Almost everyone is feeling the pinch now. Bills mount, costs rise and jobs flounder. I recently read an article in TIME magazine about how American families are now shopping in huge quantities from wholesalers and freezing produce just to save money in the long run.

Apart from groceries, the three main costs that affect most people are phone bills, credit cards and gas prices. All of these services are considered necessities nowadays and you’re pretty useless without them.

They can be very expensive at times. Running a little wild with the credit card one month can leave you hunched over your desk trying to make the books balance.

You can lessen the blow of those monthly debts by using BillShrink. It will by no means work magic and make the fairies come and ‘poof’ those bills away but it can make them a little smaller by finding the best deal for you – in seconds!

When you first log into the site it will present you with three choices – Cell Phone, Credit Card, or Gas. Select the one you want.

Cell Phone

Having chosen ‘Cell Phone’ you will be asked to fill out all of the options given to you about how you use your phone. As seen in the screenshot, these are basic questions about texting, talking and mobile internet usage which should pose no problem at all. This takes no longer than a minute or two. Easy, right?

Click ‘Continue’ and then fill in your e-mail address. Then Click ‘Continue’ once again.

BillShrink will then calculate which services are better for you. This takes a few minutes to load which is understandable given the amount of services, prices, tariffs and companies it will have to sift through.

In my search results, I was told that T-Mobile could save me over $10 per month just like that. I’d also get a free phone from them. Not bad for three minutes work.

Credit Card

Next I decided I’d save money on the old credit card. I clicked on ‘Credit Card’ on the homepage and began filling out the options given to me. Again these are all really basic questions such as ‘What’s your current card?’, ‘Where do you spend?’ and ‘How long have you had this card?’ Nothing too difficult. Same deal again, just click continue and it will compute the results for you.

Readers, I was impressed. The cell phone saving was nothing compared to this. If I were to switch to a different credit card company I could save over $1,500. (Nb. I would consider my credit card and how I use it pretty normal, so this should apply to many of you).

That is a load of money. For the sake of an hour online switching cards and calling my bank I could save $1,500. Who do you know that have ever earned themselves one and a half K per hour?

Gas

This one was going to be the real tester. Millions of us drive to and from work and college every day and can be left with gas bills well into $200 if we commute over an hour each way to work. This is an area where we can’t afford to miss out.

I click ‘Gas Prices’ on the homepage and I’m away.

A few questions such as ‘What’s the make and model of your car’ and ‘How much do you fill up each time?’ and then BillShrink began to work its magic.

I discovered that I could be saving $3 per gallon. Now for anyone who is driving anymore than 25 miles to work each morning and back again at night, using BillShrink could be saving you hundreds of dollars per year.

In order to sustain these saving you’ll have to check back once every fortnight or so to see who has the cheapest rates.

Top Tip:

Try to fill up your tank in the morning when it’s cold out; fuel contracts and it denser when cold so you’re getting a little more than the meter thinks.

In summary, BillShrink is this great web app that really does save you money as promised. You could spend ages trying to save money by shopping around or by taking ten minutes to do it the easy with Bill Shrink.

One of the best pieces of advice an online business or just any person can get is to consider starting a blog to improve their website’s  search engine ranking and thus increase traffic and customer numbers.

The main target in this approach is Search Engine Optimization (SEO). While this practice is still vital to the success of a blog, SEO is becoming less and less important since the rise of social bookmarking.
Social bookmarking is the virtual equivalent of giving an article your seal of approval, if you will. The more people that do this the higher it’s ranked on sites such as Digg and Stumble Upon which have a great reputation for sending hundreds of thousands of people to websites.

Why EBooks?

Blog posts and articles in general tend to do quite well on these sites if they’re of a good quality. However, free eBooks tend to do even better simply because people see them as a more useful source.
Your brand, whether it’s a company name or your own, is easily applied throughout the eBook. Many top bloggers have become even more popular for their eBooks such as Darren Rowse’s famous 31 Days to Build a Better Blog and Leo Babauta’s Zen to Done.
For that reason, EBooks are a great way to spread the word about your blog or website as an extra push or even an alternative to advertising or SEO.

