Archive for the ‘organizing’ Category

There are no one-size fits all solutions

Hand made

There is no such thing as one size fits all. Not really. It’s kindof a lazy product manufacturing tactic and it seems like it is getting used a lot more these days.

You are healed!

I started thinking about this when I saw a new book being marketed and making a lot of claims about all sorts of things from diet and exercise to sex and business that it says would help everyone. It is obnoxious and I think – who would buy this book? Well, everyone. It is a best seller. So what do I know? Are people so desperate for answers they throw sense to the wind? It seems so.  I don’t know about you but nothing one-size-fits-all has ever fit me. I remember a dress 10 years ago that was kindof like a sack and it kindof fit…sortof.

I don’t think one-size fits anyone. It does the opposite. Trying to pull in a wide ranging demographic actually alienates more than it captures.

Terminally unique?

Am I terminally unique? Maybe. But even that idea is a one size fits all, boiled down explanation for why I don’t believe I can download a program or read a book and expect that all my troubles will be solved. It just never has. Has it for you?

I am not saying that books and programs are not helpful. I get a lot from the content I read and programs I try but I cherry pick. Not one alone has been a magic bullet nor do I expect it to be. We are all different, all at different stages and we all change. Something that worked last year may not work this year.

I also think that wanting all of our problems to go away and be solved quickly is not the right angle. We need to be involved in the solution for whatever is going on in our lives and experience the process of the solution in order for it to stay “solved”.

Dorothy, you had the answers all along!

It is about seeking someone who is able to bring forth the answers we already have inside of ourselves. Someone who sees us and brings out the dormant creativity that allows us to find our own magic bullet.

When someone says they are going to hand over all the answers to me so I don’t have to figure it out (aka they will do all the thinking for me) I run in the opposite direction.  It sounds wonderful in a way. Wouldn’t it be nice not to have to think or figure anything out? I guess so. That’s what the Manson gang thought, same with the Branch Dividians and the Heaven’s Gate group. I could go on with that list but I think I made my point. When we hand the reins over to someone and say, “do my thinking for me please, I’m over it” that is what we get.

In the extreme we get a cult that takes over every aspect of our lives, and in a lesser degree when we hand over parts of our lives in smaller ways and say more subtly, “I can’t think here, you do it,” we’ll get a sense that something is missing, we are unfulfilled, empty and we don’t know why. We just haven’t been doing the work necessary to make our own lives unique and meaningful. That take a lot of energy. It can be tiring but it is really worth it.

Surprise! It takes work. And candy.

Putting in the effort where needed and allowing for surprise and creativity produces more lasting and more profitable results in my experience. We are all on the same road …no one more ahead of the other overall. I like someone to walk with me and support – not run ahead of me and direct with all the answers as if I’m lucky to be the benefactor of their information. Growth can’t occur when someone is controlling all the levers. If someone has an idea of where they think I should be going then how will I get to my own unique destination?

Solutions that have worked for me are the ones that I have worked out for myself or that have been co-created. Hard-won in a way, but the victory all the sweeter. I wouldn’t deny anyone the opportunity to win for themselves.

Signature

Your email signature is a great place to get information to your audience and wisestamp.com is by far the best tool I’ve found for attractively packing in all of your social media information and much more. The best part about this application is that you can change the settings as often as you like.

If you recently wrote a powerful, timely or well-received blog post there is a plug-in to add this information to your signature.. In the mood for linking to your Flickr account to show off your latest conference pics? You can do that too. There are premium features available for business and enterprise as well.

Wisestamp is available for Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL and more.

Leave a comment below with thoughts on your new Wisestamp email signature!

Subscriptions save time, money and energy.

Saving lives one delivery at a time

Green Monday

Getting everything I possibly can think of ordered on a subscription is certainly saving my energy. Why didn’t I know about this service sooner? No one I know does this. Why?! It is the best thing I’ve ever heard of! It is also a green choice which is why I’m writing about this for green Monday!  I have said this before and I’m saying it again – it seems that what saves our personal energy usually saves environmental energy as well. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander and all of that. This would be more like what is good for the gander is good for the gander!

Ban errands!

Having all my items delivered together rather than me having to drive around individually to each shop collecting it all seems too good to be true. Errands are the bane of my existance. Ahhh! No more!  This saves my time, energy and money. Subscriptions don’t just save time – they save me time in the car! I’m reducing the amount of time I drive which helps my carbon footprint. (The person delivering to me is making just one trip. I’ll have to do a bit more looking into this to be 100% sure but it seems better overall for the environment.)

Automation nation

I’m now getting my toilet paper and anything else I can think of delivered on a subscription. This means I don’t even have to think about it. I shopped for the best deal and now once a month or however often I choose these items show up. DONE. I am so happy I could cry. Automation is a creative person’s pet. I don’t want to have to think about these things EVER. I want them handled so I can do what I really want to be doing. Anything I can automate I will. Laundry is picked up and delivered (same price as me doing it – no washer/dryer here), of course the computer is automatically backed up, the phone is automatically synced but that technology has been going on for ages… this…this is really going to shake things up!

What do you automate?

Life is a dance.

Shall we dance?

The more I learn about goal-setting and organizing techniques the more I learn about letting go. I’m wondering if the more I have of one the more I need of the other. Like there is always a dance of putting things together and letting them go their own way entirely.

Saturday!

What do you want to carve out this year?

It can be a lot of pressure to stare at a blank page. What on earth will I write? What if it is no good?

Same with a nice clean sheet of a year all stretched out in front of us. It is thrilling and somewhat daunting all at the same time. Still, New Year’s Day is also known (this year) as Saturday. Just another day of the week.

Happy Saturday.

Hello 2011!

I’m so excited you are here! But before I say hello I need to say goodbye to 2010.

