ExamineHealth

In the last article in my GTD and Evernote series, we'll explore the things that make the whole thing go smoothly week in and week out.  These are best practices that you can implement to juice your system and make it work for you.  By this time you should have a powerhouse GTD system that chugs along for you, driving you toward success in the things that you want to accomplish.  

We're going to focusing mostly on the Weekly Review.  This is the engine behind your ongoing care and feeding of your system.  It ensures that nothing slips through the cracks and that each and every item gets attention and thought.  When you are consistent with your weekly review, the rest falls into place.

We'll also talk a bit about physical space.  While this is a paperless system and one that exists completely "in the cloud", you've still got to interface with it somehow.  This can make a big impact on how effective it is for you.  

The Value of Mind Control

Your mind is an amazing thing, capable of both autonomous thinking and directed thinking.  Anyone who is familiar with the Law of Attraction understands the importance of having control of your mind.  It's fairly easy to understand that the things we think about are the things we are most likely to draw into our lives.  It comes down to a simple matter of focus.  When we focus on what we want, we cultivate the ability to achieve those things.  

On the contrary, negative self-talk is an epidemic in today's society.  Too many people fall victim to their minds unconscious gravitation towards thinking about the worst things that might happen.  Worrying about things is not a productive approach, especially when you have no control over them.  Berating yourself for your mistakes is also counter-productive.

You are most successful when you focus on your success; you think through your options and imagine your goals being achieved.  

Almost all of us can do this to a certain extent - or for short bursts of time.  However to really be successful, consistency is key.  If you can train your mind to follow your conscious direction, if you can choose what to think about and what not to think about, you can drive yourself forward.  This is a skill that isn't taught enough.  There are many ways to train this ability.  Today I'd like to talk about one of those techniques.

Establish Goals that Drive You Towards Your Ultimate Life

Now that you've got your GTD system set up, and your keeping track of everything in Evernote.  Nothing is slipping through the cracks.  You're getting all of your tasks done.  You're ready to move on to what makes this system really, truly, life changing.  After all, getting tasks done is all well and good, but how do you know that you're really getting somewhere?  How do you ensure that you aren't just spinning your wheels doing busy work?  How do you ensure that all of these tasks and projects are building up to something fruitful?  The system you have in place gives you the ability to move really fast, but you need to ensure that you're moving in the right direction, otherwise you're going to end up at the wrong place.

Semde is an herbal compound that is used in traditional Tibetan medicine.  The label states that it is “Often prescribed for stress, depression, and all types of anxiety related conditions.”  Semde is one of a number of Tibetan herbal compounds produced and distributed by Siddhi Energetics.  Their website states: “Used to manage stress and depression on a daily basis, many people find their overall quality of life increases.”

I always have trouble with this sort of claim.  I am of the opinion that culturally, we overmedicate.  We have come to believe that there is a pill for every ailment.  To be clear, I’m not some sort of masochist; when you have a headache, you should take an aspirin (or ibuprofen, or. . . ).  That said, I’ve meet far too many people who have more than a few headaches a week.  While I don’t get headaches often anymore, mine were always connected to dehydration and stress.  I believe our “daily pills” tend to mask problems, rather than address them.

I am particularly suspicious of psychiatric medications.  Early in my adulthood, I was prescribed Prozac for a short period.  It turned my brain off.  I couldn’t hold a thought, and was occasionally falling asleep mid-conversation.  Complaints to the doctor seemed to make him more insistent about the prescription; I stopped taking the pills and visiting his office soon thereafter.  My experience helped create my suspicion of these medications; the incredible increase in usage rates has added to my concerns.  In 2007, there were more than 100 million prescriptions for antidepressants written in the United States.