EBooks also bring with them a level of authority and uniqueness. By releasing your own guide you’re immediately setting yourself apart from similar bloggers and creating an air of authority on your chosen subject in the same way as a man who wrote a book on programming or design will be given a higher status than the man who has only ever read books.

Creating Your EBook

The actual production of an eBook and how it’s done varies depending on the type of blog or website its for.
In general, a person who calls himself/herself a ‘Blogger’ will write the eBook themselves. This is because their existing readers and prospective readers will want to hear what they have to say on a particular matter and not somebody else.

On the other side of that coin, business blogs and larger websites with multiple contributors can easily outsource the eBook to somebody else. In this instance, the reader isn’t concerned about who wrote the eBook. Rather the logo on the front cover.

The design and compilation of your eBook is a task you’ll also have to deal with. Unless you have good design experience (in which case this will be no problem for you) it’s best to outsource this task to a professional. They will normally design, format and compile the EBook for you once the text is provided. The main thing to keep in mind when the eBook is being written is to place an emphasis on quality above all else. It’s that same quality which will implant your name or brand into the readers mind.

A great site for all outsourcing is Elance.com. There’s an initial ten dollar charge to verify your payment account (PayPal or Credit Card) but after that it’s completely free to post job offers for their huge community of web workers who range from writers, to designers to virtual assistants. They bid on your project with their price offers and you make a decision based on the price and their experience.

Once your eBook has been completed and you have the PDF file sitting on your computer ready to go live on the internet but it’s worth your while investing in some promotion. I don’t mean taking out advertising plans. Quite the contrary.

Getting it ‘Out There’

You see, from my experience, the best way to advertise within the blogosphere is to become an active part of it. This needn’t require a lot of effort. Guest posting on other blogs or submitting review copies to them before the release and alerting existing readers to the eBook’s existence should be enough.
While the most obvious way to have people download you eBook is to upload it to your website (and I’m not suggesting you don’t) there are other platform which should be considered when publishing. On such platform is Scribd.com. This allows users to click on a link (which may have been tweeted or shared by somebody) and arrive at your eBook’s page on Scirbd.

They can then read the PDF there, in full, without having to download it. The benefit of this is that there are numerous social bookmarking buttons which will appear alongside your eBook which allows people to easily share your eBook, thus driving more traffic to it.

Another way you can use a free eBook for the promotion of your website or blog is to offer it to subscribers only. This acts as an incentive for people to subscribe to your blog or service. The benefit of this is that when people subsequently share your eBook of social bookmarking sites, any traffic generated stands a good chance of being translated into subscribers.

The argument can be raised as to why one shouldn’t charge for an eBook. And it’s a good one too. I guess it all comes down to your blog. Does it have high traffic rates and more importantly does it have loyal readers? While eBooks that have a price tag still do well in terms of promotion, often that just isn’t their intention. If you own a small blog or service which is largely unheard of then it’s best to offer something for nothing to the blogosphere.

Any good quality eBook has the potential to drive thousands to a website in much the same way a good quality novel can lead to cult followings. People will generally share and recommend eBooks to friends and work colleagues if they’re good. I personally subscribed to several blogs because I was e-mailed a copy of their eBook and found it useful. As have several of my colleagues and friends. So they definitely work.

Earlier this month I decided some things needed changing up as concerns my freelance work. Amongst other things, I noticed that my productivity had gone down the drain when I compared it June or July of this year. Some graphs I drew up of my time usage on a particular day confirmed this.

My main problem seemed to be my most valuable tool; my computer. Or more specifically how I was using it. I allowed my crowded, under equipped desktop to slowly siphon away my productivity. Here are some methods I used to reclaim it. Freelancers and web-workers in general may find this particularly helpful.

An Adequate Wallpaper

I’ve always been a fan of minimalistic wallpapers so this wasn’t really a problem for me. However, from using friends computers in the past I can definitely say a bad wallpaper leads to untidiness and a bad visual environment. The most common offenders are:

• Low -Resolution Images
• Improper dimensions (ie. The image doesn’t fit the screen properly)
• Centred images leaving a wide margin around the screen
• Busy or distracting image

Any or all of these faults lead to a bad desktop. For my wallpapers, I use Hdwallpapers.net. The site is very easy to use and the images are large and pretty. They have thousands of images in categories such as Auto, Animals, Landscapes and many more.

