Zen Habits offers 10 steps to a life of Simplicity. Then we weigh in with a few of our own Zenny Tips.

 You wake up every morning and wonder how you’re going to tackle the surmountable task of Getting Through The Day. Your brain is so cluttered with preparation for the Daily Grind (tell Hubby to pick up the kids - you’ve got a meeting with the VP, grab wine for the neighbor’s party you’re stopping at tomorrow, make sure hubby picked up kids, order groceries online, have them delivered on Friday, make sure Danny ACTUALLY went to school this time, etc etc etc) you need a checklist just to get from the Bed to the Kitchen Stage of your routine. You get to work and realize the note you wrote yourself yesterday is now lost in Ground Zero of your war-torn desk. The painters knocked over the largest of your three family photos, leaving a cracked picture and shards under your dusty out/in/pending/? piles of “papers.”

Sound familiar at all? To a greater or lesser extent, this description not only describes our morning routine, but also extrapolates to our entire lives. We get so much on our plate that we have no time for the little things, many of which greatly influence the quality of our lives.

(Source)

Lucky for us, there’s a little Zen to help us out. Zen Habits has 10 things you can do to simplify your life. Check them out, and pick your favorite to do today. Our favorites are:

3. Purge a drawer
7. Clear your desk
8. Clear out your email inbox

We read this list (and accompanying advice) and were so inspired we came up with a few of our own. Read at your own risk.

1. Install an Idea Parking Lot – If you’re like me, you probably come up with random, potentially good ideas throughout the day. Usually they don’t pertain the task at hand, but you don’t want to forget them? What do you do? Park them. In the Lot. Have a designated piece of paper, section of your whiteboard, or a voice recorder and jot down the essence of the idea. Then get back to the task at hand. Have a designated time to distribute the ideas to their proper projects. Every Monday, clear out last weeks ideas, I have 4 categories – Delete, Act on it Now, Pending (requires something else first), Forward to someone else. After 15 minutes my Parking Lot only has pending items.

How Zen of me.

2. The Lunch Iron Curtain – I love this one. Establish with your boss, coworkers, and water boy that your Lunch Hour is just that. From 12pm – 1pm every day you are unavailable for comment. Use that time to do Zenny things, like eating in peace. Think about something else for a while, call your mom, or just close your eyes and taste your food. This will do wonders. Give yourself something to look forward to – establish at least 2 Iron Curtain days.

3. Web Browser Tyranny – Focus solely on your task at hand, be it email, design, or whatever. Close all browser windows not pertaining to this. Check out Tab Mixer Plus if you want to save browsing sessions.

4. Blue Light Special in the Fridge – Go to your fridge. Cringe. Now that that’s out of the way, pull out any sort of leftover food item. Anything you won’t eat in the next 48 hours should be pawned off to your friend Hungry Adam, composted, or thrown away (sigh).j

5. The “Library” Break-up – So where is your stack of “I’m going to read these soon” books? Pick out The One you NEED TO READ NOW OR THE KARMA POLICE ARE COMING and give all the others away. Lend them, maybe your friend who actually reads will inspire you through her book review. Make reading pleasurable, and then you’ll actually do it.j

6. Unsubscribe from mailing lists and newsletters if you haven’t read the last 2 editions. That one’s easy.

We’ll our additions short; a long list wouldn’t be very simple of us. So now you have some ideas to start cutting away the fat and clutter of your daily life. Don’t try to slay the Giant in one swipe, pick one or two and incorporate them in to your routine. Once they become habit, pick one or two more. Continue this process until you feel yourself getting some serious Zen on.

