routine

5 Simple Ways to Make a Hotel Feel Like Home

Dan Rafter — Tue, 01 Dec 2015 10:00:57 +0000

Leon Rbibo, president of Los Angeles-based The Pearl Source, travels three to four times a month between Los Angeles, Southeast Asia, and French Polynesia. That's a lot of travel, but it's to be expected when you import pearls for a living.

Being on the road so much can be difficult. It's easy to overeat. It's easier to neglect your normal exercise routine. But Rbibo, and other frequent travelers, say that you can help avoid these pitfalls with some personal touches to your hotel accommodations.

Here are five tips, from Rbibo and others, for sticking to your routine and making your hotel room feel more like home.

1. Unpack

Stacy Royal, a travel publicist in New York City and managing director of public relations firm Decker Royal Agency, always unpacks her suitcases as soon as she arrives in her hotel room. Living from a suitcase makes you feel like you're on the road. Packing your clothes away in closets and dressers feels like home.

"Dressers are one of the most underrated pieces of furniture in the room, and often go unused," Royal said. "Create a place for everything the same way you would in your own bedroom. I even go so far as to bring a few extra very-thin hangers because hotels never have enough."

2. Bring Your Own Pillow

Megan MacNee, founder and editor of the travel website Traveling Nine to Fiver, never goes on an extended trip without her pillow. Having the comfort of a familiar pillow makes it easier to sleep each night, MacNee explained. And regular sleep is key to eating well and maintaining an exercise routine while on a long trip.

"I know it sounds like a lot of work to bring along, but if you're driving or good at packing light, it's a life saver," MacNee said. "If your head and neck are off from what you are used to, it can make a world of difference."

3. Don't Forget the Family Photos

Ideally, you'd bring your family along on long trips, but that's not always possible. Rbibo, though, always brings framed family photos with him on his long hotel stays. He keeps one family photo on his hotel room nightstand, and a couple more on the room's dresser. If there's a desk in his room, he'll load that up with family photos, too.

"It gives you the sense that you're not too far away from home, even if you're thousands of miles away," Rbibo said.

4. Don't Overindulge

Manu Lail, managing partner with Dallas-based hotel management company RMG Hospitality, said that travelers on long trips should eat like they would at home. It's easy to overeat on the road, with pizzas, burgers, and breakfast buffets making you feel sluggish and tired.

Travelers who avoid this temptation will feel better physically and mentally. Being on the road is no reason to abandon the healthier eating habits you follow at home, Lail said.

"I've seen the guests who pile their plates full of bacon and eggs, all in the name of vacation," Lail said. "While you're more than welcome to help yourself at the breakfast buffet, keep in mind that your body is tuned to your routine. Drink and eat moderately as you would at home."

5. Fix the Furniture

Gigi Griffis, a travel writer who now travels full time, says that guests shouldn't be afraid to rearrange the hotel furniture to better suit their needs. Doing so can make a room feel more comfortable and personal.

"Feng shui your space," Griffis said. "Most hotels won't complain if you rearrange the furniture a little bit, especially if you move it back when you leave. Make the space feel comfortable to you."

What steps do you take to make travel more homey?

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This article is from Dan Rafter of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

4 Easy Ways to Automate Your Everyday Life

Emily Guy Birken — Wed, 20 May 2015 21:00:10 +0000

I once had a colleague who ate the exact same lunch every day: an apple, a carton of yogurt, and a handful of crackers.

When I asked him if he got bored with the sameness of his daily lunch, he explained that he used to pack sandwiches and leftovers for lunch every day — and found himself gaining weight. He realized that if he ate the same thing for breakfast and lunch every day, then he could eat whatever he wanted for dinner and maintain his weight without having to think about it.

What my colleague had discovered was the importance of automation in achieving goals.

Decision Fatigue

Our brains have a limited amount of bandwidth for making decisions, leading to a phenomenon known as decision fatigue. When you are forced to make small decision after small decision each day, you have less bandwidth available to make the big choices that will help you achieve your goals. If you are able to free yourself of the small decisions through automation, then you are much better equipped to make the decisions that cannot be automated.

If you struggle with productivity, organization, or time management, try one of these surprising automation hacks. You'll be amazed at how much more you can get done.

1. Daily Uniform

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg admits to owning twenty identical gray, scoop-necked t-shirts so that he does not have to think about what to wear each morning. Similarly, Apple's Steve Jobs was famous for his uniform of black turtleneck and jeans. Adhering to these personal uniforms allowed these extremely influential men to focus their attention where it belongs — on their products.

Of course, it can be difficult to wear the same clothes every day without attracting attention. For instance, Zuckerberg has often come under fire for his t-shirt and hoodie style.

However, Saatchi & Saatchi Art Director Matilda Kahl recently wrote an essay for Harper's Bazaar explaining how she decided to adopt a chic personal uniform. While she has experienced some pushback (people have asked if she was part of a religious sect), she has found the uniform to be freeing, particularly when it comes to allowing her to express her creativity at work, where she really needs it.

2. Automated Meals

Wise Bread readers are certainly familiar with the benefits of meal planning and once-a-month cooking. But you can become even more automated in terms of meal prep if you take a page from my former coworker's book and create a schedule.

For my former colleague, that meant he ate exactly the same meal for breakfast and lunch each and every day. Not only did this mean his weight maintenance was easier, but it saved him time and money at the grocery store each week since he always bought the exact same breakfast and lunch foods.

Even if you are unwilling to eat the exact same food every day, you could plan four different weeks' meals and alternate the weeks. That way you'll know you need shopping list #1 during the first week of the month, list #2 the next week, and so on. Rather than spending time creating a list each week, that work is already done for you.

3. Toilet Paper Subscription

Do you ever have to make an emergency run to Target for toilet paper, shampoo, deodorant, dishwasher detergent, dog food, or dryer sheets? These are the regular use items that it's easy to run out of before you remember to buy more. That's why it's a great idea to subscribe for delivery of household items.

Amazon's Subscribe & Save program allows you to schedule such regular deliveries. Amazon offers you 5% off anything you buy through Subscribe & Save, and a 15% discount if you put at least five items on subscription — and shipping fees are waived. You are e-mailed a reminder about the shipment a few days before it ships, with an option to cancel, and you are not charged for the items until they ship.

Signing up for a subscription means you will no longer make emergency runs to the store or ponder whether you need more paper towels every time you go grocery shopping (hint: whether you decide you've got enough Brawny at home or that you need more, you'll definitely be wrong).

4. Checklists for Daily Life

No matter how many times a pilot has flown a particular airplane, he or she still refers to a checklist in order to make sure each necessary step is taken in the proper order. Atul Gawande of The New Yorker describes the original implementation of the checklist for takeoff this way: "[It] was too complicated to be left to the memory of any pilot, however expert."

