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Benefits of Organizing & Having Less, and Some Weird Sounding Simplicity Tools That Might Just Help You Out

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In Episode 4, we discuss Benefits of Organizing & Having Less, and Some Weird Sounding Simplicity Tools That Might Just Help You Out.

Main Topics:  

Vanessa’s Topic: Benefits to Organizing and Having Less

You’ll save money, have less debt and be better able to handle tough financial times.

• It’s pretty simple: less stuff  =  less money you’ll have to spend…especially on off-site storage rentals!
• You’ll cut down on buying duplicates when you’re organized and know what you have.
• You’ll save on late fees and interest rates if you have a good system of tracking and managing your bills.

You’ll have more usable space.

• You’ll be able to properly utilize desktops, countertops and your dinner table. And maybe your garage too!
• Less stuff means you can use the spaces in your homes for their intended purposes and not just for storage.

You’ll help avoid “analysis paralysis.”

• We talked about this in Episode 3. When you have too much stuff it’s difficult to make decisions.
• With less choices, there’s less time wasted.

There’s less to clean and maintain!

• Average home 3 bedroom home has over 350,ooo items in it!
• Knick knacks and all those other things require lots of dusting, laundering, storage, cleaning and maintenance…and lots of money!

You can invite guests over without hesitation.

• Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to have them over without feeling embarrassed or in a rush to clean it up?
• Having simple routines and “a place for everything and everything in its place” makes for easy clean up.

You’ll be more productive.

• Start getting organized by having scheduled routines(mentioned in Episode 2): laundry, housecleaning, meal planning, etc.
• Helps ensure the “must-dos” get done…plus allows more  time to focus on other priorities or those…“want-to-dos.”

You’ll  have better concentration.

• Piles of papers, heaps of laundry and sinks full of dishes are haunting reminders of stuff you still have to do.
• It’s hard to concentrate when your home and office are a mess.

You’ll save time.

• The average person wastes about 55 minutes per day searching for things…keys, files, tools, clothes, etc. That’s a lot of time over the course of a year!
• Again, having “a place for everything and everything in its place” helps speed up the time it takes to clean up or find things.

You’ll have a sense of control.  Control = Confidence = Nicer You!

• Knowing where things are and when important tasks will get done creates confidence.
• Most folks are ashamed of their clutter and therefore ashamed of themselves.

You’ll have less guilt

• Don’t you feel guilty when you buy something when you know you really didn’t need it.
• It’s way more empowering when you can say “no” to those buying impulses and not bring in more stuff.

You’ll have more Joy and be more content.

• Striving for more and waiting for the day that you’ll strike it rich will deplete the joy you could be experiencing every day.
• You’ll never be content if you’re always comparing, striving for more stuff, collecting, etc.

You’ll have more time and better relationships.

You’ll have a feeling of calm and peace of mind.

Dan’s Topic: Backing Up Your Digital Information: Some Weird Sounding Simplicity Tools That Might Just Help You Out

Occam’s Razor: “Of two equivalent theories or explanations, all other things being equal, the simpler one is to be preferred.”

• Benedictine monk…William lived in Ockham, England from 1285-1349. William wasn’t the person who came up with the idea behind the razor, but he was widely known for professing it’s benefits, so it soon came to be known for him. The first time the term Occam’s razor was used, was in 1852, over 500 years after Occam’s death.
• Occam’s Razor Take Away: Try to develop the simplest solutions to problems and challenges. Much like the KISS method, keeping processes, workflows, recipes, you name it, simple, helps you to be able to replicate successes.