Desktop Icons

This one, I am guilty of. A repeat offender. In fact, I deserve to be hung, drawn and quartered for it. I could start the week with a completely blank desktop and by week’s end I’d have dozens of icons for things such as programs I use every once and a while, drafts, documents, images, e-mails, spreadsheets and unused articles.

Cleaning all of this up takes ages and finding new homes for the important stuff takes even longer. So I bit the bullet and began creating a clean, easy-to-use system on my desktop.

I cleaned up my act by placing icons for my top five most common programs to the left of the desktop. These were things like E-Mail, my browser, Windows Live Writer and Q-10, my minimalistic word processor.

I then created a few new folders to act as home for my documents, both current and stale. Things like invoices, drafts and other documents are now neatly stored in their respective folders.

By doing this, I reduced the amount of time I spend searching through a maze of icons. On average, the amount of icons now on my desk has been reduced by almost 500%.

Create Hot-Keys

For the other programs which I use on an irregular basis such as Photoshop and Skype, I decided the best option would be to create hot keys under letters relating to each task or program. So for example, I assigned ‘S’ to Skype and ‘P’ to Photoshop.

Just cleaning up my desktop icons reduced my time spent looking for programs and increased my productivity once I got used to it. To do this, you’ll need to download some simple software.

Taking Your Work Online

Using online apps and websites to replace existing desktop applications and programs can vastly de-clutter your machine and increase your productivity.

I find that the best universal service for this is Google. Under ‘My Account’ on the home screen, you can have multiple apps at your disposal such as email, an RSS reader, groups, alerts, a calendar and Wave. These online apps are also much more compatible with mobile apps such as those on smart phones making it easier to work while you’re on the move.

Another perk of taking your work online is that you reduce the amount of space you need for programs and documents and can also rest safe in the knowledge that your documents are secure. I’ve been using this for over a year to some extent and haven’t had any problems.

Google Desktop

Finally, even if you don’t want to implement any of the above I definitely suggest using Google Desktop. This handy program indexes pretty much everything you do on your computer from emails to documents and keeps a record of their locations. It also takes note of your online documents (see above). This is a fully automatic program and runs silently in the taskbar.

To search for a document, just press ‘Ctrl’ twice and the search bar  will appear.

How do you increase your productivity? Any tips?

When I first started writing professionally I assumed that Word was the standard program to use for everything. After all, it’s on just about every PC and takes care of your basic tasks. But I found problems with it. While it was fine for most writing tasks, when you’re writing a wide variety of pieces from fiction to articles to blog posts, I found that different software (and free) enabled me to do my job much easier and faster.

The thing about writing is that it’s 90% logical thinking and only 10% getting the words down. Having programs which enable that 90% to flourish is a big help.

Here are three programs which help me on a day-to-day basis.

yWriter – Novel Writing Software

When writing a novel or long eBook, using a standard word processor is like using a hammer to demolish a building. You’ll be forever going back, formatting, labelling so you’ll know where everything is and scrolling down through your < 50,000 words.

yWriter enables you to not only divide up your book into sections and chapters, but also keep tract of things like locations, characters, items, goals and scene notes. When you’re churning out hundreds of thousands of words all into one document it’s easy to loose track of repetitive metaphors, character frequency and locales so it’s good to know you have them all noted down in the one place.

There is a steep learning curve with yWriter when you start off. This is mainly because you have to manually ad characters and location in order to keep track of them. However I find that once you’re past the second or third chapter and have the ball rolling it gets easier.

Q10 – Minimalistic Word Processor

Distraction and procrastination are the main enemy of any writer. One minute you’re steaming ahead, the next you’re knee-deep in an e-mail discussion thread or checking RSS feeds. Q10 is a minimalistic, distraction-killing word processor for Windows tailor made by a Spanish programmer with writers in mind.
As you can see from the screenshot (I’m using it to type this article) it consists of nothing more than a black screen with basic text. You can change the background colour and text colour. For laptop users I recommend leaving the background as black as it saves a tonne of battery life. What’s the point in lighting up your screen 95% white like other processors do?

Other features ( list of commands can be found by pressing F1) include an alarm to limit your time and a word-count goal setter. There are also options to check the word count and to save your file. You can also toggle the audio on or off. When it’s turned on, each time you press a key you get the noise of a typewriter. I find this increases your pace.