Critical-care specialist Peter Provonost has proven that implementing checklists in hospitals can save lives and reduce medical care costs. In both the flight and medical worlds, checklists prevent expert practitioners from overlooking or skipping a basic step, which is very easy to do when you are focused on something bigger, like taking off in bad weather, or a patient having a seizure.

Though skipping basic steps in your daily life likely does not result in life-or-death consequences, you can still streamline and automate your life by using checklists.

According to Brett McKay of The Art of Manliness, the best way to implement checklists in your life is to look for the essential items that you regularly overlook and create checklists around them:

You don't need a checklist that lists every single step on how to complete a task. That renders a checklist useless. Instead, just focus on putting down the 'stupid' but essential stuff that you frequently miss. Your checklist should have no more than nine items on it. The shorter the better.

For instance, if you have trouble remembering to take your medication each day, you could create a morning checklist listing the name of each medication and post it on your bathroom mirror. There's no need to remind yourself to shower beforehand or brush your teeth afterward. Presumably, those activities are already automatic.

Think Less to Be Smarter

It's so easy to get bogged down in the small daily decisions that must be made to maintain your life. There are many days when your brain becomes a hamster wheel of little choices that don't really matter to you. But automating those little decisions can help you to stay focused on the goals you really care about.

What parts of your life have you automated?

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This article is from Emily Guy Birken of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

The 5 Best Ways to Spend the Last 10 Minutes of Your Workday

Brittany Lyte — Tue, 28 Oct 2014 09:00:06 +0000

It's 4:50 p.m. Hunger pains are rousing. The midday coffee buzz has gone and your ability to focus is fleeting. Do you forfeit these last 10 minutes of the work day over to the zombie that you've become or do you power up and finish strong? (See also: The 5 Best Ways to Spend the First 10 Minutes of Your Work Day)

Just as with marathon running, the way you end your day in the working world is as important as how you start it. If you bide your time wisely in the final minutes before you clock out, you can set yourself up for success the following morning. Now that's a formula for a fruitful career.

Read on for our roundup of the most productive ways to round out the work day before heading home for dinner. (You'll thank us the following morning when you're prepped and ready to take on the world — or at least the office.)

1. Review Your To-Do List

Did you check off everything you needed to accomplish? If not, is there something you can quickly finish up before clocking out? Even if you missed a mark or two, it's important to evaluate the day's work and forward any incomplete items on to tomorrow's checklist. Speaking of…

2. Write Tomorrow's To-Do List

You'll save yourself time in the morning if you scribble down tomorrow's to-do's the night before. That way when you arrive at your desk a little bit bleary eyed the next day, you'll have a list of tasks all ready to focus on. Experts say it's best when we begin the work day by crossing off a task with a single focus — something we can truly feel accomplished about. So take some time to identify what that task might be and put it at the top of your list.

3. Complete Easy Tasks

It doesn't take a whole lot of brainpower to finish up your paperwork and read through your email — but they're tasks that have to get done. That's why it's best to save these and other mindless chores for the end of the day after you've already near-depleted your energy on more difficult tasks. By completing a string of simple tasks before jetting out the door, you'll restore a sense of accomplishment and order to your day. Just be mindful not to actually send any crucial emails at this late hour. All emails of importance should arrive in the recipient's inbox when they're actually alert, at their desk, and ready to respond.

4. Clear Your Desk of Clutter

Throw out the empty disposable coffee cup and that stack of memos from last week. Studies show that a cluttered workspace actually hinders our ability to process information and concentrate. We aren't aware of it, but clutter competes for our attention in much the same way as a whining child or a barking dog does.

5. Say Goodbye

"We tend to think about the importance of checking in and saying good morning to kick off the day," international business speaker Michael Kerr told Forbes, "but we forget that it can be just as important, and make us feel good as well, to say a friendly and proper good bye to everyone rather than just silently drift off into the night. This is triply important if you are the supervisor."

How do you end your work day? Please share in comments!

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This article is from Brittany Lyte of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

How to Remember That Thing You Always Forget

Mardee Handler — Thu, 10 Jul 2014 15:00:06 +0000

You know the feeling… you're halfway to work and — gasp! — "Did I bring my keycard?" Or you've landed at the Minneapolis Airport for the family reunion and — gasp! — "Did I pack the gloves?"

Whether it's daily life or situations, like travel, that take you out of your routine, there are a few tried-and-true ways to avoid that "OH NO!" moment. (See also: 10 Things You Should Immediately Do After Losing Your Wallet)

Have a Designated Place for Your Things

Car keys, house keys, office keys, keycards, wallets, cash, and any other things that leave the house with you in the morning — and come home again with you at the end of the day — should have a designated place. In our house, we have a ceramic bowl. Every time he walks into the house, my husband puts his wallet, work keycard, and keys in the bowl. Every time he leaves the house, that's where he knows he can find them. And, since they're all in the same place, he never forgets any of them.

The Bowl

"The bowl," as we fondly call it, also keeps the house neat. No random keys on the living room table, or keycard cluttering the dresser in the bedroom.

We even have a "guest bowl" near the front door, where family and close friends always deposit their keys, wallet, cell phone, etc. Gone are the days we need to chase after them waving their cell phone in hand!

Hooks, Hooks, Hooks

Key hooks, coat racks, and backpack hooks are great things. All house keys, extra car keys and the neighbor's key have a home on the key hook. No need to search through the kitchen "junk drawer" for when one of the kids gets locked out of the car and calls to ask us to bring the spare. Backpacks are in the same place every morning and every night.

Stands and Other Storage

Cell phones retire at bedtime on a charger station we received as a gift. We always know where to find our cell phones, ipods, and other rechargeable electronics in the morning.

Purses, briefcases, backpacks, and diaper bags also work for things that consistently come and go with you — as long as you keep them in that same place. If you have a car with push-button start, keep the keys in the same pocket of your purse. You'll know exactly where to find them when you take the car in for an oil change.

Double-Up

Does your baby have a favorite teething toy? Keep one at home, and one in the diaper bag. Are your eyes particularly sensitive to the sun? Keep a pair of sunglasses in your car, and another in your purse or briefcase. Do you shower at the gym? Keep a brush at home, and one in your gym bag. When you double up, you are less likely to forget something really important — at a time you need it most.

Create a "Departure" and "Arrival" Routine

Chances are, every time you leave the house or apartment, you take the same things with you — and check to make sure that the same appliances are off. Collect your things, check your stove/coffee maker/hair straightener, turn off the lights, adjust the thermostat in the same order every day. By creating a "departure" routine, you eventually give yourself the luxury of going on auto-pilot — and reduce the chances of forgetting to bring or do something.

