes all of it’s experiences and sights, and creates a unique image. You then use your hand and fingers to translate that idea into a real viable painting or sculpture. Congratulations, you have just used the power of self-control in order to create. This act of creation is a high level of pleasure.
2. Write Anything. Just put the pen to the paper and start writing. Your experience, knowledge, and ideas will create a new world inside of the realm of your paper. You can transfer monumental ideas, as I try to do with this article, to thousands, if not millions of people.
3. Cook a Dish. The power of creating food is often over looked, or dumbed down, by the majority of people who think that food is simply fuel for the body. The few that realize the creative genius that can go into preparing a meal, and considering all the intricacies involved, get to enjoy this pleasure the most.
4. Tend a Garden. It’s easy enough that nearly anyone can do it, yet it delivers a high level of fulfillment and pleasure. Tend a garden and create life from a seedling into a flower, a fruit, a vegetable, or a big old tree! You get to watch the life and growth of something you yourself put into the soil and took care of.
5. Raise a Child Well. While having the baby is one of the easiest things we can do (especially guys), raising this child to be an intelligent, healthy, happy, and well-intentioned human being is a tremendous effort and a cause that many people give their life for. It is, and if it isn’t, it should be, every parents goal.

1. A Touch of God

After mastering the other four levels of pleasure there aren’t that many new things from which you can gain fulfillment. You can repeatedly do 5-2, and you’ll like it, but you’ll also seek the ultimate pleasure, which is not just to know the true origin of existence, but to encounter God, source, oneness or whatever it is that you believe in as a superior force.

In order to squeeze the most out of the first level of pleasure:

1. Practice Gratitude. This takes the cake as far as creating pleasure in our lives. To be able to really appreciate, and be thankful for all our senses, and the beauty that we are able to experience due to this unique ability. Wake up feeling like a little kid, just bursting out of bed and ready to live!
2. Commit to The Great Good. One of the things that I believe to bring the highest level of pleasure is to believe that all people are part of one entity, or unit. From that belief we can commit to improving ourselves, but also to do things for the greatest good of all.
3. Know It’s Not Just Us. Recognize that you are part of this beautiful world, and that this world is not entirely created by you. You only have power of your present, but you have to appreciate your mortality, humanity, and the scope of the world. Be humbled by this force, whatever it is, that has such a tremendous power to create. Allow yourself to be glorified by the gift that was bared for you and not by a feasible hand.

By the way the cool watch you see in the picture above is The Now Watch. I love it because it’s a constant reminder to stop, slow down and enjoy the many pleasures that life has to offer. Instead of letting my mind wander in the past, or get lost in the future, this watch gives me laser sharp focus on the present and appreciate the beauty that is all around me.

“With the past, I have nothing to do; nor with the future. I live now.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

If you enjoyed this article, please vote for it on Digg, share it on StumbleUpon or bookmark it on del.icio.us. I appreciate your support

Update: I’ve had lecture and discussion on this very topic on many occasions, so I did not know what the primary source was, but it was nice of Nechemia to point out that it was in fact an Aish idea. Head over there to see a great article on pleasure.

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If you’re like me you might even schedule in tasks with specific time frames to help you stay on task. Usually this type of methodical time management is a great thing and helps us stay organized and accomplish what we set out to do, but there are other times when this can actually be a counterproductive thing.

Sometimes what can happen is that your schedule starts to control YOU, instead of YOU having control over yourself. How can we learn to recognize the signs and symptoms and what can we do to prevent it? Read over this list and ask yourself how many of these things you find yourself doing:

1. You’re tired. You’re very tired, but instead of taking a nap or sleeping more at night you keep yourself awake by gulping down lots of caffeinated beverages. Sure it keeps you up for a while but eventually you crash, feel terrible, and probably spend way too much money on Starbucks than you intended to.
2. You’re performing your tasks, the ones that you’ve scheduled, but you’re not FULLY engaged. You’re meeting with one client yet are worried about making it in time to see the next one. You’re trying to complete an assignment but your mind keeps wandering. You just can’t seem to focus.
3. You’re looking at the clock every couple of minutes making sure you’re not lagging behind.
4. You look in the mirror and don’t recognize the person staring back at you.

