Stepcase Lifehack

Lifehack Digest for May 9

2008-05-10T07:00:03Z

The Alternative Productivity Manifesto
Clay at the Growing Life rants about the emergence of productivity as a hobby — and the increasing demands placed on workers to be productive.
Tags: gtd productivity hacks anti-hacks
Six Career Tips
Jeremiah Owyang shares his advices which could help you grow and achieve the career goal you want.
Tags: career planning
So Much to Do, Not Enough Time!
Mark Evans’ take on how to deal with the notion of not-enough-time.
Tags: productivity time overwhelmed
Stuff-onomics: Hidden Side of What You Own | ThinkSimpleNow.com
“I’ve learned so many life lessons in the past few months, and I’ll start to share them with you over time. But the biggest lesson I’ve learned is how little we actually need. How little we need in order to be happy.”
Tags: simplicity organization clutter
Startups Wiki: Ask YC Archive
Great deal of advice for startups grouped by subject.
Tags: startup entrepreneurship
Filemail.com
Send up to 2GB file without registering.
Tags: storage email
7 Ways You Can Stop Wasting Food And Help Save The Earth
“An introductory list of habits you can develop in your life that will help you to stop wasting food so as to save money and be environmentally friendly.”
Tags: environment health

10 More Tips for International Travelers

2008-05-09T19:21:56Z

A couple of days ago I listed 10 of the tools I find essential whenever I travel, along with a bunch of related tips. Today, I have more tips, this time disconnected from any particular tool or gadget.

Because most of the traveling I’ve done as an adult has consisted of longish trips overseas, these tips are going to tend to be more useful for Americans traveling abroad over two weeks or more. (Though there are a couple that really only apply to short trips.) I can’t really change that; it’s who I am and what I know. But I’d love to see some of your best tips in the comments for people who have to take shorter, more business-oriented trips (I’ve taken only one business trip in my entire life).

It might also be useful to know where my head is when I travel. In The Tao of Travel I expressed horror at the way most tourists travel. The target of my scorn isn’t the sight-seeing, what bothers me is the creation of little “bubbles” of people similar to one’s self that insulate us from the culture of the places we travel to. Of course you should visit the historical sites, the museums, the famous music halls, and the best restaurants (f you can afford them), but you should also spend time in a tiny street corner park, drink beer in a local pub, buy food from a street vendor, and wander the residential streets.

And most of all, you should meet people, regardless of the language barriers. I’ve always found that the cultural wall between us is only about a foot-and-a-half high: easy to step over with just a little effort. Use as good an approximation of their language as you can, and listen intently to their broken English — share freely of yourself and take freely what they’re willing to share with you. Otherwise, it’s all just pretty pictures.

OK, sermon time is over! It’s time to get on with the tips:

1. Use Your Debit Card

Time was when traveler’s cheques were the safest way to carry money aborad, but those days are long gone. In fact, I’m really not sure how the traveler’s cheques companies keep on going — debit cards make traveler’s cheques completely useless. They always were a hassle, anyway; unless you stayed in a hotel that offered traveler’s cheque cashing as a service to guests, they were almost impossible to spend or cash. In any case, nowadays, there are very few places where you can’t find an ATM to withdraw cash, and of course you can use debit cards just like credit cards for most purchases. Yes, you’ll pay a fee, but it’s pretty much comparable to the fee you pay for traveler’s cheques.

You can locate ATM machines in whatever countries you’re visiting at the Plus and Cirrus sites. There are three Maestro/Cirrus ATMs in Manzini, Swaziland, for example.

2. Get Used to Local Currencies

If you’re actually working in a country and earning local currencies, the faster you can get over the habit of converting prices to your native currency, the better. Every country has its own standard, and getting used to it is a big step towards understanding the local mindset.

On the other hand, if you’re just visiting, you’ll need to be careful about how you spend money. It can be easy to lose track of your spending when the local currency is some odd number to the dollar. My advice is, come up with an easy formula for conversion, and round up so that your estimate is always fewer dollars than you think.

For example, in Budapest in the mid-’90s, the local currency was around 110 Forint to the dollar (if I’m remembering properly). By assuming a Forint was equal to a US penny, I could easily decide what was worth spending my money on — and know I was actually saving a little in the bargain. If, say, the local currency was 1643 units to a dollar, I’d call it 3000 to 2 — that is, something that was 5870 whatevers would be 4 dollars. The actual price would be around $3.50, so I’d be off, but I’d be off in a way that would save me money — which is much better than running short because you got confused by the local currency.

3. Dress Well

Everyone can recognize an American tourist on the street, before she or he even opens their mouth. Our standard travel uniform is jeans or shorts, a t-shirt, sneakers, and a baseball cap on men; on women, it’s a short skirt, jeans, or shorts and a sleeveless top, along with a pair of sandals.

The problem is, in a world where many people already think poorly of Americans, our vacation dress sends the message that we don’t respect them or their culture. What’s more, you’ll find many places — churches and cathedrals, some restaurants, and many clubs — won’t let you in the door!

You don’t need a suit and tie, but you’d be surprised what a pair of khakis or a knee-length dress will do for the reaction you get from locals.

4. Rip Up Your Guides

There are some great guide books out there; I’m partial to the Lonely Planet books, myself. A good guide book gives you not only an idea of what to see and where it is, but background information about the culture, history, and language of the places you visit.

