Simple Life Together

So, if you’re anything like us you want to live the life of your dreams, right? Well the life of your dreams is different for everyone, but the one common thing is that we all need to set up some mileposts to guide us along the way.

Maybe you’ve heard the saying that ‘A goal without a plan is a dream’. So, maybe live the life of your dreams should really be ‘Planning your life to meet your life goals!’ Naw…that doesn’t sound nearly as good. But sometimes it’s better to face reality and not sugar coat things. Whatever terms you want to use…life plan, desired end state, retirement plan…they are all planning terms to living they way we want to live. Continue reading…

We totally buy into the thinking that you can live the life of your dreams. It’s really not a dream at all, but an attainable goal that needs to be planned for, and the plan needs to be flexible and well executed. The foundation of our plan is what we call our 5 Pillars. When we first started the show, and on a few episodes along the way, we talked about the 5 pillars that guide us on our journey and give us focus for our decision making. Here they are:

The 5 Pillars That Guide Us

Since nothing is set in stone and we like to keep our journey under continuous review, we often challenge ourselves and even question ourselves to make sure we’re on track. Those reviews have been pivotal to us, and make sure we keep stretching our simplicity muscles on a regular basis. That’s why we’re doing Courtney Carver’s Dress For Less and Project 333. That’s also why we like to do an occasional digital fast, and that’s exactly why we’ve changed our 5th Pillar from focusing on “Future” to focusing on “Freedom.” Having Freedom as one of our five pillars gives us the lens to view and evaluate things we let into our lives to ensure they really do make it simpler. That “thing” we purchase today will have ramifications tomorrow, so we strive to make sure it fits our long-term goals. That commitment we reluctantly make today, or make in haste, can also keep us from doing what we want down the road. Taking the time to establish your pillars and deliberately making decisions based on them can keep you on the path for your simple journey.

Here’s Why We Changed From ‘Future’ to ‘Freedom’:

One of the best books I’ve read in the past few years, and then bought the audiobook as well, is The Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco. Now, don’t be fooled by the title! It totally sounds like a cheesy “get rich quick” book, but honestly it’s anything but. I would recommend it to anyone who’s thinking about their financial future, setting up a side gig, or even just while considering how your finances affect how you want to live your life. All of this directly impacts your ability to live the life of your dreams.

Essentially, MJ describes three different paths that most people follow regarding money:

“Time is the most important asset I have, far exceeding money” and 

“The more I help, the richer I become in time, money, and personal fulfillment.”

Excerpts From: MJ DeMarco. “The Millionaire Fastlane.”

There is much, much more to his theories than that and I’m WAY oversimplifying it, but MY point is more focused on his explanation of ‘Freedom’. You know, I had read through his passages in the book a couple of times and understood them, but they really didn’t sink in…I didn’t internalize them. That was my fault, not his. But finally one day as I was walking along some paths in the woods at this park near our house, I was listening to the audio version of The Millionaire Fastlane again and that’s when what he was saying really sunk in. The lightbulb finally turned on. The concept itself wasn’t a new “revelation” for me…matter of fact it fit right in with the way we were already thinking…but I realized that the way I had thought of our ‘Future’ pillar, really translated into ‘Freedom’. The more I thought about it, the more Freedom stood out as what we were really searching for. “Future” seemed to be too nebulous for me now. Something that you always work toward and never achieve. But Freedom, as we defined it, was something tangible, within reach and something we could measure. So here’s the passage that finally broke through to me:”

“And finally, wealth is freedom and choice: freedom to live how you want to live, what, when, and where. Freedom from bosses, alarm clocks, and the pressures of money. Freedom to passionately pursue dreams. Freedom to raise your children as you see fit. And freedom from the drudgery of doing things you hate. Freedom is the liberty to live your life as you please.”

And there it was…our new 5th Pillar! So, as I thought more of Freedom I broadly thought of it in two categories: Freedom From and Freedom To. So we decided to put pen to paper…or actually fingertips to keyboards…and list out some of our Freedom Froms and Freedom Tos.

Freedom From:

Freedom To:

Now, these are some of our Freedoms. Yours may and should be different. But there’s certainly value in sitting down and writing them out.

Freedom Traps

But we feel like we owe you a warning. There are some “Freedom Traps” out there too. Some things dangle perceived freedom in front of you but, when abused, they become “freedom traps.”

Unfortunately, it’s so easy to fall into these traps. You know, these traps aren’t labeled ‘TRAP.” The traps we face are cleverly disguised as the shiny new boat that’s on sale, has low monthly payments, and promises of freedom on the lake or high seas with friends and family. It’s the credit card commercials we’re inundated with, especially now, leading up to the Holidays, that promise joy, status, good cheer and love from those you buy things for.

We all face these traps. One trap we avoided was that huge Class A motorhome that we had picked out that was priced at just what we paid for our current home. It was big and shiny, had tons of storage for ‘stuff that’s supposed  makes us happy’, and five (yes 5!), flat screen TVs. Of course it also promised to give us a life at one with nature (that’s nature with 5 flat screen TVs) but with all the conveniences of home (more actually). All this as we traveled across the country in style!

Thankfully, we avoided that trap and opted for our tiny teardrop trailer, where we actually do get to enjoy our great country, live closer to nature, have all the conveniences we need to sleep and eat but without the fluff. Plus, we saved for it and paid cash. That’s freedom!

For us, having Freedom as one of our five pillars gives us the lens to view and evaluate things we let into our lives to ensure they really do make it simpler. Like I said earlier, that thing we purchase today will have ramifications tomorrow, so we strive to make sure it fits our long-term goals. Taking the time to establish your pillars and deliberately making decisions based on them can keep you on path for your simple journey and have a much stronger shot at living the life of your dreams! Take some time and read the reviews of MJ’s The Millionaire Fastlane on Amazon and you’ll see that I’m not the only one who thinks so highly of it. I’m sure you’ll love it to!