Same thing on the way into your abode. Whether you were at work, out running errands, meeting friends for dinner, if you put your belongings in the same place every time, you can avoid that "where did I put my xyz" feeling.

Use Sticky Notes

People laugh when they come to our house and see a reusable sticky note taped to the side of the coffee pot. It says, "Coffee Pot!" It's not that we are so forgetful that we can't remember the names of the appliances in our kitchen, but because we set up the coffee the night before, it has been known to happen that we forget to take the coffee pot out of the dishwasher before hitting the "brew" button.

If it's your child's turn to bring snacks at pre-school, put a sticky note on the door so that you don't forget the cupcakes sitting on the dining room table. Anything that's out of the ordinary, remind yourself with a sticky note on your wallet, or something else that's part of your normal "take-it-with-you" routine. For those of you who have gone paperless, set a reminder on your phone. Virtual sticky notes work just as well!

Rely on Packing Lists

In the olden days, it was inevitable that we would forget that one thing — aloe vera gel for the sunburn — when we went on a beach vacation, or hand warmers when traveling somewhere to ski. No more forgetting — and having to replace at a much higher price once you reach your destination!

You can create a packing list for every type of vacation or road trip, and for every member of your family (even the dog.) As needs change, adjust the lists.

Be Mindful

Mindfulness is a beautiful thing — particularly when it increases our efficiency. Think about it: If you're talking on your cell phone as you head out the door, you are much more likely to forget "that one thing." Leaving and coming home are transition times that deserve our full attention. We arrive at our destinations calmer, and can leave that "OH NO" feeling — instead of "that one thing" — at home.

How do you stop yourself from forgetting that one thing? Please share in comments!

This article is from Mardee Handler of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

The Best Time of the Day to Do Everything

Anthony Hall — Wed, 04 Jun 2014 13:00:20 +0000

Our bodies run on a circadian rhythm that affects our mood and energy throughout the day. It follows that certain tasks are better suited for certain times of the day, when our body is in sync with those tasks. (See also: Finding Your Best Work Hours)

That said, there are many tasks for which it is difficult to find a consensus for the best time. Many famous authors, Hemingway to name one, preferred writing in the morning, while others, like James Agee, where nocturnal writers.

One item for which there is little dispute is when to eat a live frog. That would be the first thing in the morning, said Mark Twain, because after that, "nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day."

Let's take a look at what else we know for sure we should be doing at certain times of the day.

Best Tasks for Mornings

Get a jump on the day by doing these tasks when mind and body are still reveling in the possibility of a new day.

6:00: Send Email

6 a.m. messages are most likely to be read. If you can't wake up that early, use an email scheduler like Google's Boomerang app.

8:00: Read Twitter

Want to get your Twitter fix for the day? Reading twitter between 8-9 a.m. will start your day off with more upbeat, enthusiastic messages. (But save the actual tweeting for 3 p.m., the time your tweet is most likely to be retweeted.)

8:00: Memorize

8 a.m. is also ideal for quick memorizing. It's when your immediate recall is highest. For longer retention, however, study at 10 p.m.

9:00: Make a Business Call

Make business calls just when you get to work. There's always the hit-or-miss aspect of the person you're calling not being available, so an early start allows you to go to Plan B if you can't reach someone.

9:30: Drink Coffee

Studies show that the cortisol level for most people peaks between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., making that a particularly unnecessary time to load up on caffeine, which constricts blood vessels, which gets the heart pumping faster and, in turns, sends more oxygen to the brain. The best time to drink coffee is when cortisol levels are dropping.

10:00: Thinking Work

Get your cup of joe and hit the hard stuff. When it comes to doing cognitive work most adults perform best in the late morning. As body temperature starts to rise just before awakening in the morning and continues to increase through midday, working memory, alertness, and concentration gradually improve. The ability to focus and concentrate typically starts to slide soon thereafter.

Best Tasks for Afternoons

You know there'll be a nap involved in this. (See also: 5 Surprising Benefits of Naps)

Noon: Learn

Studies show that the best time to learn is right before taking a nap, which allows the brain to sort through the new information and file it away for easy retrieval when it is needed. So, take in new information from noon to 1 p.m., and follow that up with…

1:00: Nap

The best time for "The Ultimate Nap" nap is between 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., which is when your rapid eye movement and slow-wave sleep cycles cross, described in scholar Sara Mednick's book Take a Nap!. Using the "Nap Wheel," you can spin the dial to find the optimal time for a snooze.

4:00: Exercise

From 4 p.m. to 5 p.m., your strength and endurance are at their peak, and when the risk of injury is low (because we tend to be alert and our body temperatures are high, making muscles more supple). Your lungs are also at the day's peak performance level at this time.

Best Tasks for Evenings

Wind the day down gracefully — and productively.

7:30: Grocery Shopping

The time you can have the store to yourself is from 7:30 p.m. until closing. No need to fight the crowds just to restock your pantry.

8:00: Walk the Dog

It is said that dogs like company, so the best time to walk them is in the evening after dark, which is popular time for dog walks and gives them (and you) the best chance for bumping into others (and socializing) on the canine walking circuit.

8:00: Post on Facebook

While you're waiting for Spot to do his business, go ahead and make your Facebook posts. Posts during this time tend to get the most likes.

Does this list of optimal timing match your daily schedule? When do you take your nap?

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This article is from Anthony Hall of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

25 Simple Ways to Change Up Your Routine and Love Your Day

Damian Davila — Thu, 15 May 2014 08:24:15 +0000

"Workin' 9 to 5, what a way to make a livin.'"

If the Dolly Parton's classic from the 80's is becoming the soundtrack of your day-to-day — you know, the same ol' routine, day after day — it is time to shake things up. Here are 25 simple ways to change up your routine and love your day.

Reduce Stress

Tight back, lack of sleep, and an overall feeling of anxiety — you know very well the negative effects that come with stress. It is time to take charge of your day by creating opportunities for relaxation and eliminating sources of stress.

1. Meditate Right at Your Desk

I'm a manly man and, for many years, I would refuse to meditate because I considered it too "girly." This was until I discovered the Calm.com site. The no-gongs-and-no-yoga-pants approach of the site made me realize that all I needed to meditate was a pair of headphones and as as little as two minutes. You can meditate without leaving your desk or on-the-go (free app available only for iPhone). Try meditating for five minutes, and you will feel the stress melt away.

2. Find Your Own "Cheers"

"Sometimes you wanna go where everybody knows your name, and they're always glad you came." Becoming a regular at a place has several perks. First, when somebody welcomes you with a smile and calls out your name, it instantly cheers you up. Second, it takes out some guesswork from a day filled with decision-making. Finally, you may get a freebie or discount every now and then for being a loyal customer.