The problem is, they’re huge. You don’t want to carry that big heavy thing all over the world with you, nor do you want to give it any more of your valuable luggage space than absolutely necessary.

The solution: rip it up. Pull out only the parts relating to the countries or cities you’ll be visiting, staple them together, and drop them in a ziplock bag. As you leave a country, toss it or, better yet, pass it on to a less-prepared traveler without a guidebook to call their own.

5. Hand Out Calling Cards

Hopefully you’ll meet a lot of people along the way. Carry a small stack of business-card-sized calling cards with your name, address, and email address (and whatever other information you feel like sharing) to hand out to people you want to stay in touch with. You can have them made up just like regular business cards, print them on business card stock at home, or get creative and use a service like Moo to make cards with pictures of you, your family, and your hometown on them.

6. Learn 10 Phrases

One thing that contributes strongly to the poor image Americans (and to a great extent, Britons and Aussies too) have abroad is our relative ignorance of every language but English (and let’s face it, we’re no great shakes with English, either). While you can’t be expected to learn the native language of every single country you ever visit, you can at least make an effort to pick up a few pleasantries. Learn to say at least each of the following in the language of whatever country you’re visiting:

Hello
Goodbye
Thank you
Please
My name is…
Do you speak English?
Where is the bathroom?
Where is the train station?
How much?
The numbers 1 - 20.

I remember a phrasebook I once had included “Will you marry me?”, which I’ve always thought funny. Just in case it comes up, maybe you should learn that one too.

Most people will know immediately that you don’t speak their language, but that’s not the point. The point is to show that yo’re trying, and to give them a chance to laugh a little (with you, hopefully, but sometimes at you). Then they can feel comfortable about their own English (which is probably at least as good as yours, anyway).

7. The Amazing Disposable Underwear Trick

One way to lighten your load as you travel is to take all your worst underwear with you — the ones with holes, sagging waistbands, etc. Don’t ever throw away old underwear if it’s at all still wearable and you plan to travel ever! Instead, take it on your trip and, as it wears out completely, trash it. You were going to throw it away at home, anyway. Of course, if you get down to your last pair or two, you might want to buy more…

8. The Canadian Flag Trick Walk Like a Canadian

~~I admit, I’ve never done this, but I’ve known people who have and it works. You’ll have to sort the ethics out on your own — I’m just the messenger here.~~

The trick is, attach a Canadian flag patch to your backpack. You’d be surprised at how much better people will treat you — I’ve seen hostel managers turn Americans away saying there were no more rooms and then give a bed to a Canadian-patch bearing traveler a few minutes later. People are remarkably aware of the different cultures and politics of Canada and the US, and act accordingly.

Note: Remember, when you fly the Canadian flag, you’re a de facto representative of the Canadian people. Always be on your best behavior. if confronted by a Canadian, you’re on your own. Nothing so enrages them as US travelers besmirching their good name through trickery and deceit.

The Canadians I have met and traveled with overseas have been polite, courteous, and respectful of their host country’s culture and rules. Take a page from their book: speak clearly and softly, say “please” and “thank you” a lot, and forget about the patch trick.

9. Take the bus!

Take the bus or other public transportation whenever you can. It’s a great way to get your bearings in a strange city and to see the sights, including a lot of points of interest that might not have made it into your guidebook. To be honest, this is a pretty good idea in th US, too — I remember taking a group of friends, all New York and New Jersey natives, on a bus down the Museum Mile in New York City; none of them had ever taken a city bus in NYC, and all of them were impressed by what a lovely ride it was.

10. [Insert Your Tip Here]

Travel is all about creativity, so always keep your eyes open for neat ways to deal with whatever a new culture throws at you.

For those of you who think #10 is a cop-out, here’s a bonus tip: Follow tour groups. Whenever you happen across a tour group in museums and even on the street, adjust your path so that it just happens to coincide with the path the tour group is taking. You’ll get a little piece of history from someone who knows pretty well that they’re talking about. You don’t have to follow the entire tour, just take advantage of someone in a public space talking about whatever it is they’re showing off.

Like I said, I’d love to hear your tips, especially for shorter trips. Leave us a note in the comments!

Dustin M. Wax is a contributing editor and project manager at lifehack.org. He is also the creator of The Writer's Technology Companion, a site devoted to the tools of the writing trade. When he's not writing, he teaches anthropology and women's studies in Las Vegas, NV. His personal site can be found at dwax.org.

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Join Me at 10am PST Today for Lifehack Live! Today’s guest: Arvind Devalia

2008-05-08T15:40:51Z

Join me live for today’s recording of Lifehack Live at 10am PST. Visit the site and listen to the live stream, and call in during the show with your own questions and comments.

Today, I’ll be speaking with Arvind Devalia, author of Get the Life You Love and Live It about finding and pursuing your dreams, giving back to the world, and personal and corporate social responsibility.

The number is (347) 838-8244 (US-based phone number). Listen to the show’s stream live from 10 - 10:45 am PST at blogtalkradio.com/lifehack

The podcast will be officially released the Monday after recording. Subscribe to the Lifehack Podcast Feed via RSS or iTunes.

