Hey there,

How are you today…?  Thanks for asking, I’m fine.  Yes, I might be talking to myself, but that’s okay because it’s late right now.  I wanted to post a few things that I found today that I believe are really going to help me with a few projects I am working on.

Organization for a Wednesday

I came across the blog of www.MarketingWithMiles.com for the first time today and feel a stupid that I hadn’t thought of this first.  Miles created the concept of using a basic HTML based page that you access from your local computer.  The page is used strictly for your own personal organization.  The setup is very easy, but if you end up using his basic template, you will have the ability to do things such as:

• Place links to blogs that you visit a lot.  My bookmark page is almost useless now that it consists of about 200 links.  Having a short list of blogs I visit on a daily basis does save me time.
• Link to some motivational pictures, then place a goal underneath each.  This is great for practically anybody.  What works better than looking at your goals every day?
• Link to sites that you manage all on one page.  This was the most attractive part of the concept.  Yes, I could use my Cpanel to look through all of my websites, but having a link to my stats, wp-admin, crawltrack, etc… for each page is an amazing time saver.

So, I think this concept is useful to pretty much anybody who does anything on a computer.  There are some management programs that you can use for to do lists, but what works better than something you created specifically for YOU?

Flip It Good!

I found this video camera on the net today called The Flip.  It is a neat looking little device that is also quite cost effective.  I am in my consideration phase mentally right now, so I will probably wait until tomorrow before I sort through the accessories and figure out what I need.  My reason for buying this thing is due to the fact that I am wanting to do video blogging on a few blogs.  Not only that, but I haven’t ever had a video camera of my own that I could play around with.

I have tried both ways. Writing my journal in the morning about what I am going to do that day and what I did the previous day, and doing the same at the end of the day. The most beneficial process that works for me is to write in the morning.

Why is this?

I believe that when I layout my concerns from yesterday, I am in turn creating a list of things to do. This list is what gives me the ability to get things done that I have thoroughly thought out through journaling. On the other hand, if I created journal entries at night when I had already completed everything, I feel that the gap of time while I sleep would get my mind off track from what I had previously written.

To do Lists from Journaling

Pulling my to do list from my journal is one of the most productive things I have learned to do as of yet. Considering that everything I write about in my journal entries have to do with concerns and things I have done and would like to do, it is no wonder why I was able to find an already formed to do list within it.

Another process I haven’t tried would be to journal in the morning and also journal in the evening when I had completed all of the tasks I had previously set out.

How do you keep track of what you are going to do on any given day?

• Do you make to do lists?
• Do you write a journal?
• Or do you have a different process entirely?

All too often you find someone searching out that one answer that should exist- how to make money. However, the answer is not always easy to find. This person will search and search until they finally understand a simple thing. This my friend is the first thing you must learn when beginning to make money on your own.

Working for someone else usually has a lasting affect on the way you know how to make money. Every week, two weeks, or month you receive a paycheck for a certain amount and that is reassuring. Whether you had worked yourself to death that month, or not really at all doesn’t matter too much. You have actually learned that instead of working to your full potential, you can set engines to half speed and you’ll still accomplish the same thing in the end.

To make money by yourself, you have to break this work pattern. You have to understand that you cannot use the same rules you had used all these years to make money, but instead have to flex your creative muscle in order to make this money.

Have you noticed why you only hear that money is easy to make if you are paying for the information. On the other hand, if you go to a blog on the internet with free information, you will read the opposite. This is because creating means of making money takes… creativity… As you know, anything that takes creativity is often thought of as difficult. I’m not saying that making money cannot be difficult, but you have to weigh your options accordingly. What is more difficult? Working for 20 years and realizing your work has not given you much in return. Or trying, failing, trying, failing, succeeding and finally establishing a means of making money that will give you much more- skills to repeat the process, unlimited potential, to say a few…

What Not to do

Searching out, “make quick money,” or, “get rich quick,” books will get you nowhere and quick. These books are usually (99.97% of the time) designed to lead you in circles. They are also most often based on out dated concepts that have already been used over and over again until they are no longer effective. Before you spend money on this information, ask yourself the following:

• If this information is worth a million dollars, why is the author selling it… and for $14.95?
• Was this information easy to find? If the information was very easy to find, imagine all the other people like you who have already read it…
• If the author really has made a large sum of money so that he doesn’t have to work, why is he writing an e-book and selling it for X amount of money? However, there are some legitimate e-books with authors who really have made a lot of money. But don’t expect them to tell you all of their secrets.

Solitude is the ultimate creative environment for some people.  In the silence of seclusion you can produce much more than in the presence of others, but again such an environment is only good for some. 

Being alone while creating something is good for productivity, but has many downsides if you are not careful:

Television

               If you leave your television on while you work, you will find that you don’t get much done in the process.  When your TV is on, you of course have it on something you like to watch.  This of course causes you to continually watch the show or movie instead of working on your project.  In order to stay on track, just turn off the TV and set aside time for it later.

Internet-Fun Websites and E-mail

               When you are working on a computer, the internet is loaded with distractions to get you off track.  From e-mail to video, you can find many ways to waste hours upon hours away before you even realize it.  To make sure that you don’t waste these precious hours of work, don’t navigate for entertainment and close your e-mail. 

Phone or Cell-Phone

               Sometimes you will get a call from a friend, you answer it.  And if that call just so happens to ring in while you are working on something, you could spend any amount of time talking instead of getting something done.  Instead of answering the call in the first place, don’t answer it and call the person back later when you have time.  If you do have to answer the call, give yourself ten to fifteen minutes to talk, end the call and then get back to work. 

So you see, continually interrupting your work will slow your progress and possibly cause your project to eventually fail.  For many, finding ways to not get off topic is a never ending battle.  If you are going to finish your project, the best way to do so is to set aside time for only one thing.  I will describe this in more detail in the future…  Some call it The Power of Concentration (link will be added here when the article is written).

I talked about motivation last week and also creating amazing ideas, but now I’d like to progress further into the idea process. At some point that many do not keep track of, an idea goes from being only a thought in our mind, to an actual working concept that we can show the world. I believe that there is a lot going on in what seems to be just an automatic transition. I also believe that without proper guidance, the entirety of the original idea can be lost forever.

You’ve just written down that amazing new idea, and now you want to push it a little further. You now want to see the idea become something more than just words on a piece of paper or pixels on your computer screen. But where do you start?

First of all, the best thing to do when you have created an idea is to clarify that idea completely. Type or write out everything you know, think, care, and plan for that concern the idea. Make sure you document all of your thoughts about the idea entirely. This step is important because you not only need to be able to come back to this document for reference, but also need to get all of your thoughts out. Of course the later makes room for your mind to tackle other problems or questions that might arise during development.

After you have emptied the contents of you mind, it’s time to go back and organize everything into a sort of, “game plan.” You can also think about it like a business plan in a sense. What you are going to do now is outline the entire development of this idea. Sound daunting? – It really isn’t. Here you are basically defining what you are specifically going to do in order to bring this idea into reality. If it helps you can even answer some of these questions:

You can even take some questions from business plans if you’d like…

• What your objectives?

• What do you plan to accomplish with this idea?

• Why you will be successful?

As you can see, you just want to figure out the goals of your idea. After this you can break the goal down into micro-goals for more order or organization.

So now you have a plan for you idea and you are half way there. Completing this plan shows you dedication and desire to seeing this idea take its full form and shape. The only thing left to do, and that is to act out your steps and plan created previously.

Now you have an understanding of why it is important to creating a plan when you have an idea. The plan gives you steps to follow until the idea is fully formed and your dream is achieved.