5 Things You’re Probably Wasting Money On Right Now

stop wasting money.

Here are a few quick ways to catch money-pits, or easily fixable wastes of your hard-earned income. Have one I forgot? Add in the comments below!

1.Cable. Why are you spending money on cable when you can get Netflix for $8/mo? Or hulu? Or utilize the magic of the interwebs? You shouldn’t be watching much TV anyways.

2. Phone apps. There are thousands of free apps that do the job — those dollars add up quickly. Save for a small handful of truly useful paid apps, most are a waste.

3. Credit Card Interest. This one’s harder to stop, if you cannot pay off your entire balance right away. Work on paying off debt via the snowball effect — pay off everything you can towards the credit card with the highest interest rate until done, then put that money towards the next highest, etc.

4. Eating out for lunch. When you make a sandwich at home, the costs are minimal compared to buying a $5-10 meal for lunch, even for fast food. Spend a few minutes each night or in the morning to gather a balanced lunch and you’ll save money and your waistline.

5. Utilities. Are all the lights on in your house, the TV blaring with the radio and the heat turned up very high (or the AC blasting with the windows open?) Take a look around your house and see what you can do to minimize utility usage, and shave off money each month.

4 Motivational Playlists for Working Out or Working Hard

There’s no question that amazing music lifts you up and transcends your thoughts and emotions into a new place. Here are my favorite 4 motivational playlists found for free on Youtube and for the tech-savvy, free to convert to mp3 for your iPod/listening device (like this one). Enjoy!

Get psyched!

or view on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmVZT05ySfE
Good 30-40min mix of mostly rock tracks from the likes of rise against, breaking benjamin, and even eminem plus key movie soundtracks.

or view on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmfpHP5Upx8
one hour of dance tracks with powerful hits from avicii, david guetta, and more.

or view on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYZDKRQf4ZI
one hour of mixed electro/house hits.

or view on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZuH-TNeGYk
great opening speech “Pain is Temporary” by Eric Thomas followed by an hour of rock/rap mixes (such as: the game, 50 cent, hollywood undead, and body head bangerz)

have any favorites? Post the links in the comments! I love hearing new playlists for my work outs and for general GSD!

3 Quick Life Hacker Tips: Sunday Edition

• It’s important to be consistent in healthy and creative habits.
• Remain positive even if you have to force yourself: adjust your attitude.
• Put your goals in your view everyday, all the time — write them down, think about them, be a little bit obsessed — it’s how you become great.

check this out for great positive images on Pinterest.

That Moment When You Realize How Much You Already Have in Life

from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc4HGQHgeFE/

Sometimes it’s hard to think of everything you have to be grateful in life, and instead think about what you dont have, or think about the person you’ve yet to become, the lifestyle you endlessly desire.

Until you see a video like this.

Inspired and moved to tears..

For more see Nick’s channel. http://www.youtube.com/user/NickVujicicTV

When Sh*t Happens, or When You’re Not Happy, Change Something

I’ve been having the most awful, cortisol-stuffed vein producing days lately. Sh*t keeps happening to me and I’m in a daze. Confusion settles around me like heavy cigarette smoke. It’s hard to feel like there’s ever a way out.

The important thing to know when you’re dealing with a day/week/month like this, is that you are never alone. There is someone who has been there, who has gotten through it, who is currently experiencing the same damn thing as you. Your situation is never 100% unique — there is always someone who has already walked in your path, overcome the sh*t and owned it.

Sometimes sh*t happens for a reason. Whether it was your fault or not, or whether you just had a stroke of awful luck and happenstance, it can bring along an unfortunate series of events. Most people will crumble. Give up. And they will never pick themselves off from being beaten down and throw themselves at whatever challenges them.

But the important thing to know is that you have the amazing ability to control the now. The present. F*ck the past, that’s spilled milk. Done. Over. Worst day of your life? Okay, but that was yesterday. It’s done, you can move on. 

Figure out what went wrong, find something you can learn from yesterday.

When sh*t happens, it’s easy to fall into an endless cycle of feeling sorry for yourself. 

Don’t. Stop right now.

The freedom that many have can be paralyzing to act — you CAN change the outcome. You CAN do something about it. It might be hard, or take a lot of courage, but there is always something you can do to make yourself happy when you’re not. 

The strategy is simple. But I didn’t say it wasn’t hard.

Not Happy? Change Something.