3. Establish a Tradition

But make it a fun one! How about setting aside a daily 20 minutes for "Fruit Time"? Get together with some co-workers that want to get more fruits in their diets and agree that every day one of them is going to bring some fresh fruits for everybody to share. Another idea is to set up a tiny basketball hoop or putting station by your cubicle and make it that every time somebody comes to talk to you, they have to try to two hoop shoots or two puts. With a tradition, you create opportunities to bond with your co-workers and let off some steam.

4. Lower FOMO

As more and more people join the social media party, the more common the fear of missing out, or FOMO for short, becomes. Life is already complicated as it is. You don't need to get stressed about missing out the latest posts from your Facebook friends or Twitter followers. Start cutting back on your social media use. (See also: How to Break Your Social Media Habit)

5. Sing Out Loud With Somebody

Life is too short to take it too seriously. Take the opportunity to bust out your karaoke skills with a friend, relative, or co-worker. Turns out that scientific studies show that group singing lowers stress, relieves anxiety, and elevates endorphins.

6. Eat Breakfast

Your parents are right; breakfast is indeed the most important meal of the day. Skipping breakfast keeps your body in a stressful state as your body is trying to cope with fasting and lack of necessary nutrients. Start eating breakfast, and your body will be better suited to handle stress throughout the day.

Reach Your Daily 10,000 Steps

Walking 10,000 steps a day has several health benefits. Every single year we make ambiguous New Year resolutions, such as getting in shape or losing weight. This year, make a resolution that you can actually keep track of: walking 10,000 steps every day.

7. Get a Pedometer

To know how you're doing, you need a pedometer. You can find one on Amazon for as low as $5, or check if your health insurance carrier can provide you one for free. Once you have a pedometer, start keeping a record of how many steps you walk in a day.

8. Walk It Out

My friend Alex taught me this great trick to get closer to 10,000 steps a day and to defuse any little crisis at work. Any time that something or someone makes you really upset at work, head outside and walk around the block. If you're ready to shout at somebody, then take two laps. This allows you to avoid saying something that you might regret, but it also contributes towards your daily goal.

9. Work Out During Lunch Break

I know what you're thinking, "Are you nuts? I barely have time to grab lunch!" But if you are not able to work out in the morning or at night, then exactly when are you planning to do that? As little as 20 minutes of cardio three times a week provides can provide results. You don't necessarily need a gym to work out. Some options are checking with HR if you could use a room with co-workers during lunch or heading to a nearby park, if weather permits. The whole point is to get up and start moving.

10. Walk and Talk

Got a meeting? Take a walk. TED speaker, Nilofer Merchant, has taken this initiative and is now able to log in 20 to 30 miles a week just by walking and talking. Literally getting outside of the box that is your office can lead to some real out of the box thinking.

11. Take the Stairs

In an era that it seems that every single celebrity is promoting a new fitness trend (remember Suzanne Somers' Buttmaster?), you might prefer to get back to basics. Take for example Hollywood icon Cary Grant, who said this when asked about his fitness routine: "I take the stairs." Taking the stairs makes a significant contribution to your recommended daily 20 minutes of cardio, and it requires no special equipment.

Pay It Forward

What goes around comes around. To make the odds ever in your favor you need to start playing well with others.

12. Volunteer to Do Hard Tasks...

...if you want to have some ammunition for the next time that you ask your boss for a raise.
...if you want to truly show your spouse that you care.
...if you want to prove to Dad that you just don't call him to ask for money.

Sound like things you want? Then volunteer more often to do hard tasks!

13. Help a Total Stranger

You know that warm, fuzzy feeling when a complete stranger does something nice for you. It can be as small as holding the door open for you on a rainy day or letting you pay for just a pack of gum before somebody unloads a car full of groceries. If you want these random acts of kindness to take part of your day, you have to lead by example. Start helping total strangers today and karma will help you tomorrow.

14. Mail a Letter

Put away the computer and smartphone. Grab a piece of paper and write a letter to somebody special in your life. It can be a sibling, cousin, or friend that you haven't talked with in a while. Write the address of that special somebody on an envelope and mail it to him or her. Knowing all the effort that you went through is going to put a smile on that person's face.

15. Listen to a Friend

These days, with IM, SMS, and email, you may feel that people are talking at you and not with you. This is why is important to take the time to actually meet up with a friend for lunch or dinner and mostly listen to them. We have two ears and one mouth, and there is a reason for that. By listening more and talking less, your friends are going to appreciate you even more. (See also: Lead by Listening)

Increase Productivity

Endless reply-all email chains, meetings about what fonts to use in internal flyers, and last-minute assignments are all examples of how your workday can be thrown off balance. Reclaim your day.

16. Dedicate a Time for Big Picture Stuff

After working with the same people for a couple of months, you start noticing patterns. A report that is due at the end of every month is always turned in late. A contract renewal deadline that happens every three months is never met. The list just goes on and on. This is why you need to carve out a time to stop everything and take a look at the whole process. By focusing on your goals for an entire month or semester, you have a better understanding on how things are interconnected. That way you will work smarter, not harder.

17. Turn Off Email Alerts

Avoid "Oh look, there's a squirrel!" syndrome by turning off the instantaneous email notifications on your smartphone and computer. You have enough on your plate as it is. According to an August 2010 Nielsen Online report, Americans spend about 8.3% of their time online in email. Focus on what you need to focus so you can finish it faster. The emails are not disappearing; they can wait.

18. Get Away From Your Desk

You desk job might be killing your creativity. Take a cue from composer Erik Satie, writer Saul Bellow, and novelist Haruki Murakami, who all keep a very active lifestyles throughout the development of their master works. While you don't have to start training for the next triathlon, you can begin by committing yourself to standing up from your desk 10 times per day. Regular physical activity has been linked to the creative process. So, go ahead and stand up for a more creative day!

19. Learn to Say "No"

The reason that your to-do list is ever-growing might be that you are not saying "no" enough. Do you really need to attend every single meeting that lands on your work inbox? Sometimes just by asking about why you need to be there, the person requesting your presence might realize that you don't have to be there at all. If you're still having a hard time gathering the strength to say no more often, picture how much better would your projects turn out if you just had more time to work on them.

20. Start Delegating Tasks

Another way to "invent" more time in your schedule is to get help from colleagues. You have to learn to choose your battles; you cannot take on all of them at the same time. When delegating a task, clearly state the deadline and provide all necessary resources for a successful deliverable. Also, remember to be polite when asking for help and say thanks after the task is done.

Fatten Up Your Piggy Bank

Saving, schmaving. That is how most people feel as they try to stretch every paycheck. However, saving money on a daily basis can be much easier than you think. The key is to take baby steps.