EverNote – Note-taking Program, App and Website

Sometimes I’m watching Two & a Half Men, waiting on a bus or working in the library. Out of nowhere, boom, and idea. An idea so great that I just have to write and article about it. Yet, I’m not exactly a cliché writer; I don’t carry a moleskin notebook with he at all times. So I just take out my phone and jot it into EverNote (which we also took a look at in the PodCast) There are evernote apps for Windows Mobile devices, Android and the iPhone. Which I can then sync with my PC when I get home or just upload to my online account. And if you’re phone is a basic cell phone (click here to see my other article on basic cell phones) ten you can e-mail the idea to a special e-mail address you get when you sign up and just like that a copy of your note or idea is stored online.

What’s more, your notes don’t have to be text either. They can be pictures or audio files too. Weren’t paying attention during class or couldn’t be bothered to take down all the notes? Just take a snap of the blackboard. There’s no need to then transcribe it as EverNote recognises handwriting in images. Simple.
If there was ever a program, app and online service that’s a writer’s best friend it’s EverNote.

So there you go fellow writers, bloggers and scribes. Three great tools to get your job done quicker and easier. There’s plenty of time for procrastination brooding in real life.

What do you think of the three programs above? What programs do you use to write?

photo credit: ?Debs?

I’ve worked as a freelance writer and blogger both in print publications and online for almost two years now. And in that time I’ve honed how I work – and more to the point of this, my first ever screencast, I have honed the desktop applications I use when working.

In this video, I discuss my favourite programs for working. I take into account their functionality, support on other devices and platforms as well as the freelancer’s dreaded enemy, distraction!

As I say in the video, this is my first ever screencast. This is also the first video in the series that will become the AoS video podcast. I’ll aim to get one of those out every month or so along with four or five articles. It would be great to hear some feedback and suggestions. Also, if you want to stay updated with what’s happening at AoS you can always  Subscribe or follow me on Twitter.

I used Jing (free version) to capture this screencast. I wasn’t too impressed with it in terms of quality and how they insist upon you using their service to publish and share the video. Having the video in an .mp4 format would have been nice. I’ll either enquire into the premium version or find a more suitable program for the next podcast.

In the video, I take a look at Windows Live Writer, Evernote and Twhirl, all elegantly described in a Dublin accent which is completely virgin to the world of mass broadcasting on the interwebs. Plenty of ‘Ums’ and ‘Ehs’.

Enjoy!

- Dean

photo credit: quinn.anya

The root of all problems lie in their existence. If they weren’t there, or if they we’re made irrelevant, they would no longer be a ‘problem’ per say. More of a fact or formula floating in obscurity.

Yet, most of our problems such as stress and money (business related or not) lie in the fact that we allow them to exist. Either we lazily put up with them or we consider them essential to our business or life and as such don’t do anything about them.

Say you have an annoying client. He or she will only ever produce a certain amount of income yet they could eat up two or three times the time a normal client who produces the same amount of income. That causes you stress and it’s also uneconomical. As I’ve said before, a cornerstone of lifestyle design is elimination. And here’s why

The 80 : 20 Rule

Made famous by The Four-Hour-Work-Week written by Tim Ferris, the 80:20 rule is actually a principal worked out by a Italian economist who died over 90 years ago. His name was Vilfredo Pareto.

He theorised that 80% of all results (bad or good) came from just 20% of the sources. So 80% of your profit came from just 20% of your time spent working. 80% of your stress you have right now, comes from just 20% of your life or the people/things in it.

We could go further:
80% of an investors profits comes from 20% of his portfolio
20% of your diet leads to 80% of your weight gain
20% of the people in a room make 80% of the noise.

Remember Source (20%) —-> Results (80%): This can be applied to almost anything.

Elimination – “Just Do It”

Above, we talked about elimination. Well this is where it starts. Learning how to eliminate the aspect which aren’t profitable in a business, or aspects of your life which cause you stress take time.

As I discussed in an earlier article, you must identify the problem. A bad client? Too much time spent waiting for Emails, approval etc…? Identify them and then eliminate them ruthlessly.

