Secrets to My Organization (1 of 3)

I often get complimented on how organized I am (or seem to be). While I'm certainly not as organized as most people think I am, and nowhere nearly as organized as would like to be, I guess when compared to many it's relatively true. I am able to organize fairly well. I like order. I like knowing where and when things are. I like feeling, well... in control of my domain. I guess you could say I'm a bit obsessive-compulsive about some things. Anyway, for those of you who are more random-abstract personality types, this is for you. Over the next couple of days, I'll be posting my 15 "secret tips" to my own organizational success (psshhhh). Today, the first 5;

Tip#1: EVERYTHING can be compartmentalized – For me, this is the most important step to the organization of anything. Make categories & sub-categories. My wife teases me about this one because I’m a bit obsessive about it. Distinctions and differentiations can be made in every area of your life. Here are some basic category examples with some sub-category ideas. The PURPOSES for compartmentalizing can vary from time management, to document management, and from project completion to portion control:

• Spouse (Date night, shared duties, intimacy, communication, individual time, etc…)
• Children (one-on-one time, outdoor play, reading together, listening, eating together, etc...)
• Extended family (Parents, siblings, cousins, etc…)
• Finances (Day-to-day spending, Bills & Debt, Retirement, Emergency plan, etc...)
• Employment (Running log of past employments / Updating your resume, etc...)
• Spirituality (Duties, Meetings & Service, Study & Prayer, etc...)
• Hobbies & Recreation (Friends, outings, schedules, etc...)
• Business (Book keeping, invoiceing, marketing, accounting, calendaring, etc...)
• Home (chores, groceries, repairs, home & yard, etc...)

Tip#2: Make Lists – Without lists, I wouldn't be able to sleep at night. I make a new daily list every day, and then get as much done during the day as possible. I usually can't get to everything, so I just roll tasks onto the next day. Lists give me the ability to free up my conscious mind for other important things to remember. Einstein once said that he typically didn't memorize facts that he could easily look up. I like this idea. Writing things down in lists is like having a never-ending supply of virtual RAM on a computer. I can endlessly process more. Lists can be on-growing or finite, and made for ANYTHING:

• Daily “To-Do’s”
• Ideas
• Wants & needs (wish list)
• Movies you want to see (eventually)
• Interesting websites to explore
• Groceries

Tip#3: Prioritize – Once you've got a list made, it is helpful to know in which order things SHOULD be done. There are two strategies to this. One is the Monster strategy which states: "Kill your ugliest monsters FIRST." This gets the tough tasks out of the way first, leaving only simple chores to remain. The second strategy is based on a value system which states: "Decide which of the things on your list are important and which are urgent, and then do the important things FIRST." This method makes sure that you're not just concentrating on putting out fires, but that you are focusing on what really matters. The good news is that YOU are the only one that can correctly prioritize YOUR list. Use the Boulder, then rock, then pebble, then sand, then water method of filling your day with "stuff" to do.

Tip#4: Simplify –

• Stop “re-inventing the wheel” by creating spreadsheets & templates for things you do often (to do lists, EQ agendas, housework, etc…)
• Pre-establish your own protocols for life ("if this happens, I'll react in this way")… in other words decide ONCE.
• If you don't use it regularly, box it up and store it. If you store it for more than a year, consider throwing it a way.
• Learn to appropriately say "NO" to things that just stress you out
• Keep digital copies of things so you don't have papers stacking up on your work surfaces creating a mess.
• Live the "less is more" rule religiously.

Tip#5: Create Routines – It's easier to remember where your keys are when you always put them in the same place. Likewise, it's easier to remember to do anything at the appropriate time if you always to that thing at that same time. Simple habits of consistency can greatly improve your desire and ability to be organized. It also creates a perception of dependability to others.

Most recent logo design

I just got the final approval today on this most recent logo design. This is the type of logo design I really love, and rarely get to design. Simple and clean. More often than not, less really is more.