21. Rethink Your Cup of Coffee

If you are a daily coffee drinker and you buy a cup every single day, then you might be spending between $3 to $5 per day. That adds to $90 to $150 per month! You can still get your daily fix by making your own cup. Since the usual ratio for a cup is an ounce of coffee for every 16 ounces of water, this means that a pound of coffee can give you 40 cups. You can get a whole pound of coffee for about $4 to $15 at any grocery store, and that will last you for a whole month.

22. Start a Recycling Program

Help Mother Earth by collecting the recyclable aluminum, glass, and plastic containers at your office. All you need is three large containers, three signs to indicate what goes where, and some bags. Set a regular pickup day and take the recyclables to redeem the deposit fees. Think globally, save locally.

23. Set Up a Service for Coworkers

If you have a hobby that you enjoy a lot, you might be able to cash in on it. For example, if you love growing fresh vegetables in your backyard or have a mango tree that produces more than you can handle, then you can set up a weekly or monthly delivery service for your coworkers. They get fresh fruits and vegetables, and you get money for your savings account.

24. Know Your ATMs

If you're like me, you never have any cash on you. I often struggle to find a dollar for a vending machine and dread those cash only signs. This is why you should know where to find the ATMs within your network that are close to your home and workplace. Visit your bank's website on your smartphone, and bookmark the URL that lists all ATMs that won't charge you an extra fee for cash withdrawals. It's your money; you shouldn't have to pay to get it.

25. Make Weekly Deposits to an Emergency Fund

Setting up an emergency fund is hard. If I was to ask you to make a $520 contribution to your emergency fund right now, you would say "Yeah right." Let's try another way. How about $10 a week for a whole year? That sounds pretty feasible and provides the same results as the lump sum deposit. This little trick gets you closer to building that well-needed fund for a rainy day.

What are some other ways to change up your routine and love your day?

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This article is from Damian Davila of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

This Is How You Speed Up Your Morning Routine (and Get More Sleep)

Mikey Rox — Thu, 10 Apr 2014 08:48:23 +0000

How you handle your morning impacts the productivity of your entire day.

When you get a good night's rest, your mind is clearer, more focused, and more energetic than it would be if you didn't get enough sleep. It doesn't matter how many energy drinks or cups of coffee you guzzle down; nothing can replace sleep. (See also: 13 Things Successful People Do Each Morning)

The routine that you put in place whenever you wake up is critical when it comes to getting work done and moving through your to-do list. For those looking to take advantage of that clear mind and fresh morning air, the goal should be to streamline the morning routine and maximize productivity, all without sacrificing your Zs.

It sounds like a tall order, but we can get it done in a number of practical ways.

1. Figure Out When to Go to Bed Based on When You Have to Get Up

Our bodies are programmed to sleep for certain amounts of time, based on five to six sleep cycles. Each cycle is about 90 minutes long. A website called sleepyti.me actually lets you calculate what time you should go to sleep based on when you want to get up.

It'll give you a few different bedtime options. Getting up early doesn't necessarily mean going to bed earlier. What's more important is timing it so that you wake between cycles, rather than in the middle of one. (See also: Great Sleep-Tracking Apps)

2. Set Your Clothes Out

Somehow, getting dressed seems to take longer in the morning than it does in the evening.

Choose and set out your outfit the night before so that you don't need to spend time deliberating about what to wear or where to find it. Figuring that stuff out at night is much easier, and you'll save yourself anywhere from five to ten minutes in the morning.

Or you can do what I do: I pick out a whole week's worth of outfits from my button-down and pants to my undershirt and undies, iron them (not the undies), and put them together on one hanger per outfit in the closet in order of when I want to wear them. It makes my mornings less of a chore — and allows me more time to snooze. (See also: Change Your Bedtime Routine, Change Your Life)

3. Don't Check Facebook

You know you do it. The next thought you have after, "Crap, I've got to get up" is to check your Facebook account. Maybe it's not Facebook. Maybe it's email or your RSS feeds, Twitter, or something sports related. Whatever it is, it's taking time away from both starting your day and time that you could've been sleeping.

If you decide to get up, leave your phone be until you get to a point in the day where you've gotten some work under your belt and you need to take a break. (See also: Breaking Your Social Media Habit)

4. Get a Quick Breakfast

Don't skip breakfast in the morning if you can help it.

It's really the one meal that can work with quick solutions, so don't pass it up just to save time. Eating breakfast helps you focus, gets your metabolism going, and gives you energy to get you through to the lunch hour.

You might feel like you're saving time by skipping it, but it's counterproductive, even on a good day. Cooking a big breakfast isn't necessary, but use some of the quick ideas to nourish your body before you head out the door.

5. Eat Lunch at Work

If lunch cuts into your morning routine, free up that last half-hour by packing a lunch the night before and eating at your desk.

It's cheaper, it's better for your health than restaurant food, and it frees you from having to drive somewhere at 11:30 a.m. for a noon lunch.

6. Shower the Night Before

Some people need a shower in the morning to wake up, but if you prefer to just get up and head out the door, take your shower right before you go to bed, and you'll be fine to go without one in the morning.

7. Brew Your Own Coffee

It's a much quicker process to brew your own coffee than it is to go through the trouble of getting to Starbucks and waiting in line for somebody else to prepare your morning pick-me-up. It's also a lot cheaper. If you have a coffee maker that you can set and forget, your hot cup of joe will be ready for you to take on the go. (See also: 5 Great Coffeemakers)

Take Advantage of the Morning Hours

While you don't want to short change your sleep, the morning hours and the routine that fills them will set the tone for the rest of your day. Try to get around seven or eight hours of sleep, and then streamline your morning activities as much as possible.

The sooner you get to the point where you can start being productive, without having sacrificed much-needed sleep, the better off the rest of your day will be.

Do you have other ideas on how to speed up your morning routine and get more sleep? Let me know in the comments below.

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This article is from Mikey Rox of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

12 Things You're Doing Wrong Before Noon (and How to Fix Them)

Kelly Medeiros — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 09:36:18 +0000

Did you know that what you may be doing during the hours from the time you wake to noon could be sabotaging your whole day? Turns out this time of day can set the tone for how productive, happy, and satisfied you feel overall. Learn about some common missteps that may be derailing your day and what moves you can make to fix them right now. (See also: What Successful People Do Every Morning)

1. Hitting Snooze

It may seem like hitting the snooze button lets you sneak in that extra 10 minutes of vital sleep, but think again. According to sleep experts, snoozing only provides fragmented, low-quality sleep and starts another sleep cycle that you can't complete. This leaves you feeling groggier and with less energy later on. Cut the habit, and be diligent about getting up when your initial alarm goes off. This will actually help you feel more awake later in the morning than if you snooze.

