How to Live Life Bullshit-Free

These are my best posts on how to live life with as little crap as possible in your life.

Performance & Productivity, Personal Development

Thirteen Jacked Up Things That Are Pissing Away Your Life

This morning I was thinking about my constant effort to improve my productivity and energy management. The world is fighting against people that want to be productive, smart, efficient and ambitious. You have to always be on your toes and proactively plan your life so life doesn't take control of you. This post (like so many others) was written partially as a reminder to myself about the bad habits of the past that have killed my goals in life. I hope it opens your eyes and helps guide you towards the light of happiness.

TV is putting stupid things into your head.

Two of the worst types of content that are available on TV are the news and reality shows. Both are entertainment masked as reality. We often forget that, so we start using the content generated by those two categories as reality. TV news allows anybody that is entertaining to get on the air and say whatever they want and have it been presented as facts. And being wrong about your local and world events is worse than being ignorant. If you are ignorant you can say "I don't know". If you are wrong, you'll spread the wrong information to several more people before a mistake is discovered. Reality TV shows makes stupid people famous. And then they make our kids want to be like these stupid people.

Solution for both …

Ingest less random TV. Plan your shows. And know what you are watching. Seek out quality and educational shows. Just because something on news station does not mean it is news. It is often more entertainment than news.

Facebook is putting stupid things into your head.

Combine the ability for anybody to put up a website that can say anything (i.e. Fake news sites) and the awesome feature for information to spread like wildfire (social media), and you have the perfect storm to spread FUD (Fear, uncertainty and doubt). I've noticed a disturbing trend from my friends on social media. They are sharing information that they received via social media from websites that look like news. I am not referring to great sites like "The Onion" which is the king of all websites and does not pretend to be real. I am referring to the countless other sites which present a non-stop stream of conspiracy theories. It seems that we would rather believe something that sounds outrageous and far-fetched than the truth. I believe these sites are hurting our ability to stay objectively informed about topics that matter. Solution: Before you share news that sounds outrageous, please start performing due diligence and ensure that the story has some basis in fact. If not, please don't share it.

You are comparing your life to mine, to your neighbors, and the to the multi-millionaire whose book you read.

It is important to remember that all of us are on separate journeys. You wake up in the morning with a completely different set of goals and values than I wake up with. You don't know my dark struggles and I don't know yours. So, when you have an amazing amount of success, I should not be judging my life against yours. You likely worked hard and deserve every bit of it. Rather than being jealous I need to focus on my hustle, so I get closer to my goals and dream. I've written about this before in "Vanity and Jealousy are not part of the Success Equation".

You are eating crap pretending it is food.

Just like the television is putting crap into your head, we are putting crap into our mouths. Start being more aware of what you are eating and what it contains. Example: You've heard that chicken is good for you, but this is highly dependent on the way it is prepared. You've been hearing it since you were a kid and I'll emphasize it again here: It is hard to go wrong eating too many fruits and vegetables. I've spent a lot of time in elementary schools and the kids there are getting crap fed to them also. What goes into our mouths directly affects our moods and our energy levels. You should not let anything questionable past your teeth.

If you want to get a good idea of how the food you are eating is affecting your body, start using the MyFitnessPal website and mobile app. I've started using this recently to track my food intake and it has given me some great insight about the number of and types of calories that I am ingesting.

You refuse to exercise.

Thanks to technology we have a world filled with more information workers than ever before in history. Entire corporations are filled with people that are glued to a computer screen 12 hours a day. The lack of movement is killing our short-term and long-term health. If you don't want to be hobbling around just waiting to die when you are 50, then make regular exercise a part of your weekly routine. Don't over complicate it. Most of the basic exercise that we have learned since we were kids will work. But anything counts. If you do nothing right now, then get up and go walk 1/2 mile away from your house and 1/2 mile back.

If you are working in a building that allows breaks, go outside and walk around the building a couple of times. Please take your physical health seriously. It is not something that you can get to "someday".

