Blog Archives
Quick Tip: Making Better Decisions
Hindsight is 20/20. –Unknown
Looking back on things, you can almost always see perfectly where you went wrong and how you should have approached the situation. Wouldn’t it be great if we could see things more clearly before hand? That we could get the knowledge we gain from the experience prior to finalizing our decisions?
There are a few ways we can have better foresight and make better decisions.
- Think First, Act Later: This is advice my daughter gets every week at her violin lesson. So simple, yet it yields great results, and can be used in all aspects of our lives. From thinking before you speak, thinking before you commit to taking on something new, thinking before you walk out the door, and so on. If we take the time to think before we do, our lives will run so much smoother. Sometimes we have so much on our minds and our lives are carrying us in a million different directions that we think that we just don’t have time to think. But consider this; how much time is wasted due to your lack of thinking before you act? This can be done as just taking a brief moment to think things over, or it can be done through meditation and prayer. I know that when we take a moment to think before we act, it will benefit us in countless ways.
- Trust Your Intuition: How many times have you kicked yourself for not listening to your inner self? Once we start to take the time to think, you can better connect with you intuition. We have been given this great gift as a tool to use in our decision-making process. Take advantage of it, I’m sure you won’t regret it!
- Ask for Advice: We are not in this alone. There are so many that surround us that have the answers we are looking for. Learn lessons from those who have already been where you are. You can ask people you know and trust, or even search for advice in books, magazines and on the internet. Just don’t forgot that every situation is a little different and so you need to be sure to use the prior two points as well. Don’t totally depend on others advice unless you know it is right for you.
These devices are best used in our decision-making process, but don’t be afraid to use them even when you have already made decisions that don’t seem to be working to your favor. All of our decisions are investments into our lives. You wouldn’t keep throwing money at something that was obviously failing, right? Likewise we shouldn’t waste time on something that isn’t benefiting you and your family.
When we use these three tools, this mayhem that we call life will be easier to manage and result in happier people.
Quick Tip: Paperwork Solutions
What the world really needs is more love and less paperwork. — Pearl Bailey
I am a bookkeeper by profession, and I am often asked what is the best way to handle filing paperwork. Really, it depends on how your mind works and how you can easily retrieve the information you are looking for.
I have three different methods that I recommend.
- File by Date of the Record: This is the method that I generally use for financial records, just because when you are dealing with financial information, it is nice to keep paperwork together by tax year, so you can easily archive and then depose of paperwork when needed. I make separate folders for bills, deposits, bank statements, insurance/medical records, tax agency records and so on. For those files that get overwhelmed with paperwork, I sub-divide either by month or quarter. I find it easy to access these records by looking at the date of the transaction in my check register.
- File by Type of Record: This is the method I like to use for any non-financial record, but it can also be used for financial paperwork. Personally, I just find it harder to archive financial records with this method, but again, it all depends on how your mind works. I prefer to use this for records I will possibly keep indefinitely. For example, paperwork of important medical records, school records, car repair records and so on. When using this method for financial records I recommend keeping like-bills together, ie your utility bills, phone bills, etc.
- File by Project Related to Record: This is a method sometimes used in filing financial records when you deal with clients that you are doing a short-term project for. I don’t generally recommend this type of filing system for large companies because it can become really complicated, but I find sometimes that small business owners prefer this type of filing because frankly, it is just how their mind works. For non-financial records, you could use this filing type for construction projects at home.
Which ever method you prefer, just remember the most important part is keeping up so you don’t get buried underneath your paperwork. That is one of the things that stress me out most. I hate to see a pile of paper staring at me, begging to be taken care of.
A couple other tips to keep in mind when dealing with paperwork;
- If you wonder if you really need to keep the paper, you most likely don’t. Don’t be afraid to let go, especially now that you can access most records online. Sometimes it is really liberating to let go!
- When filing financial paperwork, I have found that keeping the most current papers in the front of the file makes more sense than in the back. You generally look for your most current bills/papers, so it is so much easier to just have them up front. But if you can’t get your mind to switch, just remember, you have to do what works best for you!
Following the Laws of Inertia
An object will stay at rest or stay in motion unless acted on by a net external force –Sir Isaac Newton
I clearly remember learning about the laws of motion in middle school, doing some experiments to see exactly what it was all about. At that point, I thought it only pertained to balls, but I have now found it can go way beyond that.
