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  • Unmanageability: Hacking the 12-Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous

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    Posted on March 26th, 2008Lyman ReedFeatures, Hacking the 12-Steps

    “1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable.” - Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter 5, Page 59

    “Is he not a victim of the delusion that he can wrest satisfaction and happiness out of the world if only he manages well?” - Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapter 5, Page 61

    After writing about powerlessness a couple of days ago, I thought I’d take a look at the second part of the first step, which mentions unmanageability.

    GTD, the Four Quadrants, the ABC method, Simpleology - there are quite a few systems that people use to try to get some level of manageability into their lives today. Each of these methods has its strengths and weaknesses, and each is trying to do the same thing - to provide the user of the system with a method to “wrest satisfaction and happiness out of the world.”

    But if we look at the second quote above, we see that Bill Wilson (the primary author of AA’s “Big Book”) is saying that it’s a delusion that managing well will bring us the satisfaction and happiness that we are looking for.

    Step One is Step One. This step is simply a recognition of the problem that we have, and after we’ve recognized the problem it’s time to start working on solutions.

    But to say that making life more manageable will not bring you happiness on any level is, in my opinion and experience, a mistake. Managing well may not be the end all and be all of happiness, but to say that bringing our lives back into our own conscious control and direction will bring no satisfaction is simply not true.

    Control and direction. There’s only one thing in life that we can exercise direct control over, and that’s own conscious thoughts.

    Whether you believe that your thoughts directly create our world, or that they are the cause our feelings and behavior and therefore allow us to have an influence on what happens to us, one of the basic truths of life is that when our thinking changes, our lives change.

    In chapter four of “The Science of Getting Rich”, Wallace Wattles states that “There is no labor from which most people shrink as they do from that of sustained and consecutive thought; it is the hardest work in the world.”

    But it’s also the most rewarding.

    The rest of the 12 steps are a method that a person can use to change their thinking - and therefore change their life. They aren’t the only way - but they are a way.

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  • The Ultimate Cure for Procrastination

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    Posted on January 8th, 2008Lyman ReedFeatures, Productivity

    The death of success comes from the delusion of “I’ll Do It Later.”

    This one is even more insidious than the secret to failure that I wrote about a while back… because when we say that “I’ll do it later”, we are usually lying to ourselves on some level.

    We may not intend to be lying… but we usually are.

    In Success Through a Positive Mental Attitude, W. Clement Stone and Napoleon Hill have a solution for this -

    Do It Now

    That’s it.

    Just Do It Now.

    Whenever you find yourself saying “I’ll do it later”, answer yourself with the self-motivator Do It Now.

    When You Can’t Do It Now

    Sometimes you honestly can’t Do It Now. If you’re in the middle of something else, and the thought “Wow, the garbage needs to go out” comes up, you’ve got a couple of choices.

    1.) Stop what you are doing and take the garbage out.

    2.) Continue what you are doing and take the garbage out later.

    The problem with “later” is that if we don’t get “take out the garbage” out of our heads, it’s going to keep popping up until it’s taken care of.

    In these situations, I like to use what David Allen, author of Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress Free Productivity, calls the “Two Minute Rule.”

    If it can be accomplished in two minutes or less… Do It Now.

    If it can’t, capture the thought in whatever way you prefer - write it down, record it… whatever works best for you.

    The “two minutes” is an arbitrary time frame. The idea behind it is to decide which of the following would take more time with the least disturbance - recording it for later action, or Doing It Now.

    It may actually take 5 minutes, but if that garbage has been piling up for awhile… it may be best to just go ahead and Do It Now.

    What Just Came Up For You?

    While reading this, what came up for you that needs to get done, but you haven’t for whatever reason?

    Why not Do It Now?

    [ image credit: Piotr Lewandowski on stock.xchng ]

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  • 5 Easy Ways to Capture Your Ideas

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    Posted on December 21st, 2007Lyman ReedProductivity

    If you’re anything like me, you’re having million dollar ideas all the time. The problem is that when you get home to work on them, all that you can remember is that Heroes isn’t on because of the writer’s strike, or that you have to get the bills paid before they shut off the cable (which really wouldn’t matter… I mean, there is a writer’s strike going on.)