You are spending time judging other people's bedrooms.

Stop being so concerned with what other people are doing behind closed doors. What I do with whom and when does not affect your life. You have a good time in your bedroom, and I'll have a good time in mine.

You love playing politics.

I am sure that politics used to be a noble profession. But it has lost its value. Most of the time if I am a Democrat and you are a Republican, you instantly must hate me. You instantly assume everything about me because you've been told on TV or on the internet what a horrible person I am because of my party. Politicians also spend a lot of time fighting to be "in control". Let's start working more as individuals with a common goal to better our country and our community. No two people in the same party believe the same way about everything. We really should be allowed to register as Independent without being penalized. We are independent people with independent thoughts on the topics that affect us. Stop fighting just to fight.

You are all talk and zero action.

This is the entire reason I started StopDoingNothing so I won't go into this one too deeply. Every blog post on the site deals with this topic. Remember that a poorly executed plan that has started is better than the perfect plan on paper waiting to start.

Even Elvis knew this

You spend too much time on Buzzfeed and related sites.

This is somewhat related to the post above about wasting time on the internet. Pay close attention to where you spend your time online. All websites are doing their best to keep you on their site for as long as possible. The longer you stay on a website the more of a chance you will buy something. So please think twice before clicking over to the next article you see about "20 Things That 80s Kids Will Totally Get" or before taking that next quiz to see what kind of dog that you would be. That article will likely contribute nothing to your education or goals, but it will eat into the time you spend working on your aspirations.

You believe that the weekend was created for you to do nothing.

Most of us have grown up in a "Monday to Friday 40-hour work week" kind of world. We've been conditioned to believe that Saturday and Sunday are days that we should relax so we can be ready to repeat the pattern of insanity on Monday morning. A better way of looking at your week is that you have 168 hours to accomplish whatever your soul desires. If you have to be strapped to a desk during the week while you work on your dream, then take advantage of weekends to get ahead. Start waking up early on the weekend. Treat them like any other productive day. People that are successful don't care about when something gets done. They treat everything as urgent and take advantage of all available time to make their dreams happen.
Start hustling more on the weekends.

You talk bad about other people.

Spend less time complaining about other people and more time looking in the mirror. Nobody is perfect. We don't have the right to judge our neighbors just because we sin differently than they do. If all of us focused on improving our own lives more we would not have time for caring what our friends are doing, how they are doing it or who they are doing it with.

You don't read enough.

See my note above about watching TV. You rarely gain a lot of knowledge from the TV because it is primarily designed to sell advertising. However, books allow you to focus on a single topic uninterrupted. When you are learning from a book it is not going to pause for a 30 second commercial. There is not going to be a book that pops up over the book telling you about the next book that is coming up. All the smart people that I know are always reading. Go find your closest library and start spending more time there looking for the books that have knowledge you wish to acquire.

You are not in the moments of your life.

We are addicted to our technology, and it is killing our face-to-face relationships. When you pick up a phone while you are sitting face-to-face with somebody, you are saying that what is on that screen is more important than the person in front of you. There are no emergencies in our phone. Unless you get a call from a relative or your kid's school about something, every email, phone call and text can wait until the meeting is over. Before we had phones in our pocket, we would get calls on our home phones. If we weren't there, the person on the other end would leave a message or call back later. That is how you should treat your cell phone. Take advantage of your voicemail and let most call go there. Cell phone calls and text kill productivity. And doubly so if you are having a meeting with someone. Start being 100% in the moment that you are in and put your technology aside.

Share this list with your friends on social media and challenge them to fight this list.

~ Patrick
(@patrickallmond on Twitter)

Performance & Productivity, Personal Development

To Procrastinate Less, Start Doing These Five Things

According to this article in the Wall Street Journal, procrastination may not be just a matter of laziness. It may also be related to a deep emotional strategy to avoid stress. That may explain why some people are always behind on projects, appointments, etc. Human beings will do anything to avoid stress - even if it comes at the cost of more stress later.