Great Links That Will Guarantee a Good Night’s Sleep  and Make Sure You’re Fresh and On Time in the Morning

We want to let you in on a cool resource that will serve you so well in life. If you haven’t come across wikiHow yet you’ve been missing out. If you ever have a problem of how to do something or find yourself in a sticky, precarious situation look no further.

below: a screenshot of wikiHow

WikiHow Defined:

“wikiHow is a collaborative writing project to build the world’s largest, highest quality how-to manual. With your edits, we can create a free resource that helps millions of people by offering solutions to the problems of everyday life. wikiHow currently contains 22,479 articles written, edited, and maintained primarily by volunteers. Please join us by writing on a topic not yet covered, or editing a page that someone else has started.”

We use it and have seen it been put into action:

At a party a few weeks back my friend managed to get locked out of her room. After exhausting every possibility we could think of, she didn’t know where to turn.

After disappearing for 10 mins she appeared from the shadows and unlocked the door, but HOW?!!!!!

The Answer:

How to Open a Door with a Knife

Here, at Self Pursuit, we’d like to show you the value of this resource and give you some great advice on getting the best night’s sleep and wake up feeling right as rain!

Find out:

How to Find Places to Sleep in the Cold

How to Go to Bed Early

How to Rest With Your Eyes Open

How to Wake up Peacefully

How to Wake up a Person

How to Sleep Better

How to Wake up for Class

How to Wake Up On Time

How to Wake Up Without an Alarm Clock

How to Make Breakfast in Bed

What do you think of wikiHow? We’re intrigued to hear your feedback.

PS – Which priceless ‘How Tos’ have you discovered?

Interesting Articles

18 Wonders of the Human Body

5 Battles To Overcome Procrastination

The Road to Success

Problem Solving Tools and Techniques

See How Easily you can Overcome Procrastination by Conquering These 5 Battles

Are you struggling to overcome procrastination?

Do you find yourself festering and stewing without getting anything done?

Procrastinators and Procrastination fit into 3 types:

• arousal types, or thrill-seekers, who wait to the last minute for the euphoric rush.
• avoiders, who may be avoiding fear of failure or even fear of success, but in either case are very concerned with what others think of them; they would rather have others think they lack effort than ability.
• decisional procrastinators, who cannot make a decision. Not making a decision absolves procrastinators of responsibility for the outcome of events.

Which type are you? . . . whichever type you are, you can overcome procrastination if you conquer these 5 battles:

5 Battles to Overcome Procrastination

1. Chore versus Pleasure

A phrase I like to use when I’ve seen somebody for the first time in a long time that I’ve enjoyed is . . .

“Always a pleasure, never a chore”

This rings so true when it comes to overcoming procrastination. If you adopt the mindset that a task you’re about to do is a “pleasure” for you, you’ll be more likely to do something about it and get it done with passion and purpose.

2. Finishing versus Beginning

Many procrastinators find themselves overwhelmed with information that they find hard to process and simply see a task as being impossible. You don’t have to finish tasks in one breath or stretch; if you start a task you’re more likely to pick up the pace as you go along.

3. Perfectionist versus Productivist

One common trait of procrastinators is that they are perfectionists. If you look above this means they’ll often fit into the ‘avoiders’ category. So many tasks that need to be done simply don’t require perfection and should only be given the time and effort they deserve.

I might have made up a word here in ‘productivist’, it basically means someone who is productive and gets things done. They don’t see too much importance in basic or minor tasks. If something isn’t crucial then don’t strive for perfection – aim to get things done. 

4. ‘Time is my Master’ versus ‘Master of Time’

Don’t be a slave to your watch. Don’t feel constrained by time. A clear mind is essential when it comes to completing tasks. It’s natural that your attention wanes after about an hour of solid concentration. Take a break! Have a coffee, a bath, a walk, anything that will clear your mind and let you refocus.

5. Eating a Whole Horse versus Bite-Sized-Pieces

As hungry as I get at times, the thought of eating a whole horse is quite daunting. If you’ve got a monster of a task or project don’t try and tackle the beast in one go. If you divide the task into smaller bite-sized-pieces and goals they will be a lot easier to digest.