So, have you taken time to think about & plan to live the life of your dreams? How have you fallen into “freedom traps” before and what do you do to avoid them now? We’re also curious to hear…what are your Freedom Tos and Freedom Froms? Let us know in the comments at SimpleLifeTogether.com/049, or reply to someone else’s comments too!

Dan’s Thing:  Belkin Mini Surge Protector with Dual USB Ports

Vanessa’s Thing: Courtney Carver’s Dress With Less Less and Project 333

2013 Podcast Awards:

Simple Life Together Meetup in D.C. Only a few seats left!!!

You can download a PDF of our show prep, too.

The Millionaire Fastlane by M.J. DeMarco

Project 333 and Dress With Less

PodcastAwards.com

Belkin Mini Surge Protector with Dual USB Ports

As always, you can help support SimpleLifeTogether.com by using our Amazon Affiliate Link for any purchases you must make. Thanks!

If you haven’t already, please be sure to go to iTunes to subscribe to the show. Don’t forget to leave us a rating & review! Thanks!

Photo Credit: Modified Photo from dennisbehm

Let’s face reality…we all have To Do lists.  And while they seem to be never ending at times, To Do Lists can be a good thing. It kinda means we’re still alive! If you don’t have any in your life, then you’re probably dead! So, knowing that we’ll always have To Dos, maybe we should have a plan for how to keep track of them and get them done! 

So what’s the best To Do list? Well, the best To Do lists are the ones that works for you! Whether you prefer an analog or digital solution…anywhere on the spectrum of tying a string around your finger, pencil and paper, or the latest To Do app…figure out the tool or tools that work best for you and stick with it/them. Continue reading…

If you’re not sure which tools work best for you, don’t worry. Just take some time to think about, research and maybe even test a few tools for yourself before committing to one…or a TON of To Do list management tools. But before you get started, there are some things you should know or consider.

To Do Lists in Four Simple Steps

We have lots of different types of To Dos: personal, professional, work, projects, etc. But no matter what type of To Do you have, there are four simple steps you have to focus on to get your tasks or To Dos done: CAPTURE them, CONTAIN them, ASSIGN a date and EXECUTE!

1. CAPTURE your To Dos. There are different ways you can do this (you may need to use several ways to capture your To Dos):

2. CONTAIN your To Dos. This is WHERE your To Dos are kept. One of the best things you can do to manage your To Dos is to capture them in ONE PLACE!

Note: Containing your To Dos usually requires some sort of a routine, like an end of work routine before closing up shop or a nightly routine at home where you gather all of your To Dos and put them in the proper “container.”

3. ASSIGN a date and time to get them done!

4. EXECUTE your To Dos. Putting them on the calendar doesn’t guarantee they’re going to get done but you can use control measures to get help get them done like:

We all have To Do lists and it can get pretty overwhelming trying to manage all of the myriad tasks associated with them.  But if you keep it simple and take a different approach to how you manage your To Dos by Capturing them, Containing them, Assigning a time to get them done and then actually Executing those To Dos, then maybe it won’t be so overwhelming and you’ll start feeling a little more like you’re accomplishing those tasks instead of falling too far behind.

What types of To Do lists or apps do you use that have helped you simplify your life?  Please let us know and share your ideas and thoughts with us in the comment section below. We’d love to hear from you!

We had  the pleasure of interviewing Erik Fisher of Beyond the To List.  He has an incredibly popular podcast dedicated to productivity and making things in your life easier.

If you’re looking for a virtual assistant, Meredith Jones of Elms Marketing did an amazing job for us! She’s offered a free 30-minute consultation to just for SLT listeners and a 25% discount on VA services. Contact her at [email protected]

2013 Podcast Awards:

Simple Life Together Meetup in D.C.

You can download a PDF of our show prep, too.

Erik’s Book Beyond The To Do List: Goals

Erik’s Podcast: Beyond The To Do List

Beyond The To Do List Website

Podcast Answerman Podcast

GTD by David Allen: Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

Elms marketing VA Services

As always, you can help support SimpleLifeTogether.com by using our Amazon Affiliate Link for any purchases you must make. Thanks!

If you haven’t already, please be sure to go to iTunes to subscribe to the show. Don’t forget to leave us a rating & review! Thanks!

Photo Credit: Courtney Dirks

Is it time to simplify your wardrobe? Think about it, what is it that dictates how big your wardrobe is or how many clothes you have? Is it fashion and changing trends? Is it utility? Is it the weather or the climate? Is it an expectation of society or your social circle? Is it the activities that you do that necessitate what you wear? Or is it simply the size of your container…be it an overnight bag or walk-in closet? The answer to all of these is probably YES! That’s the thing about clothes, we all wear different things for different reasons.

But, sometimes it’s like cable TV…500 channels and nothing on, right? You go into your huge walk-in closet and you can’t find a thing to wear! So what’s the real problem? Is it analysis paralysis…just too many decisions? Well, let’s dive into that. Read more…

We all have different reasons for what we wear and how big our wardrobe is. It’s a pretty personal thing and each of us is unique, but maybe it is time to simplify your wardrobe a bit? Our ancestors certainly lived with a whole lot less than we do…and there are those who choose to minimize what they keep in their clothes closets. We decided to ask ourselves some very pointed questions about what we wear and why, and some others questions to see if there was an opportunity to edit our closets and drawers to a point that feels more like “enough” and less like “too much.”

Question: So what things shape your current wardrobe?

Question: So what does your wardrobe look like now?

Question: What would your ideal wardrobe look like?

Question: What are some of your favorite pieces and why?

Reflection, personal takeaways, and things we learned:

So…recognizing all of these things, we’ve decided to take a look at Courtney Carver’s Project 333. Basically it’s a project that challenges you to pick just 33 things…and only 33 things to wear for 3 months. She also has a microcourse called Dress With Less that goes along with Project 333.

