Simple Frugality

Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on twitter or identica.

There’s never a good time to sit down and think about what you want to accomplish in life. We have busy lives, and even when we’re not busy, we might just feel more like vegging in front of the TV or checking our feeds than thinking about the rest of our lives.

Do it today, if you haven’t yet. It could take as little as 10 or 20 minutes, and it could make all the difference in the world.

And it’s not that hard. You probably already have a good idea of what you want to do, but you may not have it written down. Or maybe you’ve done this exercise before, but you haven’t updated your goals for awhile. Now’s the time to do it.

1. How to start? First, think about what you’d like people to say about you at your funeral. This comes from Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People — the habit called “Begin with the end in mind.” It’s also very effective. Imagine you are at the end of your life, looking back. What would you like to have accomplished? What kind of person would you like to have been?

Now here’s the key: start living your life so that you will eventually get to that point.

2. Now that you’ve given that a little thought, jot down some ideas for life goals you’d like to achieve before you die.

They can be in many areas, but here are a few to start with: professional, education, family, spiritual, travel, recreation, hobbies, community, charity. You can probably think of more, and you don’t need to have goals in all of these areas. Just some topics to get you started.

3. Refine your list, or expand it. After your initial brainstorm, you may want to trim it down. But you may also want to expand: sometimes it’s fun, and worthwhile, to dream big.

4. Now break it down. What should you accomplish in the next 10 years for each of these goals? How about 5 years? How about two years? One year? And this month?

Once you’ve planned out each goal for 10-year, 5-year, 2-year, 1-year and 1-month periods, you’ve got yourself a pretty solid plan.

5. Take action! I like to take my monthly goals, and make a to-do list for this week. What can I do today to further my goals? And if I can get just one thing done, I’ve done a lot to make those dreams a reality!

Take a step towards your dreams today by writing them down, and making a plan.

Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on twitter or identica.

Quick intro: I first intended this Top 20 list to be in a single post, but I decided that breaking them into separate posts would allow me to concentrate on each a little more. So, I present my list of the Top 20 Motivation Hacks.

A number of people have commented that I must be dedicated to achieve some of the goals I’m going for: exercise, frugality, organization, healthy eating, etc. Well, I don’t believe in someone being naturally “dedicated” … it’s all a matter of motivation. You can achieve anything if you motivate yourself enough.

Motivation Hack #6: Make it a rule never to skip two days in a row.

This doesn’t mean calendar days, but days in which you are supposed to take action towards your goal. For example, if you planned to work out on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, don’t skip two of those workouts in a row (if you skip Monday, be sure to work out on Wednesday). The same would be true of any other scheduled goal tasks. If you are trying to eat healthy every day, and eat McDonald’s today, be sure not to cave in tomorrow as well.

This rule takes into account our natural tendency to miss days now and then. We are not perfect. I certainly am not. But missing one day should not cause us to get sidetracked for good. If we miss two days in a row, soon we’ll miss three days in a row, and we’re sliding down that slippery slope.

Don’t allow it to happen. It’s harder to start back up after a long break than it is after just missing one day. If you just miss one workout, for example, you’ve still got momentum going. Keep it going.

It’s not impossible to start back up if you’ve missed a week or a month or more, and in fact I urge you to do so if you have missed that much time already. You just have to start slow. But you’re much more likely to stick with it if you can be consistent, and you’ll see much better progress towards your goal too. Consistency is important in improvement.

So, you missed one day … now the second day is upon you and you are feeling lazy … tell yourself NO! You will not miss two days in a row! Zen Habits says so! And just get started. You’ll thank yourself later.

I’ve been a fan of goals website 43 Things for awhile, although I don’t use it on a daily basis. What I love about it is that it forces you to think about what you want to achieve, what you’d like to do this year, or over the next two or five or 10 years.

If you haven’t done it yet, I suggest you go to the site and try it out (and no, I’m not getting paid by them!) … set your 43 things that you’d like to do (or whatever number you’d like). The cool thing is you can look at other people’s goals, and get ideas and inspiration from people all over the world. There are also other kinds of lists … books you’d like to read, places you want to visit, your lists of favorites or things you’d like to do before you die. Many possibilities, all of them good.

Of course, you can do this on paper or on any program. As long as you set some goals. Then make a plan to achieve them. Last year I set my top 8 goals for the year, and I accomplished all but one (to be able to do 25 pullups, which I hope to do this year).

Another cool feature, a new one, is the personal challenge — you publicly challenge yourself to do one of your things by a certain date, and if you don’t, you set something that you have to do instead (like eat your hat, or whatever).

Here are the 18 things left on my list:

1. complete a triathlon
2. live passionately
3. get out of debt
4. make my wife happy for the rest of her life
5. be present
6. live simply
7. pare my life to its essentials
8. save more money
9. complete an ironman triathlon
10. see the northern lights
11. practice zen
12. backpack through Europe
13. finish reading Ulysses
14. build a simple house
15. help end world hunger
16. do twenty-five pullups
17. watch a sunset in thailand
18. run a marathon in under 3.5 hours

I had more on here, but I’ve already checked them off.