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6 Mother’s Day Gift Tips for the Productive Lady in Your Life

2008-05-07T16:16:30Z

The problem with picking a gift based purely on productivity is that most people like gifts that they won’t buy for themselves: people want something fun, something special — and your mother is no exception. And Mother’s Day is almost here: it falls on the on the second Sunday of May, which just happens to be this weekend. We each have only a few days to make sure that we don’t try to give Mom something as that drags down her productivity, clutters up her workspace or generally makes her wish she swapped us for more grateful children.

Navigating the mall displays of gifts “Perfect for Mom!” can be incredibly difficult, But these tips can help simplify that last minute shopping spree you might be considering for Saturday night. Heck, with these tips (aside from the card), you might be able to check Mom’s gift off your to-do list right now.

1. Give the Gift of Time

When I was a kid, I always made my mom coupons for Mother’s Day: she could cash them in on a couple of hours of babysitting for my little sisters, some help around the house — that sort of thing. And I still give her the gift of my time: right now, I’m working on teaching her how to run a blog. Offering up some of your time to help your mother complete pet projects can be an ideal way to give her something she’ll actually be able to use. A nice dinner out or a family get-together can fall into this category as well: just remember your time is valuable — valuable enough to make a good gift.

2. Ditch the Gift Cards

Conventional wisdom seems to say that everyone loves a nice gift card: you don’t have to worry about getting the right sizes or picking the right movie. But there are plenty of options that make for better gifts. After all, what’s the use of money that you can only use one place? Or money that you have to make a special trip to spend? There are some gift card options that allow you to provide money that can be used anywhere that takes Visa (or whatever card company you purchase through). It’s not a perfect solution, but it will save you from finding that gift card you purchased in your mom’s junk drawer sometime next year — a friend cleaned out his grandmother’s house and found, literally, a stack of gift cards. Her family had sent them for a number of occasions and she never used a single one.

3. Check for Gadgets They’re Lusting For

Anyone who thinks that ladies don’t have just as much gadget lust as guys seem to is sadly mistaken. And, unless your mama really does enjoy spending time in the kitchen, skip the domestic gizmos. In the last month alone, my mother’s dropped hints about an iPhone, an iPod and a DVD player she can take in the car. I may not want to get my mother every gadget under the sun, but she’d be happy to get them — and she’s not all that into technology. She doesn’t follow it closely but she does hear about cool toys. If your mother has a favorite hobby, consider checking if there’s a gadget or tool she’s lacking for her pursuit. Sure, your gift may not make your mother anymore productive, but she’ll still enjoy it.

4. Make a Donation in Your Mother’s Name

My grandmother has made dire threats towards anyone thinking of bringing ‘clutter’ into her house. She doesn’t necessarily need anything and certainly would rather we spend time with her than mail off some present she doesn’t really want. We do want to honor her in some way, though, and she has directed us to her favorite charity. If you want to acknowledge your mother’s efforts in turning you into the wonderful individual you are today, consider making a donation to her favorite cause.

5. Share Your Memories

This is the moment for all those family photos, recipes and everything else memorable that you’ve had stashed away. Pull out the photo albums and frame a few for your mother’s walls — or scan them and make a screensaver for your mom’s computer. There are so many possibilities you can try: turning a few favorite family recipes in to a cookbook, writing down a few favorite family stories and finding the accompanying photographs. Just a few fond memories can bring a smile to your mother’s face (and maybe remind her why she didn’t swap you in for a better behaved kid).

6. Go in Together

I have two sisters who I can team up with on a Mother’s Day present for my mom. I have seven cousins who I can go in with if I want to do something for my grandmother. To put it simply, not only can I get the benefit of my relatives’ ideas for gifts, but together we have more buying power as well. Mother’s Day isn’t (or shouldn’t be) about which relative can get the biggest, fanciest present. Instead, if you do want to get a relatively large present, it makes sense to make it a group effort. If it’s something nice and that Mom will like, your relatives will be glad to not have to worry about a gift on their own. (And, for those of us with the bad habit of waiting until the last moment, finding a relative to help out with the bill can cover your butt!)

Thursday Bram is a freelance journalist of over five years experience. She studied Communications at the University of Tulsa and is currently working on her MA in Communication Design. Her work has focused primarily on entrepreneurial topics. More information about Thursday is available at thursdaybram.com.

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10 Essential Tools for Practical Travelers

2008-05-07T15:08:03Z

I grew up traveling. My dad was a manufacturer’s representative in home furnishings, which meant he did a tour of all the furniture stores in the Midwest every few months. In the summers, we went with him, exploring the tiniest of Midwestern towns while he showed the fall line in some Main Street furniture store.

After college, I headed to London. When my 6-month work visa expired, I traveled Europe for a month before settling down for a few months to an Army base job in Heidelberg. Since I had built a relationship with a German national in London, the next seven years I went back to Europe at least a half-dozen times, spending a few weeks at a time in Dijon, Antwerp, The Hague, and Heidelberg (her home town), which became bases for shorter trips to Rome, Florence, Brussels, Berlin, Bamberg, Strassbourg, and a dozen smaller towns.

When you travel this much, especially on a tight budget, you learn to be “self-contained” — you need to carry everything you might need, but you also need to keep it light and manageable. Over the years, I’ve collected a pile of travel gear — all of which fits pretty comfortably into a small overhead-sized convertible suitcase/backpack (with my clothes and toiletries, of course).