1. Figure out what makes you angry, upset, depressed, frustrated, and stressed.

2. Eliminate or get rid of these things. They are mentally, physically and spiritually destroying you slowly.

3. If the items in #1 require much planning, do that planning now. Need to quit your job that brings tears to your eyes every time you wake up in the morning? Establish a set of action plans to do this month, this week, and tomorrow.

4. Replace the negativity with healthier things that bring happiness. Especially if #1 items will take time to get rid of…paint, vent on the phone with a friend, go out to eat at your favorite restaurant, take a walk at the park, play with your kids or pet.

5. Establish the focus on your emotional state and stress levels, and do things to reduce it: get enough sleep. Eat vegetables and fruit. Drink plenty of water. Exercise. Meditate. Journal. Paint. See a life coach/counselor if you really need to, it truly helps. There is no stigma — help yourself.

Remember this: If you’re not working to make your life better, your life will not get better.

Listen to Yourself & Do What Makes You Happy: Make Your Leap List

take huge leaps for enhancing motivation. photo source

If I was given the opportunity to go back in time, I would do many things differently. I’m sure many of you will agree that you would love to do the same.

But while we sit around and twiddle our thumbs waiting for someone to invent the time machine (someone should really get on that), we’re stuck with what we’ve got — today.

So instead of having the ability to leap across increments of time, we have the ability to do something equally (if not more) amazing.

The ability to change the future.

Yes. We can do literally anything we want. This freedom is pretty scary. And hard.

It is easier to be sad than to be happy.

Being happy is hard. Being happy means listening to what YOU want to do, not what society, school, parents, friends, media, co-workers, or anyone else tells you. Being happy is ignoring the noise and doing what you want. Even if it’s atypical, weird, unlikely to succeed, risky, not what you went to college for, or frowned upon. And ESPECIALLY if it’s hard.

So today I decided to write a little list. And I called it “My Life List” because I wasn’t worrying about the title at the time, but it’s really a list of ACTIONS that I will be doing in the near future. Actions that will change my life.

It should really be called, My Leap List.

• So pick a soon-ish time-frame. This week, This month, This quarter (3mo).
• Write down anything, small or large that makes you happy, smile, and feel good about yourself and your life. Write down the hard decisions, the ones that took a lot of thinking, the ones you made after many hours of soul-searching and talking it out or writing about it.
• Turn those into action steps, goals, promises to yourself.
• Establish urgency. Commit to doing them TOMORROW. If you’re reading this in the morning, TODAY.

I can sit here and tell you to get off your butt all day, but no one can change your life except yourself. Sometimes there is a time where there is too much thought and not enough doing.

So do it. 

And if you need permission, I’m giving it to you. It’s okay to do what you want. Seriously.

Today’s post was inspired by my newest blog-crush, The Blog of Impossible Things. #boom.

How My Job Forced Me to Become an Early Riser

I hate waking up early.

There, I said it.

But there is something about waking up early for my job that gives me the kick in the pants that nothing else will. Not school. Not an appointment. Not meeting a friend or trainer at the gym.

So when my job completely switched me from mostly nights to almost exlusively early morning shifts, my first reaction was: oh shit.

How am I supposed to wake up at 5 AM, a time that I usually see from spending too much time mucking around on the internet (and too much caffeine)?

But it was surprisingly easy to switch. Why? Well, because they’re paying me. They allow me to pay rent, buy food, waste money on eBooks and other stuff.

Not only that, but the punishment of not going to work was clear: verbal warnings, written warnings, getting fired. Who wants this on their record: Can’t wake up early for a job.

Not me!

So I found it odd that after a few weeks of this new schedule, I began waking up early even on days that I didn’t have to be at work. Days that I used to easily sleep in until the late hours of the afternoon. Now waking up at 8-9 AM, like normal people do.

Moral of the story?

• Habits are hard to change, except with a huge reward (money) or strict punishment (getting fired).

The next time you are trying to accomplish a goal or acquire a new habit, up the ante a bit. Establish a very clear reward and punishment system for your actions or non-actions, and tell all your friends or everyone in your social networks. Follow through on the rewards and the punishments.

There are some websites that help you do this by providing serious accountability, a fun-factor (apps and game-like quality), social support and pressure, and even some $ on the line: Rootein, Stickk, 21habit, beeminder. Most of these sites also have phone apps you can download for more convenience.

What habit are you going to start, either by yourself or with the help of a website or app?