Have you ever noticed yourself following the laws of inertia? You get going, and ain’t nothing going to stop you! Then just a few days later you find yourself having a hard time pulling your butt out of bed. Why is this?
MY HYPOTHESIS:
When we have places to go and things to do, we go into SUPER PRODUCTIVE MODE and follow the objects in motion portion of the law. We might not do everything that comes to mind, but the results are pretty impressive. On the other hand, when we don’t have much to look forward to or work towards, we find ourselves dragging ourselves out of bed late in the day and almost accomplishing nothing.
This all goes back to the idea, if you want something done, ask a busy person to do it. If you find that you follow this pattern in your life, use it to your advantage. Pick a “day of rest” and enjoy a good book, spend time cuddling with your loved ones, or spend time meditating. Then makes some goals to work towards on the other days of the week and get going!
And don’t forget if someone asks why you did nothing but read a book one day, you can always use the excuse, “I’m just following the laws of inertia.” It’s one of my favorites!
Organization Basics
“Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it’s not all mixed up.”–A.A. Milne
Most people cringe at the thought of getting organized. It can be a daunting task, but the reward is priceless and let’s face it, it just makes life so much easier in the long run. If we could just get over the prejudice we have against organizing, we could come to realize that it is something that can greatly improve our lives.
Sometimes the biggest obstacle we have when we are trying to get organized is knowing where to start. And with our over-committed schedule, we leave ourselves little time to think, much less, get ourselves pulled together enough to get organized. To overcome this downward spiral, let’s take a look at the basics and take this bit by bit.
There are three basic parts of organizing;
- Simplify
- Plan
- Prioritize
SIMPLIFY:
“Less is more!” –Unknown
There is simple truth to this simple saying. Let’s learn the lesson from our forbearer’s and apply this wisdom into our lives. We all want more out of life, and if doing less is what gets us there, then by golly, let’s do less!!
So many of us have such high expectations of ourselves and even our family members, especially all you parents out there. Don’t get me wrong, I think it is very important to have hopes and goals for both ourselves individually and for our loved ones. We just need to take a step back sometimes and realize what cost we pay for our excessive dreams. If we are always stressed and unhappy, then something just isn’t right and we need to address it ASAP.
To simplify our lives means we need to take a moment and re-evaluate what we are doing and find ways to make it less complicated. This can go in so many different directions, from clutter to time management. When we simplify, and find ways to cut corners and perhaps lower our expectations by just a small degree, then we will find more time to enjoy life. Isn’t that what we all want?
PLAN:
“It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.”–Eleanor Roosevelt
It’s time to stop wasting our time wishing and start planning. Plans come in so many different shapes and sizes, but they generally have one result, peace of mind. When you take the extra time to pre-think what you are about to do, your chances for success increase dramatically. There have been studies that indicate the fact that simply writing your goals down significantly increase your chances of accomplishing your goals. (http://www.dominican.edu/dominicannews/study-backs-up-strategies-for-achieving-goals.html).
Since a good chunk of society has a never-ending “to do” list and ever-increasing expectations of ourselves, perhaps if we could take this simple advice of writing it down and creating a simple plan, we might decrease our stress level and increase our chances for success in achieving our goals.
PRIORITIZE:
“Organize your life around your dreams – and watch them come true.” –Unknown
It is amazing how many of us spend a good chunk of our precious time doing things that really don’t matter. When you get a chance, take a minute and evaluate how much of your day is spent wasted to TV, the internet or other time-wasting devices. I know that these things can be useful and help us relax at times, but are we really using them to the best of our advantage. I’m sure if you were to sit down and write out your life goals, watching a lot of television would not be on your list. So then my question is this; why do we spend so much time doing things that really don’t matter to us?
Take a moment and write down what is important to you. After you get a list, put them in order from most important to least important. Does your list coincide with the amount of time you spend involved supporting these priorities? If not, what can you do you spend more time
enjoying those things that are important to you?
Prioritizing our lives will help us find more happiness, because we will be spending most of our time doing the things that are important to us. And who doesn’t want to be happy?
When we take the time to put a little effort into our lives, it is amazing how much smoother things seems to go. I challenge you to try it.
“It is my observation that most people get ahead during the time that others waste.” –Henry Ford
Mayhem Managed 