Here are a few of the things I’ve picked up over the years that have a special place in my packing list. Some of them are everyday items; most of the rest can be picked up at any sporting goods store with a decent camping section.

1. Travel Clothesline

The key to traveling cheap and light is doing your own laundry as you go. You can do it in a sink in any bathroom, or visit a laundromat. Spending money on laundromat dryers, which usually don’t work anyway, is a huge waste.

Instead, pick up a travel clothesline. Mine is made of two thin bungee-cord strands, capped on each end to a suction cup and hook assembly. The number of suction-cup-able surfaces in the world is minimal, so make sure you get one with hooks; you can wrap either end around anything stable and hook the line to itself. With the bungee cords, you don’t need clothespins; just tuck a corner of whatever you’re drying between the strands.

Bonus tip: Avoid cotton clothes, which wrinkle, dry slowly, and offer poor insulation. Instead, look at the clothes made for camping and sports: no-wrinkle synthetics designed to keep you dry when you sweat, to stay warm when it’s cold and/or wet out, and to be super-light. And carry a bottle of Woolite for sink-side laundry.

2. Travel Alarm Clock

When you stay in fancy hotel rooms, there’s usually an alarm clock; when you travel cheap and stay in hostels, pensiones, and other low-cost accommodations, you can’t rely on a clock being provided. Or on being able to figure out how to set it and make sure it wakes you up. Having a clock whose workings you’re familiar with can ease a lot of stress.

Bonus tip: Get a clock with a built-ion flashlight, or even a really strong glowing face. In many countries, even in better hotels, a midnight trip to the bathroom means a trek down the hall in the dark; use your alarm clock to light your way.

3. Ziplock bags

I carry three sizes of ziplock bags with me, a few of each: sandwich size, 1-quart regular-style, and 2-quart or gallon freezer bags. The small ones are great for holding your “pocket stuff” when you go through airport security or when you’re swimming or doing other activities where you fear getting wet. And of course, they’re great for putting food in.

The larger ones are for carrying wet washcloths, dirty laundry, books you want to protect from weather, and so on. The freezer bags are a thicker plastic that’s very rugged.

Bonus tip: You can use larger ziplock bags as makeshift packing bags — put a couple t-shirts into a big ziplock, close it almost all the way, and compress it to remove as much air as possible, then close it the rest of the way. Great way to save space in your bag!

4. Swiss Army Knife

I bought my first Swiss Army Knife right before heading to Europe for the first time, and I’ve kept one in my pocket virtually every day since. Get a medium-sized one — the big “everything plus a kitchen sink” models are too big and heavy to keep comfortably in your pocket; the three- and 4-tool ones aren’t useful enough for the hassle (and there is some hassle — see below).

I use the scissors virtually every day when I’m traveling, from first-aid to removing airport claim tags to quick sewing to trimming my nails. The knife blade is useful for cutting bread and cheese picked up at a local grocery or market — a great lunch to enjoy in the hills overlooking Florence or on the piazza/plaza/place of any European town. The screwdrivers, bottle openers, corkscrews, and other tools will prove themselves useful time and time again.

The problem is, you can’t take a pocketknife in your carry-on, which means checking bags, which sucks. And some overly security-conscious attractions won’t let you carry a knife onto the premises; I had to skip St. Peter’s Cathedral in the Vatican because of this. While it mitigates the usefulness somewhat, you might want to consider leaving your Swiss Army knife in your bag when sight-seeing; in that case, pick up a set of unbreakable plastic cutlery for picnicking and learn to enjoy being far less prepared for whatever life throws your way in your travels.

I’d like to see the Swiss Army knife manufacturers put out a line of travel-friendly “pocket tools” — with everything but the knives.

5. Front-pocket wallet

Some cities, like London and Rome, are notorious for their pick-pockets. When traveling, a back-pocket wallet or a purse is an invitation to robbery. A front-pocket wallet, with a couple ID and credit cards and a money clip, is a much safer bet — harder to steal, easier to keep track of as you move around, and in the end (no pun intended) more comfortable. Women, choose pants with front pockets when you travel; the unexpectedness of a woman keeping her money in a wallet in her pocket adds even more security.

Bonus tip: There is no sure-fire guarantee you won’t be robbed, whatever precautions you take (though I’ve never been). Always keep cash in a few places about your body — a little in your wallet, a little in another pocket, a little in your sock, and so on. And make two photocopies of your important paperwork (with relevant phone numbers for replacement or reporting theft) before you leave home; leave one set with friends or family, and stick the other in your bag. Nowadays, you can upload scans to a service like flickr, too. The idea is to have thorough records in case you do lose your ID or credit cards.

6. Coin purse

One thing Americans need to get used to when traveling abroad is that coins come in values up to about $2-3 US. Much of your daily spending will therefore be in change, rather than bills. I fell in love with the leather flip-pouches many Europeans carry: the front opens to make a coin-counting “shelf”, and when you’re done, the coins slide back into the pocket.

Bonus tip: You usually can’t convert change to a new currency, so make sure you spend as much of your change as possible before you cross a border into a country that uses a different currency. Buy gum, candy, postcards, or other small items at the train station or airport before you leave, or just give your last handful of change to any of the local beggars who offer a valuable change disposal service to travelers.

