Living the healthy life
A few years after I began to get my financial life under control, I started working on another important area - my health. I had no idea what organic meant, nor did I care. Since then I have read a couple books that gave me a Biblical understanding of health. The beauty is that it is pretty simple. 
The one book that I would recommend to anyone to read is called “What the Bible says about Healthy Living” by Rex Russell. Considering all the benefits from being healthy, this book could possibly be the most life-changing book that I have read (other than the Bible - duh 
). Oh and just to prove that I am not alone, check out the 5 star rating on Amazon with 42 reviews.
I had read The Maker’s Diet before reading this one and it wasn’t a bad book, but as a rookie to the whole health thing, it was just a bit overwhelming.
Three principles of healthy living in the Bible
Rex Russell’s book on the other hand was just what I needed: a bottom-line approach to health. He boils the whole thing down into three basic principles:
- Only eat stuff that God made to be eaten. A lot of animals are scavengers and contain all kinds of toxins that may or may not make us sick in the short term, but over decades they lead to various diseases.
- Eat it the way God designed it. Eat unprocessed foods, you know, apples rather than an apple flavored fruit roll-up, whole grain bread rather than white bread, or steak rather than hot dogs. Basically, eat like your grandparents did when they were kids—fresh grown fruits and vegetables without pesticides, water rather than four caffenated beverages each day, and meat is more of a special occasion meal rather than the norm.
- Don’t let any food or drink become your god. Fasting is beneficial for many reasons. One of which is to prove to yourself that no food or drink has quietly turned into an addiction.
Obviously there is a lot more to it than this, but these are the three foundational principles that the book is based off of.
For the skeptics
I was skeptical of the whole “alternative” medicine thing. No offense to any Chiropractors, but I used to think they were all quacks. This was another benefit of this book, because Rex Russell clearly teaches “alternative” principles but he is also a medical doctor, so he keeps a seemingly unbiased approach.
For those who don’t know the difference, my definition would be that “alternative” medicine generally focuses on preventing problems and getting to the root of the issue. Modern medicine is more about fixing the problems after they occur. There is a lot more to it than that, but I don’t know enough to get into it.
Oh, and by the way, I now have a few friends who are Chiropractors and they are quacks Just kidding. I have learned and chiropractors are cool in my book.
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Manage your time better with “Getting Things Done”
I just finished David Allen’s “Getting Things Done”“. I have been wanting to read this book for a couple years, but just finally got around to reading it. It is basically about improving your time management skills and as the title implies, getting things done more efficiently to live a less stressful life. I have read a couple similar books, Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Zen to Done, and a few other generic time-management type 
books. I learned a few key principles in Getting Things Done that I hadn’t in the others. All in all, I liked GTD and think it is a worthwhile read, however the system may be difficult for some to implement and for those people I recommend Zen to Done - it takes a lot from GTD, but simplifies it just a bit.
In the book David lays out the steps to go from living in organizational chaos to having a system in place to keep your thoughts, notes, and life organized. I like his system, but like most systems it is going to take a few major life changes to implement it fully. When faced with new information or systems like these I like to grab one or two key principles and focus on implementing them rather than the system as a whole. When I try to make a major life change I usually fall off the wagon and end up getting frustrated with myself. Most of my changes that have lasted came by slowly implementing one or two small ones at a time.
Defeating the Stress
In the book David provides a well thought out and reasonable explanation of the source of our stress. He says that the overwhelming, stressful, and other negative feelings we may have are not caused by having too much to do. They come from breaking agreements with ourselves.
At some point in some way we made an agreement TO DO something and the stress and negative feelings come as a result of not meeting those agreements. It is really no different than breaking a promise that we would have with a colleage or friend - if you promise to meet a friend somewhere at a certain time or do something for them, but then you don’t come through - you feel guilty. If you have lots of these agreements that you can’t fulfill you may begin to feel stressed out. So, if you tell yourself to draft up a plan and you don’t do it, you begin to have the same feelings as not coming through for a friend.
He mentions three ways to overcome this stress:
- Don’t make the agreement in the first place - Learn to say no. It is a lot better to say no upfront, than to have to come back later after failing to do it and apologize.
- Complete the agreement - Focus all your energy on that one task and just knock it out. Doesn’t it feel good to check things off the to-do list?
- Re-negotiate the agreement - Change the promises that you made to yourself (or others). Giving yourself some relief from these pressures will greatly reduce some stress.
Our minds add to the stress
He talks a lot about how our minds can make our lives difficult. Any time we have a unfinished task; i.e. something we have said that we ought to do, our minds will continue to remind us that is has not been finished. Often it is at the most inconvenient times.