    Most personal productivity systems and experts suggest that you use something other than your own brain to record your ideas. With two of my favorites, GTD and Simpleology, it’s absolutely essential that you do so. GTD talks about using “trusted systems” - use anything that you know will be there later, and be easily accessible, so that your brain can forget about it. Simpleology has a “Dream Catcher” built into it’s online software, and suggests that you use it to prevent “Runaway Brainware.”

    I actually remember learning about this for the first time way back when I was still in grammar school. I was going to be a famous novelist back then (there weren’t blogs yet), and was a big fan of Roald Dahl. He’s most famous for being the author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I remember reading a book of his short stories and essays, and one of them was about the process of writing. (I wish I could remember the name of the book or the essay itself…)

    It was from this essay that I first learned about the importance of capturing ideas. In one of the examples that he gave, he was driving when an idea came to him. He pulled over to the side of the road to write it down, but couldn’t find a pen… so he made a note in the dirt on the bumper of his car! Now that’s dedication!

    Hopefully the following methods are a little easier:

    1. Notebook

    Low-tech solutions can often be best. No worries about crashes, accidental erasures, or battery life. And it’s also cost friendly - nearly anyone can afford to pick up a pocket sized notebook. The biggest problem that I personally have with this one is finding a pen or pencil when I need one. I swear to god, I don’t care if I am a man, one of these days I’m going to start carrying a purse!

    2. Cell Phone with a Notes or To Do List Function

    Most modern cell phones have these. This one solves the problem of having to find a pen, and you are probably less likely to misplace or forget it. The problem is that it can often be difficult to enter notes into one unless you’ve got a text friendly keypad.

    3. Voice Recorder

    These are great for when you’re driving and can’t use your hands to write or type. Some cell phones have a record function built in, but you can also pick up stand-alone versions at most of the big retail stores.

    4. PC Software

    If you live in a small apartment (like I do), and have your computer on all of the time (like I do), it can be easy to just jump over to the PC and type something into a notebook application. My two favorites for this are both from Google - the scratch pad gadget for Google Desktop, or the Google Notebook browser add-on. I’ve actally begun using Google Notebook quite extensively… with it’s ability to use multiple notebooks, sections, and tagging, it’s usually pretty easy to find what I’ve filed there.

    5. Post-Its

    These were the inspiration for this article. :)

    Last night, I was at the computer and one of those million dollar ideas (OK, maybe this was only a thousand dollar one) popped into my head. Being the good collector I am, I fired up Google Notebook to record it…

    … and the screen froze. Nothing moving. I’d aked my baby to do one too many things. :(

    It was a godsend that I had a stack of Post-Its in front of me. So I wrote down the initial idea, and then thought, “Hey, wouldn’t it be helpful if I shared some of my ideas on capturing ideas?”

    So out comes another little yellow sheet of paper, and a day later, this very article is born.

    (By the way… I’ve written about my love of Post-its before…)

    So those are my 5 favorites… which of these do you use? Have I missed any that you like to use?

    —

    Discuss this post at Personal Development Partners

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  • Seven Steps to Stopping Personal Development Overwhelm

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    Posted on September 19th, 2007Lyman ReedUncategorized

    How many different types of personal development programs are you “working on?”

    If you were to ask me that at various times in my life, I could have told you that I was working my way through the 12 Steps, completing a Simpleology course, trying to keep up with all of the material available through the Wealth Beyond Reason program, doing the exercises in Ask and It Is Given, going through Rebecca Fine’s Science of Getting Rich for Practical Geniuses Course, trying to integrate the principles from Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude, working through the Master Key System, slowly increasing the time spent in meditation, as well as having at least 3 or 4 paper books and ebooks going.

    And never mind the personal development blogs, podcasts, and videos that needed to get squeezed in there.

    My Brain’s Locking Up!

    If you run a Windows based computer, what happens when you have too many windows open with programs running?