So here’s a little bit more on how it works:

Courtney goes on to explain that this isn’t meant to be a project in suffering. If clothes don’t fit, or are in poor condition…replace them!

We’re definitely doing it! We were going to make our own plan, but we’ve heard so many great things about Courtney’s Dress For Less microcourse that I figured, “Why reinvent the wheel?” Heck, it’s only $15 and honestly, we’d spend way more in time trying to figure out how we were gonna do this! So, we’re going with Courtney’s course!  If you’re looking to simplify your wardrobe, consider joining us too!

We all have different reasons for what we wear and the size of our wardrobe. It’s personal and each of us is unique. Only you can decide what’s right for you, but maybe doing some experimenting once in a while will let you see how much you truly need or want to keep.

For us, we think we’re best served when we base our wardrobe on how we want to live, how to best portray who we are and the image we want to project. The more authentic that is, the smaller our wardrobe needs to be. Regardless of the size of the container, we’re trying not confuse needs with wants and we’re shooting to live with just enough. And for us, living with “just enough” is a perfect way to help make our lives simpler.

So, maybe it’s time to take a second look at your wardrobe to see what’s right for you? If you decide to makes some changes, we’d love to hear about them. Please feel free to share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

Dan’s Thing: Getting back to basics and spending some time riding horseback around the Silver Spur Ranch in the Texas Hill Country

Vanessa’s Thing: Same thing (pun intended)! Making new memories horseback riding too, and enjoying the benefits of paying for access versus ownership.

A HUGE thank you for all of you who nominated us for the Podcast Awards! Amazingly, Simple Life Together is a finalist in the Education category and also the coveted People’s Choice category. So, we’re up against 9 other shows in each category, but as Vanessa said there were over 4400 shows competing and we made the final cut. We really feel like we’ve already won.

So here’s how the shows were graded to make the finals:

So what happens next?

Thanks again soooo much! SLT listeners rock!

You can download a PDF of our show prep, too.

As always, you can help support SimpleLifeTogether.com by using our Amazon Affiliate Link for any purchases you must make. Thanks!

Courtney Carver’s Dress With Less and Project 333

Dan’s Ranger Panties 😉

Ibex Merino Wool Clothing

Icebreaker Merino Wool Clothing

If you haven’t already, please be sure to go to iTunes to subscribe to the show. Don’t forget to leave us a rating & review! Thanks!

Today… we’re going completely random on you! We have a bunch of short, unrelated topics that have been simmering for a while or just been on our minds and we figured it was time to put them out there. So we figured that maybe a few short bursts of ideas or tips might be helpful. A lot of these things we’ve been wanting to discuss but they aren’t something that would fill our usual topic segment length. But, we still wanted to get them out there. So, Vanessa suggested “Let’s do a completely random show and call it The Random Show!” Uh, OK…why not!

Well, the cool thing for you is you get a bunch of random tips…all solid in their own right, but boiled down into a few simple points! It’s like a pot luck dinner! Read more…

Dan: 

It’s not the tools, it’s the work: Every once in a while I have to remind myself of a lesson I first learned long ago from my older brother, Kevin.

Take Away: Next time you go to buy that new tool, that fancy new laptop, download that next app that will supposedly solves all your problems…consider whether or not you need a new tool, or just need to master something you already have.

It’s natural to nest…yes, even for guys. But it can easily get out of hand and then it’s time to draw the line. Eventually, it’s time to simplify.

Don’t let fear or pride get in the way when you need clarification.

Take Away:  So, if you find yourself not having as much of a clue as you think you’re supposed to have about a subject, try my “Talk to me like I’m 3” technique and I’ll bet it’ll work for you, too!

My last one is this: Given the option, I choose reductivity over productivity

It makes no sense to organize the deck chairs on the Titanic. That ship is going down!

Another aspect of reductivity for me is to identify the most important tasks first. For example:

Take Away: So, once again, take some time to figure out what the most important or core tasks are for your big rocks. When you can, take care of those first!

Vanessa:

Can we change? I’m sure you’ve either heard the saying or maybe even said it yourself that: “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks?”

Take Away: If and when you want to change, you need to:

Beware of the Easy Button! This may be why there isn’t a whole lot of change going on!

I used to think that hitting the easy button was the smart thing to do….like knocking out tasks with little effort…or outsourcing things I didn’t want to do myself.  But come to find out, the real reason I was hitting the easy button was because I wasn’t managing my time well or keeping my priorities in check.

But the easy button is so tempting….heck, that’s what consumerism is all about…how to make your life easy right!

We’re so easily drawn to things that are easy…or promise to be easy, but in the end it can be a waste or even detrimental to you in the long run. Some random ‘easy button” scenarios I thought of were:

Take Away: Now, there are certainly times when it’s ok to hit the easy button, like hiring a cleaning service or  lawn service, or using online banking and deposit mobile to save you a trip to the bank.  Some things really do make life a little easier and it’s usually because the cost pays in the time you can devote to something else. So that’s why I say...we all just need to BEWARE of the Easy Button and be deliberate when we use it!

What An Organized Person Is…or Isn’t:

Take Away: My point here is that being organized is definitely great, but that we should have a realistic idea and appreciation of what being organized is.  It’s not perfection, it’s not always easy, and it’s not the answer to everything, but it can be greatly beneficial to helping you live a simpler life.

So, what random tips do have to share as you contemplate life? We always love hearing your feedback and ideas.  Please feel free to share your thoughts with us in the comments below.

Dan’s Thing: Enjoying my kids realizing the benefit of their hard work! Sunshine rode her bike without training wheels for the first time, and The Boy and his high school marching band kicked butt in a statewide competition. One on the judges was absolutely blown away! You can hear his excitement on this audio clip. I’m so proud of those kids!