Just cut them loose. Regardless of the initial loss of money or otherwise – just be rid of it all otherwise you’ll never be happy. Negative thing won’t turn positive because you want to.

“You can polish a turd…but it’s still a turd”

So, do you really want to spend the rest of your life polishing metaphorical turds? If so, it’s probably best you leave AoS. And I don’t mean that to sound sarcastic or anything, as many people do like having an average life, which there’s nothing wrong with. But I like to write about the 20% of people who like the idea of lifestyle design (did you see how I wittily applied the 80:20 rule there?! ).

Then, take what you have left and multiply. Ask for more work or a higher position in the company. If it’s a social aspect of your life, maybe spend more time with the good people in your life or take up a new hobby. Just multiply the good by as much as possible.

The Results of the 80:20 Rule

So having eliminated the other 80% of your sources which weren’t worth their fruition you were left with 20%. You then succeeding in multiplying them by the fairly achievable number of three. That’s 220% of the previous results for 60% of your previous effort. And I’m not kidding, this works.

I’ve done this to a large extent with my writing. Eliminating unprofitable clients or these which I didn’t like working for and asked for more work off those I did like and found enjoyable and profitable. Multiplying by 3 should be a baseline target, by the way. They sky is the limit.

This whole principal is a lot to take in at once. As further reading I suggest picking up a copy of The Four Hour Work Week. You can get if for a few dollars online. A great read.

In carrying out the above it’s important to keep it straight forward. No messing about, over organising and adding ‘fluff’ to the procedure. Fluff is part of that 80% that you’re eliminating. To quote Nike, “Just Do It“.

###

An Exercise:

1. Take out a piece of paper and a pen.
2. Write down everything positive AND negative in your life. Income streams, friends, family, hobbies, holidays, fried chicken, toasted cheese sandwiches, jogs, swims in the sea, time spent doing this, time spent doing that etc …
3. Then, apply the 80:20 rule as outlines above.
4. Sit back, take a long look at your results and decide whether or not you’d be happy with those same results five years down the line.

I look at every business and ask, How long can this last? How can I identify the status quo and change it? – Sheldon Adelson

photo credit: neotint

As per our previous article on ‘Being Original in the 21st Century’, I thought I’d share with you the five tenets of originality (or at least mine).

I’ve pondered the meaning of originality and how it applies to today’s people. Some of the points are similar and linked into one another. That’s why they’re tenets instead of random criteria.
Here it goes.

Be Free of External Influences

While it’s fine to be immersed in media and literature, it’s another thing altogether when they lead you down a well-forged path. Form your own opinions and even objections to popular beliefs and so-called ‘facts’. Just because it’s in a book doesn’t make it true.

Keep and Open Mind

This one carries on from the previous. While I said that you must not allow external sources to guide you down a path, it’s okay to accept them as an idea and maybe even let them influence you once you’re conscious of it. I.e. you’re accepting as feasible ideology for you. You’re not just mindlessly nodding along.

Keeping an open mind is also an essential ingredient for self-improvement. People who suddenly close their mind find themselves in a rut and begin to look and feel like everyone else caught in that same, conservative rut.

Have Beliefs, Morals and Opinions

Develop a private constitution for the micro-state of ‘ME’. What do you hold close to your heart? What are your values and moral beliefs? While these can often change as we grow, it’s vital that you have a firm foundation and are assured of just who you are.

Otherwise you’re just a tumbleweed bouncing around the desert somewhere.

Broad Horizons

Always, and I mean always be looking for ways to broaden your already broad horizons. Just finished learning to speak French fluently? Well why not learn to play the tin whistle? Or make fresh butter?
Set goals and strive to better yourself. This leads me to the final tenant of originality…

Life Experience

A truly original person has had truly unique life experiences. A lot of them will be the same as other’s (millions of people have taught themselves to speak French fluently), but it’s the combination of those experiences along with the stories and memories which define a person. Or refine them for that matter.

Being original is just about all one has left in this day and age. We all have the same job as another few million people. We all rid the bus, use the same cell phones and drive the same cars. Your persona is what makes you, you. So make sure it actually is you!

What do you think of originality today? Would you define yourself as being original?

photo credit: DerrickT

“It’s better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation” – Hermin Melivin

The man had a point ladies and gentlemen. What’s the point of being born, going to school, growing up, going to university, trying your very best to get a great job to do well in life when you’re just following the Status Quo?