My personal habits I’m working on for the month of March (and beyond):

• exercise 4-5 times per week for one hour
• eat less than 1500 calories per day and log calories in MyFitnessPal daily
• wake up no later than 9 am on non-working days and be productive during that time (ie: go to the gym)

 

3 Quick Tips I’ve Learned This Week

source

1. I’ve been working on my new site for the past week and it’s going swimmingly. Really I just dove in after thinking about a basic plan (basic keyword research, basic content plan, ideas for monetization and promotion). Once I saw a great keyword-optimized domain name, I decided to jump in and start. Is there something that you are waiting for the opportune moment, that perfect time to do it? Well, I’m here to let you know that there is none. Tip: stop waiting, and just do it. The worse that could happen is that you could succeed.

2. Sometimes the best motivation you can get is by talking with an older and wiser friend. Our conversation far exceeded normal conversation and felt more like a one on one therapy session with a success coach. I hung up my phone with a renewed sense of clarity and focus for my goals. Tip: who is able to help you, even if all they offer is their listening ears?

3. I’ve definitely been working long hours on my new website. It’s in a niche I’m excited in, and I wasn’t going to launch officially yet until I was completed with everything. But I said, Oh, what the hell (see tip #1) and started a double-prong attack of a)creating original content and b)building organic traffic. These take time, but when you do it right, you only have to do it once. I wouldn’t feel right having others write my articles or scraping unoriginal content from the internet (which oh hey, is also plagiarizing). Tip: if you’re going to do it at all, do it right. Don’t half-ass anything.

I’m excited about the future, but I also know that I can’t do it all. I’ve suspended my Fiverr gigs so I can focus on being on the other side of the internet marketing biz. I already have a list of 3-4 other niche ideas that I need to research the market on to find the exact micro niche possibilities that will prove to be profitable, and I have a huge learning curve ahead of me for getting traffic to my sites, but I love it all. Everything about it. Even “working for free” as I spend time writing my content and ebooks.

What brings you excitement this week? Make sure you spend time working on your goals everyday.

Convince Yourself to Hit the Gym: Jillian Michael’s Mind Trick

In an interview with Shape magazine, Jillian Michaels shares her top mind trick for working out when she doesn’t feel like it:

SHAPE: On those days you just don’t want to work out, how do you convince yourself to get out of bed and do it?
JM: I play mind games. I tell myself how grumpy ill be if I don’t work out and think about how lethargic I’ll feel the next day. I promise myself that I will just do 15 minutes and if I am still miserable I’ll stop. There hasn’t been one time I didn’t stay to finish at least 30. Once you are there and the endorphins kick you, you find the strength to power through.

You can read the entire article here.

Why does this work?

• You turn a negative thought: I don’t want to workout today — into a positive one: Okay, I’ll just do 5-10 minutes and stop.
• You give yourself permission to start by lowering expectations — it can be overwhelming trying to exercise for 30 min, 45 min, 60 min 4-5 days per week. By saying it’s okay to just START NOW, and say it’s okay to stop if you want, you bring yourself on that machine or to push play on that workout video.
• After starting, the hardest part is over — Jillian Michaels says that she has never stayed to finish at least 30 minutes of her workout — I guarantee that you will, too.
• Even if you do decide to stop after 10-15 minutes, SOMETHING is always better than NOTHING. Studies have shown that 3 bouts of 10-15 minute exercises can be just as effective as one long workout.

So get going! Some last inspiring words from Jillian:

Start giving yourself all the affection and attention that you give others, and I promise that not only will your attitude and self worth change, but your waistline as well.

Lose More Weight: Exercise in the Morning Before Breakfast

We’ve heard this before I’m sure, but it’s exciting to hear when new research confirms this. A recent study (Jan 2013) published in the online British Journal of Nutrition says that exercising on an empty stomach in the morning leads to more fat burn. Also, that this fasted-state exercising does not translate into more calories consumed later in the day!

The researchers discovered that those who had exercised in the morning did not consume additional calories or experience increased appetite during the day to compensate for their earlier activity.

They also found that those who had exercised in a fasted state burned almost 20% more fat compared to those who had consumed breakfast before their workout. This means that performing exercise on an empty stomach provides the most desirable outcome for fat loss.

I find personally that exercising in the morning is better because you get it over with first thing and before you have time to talk yourself out of it. By exercising in the morning you start your day with a healthy habit that spurs you to keep making more healthy habits the entire day — plus you feel GREAT afterwards.

I’m planning on joining Planet Fitness soon so that I can follow this advice and exercise in the morning, too.

Do you exercise in the morning?

Source:

Northumbria University (2013, January 24). Lose fat faster before breakfast. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 20, 2013, from sciencedaily.com