7. Belt with Secret Compartment

I bought my “secret agent” belt at Wal-Mart, of all places, but I haven’t found a replacement since it broke. This is a belt with a zippered compartment hidden on the inside. You can stick a couple of bills, folded into quarters, in the compartment, and unless you encounter the most thorough of thieves (who steals a belt?) you’ll always know you’ve got at least a little money.

Bonus tip: Look for other “secret” places in your clothes, or even make them. The funny 5th pocket on your jeans, a watch pocket inside a blazer, a key pocket inside swim trunks — all of these are smart places to tuck a little cash. Or you can split a seam in anything with a liner; add a new stitch at each end of the tear to prevent it from unraveling further.

8. Silk Bedliner

Many hostels require travelers bring a bedliner, to avoid the cost of buying and daily washing sheets. They are also used to make sleeping bags more comfortable. A bedliner is basically a sheet folded over and sewn shut except at the top, like a sleeping bag without the insulation. You climb in just like you would a sleeping bag (if, like me, you’re too lazy to unzip sleeping bags).

To be honest, my bedliner is cotton, which is fine but it’s rather bulky and heavy. They make silk ones that are, of course, somewhat more expensive but which roll up super-tiny and weigh only a couple ounces. If I had it to do over again, that’s what I’d get. Plus, what’s more luxurious than sleeping wrapped in silk?

Bonus tip: Don’t let the name fool you — a bedliner is simply a sheet. There’s no reason to restrict its use to lining beds. In the summer, you might find that your bedliner is all you need — which can be especially useful if you find yourself sleeping without the benefit of a hotel, e.g. in a train station, on a train, under the stars, etc. In cold weather, you can whip out your bedliner and use it as a blanket (and silk is surprisingly warm for it’s thickness).

9. Collapsible Daypack

Unless you’re barking mad, you don’t want to haul your main bag around with you all the time. For daytrips, you’ll want a daypack — something to fit a guidebook, water bottle, picnic lunch, and camera into. When it comes time to move on, though, you don’t want a second bag to have to worry about. Fortunately, a number of companies make small backpacks from super-light material that fold down to a 4″ or so pocket; open it up, pack it full, carry it around, and leave your big suitcase/backpack at your hotel or hostel (make sure it’s secure, though).

Bonus tip: If you notice your daypack has become an essential piece of luggage, you’ve accumulated too much stuff. Stop at the local post office, pack up your souvenirs, and mail them home — they’ll likely be waiting for you when you get back from your holiday, and you’ll have enjoyed not having to haul around the extra weight.

10. Microfiber Towel

People who stay in hotels and motels are used to towels being provided for them. Cheaper digs — and, depending on the country, even in more expensive lodgings — don’t usually supply towels. Your normal Turkish cotton towel from home is big and warm and soft and snuggly, but ill-suited to international travel: cotton takes forever to dry, it’s heavy, and it’s bulky. Instead, grab a microfiber towel, made of the same stuff carwashing cloths are made of. Microfiber absorbs many times it’s weight in water, almost all of which will wring out easily; it dries fast; it’s super-light; and it folds up tiny.

Bonus tip: Grab a washcloth, too, or cut up a full-sized microfiber towel to washcloth sized. Keep the pieces, too — you never know when you’ll have a spill or other wetness to clean up. How about a hand-towel for when you get caught in the rain and want to dry off, or for the inevitable bathrooms with no towels.

That’s my list of essentials. What do you find absolutely necessary in your traveling kit? Or what travel gadgets have you tried that failed to find a permanent place in your suitcase?

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Find & Replace Limiting Beliefs, Part 2: Replace Old Ideas

2008-05-06T11:59:06Z

It’s time to weed out the limiting beliefs that you discovered in part one. This is a hell of a lot harder to do than simply discovering them, but on the bright side, the instructions are simpler—this one really just requires willpower and discipline. So, it’s technically easier, but practically harder.

When you ask yourself why you’re putting so much time and energy and discipline into this, remember the benefit once you’ve accomplished it. The most successful people act on their imaginations - they allow their ventures to venture beyond the realm of possibility, and still manage to accomplish it. Limiting beliefs keep people from breaching that realm of mediocrity into successful living.

Prove Yourself Wrong

By far the quickest and easiest way to banish a limiting belief once and for all is to prove it wrong. It’s not that hard to do—you just have to accomplish it! Until 1954, it was considered pretty much impossible to run a mile in four minutes, and in that year it was actually done. After that, the record was broken again and again by runners. Why? The first runner to break that limit proved the belief that it was impossible wrong and mentally enabled other runners to succeed.

Figure out what it would take to prove yourself wrong, and accomplish it. Doesn’t get simpler than that. But chances are that you don’t get to take the easy way out on this one, so what else can we do?

Introspective Removal

You can’t remove an item from your environment if you cannot see the item, or even know what it is. Sometimes we don’t even have a conscious knowledge of our limiting beliefs. For instance, many people are unaware that they’re uncomfortable with the idea of making money easily—because the correlation between earning money and hard work has been drummed into them since childhood.