So what’s going on here? Basically our bodies are trying to tell us to SLOW DOWN! Here’s some steps we can take to prevent ourselves from being our own worst enemies:

1. You are your first priority. Clients, school, work, family, etc come second. If you don’t take care of yourself, then you will not be there for anything or anyone else. This means getting enough sleep, eating right, exercising, and whatever it is you need to do to keep yourself healthy, both mentally and physically.
2. Keep your TO DO list short and sweet with 3-4 MUST DO items. Don’t try to overwhelm yourself, or you will end up feeling discouraged and giving up. Also, feel free to modify it to account for unexpected things that may come up in the day, or based on how you’re feeling at the moment. If you’re exhausted, maybe its best to schedule in a half hour power nap and then proceed to the next item with FULL FORCE!
3. Give things and people your FULL attention.
4. Stop staring at the clock. If you give yourself 2 hours for example to complete an assignment, set the alarm for 2 hours, and then put the alarm/cell phone/clock/watch away! Get into “the zone” where you’re so focused on what you’re doing and working so efficiently, you’re not worried about anything else.
5. Be spontaneous. If you’ve scheduled to do the house chores from 5-8 for example, and something really exciting comes up seize the opportunity! Stepping out of the ordinary and out of our routines can help us clear our minds, have fun, and then return to our normal lifestyles refreshed and rejuvenated with even more energy than before.

So who’s in control?

This is a guest post by my friend Anna Kravtsov. She’s a 2nd year Medical Student here at UMDNJ where I am getting my Master’s degree. She’s one of our top commentators here, so get to know her!

Attention: Don’t forget to download my free ebook, How to Get a Girlfriend!!

Wednesday is Productivity Day at AlexShalman.com

Are you a productivity junkie? Do you think that time not spent directly related to a goal is time wasted? Do you plan out every minute of your day, every day of your week, every week of your year? Do you always have to be getting things done? Is time wasted nonproductive? Or is it constructive?

I’m Rick Cockrum. Alex has been kind enough to invite me to write a post about productivity and time management. Maybe because of my experience. I’m a full time social worker. My wife and I own and operate a movie theatre. I write one blog, Shards of Consciousness, where I also host a biweekly podcast. I’ve also been known to work in software development, having written my own pim and the software we use at work for all the social workers. All in all, it makes for a full life. To do everything I want to do, I have to manage my time, and manage it so it isn’t just productive, it has to be constructive.

What’s Wrong With Being Productive

The details of our lives are important. It is in the details that dreams are brought to birth, thoughts made manifest in the flesh of the world. But it seems to me that much of our lives have become increasingly mechanized.

Time management is important. Scheduling is a tool that helps us find the mental space to accomplish our goals. All too often, and it appears that with increasing frequency, scheduling has become an end in itself.

We have forgotten the difference between that which is productive and that which is constructive. For all too many people efficiency and productivity has become an end in itself. Productivity isn’t bad. It is a way to conserve resources and maximize our talents. But when it becomes an end in itself it becomes as much a blight as aimlessly wandering through our lives.

It is another way to remain unconscious, handing over the tools of living to the robot. While my wife was in the hospital her sister came to stay with us to help run the house, something for which I am unendingly thankful. She always had to be doing something. She didn’t make a schedule on paper, but she was forever cleaning, going from one task to another.

Relax, I told her. Do something constructive instead. What do you mean? she asked. Meditate, write a poem, draw a picture, listen to the birds. Watch the clouds. She was endlessly productive, but never took time to be constructive. When something is constructive, it allows us to express who we are, who we want to be, where we want to go. It isn’t busy work just for the sake of being busy.

How to be Constructive

I can’t overemphasize the importance of writing in leading a constructive life. The act of writing down your mission, your goals, your tasks transforms them from dreams to commitments. It forces you to focus and makes what you are doing more real.