This method is a great means to an ends to pursue a task. In no time big tasks will not seem so overwhelming and you’ll change your mindset to that of ‘everything is possible’.

Are you a prolific procrastinator? Get the lowdown on everything you can imagine on procrastination with 10 Things You Need To Know About Procrastination

Read some of our featured articles:

The Science Behind Love

18 Wonders of the Human Body

Increase Your Brain Activity with 15 Ways

Are We Living The Fast Life or the Good Life? 

Just think how hectic modern life has become, the hustle and bustle of city life and the rat race has never been more chaotic. We are vastly living in a society that revolves around time and time’s running out!

BUT . . . have you ever thought that this pace of life is damaging your health, relationships, love life and your recognition of the finer things in life?

I’m showcasing for you another great TED talk from Canadian journalist, Carl Honore who is a stern advocate of the slow movement.

“These days instant gratification now even takes too long” – Postcards from the Edge

Take Heed of this Great Video

In Praise of Slowness: Challenging the Cult of Speed by Carl Honore >>

Carl Honore Bio >>

 My Bill Hicks Tribute

Bill Hicks is one of, if not the greatest comedian who ever lived in my opinion. This is also an opinion held my many others (Spike Magazine).

His style of comedy was what set him apart from the rest, he wasn’t afraid of speaking his mind and you could almost describe him as a preacher. This is maybe an extreme view but his style of the sophisticated rant was thought provoking to say the least. His observations about life are mindblowing and can be applied to all the modern failings in the world today.

Whatever your belief system is  it’s a powerful message to follow.

He has a view on life that we should embrace, after all life is a ride . . . so Enjoy It!

“I was told when I grew up I could be anything I wanted: a fireman, a policeman, a doctor – even President, it seemed. And for the first time in the history of mankind, something new, called an astronaut. . .

But like so many kids brought up on a steady diet of Westerns, I always wanted to be the avenging cowboy hero—that lone voice in the wilderness, fighting corruption and evil wherever I found it, and standing for freedom, truth and justice. . .

 And in my heart of hearts I still track the remnants of that dream wherever I go, in my endless ride into the setting sun.” – the great Bill Hicks

Read More Information on:

- Bill Hicks: Love All The People >>

You’ve all heard the phrase “Laughter is the Best Medicine” – it might be a common cliche but let’s be honest it rings so true. My personal favourite that i also believe we should take on board is:

“You Gotta Laugh, Else you’d cry” 

Whenever I feel down I have many feel good factors and resources at my disposal that I can turn to to immediately put that smile back on my face. Films can be great resources for this – my favourites for a cure of the blues are American Beauty and Rain Man, maybe a bit of an odd choice ( American beauty I suppose is a bit of a dark movie) but see for yourself and I’m sure you’ll see what I mean.

Whatever your ‘pick me up choice’ is it really doesn’t matter but everyone has them . . . if you don’t have one of these then discover what your ‘pick me up choice’ is.

I found this great little pick me up clip on YouTube – it really goes to show that laughter is the best medicine. It’s made millions of people laugh, almost 15 million people have viewed this clip and it certainly puts a smile on your face. . .

Laughter Is The Best Medicine

What things do you use as ‘pick me ups’?

Here’s Another great pick me up:

- 13 Million People Hug Strangers And Brighten Up Their Lives >>

You Can Increase the Power of your Brain

There are many people in life who cruise along in their comfort zone in a low powered job when they could be pushing for things a lot harder and pushing themselves in life. Often the one thing thats holding them back is themselves – they might not think they are good at anything and just settle for something easy.

If this is you I have a newsflash for you – EVERYBODY IN LIFE IS GOOD AT SOMETHING – there it is. . .

If you think this isn’t the case then you simply haven’t found what you are good at yet. I recently found a great article that shows the best ways to optimize your IQ and to optimize the potential of the brain. And the good news is that it’s so easy.

