A few years ago, I was in a car with the promoter of one of my performances. He had picked me up at the airport and was driving me to my hotel. On the way, we talked guitars. We got onto the subject of Olson Guitars, arguably the best guitar in the whole world. At one point, the promoter said, “Yea, well, in my entire life I’ll never own an Olson guitar.”

There was a time when I’d let a remark like this slide on by, even adding my own “me either” to the mix.

Now, I can’t. Yoda steps into my head and says, (in his Yoda voice) “So certain are you. Always with you it cannot be done.”

So, I turned to the promoter and said, “You are NOT allowed to say that!”

This is because I know the power of language. When you know that words become things, it’s hard to let language slide.

I can’t help it. I have a rule:

Friends don’t let friends speak crappily.

Language is powerful. Words can create reality. Even if my promoter friend doesn’t know how on earth he’d ever get his guitar, it doesn’t mean he should cut off the possibility with his own words.

If you’re wondering how to begin watching your words, here are 7 practical language principles for becoming a better creator of your life.

1 – Eliminate “never” and “always.”

Never and always are words of hysteria. “I always mess everything up!” “I’ll never figure this out!” “I’ll never get an Olson Guitar.”

First off, it’s not true. If you always messed everything up, you wouldn’t have made it out of the womb.

And second off, extreme words are designed to hook you. It’s just your emotions taking a joyride. You’re more powerful than that.

2 – Use AND instead of BUT.

“But” dismisses the statement before it. “And” includes it. For instance, “That’s a good article, but it needs some editing” isn’t nearly as encouraging as “That’s a good article, AND it needs some editing.”

“I love you, but…” is another great example of the dismissive power of “but.”

3 – Avoid “Should.”

Should is a heinous word for many reasons. It is victim-speak. It disempowers its object. It negates desires, thereby making it harder to make choices. It adds a nebulous energy to the decision making process. Use empowered language instead: “I could…” “I would…” “I am choosing to,” “I would like to,” “I don’t want to,” or “You might consider…”

4 – Stop calling yourself depressed.

Also stop allowing anyone to tell you that you are depressed. When you call yourself “depressed” or “obsessive compulsive” or “ADHD” or whatever – you’re claiming this thing. You’re calling it forth with the most powerful two words in our language: “I am.” That creates very little option for the transformation of this condition.

5 – Delete the word “hate” from your vocabulary.

“Hate” has lots of energy. When you use it, you send lots of energy out into the very thing you “hate.” Even if it’s negative energy, it’s still a powerful force, adding its charge to that thing. You’re also depleting this energy from your own spirit as you say it.

6 – Be “great.” Or “wonderful.”

A disease of the creative temperament is a belief that we must be authentic at all costs. So we can’t answer a simple “How are you?” without delving into an in-depth scan of our emotional temperature.

Try this instead: When people ask you how you’re doing, just say, “I’m great!”

I used to think if said this, then I better have a good reason for saying it, like I just won the lottery or something. I thought it would make me look suspicious, and people would start to wonder if something was wrong with me. But then I did it. And you know what? Most people don’t care why you’re great. You’re saying it for you.

7 – Pay attention to the music of your speech.

You know how some people? They talk in question marks? And you have no idea why? But it makes you think you shouldn’t really rely on them? And it makes you not want to hire them?

The music of your language says a lot about you. If you let your sentences droop like Eeyore, (”Thanks for noticing me.”) or if you do the uncertain question mark language, take note of what attitudes are causing this. These patterns are created for a reason. Even if it feels like faking it at first, generate confidence as you speak.

Performer, songwriter, and creativity consultant Christine Kane publishes her ‘LiveCreative’ weekly ezine with more than 4,000 subscribers. If you want to be the artist of your life and create authentic and lasting success, you can sign up for a FRE*E subscription to LiveCreative at www.christinekane.com.

WANT TO SEE HUNDREDS MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS ONE?
See Christine’s blog – Be Creative. Be Conscious. Be Courageous – at ChristineKane.com/blog.

