The "One Touch Rule" - Lifehacking

Happy Sunday. Back to the grind tomorrow.

I have been trying something lately, and it seems to be working. It is a habit in line with the "Do it Now" mantra.

It's called "The One Touch Rule". This rule applies to those tasks that are undertaken countless times during the week: email, snail mail, dishes, laundry, blog posts, etc. I can't take credit for coming up with this idea. I have read it in many self help books, I'm not sure who gets the props

If you don't know "The One Touch Rule", it goes like this.

1.  Before beginning a task: Decide if you have the time to complete the task properly.
2. If you have the time: Complete the task 100%.
3. If you do not have the time: Do not start the task until you have the time.

Completing tasks 100% might seem like  more time, but in reality you are saving time in the long run.

Example: You finish eating dinner. You scrape off your dish and put it in the sink. You leave the dish in the sink. You do something else. You return to the sink. You take the dish back out rinse it, and put it in the dishwasher.

Those are a lot of actions. Each time you change actions your brain wastes time deciding what to do next. In addition, leaving tasks unfinished puts stress on your mind and body. If you are anything like me, you run the risk of forgetting about the dish, and having to rinse the dish more thoroughly the second time around.

Instead, by following "The One Touch Rule" you scrape your dish, rinse it off, and place it in the dishwasher. You will not have the stress of an unfinished task, your brain will not waste as much time switching between tasks, and you've saved yourself a trip to and from the kitchen sink.

This might only save you a few seconds to a few minutes and you might be tempted to say, 'I'll get around to it later. It's not saving me that much time'. Remember though, you are following "The One Touch Rule" numerous times during the day. Added up, you can save yourself tens of minutes and mental stress you may not have known you had.

As an added bonus, each time you complete a task 100% your brain releases hormones that produce a pleasant effect; building your self esteem and motivation, and diminishing that nasty "I'm scared" excuse.

Keep up the awesome work. I'll see you tomorrow.

-P
Creativity Challenge: 11/30

What to do when you don't want to do it?

So it's no lie, and I am not ashamed to admit that I get a lot of inspiration from sites like Nerdfitness. So the other day, I was going through the archives over there. (Don't judge. It's the end of a school year, and there is way too much going on at work), and I noticed the post about Doing it Now.

The video comes from The Art of Manliness. It has helped me immensely. Go on over there and check out the post. HERE. I linked it for you. You are welcome. If you are lazy here is the video embedded from YouTube

Following this advice has greatly helped. Just the other day I finally got around to grading papers which were just weighing on my soul. It felt so good to get them done. I should have done them right away. It only took 45 minutes and added days of stress hormones to my body.

After this experience, I have been following the advice of the video. Whenever I don't want to do something, I hear Arnold's voice in my head. "Do it Now!" My stress levels have gone down. I feel better about myself and because of that, I can already see I am being more successful.

30 day Challenge: 02/30 - Challenge of Creation
02/30 Challenge of Fiscal Responsibility.

Things to Do: Register to Vote

Alright, unless you've been in some sort of holiday sugar daze for the past month, you've heard nothing but talk about the presidential primaries. It's everywhere, from trash tabloids to billboards on your daily commute. There is no escaping.

And while I do get annoyed by the main stream media's coverage of the race, where at times it seems they are covering elections for high school prom court elections rather than a presidential race, it is still important that you participate.

Why? Well, if the fact that millions of people have sacrificed their lives so you can have the right doesn't inspire you to get off your ass, it's the first step to taking some control and responsibility for your actions. 

So get out there! Here's some help.

Here's a website that gives state by state rules for registration.

Okay, so you've registered to vote. Now what's the next step? You need, and I emphasize; need, to be an informed voter. If you end up voting with your heart, and get fleeced by some empty suit that says one thing and does an other, you have no room to complain.

Also the MSM doesnt really help. They which tends to ignore the candidates that paid "analysts" think are not viable, or plain old give into what amounts to bribery from the richer candidates. 

 If you are not an informed voter, get informed. If you have stumbled across my blog, you obviously know how to work a computer. Use your favorite search engine, and look up all the candidates.

There are plenty of websites at least summing up the candidates views. Heres one for the presidential primaries.

Also, if they've already held office, its public record how they've voted, and its your responsibility to find out. The best indicator of a candidates true view is their voting record. As the saying goes: "actions speak louder."

Good luck, and since this is an opinion blog.... Go Ron Paul!

Things to do: Read up on what our founding fathers wanted.

Sorry about the lack of posts lately, I just returned from the Christmas Holidays and recovered from New Years.

I think today's tip is a very important one. In order to understand what it takes to be a responsible citizen and to know what is important to fight for in this great land of the United States of America, you need to understand what our founding fathers where trying to do when they formed the Union.

Please take your time, and read up on our constitution and the "Declaration of Independence".

Thanks.

http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/constitution.html: Government site of "The Constitution".

http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/declaration.html: Government site of "The Declaration of Independence".

My New User Icon

My picture is one that gets me every time. It's the Freedom of Speech painting by Norman Rockwell. He painted a series of four paintings depicting American Freedoms; "The Freedom of Speech", "The Freedom of Worship", "The Freedom from Want", and "The Freedom from Fear". Apparently Rockwell was so determined to make these paintings that he spent 6 months with less than optimal sleep, and lost 15 lbs in the process. Talk about determination.

These four freedoms are based on a speech given by Franklin D. Roosevelt with the title of the same name. Every responsible citizen should "Google(TM)" the speech, but I will reproduce the important part here:

In the future days which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.
The first is freedom of speech and expression-- everywhere in the world.

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way; everywhere in the world.

The third is freedom from want, which, translated into world-terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants-- everywhere in the world.

The fourth is freedom from fear, which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor -- anywhere in the world.
That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation.

That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called "new order" of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.

- Franklin Delano Roosevelt,excerpted from the Annual Message to the Congress,January 6, 1941

I may not agree with the whole anti-armament stance, but I do agree that no country should act in a form of aggression against a neighbor. (Keep in mind FDR was talking about the invasion of Poland and France by Germany and of China by Japan during World War II. He was not talking about honorable defensive strikes, which is what our involvement in the war was.)

In light of the current administration we all should at the very least read up on our freedoms, and at least critically think about what sacrifices we are collectively making as a country. Every time we divert responsibility from ourselves to our government we lose freedoms. We just need to make sure it's worth it.