Many people have become wrapped into this false sense of existence. And it’s more obvious with some people more so than others.

Ever had a conversation and you just know that half the stuff coming out of the other persons mouth is utter waffle? Try as you may to bring it down to a realistic level but their head is stuck way up in the clouds. The funny thing is that many people don’t even realise that they’re just conforming to whatever show they last watched on MTV.

What Happened to Originality?

There have always been fakers, exaggerators and people living in fantasy worlds.Through my studies of history I’d have to say that originality started to go down the pan on a large scale right around the 1960s. That’s when pop-culture took off with TV. The decades following only made the situation worse.
I think it was more so the personalities who embodied all these cliques and groups that gave originality its marching orders.

Now, we live in the plastic era. Things must shine, sparkle and above all be utterly fake and materialistic to be ‘in’. For every movie star who drives BMWs and has a size zero stick as arm candy you have people going at a dime a dozen who try to imitate them.

“…succeed in imitation”…

Its importance in Lifestyle Design

For those of you who read the recently published AoS Manifesto, may I remind you that this blog holds at its core the art of lifestyle design. Originality plays a big part in all of this. The bigger picture if you will.

It never ceases to amaze me how many people will read a case study, take every word as though it was gospel and commit to it. What ever happened to forming your own opinions? (we’ll talk more about that in part two of this series).

Let’s say a thousand people decide to rapidly overhaul their lifestyles. They all read the same book and set themselves the same goals – travelling Australasia and living life. But then, they’re just back into a rat race. Sure it may be a different rat race but it’s one none the less.

In everything you do, every undertaking you commit to, you should have a firm foundation which originated from the creative section of your brain. Not your optic nerve.

Don’t do it for the sake of doing it

Having read this post, undoubtedly some people may have indeed realised that they conform for the sake of conforming and may want to change that. But please, please don’t be original for the sake of being original. Then you’re just listening to sum guy thousands of miles away who runs a blog. Do whatever it is you want to do.

Often, people who are original for the sake or being original thus conforming to a trend and thus not being original (I know, I know) are often drawn by the comradeship that comes along with ‘faking it’. Teenage cliques and workplace groups are known for it.

But it’s the others, those who have meaningful relationships and conversations that will excel purely because they don’t care what others think of their originality.

There’s a certain amount of respect to be earned out there for being yourself.

While you may experience a certain amount of ‘backlash’ from people who refuse to accept anything but the norm, you’ll find there’s a silent acknowledgement for people who are themselves. Others will rarely ever raise barriers when they’re around or act differently in their presence purely because they know they’re seeing the real you. A constant. Not somebody who changes the minute a door closes.

So just think about it. Are you being original? Do you voice your opinions when asked? Do you do what makes you happy?

N.B. – This post was the first in a two-part series on ‘originality’. The following piece will be published in a few days time.

photo credit: ShadowZone1

For those of you who don’t know who David Attenborough is, he’s probably the most successful wild-life TV expert of our time. He works mainly for the BBC in producing documentaries and also writes very informative books.

I usually spend around two hours a week watching his documentaries On Demand because not only do I find him a great personality, but the issues he raises and the places he visits are stunning. And I’ve also noticed that many of the animal’s instincts can be applied directly to lifestyle design.

Observance

Whenever they feature and animal of prey, they do a 2-3 minute section on how the animal stalks its victim, watches them moving around, follows their scent, singles out the most vulnerable target and then licks its lips.
I give very similar advice in a lot of my articles. I tell you to sit back, relax, take stock, brood and positively identify what area of your life you want to target. It could be expenses, habits, work or social commitments. Taking a blind stab in the dark has a very slim chance of finding the right target. Observe, think and process a problem. Only then, when you have a clear understanding of the issue should you…

Take Action

Nothing would ever get done without the basic instinct of act. Sure, the fox could be sly and cunning, but what use is all his wit if he never actually acts upon his plans?
While the art of planning is essential, you’ve got to actually factor in taking action. If you don’t then you’ll be branded as lazy and worthless- and perhaps rightly so.