Next up is Parkinson’s Law which states: Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

• C. Northcote Parkinson (30 July 1909 – 9 March 1993)
  • British naval historian, author of sixty books (most famous of which Parkinson’s Law), scholar within the field of public administration, satirist of government bureaucracy.
• Storage requirements will increase to meet storage capacity
• Data expands to fill the space available for storage.
• Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.
• Expenditures rise to meet income
• The amount of time which one has to perform a task is the amount of time it will take to complete the task.
• The Stock-Sanford Corollary to Parkinson’s Law reads, “If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute to do.” I call that the “Homework Corollary.”
• Parkinson’s Law Take Away: Realize that the “status quo” can quickly turn into the status “whoa!”  What that big house because you enjoy the extra space? It’ll fill up. 

Pareto Principle: Often called the 80/20 Rule. 80% of the results likely comes from 20% of the effort.

• Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, observed in 1906 that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population
  • Developed the principle by observing that 20% of the pea pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas. This same 80/20 split kept revealing itself.
  • Led ol’ Villy to determine that, generally, 80% of effects likely come from the 20% of causes.
• Another way to think about isOrganization: Do you keep the 20% of the things you use almost every day in logical places to maximize your efficiency?
  • Are the other 80% of your belongings getting in the way when you don’t need them? Maybe it’s time to look at how much stuff you really need, identify your vital 20% and pare the other 80% down a bit?
• Productivity: When it comes to productivity you need to think “systems.”
  • Look at the vital few tasks you do that have the biggest impact.
  • Do you have a system in place for your “to do” list, paying bills, buying groceries, filing important documents, home and vehicle maintenance, etc.
• More about Pareto’s 80/20 Rule at SimpleLifeTogether.com/Pareto
• Take Aways from Pareto: Use Pareto’s Principle to determine key actions that have the most results in your life, your most important 20% of effort, habits, possessions, etc, to learn where you can pare down what you do, have and use.

Use these tools individually and together to your advantage to simplify your life.

The “Thing” Segment:

Vanessa: Michael Hyatt Blog Post:  The Gift of Today-Lessons from a Monk.  This post featured a beautiful video that Michael Hyatt forwarded and wrote about .  It’s an absolutely beautiful video that’s narrated by a monk where he encourages us to be grateful.  Here’s one of his excerpts:

“You think this is just another day in your life.  It’s not just another day  It’s the one day that is given to you today…It’s the only gift that you have right now.  And the only appropriate response is gratefulness.”

Dan: The Decline of Fascination and the Rise in Ennui (on-wee). A blog post by Seth Godin…a fellow Buffalonian and some consider him a modern day philosopher.  Here’s a quick excerpt from his post:

“The real opportunity, I think, is in trying to build longer arcs. Now that the cycle of new is eating itself in a race to ever-faster, there’s a bigger chance to make long term change by consistently focusing on what works (and what’s important), not what’s new and merely shiny. What’s important, what’s always important, is useful change.”

Closing Thoughts:

If you like the show, please subscribe and consider giving us a good review in iTunes

If you know someone else who might enjoy the journey too, send them a link to SimpleLifeTogether.com

There are links to our Twitter and Google Plus profiles and other contact info on the left side of the website. We’d love to hear from you !

Be sure to leave comments below, send us a voicemail from the little microphone icon on the right side of the page, or you can go “old school” and email us!  Comments, questions, thoughts, ideas, suggestions…they’re all welcome and we’d love to hear from you!

Links we mentioned in the show:

Get Simplifized.com: Vanessa’s article on Benefits to Organizing and Having Less.

Very good article on Occam’s Razor over at You’re Making Me

More about Pareto’s 80/20 Rule at SimpleLifeTogether.com/Pareto

Michael Hyatt Blog Post:  The Gift of Today-Lessons from a Monk.You can find more of Seth Godin’s work at http://sethgodin.typepad.com

Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and leave a review in the iTunes store! It helps others find the show! Thank you!

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Why We Can’t Let Go of Our Clutter, Backing Up Your Digital Information, & A Little About Dropbox

Be sure to subscribe in iTunes and leave a review in the iTunes store! It helps others find the show! Thank you!