2. Not Investing in Personal Appearance and Hygiene

Taking pride in your personal appearance can pay dividends throughout your day. First of all, when you look put together and enjoy what you're wearing, you feel more confident and in control. Secondly, an orderly and clean appearance projects positively on you when dealing with others. Even for those at home all day, getting out of the jammies or sweats (at least on some days) can greatly improve your productivity and make you feel more alert.

3. Eating No Breakfast or a Bad Breakfast

You've probably heard it a thousand times by now, but breakfast really is the most important meal of the day. Skipping breakfast, or fueling yourself with a bad one, can set you up for disaster in terms of low energy, headaches, and overeating later on. Similar to mid-morning snack options, choose wisely for breakfast, with high protein, low sugar, and good carbs (like oatmeal) that will help you feel good until noon and beyond.

4. Rushing Out the Door

A hectic morning routine can zap your energy and leave you feeling frazzled before the day even starts. Reduce morning stress by being prepared the night before with clothing choices, lunches, and other plan-ahead items. If your mornings are always a rush, it's definitely time to budget in extra time by getting up slightly earlier, which will benefit you more in the long run. (See also: Change Your Life With a Better Nighttime Routine)

5. Squandering Your Alert Time

It's been said that working memory, alertness, and concentration tend to peak before noon, which means this a great time for cognitive work. But many of us waste this precious time with our least pressing items or let distractions in. So skip the office gossip session, stop responding to non-essential emails, and don't get sucked into social media during this productive time. Save these less crucial items for later on when you need a break or have lower energy, and instead, take advantage of your morning brain clarity to knock out some of your analytical work or most energy-demanding tasks.

6. Failing to Reward Yourself

The morning is tough enough, and feeling deprived can only add to grumpiness and lack of motivation. It's important, therefore, to have that little something to look forward to, which can boost your day and improve mood. Whether it's 10 minutes of your favorite morning show, a delicious coffee, favorite music, or a few minutes of reading the paper in quiet, do it and enjoy it, so that you can start your day on a good note. (See also: 21 Frugal Rewards)

7. Never Stretching

The benefits of regular morning stretching have been lauded for many reasons. Stretching helps increase blood flow and energy, improves posture, reduces pain, and can stave off injury. It also can be easily incorporated into a morning routine with a small time commitment.

8. Setting Yourself Up For a Crash

A mid-morning pick-me-up is key to keeping your energy levels high, but snacking on a candy bar or a fourth cup of coffee can wreak havoc on your body. Sugary snacks will set you up for a blood sugar crash later on, not to mention can run up calorie counts. Hitting the caffeine too hard also runs you the risk of big time jitters, followed by withdrawal and headaches come afternoon. Aim for beneficial mid-morning snacks, which have some protein, fiber, or other nutritional benefits to keep your energy and mood going strong.

9. Procrastinating

If you hit noon and feel like there is still a mountain of work to do, you're likely to feel overwhelmed and less productive for the rest of the day. Procrastinating during the morning means a harder workload later in the day when your energy is lower. Completing at least one main task in the morning can give you a sense of accomplishment and allow you to feel like you are making progress. (See also: How to Stop Procrastinating)

10. Failing to Hydrate

By now, we all have heard that drinking plenty of water is part of good health. But most of us don't realize that we go off track early in the day when we miss out on hydrating during the critical morning hours. It's been shown that drinking water after waking up can help boost metabolism and digestion. Also, be sure not to skimp during the course of the morning, in order to make hitting your eight-glass goal for the day a lot easier.

11. Not Planning

You don't need to micromanage your schedule, but having a plan of attack for the morning hours can align your focus, give you more control, and help get more done. Spend a few minutes the night before organizing your schedule or to-do list for what you will be doing before noon, so that you can easily hit the ground running and not feel scattered in the morning. (See also: Change Your Bedtime Routine, Change Your Life)

12. Putting Off Exercise

Some folks have a good afternoon or evening exercise routine going for them. But if you find yourself skipping exercise or, like many people, just feel exhausted at the end of the day, then doing your exercise routine in the morning is key. Even 20 minutes is beneficial in the morning, not to mention a morning commitment guarantees exercise always gets done.

Tell us about some of your helpful a.m. actions that make for a better day.

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This article is from Kelly Medeiros of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Habits Aren't Boring — They're the Secret to Happiness. Here's Why.

Sarah Winfrey — Tue, 18 Feb 2014 10:48:31 +0000

Editor's Note: This is the first of a two-part series on harnessing habits to change our lives for the better. Tomorrow, in Part 2, Sarah puts theory to the test and attempts to corral one of her own bad habits — too much time spent on social media.

Do you brush your teeth every day? Of course you do. But do you know why you do it?

You do it because an advertiser named Claude C. Hopkins realized his clients would sell more toothpaste if they tied the product to a daily habit. (See also: 15 Small Healthy Habits)

Hopkins discovered that products tied to a cue that was both simple and specific sold better. In the case of toothpaste, he used the nasty feeling of the film that builds up on your teeth. Customers learned that, when they felt that film, they could brush their teeth, and it was gone! Within a few years, nearly everyone was brushing their teeth regularly.

We all have habits — good ones, like brushing your teeth, and unfortunately, some bad ones, like eating too many sweets. Habits are deeply powerful forces in our life. For better or worse, they automate our behavior. The key is to use the power of habits for good, by creating habits that will bring us closer to our goals. But in order to make habits work for us (instead of against us), we need to understand how a habit works. (See also: How to Break Bad Habits)

What Makes a Habit

Every habit has three parts: the cue, the routine, and the reward. Understanding each of these and how we can leverage them for our benefit can help us create the habits we want, rather than the ones we just fall into.

The Cue

The cue is the beginning of the process. The cue is the thing that sets us in motion, the thing that we recognize, either consciously or unconsciously, and act upon, automatically.

The Routine

The routine is the behavior itself. It is the set of actions that we perform. It's important to notice that, once these behaviors are triggered by their cues, things go by themselves from there. This is why we sometimes find ourselves in the middle of performing certain actions but aren't sure how we got there.

The Reward

Finally, every habit ends with a reward. It's the reason the habit was created in the first place. We may or may not even be aware of what exactly the reward is anymore, once the habit has been created and we've been acting it out for some time. But there is always a reward. (See also: 21 Frugal Ways to Reward Yourself)

Harness the Power of Habits to Reach Your Goals

More than anything else, habits can help us reach our goals. There are many times in our lives when we cannot depend on our own willpower to make good choices, like when we are hungry, angry, lonely, or tired. However, if you turn behaviors into habits — like going to the gym or eating healthy snacks — then you'll perform that action even when you are tired, sick, or otherwise weakened. You won't have to rely on your willpower to achieve your goal of losing weight or eating healthy.