Vanessa’s Thing: Looks can be deceiving! We found a new diner/dive just 1 mile from the house. It looks a little sketchy from the outside, but the chow was great!

None this week!

You can download a PDF of our show prep, too.

As always, you can help support SimpleLifeTogether.com by using our Amazon Affiliate Link for any purchases you must make. Thanks!

Photo Courtesy of dullhunk

If you haven’t already, please be sure to go to iTunes to subscribe to the show. Don’t forget to leave us a rating & review! Thanks!

What are your most important things? We talk a lot about getting rid of “stuff” on the show, and in our lives that’s what we’ve tried to do. We’ve gotten rid of just about 3000 things this year alone and have a couple hundred people who’ve joined in on it by accepting the Edit & Forget It Challenge.  While we have opted out of following the mass consumerism that most in our society hold dear, there are still some things we ourselves hold dear. We created a scenario: “What 5 things would you grab if your house was on fire?” and then put ourselves to the test to figure out what possessions, out of our entire home, are the most important to us.

As we went through this exercise it really challenged us and realized that by spending some time thinking about your most important things…those top 5 things that you would grab out of your burning home, it greases your mental gears to:

Identify the your most important things. Things that mean the most to you and why.

Contemplate whether you’re giving those things the attention they deserve day to day.

Identify ways to keep those things safe now and ready to carry out if necessary.

Condition yourself to more easily part with things that didn’t make the list.

Get you thinking about being prepared in case of an emergency.

Read more…

Your House Is On Fire, You Can Save 5 Things…What Are They?

The first time Dan thought about this was over 10 years ago when a colleague of his lost all her possessions when her apartment caught fire. She was devastated when she got the news and came home to find everything gone.

He’s been saying for a while now that we need to sit down and talk about what we’d do in an emergency. What would we take with us if we had the opportunity? What are our most important things?

In the military we use lots of different techniques to teach lessons….like Attention to Detail…a skill that could be transferred and applied to other things. We also talk about planning. To use our own corollary to Dwight Eisenhower’s quote: “Plans are worthless, planning is priceless.” It’s in going through the exercise thoughtfully that will give you the most value. The Plan isn’t as important as the ability to narrow down what’s important to you and why. That is priceless, and something we should do on a continual basis.

Sure, the exercise was all about discerning those 5 things that are really important to us, but the real benefit of the exercise comes from following the natural course of things and asking some follow on questions like:

Conducting the Exercise:

Our Top 5 things in reverse order…just in case you’re interested:

(Note: for a detailed explanation of why we picked these items, feel free to listen in on the podcast)

Our own observations:

So, are you ready to conduct this exercise and figure out what your most important things are? Would you be able to grab them and leave safely in an emergency? After making your list are you better prepared to let go of things that didn’t make your list? We’d love to hear what works for you.  You can leave comments below.

Dan’s Thing: Some of Apple’s iOS7 update for iPhone…especially the Audible App. The new iOS lets you still control many functions of the audio player in the Audible App even after the screen has locked and that when using the multitask function. Also, the ability to simply swipe upwards from the bottom of the screen to reveal the player’s controls is pretty cool!

Vanessa’s Thing: Bose Soundlink Mini: It’s only 7″w x 2″h x 2″d, is portable, versatile, bluetooth enabled, lasts for hours on its battery, and has beautiful sound.  It’s not cheap but was a cheaper substitute for what we were going to have installed in our teardrop camper.

You can download a PDF of our show prep, too.

SLT 003: Digital Back-Up

SLT 016: Making Decisions Like a Fighter Pilot (OODA Loop)

SLT 017/018: Evernote Simplified Part 1 and Part 2

SLT: 027 Organizing Important Documents

Bose Soundlink Mini

Photo Courtesy of Kevin Gebhardt

Way back in Episode 10, we’ve talked  a little about communication and how it can make your life simpler….that is if it’s effective communication. Ineffective communication on the other hand can can make your life a lot more complicated and often leads to confusion, stress, resentment, anger and even some dangerous situations. That’s why simple communication is essential at work, at home and apparently in the prison/corrections field (see clip below).

But, you don’t have to be in a high-stress, dangerous job to tap into all the benefits of simple communication. Matter of fact, you might be causing some stressful situations yourself. Have you ever tried to replay a conversation in your head or share it with someone else only to fumble through it because you couldn’t remember the details or what was said?  Or have you said “yes dear” or “sure”, or uh-uh” after your significant other asked you to do something but you didn’t hear a word they said because you were thumbing through your Facebook feed?  Read more…

Or have you had your spouse raise an eyebrow with that “are you kidding me look…because this is the 10th time I told you”?  I’m sure you can relate.

What about if you are the one that wants to be heard?  Have you ever felt like no one is really listening to you?  It seems like people are either so self-absorbed and busy with themselves, or too distracted by all the buzz going on around them  and in their head that they’ve forgotten to be present and listen.

“What We Got Here…Is A Failure to Communicate!” How To Become A Better Listener

We spend close to 50% of our time listening, but there are A LOT of barriers to effective communication. Part of the reason we have so many barriers to effective communication is because of a lack of understanding of:

WHAT listening actually is:

WHY being a good listener is important:

It’s how we cooperate and get things done…as humans!

It’s how we build a better understanding of problems that we face as individuals or members of a team or as a family.

Helps us to be more productive…and not waste time figuring things out or having to re-explain things.

Helps us to have better interpersonal relationships…by showing genuine concern for those who are trying to communicate with you.

Helps us gain knowledge which in turn can help us influence, persuade or negotiate with others on things that we are passionate about or believe to be really important matters.

Prevents stress, anxiety, resentment and potentially dangerous situations.

