Article by Leo Babauta of Zen Habits

For years, books and articles and blogs on productivity have been showing us how to be more productive: crank out the tasks, multi-task, work faster, be organized.  In short, they’ve taught us to be a good part of a corporation that wants more out of us.  But that’s old-school productivity, or Productivity 1.0.

Today let’s take a look at Productivity 2.0: a new set of rules have changed everything for the workers of the world.  Don’t crank out tasks — learn to work with a deeper focus.  Don’t plan and hold meetings and form committees — just launch the software or product or service and keep improving it.  Don’t spend time organizing — you’ve got more important things to worry about. Read More »

Nine Essential Guidelines as We Face Change and for Living Our Day-to-Day Lives

Article by Make The Days Count Contributor Judy Mosley

Every year, I plant sunflowers by the side of our house.  As I leaf through the seed packets, I always fall for the 12 ft. variety, the kind that stands like sentinels as I enter my driveway.  Each year, I plant about 20-25 and check daily to see the progress.

But every year, there is a period when I don’t know what to do.  It’s like an in-between time for me as well as the plants.  I can’t see their growth.  Every day, I walk over and check for sprouts and for a time, see no evidence that I planted anything at all. Then the worry starts. Read More »

Article and Photograph by Make The Days Count Contributor Ann Wilkinson

What do you conjure up in your mind when you think of the word “creativity”?  Do you think of an artist wielding a paintbrush or a charcoal pencil?  Do you think of an actor on stage interpreting her lines?  Do you think of a master musician creating a complex piece of music?  Do you ever picture yourself in any of these scenes of creativity? 

You are a creative person by nature.  We all are.  Perhaps you have let this aspect of yourself go with your busy day-to-day life of work, bills, commuting, children and their priorities.  But have you considered that you can continue to explore your creative side, even in the midst of the day-to-day?  And, if you can add little bits of creativity to your daily routine, you may find that you become increasingly creative and gradually more satisfied with your life. Read More »

Article by Make The Days Count Contributor Derrick Torrens

Hormones raging and hairs sprouting, it gives off that Wild Kingdom vibe.  It’s primal, it’s territorial, and it might even be human.  It’s a teenager.  

So many of us treat our dealings with teens as if you are an explorer landing on a distant world.  Phasers on stun we don’t know if they are lethal.  How soon we forget what people must have thought looking at us.  Some of us are still getting looked at like that, HELLO. 

Say hi to seven long years of looking at someone and truly not understanding him or her.  That reminds me of my love life, but I digress.  Saying things like “in my time” (what is “my time”) or “today’s kids” (how long does “today” last) isn’t bringing you any closer to the truth that you already know.  We were all and are all going through the same trials and tribulations. Read More »

Article by Make The Days Count Contributor Chris Bennett

Editor’s Note: It the difficult times we are facing with financial and job crises, the need for volunteers in every community is growing.  We are tempted to focus on ourselves because of the fear and uncertainty seemingly in the news every day.  It is our hope that after reading this article you will see that volunteering not only helps others, but it helps each of us.  Approaching volunteering with gratitude will leave each of us feeling better and greedy for more of this feeling every day.

Even to most amiable of people, mental ruts seem to find their way to the forefront of any given personality.  Signs of such an impersonal emotion are strong amounts of irritability and discontentment mixed with downright ill tempered attitudes.  These traits more than likely do not represent who you are, hence the term ruts.  

For me, mental ruts are extremely frustrating because I am consistently on the go and my life moves very fast.  So I ask … how is it possible to not only find a simplistic way of relieving that unwanted crabbiness but also find a way to channel that off-putting energy to good use? Read More »