General Update

Since late December of last year, I’ve been working on illustrating a children’s book with a friend of mine which has kept me very busy. The book has a total of 26 pages, all of which have been fully conceptualized and sketched now. I had intended on having all of the pencil sketches scanned and digitized for document back-up purposes (and, quite frankly, because I love the look of sketches and always hate to ink over them. I really wanted to have a “snap shot” version of these illustrations in sketch form), but after getting a quote from the reprographics place, the author and I decided it wasn’t a necessity and wasn’t, therefore, worth the extra cost incursion. I’m a little bummed to be honest, but over $100 for nothing but scans just seemed absurd. If my sketches had been smaller, I could have done it myself at home for nothing, for heaven’s sake! Unfortunately for me, though, these sketches are 17”x14”… just a bit too large for your average scanner. So, I’m currently working on getting all of the sketches inked. Once that is finished, I’ll erase all the underlying pencil work (sniff, sniff) and then suck up the fact that they HAVE to be scanned (at least once) in order for me to continue working on them. When they’re scanned (or “digitized”) I can start the tedious task of vectorizing. That’s probably going to be the most time-consuming stage of this project, I think. Just one of these illustrations alone will probably take nearly 4-5 hours to vectorize, and I’ve got 26 of them to do. I’ve certainly got my work cut out for me.

Aside from the children’s book illustrations, I’m also still working with a company on the east coast on an invention that I started developing a few years ago. It’s nothing major, but its fun to mess with. Who knows if anything will come of it, but I’m learning a lot just by going through this process. This will be my second patent-pending project (the first being my LittleLDS software).

My Training Wheels stories have been sitting idly for a while, due to my focus on the children’s book project. Six of them have been fully written, and need to be illustrated. I’ve got ideas for more, but I’ll have to get back to them when I’m finished with my current children’s book illustrations are done. In the meantime, I’ve been keeping my eyes open for ways to market them. My gut feeling right now, is to NOT market them to the general public, but rather to an “Otaku” crowd first, like private schools, wealthy communities, and special-interest groups.

I’ve done a few logo designs this year. I’m currently wrapping up a logo design for one client, and eager to do more. I’ve come to a realization that logo design is where I really enjoy working the most. It pays well, it comes naturally to me, and EVERYONE and their dog is starting their own “business.” I love that the projects don’t last long and that everyone I work with is excited to work with me because my service represents an exciting new venture for their businesses. I love that it enables me to work from home (or anywhere a laptop goes for that matter), and that I have clients from all over the world. I plan on devoting a lot more time and creative effort into this area of my business.

LittleLDS coloring books and BigLDS t-shirts are pretty stagnant. Oddly enough, this isn’t disconcerting to me at all. I think it’s because they are finished products that I really don’t need to DO anything else with. It’s almost like they’re kids of mine that have grown up and left the house… off to make their way in the world and do their own thing. Of course I’m still concerned about them, but I figure a little time out there in the real world without my meddling might do them (and me) some good. Granted, they need a lot more marketing and advertising to become more noticed by the LDS community at large, but, even with NO marketing at all, I get a few sales here and there throughout the year. My interest doesn’t lie here right now, and I tend to skip around to where my interests lie. I’m sure it’ll return. In the meantime, meager sales will have to suffice.

I also haven’t done any Word Tangles in a long time. Similar to LittleLDS, I’m okay with that. The bait and hook are out there idling on an un-manned fishing pole in the pond of commerce. When the pole wiggles, (and always seems to a few times during the year) I’ll give it the attention it needs.

The Fulcrum Group, a think-tank-like resource, motivation and accountability management group that I organized, still meets regularly and is still one of the best things I’ve done for the productivity of my own business. Because of this group, I’ve been able to stay on target with my illustration project and stay motivated entrepreneurially. As the head of the organization, I’m responsible for each meeting – preparing a weekly agenda, motivational discussions, buzz topics, and project accountability – I’m not just helping others stay motivated and moving forward… its working for me too! I’m on target with my weekly goals, which will turn into success with my yearly goals. In a very direct, and yet unplanned way, running this group has started preparing and positioning me to be a type of Idea Cultivation Coach of sorts. There may be something in that for me in the future.

Finally, my latest effort has been the development of my new blog, ListQuest. This has been an exciting new way for me to push myself just a little further into the multifaceted world of investing and income-generation. ListQuest is a place where I can write all the things I’m researching about multiple streams of income. As its name implies, it’s my own personal quest to acquire as many streams of income as I have on my list. Things like precious metals, tax-lien certificates, intellectual properties, etc… I’m hoping that as I write what I learn, I’ll be able to give new insight to those who might not otherwise discover some of these ways to generate passive income. The idea is to help others shorten their learning curve in these areas while I do the leg work. What’s in it for me? Well, I love to write, I love to learn, I love to teach, and I love the subject of economics. It’s a good fit.

ListQuest

I'm always on the lookout for new ways to organize things. After reading a book called Multiple Streams of Income, by Robert Allen, which identifies many of the different ways one can generate residual income, I had an idea.