Our minds, as brilliant as they are in some ways, need to be tricked in this area. The best way to get your mind to stop the endless reminders is to get it out of your head and on to paper. But it must be on paper that your mind is convinced that you will come back and look at on a regular basis. Once your brain trusts that the to-dos are stored in a safe place, then it will stop the endless reminders and will be clear and free to relax. This is how stress-free productivity and our unlimited creative potential is reached.
Basically our minds aren’t free to function at their highest level until we the get millions of to-dos that we have stored up out of our head and on to a paper or digital system that we KNOW we will check again. The key is that it must be something that you check on a regular basis so that your mind TRUSTS that you will not forget about it. The goal of the process it to create a systematic method to keep your mind distraction free, in order that you can work at a high level of efficiency and effectiveness
In my beginning steps of implementing this I have created a google homepage with a couple different checklists to do my collecting of to-do’s. Personally, I have found this to be such a key to maintaining an organized and stress free life. The most difficult part is making frequent and consistent reviews of your collection system.
Processing the inbox
David suggests having a paper and digital inbox. The digital inbox is likely to be your email inbox and the paper one should be a an actual tray on your desk or other workspace area. If you are like most people the initial capture of everything may take many hours to get a handle on it all. But once you spend that initial chunk of time getting it all organized, it will require a whole lot less time to maintain it.
Here are a few of notes about his system:
- When processing your inbox - start at the top and go down, rather than just looking for the most urgent or interesting like most people. Processing merely means, deciding what to do with it and what action is required and dispatch it accordingly.
- Focus only on the single top item from the inbox. Don’t get distracted by the others in the stack, the sole focus on the one thing helps you to quickly and efficiently process it
- Nothing goes back into IN - it is a oneway street, so once it goes out it has to be dispatched somewhere.
- Most of the stuff is not THAT important, but the possibility in your mind that there might be something important in there allows the stacks and piles to control you, rather than you controlling it.
- Most people give more attention to things than they deserve, when really we shouldn’t over-react or under-react. Just because something is thrown right in front of you doesn’t make it urgent, just because something isn’t on fire doesn’t mean that it can wait til later.
- The key to managing all your stuff is MANAGING YOUR ACTIONS!! Don’t just do what you feel like doing, do what you should do.
Next Action thinking
This was a very valuable principle that David mentions in the book. The idea of next action thinking is that our brains often don’t like to do the analysis of what needs to be done when we only have a few spare minutes, BUT if you can go through and get the next action steps for each item, then when you do have a few minutes to spare - you won’t have to think about what you need to do - only ACT, by completing one of the next action steps already laid out for you…
For example if you have a pile of papers that you haven’t evaluated what needs to be done with each the uncertainty of not knowing how long they will take to process causes us to do nothing. But, if we spend a few minutes going through it and deciding what that next action is it will be clearly defined. Once it is clearly defined, we can estimate how long it will take and fit it in to our schedule like a puzzle piece. If you have 15 minutes to spare, just squeeze in the next action for something that will take you 15 minutes.
I have found in my life that the uncertainty of not knowing how long something will take to process has paralyzed me. In the example above, I would have not done anything in that 15 minutes, except feel overwhelmed while looking at the pile. I would have looked at the pile and just assumed that each next step would take more than 15 minutes, causing me to take no action. But if I knew that the next step for one task would take 15 mins or less, I would have done it.
- The big question is to ask yourself - WHAT IS THE NEXT ACTION to move this project along?
- If the item doesn’t require ACTION, then it needs to move to storage or trash. Making this decision can be difficult, but is absolutely necessary.
- If the next action can be done in 2 mins or less do it as soon as you pick it up, if longer then delegate if possible, or defer it to a later date.
- Don’t waste time thinking about things more than once, make a decision about something when you think about it rather than leaving the loop open and coming back later to think about it again
- The reason something is on your mind is you want it to be different than it currently is and you haven’t clarified exactly what the intended outcome OR you haven’t decided what the very next action step is AND/OR you haven’t put reminders of the outcome and the action required in a system you TRUST. Until this takes place, your brain will continue to think about it!!
If you have read Getting Things Done or have other ideas to increase productivity, please share them in the comments below
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“Does your bag have holes?” review
Cameron C. Taylor sent me a copy of his book “Does your bag have holes?” for the readers of ChristianPF.com. I haven’t had a chance to read much of the book yet, however I did listen to the audiobook CD that is included with it. Cameron has gotten some good biblical revelation about finances and seems to have found a clever way of presenting it in the book.
After listening the abridged audiobook I am excited to get a chance to finish reading the book. The audiobook gives you a taste of the 24 myths about money that Cameron seeks to disprove and has given me enough confidence to recommend the book.
