Keep it Simple Archives - Page 7 of 11

Who Else Loves The Cinnamon Bear?

The Cinnamon Bear is a radio program from the 1930’s that played six days a week from Thanksgiving until Christmas. It is about two characters,

December 1, 2007

Information Overload and the Death of Email: What We Can Learn from Our Kids

When my kids went off to college, I was worried, as all parents are, if they were ready to embrace today’s world and not by consumed by it. I found comfort in the fact that their schools were providing them with email accounts and that I had provided them with cell phones with endless minutes. “How did my parents ever get along while I was away at school without instant access to me?” I wondered, but was quite grateful for the technological conveniences that today’s world offered to them (and to me!).

It took me a while to learn the ‘rules’ of communicating with young people who were stretching their wings of newfound independence.

November 26, 2007

Change: Doing One Thing Different

“If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got.” This is an old saw that never ceases to be true. Recovery programs use it a lot, and I like it because it is so very true.
Some people feel that if they’re going to make a change, they have to change everything.

November 15, 2007

Life Balance: Why Following Rules Is Liberating

I’m very big on rules. I don’t always obey the speed limit, and sometimes I ignore the sign that says “please return carts here,” and put them by a curb instead. But other than that, I’m pretty much a rule follower – I conform not only when I have to, but because it’s often the ‘right thing’ to do.

November 13, 2007

Living a Life of Voluntary Simplicity

by David B. Bohl We’ve all heard of “simple living,” and we see the magazines and the news articles and the web sites. I often

November 6, 2007

Change: Too Close to See Your Progress

Have you ever made a big change in your life, but noticed that those around you don’t seem to have noticed?

November 6, 2007

Getting Things Done – Take a Walk

Have you ever found yourself sitting at your desk, maybe first thing in the morning or right after lunch, and just not feeling functional? Many people call this “can’t get motivated,” but I really think of it as not being able to function correctly. My brain won’t go into gear, I can’t get started on anything, and when I do get started, I can’t keep going.

October 31, 2007

Need a Break? Do as Badgers Fans Do and JUMP AROUND

We all know that it’s sometimes a good idea to clear our heads during our increasingly-busy days by looking up from our desks and taking a break – going for a walk, sitting in a quiet place, or even logging into Facebook. Taking our minds off the tasks, challenges, and obstacles before us often is exactly what we need to refocus our energies.

I was watching the Wisconsin Badgers game this past Saturday, and it occurred to me that the students who attend the home football games are experts at taking a break. They’ve instituted a tradition whereby they rise to their feet at the end of the third quarter and ‘Jump Around’ to House of Pain’s song of that name.

October 29, 2007

Living Around Principles vs. Living In Integrity

After I titled this post “Living Around Principles,” it occurred to me that might sound like I mean living by getting around your principles, shoving them aside and living the life you’d be leading if you didn’t have any principles.

Uh, no. I left the title alone because I wanted to go ahead and bring up that idea, and then talk about why it doesn’t work and what I really meant.

Getting around your principles will not create the kind of life you want.

October 23, 2007

Going Back to the Well (Using What Works for You): Music Hath Charms to Sooth

How much do you listen to music? Do you listen more or less than you did when you were younger? Do you enjoy music? Do you have a favorite singer, a favorite group, a favorite song?

Many of us, when we were in college, listened to music to study because it “helped us concentrate.” But somewhere after college, a lot of us stopped listening so much. Maybe in the car. Maybe not. We don’t spend as much time with music on because we are too busy doing other things.

Why not dip back into that well?

September 28, 2007

Human Beings vs. Human Doings

by David B. Bohl Have you gotten caught up in “doing” instead of “being?” It’s easy to “do” in modern-day America, where we’re constantly bombarded

September 27, 2007

Luck: Helping Each Other and Paying it Forward

An ancient Greek named Menander said, “If we always helped each other, no one would need luck.” Actually, he probably wasn’t all that ancient when he said that, but he was a Greek, and he did live a very, very long time ago, and he was a very wise man.

I want to make a digression on luck. Some people think that other people are “really lucky” because they are able to achieve things they want to accomplish, and reach their dreams. The people considered lucky would probably respond that a lot of hard work went into that luck. That’s very true, but I think that the idea of helping each other also comes into play.

September 26, 2007

Time Management: Take Pleasure in Puttering – Make a Date for Idle Time in Your Life

The Christian Science Monitor recently ran an essay on the value of puttering.

The thrust of the article was that we don’t putter much anymore. We spend too much time “getting things done.”

Accomplishment is great, but what if we all just stayed at home this Saturday and puttered?

September 14, 2007

Productivity Tools? Time Management Techniques? First You Need a Strategy: Slow Down FAST

Ok … you have all your productivity tools in place. You have a rock-solid time management system. You have a seemingly-workable plan. But something isn’t quite right. You feel that, now, more than ever, you’re being stretched beyond your limits.

Maybe what’s missing isn’t all the tools and techniques. Maybe it’s your strategy.

September 4, 2007

Will You Get Happier as You Grow Older?

In a word – yes (if you’re part of the statistical average).

If happiness increases with age, does unhappiness increase as well?

Why do people experience greater happiness as they age?

August 17, 2007

4 Myths About Life Balance

Following are a few of the many myths about life balance. Overcoming these ways of thinking often takes time, but can be accomplished through simple paradigm shifts. Simply change a few basic, often long-held assumptions, and you’ll be well on your way.

August 16, 2007

The 4 Hour Workweek in Real Time

Tim Ferris wrote the book “The Four Hour Workweek.” The book isn’t so much about only working four hours a week; it’s really about living

August 13, 2007

The Serious Business of Happiness

Sociologist Paul Ray wrote a book titled “The Cultural Creatives: How 50 Million People Are Changing the World.” Ray researched a movement called the “grass

August 10, 2007

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DAVID B. BOHL

Relinquishee, Adoptee, MPE
Author, Speaker.