Good bye

Here are a few things I’d like to say goodbye to.

1. Popups, auto-players and wandering avatars.  There are more innovative and more profitable methods you can get my attention with dear marketer.

2. Goodbye thoughtless communication. Awesome!!  (Yup…I’m making fun of the overuse of “awesome”. I’m not going to say its use should be banned because I’m not into censorship. We don’t have to be Toni Morrison-level wordsmiths but we can mix it up a bit, no?)

3. Goodbye hope and change. If your employer said they hoped they could pay you it wouldn’t sound so great. I’m not saying these concepts have zero merit. I’m just putting my energy into supporting concepts I can feel and see the fruits of: Responsibility, results and passion.

Hello 2011.

1. Hello passion. What I want to see and what we need is responsible and focused passion. It is active, motivating and creative. Isabel Allende’s Ted Talk rocks with passion:

2. Hello…enough. As in we are enough. Do, have, be and are enough.

3. Hello…everything that is calm, quiet, positive and a little slower.

*Re: Beatles…Here’s an amazing documentary called Who is Harry Nilsson and Why is Everybody Talking About Him. Detailes Nilsson’s close relationship with the band especially that of John Lennon. His Grammy-winning hit Everybody’s Talkin‘ from the 1969 movie Midnight Cowboy.

An ounce of preparation

Happy New Year!

You want to feel as new as the New Year but what if you took in a bit too much of the old one? I doubt many who are reading this are in any danger of a major drinking fest like in the days of yore but even one too many glasses of champagne can leave us feeling less than great.

Alcohol can be especially difficult on our systems if we aren’t used to imbibing. If you know you have a delicate system you can protect yourself in a couple of ways. I have these from a DailyCandy post from years ago.

1. Fortify

• Before you leave the house, take the following supplements:
• B Complex, which is eaten up from alcohol
• Milk Thistle, which supports liver function
• Anti-oxidents, which also get destroyed by booze

2. Prehydrate

• While out, drink one glass of water after each alcoholic drink. You knew that, but this time actually do it!

3. Rehydrate…the morning after

• Drink eight ounces of water with lemon
• Eat oatmeal to clear the acidity of the blood
• Eat a few cucumbers to rehydrate the system
• Have an apple, a pear, and some Acidophilus to adjust the colon to the shock of the alcohol, preventing blemishes and guarding against disease.
• Detox – later in the day have some adzuki bean soup, which helps remove alcohol from your blood

Have a GREAT year!

Now is the perfect time to sign up for my monthly Best of the Best newsletter! You’ll get all 12 this year!  GET IT!

Feeling no pain

Originally uploaded by jen palais

This seems to be the time of year a little sniffle can turn into a full blown cold or flu that drags on for weeks at a time. Getting to sleep when you are under the weather becomes the key and yet is sometimes illusive.

In the past I have been happy to take a little shot of Nyquil in the rare occasion I couldn’t sleep due to cold or flu symptoms. These days I’m less inclined to take drugstore medications.  Don’t get me wrong – in a pinch a gal has got to do! I’m just happy to have DIY alternatives when possible and so was thrilled to come across this recipe a few years back.

I’m also happy to pass it on to you in case you are under the weather or know someone who is. I sincerely hope you are healthy and strong and can use this as a nightcap or for the occasional bout of insomnia.

2 cups fresh mint leaves

1 cup water

1 cup agave nectar (sugar, honey work)

1 small ginger bulb

1 lemon

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbs roasted green chili

2 shots Pastis

2 shots Southern Comfort

1. Start off making a mint simple syrup. Pluck 35-40 mint leaves off their stems, this should yield about 2 cups of mint. Roughly chop half the mint (set aside for later use) and add to a saucepot with 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 5-8) minutes. Remove from heat and strain the leaves out. Put just the mint tea back on a medium heat and wait until back to a full boil. Add agave nectar, mixing and let cook 1 minute before removing. Set aside to cool.

2. Ready your other veggies for the blender. First peel the ginger and slice into matchsticks. Next, zest your lemon, place the zest into a small dish and cover with 1 tsp. of good quality olive oil.

3. Toss the ginger, green chile and remaining cup of fresh mint to the blender. Add lemon juice. Finally add half the mint syrup, setting the rest aside for garnish. Pulse thoroughly for up to a minute. (Note: If you do not have the luxury of having authentic green chile, try subbing in a roasted jalapeno. Remove the seeds and use half in place of green chile.)

4. Strain the misture into a bowl. Use a spoon to slush it around, allowing it to pass through the sieve or fine mesh strainer. Now you have the fresh juice part of your elixer. Taste it with a spoon, if it seems too tart or spicy, add more mint syrup one teaspoon at a time.

5. Mix. The basic proportion is one-part juice to one-part pastis to one-part whiskey. For a single dose: measure out a tablespoon of each into a cocktail shaker. Add a teaspoon of lemon zest oil. Complete with 3 ice cubes and shake fervently. Pour into a shot glass or desert wine snifter.

Get my Best of the Best newsletter for my monthly mashup of organizing awesomeness. Sign up HERE

Google plots to take over the world (one word at a time)

After watching this video from the Wall Street Journal I become more and more convinced Google is out to take over the world. And we consumers eat it up. Especially the intellectual consumer.

We give them more and more information so they can “catalogue” it for us. Although, we don’t really have much control over what we give them. I should say they take the information.

Watch this fascinating video about all the books Google has indexed, and now sells (was set up as a free project), since 2004 and the information they can now spit out about our cultural habits, inclinations and religious ticks. I can only imagine how this information will be used.

Leave me a comment and let me know how you feel about this. Am I being paranoid?

Pinky and the Brain intro is below in case you needed a lift.