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25 Days to Organize a Blogger’s Life in Time for Holiday Fun

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Problems, People, Paper, and Plans

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I looked at the calendar this morning. Roughly 6 weeks stand between me and the end of the year. I’m not much for New Year’s Resolutions, but I love the feeling of new beginnings when everything is cleaned up, put away, and ready to rock. On the other hand, I don’t like to make work, especially at holiday time. So this morning, I’m putting together a plan that I’m calling . . .

25 Days to Organize My Life in Time for Holiday Fun

At this time of the year, conflicting goals can intrude on the most uncluttered life. They can stress and overwhelm the calmest soul. Chaos like mine is already out of control.

This year, with that in mind, I’m organizing my life to avoid possible nuclear meltdown. I’ll do something each day to wrap things up so that I totally enjoy the end of the year fun.

I plan to clean up my live AND catch up with my friends as we make the season merry and bright.

I. Problems and Solutions

Day 1: Get help with common problems. I’m going to quit trying to figure out everything on my own. It silly for me to invest time digging up basic answers, when Simple Help has probably already figured most of them out. Simplehelp.net is a site that is both interactive and re-active; if you can’t find the solution to your problem, you can request content and the tutorial will be created for you. If I let other folks share what they know, I can save my time for the problems so unique to my situation that only I have the experience and detail to solve them efficiently. I have a couple that need attending to right away.

Day 2: Ask for help with my blog, too. I’m going to let more people know that I welcome guest posts on my blog. Though my blog can’t offer revenue it doesn’t earn, it’s got visibility and an intelligent, cool audience that’s priceless. AjaxNinja suggested seek out guest writers and I’m doing it today . . .

This is an invitation. . . . If you can submit an appropriate post by Friday morning, I sure could use your help. I’ll be in the UK Dec 1-9, 2007, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to blog while I’m gone. You’ll find my email address and topic ideas on the Guest Writer page.

II. Thousands and 150 Important People

Days 3-8: Update one of my “networks” each day from this group of sites:
MyBlogLog,
StumbleUpon,
Digg,
Facebook,
LinkedIn,
and Propeller.
When I find folks who have common interests, add them to my contacts.

Day 9-14: Review other “social networks” I belong to: Xing, Ning, Spock, Zude, Rapleaf, 8apps, Pownce, BlueChip, Zaadz, and Doostang. Decide which I should stay with and which I will resign from.

Day 15-17: Use MyLifeBrand or social url to incorporate the remaining Social Networks into one global platform. Make this a 15-30 minute part of each day moving forward. Place that block during a time that my mind needs a break from other kinds of work.

Day 19-20: Sort and group my email address book. Email is my most natural social network. Delete entries for folks I don’t recognize or haven’t corresponded with in less than 6 months. Email folks on the 6-month drop list that I want to keep current. Check my email settings. Delete old emails I no longer need need.

Day 21-22: Go through the contacts in my phone in much the same way. Delete those I don’t know and calling those I’ve not spoken to but want to keep on as a contact and part of my life.

III. Paper and Plans

Day 23-24: Clean off my desk and clean out my paper files. Maybe I’d better start doing a little bit of this one every day from day 1 . . . hmmmm.

Day 25:Develop an Editorial Calendar for next month using the form below. Allow for spur-of-the-moment ideas and variations.

Editorial Calendar

Then sit back with a nice glass of my favorite beverage and listen to my favorite tunes. . . .

How would your 25 day plan to organize for some fun work out differently?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Seriously: Do New Thoughts and New Taglines Find Us?

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It Started with an Unsearchable Thought

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It started with a blog post. Somehow in writing it, I had a new thought.

Seems a good reason NOT to be a thought leader . . . new thoughts aren’t searchable.

That thought caught a conversation about how our thoughts might connect us.

In the comment box, Alina Popescu said

Hi Liz! New thoughts are not searchable because they don’t need to [be]. They have their own little strategy to finding their way to people. I did not use a search to get to your blog. However, I got here and ceased to be a stranger 🙂 So who cares if you can’t search them? Most of us find new thoughts or are provoked to think exactly when they most need it.

Via trackback, Billy Smith said

It is about discovering, not being discovered « The Organic Leadership Blog

Last night on the telephone, I asked Lorelle VanFossen what she thought. We discussed what we thought about thoughts finding us in the universe. She talked about the “Great Cosmic Muffin,” and she said

You have to write about this in the way only Liz can. It’s important. Don’t leave that thought behind. Send out a new one. Show them how.

It’s hard to say, “no,” to Lorelle.

Do Thoughts Find Us? I Mean Really

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I know that, in the past year, I was thinking some thoughts that weren’t the best. What they brought weren’t the best folks or events.