Rocks hold firm while water’s might
Sends pebbles rolling left and right.
Call pebbles rock? Set firm their goal?
First flash flood, still pebbles roll.
Not name, nor goal divide the two.
It’s how they act. It’s what they do.
Size dictates to stone, but you are in control.
Are you rock or pebble? Will you hold or roll?
~ Manly Grant (Rhymes for the land)

Doing what you love to do consistently. Wouldn’t it be great if you could influence your life in such a way, that you maximized the amount of time that you do what you love to do?

It would be great, but life isn’t up to us to design completely. Some even say that life is what happens to us as we live it. And in fact we experience life as it happens and a lot of things that happen are out of our control. We have to deal with them and make the best of it, right?

Well, that may be true, but we’re not entirely out of control. We have an influence on how our life evolves, and it is up to ourselves to use that influence to live the life that fulfills us the most. This e-book will guide you through a process of discovering some elements that are essential in achieving just that.

At the end of the e-book you’ll be aware of what your Personal Core Values are, and you will know a couple of ways how you can use them to influence your life. Don’t expect miracles, they won’t happen. But steady progress towards a life that’s more fulfilling than it may be right now, that’s definitely
a feasible possibility.

Who are you?

If you find yourself struggling with answering the question of what it is that you want to do, chances are that you don’t know yourself well enough. Self knowledge is the foundation for taking control of your life in such a way that you maximize the time in which you do what you love to do.

To know what you love doing, you need to know yourself. In particular, you need to know your characteristics, values and ambitions. What you love to do usually lines up with your characteristics, is aligned with your values and brings you closer to your ambitions. Sounds pretty logical, doesn’t it?

Knowing your characteristics and defining your ambitions is beyond the scope of this e-book. This e-book is about discovering your value system, and in particular discovering your personal core values.

Personal Core Values

Personal core values are a special kind of values. They are the ones that are closest to your being, the ones that are the most important to you. They are at the foundation of who you are. As such they don’t require
justification; you don’t have to defend your values to others as they are part of you.

Personal Core Values:

• clarify who we are
• require no justification
• govern relationships
• guide us in making decisions

These values play an important role in our everyday life, as they influence almost everything we do or don’t do. They govern relationships we engage in and they guide us in making decisions.

Even if we’re not aware of what our personal core values are, they still perform their magic in this way. Look at your personal core values as what’s beneath the surface.

Just like the biggest part of an iceberg is beneath the surface of the water, your values, characteristics and ambitions are primarily beneath the surface as well. They are invisible to others, and if we don’t take deliberate action to identify them, also invisible to ourselves. But they’re there nevertheless.

How Knowing Your Personal Core Values Helps

How do you feel knowing that even if you don’t know what your personal core values are, they still have an effect on your everyday life, in your relationships and the decisions you make? Does that give you a feeling of being at ease? Of being in control?

If things are going well, we usually don’t worry about it that much. But when the going gets tough, we know our personal core values are playing a role in our life, but we’re not aware of what role and not aware of what they are. And exactly at that time is it beneficial to know them and actively use them.

Knowing your personal core values is not only beneficial when the going gets tough, they also help when you have regular decisions to make.

This is only the first chapter from the e-book. There are six more chapters and five exercises (both serious and fun ones) you can easily do at home to discover your own values. To see the full table of contents, visit the Personal Core Values mini site.

That’s right! Zero. Or at least very very very close to zero. Yet this is exactly what Dutch students Omar Kbiri en Lennard Hulsbos achieved last week.

Their secret? They asked.

Mister Branson, we are 2 broke students, can we join you on the plane to DC?

They simply asked Richard Branson if he had two spare seats in his plane, so they could attend the inauguration. Richard Branson was a speaker at the Big Improvement Day convention in Amsterdam. During this event there was the possibility of asking questions by sending a sms to a big screen (that everybody could see). And they plainly asked. And Richard Branson said yes.

Now there were probably a myriad of reasons not to ask such a ‘ridiculous’ question, but none of those reasons would’ve gotten them quite the same result.

Takeaway

If you want something, why not simply ask for it? Who knows, people might just say yes.

Photo by unknown. Is this your photo?

Take your time…I’ll be waiting right here.

…
…

Done?
Had fun?

Imagined yourself on a white sandy beach on a tropical island? Or skiing down a slope under a clear blue sky? Or did you imagine starting your own company?

No matter what you fantasized about I’m willing to bet that you translated the 10k into dollars (or maybe euros). Now what if I told you I was talking about hours.

