We’re often told that hard work gets us ahead. That’s true to an extent – if you put effort and focus into something, you’re going to achieve more than if you go at it in a half-hearted way. But it’s all too easy to get sucked into working long hours, ticking tasks off a list, without being all that effective or successful.

Instead of just working hard – putting in lots of hours – look for ways to work smart.

Why?

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Getting things done is a topic of many websites out there these days, and they all say different things.  How is a person supposed to get anything done when there are so many sites to read on how to get things done?!?  I don’t subscribe to any specific guru out there, but here are a few ways that I have stayed productive for the last several years.  These methods might not be ground breaking, but they work for me, and I think they will work for you too.

Create Small Lists

I take an 8 1/2×11 sheet of paper and fold it in half three times, and use one side to make my list.  This accomplishes a few things.  First it keeps my list short, which requires me to only put my high priority items on the list.  Second, I can carry it around with me easily during the day so I can mark things off of the list.  This is very motivating.  Finally it saves paper; I just refold it for the next list!  Keeping a small list makes the to-do list less overwhelming and more manageable.

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You’ve heard this cute advice a hundred times: Do what you love and the money will follow. If you love what you do, it doesn’t feel like work. But what if you have no idea what your passion is?

It’s time you find out.

It’s time to live your passion.

In real estate, there’s a concept called “highest and best use” (HABU). Properties are valued based on the best use of the land that will produce the highest value. For example, appraisers may value a two-bedroom house on a busy street next to retail shops as if a strip mall occupied the land, because the best use of the property that produces the highest value is a strip mall and not a house. In other words, other two-bedroom houses in the town might be worth $200,000, but an investor may pay $600,000 just for the land in order to build a strip-mall.

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Do you find yourself procrastinating a lot? (You might even be procrastinating right now, reading this blog post while you should be working or cleaning or ordering the groceries online.)

Procrastination can be a real problem for some of us, leading to wasted hours and days, and a lot of frustration. Often, we think that to cure ourselves of procrastination, we need to concentrate harder, focus ourselves better and become more self-disciplined.

But I don’t believe that procrastination is a disease. It’s more like a symptom. And by figuring out – and addressing – the underlying cause, you’ve got a good chance of ending your procrastination habit.

So, what might the causes be?

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Many of us place a lot of importance on being productive. We want to achieve our goals, succeed in our ambitions, and accomplish something worthwhile. That’s all great … but sometimes it  can go too far.

Have you ever pushed yourself too much, only to end up producing poorer quality work … or worse, getting sick or ending up just plain miserable?

To be truly productive over the long-term, you need to take care of yourself. In his bestselling self-help book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey distinguishes between our actual “production” and our “production capability”, explaining that we need to pay attention to the latter in order to continue to have the former.

So how can you take care of your ability to keep on working towards your goals?

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Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that compound interest is the foundation of investing. But what does compounding have to do with the other 8 hours? A great deal. How you invest your other 8 hours determines your happiness and financial success. If you squander this critical time, it’s like putting $50 under your mattress. It won’t provide you with any return. For that $50 to grow, it must be invested. For your time to grow, it must also be invested. We’ve been told that time is money. But is it possible that time can make more time?

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Image courtesy of vhm-alex @ deviantART

What’s your guilty reality TV pleasure? The Bachelor? Survivor? America’s Got Talent? Of course, the granddaddy of them all — American Idol — just started a new season. Some 30 or 40 million fans have been waiting six months for American Idol to kick off. If this season is anything like last season, expect at least 50 hours of American Idol on your TV. No, that’s not a typo.

Last year I gave you a few ideas on what you could have done with those 50 hours instead of watch American Idol. For example, you could earn an extra $1,000, read several books, start writing your own book, burn 43,000 calories jogging, learn the waltz, and others. But, who am I kidding? If you like the show, you’re not going to listen to me. Heck, I’m not even going to listen to me because I’m going to watch this season!

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If you’ve decided that you’d like to be your own boss, it doesn’t have to remain a dream forever. In fact, with some proper planning on your part, you can become your own boss in no time.

If you want to be your own boss you need to start your own business. Being self-employed will more than likely seem overwhelming in the beginning, but in the end many people feel that the benefits far outweigh the costs. So start brainstorming some business opportunities!

Here are some reasons why you should be your own boss:

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As a graduating engineer myself, I have often found myself hard pressed to solve a particular problem. Everyone experiences these kinds of situations more or less frequently, and even though every single mind has its methods and nuances in how it approaches problem solving in general, there are common pitfalls that everyone seems to fall into. I would theorize this phenomena is related to the structure of thought itself – our highly pattern-based thinking is optimized by evolution to solve certain problems, which comes at a cost. Exploring the biological and physical origins of these phenomena, while certainly interesting, will not be pursued in this short essay, both due to my lack of qualifications on those subjects and the goal of the writing of the essay. What I do intend is to provide insight into some the top three common pitfalls, so you may recognize them when you inevitably run into them. If the short time it takes to read this essay spares someone an afternoon of head-banging, then it will already have been worth it.

As the astute reader will notice throughout the essay, most (but not all) of these pitfalls are related to thinking habits and employment of otherwise good thinking strategies to the wrong problems. At every pitfall I will try to provide an illustrative example, and I’m sure more than a few readers will remember themselves in past experiences where they, too, walked in circles in a frustrating battle against a seemingly unsolvable problem of the same nature. I would also like to point out that in most cases an equilibrium must be found, as for every pitfall there is also the opposite equivalent. Having that said, I’ll begin by exposing a well known thinking flaw.

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There is a persistent myth that living healthy is only for the well-off. With hundreds of fast food chains proudly boasting long lists of 99 cent menus – it seems like for those living on a budget, fried burgers and nuggets are the best option. However these are just marketing gimmicks that propagate the myth. Living healthy DOESN’T mean you have to go broke in the process. There are some excellent ways to save money and still lead a healthy and happy life. Here we look at some easy ways to save bundles and keep you and your family on a healthy track.

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