The Dream Objective

By James Kyle


There was something not quite right. But, on the other hand, somehow it did feel right.

Everyone in the bar was dressed in pastel tie dyed tops and pants. Logically that didn’t make sense. Now, if I had been walking into a room in Haight-Ashbury in the summer of love then there would have been no incongruence. However, I wasn’t, so, there was something not quite right.

But again, it did somehow feel right. It felt natural, the way it was supposed to. People talking in couples and groups. Some quietly, a few a little less quietly. People appeared relaxed, just talking and drinking and having a good time. The more I looked around the less strange it appeared and the more welcoming. I put aside my analytical unease and I stepped over the threshold.

As I made my way towards the bar area the scent of jasmine incense became increasingly pronounced, adding to the welcoming ambience. I stood for a while entranced and surprisingly comforted by just taking in the vista of the backlit bottles of drinks arrayed behind the bar. There was a simple beauty in the various liquid colours and hues laid out in front of me. Their enchantment took me deeper in to feeling ever more at peace in this exotic location.

I was in a bar, so it seemed natural to order a drink and I turned my attention to the bartender nearest me. She looked up to meet my gaze. However as she did so, once more, I was jarred out of my willing suspension of disbelief. She looked like she was happy to take my order, but she was wearing headphones, her fingers tapping in time to the music she was listening to. What kind of bar was this? It made no sense at all that staff should wear headphones and be unable to hear customer orders. It wasn’t right. There was a flicker of a smile on the bartender’s young face. Did I just say that out loud? Well it was true, it just didn’t make any sense.

My mind began to abstract from all of these strange surroundings. I began to find myself thinking "If I shouted out an order in a bar and no one is there that can hear it, does it make a sound?” My thoughts jumped on, was that notion profound or pretentious?  I started to disconnect more and more from my surroundings. I began to question why I question stuff so much. Where does it end? Does it end at all? Or am I just going to be faced with never ending questions? And then I heard the laughter.

I found myself back in the room, looking at the young bartender, her face a distillation of the purest glee. My intellect made one last attempt at sovereignty, “what was she laughing at?” And then, this thought was swept away as the infectious laughter caught hold and I couldn’t help myself from echoing that joyful state. The whole room was entirely full of laughter. What was to be gained from asking why? The best course was to surrender and accept what is. And so, I let go, and simply lost myself in the stillness of the laughter.

The Space Between Self-Esteem and Self Compassion

Kristin Neff is a self compassion evangelist and she loves spreading the good word about self compassion. She has devoted the last 10 years of her research career to studying the mental health benefits of compassion and more recently she's been working on developing interventions to help people learn to be more compassionate to themselves in their lives. Learn more in this 19 minute video.

Kickstarter and the remarkable projects it helps make possible

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The co-founder of Kickstarter on the thinking behind his company - and the remarkable projects it helps make possible.

33 More Rules to Boost Your Productivity

By Steve Pavlina


A few of these are similar to the ones already posted, but most are new.  Sometimes looking at the same idea from different angles can be beneficial.

So here are 33 more rules to boost your productivity:

1. Super Slow.  Commit yourself to working on a particularly hideous project for just one session a week, 15-30 minutes total.  Declutter one small shelf.  Purge 10 clothing items you don’t need.  Write a few paragraphs.  Then stop.
   
2. Dailies.  Schedule a specific time each day for working on a particular task or habit.  One hour a day could leave you with a finished book, or a profitable Internet business a year later.
   
3. Add-ons.  Tack a task you want to habitualize onto one of your existing habits.  Water the plants after you eat lunch.  Send thank-you notes after you check email.
   
4. Plug-ins.  Inject one task into the middle of another.  Read while eating lunch.  Return phone calls while commuting.  Listen to podcasts while grocery shopping.
   
5. Gratitude.  When someone does you a good turn, send a thank-you card.  That’s a real card, not an e-card.  This is rare and memorable, and the people you thank will be eager to bring you more opportunities.
   
6. Training.  Train up your skill in various productivity habits.  Get your typing speed to at least 60wpm, if not 90. 
   
7. Software.  Take advantage of productivity software to boost your effectiveness.  Lifehacker recommends new items every week.
   
8. Zone out.  Enter the zone of peak creativity, and watch your output soar.  
9. Denial.  Just say no to non-critical requests for your time.
   
10. Recapture.  Reclaim other people’s poor time usage for yourself.  Visualize your goals during dull speeches.  Write out your grocery list during pointless meetings.
    
11. Mastermind.  Run your problem past someone else, preferably a group of people.  Invite all the advice, feedback, and constructive criticism you can handle.
    
12. Twenty.  Take a piece of paper, number 1-20, and don’t stop until you’ve listed 20 creative ideas for improving your productivity.
    
13. Challenger.  Deliberately make the task harder.  Challenging tasks are more engaging than boring ones.  Compose an original poem for your next blog post.  Create a Power Point presentation that doesn’t use words.
    
14. Asylum.  Complete an otherwise tedious task in an unusual or crazy manner to keep it interesting.  Make phone calls using pretend foreign accents.  Fill out government paperwork in crayon.
    
15. Music.  Experiment to discover how music may boost your productivity.  Try fast-paced music for email, classical or new age for project work, and total silence for high-concentration creative work.
    
16. Scotty.  Estimate how long a task will take to complete.  Then start a timer, and push yourself to complete it in half that time.
    
17. Pay it forward.  When an undesirable task is delegated to you, re-delegate it to someone else.
    
18. Bouncer.  When a seemingly pointless task is delegated to you, bounce it back to the person who assigned it to you, and challenge them to justify its operational necessity.
    
19. Opt-out.  Quit clubs, projects, and subscriptions that consume more of your time than they’re worth.
    
20. Decaffeinate.  Say no to drugs, suffer through the withdrawal period, and let your natural creative self re-emerge.
    
21. Triage.  Save the lives of your important projects by killing those that are going to die anyway.
    
22. Conscious procrastination.  Delay non-critical tasks as long as you possibly can.  Many of them will die on you and won’t need to be done at all.
    
23. TV-free.  Turn off the TV, especially the news, and recapture many usable hours.
    
24. Timer.  Time all your tasks for an entire day, preferably a week.  Even the act of measuring itself can boost your productivity, not to mention what you learn about your real time usage.
    
25. Valor.  Pick the one item on your task list that scares you the most.  Muster all the courage you can, and tackle it immediately.
    
26. Nonconformist.  Run errands at unpopular times to avoid crowds.  Shop just before stores close or shortly after they open.  Take advantage of 24-hour outlets if you’re a vampire.
    
27. Agoraphobia.  Shop online whenever possible.  Get the best selection, consult reviews, and purchase items within minutes.
    
28. Reminder.  Add birthday and holiday reminders to your calendar a month or two ahead of their actual dates.  Buy gifts then instead of at the last minute.
    
29. Do it now!  Recite this phrase over and over until you’re so sick of it that you cave in and get to work.
    
30. Inspiration.  Read inspiring books and articles, listen to audio programs, and attend seminars to keep absorbing inspiring new ideas (as well as to refresh yourself on the old ones).
    
31. Gym rat.  Exercise daily.  Boost your metabolism, concentration, and mental clarity in 30 minutes a day.
    
32. Lovey dovey.  Romantic love will spur you on to greater heights, if for no other reason than to persuade your partner you aren’t such a loser after all.
    
33. Troll hunt.  Banish the negative trolls from your life, and associate only with positive, happy, and successful people.  Mindsets are contagious.  Show loyalty to your potential, not to your pity posse.

www.stevepavlina.com