HOW to become a better listener:

Note:  These 10 examples are directly from the Jill Geisler’s article. The article is her work, not ours. We simply enjoyed it so much we thought it was worthy of discussion and wanted to pass it along!  Again, you can find it here.

1. The Multi-Tasker – “Sure I’m listening. While I type. While I scan my computer screen. While I take just this one call. While I open this letter and page through these message slips. Now what were you saying?”

2. The Party Animal – “Do I have a minute? Sure. Come on in and tell me what’s on your mind. I know you’ve been trying to get in to see me. Go ahead, shoot. Hey, someone else is at the door. Come on in. We’re just chatting. Always room for one more!”

 3. The Sentence Finisher — “Stop right there, I know exactly where you are going. No need for you to finish that thought, I will. Am I smart, or what? Don’t you appreciate a boss who is this efficient and supportive? Go ahead, tell me – I’ll finish that sentence for you, too.”

 4. The Debater – “Whatever you’re saying, I’ll challenge. I’m only playing devil’s advocate, of course. I might be doing this to help you. But then again, I might not. How do you know? I do this to everyone, all the time. Keeps people on their toes.”

 5. The Ann Landers – “Say no more. Here’s my advice. Take it. You may not have asked for my advice. You might just have wanted me to listen to you and let you vent. You might have wanted to figure things out yourself. But how can I prove I’m a leader if I don’t jump in with a ready answer? You’re welcome.”

 6. The Great Philosopher – “Now, let me tell you what you really mean, but on a much broader, deeper, and meaningful level because it comes from me. I knew all this, by the way, without ever having asked you any follow-up questions about your thoughts or feelings. Why would that be important?”

 7. The Autobiographer — “Ah, the story you just started brings something very important to mind: me. I’ve been there. I’ve done that. I will now tell you all about my experience, since it will be so valuable to you.”

 8. The Clock Watcher – “I’m very good at face-to-face meetings. I look at your face, then the face of my watch, your face, watch face … I also fidget extremely effectively.”

 9. The Speeder – “You want to talk? I’m really busy so can we make it fast? I’m on my way to a meeting. Walk along with me. Can you just send me an e-mail?”

 10. The Dropper – “Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me. I will keep them in mind. Unfortunately, I will forget to follow up with you promptly, or perhaps ever, leaving you wondering if you have dropped off my radar.”

So, how many of these listener types do you know? Better yet, which one of these lousy listeners can you relate to? And what do you think you need to do to start working on to become a better listener? We’d love to hear from you!

Dan’s Thing: Creating our new Sunday routine of making homemade sausage, jerky and dried fruit in our our dehydrator.

Vanessa’s Thing: Simplifying our daughter’s birthday by using a Google Drive Form (that she learned from Dan’s tutorial) and focusing on the experience rather than the stuff by getting our daughter involved in the decorating and not asking for gifts.

Podcast Awards: Please nominate us for the Podcast Awards!

You can download the full PDF of our show prep, too.

Article by Jill Geisler: 10 Lousy Listeners and What We Can Learn From Them

Podcast Awards

Episode 10, Military Communication Techniques

Pomodoro Technique

Leo Babauta’s Focus Manifesto

It can be way too easy to just go along in life and keep your head and eyes straight forward, just plowing ahead. But when we do that we often miss out on the importance of the experience’s life offers us along the way. Wouldn’t it be great if these experiences could make our journey simpler, more enjoyable, easier…and best of all, more fulfilling?

Well, that’s exactly what we want to touch on today. We want to go over some of our recent travel experiences from our summer trip to highlight 3 specific takeaways for us, and hopefully, you too! Specifically, we’d like to share some perspective in 3 areas. How:

Sharing your story is important to help you & others grow

The simple things in life are the most satisfying

Capturing “lessons learned” sparks continuous improvement

Read more…

Hayes Family Adventures and Tapping Into Lessons Learned

When we picked up our  rental camper and before we headed out, we were given specific instructions to share our stories in a journal (a journal that belonged with the rental camper). Specifically, we were not allowed to write about how awesome the camper was.  Instead, we were asked to share our adventures!

As we reflected on our adventures, it got us to thinking about how humans have been telling their stories and experiences for thousands of years and it’s the experiences we have…not the stuff that matters.  And it’s through our experiences…where we learn life lessons.

So…we wrote!  Below are some excerpts of the  journal entries we made on our 3-week camping trip along with some lessons we learned:

1. All Hooked Up And Ready To Go….Or Maybe Not

Lesson: Don’t let a bad situation damper the rest of your plans.

Lesson: It’s all about your attitude.

2. Menacing Mosquitos

Lesson: Little things can make a big impact…but yet again…it’s all about your attitude!

3. Who Brought The Heat?

We left Texas to get away from the heat but then found ourselves stuck in a heat wave in Western New York! The temperatures were no different than in San Antonio, but we were in a new element and still had fun!

Lesson: Same type of  conditions but in a new place = different perspective. Sometimes you just need a new venue to give you a different attitude and perspective.

4. Simple Fun Tubing On The Lake

5. Jellystone and “Help…We’re Surrounded by McMansion RV’s!”

6. Flicks In The Sticks

7. How Not To Fly A Chinese Floating Lantern

We watched a family try to float a lantern only to see it end up in a clump of trees and catch on fire!  It totally derailed their fun.

Lesson: No plan and poor prep = potential for disaster 

8. Kissing a Fish

We spent a day with Dan’s cousin Tim and his family who built their cabin and swimming/fishing pond with their own hands! There was no electricity on the property and no internet…just family and friends splashing in the water, fishing, eating and telling stories. It was good ole family fun!

Lesson: Simple fun and your own piece of heaven can create memories for a lifetime.

9. Four-Wheelin’ with the Amish

We didn’t really four-wheel with the Amish but we did go four-wheeling in a big Amish community!  The kids were excited to see horse-drawn carriages and a lot of men with long beards ;o)

It was really neat to see how simply this community lived and although their lifestyle is very different than mainstream America’s, they are respected and valued in their communities for their hard work and craftsmanship.

