This is the First in a Series of Articles on Goal Setting

by Make The Days Count Contributor Philip Wood

Back in Chicago for my first winter in nearly twenty years, I’m faced with the harsh reality that I am about to abandon one of my oldest goals.  Shortly after leaving the City all those years ago, I vowed never to own a winter coat again.  I woke this morning to a temperature of 8 degrees.  Although I considered the notion inviting, hibernation does not appear to be a realistic option.

I’ll have to buy a coat today.

Thankfully, the mild weather held longer this year than most.  I am grateful that I have been able to stall the inevitable parka purchase.  I’m grateful as well that my youthful boast stood for as long as it did.  As the weather changes and snow begins to pile up, my snow gear stall reminds that it’s the time of year for procrastination.  In a few short weeks, 2008 will become 2009 and many of us will make New Year’s resolutions. Read More »

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 »

Article by Make The Days Count Contributor Ann Wilkinson 

How much time do you spend thinking about the ways your job annoys you?  How much time do you spend listening to friends and family as they grouse in great detail about how much they dislike their work?  We complain and then we envy others who seemingly do “what they love” for their livelihood and wish we could be more like them.

What would it be like to design the kind of job we truly want?  We don’t always have that luxury.  So, it’s up to us to take the framework we have and make it work for us to love what we do on a day-to-day basis. 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 by Make The Days Count Contributor Chris Bennett

Somewhere between Indianapolis and St. Louis on a chilly autumn day a few years back, I received a gift for my family that would unknowingly change all of our lives for the better.  This gift came in the form of a little fur ball that could barely see past the top of the grass.  She was shivering so bad she could barely bark.  It was more like chirp, almost like a chipmunk.  Her eyes made it clear though, she wanted to live.  Who was I to say no? Read More »