Optimizing Your I.Q. and Maximizing the Brain’s Potential

Everyone has heard of an IQ test. The potential of the brain is called intelligence quotient or I.Q. These tests use the theories of unitary and multiple, which is believed to the two main theories when studying the brain.

Unitary refers to the part of the brain where the linguistic and mathematical capacities and confined them to that area. While the multiply theory include the parts of the brain that use visual/ spatial, musical/rhythmic, body/kinesthetic, interpersonal or intrapersonal development.

It has been determined that there is only three ways to increase your brains potential.

You first have to determine what you are good at. Very few people are good at everything. A person is considered intelligent whether their skill is derived from music, visual, body, or intrapersonal, intelligence.

Most people possess these skills and probably do not even realize it. If you are a creative person at heart, try your hand at writing, acting or singing.

You may be amazed at how well you do. Some people are born with in affinity for numbers; you may not think it is anything special, however others may. There are so many different areas in which you the potential excel.

Gymnastics, Dancing, building or designing, you do not know what you are capable of doing until you try. You get the most amazing feeling when you accomplish something you have never done before. If you do not even try, you are doing yourself a great disservice.

Very few people are classified as geniuses. A genius is a person who has extreme intelligence. Such people include Einstein, Mozart and Bach. These brilliant men accomplished greatness through their genius. This is not to say that you have to be a genius to be successful.

It simply means that you should use your brain to the fullest extent that you can. The more you try to improve yourself, the more your brain will benefit from it. When you utilize your brains potential you can achieve anything. Using your will power can point you in the right direction.

Broadening your horizons will also increase your brains potential. This is not to say that you should sit down and study the encyclopedia. When you study, you are acquiring knowledge through all five senses- touch, taste, see, smell, and taste.

You want to learn from your experiences in life, and experience everything in life. You cannot do that by studying. This is an excellent way to increase the potential of your brain.

New skills can be learned everyday. Talent comes in two forms, either you are born with it or you learn it. The brain is like a sponge, ready to absorb everything that is brought to it. The old adage that practice makes perfect holds true.

It is not difficult to maximize the brains potential. Many people everyday do it without even realizing it.

By simply reading a book, or singing along to your favorite song on the radio, you can increase your brains potential.

Read the full article >>

S0 . . . What’s your IQ?

The article demonstrated how to optimize your IQ, let’s get the facts briefly on IQ tests:

An intelligence quotient or IQ is a score derived from one of several different standardized tests attempting to measure intelligence. IQ tests are generally designed and used because they are found to be predictive of later intellectual achievement, such as educational achievement. IQ also correlates with job performance and income, although in all cases other factors explain most of the variance. Recent work has demonstrated links between IQ and health.

There’s the facts; I don’t really want to get into a debate about the virtue of IQ tests and how much they are truly worth. I just want to add that they indeed have their critiques that see them as being outdated and inaccurate.

Some scientists dispute psychometrics entirely. In The Mismeasure of Man professor Stephen Jay Gould argued that intelligence tests were based on faulty assumptions and showed their history of being used as the basis for scientific racism.  He wrote:

“…the abstraction of intelligence as a single entity, its location within the brain, its quantification as one number for each individual, and the use of these numbers to rank people in a single series of worthiness, invariably to find that oppressed and disadvantaged groups—races, classes, or sexes—are innately inferior and deserve their status.”

Read more facts on IQ

Take the Test

See how you fare on this IQ test. Who knows…? You could be intelligent enough to get into Mensa.

Mensa Test >>

Read more info on:

Mensa >>

Jim Rohn: A Remarkable Communicator

After much perusing I found a great clip from Jim Rohn, one of the personal development greats, where he reveals the valuable essentials to becoming wealthy in both body and mind.

He’s the kind of character that when he talks people listen. In this great 7 mins Jim exudes passion and shares remarkable stories on leadership and success. See what you think . .  .