For a more fun list, see the list of things I want to do before I die.

What are YOUR 43 things?

Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on twitter or identica.

Quick intro: I first intended this Top 20 list to be in a single post, but I decided that breaking them into separate posts would allow me to concentrate on each a little more. So, I present my list of the Top 20 Motivation Hacks.

A number of people have commented that I must be dedicated to achieve some of the goals I’m going for: exercise, frugality, organization, healthy eating, etc. Well, I don’t believe in someone being naturally “dedicated” … it’s all a matter of motivation. You can achieve anything if you motivate yourself enough.

Motivation Hack #7: Become aware of your urges to quit, and be prepared for them.

One of the things I discovered as I was quitting smoking was that when I had an urge to smoke a cigarette, I didn’t really think about it. I wasn’t aware of the urge on a conscious level. And so I would automatically start justifying the urge, without realizing I was doing it.

And so I discovered that one of the most powerful things I could do was to start being more conscious of those urges. A good exercise is to go through the day with a little piece of paper and put a tally mark for each time you get an urge. It simply makes you aware of the urges.

This can work for any goal, because with any goal, we get urges to quit, at least for that moment. We might not feel like running today, so we automatically begin justifying it to ourselves. We might feel a lag in motivation about spending (and spending urges are strong!) or about dieting or anything else really. Become aware of those urges, those moments of crisis that are mostly unconscious.

The next step is to have a plan for when those urges hit. Plan for it beforehand, and write down your plan, because once those urges hit, you will not feel like coming up with a plan. It will be too late, usually. The plan could include such tactics found in the other motivation hacks here on this site, such as “just get started” or “remind yourself of your powerful reasons”. My strategy for quitting smoking was to take deep breaths and drink water, and never have a cigarette without goiing on the quit smoking forum and posting about my urges first. Then, if that didn’t work, I would first enlist the help of my supporters (my wife and mom). I made it very difficult to have that cigarette. And that worked for me. I suggest you have a similar plan, with a series of obstacles to get in your way.

First be aware of those urges. We all have them, and it’s no shame to get them. Just know that they are happening. And have a plan to conquer them. They are strong, but not unbeatable.

Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on twitter or identica.

We have all had them as we set and go after our goals, no matter where we are or what our goals may be: naysayers, detractors, people who poke fun or get angry or tell us we can’t do it.

Detractors are very serious business, even if they just seem to be having a little fun at our expense. Don’t let them stop you or even slow you down.

How do you deal with detractors? Each one will be different, but here are a few tips:

1. First learn to identify them. Sometimes we don’t realize that someone is being a detractor. They may be a close friend or spouse or other trusted person, so when they scoff or say negative things, we trust them and take it to heart. But there’s a difference between being realistic and just being a naysayer. Learn to listen to what others are saying, and see what your reaction is. If it discourages you, makes you feel like quitting, then maybe this person is being a detractor.
2. See if they have a valid point. Like I said, sometimes they are just trying to be realistic. They might have a good reason for their negativity. Step back, objectively think about whether they are bringing up a real obstacle that must be overcome, and if so, figure out how to overcome it. It’s rarely insurmountable. If you want it enough, you can figure out a solution. Now, if they don’t have a valid point, read on.
3. Zap any negative thoughts they give you. Detractors have a way of taking their negative thoughts and transferring them to you. Suddenly, there’s a seed of doubt. And it can grow into a huge oak tree of doubt, with roots that tear up the foundation of your goals. Stop those negative thoughts as soon as possible. Push them out, and think positive thoughts instead. Don’t let them overcome you.
4. Realize that there will always be detractors, and let them slide off you like water on a duck’s back. In every person’s life, there will be at least one detractor, if not more. You cannot completely avoid them. But you don’t need to listen to them. Just smile, and let them talk. Their words cannot stop you. They have no effect on you if you ignore their words.
5. Confront them, and get them on your side. Sometimes the detractor is someone close to you, someone you cannot ignore. If so, it’s best to enlist the help of this person instead of fighting against them. Do this as early as possible. Tell them that this goal is very important to you, and you cannot do it without their help. Tell them that you realize they have doubts, but you really need them to be positive, and support you. They can be your best ally, instead of your worst detractor.
6. Laugh with them. Sometimes people are uncomfortable when you make a change, and so in order to ease this discomfort, they will make jokes or tease you. This probably has less to do with you than it does with their discomfort. They don’t know how else to deal with this change. Realize this, and just laugh. If you take it as a good-natured joke, sometimes this will disarm them. They may continue to make jokes, but it won’t be as tense and won’t have as much an effect on you if you just keep laughing.
7. Have counterarguments ready, and inform them. Sometimes people are just misinformed. They might have misunderstandings about what you are doing. Know all of their arguments, and the common potential arguments, and have counterarguments ready. Do your research, and be very informed. Then try to educate your detractor. If you do it right, with a positive, sincere attitude, you might actually get the person to listen, and perhaps even change their mind. If not, at the very least you know better, and you don’t let their arguments create doubt in your mind.
8. Be secure in the knowledge that you are doing something good. Sometimes there’s nothing you can do. You can’t win them over, you can’t avoid them, you can’t laugh with them. So you have to just ignore them, and keep telling yourself that when you do achieve your goal, that will be your reward for enduring this detractor.