Hours?!

Yes…you can have 10,000 hours of fun and become an expert in the meantime!
Oh wait…no, no I’m sure you didn’t think you could buy expert status, now did you? (hint: you can’t)

The 10,000 hours is not a random number, it’s a common estimate for the amount of hours you need to spend to even be considered an expert on a subject. And 10,000 hours is a whole lotta time I can tell ya!

Ten thousand hours!
10,000 days or 1429 weeks or 333 months or 27.4 years at 1 hour a day.
5,000 days or 714 weeks or 167 months or 13.7 years at 2 hours a day.
3,333 days or 476 weeks or 111 months or 9.1 years at 3 hours a day.
2,500 days or 357 weeks or 83 months or 6.8 years at 4 hours a day.
2,000 days or 286 weeks or 67 months or 5.5 years at 5 hours a day.
1,667 days or 238 weeks or 56 months or 4.6 years at 6 hours a day.
1,428 days or 204 weeks or 48 months or 3.9 years at 7 hours a day.
1,250 days or 179 weeks or 42 months or 3.4 years at 8 hours a day.

And to make all these comparisons complete, an entire year contains (only) 8,760 hours.

Looking back on my life I’ve spent enough hours to be eligible as an expert in the following areas:

• Sleeping (got 60,000+ hours down already!)
• Walking (est. 11,000 hours)
• Talking (est. 22,000 hours)
• Eating and Drinking (est. 11,000 hours)
• Being an employee (est. 16,000 hours)
• Being a spouse (131,000+ hours)
• Being a father (19,000+ hours)

And I’m not even close in these areas (although I thought I would be for some of them):

• Driving a car (est. 2,000 hours)
• Bathing (est. 3,000 hours)
• Gaming (est. 2,000 hours)
• Taekwondo (est. 1,000 hours)
• Doing DIY work (est. 1,900 hours)
• Reading, thinking, writing, learning about personal development (est. 2,600 hours)
• Reading, learning, visualising, practicing public speaking (est. 400 hours)
• … a vast array of other activities

I was quite startled by the enormous amount of hours I have spent as employee already. And even though I’ve spent many hours in that role, I’m sure that there’s not a single topic or a single activity that I have spent 10,000 hours on. (Or ever will.) Since I’m changing over to being an entrepreneur (not even close to 10,000 hours in that role!).

This exercise is interesting because people are very very bad at making accurate estimations. So sitting down, thinking about it with a calculator will give you insight in the amount of time you have put in some of these topics. And you probably will still be making bad estimations, but they’ll be less bad because of the time you spent on thinking about them for a while.

What’s an expert anyway?

According to the dictionary an expert is someone with extensive knowledge or ability in a given subject. If I take this definition and look through my list, there are a lot of areas I have spent the hours on, but I wouldn’t say that I have extensive knowledge or ability in that topic. I’m not an expert on sleeping for instance, even though I’ve got 60,000 hours down already.

Extensive knowledge or ability requires more than ‘just grinding through the hours’. It requires an interest in the topic, and learning, growing, experiencing, failing, experimenting, discussing and so on. It’s about going in depth on the subject or ability, or climbing to the higher levels in the learning curve.

Examples of famous people who have done so are:

• Tiger Woods – started playing golf at 2, won amateur championship at 15, went pro at 21. At 2 hours a day, starting at 2 years of age, you’ll be an expert by 15 years of age.
• Richard Branson – started his first business venture in high school, and never stopped after that. In his autobiography you can read that doing business was his way of living.
• Eddie van Halen – started playing the guitar as a teenager. In an interview when asked how he learned to play he answered:
  

  “Practice. I used to sit on the edge of my bed with a six-pack of Schlitz Malt talls. My brother would go out at 7pm to party and get laid, and when he’d come back at 3am, I would still be sitting in the same place, playing guitar. I did that for years — I still do that.”

• Stephen King – Started writing for fun in school, even sold short stories to friends at the time. King has a very simple formula for learning to write well.
  

  “Read and write four to six hours a day. If you cannot find the time for that, you can’t expect to become a good writer.”

If you put in the hours, and are willing to learn, you’ll get to the higher grounds of expertise.