I personally get very annoyed when I get in a procrastination state because it is self-feeding. If I get behind on a single task or project, I usually have to delay other tasks to get it completed. It can be a downward spiral that is hard to dig out of.

Check out this list of five things you can do to help you out of that procrastination deathtrap:

Be more precise in your small goals.

Most people live in a very general world. They plan to get something done tomorrow, next week, etc.
Stop doing that. Pick a very precise time on your calendar and commit to working on 'that thing' at that time.

Be willing to live with "done > perfect".

A lot of people I know live in the constant state of getting ready to get ready. They are waiting for the perfect time, perfect amount of money, or perfect set of training before they embark on a new effort. There is no perfect anything. There is "as good as it is right now". Stop waiting for perfection before attacking a task you want to avoid. If it's something you don't know how to do, search online. Someone has likely done it before and has written out step-by-step instructions online that you can follow.

If something is painful, get it done sooner than later.

If you keep postponing something you don't want to do because you find it painful or annoying, realize that it is not going to get LESS painful or annoying the more you put it off. Take control and knock that task out ASAP. It's better to plan it and plow your way though than to wait for it to become a non-optional emergency. How painful will it be then?

Make it hard to procrastinate.

This is especially if you work in front of a computer. Put roadblocks in your way that make you have to work really hard to put off working. There are countless utilities for your computer that can block your time-wasting activities on and offline. If you are someone like me who lives a lot online the first thing you should do is install RescueTime. This will help you start measuring the time you are wasting. You can then install different browser plugins that block you visiting time-wasting websites and force you to focus. As I type this right now, I have "StayFocusd" and "Kill Facebook Newsfeed" Chrome extensions installed. The former gives me a limited amount of time on social media, news, viral, and other time-wasting sites each day. The latter blocks me from seeing my general Facebook news feed and allows me to hop in and only check messages specific groups that I want to monitor.

Build in small rewards for small goals.

Do you have any BHAGs (Big Hair Arse Goals)? I know I have several. And they may not happen for five or ten years. When you are strategic in your life and plan for the long-term, you may get discouraged along the way. I am sure you know that your long-term should be broken down into several short-term goals. Be sure you celebrate the short-term goals. Make a big deal about them. The celebrations will lift your spirits and remind you of the coming BHAG. It's hard to celebrate BHAG every day when you won't see it for months or years. But if your goal is to lose 20 pounds and you lose five, make a big about it in your life. Celebrate all successes.

Share your favorite tactic from the five above …

Click here to read the original article.

Personal Development, Staying Healthy

Richard Branson Lessons: Fear, Resistance, Procrastination

What you better learn from Richard Branson about overcoming fear, resistance, and procrastination …

Richard Branson sure is a cool dude. And he’s done some incredible stuff in his life.

He’s also had some stupid, massive failures.

Have you ever heard of Virgin Cola? Their bottles were called “The Pammy” because they were shaped like Pamela Anderson. Really, Richard? You are the same guy that started Virgin Airlines? How about Virgin Brides? Yikes.

(Yes, that’s him in the picture dressed up as a bride.)

Richard Branson as a Virgin Bride

It’s easy to laugh at when he swung and missed, though we all know he’s the man. And a big reason is that he doesn’t let a few whiffs stop him from going balls in the next time. And the next time. And the next time. How can you have the same go-for-it attitude that he does? Simple. The next time you want to make a change in your life—want to start something new -- you Experiment.

Why Experiment?

Simple: we procrastinate because we don't want to mess up. We are afraid of not being perfect. (Want to know the psychological reasons why you procrastinate? Watch the video here.)

