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Its all about getting those habits right a step at

Its all about getting habits right and repeating them!
Here is some wisdom on that near and dear topic from our friend Leo over at Zen Habits.
Not to be missed

Living with kids

As a dad I found this hit home in many ways and wanted to share it. It doesn't really fit any of my categories so I apologize for that.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy it as I did...

Personal Trainer?

Getting on a excercise plan is all about motivation. There are tons of resources online (like this one!) and there are lots of ways to learn about what program is right for you.

Weights, running, swimming, or even all of the above.

But it often really helps to have another ~person~ involved. This article looks at some of the reasons for that person to be a personal trainer. Check it out if you think "maybe" to that idea.

The Reaility of Excercise

The reality of exercise and getting in shape is simply different than what we all wish.

In reality it is a start again stop again process. That is just life. This post from the fantastic Zen Habits helps address that issue.

Don't ever feel guilty that you stopped. Whether you are using Habitizer or not.

The trick is to KEEP restarting.

Read the post, get inspired.

Its about the habit, and keeping at it!

The Martini Method

Getting things done is as much about motivation as it is about actual process. Being clear about a small treat to do some task you know you need to do can help you get that kick in the right direction.

This post talks about the "Martini Method" for getting a dissertation done but it can be applied anywhere.

Don't tell the folks over in the health section about all those martini's though. Or at least change it to Red Wine..

How to strike a work and life balance

In your quest from productivity it always makes sense to take a few minutes and make sure the productivity is towards the RIGHT, IMPORTANT goals.

Stephen Covey makes this point and other good ones in his "How to strike a work and life balance" blog post.

Worth a few minutes to read. But maybe only if you are at work and not at home.

How to strike a work and life balance

Heathly Habits are the Key to a Long Life

Well its a new year and traditionally a time to get started on healthy new habits.

This year will be different though, not just intentions but changes.

You know that healthy repeated habits are the secret to long life, right?

If you don't believe me, maybe this will help and give you some ideas for healthy habits that are very simple but can add up to a healthier, happier life.

Happy New Years to ALL!

401k and Retirement Funds Explained

For all the amazing material on the web, it can be shockingly hard to find good, straight forward explanations of important things. Particularly from a source that has no "vested interest".

This straight forward explanation of 401k and retirement funds is just that. Clear and unbiased. Even if you know something about these you will probably learn something that can help your financial smarts.

Meditiation Practice

I have always been fascinated by Meditation and have read about it, tried it, and really ~want~ the habit though I havent really acquired it yet.

This handy guide goes through some of the basics and makes some of the compelling health arguments I have read before.

Worth a look.
So am I ready to commit to a 20 minute a day meditation session. I really want to. Okay, habit number 4 to work on here I come!

Calorie Counter

A big part of any weight loss or gain program is counting calories and understanding how much you really need to eat.

This site provides some excellent tools to help you both understand and start tracking (but don't forget to use habitizer!) what you are eating.

Free Productivity E-book

This free ebook simply takes some general productivity principles and folds them together. Its not too long and a little bit less heavy handed than some.

It is focused on "creatives" but I strongly feel most of it applies to everyone.

In fact if you don't need ~some~ quiet focused "in flow" time in your job, maybe mulling over some alternatives would make sense?

I don't know about you, but flow time is happy time for me!

Reminders are good as coaches?

I am not sure I totally believe this but I think its right in principle. Basically, a Standford study claims that having a reminder (in this case the phone) is just as effective in continuing exercise habits as having a personal trainer.

I know reminders certainly help as we get started on new habits and thats what this site is all about!

Go forth and stick to it!

Power Questions to Stop Bad Habits

Much of healthy living is about stopping bad habits, not just starting good ones.

This article outlines some key questions to ask yourself to maximize your chance to change that bad habit. It also explains why some techniques are bound to fail so you can avoid those pitfalls.

Personally the hardest bad habit I have had to work on is grinding my teeth. Its so insidious because it happens unconsciously precisely when I am NOT thinking about it...

Your Money or Your Life

This great book is all about making the transition from "working for a living" to making your work fit with your life.

Smarter spending, knowing where your money goes, setting a good budget and sticking to it. Its all covered.

It balances the practical and specific with the more philosophical aspects of this process really well. Check it out!

Work Smarter, have a plan

This great guide walks through some work productivity tips based on studies on the modern work place.

One idea I find worrying/intriguing is the the author actually recommends cutting off web access for most employees and having special 'internet terminals' spread around for when employees really do need access.

I understand time gets lost but I know lots of people would be truly upset at something like this. If you ~don't~ give trust you are asking for trouble...

Getting into the excercise habit

The trick to any habit is the first dozen times you do it. The first 2-3 are easy, next 10 are hard. Then it gets much, much easier.

With that in mind this article provides some good reasoning to support starting off with a DAILY habit to get excercising. That is probably the best way and accelerates you over the hump when you are getting started!

GREAT online calorie counter

This is a GREAT resources for Dieters or anyone trying to eat a more healthy diet.