In part one, you may have discovered limiting beliefs that you didn’t know you held, while others we’re already aware of. In this case, once you’ve discovered what is holding you back, you can take an introspective look at not only the belief but the context that generated it. Understanding where it came from is just as important as knowing it is there.

Here’s what you do.

Write down the limiting belief in a concise manner. For example, ‘Good money only comes through hard work.’
Think about the internal dialog that created, or exists because of, this belief—for instance, making money without effort is morally wrong, or I don’t deserve to make money easily.
Look for the fear that reinforces this belief—if I make money without hard work, I’m a corrupt, greedy person like those other rich lazy types.
Try and recall any experiences that may have contributed to or caused the limiting belief.

At this point you’ll have a good idea of not only what that limiting belief is, but why it’s there and what its effects are, as well as what kind of internal dialog it is generating. Now we need to mentally “debunk the theory.”

Write down what it is that makes this limiting belief so limiting. If I continue to interact with reality based on this assumption, I will be working hard for peanuts until the day I die.
Write down what it is that makes this limiting belief a ridiculous notion. There’s nothing at all wrong with making money—there’s only something wrong with becoming a different, greedier person because of money.

It’s important to have a clear idea of not only what the belief is and what context it exists within, but why the belief is a faulty notion. If you don’t have a clear idea of why that belief is wrong, you will be unable to get past it.

Brains don’t do well with a vacuum, so now that you’ve knocked this puppy down from an intellectual standpoint, it’s necessary to prop something else up there so that limiting belief doesn’t reclaim its throne.

Write down the enabling belief that replaces the limiting one. Making money without hard work is the best way to live.
What kind of internal dialog would go on in your head if you held this belief? Write it down. Making money without hard work gives me more time to focus on the important things in life, such as my family, rather than spending all my time worrying about day-to-day survival.
In step 3 of the first process, we defined the fear that accompanied our limiting belief because fear is the emotion that gives power to limiting belief. Where does your enabling belief get its power? Making money easily doesn’t make me a different person unless I allow that to happen—I can use this to effect greater change in my life and the lives of others than if I were constantly trying to make ends meet

Replacement Technique

Similar to the trial technique we used in part one to find our limiting beliefs and some enabling ones, we’ll now dedicate a certain amount of time to enforcing our new replacement belief. 30-60 days is best for really ingrained beliefs, but whatever amount of time you choose, set it before you commence. The next period is going to be tough.

In this period you’ll be living as if you held the enabling belief in the first place, and training yourself to think that way. Beliefs cause thoughts, but disciplining yourself and changing your thoughts can go the other way and change your beliefs over time.

It’s important to keep yourself reminded of your replacement belief at all times, because sheer discipline alone rarely works. Make sure you can’t escape that reminder in the places it counts. For instance, with the making money example, I’d keep a note on my monitor if my work was all done at a computer. If I were quitting smoking, I’d avoid usual smoking spots—especially those spots where other smokers congregate—and keep a post-it nearby reminding me about a specific symptom of smoking, or a disease it causes.

Other than that, there’s not much you can do at this point but spend those 30-60 days focusing a significant amount of your attention and discipline to removing those heavily ingrained beliefs and habits. You’ve done everything you can to ensure your chances of success up until this point.

Hey, nobody said it would be easy! But see it through and you’ll be ultimately grateful for the effort you put in. We are talking about beliefs here, which are some of the most fundamental elements of our daily existence, and it’s no mean feat to change them—even the seemingly small ones.

What is the worst limiting belief of them all? I think it’s belief in the concept of the impossible.

Offering a unique perspective and insight on productivity based on his experience as a blogger, writer, musician, family man and manager, Joel Falconer has been published online and off, and brings to Lifehack's readers critical news and practical advice you can use to make life more liveable.

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Why You Should Kick the “Versus” Habit

2008-05-04T16:43:11Z

A world painted only in black and white is a hard place to live or work

In our time-starved, action-obsessed approach to work and life, we easily drop into the habit of seeing every choice or decision in terms of simple opposites: good versus bad, right versus wrong, success versus failure, winners versus losers. Every choice must be one or the other, with no options in between. Macho management thinking is full of such false dichotomies.

This makes for a tense and uncomfortable workplace, as well as a warped view of reality. Worse still, it produces that habitual “us versus them” mentality, which destroys relationships, undermines co-operation, and slowly renders us paranoid.

A world of self-induced paranoia

The urge is strong today to reduce everything to simple, “A versus B” choices. Essays and self-expression are replaced in schools by multiple-choice questions. Forms come full of boxes to check and sentences to be “crossed out where not applicable.” What we wish to say is reduced to choices between what others have already decided is appropriate (or acceptable).

Such an attitude makes life less complicated — no subtleties to produce those annoying and confusing shades of gray — yet destroys it too; for in a polarized world, those who are not for you must be against you. There are only friends or enemies, allies or “evil empires.” What you choose to believe in, and the actions you embrace as “good,” must not — cannot — be questioned or faulted. There are no neutrals, no possibility that you — yes, you — may be mistaken. Those who choose another way are, by simple definition, wrong — too wrong even to contemplate what might be learned from them.

In the name of profit, speed, and efficiency, we tear up centuries of human thought. In the pursuit of “getting things done,” we lay aside our capacity for wonder and our curiosity for other ways.