10,000 hours of fun

Now all of these people have spent many many hours on a single subject, and many did so from a very young age already. The fact that they’re talented is helpful, but putting a lot of hard work into their talent is what made them successful and experts in their field.

But 10,000 hours is a very, very long time. So there’s got to be a secret to get through them right? And there is! You have to make sure that you have fun most of the time. You know how the saying goes: “Time flies when you’re having fun.” Make sure you have fun doing what you do, and you’ll be an expert in no time (it’ll feel like that anyway).

The best way to ensure you have fun working is to follow your passion. What are the things you can spend hours and hours on because you love to do them so much? These activities hold the seed for a profession in which you can excel and become an expert.

Make a list of what you LOVE to do

Now go make a list of things you LOVE to do. I’m not talking about things you like, but things you LOVE to do and have a special interest in. I like to watch movies every now and then for example, but I don’t LOVE to watch movies. I couldn’t watch movies 6 hours straight. On the other hand I love learning about human behavior and self improvement. I can read books for hours, days in a row on that topic.

In what area do you want to be an expert?
Or did you just find out that you already are well on your way to expert levels?

Should you have difficulty with coming up with ways to turn your passion into a profession, share your passion in the comments and I’ll help you come up with ideas (and everybody’s free to pitch in their ideas of course!).

Photo by Joe Shlabotnik

Know thyself
~ Plato

Now that’s some sound advice: “Know thyself.” Thanks Plato! Hey, you’re probably right as you’re universally seen as one of the most influential philosophers of all time. But why such a short quote? Why does it feel like such an open door? Why is it important? And why is it so hard… Know thyself. Do you know yourself? Will you ever? Man, this short quote raises so many questions, psychological questions, philosophical questions, existential questions even.

I sure didn’t know where to start. Knowing yourself seems like a wise thing to do, like powerful knowledge. I mean, if you – of all people: the one that spends 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year (and then some) with you – don’t know who you are. Who on earth will?! On the other hand, you probably know lotsa people that think they know you, really know you. And you know they’re wrong most of the time…but incredibly right at times. Frustrating stuff.

Self-discovery

Hi! It’s me.
Hi me, nice to finally meet you! What is it that drives you?

Getting to know yourself can be quite fun. You could do a virtual self interview, but for most people that’s too strange to even ponder doing. Thankfully there are a plethora (I always wanted to use that word someday) of ways to do it easier. Let me provide you with some links:

• Do you know your MBTI type?
• Do you know your enneagram type?
• Do you know your core values?
• Do you know your preferred modalities?
• Do you know your Chinese astrological sign?
• Do you know your western astrological sign?

I’m not kidding, these are all excellent ways to get to know yourself a little better. Even the astrological signs, and yes! EVEN if you don’t believe in astrology. That’s because the results of the tests are not important. It’s even not important to verify (or even know) if the result is the ‘right’ result. It doesn’t matter.

What matters is what your emotional reactions are when you read the results and the accompanying descriptions. What parts do you recognize yourself in? What parts totally missed the point? It’s those parts and those effects that hide a secret, or a hint to who you are.

An example

I was born in the month of March in the year 1976 and that makes me a Dragon in Chinese Astrology.

Yay! A dragon! Cool! What does that say about me? Would I have been equally enthusiastic if my sign would be that of a Dog or a Rat? Probably not No!

I love being a dragon, because it’s a mythical being. The only being in the Chinese signs that doesn’t really exist in reality. Now that says something about me. It tells me that I have a craving for being unique, for being special. Really special even.

The element of the Dragon in 1976 is Fire.

Fire is the element that amplifies the traits of a Dragon. Yay! Why do I like that the element amplifies the traits of the Dragon? Both the good and the bad ones! Looking at myself and my behavior, I don’t really recognize this. But I certainly would love to be more outspoken in some of my traits! Get the balls to say and do stuff! This part appeals to me, because there’s potential to grow for me.

A valuable life lesson for this clever creature would be to absorb the principles of flexibility, compassion and tolerance. Being high and mighty can serve to inspire others, but it also keeps Dragons from living their lives to the fullest. If Dragons can learn to balance their quest for success with an appreciation for the little things, their life will be more than worthwhile.