See, the purpose of an experiment is to learn. The great thing about it is that the only way you fail in an Experiment is not to conduct it. Because I don't know about you, but I learn best by doing. There is no substitute for experience. When someone learns to fly, he reads. Then he Experiments in a flight simulator. Then he Experiments by flying with someone else. Then he is ready to go solo.

Our brain gets freaked out when we want to make a change or try something new -- especially if it’s something big. When you want to make a change, how can you break that change down into the smallest experiment you can? If you decide you want to run your first marathon, you might then become paralyzed with fear: Do I have the right shoes? Do I run before or after work? Am I ready to commit to running five times a week for the next fifteen weeks?

You don't have to answer any of these questions. All you have to do is perform an Experiment this next week. Try two Experiments: run once, for 15 minutes before work, and run again for 15 minutes after work. See which one fits best in your schedule. See if you need better shoes. Is it easier to commit to running almost every day for the next four months, or twice over the next week?

This concept works so well that I’ve written a whole book about it, which has become a #1 bestseller in both the Creativity and Business Leadership Training categories. It is a modern business fable, where a business owner -- who wants to make changes in his personal and work life -- meets a coach, who walks him through these changes through a variety of Experiments.

Take the next project you have. Is it a book? Starting a business? Getting healthy? What is the tiniest step you can take? Do that step. Then evaluate; what worked? What didn’t? What is your next step from there? What do you think Richard Branson’s next Experiment will be? Virgin Butter? Virgin Flypaper?

Doesn't really matter, because he’s still the coolest guy in the world. And he’s going to keep Experimenting until he dies. And his Experiments change the world.

Will yours?

BIO:

Richard Michael Anderson, M.B.A., M.A., is a global speaker, radio show host, and author who specializes in leading businesspeople to happier lives.

In fact, his new book, The Experiment, has reached the #1 Bestselling spot on Amazon in the Self-Help -> Creativity and the Business -> Leadership Training categories. If you are stressed, overwhelmed, or burned out, visit ExperimentToday.com NOW to start reclaiming your life!

Attitude Adjustment, Leadership Lessons, Staying Healthy

All Major Life Decisions Are Based On Love or Fear

The title above was one of many gems that came out of this university commencement speech by Jim Carrey.

It is not uncommon to have celebrities speak at commencement ceremonies.
This one was special and has some very deep words that you should listen to and put into practice in your own life.

What did you think?

Come over to the Facebook Page and let me know what you took away.

Attitude Adjustment

Life Is A Game Of Inches. Are You Willing To Fight For Them?

This is a great reminder that we succeed and fail by the small steps we take every day, not by the big ones. The inches that we fight for are how we win.

I don't know what to say really. Three minutes to the biggest battle of our professional lives all comes down to today.

Either we heal as a team, or we are going to crumble.

Inch by inch play by play till we're finished.

We are in hell right now; gentlemen believe me, and we can stay here and get the shit kicked out of us or we can fight our way back into the light.

We can climb out of hell.

One inch, at a time.

Now I can't do it for you. I'm too old.

I look around and I see these young faces and I think I mean I made every wrong choice a middle-aged man could make.

I uh ... I pissed away all my money believe it or not.

I chased off anyone who has ever loved me.

And lately, I can't even stand the face I see in the mirror.

You know when you get old in life things get taken from you.

That's, that's part of life.

But you only learn that when you start losing stuff.

You find out that life is just a game of inches.

So is football.

Because in either game life or football the margin for error is so small.

I mean one half step too late or to early you don't quite make it.

One half second too slow or too fast and you don't quite catch it.

The inches we need are everywhere around us.

They are in ever break of the game every minute, every second.

On this team, we fight for that inch.

On this team, we tear ourselves, and everyone around us to pieces for that inch.

We CLAW with our fingernails for that inch.

Cause we know when we add up all those inches that's going to make the fucking difference between WINNING and LOSING between LIVING and DYING.

I'll tell you this in any fight it is the guy who is willing to die who is going to win that inch.