With every knock, I lost a bit of who I am.

I started listening to EVERYONE, but myself.

Each new problem child outdistanced the last.

I can list unhappy endings one by one.
Yeah, it’s a list, and the list gets progressively — exponentially — more detrimental.

If I constantly flinch, isn’t inevitable that I’ll get hit? Why is that?

Are my thoughts on my sleeve? Do they somehow transmit? I have trouble believing that 1, 2, 3, 4 — small, medium, large, extra large — could be all a coincidence. It just doesn’t seem that coincidence is that organized.

Even more.

When I decided that I’d had enough, when I said, “I’m taking this ‘kick me’ sign off. No more. It’s the end of this rotten stuff,” within hours new things, good things, things I love, started happening. Is that coincidence too?

I think not.

Go ahead, believe whatever your heart will let you.

If right now, I send out this thought on a Saturday, when most folks are out and not reading blogs, will it find you before it normally would?

When I answered Alina’s comment up above, I wrote this descriptive phrase in the comment box.

New thoughts on a mission to find new thinkers.

Alina wrote this comment in response.

Liz, that sounds like a pretty good slogan.

Does it mean that a new tagline came to find me and my blog?

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Change the World: Take a Challenge

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changetheworld8

How-cool-is-this!!!
Robert Hruzek of Middle Zone Musings sent out an email to a few close friends about a series he writes monthly.

Robert’s been thinking, and he’s decided to make a challenge. He said he wouldn’t mind if I shared that challenge with you. So, here’s an excerpt from that email.

Over the last couple of days I’ve posted a two-part series at Middle Zone Musings on the subject of change, and got so inspired it prompted me to do something crazy (I mean, more than usual). So, go ahead and call me crazy if you like, but here it is: I’ve decided to change the world!

OK, I can hear it now; a chorus of, “Well, that’s just crazy!” (See; told ya!) But I don’t mind; I’m still goin’ for it! But, I really need your help (sound of stampede to the door).

I don’t know about you, but I’ve always been inspired by Liz Strauss’s Change The World series of posts. It always amazed me to realize just how much a single person can change the world, given the right circumstances. So I said to myself, “Self, why don’t you change the world?” Amazingly enough, me, myself and I agreed to quit talking about it and actually do something! (After all, it’s so rare that we all agree on something! I mean, besides ice cream; ice cream is always good.)

With that audacious goal in mind, I’ve just kicked off a Special Edition of our usual monthly What I Learned From… writing project with a two part post (yesterday’s and today’s) on the topic of Change. Yes, I know it’s a bit early – usually it starts on the first Monday of every month, but this time we’re going to need a few more days.

Please do me a favor and drop by the Zone, read these posts, and consider the challenge. Then, if you’d like to change the world with me, then by all means, let’s do it!

So, what do you think? Are you up to a challenge?

Will you change the world?

You, me, Robert . . . we can change the world, just like that.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

How to Master an Overwhelming To Do List

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Worse than herding Cats

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I admit it. To my thinking, one thing is worse than herding cats. It’s wrestling with the things I have to do. In my world, a To Do List can quickly get overwhelming. It can be filled with things I don’t know how to do, little things that are labor intensive, and too many things that are unrelated yet need getting done in the same time period. It always seems that part of the list is extremely URGENT and can’t wait for my learning curve. I can’t get to done that way.

How to Master an Overwhelming To Do List

To Do items are in the flow of things when there are only a few. When there are many, I have to get out of the details to where I can see to move them into a organizational groups. These are key steps to mastering a To Do List.

Every item I write begins with a verb. When appropriate, they begin with “Learn to” to remind me that they need more time and more steps.

  1. Brain dump. Write all of the items down a list in any order. Do it first thing in the morning, or last thing — to be able to hit the ground running when a new day begins. Get them out of your head and on paper or on computer. A spreadsheet works nice. It allows one item per box, and they’re easily movable.
  2. URGENT Sort. Group those things that are URGENT. Define URGENT as something of high consequence will be impaired, if this action does not happen in the next 24 hours. Calculate the amount of time these actions will take. If the time to do them is less than the time you have, get help now. Set the rest aside until the URGENT list is under control. Looking for URGENT items should be routine. Finding them should be rare.
  3. Action Sort. Sort all projects three ways to get things done. Group actions that are better done together. Two criteria rule this step: time sensitivity and power to make things happen.
    • HOT List. Sort everything about the most time-sensitive (HOT) project. List all related actions that need to be executed in the next 2-3 days. First apply these two questions to the HOT project. Then apply the questions to the whole list you have made.
    • What can I do in a few minutes that will get someone else working when I move on to the next item? List these so that you can do them first. Two people working move two parts forward.
    • What similar things can I do in series to save time? List like activities together, if doing them that way will save time. Blocking time to make all phone calls or writing all email related to the HOT project can save bundles of time. When is the best time in your day to do each type of task?
    • Quick Hits List. Sort short 5-10 minute tasks that are not HOT!! but need to be done in a timely fashion. This list is one to keep close. When a few minutes open up, or a piece of writing gets stuck, you’ll be able to grab the list to move something forward. Then switch back to regularly scheduled programming.
    • To Do List. Sort the remaining items. List them by their importance and time sensitivity. Then schedule them into the next 2-3 days.
  4. When new actions anitems arise add them to the list where they fit.
  5. Have a partner on call for emergencies. Some folks, like me, are drawn up to the macro level, we work well organizing strategy. We work best at the 30,000-foot view. Other folks are down to drill down to the beauty of details to build structure at the micro view. When time is short and a pile of action details demand attention, nothing compares to a working partnership — one person sorts the relationships, the other makes the lists.