    Your computer will start running really really (really) slowly. It takes longer and longer (and longer) to accomplish the simplest task.

    And if you REALLY have too many going, the computer will finally say “Well, that’s IT!”, and it’ll freeze up on you.

    Your brain works the same way. Every time you pick up a book, start a course, download a podcast… you’ve got a new window open in your brain.

    A little bit more of your mental resources are being used. Whether you consciously recognize it or not, you’ve got another of what David Allen of GTD fame refers to as “open loops” - stuff that’s taking your attention.

    If you aren’t making progress, could it be because you’ve simply got too much going on between your ears?

    And if so, how do you deal with it?

    Here’s what I’ve done when I realize that I’m doing a lot but getting nowhere when it comes to personal development:

    First - do an inventory of all of the courses, books, lectures, etc that you currently haven’t completed.

    You’ve got to know what you are dealing with. It’s not necessary for it to be perfect, but you should have a good idea. When things that you forgot about pop up in the future, they are automatically going to go into a “maybe later” file anyway, but we want to have as much choice as possible at the moment.

    Second - select a program/discipline/book/seminar that you think will be the most beneficial to you.

    What would have the most impact on your life, and bring you closer to reaching your goals? Is there an addiction you need to get rid of? A specific skill you need to learn? Do you want to deepen your relationship with your god? It’s really important to select something for you, not for your parents, your spouse, your children, your boss, or anyone else. Since we don’t live in a vacuum, of course people close to you will be considered… but this is about your life.

    Third - take all of those other programs and put them to the side.

    Consciously say to yourself “There is value in these [you wouldn't have signed on for them in the first place if you didn't think so], but I’m working on something else right now. They aren’t going anywhere, and I can pick them up again later.”

    Fourth - focus exclusively on completing your selected program, developing that skill, or integrating the habit that you’ve chosen.

    I did this with AA. For a long time, it was all about the 12-Steps and going to meetings. I didn’t go out of my way to avoid other truths, but my focus was on staying sober, and only on staying sober. My mantra was “If I didn’t drink, it was a good day.” And there were some really bad days in there. While “it’s a good day if I don’t drink” isn’t true 3 years into sobriety, it sure is when you’re in your first 30 days.

    Fifth - when you are tempted to pick another ebook, program, seminar, whatever, remind yourself of your decision.

    Work the current program you are working! And do not walk away from it until it’s finished, or until it’s integrated into your life in such a way that you feel that you are ready to move one (see the next step for the only exception). If you’ve done what you planned on doing for the day, go ahead and do whatever you feel like - but don’t start another 16 week course, no matter how much the marketing tells you that it’s going to change your life! That may well be true, but it will still be there when you finish the one you are on.

    Sixth - while I’m not a proponent of giving up, sometimes it is smarter to stop beating our heads against a wall and move a little to the left where there’s a door.

    But be careful with this one… just because you didn’t get the results you wanted in a week doesn’t mean that what you are trying to do isn’t working. Really consider your decision by meditating on it or bouncing it off of someone else - you may just need more time with it.

    Seventh - when you have gotten what you can from your current program, only then is it time to move on to another.

    Close the window on it. Take what you’ve learned and keep it integrated into your day (such as with Simpleology’s Daily Target Praxis). Then start your next course, book, or whatever it is that’s going to bring you closer to your goals in life. You’ll be able to focus on it with much more ease and enthusiasm than if you’d just dropped that previous one.

    Personal development can be both fun and frustrating at the same time. By keeping your focus on a single area, you will experience such tremendous growth there it will spill over into other areas of your life… and you may find that you are no longer as interested in that latest book or ecourse that you just had to buy.

    [full disclosure: the above article contains affiliate links]

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  • GTD and Productivity Sites - a HUGE list

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    Posted on July 6th, 2007Lyman ReedUncategorized

    Organize IT has posted a tremendous list of GTD/Personal Productivity related sites. Since I saw so many new readers coming in (especially from Thoughts & Philosophies and Cultivate Greatness), I thought I’d share this great resource with my own readers.

    Happy surfing! :)

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