And I know if I am going to have any life anymore it is because, I am still willing to fight, and die for that inch because that is what LIVING is.

The six inches in front of your face.

Now I can't make you do it.

You gotta look at the guy next to you.

Look into his eyes.

Now I think you are going to see a guy who will go that inch with you.

You are going to see a guy who will sacrifice himself for this team because he knows when it comes down to it, you are gonna do the same thing for him.

That's a team, gentlemen and either we heal now, as a team, or we will die as individuals.

That's football guys.

That's all it is.

Now, whattaya gonna do?

Attitude Adjustment

How High Achievers Need to Think About December and the End of the Year

Well look at that. It's December 1st. If you are of the typical mindset, you probably have thoughts creeping in your head about winding down another year. It's the end of the year so life and business are slowing down. Time to plan out how your 2014 is going to line up. You should spend December outlining your goals for 2014 so you can get started on them January 1st when you wake up. Because 2014 is going to be your year to shine.

Yeah - all that is bullshit. December is a month - Just like any other month. It's another month of the grind, another month of the hustle. People who want to be low achievers think about working less at the end of a year, a month, or a week. High achievers knows that the last week of December is just as important as the last week of June. If you keep thinking like others, you will get the same results as others.

December is a month with a name. Don't sit around and let it pass you by as you wish for January. Bust your ass to make it the best month of the year. And then bust your ass some more on January 1st.

Help me SHARE this around so we can crank out more high achievers. We've got to buck the norm to create better lives for those around us.

Personal Development

Question Anybody That Says “The Rules Have Changed”

Every time a speaker/author/marketer tells you that "the rules have changed" in life/business/marketing, they are likely bullshitting you. Don't buy into the same message that is constantly polished and repackaged. The rules on how to kick ass at life have been the same for a long time:

Be a great person. Don't be a bullshit artist.
Help other people be great.
Don't lie, cheat or steal. Don't even come close.
Spend time improving your own house and less time commenting on someone else's.
There are many other rules. But if you focus on these four you'll pretty have your life covered.

Spend time improving your own house and less time commenting on someone else's …

Attitude Adjustment

Vanity and Jealousy Are Not Part Of The Success Equation

No matter your lot in life, remember to never be vain with what you have or jealous of what you don't have.

Nobody likes a vain person.

You never feel above or better than another human being because of your house, your bank account, your car, your job, or your title. Be proud of what you earned but leave vanity for the less educated. Use the value that you bring to this world as your measuring stick. Always bring more value and improve the lives around you with your success. Be charitable. Lift other around you with your good fortune. There is no better feeling in the world that to help a fellow human being to the point that they smile.

Don't be jealous of the house, money, car, or station in life that somebody else has.

They worked very hard to get there. That person does not owe you or the world anything. And if you want their station in life then you need to work as hard or harder to attain what they have. Use them as a role model. Ask them how they did it and if they will help you do it. But jealousy will make you a bitter and hateful person. And it robs you of the time and energy you need to improve yourself.

A true high achiever knows to share what they know, and work hard to learn what they don't know. Vanity or jealousy should never be part of the high achiever equation.

Click to Tweet

Attitude Adjustment, Leadership Lessons, Performance & Productivity, Personal Development

Nobody Is More Interested In Your Happiness Than You. Start Living Intentionally.

Take a moment and think about how your day unfolds every day. What actions are you taking from the moment you wake up until you lay your head on your pillow at night. If it is anything like most people, your day probably goes on autopilot and looks something like this:

Get up to alarm. Dread throwing off the covers
Clean up, eat, help get the family out the door, get out the door yourself
Work through a series of tasks and appointments pushed at you by your job
Watch the clock and get happy when the end of the day has arrived
Head home. Decompress. Eat. Fit in some personal time
Sleep

After a typical day like this, how much have you accomplished for yourself?

If your day is anything like this, the only "me" time that you get is at the end of the day and you only get a very small slice of it.