Super simple interface (love those) simply type in the food including specific fast food items like Burger King Whopper with cheese (hopefully you don't do that too often!) and the full nutritional information (or lack of) appears.

Just browsing some of your more common indulgences is a worthwhile step to eating better.

Positivity and Productivity

For me my productivity is all wrapped up in how I am feeling. Thats why I read the "positive psychology" blog. Feeling positive always leads to more and better work!

This specific entry is about the APE method for getting out of a bad mood.
A - Alternatives
P - Perspective
E - Evidence
You owe it to your next bad mood to check it out.
I really should go create a habit to use this daily even if my mood is not ~too~ bad. Can't work on too many at once though!

Break it down, make it specific.

I truly believe its all about breaking down your goals into daily habits no matter what the goal. Break it down, make it specific, write it down and track it, track it, track it!

Thats what this website is all about. This link has an article backing that up with a little science and some studies on just that topic.

Break it down, make it specific.

Organizing from the Inside Out

Organizing is not about massive amounts of labeling or buying a lot of gadgets to help you.

Its about making an effort and getting into the right habits.

This book understands that and acts as a guide to help you through the process of getting everything organized at work and at home.

Its not easy to do and this book understands that as well. Its friendly, easy going and helpful which is exactly what you need when undertaking reorganization project.

Use the STING method to stop procrastinating

Sometimes productivity habits need a jump kick to get started. Procrastinating starting can really take the best of intentions and the most important tasks and completely sidetrack them.

STING, is simply an acronym for an approach to over come it.

S - Select one task. T - Time yourself. I - Ignore everything else. N - No breaks. G - Give yourself a reward.

(This is a new productivity blog for me to follow but it starts off with a bang!)

Zen Running

I started the habit of running a few years ago to reduce stress and get in better shape.

It has been fantastic. At one point I was in the hospital for a week and didnt run for a month or two afterwards. Getting started again was ~REALLY~ hard because those first few runs are so hard.

I can assure you it get better and better as you get in shape.

Anyway, this link combines running and "being present in the moment" as a way to improve the total benefit of your running. I am trying it today!

Clear Context: An email management solution for us

Great productivity tool to help you control your email and not have it control you. Using this product, I can manage my whole day from my inbox

The Little Book that Beats the Market

I love this book.

For the longest time I put up with ridiculous fees from poorly managed mutual funds with my retirement money. I had played the market some but with very mixed results. Frankly I bought some good stocks but didn't know when to get out, and didn't stick with it properly.

By following the simple techniques outlined in this book I am doing MUCH better than on my own or the damn mutual funds I won't mention. (Though I believe our founding father would be embarrassed by what they are doing in his name!)

The book is amusing, simple, focused and for me just what I needed to take control of my retirement funds!

If I'm So Smart, Why Can't I Lose Weight?

I try and stay away from gimmicky diet books. (Although I did try one "gimmicky" diet that actually worked... hate to perpetuate it though as it might not work for you!)

This book presents a very no-nonsense, tool driven approach which seems like the right way to me.

I call it no nonsense because its all about eating right and excercising more. And of course tracking and measurement which I am of course a huge fan of.

Health Calcutlators, BMI, Heart Rate

The folks over at Healthy Choice have put up a nice set of tools to help measure the current state of your health.

Check them out if you are starting out on a diet and then perhaps check in when you have reached your goal for some extra motiviation.

Getting Things Done

The classic of productivity.
If you want to be more effective and you feel overwhelmed this is simply the best place to start.
It outlines a nice system to attack all your organizational problems and stives to get it out of your head and down on paper so you can get it done!
If employing this system I greatly reccomend setting up two daily habits to help it to stick.
First have a habit, Review Inbox Daily.
Second, try "Put all relevant tasks thru GTD!"

All You Need to Know for Financial Success

Beyond a slick tool for tracking personal finanaces the folks over at mint have a GREAT outline of general personal finance and an overview of each.
Kids, housing, cars. There is a section on each and more. Its a great place to get started if you feel you need to work on your financial habits but aren't sure where to start.

Online money management

Mint is a (free) slick Web 2.0 app for managing your money. If you know where its going you can spend smarter and improve your money habits.

Get done and get home on time.

It seems a theme here. Rather than "productivity" resources I seem to find good resources for preventing waste. Its the same thing... almost. Anyway here is a nice outline of some ideas on cutting out workplace time-wasters so you can get done and get yourself home!
Read it quickly and get back to work!

10 Tips for a Healthy Breakfast

Part of any dieting should include improving what you eat not just eating less.
Its not that hard to do as long as you have some help finding healthier food to eat and that's what this set of tips is all about.

8 Foods you should eat everyday

You are what you eat, so eat good stuff! And hey, any health article that lists sexual enhancement as one of the key categories can't be all wrong!

Tools to cut out distractions

This list from lifehacker is somewhat ironic to me but still quite useful. Basically it is 10 great ideas and tools to help you FOCUS. Fight back against the many things setting out to distract us.
Of course Lifehackr has distracted me from my real work more than once... thus the irony.