Does your inbox look like this? If not, why not? There really is no excuse especially when you combine David Allen’s Getting Things Done [GTD] principles with Google’s powerful Gmail technology…

Effectively handling e-mail is a passion of mine; I believe that the ability to effectively handle e-mail separates the sheep from the goats in the business world. How can you ever aspire to thought leadership if you can’t get out of your inbox? I have been using e-mail since 1994 and I remember initially how excited I was to get newsletters in my inbox. I thought to myself how cool is this? I can have companies send me news?!? Now, almost 20 years later I’m doing everything I can to hunt down and kill newsletters in my inbox and instead consume the information in Google Reader!

As someone who is so passionate about e-mail I read a lot of different articles about various strategies for achieving Inbox Zero. Not once however have I heard someone offer this simple advice: jealously guard your inbox! Only allow things into your inbox that are related to relationships or revenue. Everything else belongs in Google Reader. When you do email do email and save news for a time to look at news! If if you will follow that one simple rule and implement some of the steps that I outline in this screencast, you will once again become master of your e-mail domain!

Questions? Feedback? Next week? Getting Things Done [GTD] in Google Reader…

Bonus Gmail screencasts…

Older Gmail screencasts…

October 5, 2012 8

Wild turkeys in the road…

…via Instagram!

October 5, 2012 2

Big ship on the horizon…

…via Instagram!

October 5, 2012 6

Create Your Day!

Visual Inspiration: Create Your Day!.

October 5, 2012 2

It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan

“It takes as much energy to wish as it does to… | Simple Reminders.

October 5, 2012 2

Weighing In

Full story at: Weighing In. Why I Can’t Get On The Scale. « The Manifest-Station.

October 5, 2012 2

Most of the problems in life are because of 1 of 2 reasons

Most of the problems in life are because of 1 of 2 reasons.

October 5, 2012 4

You rock so much that you boulder!

You rock so much that you boulder. Karen Salmansohn.

October 5, 2012 2

The Beginner’s Guide to Unschooling

Leo Babauta writes today about a topic that interests me because we homeschool two of our boys…

There’s nothing I get asked about more as a parent than unschooling, and nothing I recommend more to other parents.

It’s an educational philosophy that provides for more freedom than any other learning method, and prepares kids for an uncertain and rapidly changing future better than anything else I know. My wife and I unschool four of our kids, and have been for several years.

And yet, as powerful as I believe unschooling to be, I’ve never written about it, because the truth is, I certainly don’t have all the answers. No one does.

The beauty of unschooling is in the search for the answers. If anyone had all the answers, there would be no search. And so what I’d love to teach unschooling parents and kids is that the search is the joy of it all.

But I’m getting ahead of myself: what is unschooling? Why should you do it? How do you do it? What should you read? We’ll talk about all that today.” Full story at: » The Beginner’s Guide to Unschooling :zenhabits.

There are many reasons to homeschool, but the think that caught my eye in Leo’s post is this: unschooling “prepares kids for an uncertain and rapidly changing future better than anything else I know”…

I work in a career that didn’t exist when I was in college and everything almost all the skills I learned to perform in this career I taught myself. I’m going to drill down on Leo’s post and evaluate what he has to say…

October 5, 2012 6

Don’t Try To Understand Everything

Don’t Try TO Understand Everything.

Before all else fails, use this:

October 5, 2012 5

If you’re using YouTube to promote your business, you want to watch this!

October 4, 2012 2

Your thoughts & actions not only influence your mood, but the moods of all who cross your path

notsalmon

via Your thoughts & actions not only influence your mood, but the moods of all who cross your path..

October 4, 2012 6

Having trouble with WordPress images?

Here are some thoughts on making your post images really pop!

October 4, 2012 2

Everything on this planet is in a state of constant change

Everything on this planet is in a state of constant change. Salmansohn.

October 4, 2012 2

Fall!

…via Instagram!

October 4, 2012 2

Stop wasting energy on anger, regret + fear

notsalmon

via Stop wasting energy on anger, regret + fear….

October 4, 2012 4

On the need for approval…

Most of us want to be liked. We want other people to think of us as nice, friendly, kind, and loving. Most of us want the approval of others.

Since childhood, some of us have been trying to get approval, trying to get people to like us and think highly of us. We may be afraid people will leave us if they disapprove of our actions. We may look for approval from people who have none to give. We may not know that we’re lovable now and can learn to approve of ourselves.

In order to live happily, to live consistently with the way our Higher Power wants us to live, and to tap into a way of life that is in harmony with the universe, we need to let go of our extreme need for approval. These unmet needs for approval and love from our past give others control over us today. These needs can prevent us from acting in our best interest and being true to ourselves.

We can approve of ourselves. In the end, that’s the only approval that counts.

Today, I will let go of my need for approval and my need to be liked. I will replace them with a need to like and approve of myself. I will enjoy the surprise I find when I do this. The people who count, including myself, will respect me when I am true to myself.” Just For Today Meditations – Daily Recovery Reading – September 10, 2012.

October 4, 2012 1

6 Tips to Keep Becoming Who You’re Meant to Be

“Life is a process of becoming. A combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.” ~Anais Nin

Full story at: 6 Tips to Keep Becoming Who You’re Meant to Be | Tiny Buddha.