As an aspiring entrepreneur, I'm already working toward financial freedom through the artistic projects I've started. These projects already cover several of the assets mentioned by this book. Products, Services (logo design), Intellectual Properties, and Inventions to name a few. Since I'm already doing this anyway, it made sense to widen my scope to include other types of assets that I'm interested in learning about.

So, I've decided that I would begin a quest, or sorts. The quest would be to create a "master list" of all the different types of residual income that I could learn about through research and then prioritize them in order of acheivability (for me, anyway). Next, as I learn about each, I could start creating a lay-man's guide, or a "how-to" manual on aquiring them... How I learn about them, the challenges I encounter during their aquisition, and how I overcome those challenges to obtain my goal assets, etc. The idea is in the quest itself. I call it my LIST QUEST. The quest to aquire at least ONE of each asset on the list, beginning with the easiest. Finally, I would document my checklist publically on a blog of the same name. I'm excited about this because it'll push me to learn about new and challenging ways to become financially free, and allow me to help others do the same.

FEAR

“Fear is an indicator. Sometimes it shows you what you shouldn’t do. More often than not it shows you exactly what you should do.”

~ Timothy Ferriss

Overcoming Parkinson's Law

Parkinson’s Law states that the perceived complexity of a task will expand to fill the time you allot to it. In other words, if you give yourself a week to complete a two-hour task, then (psychologically speaking) the task will increase in complexity and become more daunting so as to fill that week. It may not even fill the extra time with more work, but just stress and tension about having to get it done. By assigning the right amount of time to a task, we gain back more time and the task will reduce in complexity to its natural state.

The law works because people give tasks longer than they really need, sometimes because they want some ‘leg room’ or buffer, but usually because they have an inflated idea of how long the task takes to complete. People don’t become fully aware of how quickly some tasks can be completed until they test this principle.

Want to really challenge yourself? Try making a list of your tasks, and then divide them up by the amount of time it takes to complete them. Then give yourself half that time to complete each task. They key here is to set the time limit, in you mind, as crucial. Treat it like any other deadline. Part of reversing what we’ve been indoctrinated with is to see the deadlines you set for yourself as unbreakable - just like the deadlines your boss or clients set.

Use that human, instinctual longing for competition that fuels such industries as sports and gaming to make this work for you. You have to win against the clock; strive to beat it as if it were your opponent, without taking shortcuts and producing low-quality output. This is particularly helpful if you’re having trouble taking your own deadlines seriously.

At first, this will be partially an exercise in determining how accurate your time projections for tasks are. Some may be spot on to begin with, and some may be inflated. Those that are spot on may be the ones that you are unable to beat the clock with when you halve the time allotment, so experiment with longer times. Don’t jump straight back to the original time allotment because there may be an optimum period in between.

You can experiment with Parkinson’s Law and squashing your deadlines down to the bare minimum in many areas of your life. Just be conscious of the line between ‘bare minimum’ and ‘not enough time’ - what you’re aiming for is a job well done in less time, not a disaster that’s going to lose you employment or clients.

The most important teachers

The following is an excerpt from the book Rich Kid Smart Kid, by Robert Kiyosaki. It continues on with the theme of education reform.

“Almost every parent I’ve met is certain that his or her child is smart and a genius. When that child reaches school, however, the child’s natural genius is often shoved aside or takes a subordinate roll to the single genius and single learning style emphasized by the educational system as the ‘right way’ to learn.”

“My smart dad and many other educators realize that the current school system does not cater to the various different geniuses that children are born with. It’s unfortunate that our current educational system is mired in controversy and old ideas. While our current system may be aware of many of these educational breakthroughs, the politics and red tape surrounding the profession of education prevent many of these new innovative ways of assessing your child’s genius from becoming part of the system.”

I like this quote because it reminds me that the most important teachers my kids will ever have will be (or, at least OUGHT to be) my wife and me. However, in order to be a better teacher to my own kids, I need to continue on with my own education and studies, as Mr. Kiyosaki suggests, and DO what I teach. I need to ‘walk my talk.’ Like most kids, mine “…learn more by watching than they do by listening. Children are tuned into watching for discrepancies between words and actions. Children love to catch parents saying one thing and doing something else.”

Currently, little to nothing is taught about money in school. As always, their focus is to teach them skills they’ll need in life to EARN money, but those skills needed to help them manage their earned money after that. If I want my kids to learn the basic principles of wise spending, saving, and investing, I’ve got to teach them those skills myself. And if I want to do that, I’ve go to learn those skills myself first.