10. Taste of Buffalo

Dan and I had a date night but couldn’t decide where to eat.  Instead of getting “analysis paralysis”, we decided to do a food crawl and enjoy some small bites of comfort at each of our favorite food joints.  It was a brilliant idea!

We got to taste a little bit of everything we wanted…and we didn’t overstuff ourselves!

Lesson: Sometimes you don’t have to settle on just one thing…and…”everything in moderation” really is a good rule to live by!

11. What?  We Have To Check Out Today?

Lesson: Sometimes we get something or an idea locked in our heads and get tunnel vision which can cause us to stray from our routines.  Don’t forget your routines.

Lesson: Trust but verify. (In this case, Dan trusted himself instead of his routines….but I should have verified ;o)

12. Rookie Move

Lesson: Remember your routines and run your checklists…or face the wrath of the raccoons!

13. Bear Hugging An Old Friend

Lesson: Don’t discount your past training and experiences as a waste.

14. Podcasting In The Woods

We really wanted to record a podcast while we were on our trip but it seemed like it would be too much effort.  So we faced our challenges and came up with some workarounds. We didn’t have all or our fancy equipment to record and our sound quality wasn’t as great as it normally is, but we were determined to make it work….and it did!

Lesson: Don’t let small obstacles stop you. 

So, what stories can you share that will help others get to know you better? What are some simple things that bring you the most joy in life? And how about Lessons Learned…how do you capture those and use them to help better your life or someone else’s? We’d love to hear what works for you!

Dan’s Thing: Solving our audio hiss that has been bugging him for a while and busting out Occam’s razor to solve the problem.

Vanessa’s Thing: Getting some positive feedback from an audience member on a presentation that focused on priorities, boundaries and routines instead of “stuff.”

Podcast Awards:

You can download the full PDF of our show prep, too.

Podcast Awards

Pico Projector

CampInn Teardrop Camper (Use discount code SIMPLE to save some money on your teardrop)

Downsizing is a word we hear a lot about these days, and I’m surprised at how often it’s talked about in the negative sense versus the positive. If you’re not familiar with the term, typically, we hear “downsizing” being used in one of two contexts: the first is as a business term, used when business are scaling down & people are getting fired or laid off. The second context is the one we’re focusing on today. It’s often when people are facing retirement or decide it’s time to make some lifestyle changes and “scale back” their personal econoomies. Heck, sometimes the business downsizing leads to personal downsizing!

In the end we think you’ll agree that downsizing can be a very positive thing. Armed with some information, downsizing tools, and a plan, you too can benefit from the “upside” of “downsizing.” Read more…

How downsizing is perceived

Reasons to downsize

Some benefits of downsizing

Planning to downsize on your own terms

 Background:

But before we address those 4 things, first let’s look at the starting point…downsizing from what, exactly? Well, most articles about downsizing are home-size centric as opposed to stuff-centric. They focus on going from a big house, to a smaller one. Most articles end there. And home size is certainly relevant. OK, I’m going to throw some numbers at you:

According to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, the average household size (meaning members in the home) in the United States has dropped steadily from 3.67 members in 1940,  to 2.58 in the 2010 census.

The average size of new houses increased from about 1,100 sf (100 m2) through the 1940s & 1950s, to 2505 sf in 2012.

That’s about 290 sf (or 27 sm) per person in 1950

That’s 970 sf (or 90 sm) per person in 2010

Everyone has to figure out for themselves what size space is right for them. I just wanted to put those numbers out there. But I think it more than just the size of the home that matters.  In Episode 4 we mentioned Parkinson’s Law, which states: Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion. You may recall I discussed some corollaries to Parkinson’s Law, one of which is: “Storage requirements will increase to meet storage capacity.” Want that big house because you’ll enjoy the extra space? It’s not likely to last long…it’ll fill up.

 Here’s why we say it’s not likely to be spacious for very long:

Back in Episode 14, we talked about a study conducted by UCLA’s Center on Everyday Lives of Families that focused on how much stuff is in the typical middle-class American home.

They sent a team of professional archaeologists, anthropologists and other social scientists to conduct a systematic study of home life in 32 middle-class, dual-income families in Los Angeles.

Four highlights of what they found:

With Family #27, they found 2,260 visible possessions in the first three rooms recorded (two bedrooms and the living room),” and that didn’t include “untold numbers of items tucked into dresser drawers, boxes and cabinets or items positioned behind other items.”

In another home, Family #1 they looked at a display shelf in a girl’s bedroom and found: 165 Beanie Babies, 36 Human/Animal Figurines, 22 Barbie dolls, 20 other types of dolls, 3 Porcelain dolls, 1 Troll, 1 miniature castle

The average refrigerator front panel in the homes studied holds 52 objects. The most crowded refrigerator was covered with 166 different objects. In most cases there was a direct corollary to the amount of stuff on a fridge and the amount of stuff in the home (ie: a more cluttered fridge = a more cluttered home)

Only 25 percent of garages could be used to store cars because they were so packed with stuff. One article called this, “The New Junk Drawer” and rightfully so because that’s exactly what it’s become.

There are links below to a 3-part video series on this study. It’s pretty eye opening

The bottom line is that a lot of house is likely going to mean a lot of stuff! A lot of house plus a lot of stuff equals a lot of cost. It’s life, supersized.

How Downsizing is Perceived:

Note: Dan uses Google Alerts to do research. Google defines Google Alerts as: Emails sent to you when Google finds new results — such as web pages, newspaper articles, or blogs — that match your search term. You can use Google Alerts to monitor anything on the Web. For example, people use Google Alerts to:

Wow….such a negative spin on downsizing! Why not call it “Rightsizing”…to reduce to an optimal size…or creating new surroundings by decluttering eliminating, throwing out, donating and simplifying one’s own environment to create a more functional home that better suits your needs.