In Episode 3 we discuss reasons why some people can’t seem to let go of clutter and some tips that may help you decide what to keep and what to let go.  We also talk about some lessons learned from a catastrophic hard drive crash which sparked the “Your Backup Strategy’ strategy segment, and we wanted to sing a few praises for Dropbox. Dropbox is one way to save documents to the cloud and sync them across all your devices simply.

Main Topics:  

Vanessa’s Topic: Why We Can’t Let Go of Our Clutter

• We feel the need for abundance. We are a consumer-driven society and conditioned to think more is better…it’s all about quantity over quality.

• We’ve lived a life “without” and find security with having more. Living through the Depression, growing up in a modest or poor  household, or surviving a rough financial patch can play a huge role in why folk don’t ever want to “live without” again.

• Forget Justin Bieber…we’re more influenced by Justin Case.  You know, “I might need this someday…just in case.” Some folks want to be ultra-prepared for any scenario. It’s ok to be prepared, but try to be realistic…especially if all that stuff is getting in the way.

• We feel a sense of obligation. Many feel a sense of obligation to keep every gift. It’s ok to hold on to things but you do have the ability to say no.

• We fear losing the memory if we get rid of something. Many of us have had wonderful and meaningful experiences throughout our lifetime but we fear that if we get rid of a gift, we’ll forget that person, experience or important time in our life.

• We want to pay tribute to our past experiences.  Like from our childhood, past careers or travels.  It’s easy to go overboard on collections but try to be mindful of collecting too much.

• We’ve spent too much money and feel like it’s a waste if we give it away. Let’s face it. We’ve all probably spend a good fortune on things that we never used or never really liked. Boy does that sting! Chalk it up as a lesson learn, be more frugal and research before purchasing another product and find comfort in donating your goods to folks who are less fortunate.

• We’re holding on to the past. We tend to keep things that remind us of times when we were happy, the most confident, or the most successful.

• And sometimes we hold on for a deeper reason...like allowing our things to define our self-worth…or define our happiness.  Many folks believe that shopping and having more makes them happier but often times it’s just a temporary fix to “fill the void” of something else that’s missing in their lives.

 Simple Steps to Help You Let Go:

•  Start with the space that’s causing you the most grief or anxiety. This could be the home office, the kitchen, the laundry room, the bedroom etc.

• Then start small. Pick a small area to work on like a drawer, a shelf, a cabinet, one spot on the kitchen counter, one filing drawer.  You wouldn’t eat an elephant in one sitting right?  You’d take small bites and eat a little at a time.  (Not sure I like that analogy…the thought of eating an elephant is stomach wrenching but you get the point right!)

• Then ask yourself these questions when deciding what to keep or not to keep:
  • Do I love it?
  • Do I need it?
  • Do I use it?
  • When was the last time I used it?
  • When do I plan on using it?
  • Can I borrow it?
  • Can I rent it?
  • What’s the worst that will happen if I got rid of it?

• If you answered “yes” to the first three questions then you should probably keep the item. If you answered “no” then considered letting it go.  If you’re still struggling then ask the other questions and you’ll more than likely find your answer.

Dan’s Topic:  Backing Up Your Digital Information and an Intro to Dropbox

Backing Up Your Digital Information: 

• As anyone who has experienced an unrecoverable hard drive crash knows, your first thoughts are “oh my gosh…what files did I just lose forever?”
• The reason I lost some files is boils down to one thing…I failed to make the process simple.

Negative Lessons Learned

• I took too long to make my decision on which backup system to use for my huge video files

• Foolish rookie decision making mistake.
• George S. Patton: “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan executed next week.” (when it’s too late)

Positive Lessons Learned:

•  My routine of using Dropbox (and Google Drive) for all my important work docs proved a complete success.
• While all docs, pics, vids, etc, that were hosted in my iMac are gone, every single one I had on the Cloud (whether Dropbox or Drive) are intact and those workflows are seamless.
• I use Dropbox and Drive as much for convenience as I do as a part of my backup plan. I love to have my docs accessible wherever I am and it’s so convenient to be able to share docs with clients.
• By having everything in Dropbox intact reinforces a solid backup strategy: again, ensure you have your info backed up to an external drive, and be sure you also have an off site/cloud storage backup, as well.
• Ensure you test your strategy from time to time.

