Category Archives: Productivity

Thank you, Walter White


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breaking badFor the past month or so, I’ve been addicted to perhaps one of the best television dramas ever created: Breaking Bad. I’ve read about the show’s well-deserved high praises since it started a couple of years ago but I never bought into the hype. In case you don’t know about the premise or maybe you’ve never even heard about the show, it’s about a borish, middle-aged high school chemistry teacher, Walter White (played perfectly by Bryan Cranston who played the dad in Malcolm in the Middle), who after learning he has lung cancer turns to a life of crime by cooking meth in order to help support his family and pay for his very expensive cancer treatment. I finally cracked and decided to watch the first episode to see what it’s like. Since then, I’ve watched the first two seasons in a matter of a week!

It was mid-way through the first season when I began to realize how similar this blog was to Walter White. Both were going through their boring, routine lives when a life-changing situation forced them to go down a different path in life. Overly dramatic comparison for a blog, I know. But it is true nevertheless.

Like Walter White, I decided to take MAT down a different path. One which I am more comfortable with. Being a writer, MAT will be more about my writing career and work. I felt a sense of relief after making this decision. While I do enjoy writing about personal development, goal setting and such, it felt like I was banging my head against the wall. I was banging out what I thought were pretty good articles yet they were not getting the visits I felt they warranted.

So instead of continuing down that path, watching Breaking Bad showed me there was a choice. So thank you, Walter White, for being the inspiration behind this new and better direction. One which I assume will not put me in the position of being stuck in some isolated shack with a crazed drug lord who is prone to bloody violence when high on meth.

By the way, you owe it to yourself to watching Breaking Bad. Who knows what it may change in your life.

Why You Need To Keep A Work Journal


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Keeping a personal journal or a diary has been a staple of some people’s lives. They are a great way to not only chronicle your life but they can also be a great way to measure how you have grown and (hopefully) changed as a person. So why not keep a journal about your professional life or business?

For the past couple of years, I`ve been keeping track of my daily work in a work journal. My “work journal” is nothing more than a Word document which I keep open throughout the day for easy access. I use it to write down when I complete a task or come up with an idea or anything else which I feel relates to my professional life.

Get Your FREE Dreamsheet Download!


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follow you dreams by using a dream sheet!Back in March, I wrote an article on how you should create a Dream Sheet which is a sheet where you can write down your Personal, Financial, Thing, and Career goals. I’ve had quite a number of emails regarding that article which I truly appreciate.

Some of those emails asked if there was a blank Dream Sheet they could download for their own personal use. So due to popular request, you can now download a PDF version of Dream Sheet for your own personal usage.

Many thanks for the emails and I hope the Dream Sheet helps you like it has me. Enjoy!

Four Ways To Save Time Emailing


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four ways to save time emailingWith the growing prominence of technology and demands put on us from our business, family, and everything in between, time is becoming a precious commodity.

This is why I am always looking for ways to save time regardless of what I am doing- this includes the work I do online. There are plenty of things you can do online which will absolutely eat up your time if you let it. This could be looking for old friends and family on Facebook, checking out who is on Twitter, replying and writing emails, and so on.

This is the basis of a short series of articles where I will go over some online apps and sites you could begin using to help you become more efficient with your online time so that you have more time for other activities. I’ll begin with what is probably the biggest online time eater: email.

Five Blogs You Should Be Reading NOW!


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Everyone has their favorite blogs they read on a regular basis and I am no different. Here are five blogs which I read religiously. All five are inspirational, educational, and offer great value whether you are looking to take your life to the next level or maybe wanting to learn more about internet marketing and blogging or how to get started with passive income. Enjoy!

The Smart Passive Income Blog

Pat Flynn is the man behind The Smart Passive Income Blog and he’s accomplished a lot in a short amount of time compared to other pro bloggers. Besides being a likable guy (his blog is very personable, making him appear very authentic), he offers a lot of advice and value to anyone wanting to learn how to begin generating passive income.

Manage Your Time With Batch Processing


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batch processingOne goal I have for myself is one I have wrestled with for a couple of years now- time management. I think it is safe to say I am not the only one looking for a more efficient and easy way to manage my time so that I get the most of it. Because let’s face it, the one thing everyone in this world has in common is time. I truly believe that one of the keys to being happy and producing the results you want is effective time management.

In the past, the way I would organize my work schedule is to have a sheet of paper with each day of the week sectioned off in its own box. Each box would have the day of the week written at the top with a list of tasks I wanted to accomplish for that day underneath it. As I worked through the day, I would be multitasking to try and check off each task I had for that day. Some days I would get everything done but there were more days where I would get almost everything done. Which meant I had to find time later in the week to get caught up.

I’m not going to say this is either a bad or good way to manage one’s time. It has helped me keep things straight in regards to the work I needed to get done for a certain day. One of the problems with managing my time this way is work not getting done due to one thing or another on a certain day. For example, say I have seven assorted tasks to get done today which apply to four projects / businesses. If I’m either sick or have to be away from my office unexpectedly, then not only do those tasks not get done but I now have to find time to do them at some later time! Not a good situation to be in when you have deadlines or have a lot to do already.

My Review of HubPages


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This entry is part 1 of 1 in the series Steps To My Dreamlife

hubpages profile

This is the first part of the Steps Towards My Dreamlife series where I talk about steps I am taking as I work my way towards my dream life. As I talked about in this article, My Six Month Goals: March 2010 – August 2010, one of my goals is to make a living as a writer. Between that post and today, I have been actively pursuing some freelance writing gigs in addition to trying out some content-driven web sites which people can write for. Some of these content-driven sites include Suite 101 and Experts123. The reason I’m test driving some of these sites is twofold: one is to build my resume, and the second is to make some income in the process. Also, writing for these kind of sites is a great way to build backlinks back to your own blog or web site.

Your Accomplishments As A Source Of Inspiration


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Everyone has times when they feel discouraged or perhaps question themselves and/or their decisions. When you face times like this, it is hard to get your head out of that negative space or feel like a failure when you are not.

While it is hard to get yourself out of this rut sometimes, one trick I use which helps change my negative attitude and thoughts is to go over my list of accomplishments.


What Is A List of Accomplishments?

A list of accomplishments is simply that: a list of accomplishments or goals you have achieved in your life. These don’t have to be major or life changing accomplishments but they do have to be significant to you.

Three Tips To Help You Be More Productive


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be_more_productiveI love hearing what people do to be more productive or how they structure their typical work day- especially people who work in career fields I am interested in. I just find that kind of information inspiring.

Throughout the years, I’ve tried different methods with the hope of increasing my productivity. Some were good; some were crap. Below are a couple of productivity tips which I use on a regular basis that help me produce the results I want. Maybe they will do the same for you as well!

Online Applications Which Help You Be More Productive


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gmail-logo1If you use the internet on a consistent basis for personal use or for work like I do, then you probably have a toolbox of online applications you depend on to make your job easier and to save time. Here are some I use on regular basis which you may want to check out. And the best part is they are all free!

Gmail (http://www.google.com): Before discovering Google’s Gmail, I was dependent on Microsoft’s Outlook for my email needs. But not anymore. With its intuitive interface, accessibility from anywhere, and multitude of features, why use anything but Gmail for your email client? Seriously?