 So, why do people downsize? Let’s look at some possible Reasons to Downsize:

Frustrated with or don’t have enough time for the upkeep

Maintenance and cleaning costs are too much

Expecting a decrease in your monthly income (retirement, loss of job, quitting job, lifestyle change/business like us)

Home is not functional or not being used efficiently (space not used, or not well designed for your needs)

Physical limitations to literally downsize…like take the house down a level..from a two-story home to a one story home

Decreasing their environmental footprint

Now let’s take look at Some Benefits of Downsizing:

Save money now and direct it towards others important goals

You’ll save time down the road

Things tend to run more efficiently: less to care for = less stress and confusion….a smaller home = smaller utilities bills…systems don’t have to work so hard.

You can decrease the chance of a major inconvenience to loved ones having to help you downsize if you wait until you “have to” downsize.

Downsizing now can give you a sense of control.  You’re doing it on your terms as opposed to waiting until you have to downsize…which could cause undue stress and resentment.

And watch our for some unexpected positive side effects…downsizing has a funny way of simplifying your life overall. And when you simplify, your more focused of your life goals, more deliberate with your purchases, and more in-tune with what’s important to you like family and relationships.

Planning to Downsize on Your Own Terms:

We’d suggest looking at downsizing from the “stuff” centric point of view versus the house-centric point of view (explain)

Maximize the market to decide when to downsize

Take a good look at your life goals…remember to start with the end in mind.

Get in tune with your finances and where your money is really going to see if downsizing is the real issue

List was your must have’s in your your life and home are, then work backwards from there to eliminate the excess. It helps to have an idea of what you’re downsizing into.

Take a systematic approach…no need to rush.  Just like our edit and forget it challenge…you have an entire year to let go of 2013 things.

Edit one room or one area at a time.  It’s probably best to start with the easy and not-so-sentimental stuff first like in the garage…then tackle the more difficult items.

Set goals for yourself like: edit “x” number of rooms by “x” date; or sell “x” amount of items on eBay or Craig’s list before “this” date….have garage sell on “such and such” date…put home on market “no later than” this date date……or decide on new home by “this” date… and so on.

So, when it comes Downsizing, there’s a huge upside! Why wait until retirement to make the decision to simplify your life? That isn’t a rule. Do it when it’s right for you. Take some time to think about ways to edit the “stuff” in your life. Take little steps every day to shape how you want your life to be. The benefits can be huge.

We’ve talked about how we’re not following the deferred retirement plan, well why defer the benefits of living life at the right size now…on your terms?

Make incremental changes to meet your goals.

Bend with the wind.

Find targets of opportunity to get rid of the things holding you back.

And let us know how it goes!

Question:

So, have you started downsizing on your schedule yet?  If not, what’s holding you back from right-sizing your life? Share your thoughts on downsizing in the Comments below.

Dan’s Thing: The new Get Noticed Theme we switched to on our site.

Vanessa’s Thing: Using the new IX500 ScanSnap to help a client go digital!

You can download the full PDF of our show prep, too.

Platform Conference: Coupon Code for $100 Off: SIMPLE

Farnoosh’s Juicing Clinic

ScanSnap sale on Amazon

Videos from the CELF Study:

A Cluttered Life: Middle-Class Abundance (Ep.1) Stuff

A Cluttered Life: Middle-Class Abundance (Ep. 2) Food

A Cluttered Life: Middle-Class Abundance (Ep. 3) Space

2010 census

US Home Size 2012

If you haven’t already, please be sure to go to iTunes to subscribe to the show. Don’t forget to leave us a rating & review! Thanks!

Photo courtesy of Photo courtesy of Alachia

Are you losing focus? We’re in what could easily be called the Age of Distraction. Between all the media sources we’re exposed to, all the forms of Social Media, instant communication and technology at our fingertips…we’ve just become inundated with ready-made distractions to keep us from meeting our goals and threaten the very simplicity we’re trying to build in our lives.

So today, we’d like to talk about some simple ways to get your focus back, and beat the distractions that keep us from focusing on what’s important to us. We’ll go over a few personal examples of distractions we face and share a couple of tools we use to help keep us on track. Read more…

Types of distractions:

Some problems we face that lead to losing focus:

Social media

24 hour news cycle

“The Resistance” that Steven Pressfield’s explains in his books the War of Art and Do The Work, which prevents you from getting the important work done.

Immediate (if not instant) gratification: like consuming short form information in blog posts as opposed to reading the entire article.

Solutions:

Taking some time to analyze “always switched on” habits. If you’re always switched on…guaranteed…you’ll find yourself losing focus!

Taking a “digital sabbath” or unplugging time: some of your best thinking and productive moments may happen when you’re unplugged.

Designate times (schedule) times for things that distract, such as social media and email:  Lifehacker and many other productivity specialists recommend not checking email first thing in the morning!  There is a much much greater chance of you derailing your important project if you allow yourself to get distracted with emails and the unforeseen and unplanned tasks that are buried in them.

Check your work mail only during work time and personal mail during personal time.

Disable automatic download of emails.  Instead download them manually during a “pre-determined” that you’ve set on your calendar to check them.

Turn off your internet or use an app like the  Self Control App or Rescue Time. An app that lets you block your own access to distracting websites, your mail servers, or anything else on the Internet. Just set a period of time to block and you will be unable to access those sites–even if you restart your computer or delete the application.

Evaluate what apps/programs really work for you. No need to have cool new app if the ones you have are working. Our favorites are Evernote, Dropbox, Google Docs/Drive and Google maps to name a few.

Plan out your day.  Even Ben Franklin had a Daily Schedule…it’s amazing what he accomplished in his lifetime!