React

Of course, things don’t always go to plan, both in nature and in our civilized world. A plan you refined and tweaked may all go down the pan for reasons beyond your control. So again, the basic instincts, in particular reacting to changes in your environment or predicament are crucial. Change tactics or try much harder when things start circling the drain.

The only alternative is giving up which means you’d have been better off never starting the whole operation, plan or endeavour.

Fly as a Pack

Historians have proved that humans have always been pack animals. While we may have changed slightly, David is often keen to note that the animal kingdom is still very much so ‘pack’ orientated.

Take birds for example. When they’re migrating, most species will fly together for multiple reasons.

1. For security. By all flying together they ward of bigger vultures who may want lunch.

2. For help. They fly in a diamond formation and constantly alternate their positions so that each bird is given a turn flying at the head of the pack. He will then be responsible for creating a slip stream to make flying for the other birds easier.

3. For compassion and friendship. If one bird gets sick or injured and is forced to drop out of the pack, at the very least, another two will drop out with it to provide protection and care while it’s recuperating and so it can benefit from flying in formation and complete the journey.

In work, relationships and pretty much any challenge we all need these things from our fellow humans. Being a lone-ranger is no fun. Form relationships be they through an online forum asking for help with your blog or in real life.

Take what you need, and no more.

You never hear of an animal harvesting all of the recourses an area has to offer only to leave its comrades to die. Animals understand the life cycle (perhaps better than us humans). So in my personal finance I always spend what I need and that’s that. I also only take on work I enjoy (or at least from now on, see my previous article on the subject) and need. There’s no point in being greedy when redesigning your lifestyle because others won’t appreciate it. And we need others, remember the whole ‘pack’ discussion above?

As of late, I’ve started to let a few things slide in the work department. Not on paper. On paper I’m doing rather well. But I’m young, somewhat financially secure and have no family to care for so numbers only really bother me to a certain extent. I’ve let things slip by doing work I don’t want to do.

I used to only do big jobs that allowed me to write one big article at a time. Give it my all and be proud of what I had created when all was said and done. I still do that on sites such as MakeUseOf. But I also started doing plenty of measly little articles which I don’t particularly care for. In fact, I’ve grown to despise them for their lack of meaning. When I look at my daily to-do list and see them I just want to close my laptop and give up. I’m sure everyone has chores or work which they wish they never got themselves stuck with.

So I’ve decided that it’s about time to cut away the excess fat. It’s holding me back and I hate it. I’m going to slowly start trimming off the work I don’t like by either outsourcing or just getting rid of it altogether. That way, I can start looking for more work which I’ll actually enjoy.

Now is definitely a good time for this. Why? Because it’s at the year’s end. Normally the prospect of letting work go in the run up to Christmas would be deemed insane but because I get paid monthly, November’s pay check will see me through the holidays and into the new year. Hopefully.

I’ve come up with a three stage plan to get rid of my boring work. I’m sure many of you may find them useful in getting rid of web work you dislike yourself or in just re-adjusting something in your life you know could be a lot better suited to you.

Start Cutting

As I said above, I’ll start trimming it all away. Because my situation involves work contracts I’ll have to do so slowly to allow for the next step to ease its way in. If whatever is troubling you is in a position to be simply sliced off, then by all means do so.

Fill the Void

Basic psychology dictates that when you cut something out of your life, be it work, a bad habit or relationship, you have to fill the void. That big gaping hole where it used to be acts like a vacuum and sucks you right back into your old ways. That’s why any expert helping people to quit smoking or loose weight will recommend starting a new habit or hobby to fill the void. Cold-turkey just doesn’t work.

Take Stock and Adjust

When things start picking up it’s always best to then step-back, look at what you’ve accomplished and re-visit your starting vision. Are you there yet? If not keep pushing. Otherwise all of your efforts would have been in vain. I’ll keep pushing too. To find better, more fulfilling work and to make sure I’m happy doing it.

For every habit you shake or area in your life your redesign, you become happier and more fulfilled. There are few excuses for not, at the very least, trying to change some things. New Year’s resolutions will have to be dreamt up soon, so what are you most unhappy about on a day-to-day basis? And what are you going to do to change it?

Update: I woke up this morning feeling down and realized that now was the time to start following my own advice and act on my plans. I started trimming away the work which I didn’t like and already I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I now have the time to fill the void.