Attend to the HOT List immediately. Attend to the Quick Hits as time opens — carry it with you to take advantage of opportunities wherever they arise. Attend to the To Do List when you have scheduled each item. Turn off interruptions when you’re working. Revisit your plan every morning to sort, list, and schedule the day.

You might think that three lists are more work than one, but in fact, three shorter lists allow focus and save time when scanning for the next thing to do. The key, of course, is to list everything that needs doing and doing everything on the lists.

Did I just confuse you?

–ME “Liz” Straus
To follow the entire series: Liz Strauss’ Inside-Out Thinking to Building a Solid Business, see the Successful Series Page.

Change the World: One World-Sized Idea

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Are We Afraid We Would Make a Difference?

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A lucky part of being who and where I am is that I get have conversations about people’s passions and dreams for the future. I hear their heads describing their skills and talents. I hear their hearts explaining how they long to follow their calling.

The wish is always there, often unspoken — sometimes from fear of it, sometimes from a lack of ownership.

Yesterday, I had a conversation with a young man. He had some idea of his future, but not yet a whole one. He asked my experience. I said is that, if he were going to make one mistake, I suspected that he would not think big enough.

“Not think big enough,” he pondered that phrase.

“Yes, I don’t think I’ve heard anyone think too big for years, maybe forever.”
He asked for more. I elaborated in this way.

We make our ideas smaller by thinking we weren’t meant to do something. Other folks were meant to change things. We were meant to live with them. Why do we argue for that? Isn’t the opposite an equally valid argument?

Why do we shy away from what we long to be doing?

Are we afraid that we actually could make a difference?

Nelson Mandela knows.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.

Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Ghandhi
Mother Teresa
Martin Luther King

They were each one person with a refusal to follow their fear.

Your playing small doesn’t serve the world.

One person can change the world with belief in a world-sized idea.

This is not talk. I truly do . . . plan . . .. to . . . Change the World.

With capital letters.

Why not me? Why not you? Why not all of us?

We can change the world — just like that.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Mandela’s speech was written by Marianne Williamson.

In This World of Amazing, Profound, and Frivolous Thinkings . . .

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Big Idea

I spend a lot of time in my head. Believe me, you don’t want to visit. It’s terribly unorganized to someone not from here.

My head is filled with fodder, kindling, string and ribbon. Sunlight shines on old blue jeans and comic books, on dancing shoes, and my younger, older brother’s junk drawer.

You can see the lights of a carnival at night, complete with the Ferris wheel, . . . and cotton candy, and plastic ducks in water. My older, older brother’s books are stacked tall in the corner.

Stories sit on a shelf, hoping I’ll find a reason to tell them.

Clothing hangs in bags above a wooden floor, that has the words, music, love, and people once written in the dust by a little girl’s finger. The letters are artful and lasting.

A world view from atop an elephant — I wasn’t the least bit scared because my dad was on the ground watching me — adds a gloriously inviting perspective. The colors turn to black and white and back again to the entire spectrum, even the shades we can’t see.

And the breathtaking harmonies whisper softly most days, except when someone is unhappy. Then minor chords filter through on a breeze too quiet, and too serene.

The best part is that no ceiling, no walls, define this bit of a place. I like to think I planned it that way, but who’s to say that’s so or isn’t? I only know it works best that it’s that way.

It’s where I imagine, wonder, puzzle, marvel, sense, and reckon, devise, remember, create, and conjure. It’s there I have ideas of amazing size or shape about profound and frivolous conceptual things.

In this world of amazing, profound, and frivolous thinkings . . . I have a big idea.

It’s as big as the world, and it’s getting bigger.

Wouldn’t it seem natural that our ideas should expand as we figure out what’s inside of our heads?

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