Euhm…wow. Where to begin? They call me clever (I don’t mind flattery…), high and mighty, inspire others. Hmm…yes please! Live life to the fullest (Richard Branson’s motto…I wonder if he’s a Dragon too), quest for success (hey reader…are you recognizing this yet?). But wait…these strenghts…are those my pitfalls too?! They couldn’t be…

How this helps me

All kidding aside, parts of the description appealed to me, and parts didn’t. That says something about me, and I can work with that. Am I high and mighty, or do I inspire to be so? It doesn’t matter really. The fact that it triggers me, is an entry point to self discovery.

Doing these kind of exercises helps me to ask myself questions. Whether it’s astrology, MBTI or enneagram, they help me to do some self-discovery, to get to learn to know my multi-faceted self. The things I’m proud of, the things I need to learn, the things I admire, and so on. Every piece of knowledge can help me move forward. It might be by becoming aware of a hidden strength I can use. Or by discovering an area of improvement on things that really matter to me. And sometimes it just makes me feel good about myself.

How this could help you too!

You can do this too! Just take a test and read the results. Take two markers, pencils or crayons. Mark the stuff that appeals to you green (or yellow, orange, blue or whatever color you really like), and mark the stuff that you dislike red (or black, brown, purple or whatever color you don’t like).

Now review those sections and get to know yourself a little better. Happy discovering and have fun!

Have you done the tests, or do you know your type already? What did you learn about yourself? Did it give you new insights? Or did it reconfirm the ones that you already had?

Language is the source of misunderstandings.
~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Language is an art. Most languages are, but especially in the Anglo-Saxon world it is highly valued if you are a proficient artist in the beautiful language that is English. Being eloquent and using prose-like languages full of quirks and subtle jokes or references is a skill enjoyed by many. The Anglo-Saxon world is proud of its language and the heritage that’s intertwined with it. More so than other languages, and especially more so than the Dutch (but that’s another story).

However, that same language can be the cause of a lot of misunderstandings. Even between different variants of the same language, British English and American English, a lot of confusion can arise. If an American wants to table a topic for instance, they mean that they want to let it rest for a while and postpone the discussion. The British on the other hand will table that topic if it needs immediate discussion. The same expression, but a world apart. Winston Churchill once said about it: “Two nations divided by a common language.”

Eloquent can be simple as well

Eloquent speech is not from lip to ear, but rather from heart to heart.
~ William Jennings Bryan

Being eloquent doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to use uncommon or unknown (but often beautiful) words. There’s a time and place where we enjoy that kind of language. A time when we indulge in the richness, and wish we could write or speak like that.

But there’s also a time where being eloquent means that you use simple words, and avoid that rich language. As William Jennings Bryan said (so eloquently) it’s not about getting from lip to ear, but from heart to heart.

In theatres, movies and books this relates to conveying emotions from one person to the other. In politics it’s conveying a belief or a cause from one person to the other. Rich language aids the speaker or author in those circumstances by creating a fertile ground for the audience. They can genuinely experience the emotions themselves, or the power of the specific belief, or the necessity of fighting for a named cause.

However, in a business setting (or any setting where you simply want to get things done) getting from heart to heart is something else entirely. Being eloquent in business simply means that you make sure that the other person understands what you mean and what you want them to do. In this setting rich language is a pitfall, because it creates ambiguity err…you increase the chance of misunderstandings to happen. The “table” expression is a perfect example.

In business you simply want to get your message across (effective), with a minimum of effort on both sides (efficient).

Choose simple words and wordings

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.
~ Albert Einstein

One of the habits you can adopt is to simplify your vocabulary. Remove unnecessary words and by-phrases and replace words that are prone to misinterpretation. When you’re talking to someone you have the ability to catch misinterpretations as they happen (but even then you might not recognize them instantly). In disconnected communication like email that possibility does not exist. You are simply not there when they read the email. So use simple words and wordings, especially in email!

An example:
Let’s take a look at one of those typical sentences you could come across in an email message:
“I sincerely feel it is part of your set of responsibilities to achieve the desired results within a reasonable amount of time.”

There are multiple problems with this sentence and the message it tries to convey:

• What are the desired results? Is this clear to both of you?
• What is a reasonable amount of time? Hours, days, weeks?
• Do you give the same meaning to “responsibility”? How do you know?
• It might also trigger a response that starts a discussion whether your assumption regarding the responsibilities is correct (Imagine for a second what that response might look like…and how many words it would have.)