Set aside time to read…actual books!

Identify your triggers or what’s causing your distractions. By identifying your triggers you become more aware.  And being aware will in turn move you from subjectively looking at a problem to objectively looking at it and help you take ownership to control them.

So, we all go through bouts of losing focus. Sometimes it’s just that the subject matter isn’t as interesting as you’d like. But sometimes it’s because we’ve picked up bad habits along the way that are dulling our focus. Maybe some time spent evaluating what’s causing your lack of focus and implementing some of the tools we discussed today can help you get that razor’s edge back to your focus.

So, have you been finding that you’ve been losing focus lately? What are some ways you’ve lost focus? What made you realize that your focus isn’t as sharp as it used to be. What tools can you share that might help?

Dan’s Thing: The new Evernote Web Clipper for Chrome

Vanessa’s “THING”: Storyline book by Donald Miller that’s helping her to understand her purpose.

You can download the full PDF of our show prep, too.

Platform Conference: Coupon Code for $100 Off: SIMPLE

The Book: Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World

Podcasting A to Z course Discount Code : SIMPLE for $500 off!

Chrome Web Clipper

The War of Art

Donald Miller’s Storyline

Ben Franklin’s Daily Schedule

Farnoosh’s Juicing Clinic

ScanSnap sale on Amazon

If you haven’t already, please be sure to go to iTunes to subscribe to the show. Don’t forget to leave us a rating & review! Thanks!

Be honest. If you’re like us you probably have thousands of photos, digital or print photos that are totally disorganized! You have the best intentions, but you probably have no idea how to organize your photos. Welcome to our world!

We were thrilled to have the opportunity to interview Cathi Nelson, Founder and President of the Association of Personal Photo Organizers (APPO) to help answer one of the most asked questions here on Simple Life Together: “How do I organize my photos?”

The interview was fantastic! Cathi offered up a wealth of information on how to organize your photos, both your physical and digital photos. We highly, highly recommend listening to the interview!  Before you do, here is little more information about Cathi and some of the questions we asked her on the show: Continue reading…

About Cathi Nelson:

Cathi Nelson is the founder and president of the Association of Personal Photo Organizers™ (APPO), and her own photo organizing business, Photo Simplified. Cathi Nelson has been helping people organize their photos for over 17 years. Through Appo, Cathi is now teaching others to do the same. Appo provides support and education for entrepreneurs looking to build a photo organizing business, and educates the public on the need for photo organizing services. Cathi is also member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO).  She was a speaker at the 2011 NAPO annual conference and the Independent Photo Imagers Annual Conference, and frequently speaks on photo organizing at libraries, continuing adult education classes, and photo organizing retreats. If you want to know how to organize your photos, you won’t find better answers than from Cathi Nelson!

Interview Questions:

1. Tell us a little more about who you are and how you make people’s lives simpler.

2. What is the biggest challenge you see with folks and organizing their photos? (Lack of routines…taking too many pictures…not letting go or deleting bad ones…unclear idea of how you want to store and enjoy them?)

3. Organizing hard copy photos can be a daunting task.  For those with hundreds or even thousands of physical/hard copy photos, do you have a recommended process of how they can organize them?

4. How do you recommend people categorize their photos?  Chronologically or by person, place, event?

5. What are some ways and products people can use to store their printed photos and negatives? Any special considerations for storing old, fragile, sentimental, or historical photos?

6. With mobile devices, it’s so easy to take hundreds and even thousands of photos before we even think to download them. Do you have any recommended strategies for managing our mobile device photos?

7. I heard you say on one of your tutorials: “Don’t let your kids grow up to be JPEGS.” Can you explain what you meant when you said this?

8. Do you have any preferred software to organize digital photos? What about creating photo books?

9. How can one alleviate their fears of losing hard copy or digital photos?

10. What types of habits or routines can people adopt to manage and keep their photos organized and prevent it from becoming a big task in the future?

11. For the do-it-yourselfers or those looking for help, what are some online resources to help people learn about organizing their photos?

Other popular services:

There is a great comparison of these services on CNET

Main things to consider:

Michael Hyatts’ Platform Conference 3 – 5 November 2013, in Dallas TX at the Omni Dallas Hotel at Park West:

Starting your own podcast:

The Google Drive/Google Docs tutorial is now FREE!

And the Side Gig Website Guide is now open without passwords, sign-ups or anything!

Dan’s Thing: An article by Ally Vesterfelt on her blog at allisonvesterfelt.com called Is There Room for Sentimental Attachment In Packing Light?

Vanessa’s Thing: Simple fun on the Slip’n Slide! Sometimes just being “present” with your kids is all you need!

Picture Keeper Photo Backup

APPO video: explains what personal photo organizers can do…or how to become one!

APPO website

Photo Simplified: Cathi Nelson

Cathi on LinkedIn

Cathi on Twitter

Reach Cathi by phone: (United States) 1-860-904-5365

Photo Keeper: simple and small photo backup device

NY Times Article with Cathi

Linea App:  photo sharing program that syncs across your devices: iPad, iPhone, or desktop

Archival Methods storage and presentation products

CNET comparison of online photo services

Map iPhoto Library to External Drive

Charity:  SLT donated $50 to Women to Women International on behalf of Cathi Nelson for spending  time with us on our show and sharing her expertise

Ally Vesterfelt’s post Is There Room for Sentimental Attachment In Packing Light?

Ally Vesterfelt’s book Packing Light and her accompanying blog for the book at PackingLightBook.com/blog.

Platform Conference: Coupon Code for $100 Off: SIMPLE

The Book: Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World

Podcasting A to Z course Discount Code : SIMPLE for $500 off!

If you haven’t already, please be sure to go to iTunes to subscribe to the show. Don’t forget to leave us a rating & review! Thanks!

Photo Credit: ohsohappytogether