Most people that are working for someone else are busting their chops to help the company succeed. If the company succeeds then the CEO succeeds, and then the shareholders succeed. This is a great model, and everybody benefits from your efforts. But it may be a horrible model for personal fulfillment.

If you are feeling unfulfilled at the end of the day, then you need to reevaluate how you spend your day. Your lack of fulfillment is a sign that you are not getting closer to your dream life. Your day is being spent with somebody else's mission and priorities at the top of your list. This is an acceptable way to start your life, but not an acceptable way to live it out and retire.

Make a plan to start living intentionally.

Document what you want to get out of your time on this earth. Nobody is more interested in your happiness than you. And nobody is going to work harder to make you happy than you. You need to be the center of your own world. I have personal experience with this. It's a great feeling to live with your goals and mission in front of you every day.

Start living intentionally. Remember that you are either pursuing your dream every day or you are pursuing somebody else's dream.

Feel free to download this image, share it on social media, or use it as a great screensaver:

Performance & Productivity, Personal Development

When You Hate Your Life, Do This To Turn Things Around …

It's another day. You are lying in bed looking at the ceiling wondering why you are in the same place that you were in yesterday. Not physically (same bed, same apartment). But you are in the same relationship you were in yesterday. You are in the same financial situation. You are in the same job, earning the same amount of money working with the same people. It was the beginning of a new week/year and you vowed to make a change. But here you are. Lying in bed. And nothing has changed. And you are beating your head against the wall wondering "Why can't I stop doing nothing"

I've been there brothers and sisters. And I believe the answer that most people would give is: It is easy.

To do what you are used to doing takes very little effort. You are on autopilot. When you are on autopilot you are running around in a daze. Life is a series of waves that you have set yourself up in. And if you keep doing nothing the waves will keep pushing you around.

If you want to change your circumstances, it is a different story. Now you can put your arms out and change direction any time you want. But that requires effort and work.

So here is my gift for you today:

Three Simple Steps to live "Stop Doing Nothing":

The goal today is to start simple and small. No massive actions lists or overhauls. Big changes come from small changes.

1. Analyze a single day of your life to see which parts bring you the most joy or pain. Make a list of three of them.

Here is a sample list of life areas which need review on a regular basis: health, friends, work, social, hobbies, family. Look at these and pick out an activity in each of these areas to find one or two things that fill you with joy. On the flipside you can also analyze these areas and pick out the three things that bring you the most pain, frustration, envy, hate, anger, or depression. Be honest with yourself.

2. Look at these three things and ask yourself how you can do more of the good ones and less of the bad.

This is the hardest part of this exercise and will require deep soul-searching. Doing more of the good things is the easiest part of it. But doing less of the bad may require some major overhauls in your life. You may have to break off an intimate relationship. You may have to stop hanging around with friends who do not lift you up and inspire you to better yourself. You may have to quit your job. One of your issues may be health and you may have to overhaul your diet or enroll in an exercise program. And you may have to cutoff family members. Please look deep inside your problems and address the reality of your sadness or laziness. Most people address the surface issues but rarely take a hard look at themselves to see what really makes them happy or sad.

3. Put this list in several prominent places where you'll see it multiple times every day.

Once you have a good list of three things that you want to do more or less of, write or type these on a single white piece of paper. Make several copies. Then put this is list in places where you'll see it multiple times a day. If you only make a list on your computer then you have to actively open the file or look at the image every day. That is not good enough. You need to see this list when you wake up, are getting ready for work, are getting something to eat and when you are driving to work. You should also put a copy close to where to where you have your focus all day long. That may be in your cubicle, next to your computer monitor or as the screensaver on your smartphone.

Start taking an active role in planning and running your life.

Do not let things run on autopilot because you will end up in places you don't want to be. Actively managing your life will get further faster. I promise.

Was this useful for you?

Share it with your friends and help them too.

Page 1 of 8

First

Last