The likelihood that this sentence gets the message across is low (ineffective), and the resulting discussion takes a lot of time and thinking power (inefficient).

Now compare it with this sentence:
“Send me the performance report on newspaper sales no later than next Monday at noon. Thanks.”

Simple and clear (and even pretty polite). It gets the message across, is easy to read and will trigger short responses like “Ok.” and “That’s not going to be a problem.” And in case you sent it to the wrong person, you can expect a short answer too: “Not my job. Forwarded it to Charlie.”

Keep it short and simple

I made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter.
~ Blaise Pascal

Pascal’s words are wise ones, it takes more time and effort to get the same message across while using less words. So it might look like a productivity hack to skip that additional effort and go with the longer message. Bad idea.

In the bigger picture, you may have won some time writing your message (quite the paradox, long messages take less time to write). But it will also take the receiver more time to read and comprehend it. Even worse: your lack of effort effectively gives the receiver permission to do the same to you! If you are not putting in the effort, why should they? So you can expect long answers back, that take more time to read and comprehend.

So use words sparingly. Every sentence and every explanation that you add to your message might confuse the recipient. Edit your message ruthlessly and strip it down to the bare essential. It’s easier to understand, elicits better responses and as a benefit it also has an aura of authority to it as well.

Simple isn’t always easy

Simple can be a really hard thing to do. I sure as hell don’t master it, just take a good look at this post. I’m not trying to convey emotions, beliefs or causes. I’m just trying to explain a phenomenon I witness around me and a way to deal with it. Yet it could’ve been said in a lot fewer words, without hurting the message. However I do use these habits a lot and I try to be simply eloquent (or eloquently simple?).

Do you recognize this phenomenon? Are your co-workers confusingly eloquent? (I bet they are!)

Photos by kevinzim and Martin Kingsley

During the interview it dawned upon that I could only do this effectively, because I had learned and adopted the GTD system before I adapted it. Starting GTD was a huge job, but still it’s one of the best things I have done in the past two years. It has brought me peace of mind, and it keeps me from forgetting stuff.

10 steps to get started

Starting GTD can be an arduous task, especially to those who need it the most. For those of you who have yet to start (or for your friends and colleagues who should start), here’s how to get past that first hurdle:

1. Read the book
   There’s no starting with Getting Things Done if you haven’t read David Allen’s book. So go to your library, or if you can’t wait buy Getting Things Done.
2. No seriously…read the book!
   You can’s skip this step, it’s essential. You won’t be able to fully comprehend or appreciate the modifications people make to GTD, without knowing the system. So read that book!
3. Buy a lot of manilla folders and labels.
   Buy a lot (no even more than that!) of manilla folders, you need them for your filing system and tickler file. Buy labels too. Buy a labelling machine too if your handwriting is illegible.
4. Block 2 days in your calender.
   Yes. 2 days. The entire day. I know that’s a lot of time for busy people like you, but you’ll regain that time in the weeks to come.
5. No seriously…block 2 days in your calender to start.
   You can have lunchbreaks, but no appointments. You will need your focus!
6. Collect everything and put it in your inbox.
   Physical stuff in a physical inbox, digital stuff in a digital inbox. If you’re anything like me, this will make piles. Huge piles of paper and immense inboxes. Don’t worry about it, that’s where you need it to be right now.
7. Process stuff.
   Start at the top. Follow the GTD rules! But, if you’re really unsure about something, put it on a new pile. This is your purgatory, your easy way out (for now!). By now you’ll be glad you blocked 2 full days in your calender.
8. Making a pile “To archive” is a major pitfall!
   As soon as you have something to archive. DON’T PUT IT ON A PILE! File it immediately, there’s something really gratifying about filling a filing cabinet. And there’s hardly anything more depressing than a huge pile of stuff you need to archive.
9. Read the book again, but this time selectively.
   Going through this 2 day process has shown you which parts you need to re-read. Now you have some experience, and you’ll understand those parts better.
10. Focus on the purgatory pile.
    Don’t procrastinate working through the purgatory pile. It’s still going to be a difficult one. My experience is that whatever lands on that pile is either something that should be tossed away or something that’s not important to you, but possibly important to someone else.