When our determination and resolve are weak, we default towards our habits. We do the things that we have "programmed" ourselves to do, via habit, even when we don't feel like it. Thus, if you want to take steps towards your goals even when you are not at your best, incorporate those steps into your daily habits. (See also: Habits of the Financially Successful)

How to Create a Habit

Not every habit is something that we can take on daily, but it is best if we make as many of our daily tasks as possible into habits, so that we are stepping towards our goals on a daily basis. Not only do we feel like we are accomplishing something, but we are actually doing it. And we have our accomplishing built-in to our schedules and linked to the cues that exist around us in everyday life. (See also: Create a Habit in 30 Days)

Start Smaller Than Small

When creating new habits, don't bite off more than you can chew. In fact, don't even bite off as much as you think you can chew, because it's probably too much. Instead, break your big habit into as small of pieces as possible, and start with one or two of those. When they become habitual, you can add to them, until you are performing the whole action that you want.

Use Cues to Your Advantage

The cue is what happens right before you perform your behavior. This can be as simple as something like eating when you feel hungry. When you want to create a new habit, decide what cue you will use. Tie your routine to your chosen cue, and it will reinforce your new habit without requiring nearly as much willpower as might be needed without the cue. You will still need willpower for the first few days or weeks (depending on the habit), but eventually you think of the habit whenever the cue appears. (See also: 10 Ways to Increase Your Willpower)

Habits Are Habit Forming

Practicing a set of habits on a daily basis also gives us even further motivation for continuing to practice them in the future. When we do a task or set of tasks every single day, we don't only have the motivation that we mentioned above, which is essential for any habit, but we also have the motivation of having created a chain. When we have done something every day for a period of time, we may choose to continue those actions simply because we don't want to break that chain. This gives the habit even more power in our lives.

We know the power that habits can have in our lives, if only because we've seen them work against us. However, understanding what makes up a habit and how good daily habits will help us succeed can motivate us to do the work necessary to replace bad habits with great ones. When we harness their power, we will watch our goals come closer to reality every, single day.

Have you used the power of habits to improve yourself and your life? How did you do it?

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This article is from Sarah Winfrey of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Best Money Tips: Save Money During Your Morning Routine

Ashley Jacobs — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 11:00:34 +0000

Welcome to Wise Bread's Best Money Tips Roundup! Today we found some awesome articles on ways to save money during your morning routine, exercising for free, and staying fired-up when paying down debt.

7 Mindsets Holding You Back (And How To Overcome Them)

Julie Rains — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 21:01:03 +0000

Link:

http://www.openforum.com/articles/7-mindsets-holding-you-back-and-how-to-overcom...

Are you stuck?

Symptoms vary. Along with lack of innovation, they include chronic inability to solve problems effectively, sort fresh ideas from stale ones, and envision new possibilities.

Having been stuck myself and watched others stand still, I can relate. "The half-life of an insight or of an innovation is short and getting shorter," Seth Godin tells us in Poke the Box. So, unimaginative thinking becomes more and more dangerous and prevalent. But mindsets that keep you from moving forward can be overcome. First, recognize the ways of thinking that are holding you captive. Then reorient yourself and take action.

Forgetting that Mission is Critical to Innovation

Absent a clearly-defined, well-understood mission, evaluating new ideas is impossible because there is no filter to determine relevancy. So, you default to appraising the value of a proposal by the polish of the presentation and conviction of the presenter, not its usefulness in realizing the dream.

Solution: Articulate your organization’s mission, its purpose, its raison d’être. Let mission drive decision making and action taking. Understand that one option is not inherently better or worse than another but more or less aligned with purpose.

Persistent Desire to Obtain Compliance

Your efforts are perpetually focused on promotion and persuasion in hopes that customers will act in accordance with your business plan. Traditional selling activities overshadow product development and customer service efforts.

Solution: Stop expecting customers to act in your self interest. Talk with your prospects and existing customers. Listen. Discover needs, uncover obstacles to interacting with your business, and find what motivates customers to action. Create products, service models, and experiences that mesh with market insights and real-life demand.

Belief that Superficial Change is Transformative

You have heard – more than once – that your business needs to keep up with trends in order to stay relevant. For a long while, you’ve resisted change for fear of alienating your core customer. But when performance slips, you realize that the needs and expectations of your customer are much different now than just a few years ago.

Hurriedly, you tweak your message, your product offerings, and your service delivery method. Mistakenly, you believe that minor changes will transform your business.

Solution: Make a thorough and honest assessment of your organization. Recall feedback that customers offered before you realized that they wanted you to change. Compare your product designs, methods of interacting with customers, technology platforms, etc. to best practices in your industry. Then, formulate and implement a comprehensive plan to make changes and keep up with industry trends.

Conversely, Not Understanding that Incremental Change is Transformative

You hesitate to modify operations, update technology, freshen brand image, etc. because you are waiting to make one humongous change.

Solution: Fine-tune your product, pitch, service delivery mode, etc. when you see areas for improvement. Smaller changes, over time, can help you to avoid having to make huge leaps all the time.

As you become accustomed to dealing with change, you become more and more discerning when evaluating opportunities and savvier when taking steps to introduce new ideas.

Unwillingness to Consider Ideas from Those Outside Your Inner Circle

The uncomfortable truth is that innovative thinking may come from outside your familiar circle of trusted advisors. If you are stuck, they are likewise mired. They may see certain problems as temporary and make recommendations focused on superficial fixes rather than understanding of new realities.

Solution: Abandon the viewpoint that only those in your inner circle will take your organization to greater heights, especially if you are floundering now. Outsiders, including those on the periphery now and those new to your organization, can give fresh insights while insiders with domain knowledge can help with execution.

Belief that Quantity is Better than Quality

You are extremely busy. Despite the high volume of work, though, profits are flat. Customers are becoming more and more demanding. As a result, you move from one crisis to the next, deftly solving problems but never feeling in control of your business.

Solution: Eliminate activities and revenue streams that are bogging you down, splitting your attention, and failing to deliver profits – and causing the marketplace to see your business as nothing special.

Channel efforts to excelling in an area that your business can dominate.

Convey the message of niche expertise worthy of premium value, not a commodity competing on price with similar companies in your industry.

Failure to Distinguish Between Essential Activities and Outdated Habits

You cling to standard modes of operations without separating essential activities aligned with mission and goals from outdated habits started years ago for reasons now forgotten. Activity is wasted on seemingly good but, in reality, unnecessary movement.

Solution: Review daily, weekly, and monthly actions for relevancy to fulfilling purpose, demonstrating organizational values, and achieving goals. Eliminate what is no longer needed. Streamline through technology and process changes. Free time and release brainpower to generate ideas and pursue innovation.

