You wouldn't think sleep would be part of productivity training, but it is. Think about it. If you're tired, groggy, and lethargic every day from not sleeping, you're not going to get a whole lot done. Trust me. I've been there. You're tired as hell, yet you still toss and turn throughout the night. You adjust your pillow and sleeping position repeatedly to try to catch a few hours of sleep before you're back to the grind the next day. Your mind moves a mile a minute about things you … [Read more...]
Save a G Annually on Your Cable or Satellite Bill (Script Included)
As I write this post, it's late-March. My NCAA championship bracket is actually doing pretty well and I'm glued to my TV every second of every day watching games, highlights, analysis, and predictions of the NCAA tournament. But afterwards, spring will be in the air, and this Louisville, KY blogger will be focused on things that occur in the great outdoors (golf anyone?). This means that my (formerly) $100+ a month satellite bill that I wasn't going to get much use out of is going to be a … [Read more...]
The Massive Opportunity Cost of Stuff
This is going to be a short one, but don't let that throw you. This is actually a really important lesson about personal finance. Pay attention and really think about the lessons taught in this post. They'll save you thousands, if not 10s of thousands of dollars in your lifetime. Opportunity cost - in this sense, refers to the trade off you make by owning something. For example, say you buy a $5 DVD. Well, you don't just pay $5 for it. You also pay for the DVD rack you eventually have to … [Read more...]
How to Accomplish Anything – It’s More Than Putting Your Mind to It
Your parents always told you, "If you just put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything." Eh... kinda. I'm obviously all about personal success and life improvement. That's mainly what this blog is all about, but the statement above is a bit fluffy.. What does "putting your mind to it" really mean anyway? Can you really accomplish anything? Well, from my experience so far in life, I've found that if you have a few key ingredients working for you, the answer is always a … [Read more...]
You Suffer From Email Addiction, And It’s Killing Your Success
Email... It's introduction made us as a society far more productive than ever before. It was amazing. One day we were licking stamps. The next day we now had the ability to get messages read clear across the world in an instant, for free. It was awesome for the first five years or so of its existence. Fast forward to now... and OMG... We're literally email addicts (by definition). We've become dependent and emotionally involved with our inboxes, and its a reality that many of our … [Read more...]
Four Smart Ways to Use Your Tax Refund for Success
Alright - So a lot of you out there are probably getting big fat tax refunds rolling in about now (at least a couple Gs, right?). Maybe you're not getting a big fat pile of cash like the one in the picture, but most people at least get a nice chunk of change that can be put to good use, one way or another. So you're probably hearing all kinds of BS right now about what to do with it, and I'm going to help give you some good long term ideas in a second (patience my friend), but first I … [Read more...]
Here’s Why Your Monthly Expenses Are Getting Out of Control
I've used the technique below for the past couple of years, and it has been working out really well. It will not only save you money, but it will also begin to ingrain a nice basic awareness of what is going on with your finances, which can help pave the way for future personal finance training, a gateway savings technique, so to speak :) One of the most awesome payment structures ever conceived by businesses (for businesses) was the monthly subscription. It works amazingly well because … [Read more...]
Save Precious Hours Each Week by Streamlining Your Morning Routine
If you haven't noticed by now, I have a little bit of an obsession with the efficient use of time throughout the day. You'll rarely catch me without a watch or a clock nearby, and I'm always optimizing my processes for maximum efficiency. It's something that has allowed me to get a lot done to this point in my life. It's more or less arisen out of necessity. For some reason I like to do a lot of different things in all walks of life, so in order to accomplish it all, I need to come up … [Read more...]
Struggling With Personal Change? Here’s A Surefire Strategy to Make Change Happen
This post was inspired by a comment on Facebook from Lewis Bertolucci, owner of limewedge.net and fellow digital marketer and entrepreneur. The comment identified a very basic, yet very real problem we have in society today – and this isn’t just for the younger generations, it’s for everyone. Entitlement. What do I mean by that? Well Lewis said it best when he said “People often complain about their situation, displace blame or push it off on their circumstances. If … [Read more...]
Eliminate These Five Words to Skyrocket Your Productivity
There are five words in everyone's vocabulary that will make or break that person's level of productivity throughout their lifetime. You've encountered them many times, and most likely multiple times daily. High level managers, CEOs, world leaders, rockstars, movie stars - Everyone who has ever lived on this planet - even some of the most successful people in this world have encountered these five words. There are very few people in this world that are naturally driven to be productive all … [Read more...]