That’s how you start. Keeping it up is another process. In that process you’ll work on applying the GTD rules in processing your inboxes on a daily basis. You’ll work on adopting the weekly review. And you’ll work on adopting the tickler file. And once you’ve adopted those, you’ll keep what works for you, and drop what doesn’t.

But for now, go on and read that book!

Image by Foxtongue.

• The more complex your system is, the more likely you are to abandon it.
• The more complex your system is, the more time you’ll spend maintaining it.
• Working on your productivity system is NOT productive time.
• Simple systems are no guarantee for productivity.
• It’s not about the system.
• No system will make your list shorter, only finishing tasks will do that.
• When you start a task: finish it!
• Writing down tasks you have already finished just to tick them off the list again, doesn’t make you any more productive.
• Finished tasks are not a trophy. Discard them when done!
• It doesn’t matter if you forget a task, you’ll think of it again.
• Write down things to do, as soon as you think of them.
• Not writing tasks down, doesn’t make your list any shorter.
• A short list doesn’t make you productive.
• A large list doesn’t make you important.
• A large list also doesn’t make you busy.
• It’s not about the list either.
• Procrastination separates the urgent from the non-urgent tasks.
• Non-urgent tasks will get urgent, if you allow enough time to pass.
• If you procrastinate a task for a month or more, discard it altogether.
• Failing to discard unfinished tasks separates the important from the non-important tasks.
• If you hesitate to discard a task, get some balls and finish it already!
• If you can’t finish a task in a day, break it down into smaller parts.
• Detailed tasks are only useful in the short term.
• Breaking down projects in detailed tasks for the entire project span is a waste of time. Two weeks down the road you know better ways to do it anyway.
• It’s also not about the task.
• It’s not about the system.
• It’s not about the list.
• It’s not about the tasks.
• It’s about the results.
• Finished tasks are NOT results.

Will you finally get some stuff done already!?

Photo by tracitodd

Personal Core Values is all about discovering your values. If you’re a regular reader of How to be an Original, you know that I’ve gone through the process of discovering my personal core values years ago. And I use them on a regular basis to this day. I’ve written about my personal core values on this blog before, and I talked about how I used them when I wrote my personal mission statement.

Those articles are an account of how I found my values, and how I use them. But this is not about me, it’s about you. Because reading about how I discovered my values may be nice, what’s ultimately more important is how you can discover yours!

That’s why I wrote this e-book. It’s a guide for you, that will help you start discovering your personal core values, one by one. To accommodate this there are four (actually five) exercises. Every exercise has a brief introduction of what you can expect and how to prepare. Most exercises have worksheets to help you through the process (some of them contain gems!).

The 66 page e-book is divided in three parts:

1. What are Personal Core Values
   This part explores what values are, and more specifically what Personal Core Values are. You will learn the various characteristics of values and what it takes to make it one of those special Personal Core Values.
2. Discovering Your Personal Core Values
   This is where you’ll find the four exercises that will help you discover YOUR Personal Core Values. Choose the ones that appeal to you, you really don’t need to do all of them (but you’re more than welcome to!)
3. Using Your Personal Core Values
   At the end of Part II you will know your Personal Core Values. Part III gives some examples of how you can use them in relationships, decision making and for crafting a personal mission statement.

You can get this e-book for only $19. After that all you have to do is invest the hours for reading it and doing the exercises. And a couple of hours and 19 bucks is a great deal for this kind of life-aligning knowledge.

The instant-download e-book is easy to print or read on screen. And not to forget, you also get a 30-day money back guarantee, in case you’re not satisfied with it after all. Click here to buy it now.

The complete table of contents:

1. Part I: What are Personal Core Values
1. Doing what you love to do consistently
2. Characteristics of values
3. Personal core values
2. Part II: Discovering your Personal Core Values
1. Exercise I: Brain Writing
2. Exercise 2: A Trip Down Memory Lane
3. Exercise 3: The Last Speech
4. Exercise 4: The Treasure Hunt
5. Wrap up: The Final Five
3. Part III: Using your Personal Core Values
1. Using Your Personal Core Values
2. Personal Core Values in Relationships
3. Personal Core Values and Decisions
4. Personal Core Values and Your Mission Statement

Other people give you great advice: “Take a different perspective!”