• Know what you want the mission of your life to be. In some ways our lives are stories. Our mission is the theme that our actions are creating.
• Have one to three goals to work on that embody your mission. Goals are specific targets. They can be long term. They can be short term. If you have too many goals at once, you will scatter your attention and something will end up neglected.
• Goals are generally reached through a series of steps. These are the tasks you complete to reach your goal. Some may themselves be mini-goals.
• Plan the major tasks of your day at least a day ahead of time. When you get up, you’ll know what you want to accomplish. Don’t overload yourself by scheduling every minute. Make sure what you have planned actually furthers your long term goals. If more than these tasks get done, fine. If not, that’s fine too. The purpose in scheduling is to give yourself psychological space in which to work, not to be a straitjacket. The scheduling is to work for you. You’re not working for the scheduling.
• Take some time every day to do something purely creative and for the joy of it without an expectation of outcome. Meditate. Take a walk. Go fishing. Go canoing. Write a poem. Sing in the shower. It doesn’t really matter what. The point is to do it for the sheer joy.
• At the end of the day look back over what you’ve done. Did you complete your major tasks? Congratulate yourself. If not, try to see where you got sidetracked and how you can change it in the future. If you continually find yourself not able to complete the tasks you’ve scheduled (assuming you didn’t overschedule), you need to find out if the goal you’re working on is something that is really important to you or if it’s something that you feel like you should be doing. If it’s the latter, the chances are you won’t get very far with it and you should discard it now.

The interesting thing about maintaining a constructive life is that it is also productive. It’s a lot more fun than a purely productive life. It leads to personal growth. The reverse isn’t true.

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This is a guest post from Todd Goldfarb of We The Change. Wednesday is Productivity Day at AlexShalman.com

In today’s fast-pace, high energy and ever-changing world it is absolutely imperative for each of us to cultivate effective time management skills. Without useful planning mechanisms in place, many people go through their entire day only to wonder “what happened” at the end.

Furthermore, the clutter we experience in our daily lives causes us to become more reactionary instead of proactive. The purpose of this article is to walk through a few valuable practices for managing your time, and to help you maintain a positive and proactive lifestyle:

1. Generate a Daily Schedule

Every night before you go to bed, write out a detailed schedule for your next day. It is crucial to not only include the “usual” tasks but purposefully add the more creative endeavors you seemingly never get to. How many of us have wonderful ideas that fall to the wayside because we don’t have the time to focus on them? A great way to combat this, and make the time, is to physically schedule in the new project. Additionally, generating a daily schedule helps you get more accomplished, as working under a timetable subconsciously helps you put more attention to each task. The most important thing is once you make the schedule that makes sense for you, stick to it!

2. Carry a notepad or audio recorder at all times

Inspiration can come at the strangest of times, and for this reason it is great practice to carry a notepad or audio voice recorder so you can capture your new ideas right away. If you are in a meeting and something just comes to you, whip out your notepad and start writing. Later on you can think more about the concept, but it’s critical to get it on paper (or on digital) right away. Luckily, now that you are scheduling yourself for the next day you are certain to have time to work on the new idea.

3. Schedule in Relaxation

Most people, once they begin scheduling themselves, forget to add in times of relaxation. Whatever your method of relaxing, it is imperative to add recreational time in your daily schedule. Whether you take a walk after lunch, get a massage, go see your chiropractor, or talk/email with your friends make sure you not only leave time for it but actually do it!

4. Be Spontaneous

I am well aware that being spontaneous goes against the efficient lessons of the rest of this article, but maintaining a spontaneous attitude is so important that I had to mention it. It can be so fulfilling and healthy to do something unplanned; as long as you don’t make a habit of consistently “being spontaneous” (like not going to work and shirking other responsibilities) then doing things on a whim can do wonders for your life.

(And when you decide to be spontaneous, make a deal with yourself that you won’t spend one second feeling bad about it)!

In conclusion, the explosion of technology and communication has rendered people in a constant state of information bombardment, and in order to be successful and proactive (let alone maintain a level of sanity) it is great practice to habituate the acts of 1) creating a daily schedule; 2) carrying a notepad; 3) scheduling relaxation and 4) being spontaneous at the right times. Try it out, and see how it goes!

—-Todd Goldfarb is a business consultant and entrepreneur located in Manhattan, New York. His passion for nutrition, alternative healing and spiritual practices lead him back to school (in his spare time) where he became a certified holistic health counselor. He founded We The Change as a platform for sharing his unique and diverse perspective on how to be successful both in business and in personal life.

Attention: Don’t forget to download my free ebook, How to Get a Girlfriend!!