Exclusive Jim Rohn Video

Look to the Future

Life is constantly blossoming however one easy way to not live your life to the max is to get dwelled down in events that have happened in the past. Let’s face it we all have a past and there’s things in our past that don’t bring back the fondest of memories.  In order to move on and to recover from these misfortunes or bad memories it’s so important to look to the future and don’t dwell on the past.

It’s really easy to say something like this but believe me it’s invaluable advice. From personal experience I know that time is a great healer – BUT whatever you do don’t get frozen in time – recognize future opportunities and get on the road to fulfill them.

We all react differently to our mishaps in life – I found this great article which identifies how different people react. The author explains how it’s not easy but it’s the most sane way to live:

Focus on the opportunities of the future, not the tragedies of the past

Life isn’t always easy. I’m sure I don’t have to convince you of that. We all face tragedies and make mistakes. That’s just part of existing on this planet.But at the same time, we’re all provided with opportunities and good times. It’s a mix of the bitter and the sweet.

Moving On

Part of being successful and happy in life, I believe, is to be able to move on from the tragedies of the past. And we all have them. Sure some of us get it worse than others, but you have to play with the cards life deals you.

If you’ve been dumped by your lover, been a victim of crime, failed in business, or lost a friend, then you’re just one of the multitude. We all face such challenges and sometimes worse. It’s the people who can pick themselves up, after an understandable period of mourning, and refocus themselves back on the future who are likely to find happiness. We are human, and need time to recover from setbacks, but it’s a mistake to let them consume you.

Attitude

I’ve travelled extensively and met all sorts of people in my time. The difference between those who are happy and those who aren’t is often not to do with circumstances, but with attitude. The ones who can shrug off life’s difficulties and work towards something better in the future are the ones who are smiling. They feel a quiet confidence, that they can still find a little goodness and light.

Others I meet can let one negative event in their lives destroy any chance of happiness. They turn the bad things that happened to them over and over in their minds until the world appears dark and brutal. Perhaps they’ve been through a messy divorce or lost their lucrative career. Perhaps they’ve had a health problem, or suffered as a victim of crime. Whatever it is, they just don’t seem to be able to move on. Their entire life is viewed through the lens of the problems from the past.

You can see this also at play in certain peoples. Those is some countries can’t escape from ancient crimes they feel were perpetrated against them. They live their entire lives attempting to correct what should long have been forgotten. Meanwhile, those in other countries seem to do little else but focus on the opportunities of the future.

The Future

I’m sure you can find examples of each without having to think too hard. Focus on the opportunities of the future, not the tragedies of the past when living your own life. It’s not always easy, but it’s the most sane way to live. And, of course, it’s your best hope of happiness.

Read More:

- Original Article

John Stone’s 4 Year Mind Over Matter Quest

This is a truly fascinating quest that really shows what we can achieve if we set our minds to focus on something.

John Stone decided to train, train and train to get his body to peak performance; he tracked this goal religiously by taking photos initially every day and then monthly. The evidence speaks for itself.

Check out his photos from skinny guy to beefcake. . . and then go and discover what it took John to complete his feat and what it would take you to achieve a similar goal.

From This Early 2003

TO THIS!!!!!

4 Years Later

For so many people, men and women alike, getting a perfect body is a common goal to set – being physically fit is proven to boost your health and often has the effect of making you feel good within yourself.

These pics shows that however skinny you are you can achieve your goals, whether you want to be the next Arnold Schwarzenegger or you just want to have a small but perfectly formed body.

I’m sure many of you are looking at the pictures a bit in disbelief – How can such a skinny guy in April 2003 go to an absolute beefcake in December 2006?

I invite you to fill in the blanks for this remarkable 4 years. He updated the progression of his training using his website every day. Also there’s a dedicated frequently asked question section which offers you invaluable advice if you are wanting to go down the same road.

Explore: -

The pictures from January 2003 to March 2007

Frequently Asked Questions John Has Faced

John Stone Fitness