Yeah, great advice, but if your head over heels in a problem that’s not easy to do. They tell you what to do, but not how to do it. In this post you’ll find a handful of actionable things to do that will help you change that perspective and may inspire that breakthrough thought.

If they don’t…well then you had a lot of fun anyway

Play in a sandbox

And I mean this literally, go sit down in the sandbox, get your hands dirty and sculpt something out of the sand. The pyramids of Chichen Itza for instance, like Lisa Bettany did on the beach. Or when you have the luxury of the beach (or a really big sandbox), why don’t you make an X-wing fighter. Or anything really.

How is the problem like crafting objects in a sandbox? In what order do you build, and how’s that related to the order of crafting a solution? What tools did you use, and how are they related to crafting that solution?

Listen to your very first cd

Go to your music collection and take the very first cd you ever bought and listen to it. My first cd was Gloria Estefan’s album “Anything for you” (don’t ask), it was released under the title “Let it loose” elsewhere in the world. You may not particularly like that music anymore, or don’t want to be remembered about that first album, but the music will bring back all kinds of memories regardless. And a different perspective.

How would you have handled the problem you’re dealing at the age you bought this album?

Go watch a movie

Movies can really take your mind of everyday life. And there are often lessons hidden in there, lessons you will recognize when you’re ready for them. But they can also help you very much when you’re stuck with a problem. First they set your mind of it and you can relax a bit while watching them. And then:

How would the hero of the story have solved the problem? And the villain? Imagine the villain was the problem, how did they catch or defeat her? How does that relate to your problem?

Doodle Doodly Doo

Grab a piece of paper and a box of crayons. Doodle like you were when you were five. Draw stick figures, trees, houses, cars, trucks, airplanes, planets, flowers, birds, kissing people, knights, castles, mountains, meadows, oceans, ships, pirates. Get the creative juices flowing, go wild with colours, be unrealistic, don’t draw between the lines.

Cartoonize your problem, and draw the surroundings. Add the things that you associate with it. Does it look something like you experience it? Now add color! Grab the vibrant colors and change the picture all together.

Play tourist

Go to your local tourist office and act as a tourist. Just ask what someone visiting only for a day should’ve done in “this town”. Chances are that they come up with ideas that may sound like the standard stuff, but you have never done before. Did you ever take a guided tour through your own town? There’s more stuff to explore than you realize, more stories to be told than you could’ve imagined.

How does a guide relate to your problem? What untold stories does the problem have?

Take your camera outside

Go grab your (digital) photocamera and play outside. Take pictures of stuff you see, change perspectives, photograph from the bottom up, from high points down on things, through holes, from upclose. This exercise will activate creative thought patterns amongst other benefits. Those will spill over to other areas.

How can you do change perspectives on your problem? Are you upclose or framing it from a distance? How does it look in black and white?

Take a route less traveled

When you go to the office, the daycare centre, the mall, the supermarket or whatever place you regularly go to. Take a different route. Heck a detour even, start by driving or walking away from your destination and take some unexpected turns. Then drive towards your destination, but don’t stop when you get there. Go past it and see what’s behind it.

Visualize your problem as a location in town, then drive away from it. Circle around it and see how it looks from the other side. How does this change it?

Write, write, write

Take some nice paper, get a comfortable pen and start writing. Just write what comes to mind, and keep going and going and going and going. It’s going to be complete gibberish, but that’s okay. Write some more. At first you’ll find all kinds of thoughts, ideas and worries on the paper. Gradually it will change to more creative and fictious writing (if it hasn’t you’re not done writing yet). Worries have been trusted to the paper, there’s room for creative thought again.

Dwell in the fiction, and then think about how the problem would fit in the story you’re writing. How would the dwarves solve it? Or the angels? Or the ants? Or the leprecons?

Get drunk

One thing is for sure, perspectives change when you’re drunk Okay…getting drunk is maybe a couple of drinks too much, but there is definitely an effect that will take away inhibitions that are slowing you down in solving that problem. Just don’t implement before you sober up again

Photos by Scott Thompson, laffy4k and Boocal