 Your big takeaways!

• Follow the 3 S’s…Make your backup Simple, Seamless and Solid.  
  • Simple…so you don’t have to think about it, it just happens in the background. If you do have to think about it, set reminders in your calendar. If you use Google calendars, send text message reminders to yourself.
  • Seamless…if you have regular backups to an external drive, make sure that drive is also backed up off site.  Initial backup to the Cloud can take up to a couple weeks, depending on your connection speed and how much data you have, of course.
  • Solid…evaluate that your system works. Try to download files from your backup system and see if there are bottlenecks or barriers to your system. How easy would it be to do a complete system restore if you lost your hard drive?
    • As I reevaluated my backup strategy, I added immediate (and blazing fast Thunderbolt external backup) that can handle my huge video files, followed by nightly off site backup with DollyDrive.
    • As I mentioned in Episode 002, I chose Dolly Drive because they’re Mac specific and I really couldn’t find any complaints about them anywhere!
    • I can’t endorse DollyDrive yet because I just started using it, but I’ll be sure to give updates.

• Make sure your backup plan is simple but complete…

• On site backup to an external drive
• Cloud backup off site.

A Little Bit About Dropbox

• Dropbox is probably not your total backup solution. Use Dropbox to supplement a good backup plan by storing docs there.

• Dropbox is FREE and they give you 2Gb to start out with.  You can sign up at SimpleLifeTogether.com/Dropbox.

• You can earn up to 18 Gb of additional storage through referrals, too.

• They have paid plans if you use LOTS of storage space (that’s what we use)

How It Works:

• What dropbox does is simply add another folder on your computer that acts as a virtual drive.

• You can load Dropbox on your PC, Mac, smartphones, tablets, etc, and have everything synchronized on every device.
  • If you change or edit a document in Dropbox while working on your laptop, it will automatically update everywhere else.
  • Even if you’re on someone else’s device, you can log in to your Dropbox account on the web and access your information there.
• You can even share documents or folders with others so they can have access, too.  And it’s all done seamlessly…on the Cloud.

• You can use it for photos and videos, too.

The “Thing” Segment:

Vanessa: ANALYSIS PARALYSIS: Too many choices can be overwhelming and frustrating…life is much easier and simpler when choices are few.  This strategy works great with kids too!

Dan:  EVERNOTE!  We both use and LOVE Evernote!  It is what they say, an external brain.  If you’re into David Allen’s Getting Things Done system, or any other productivity system for that matter, then you know how every system touts “ubiquitous capture,” aka “getting everything out of your head or your environment and getting it recorded somewhere (notebook, 3″ x 5” cards…or Evernote). We plan on doing a future podcast(s) dedicated to how we use Evernote, but in the meantime, check out Evernote.com and see if it might just rock your world like it has ours.

Closing Thoughts:

If you like the show, please subscribe and consider giving us a good review in iTunes

If you know someone else who might enjoy the journey too, send them a link to SimpleLifeTogether.com

There are links to our Twitter and Google Plus profiles and other contact info on the left side of the website. We’d love to hear from you !

Be sure to leave comments below, send us a voicemail from the little microphone icon on the right side of the page, or you can go “old school” and email us!  Comments, questions, thoughts, ideas, suggestions…they’re all welcome and we’d love to hear from you!

Links We Mentioned in the Show:

Get Simplifized.com: Vanessa’s article on Letting Go of Your Clutter

Dropbox: You can learn more and download Dropbox at SimpleLifeTogether.com/Dropbox

Evernote: Your “external brain”