Category Archives: Knowledge

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Regrets, I’ve had a few…

I’m in my mid-forties now, and you can’t live that long without making a few mistakes. Poor choices of words in a delicate situation, making a wrong career move, and bad money decisions early in my married life are just a few things I look back on with a cringe. Here are 3 ways I have used to get past regret in my life.

Realize that you are normal

If you hold yourself to a standard of unattainable perfection, you can live with guilt and anxiety your entire life. I once worked with someone who made a significant error on the monthly financial reports. She was a great employee, and had never made a mistake worth mentioning in the time she worked with me. She alerted me to the mistake, we fixed it, and moved on. There were no consequences, and there was no need for any discipline. But, she couldn’t let it go, and ended up crying in her office the rest of the day. Everyone is going to makes mistakes from time to time. Which leads me to the next point –

Don’t let your past mistakes define you

I’ve heard it said that everyone is a product of their decisions made up to today, and I believe that to be largely true. I would add, however, that how we deal with the consequences from those decisions reveals our character and makeup. Every personality type deals with mistakes differently. You may be inclined to blow them off, or you may internalize them. Internalizing guilt and shame can even lead to physical issues. Mistakes are going to be a part of your past, but don’t make them who you are. Learn what you need to from them and move on.

Always look 5 to 10 years into the future

One of the best pieces of advice I have been given, and one I give out regularly, is to make every decision with a view of 5 to 10 years into the future. If you want to save more money, change your career, or finally lose that weight, seeing how that decision impacts your life down the road can really add motivation, and make any mistakes seem small and recoverable.

Seeing ways that we can move past regret for past mistakes or poor decisions can help you make better choices in the future, and be a happier, more productive person. How do you get past prior mistakes? Leave a comment, and don’t forget to share!

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The Best Facebook Tweak Ever!

Is your Facebook news feed crowded with useless ads? Do game requests make you want to punch a baby? Do you have friends constantly on a political rant, or are selling something you care nothing about? Have no fear! I have the answer.

Enter F.B. Purity. F.B. (Fluff Busting) Purity is a Facebook customizing browser extension. You can get it for free (donations accepted) for Safari, Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Maxthon browsers (no Internet Explorer, but why would you use that anyway?). F.B. Purity allows you to customize the Facebook experience so you only see the information relevant to you.

If you are like me, you want to scan through your news feed, like or comment on friend’s posts, and get out. I have no interest in games, irrelevant ads, and the myriad of game and application spam that crowd my news feed. With F.B. Purity, you can completely eliminate anything you don’t want to see. Simply install the extension and go to Facebook. You will see a new line beneath the status update box:

fbpurity

Clicking on the F.B. Purity link opens the options menu. Poke around with the options to get the look that you want. It took me about ten minutes from start to finish. My favorite: The Custom Text Filter. This sucker is magical. If you are tired of your friends commenting on the President (positively or negatively), simply type “Obama” in the filter box. Any post with the word “Obama” will not appear in your news feed. Have a friend who sells a product you don’t want to engage with? Type the name of the product in the filter, and you won’t see any posts containing that product name in your news feed, but will still see all others from that friend! Friendship preserved.

As you can see in the picture above, you can see the number of posts that have been hidden, and you can click the Show link to view them if you wish. In ten simple minutes, I went from the regular crazy busy Facebook page to a lean news feed that allows me to use Facebook as I wish, and ignore everything else.

If you are looking for more tips and tricks, I have a FREE e-book for you with the tools I use to run my business. Click here to get it. Please leave a comment and share this post with your friends!

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Tame Your Email Inbox Forever

Is your Inbox overrun with unread messages? Are you using your Inbox as your to-do list? Are messages falling past the bottom of the screen, only to be lost forever? Do not fear, I’m here to help.

I am a neat freak. I have been ridiculed throughout my life for having a place for everything, and putting everything in it’s place. But more than once in my working life, my email Inbox has been a tragic mess by any standard. I see it every week in one clients office or another. Here are some ways to get on top of the problem, and make “Inbox Zero” a reality.

Declare Email “Bankruptcy”

This is exactly what you think. Pick a start date, highlight EVERYTHING before that date, and hit the delete button. This is clearly not the best way to organize your information, but chances are you are not going to go back and read or use those 2 year old emails anyway.

Create 3 simple Inbox folders

This is the system I use, and it has absolutely changed the way I process my messages. It is based on the book Getting Things Done by David Allen. In your Mail program (I use Apple Mail), go to Mailbox->New Mailbox.

menu

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the “Name” field, type @Action. Do this two more times, creating @Waiting For, and Processed Mail. The “@“ symbol makes it sort properly. When you are done, it should look like this:

mailboxes

 

 

 

Now, it’s time to process your email. Go through each email (Touch it ONCE ONLY!), and do one of four things:

1) If you no longer need it, and know you will never need it again, delete it and don’t look back.

2) If you no longer need it, and but need it for future reference, drag it to the Processed Mail folder. With today’s advanced search functions, you can easily find it again if needed.

3) If it is something for which you are waiting on a response before you can act on it, move it to the @Waiting For folder.

4) If requires your action, move it to – you got it – @Action.

Work through your Inbox until it is empty – and I mean EMPTY. Now, with your messages sorted into the proper folders (and many deleted), you know where to go for the proper action. Once you achieve Inbox Zero, you will never go back, I promise. Let me know if these tips work for you, or feel free to add yours in the comments section.

How To Automate Evernote by Kosio Angelov (High Performance Lifestyle, 2014)

This book is a great companion to Evernote Essentials. Where Brett Kelly gives you the detail of every part of the Evernote application, Kosio Angelov shows you how to automate getting things into Evernote. From cloud-to-cloud services such as IFTTT to simple mail filtering, How To Automate Evernote will save you time and clear your brain. Get a copy now!

Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World by Michael Hyatt (Thomas Nelson, 2012)

This book is the textbook for launching yourself into the wild world of social media. Whether you have a service to sell or a product to promote, Platform will give you the tools you need to successfully get noticed among the various social media outlets. Be it blogging, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or any other site, Platform is a one-stop shop for everything you need.

Michael Hyatt also produces an excellent podcast on intentional leadership. Check him out on iTunes.