The workplace as melodrama

Encouraged by the media, who love simple oppositions and melodramatic confrontations (witness The Apprentice), we demonize “the opposition” or “our competitors” and praise ourselves, “the good guys,” with thoughtless extravagance.

In a bad novel, every circumstance becomes a life or death struggle, without a balance or subtlety. In a similar way, many leaders today assume every decision is important, simply because polarized thinking makes each appear so stark: winning or losing, support or opposition, love or hate, eager agreement or hostile condemnation, blind loyalty or base treachery.

And so, like ham actors, leaders “chew the scenery” of their workplaces in emotional paroxysms over the smallest setback, or fly into extravagant joyousness at the least triumph. When winning is all that matters, losing becomes an unthinkable horror. No space is left to honor those who have done their best, yet still fallen a little way short. They are lumped together with all the others in the simple category of “failure.”

Choosing to stay blind to our folly

As we dwell lovingly on the defects in “the other guys,” treating them as stereotypes at best (or downright stupid, evil, or dishonest at worst), we set ourselves free from the need to reconsider our own assumptions. There may be equal or even greater problems in the “right way” that we have chosen, as there are in the “wrong way” that they follow, but we will never see them — until it is too late. Our simplistic viewpoint cannot stay in place and allow this to happen.

Why do so many corporations blunder into crazy ventures, then cling to them in defiance of sense? Why do leaders make it a test of loyalty for their subordinates to applaud every action, no matter how ill-advised? Why do people make truly bad career choices, then stick with them for years?

The answer is as sad as it too is simple: because there are, in their self-constricted minds, no acceptable alternatives. Because there are only two ways: what they have chosen and what has therefore to be, by definition, undeniably worse.

Getting back to reality

The reality of this world is that all extremes are uncommon to the point of invisibility. They aren’t just scarce; the more extreme they are — absolute good versus absolute evil, unquestionably right versus undeniably wrong — the more likely that they exist only in theory, if at all. Daily life plays out somewhere in the middle, between whatever extremes you care to name. This world, whether we like it or not, is a world of countless overlapping options and choices. In place of the black and white simplicities we try to impose upon it, there are nothing but the subtlest shades of gray.

How to kick the habit of over-simplified thinking

Slow down and recognize with Oscar Wilde that truth is “never pure and rarely simple.” Take your time to unravel at least some of its complexities. Subtlety and ambiguity are the first casualties of haste and short-termism.
Be endlessly wary of convenient simplifications and false certainties. There are many people happy to tell you that they know the “one, right answer.” Why shouldn’t you believe them? Because no such answer exists. They are deluding themselves — and will delude you too, if you let them.
Question, question, and question some more. Questions aren’t dangerous, answers are.
If you are presented with an “A or B” choice, don’t take it, if at all possible. Synthesize these extremes to see the options that lie between them. Human creativity arises from taking things that first seem to be irreconcilable opposites, then discovering all the ways in which they work together.
Whenever you think you have found the complete and final answer, lie down in a darkened room until you come to your senses. Every answer is provisional — every one. What you have found may be the best you can do at present, but that doesn’t mean that you won’t find a better one sometime; or that others haven’t found a better way already.
Ambiguity and uncertainty are your friends. They encourage you to go on searching. They try to save you from betting everything on what you know today. People treat them as enemies because they undermine our pompous and self-righteous belief in “certainties.” Yet, the greatest risk anyone can take is to imagine that they already know what’s most important.

Only by slowing down and taking time to question and think — really think — shall we return to dealing with business reality, in place of those simplistic, misleading, cardboard-cutout, Hollywood melodramas we are becoming used to putting in its place.

Photo credit: Nils Tubbesing

After graduating from Cambridge University, Adrian's career spanned local and national government, a series of corporate executive positions, and a partnership in a global consulting and business services firm, from which he retired as CEO of their US consulting arm. He runs two blogs: Slow Leadership and Slower Living and has published two books on the practice of leadership.

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Helping the Family to Get Things Done

2008-05-07T07:04:25Z

Ever had a conversation with your brother about how he feels like he never seems to get anything done beyond checking his email? Or talked to your mother about her difficulties finishing a project?

Have you ever tried to help them set up a system — make their lives a little simpler or a little more productive? And had that attempt blow up in your face?

My experiences with helping my family (and many friends, as well) — even when they ask for the help — seem guaranteed to blow up in my face. If I’m lucky, I get a shrug and a ‘This just isn’t working for me.’ If I’m not lucky, at the next family get-together, I’m in for some serious snubbing.

Why is it so hard to help someone else become more productive?

At least in family situations, we all generally seem to assume that we have one another’s best interests at heart. I want my father to read a book on productivity or my cousin to filter her email because I think these actions will make their lives easier. And, fairly routinely, relatives ask for some sort of help. Every family get-together seems to focus on some new project: someone’s building a deck or planning a party or otherwise needs help. So, why is helping a friend or a family member out with productivity problems so much harder than pounding a couple of nails into what will eventually be a front porch?

I’ve got a theory: there’s a right way of hammering a nail. Try pounding a nail upside down and you’ll see how many variations you can really come up with. But with productivity, or even simply making a person’s life a little bit easier, there are thousands of different options. And the options that work perfectly in my life just aren’t going to work as well in anyone else’s — where I need to focus on handling my email addiction, my father needs to deal with an overflowing voice mail box. The techniques that get me through the day don’t translate into his lifestyle.

