Positive Thinking Day (PTD) 08 is September 13th! We are planning for a bigger and better event this year! The 3 main purposes of PTD are to make the world more positive, find the most positive person, and to raise money for the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation. We hope that you will join us to change the world… one thought at a time!
COME CELEBRATE WITH US AND HELP US RAISE MONEY TO CURE SPINAL CORD INJURY:
Positive Thinking Day – September 13th – is a day to celebrate the benefits of positive thinking. We believe that by helping people change their thoughts we can make a lasting and positive difference in this world. We hope you will join us in this effort (see list below for ways to participate).
We are also raising money for the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation as part of the celebrations. According to Positive Thinking Day organizer, Dr. Harrell, “Christopher Reeve represented the best of positive thinking. It is because of his unwavering positive attitude that we are proud to be raising money to benefit this foundation. He showed me that we really can choose a positive mindset no matter what the circumstances are. For that I will always be grateful.”
30% of the ipopin.com proceeds from Positive Thinking Day events will go to the Reeve Foundation. The Foundation is dedicated to curing spinal cord injury by funding innovative research, and improving the quality of life for people living with paralysis through grants, information and advocacy.
WAYS YOU CAN GET INVOLVED WITH POSITIVE THINKING DAY:
**Affirmation – You can help us change the world by focusing on the following affirmation on Positive Thinking Day – I choose to create a great day! (Click here to download this ipopin one minute affirmation for free!)
**Raise $ – When you make a purchase at www.ipopin.com between September 6-13, 2008, 30% your purchase price will be donated to the Reeve Foundation! That’s right, ipopin.com will donate 30% of proceeds to the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation!
**Pariticipate – Share a tip for staying positive by emailing me between now and 9/1/08 and you will be entered in a drawing to win 3 ipopin CD’s. Your tip may be selected to appear in a post on this site.
**Spread the word - Help us spread the word by adding the PTD logo link on your website or blog AND mention PTD in a post between Sept 1-6, 2008. Email me once you do so that I can add a link to you in our PTD Supporter section. You will be entered in a drawing to win 3 ipopin CD’s.
**Nominate - You can nominate someone for our Most Positive Person Contest.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Alas Phil, the date has already passed for “Share a tip for staying positive by emailing me between now and 9/1/08″ unless you meant to put in 9/13/08?
My inlaws celerate their wedding anniversary on this day (9/13/08), their 55th. I think that there must have been some positive thinking along the way for that to occur! So join me in sending congratulations to Connie and Joe Proulx for 55 years. Oh, and thanks to them for bringing in to the world four wonderful daughters, one of whom I was lucky enough to marry (Dolores).
Being organised isn’t about obsessing over small details, but about being effective and efficient. There are plenty of benefits to be gained from creating a consistent system:
Reduces Stress — You won’t get stressed looking for things, such as reports or documents. You’ll also be less likely to forget important tasks and have to deal with the consequences.
Saves time — Similar to the above. You won’t waste time worrying about things, because they will already be done. You also won’t waste time repeating the same task you’ve done before and either forgotten or mislaid the results.
Increases personal effectiveness — You won’t repeat tasks, mislay important jobs or items. There’s also the benefit of prioritising your work so important things get done, and you’ll have a complete list of tasks and projects so you’ll alsways know where you stand on important jobs.
Improves your self esteem — As strange as it sounds, being organised increases your self esteem. We often feel better the more in control of our lives we are. When things are going wrong, items are getting lost and we feel lost in our work environment it can seem like we’re just being dragged along. By getting organised you take control of your life, which improves self-esteem.
Improves your relationships — This is another “side effect” of being organised. Having a system in place makes you more reliable, and reliable people are often seen as more trustworthy. Plus keeping things somewhere safe means you’re less likely to forget birthdays and anniversaries – although if you do forget them you won’t have an excuse
There are plenty more advantages, but they’ll appear in different areas of your life in subtle ways. You’ll probably find that the quality of your life is improved in many areas, which is perhaps the biggest advantage of all.
The Anatomy of Organisation
You can split your system into three distinct areas:
Physical layout — This concerns all the “stuff” that you use. Things like lists, folders and stationary. Each of these items should have its own place to be stored, which saves you from looking for them when they’re required. It also keeps work surfaces free of clutter, which can aid concentration.
A processing system — The system used is down to personal preference, but you should have a consistent approach to dealing with everything that comes into your life. This includes creating a place to put all of your inputs, as well as how they are recorded so they won’t be forgotten.
Habits — A set of good habits will ensure your system runs smoothly. Examples of good habits to learn include handling each piece of paper once, and regularly reviewing goals and task lists. It takes time to build up these habits, but they will make a huge difference to your personal effectiveness.
It’s important to note that the entire system is only as strong as the weakest link. For example, if you have good habits but a poor physical layout, you’ll struggle with finding things which can lead to frustration. Similarly, if you have a good system and methodology but you’re not in the habit of using it, you won’t gain the full benefit.
Creating a Simple System
There are dozens of different systems out there, and they all have their own strengths and weaknesses. I’ve found that it’s best to start with a barebones system, which can be modified once you’ve got into the habit of using it. A very simple system would consist of the following elements:
An inbox — This is a central place where all of your incoming stuff is put, so it can be processed at a later date. The important thing is to make sure nothing is getting left out of the processing stage. You can think of it as a funnel that makes sure everything is going into your organising “machine”.
To-do lists — These lists can either be contextual or project based, whichever fits you best. If you’re using contextual lists, you’ll need several such as “@Desk”, “@Computer” and “@Internet”. I put “Computer” and “Internet” into two different lists as I usually disconnect my modem when I’m working so I don’t get distracted.
Even if you decide to use entirely project based lists, it’s still useful to have a list of phone calls that need to be made, emails that need to be written and people to follow up with.
A calendar — If a task has to be carried out on or by a certain date, you’ll want to put a reminder of this on your calendar. You should resist the temptation to organize your days using a calendar, as it dilutes the effectiveness of it.
A list of all ongoing projects — This is a central list that lets you keep track on all of your current projects. It’s not meant to be detailed, and all project material and task lists should have their own folder(s). The main purpose is to give you something to review to make sure nothing gets forgotten.
A filing system — Unless you’re an extreme minimalist, you’ll need a central place to store project and reference materials. Every project should have its own folder, even if it will only contain a single piece of paper. When organising these folders, simplicity is the key. Storing them alphabetically is much easier than arranging them by importance or any other criteria.
Most of my projects have their own folder, but in some cases they will be split up. For example, I have two folders for this website: one to store general information such as design ideas, and one to store draft blog articles.
If you think storing a single piece of paper in a folder is wasteful, you can place a piece of tape on the folder before putting a label over it. This makes it easy to peel the label off so you can reuse the folder.
A someday/maybe list — This isn’t really essential, but if you get a lot of crazy ideas about new projects it’s a good place to keep note of them. During your reviews you can see if any of the ideas are worth pursuing, or if they’re worth giving to someone else.
The main purpose of having all these things in place is that it gives your brain a break. You’re effectively delegating the responsibility of remembering things to paper, which gives you chance to concentrate on more important things.