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Traveling Through Life: Setting a Destination and Wandering

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I just got back from 11 days in Milan, Italy. 11 days away from the U.S. news. 11 days away from my computer. 11 days just to wander in a new city. 11 days to clear my mind. Here is a lesson I learned over those eleven days that you may find helpful too. Set a Destination and Wander Wandering without a destination in mind feels aimless quickly. And feeling aimless soon leads to a sense of ennui. It's hard to maintain the excitement and curiosity when you … [Read more...]

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What Happens When You Reach a Milestone or Benchmark?

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Do you set benchmarks to track your progress?  If so, what do you do when you reach one? Do you celebrate? Do you pat yourself on the back? Do you take some time to reflect on what you've accomplished? Or do you just reach ahead and set another goal? I've Reached a Benchmark This is the 200th TRY THIS post! I began writing it in June of 2013.  Since then, 64,681 people have viewed the blog and joined me in learning little life lessons from the South … [Read more...]

Categories: Increasing Awareness, Planning Tagged: ,

Plan Your Life with the Altitude Planning Framework

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Does September get your adrenaline pumping? I woke up this morning ready for school. I organized my pens, cleaned up my desk and even signed up for an on-line course. I felt like I should pack my lunch or organize my back pack! Ideas are swirling. Energy is pumping. And with a flood of morning lists and emails and project planning, my fall season of accomplishment has kicked-off. No more novels.  It's time to get stuff done. To get control of my racing mind and … [Read more...]

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Are You in Charge of Your Life?

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It's one thing to ask "who's in charge?" when you think about a company or a department or an organization. It's quite another question when you think about your life. Who's in Charge? When you wake up in the morning, who decides what you are going to do that day? Who decides what attitude you will bring to your work? Who decides if what you are doing is work or play? Do you get to decide? If so, how can you make the decisions that will serve you best? You … [Read more...]

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Get Help, Organize, and Feel Unburdened

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Paralyzed by Disorganization? Have you ever felt stuck because you are so disorganized? Rather than filing papers, do you put them in a pile on the corner of  your desk? Do you dread the mess you will encounter when you open your your file drawers? Do you look at your computer desktop and shudder? Do you spend just about as much time looking for files as you do actually getting work done? If you shuddered knowingly as you read those questions, then read … [Read more...]

Categories: Planning, Productivity Tips

Aspirin and 5 More Tips for Successful Parties

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Spring is party season. And I'm thinking about inviting a few people over. I'm sure you've been to parties that just haven't taken off. Gatherings where the conversation felt stilted and people left early. Deadly... especially if you're the host. Ever wonder what you can do to increase the chances of that your party will have a lively effervescence? Here are six suggestions. Don't miss the last one! 1. Serve food that shows you care. Make sure that at least some of … [Read more...]

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What Would You Do With $8 Million?

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This morning at St Mary's Park, I struck up a pleasant conversation with a man, perhaps in his late twenties, about exercising. Judging from his slightly disheveled appearance, I suspect he's homeless, or at least poor. Before he left the park, he brought over a copy of a daily tabloid that he had pulled out of the trash and read me a short piece about a man who was been awarded $8 million dollars by the courts as a result of a traffic accident with a MTA bus. I didn't … [Read more...]

Categories: Getting What You Want, Planning Tagged: , ,

Conjuring Your Life Path in Your Mind’s Eye

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When I was a young woman with small children, just starting out in my career, I felt confused about my direction and what I wanted to do. One day, I was frustrated and feeling lost. So I went to visit my friend Barbara. I spilled out my confusion to her. She listened for quite a while and then said: Close your eyes and imagine yourself in ten years. What are you doing? What are you wearing? Where are you? How are you feeling? She told me to just let an image come … [Read more...]

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Planning Styles: Clear Objectives or Emergent Energy?

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Over the last two days, I've connected with two of my super important mentors. One encourages me to develop clear sets of objectives that lay out the next year or two or three. The other encourages giving my emergent energy lots of latitude. Planning Styles at Odds or In Sync? One mentor highlights the freeing nature of deciding where you want to go and then going there, step by step.  That approach diminishes unnecessary and unproductive work and effort.  It enables … [Read more...]

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Using Your Inner-Scheduler to Meet Deadlines

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Do you work to deadlines? Do you set a deadline out in the future and watch with increasing anxiety as the deadline marches toward you? Then, perhaps on some specific day -- who knows which one -- you see the writing on the wall and you kick into gear. Trusting Your Get-Going-NOW Mechanism For some projects, you get going the very day it's due. For others, you may kick into gear weeks beforehand.  But for most of us, it seems that whatever triggers the … [Read more...]

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