Again, there will always be detractors in your life. But they are just more obstacles that you have to overcome to get to your goal. There will always be obstacles, but if you think positive, and seek solutions, you can beat them (or get them to join you).

Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on twitter or identica.

Quick intro: I first intended this Top 20 list to be in a single post, but I decided that breaking them into separate posts would allow me to concentrate on each a little more. So, I present my list of the Top 20 Motivation Hacks.

A number of people have commented that I must be dedicated to achieve some of the goals I’m going for: exercise, frugality, organization, healthy eating, etc. Well, I don’t believe in someone being naturally “dedicated” … it’s all a matter of motivation. You can achieve anything if you motivate yourself enough.

Motivation Hack #8: Have powerful reasons. Write them down.

When I decided to quit smoking (well, the last time I decided … I’d tried and failed several times before) , I realized that I needed a better reason than just “it’s good for my health” or “I want to prove that I can” .. so I found my real reasons: I wanted to do it for my kids and my wife. I wanted to live long enough to see all my kids grow up and have kids of their own, and play with those grandkids in good health. I was also worried about my kids growing up to be smokers … most people who smoke had parents who smoked. I didn’t want that to happen to them. Finally, I was worried about my wife’s health. I wanted her to quit, and she had temporarily while pregnant, but I knew that if I didn’t quit for good before she gave birth that she’d immediately go back to smoking. She had every time before.

So I had some powerful reasons to quit, and I wrote these down. Even more, I took it a step further: I made a solemn promise to my oldest daughter, Chloe, that I would quit I told her that even if I failed, I would try again, and keep trying, until I was successful. Finally, I made a commitment and promise to my wife that I would quit, and got her to promise tht she would stay quit even after giving birth. It was a deal. We would not back out of it.

Now, when I was going through my quit, there were many times when I wanted to give in. But one of the things that kept me going was the promises I had made, and the powerful reasons I had written down. I ekpt those reasons in my mind as I went through the tough times, and they sustained me, and kept me going.

This can work with any goal. Know your reasons. Give them some thought … and write them down. Working out to lose weight isn’t enough. Most people who do this will give in. Have more powerful reasons. Those who exercise because their doctor tells them that they will die if they don’t exercise … they have a pretty good reason to exercise. And they usually stick to it. They know their reasons, and they are powerful ones.

Think about your goals. What are your reasons? If you have loved ones, and you are doing it for them, that is more powerful than just doing it for self-interest. Doing it for yourself is good too, but you should do it for something that you REALLY REALLY want to happen, for really good reasons.

Write them down. Post them up. Keep them in mind every time you get the urge to give up, or your interest flags.

Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on twitter or identica.

Yesterday I cleaned my house a little, tidying up, cleaning the bathroom a little, cleaning the kitchen, and generally making the place look nice.

It is simply beautiful. There is a tremendous pleasure I get in being able to relax in a clean house.

Of course, with six kids, it never lasts long, but there are things I can do to keep it generally clean and tidy.

Here are the habits I will try to maintain to keep a stress-free house:

1. Never leave dishes in the sink. Or counter. Clean up any messes in the kitchen after I’m done. Wipe the counters, keep the sink clean.

2. Tidy the bathroom as I go. After I use the bathroom, clean the sink, the toilet, spray down the shower, real quick. It only takes a couple of minutes, and the joy of a clean bathroom is unmatched.

3. Pick up as I go. There are little things the kids leave around the house. I’ll just pick them up throughout the day, or keep a basket for their stuff and just dump them in there, for them to put away later.

4. Never leave clothes out. I have a tendency not to hang my once-used but still clean clothes in my bedroom, leaving them out to clutter the place up. No more. They either go in the dirty clothes, or they get hung in the closet.

5. Take the trash out every day. It’s cleaner, and even if the trash isn’t quite full, this is a good habit.

6. Tidy up before I leave the house. It’s wonderful to come home to a clean house. Just pick up a little before I leave.

7. Make my bed in the morning. I’ll do this either before or after I shower. I love a made bed.

8. Tidy up before I go to bed. Waking up to a dirty house is stressful. Waking up to a clean house is an incredible way to start the day.

9. Don’t let clutter pile up. There’s a place in the kitchen where we pile books and papers. That needs to go. Piles are stressful. I will clear this counter daily, along with the inbox we have for all incoming papers.

10. Get rid of the papers on the fridge. I can pretty much put all of that info on our calendar. They leave a very cluttered appearance.

11. Teach the kids to put their stuff away. By far the greatest source of stress and messiness. This will also be the most difficult task, and I don’t know if it can ever be accomplished. But it’s worth a try.