This article is from Julie Rains of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Walk, walk, walk, walk, walk

Paul Michael — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 14:00:06 +0000

There’s one fact that is undeniable in America; we just don’t walk enough. A dependence on automobiles, elevators and escalators, coupled with a growing lack of interest in exercise and a healthy diet, has made walking something of a rarity in most parts of America. And it’s costing you, in so many ways.

In the now infamous documentary Super-Size Me, Morgan Spurlock carried a pedometer with him to ensure that he took the same number of steps that the average American takes each day (5000 at the time of filming…who knows what it is now). He ended up taking buses and taxis a lot. In one scene, he’s already exceeded his 5000 steps before he even had breakfast. Of course, that was in Manhattan, where walking is often quicker than taxis and buses.

But should this be an excuse for people who don’t live in that bustling metropolis? When I lived in England, which was for most of my life, I walked everywhere. I walked to school, to college, to the city centers, even to the grocery store (which was 40 minutes each way, and longer on the way back when I was laden with shopping bags).

Even though my diet was pretty bad most of the time, my weight stayed at a healthy 180-185lbs. I walked away the weight daily. Sometimes I would have to take public transportation to get to work, but I still had a good walk to and from the train stations or bus depots. And I didn’t drive. Why bother? I had everything covered and London was a hellhole to drive in.

Fast-forward 8 years and I’m no longer 185lbs. I’m closer to 215lbs these days, and although my diet is much improved (less beer, more vegetables, less beer) I’ve been steadily gaining for the last 7 years. And what happened in that time? Well, I moved to America and learned to drive. I wish there were a longer, more complex answer but that’s it.

Until recently, I was irritated if I didn’t get a parking spot close to the doors of my destination. I would get annoyed when my friends wanted to take the stairs. I would find myself getting seriously peeved if the moving walkways and escalators were out of order. And that’s what I think the problem is. A diet of cheap fast food, computer games, TV shows and a complete addiction to the car as a means of transportation has left millions of people overweight, in bad health and dying at an earlier age. As the Daily Mail recently reported:

"Parents could soon begin to outlive their children because of an epidemic of obesity afflicting the younger generation. Many youngsters are now so grossly overweight they face premature death caused by a heart attack or stroke."

This unhealthy lifestyle costs us all. Healthcare is the main rising expense, as well as drugs needed for diabetes, joint pain and so many more ailments that come from a lack of simple, daily exercise. And as your waistline increases, so do the costs of many other things you take for granted. A lot of the larger clothing sizes cost a few extra bucks, and even the airlines are starting to charge for obese passengers.

So, what are we to do? And what am I doing? Well, I’m walking more. Yes, I’m also cycling and working out, but I’m walking way more than I used to. It’s a tough habit to get into, but once you do you’ll find it easy to keep going. Here are five ways you can put more steps into your daily routine:

1: WALK from the back of the parking lot.
Whether it’s at a grocery store or your job, park much further away from the doors than you usually do (making sure you’re in a safe spot of course). Those extra hundreds of steps you take each time will really add up.

2: WALK up and down the stairs.
Don’t be tempted to take the elevator every time you have to go up and down a floor or two. Admittedly, if you work at the top of a 50 story building, that’s not going to be a simple walk. But when it’s just up a flight or two f stairs in a mall, at work or in an airport, forget the elevators. And if you have to take the escalators, walk up and down those instead of just standing there.

3: WALK on your breaks.
Most of us get a few breaks at work. An hour for lunch and a couple of 15 minute breaks in the morning and afternoon is fairly typical. Instead of sitting around chatting or trawling the internet, make use of your free time. Take a walk around your floor, your house, your building or wherever it is you spend your day. These additional steps will also give you more energy.

4: WALK your dog (or someone else’s).
It’s easy to get fit when you’ve got a purpose. In this case, taking your pooch on a long, brisk walk at least once a day will really help you burn some calories and fell good about yourself. And your doggie wil love you for it.

5: WALK to the beat.
Sorry for the lame title, but the message is good. With MP3 players almost being given away these days, it’s easy to walk to some of your favorite tunes. It’s also a good way to judge your progress. If you only walk to track seven one day, try going to track eight the next. Or maybe you’ll have covered more ground the next time you get to track nine.

So, that’s a simple but cheap and effective way to get healthy and lose some weight.

If you’re looking for ways to liven up a walk, there’s a great publication out there called The Walking Deck: 50 Ways To Walk Yourself Healthy. Amazon has it right now, and this set of 50 handy cards gives you some great ideas for diversifying your walking routine. Get walking, get healthy and get yourself out there.

This article is from Paul Michael of Wise Bread, an award-winning personal finance and credit card comparison website. Read more great articles from Wise Bread:

Being routinely creative

Philip Brewer — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:59:49 +0000

It might seem like creativity would flourish best in the absence of any constraining routine. In fact, the opposite is true: Having a routine is very useful for protecting your creativity.

Most people have the outline of a routine provided for them--they get up, they go to work or school, they come home, they go to bed. This sort of rhythm provides a useful constraint on your routine--perhaps you shower before work, run errands on the way home, mow the lawn on the weekend. If you're going to do any sort of creative work, you need to carve out a chunk of time somewhere in that schedule. That isn't easy, but at least it's clear what you need to do.

If you don't have a schedule imposed by something external (such as school or a job), you might imagine that you're in a superior position to give your creativity free rein. For most people, though, it doesn't work out that way.

It might seem like creativity would flourish best in the absence of any constraining routine. In fact, the opposite is true: Having a routine is very useful for protecting your creativity.

Everybody has certain things that they need to do--pay the bills, buy the groceries, run the errands, etc. The problem is, there's no limit to those sorts of activities--they will grow to fill all your time, if you don't put limits on them yourself.

If you don't have a work schedule to constrain them for you, it's very easy to let things that have to get done eat the time available for your creative pursuits.

The solution is a routine. Just like someone with a job, allocate chunks of time for the things that have to be done, then prioritize.

There are two keys:

First, be sure to schedule a chunk of time for your creative work. It doesn't need to be a lot--it doesn't take a lot of time to be creative. Like everything else, if you allocate more time (and put it to good use), you can get more done. But also like everything else, you pretty quickly run into diminishing returns--you won't get twice as much done in six hours as you can in three, or even twice as much in two hours as in one (although large chunks of time do have a magic all their own).

Second, be sure to restrict the "things that have to get done" to the time allotted for them. Since they "have to get done," it's easy to let them encroach on the time you've set aside for other tasks. Don't let that happen. Make sure that you've got enough time to get the truly necessary things done (such as paying your bills), prioritize the other items, and ruthlessly defer anything that would spill over.

Whether you have the outline of a routine provided for you (by something like a job, school, or family obligations), or you have to create the entire routine for yourself, having one is the only way to ensure that you can get both your creative work and the ordinary chores of daily living done.

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