What is the solution?

We don’t want to leave our friends and family struggling in a situation where we think we might be able to help. But it can be hard to introduce techniques to other people: we can be very excited about a new trick or tip that they may not be able to use, or they may be resistant to changing their system, or a half dozen other difficulties. If you want to share the system you have developed, or even just a small trick that you think another person will find useful, there are ways to go about it that won’t get you kicked out of the next family reunion.

From my experiences, the most important step is to be okay with people not only ignoring your suggestions but flat out telling you that you’re wrong. Remember, you like these people, or you wouldn’t be offing your help. Pushiness won’t help anyone. So take a deep breath and let it go. Arguing about it will only lead to trouble: my attempts at making my mother’s life easier only got her to threaten to swap me for a grateful child. And, yes, I freely admit that if I hadn’t gotten so emotionally involved with her incoming email, I would have been safe from all such threats. Remember, it’s just email or shopping lists or whatever. The people are the important thing: if their system works for them, leave it alone.

You should also keep in mind that different people work well with different systems. Many people consider ‘Getting Things Done’ ideal for their lives, but just as many have decided that, while it’s a great framework, there are plenty of detail that need tweaking — and even more that just don’t like the way they would need to adapt GTD to their lives, or their lives to GTD. Rather than pointing people towards your perfect system, you can often provide more help by pointing them towards the resources they need to find their own niche. While it might be a shameless plug, I think a site like LifeHack is going to be more valuable to someone you want to introduce to the concept of productivity than just handing them a copy of ‘Getting Things Done’ and expecting them to read it. For one thing, the posts here are a heck of a lot shorter than a book — which means that your friend or relative doesn’t need to make a big time commitment to start. For another, there are lots of options and lots of explanations of the pros and cons of those options.

I won’t argue that there is value in reading ‘Getting Things Done’ or a half dozen other productivity books, but most books aren’t primers: they aren’t a good starting place for someone who doesn’t know that there are options beyond overflowing inboxes and packed schedules. They’re generally written for someone who’s already taken a step or two in the direction of making life a little easier.

Where to start?

Rather than sending off books or lists of links, I’ve been able to help my friends and family by narrowing my focus. I’ll email a link to one specific article that directly addresses what problem they’re currently facing. And I don’t offer to walk them through it — I leave it up them to ask if and when they decided they need help. Sure, it’s rare that anyone actually uses the information you pass along in exactly the way you expect, but they often will be able to find some sort of use for it.

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Not Your Everyday Travel Tips

2008-05-04T16:35:36Z

Stop me if you’ve heard this before… it’s a good idea to differentiate your luggage by tying a brightly-colored object to the handle… oh, you’ve heard that one? Here are some tips that may not be as common, based on experience and mistakes I have personally made or have learned about from my frequent flier clients and colleagues.

Don’t travel with gel pens. One time I fell asleep on a plane while holding a gel roller-ball pen in my hand. I woke up with a pool of black ink all over my notebook, my hand, and very nearly on my pants too. Evidently the air pressure changes caused the ink to burst out.

Bring some of your pre-printed return address labels with you. You can quickly slap one of these stickers on a paper airline luggage tag or use them to fill out a form. A few of these labels are good to always keep in your wallet, not just while traveling, to use conveniently if you buy a bunch of raffle tickets or have to fill out school forms.

ALWAYS take a second to look at the airline luggage routing tags that the ticket agent is putting on your checked baggage, and look at your claim stubs too. Don’t just assume they are putting the right tag on the right bag. My son’s bag once was tagged as belonging to some other guy going to Memphis (we were going to Puerto Rico… not good).

Take note of something interesting about the contents of your bag so you can better identify it. Once when my luggage was lost, the paper ID tag was torn off in transit, and the baggage agents asked me to tell them about something unique inside my bag to help identify that it was mine. I was able to tell them about my tiny orange travel hair dryer and that did the trick. Of course, it’s also great if you provide your contact information on the inside of the bag (I did, but they didn’t find it… do make sure it’s clearly visible).

Do travel with Sharpie® markers and zip-closure plastic bags. They are great for marking and identifying things quickly, like which child’s identical souvenir rhinoceros toy belongs to whom… or whose bottle of half-consumed water that is in the back seat. You can use the plastic bags (gallon size is great) to store open snack food packages, seal up a leaky toiletry bottle, or contain wet clothing.

If your flight is cancelled, don’t wait in the long line in front of the ticket agent to get on another plane. Just step aside and call your airline directly from your cell phone. It’s just like cutting in line, but nobody will get mad at you. (Bonus tip: have the airline number with you!)

Love your Bucky®. I have a Bucky travel pillow, the neck pillows that are filled with buckwheat hulls. Mine has a protective travel case that you can take off and stuff inside the pillow while you’re using it. There is nothing worse than giving yourself a neck injury while trying to sleep!

Lorie Marrero, CPO®, is the creator of The Clutter Diet®, an affordable organizing program that helps members lose "Clutter-Pounds" from their homes by providing online access to her team of Professional Organizers. Lorie writes something insanely practical every few days or so in the Clutter Diet Blog.

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