The audiobook has gotten me thinking about a few financial principles that I will probably be writing about soon. I look forward to giving this book to the winner, as I think it is a valuable resource.
What do I have to do to win “Does your Bag Have Holes?”
If you would like to be entered for a chance to win Cameron C. Taylor’s book just leave a comment below before 7:00 p.m. CST on April 27th, 2008.
(If you are having trouble finding the comments section, just click on the title of this post and scroll all the way to the bottom.)
A few more notes about the Does your Bag Have Holes? giveaway…
- From those comments entered I will randomly select a winner using random.org.
- Go ahead and enter each week, but only enter once (per household) for each one. (Duplicate entries or IP addresses will be disqualified)
- Make sure you enter your email address when adding your comment so I can contact you if you win. (I promise I will not spam your or give your email to anyone else)
- The winner will be announced on April 28th, 2008 in the comments section of this post!!
- To be sure you hear about the next giveaway why not get ChristianPF via email?
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Making Money Work Book and CD-ROM giveaway
Bill Page from MakingMoneyWork.us has donated a copy of his book Making Money Work to the ChristianPF readers. The book is a very thorough Christian guide to personal finance. It is indeed huge with almost 500 pages and is actually used as a personal finance textbook in universities.
Included with the book is a CD-ROM that contains a variety calculators to help you along your financial journey. The book retails for $39.99 and someone is going to get it for free!! Not a bad deal!
If you are interested in finding out more about the book, check out the Making Money Work site for more info and a free chapter from the book.
What do I have to do to win Making Money Work?
If you would like to be entered for a chance to win Making Money Work just leave a comment below before 7:00 p.m. CST on 4-13-08.
(If you are having trouble finding the comments section, just click on the title of this post and scroll all the way to the bottom.)
A few more notes about the Making Money Work giveaway…
- From those comments entered I will randomly select a winner using random.org.
- Go ahead and enter each week, but only enter once (per household) for each one. (Duplicate entries or IP addresses will be disqualified)
- Make sure you enter your email address when adding your comment so I can contact you if you win. (I promise I will not spam your or give your email to anyone else)
- The winner will be announced on 4-14-08 in the comments section of this post!!
- To be sure you hear about the next giveaway why not get ChristianPF via email?
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A friend of mine passed this article along to me which examines some of Tim Ferris’ ideas and principles in the “Four Hour Work Week.” The author goes on to state 5 main reasons that he disagrees with Tim Ferris.
Oh and by the way, I have read “the Four Hour Work Week.” Although I don’t agree with some of Tim’s tactics and many other things in the book, it is a very inspiring book. It is full of valuable and practical information from everything from time management to tips on building a business to details about how and where to travel. It is a book that just about anyone who reads it can take something useful away from it.
That said, lets get back to the debate. The excerpt from the article is below with the 5 points of disagreement the author had are listed below…
If you spend any time on the web, you probably have heard of Tim Ferris‘ book “The Four Hour Work Week.” In the book, Mr. Ferris sets out to show people how they can spend far less time working and thus have the freedom to design the lifestyle of their dreams.
Basically, what this entails is outsourcing as many menial tasks as you can to some person in India so you can have time to travel the world pursuing your passion. While I think Mr. Ferris makes some good points about being more effective during your time at work, his premise that people should seek to avoid work completely through lifestyle design never sat well with me. Here are five of my beefs with “The Four Hour Work Week:”
1. How can leisure have any meaning in the absence of work? Oftentimes I crave a break from work, and when it finally comes, the first week of relaxation is fantastic. The second week is also enjoyable, but after that it gets a bit old and boring; I start to feel antsy and once more want to be engaged in doing something useful. By being industrious, when you actually get a break, it feels fantastic. You can’t have the sweet without the bitter.
2. Who will do the work when everyone wants to live the “Four Hour Work Week?” The idea of avoiding work just isn’t tenable. Sure, right now it’s possible to outsource work to some worker in India, but what happens when that guy in India wants to outsource his work so he can “lifestyle design?” Perhaps he will outsource his work to someone in Vietnam. But what happens when that person in Vietnam reaches a level of prosperity that allows him to live the dream? And meanwhile here at home, who will be our teachers, doctors, and lawyers? Who will fly the plane when we want to go gallivanting around the world? Oh yes, those poor souls who never bought the book.
The whole idea of shifting all your work to someone else is elitist and undemocratic. The implication is that the only people who will work are those who are not clever enough to have escaped from it. Why is work beneath you, but okay for other people?
3. Hard, and sometimes unpleasant work refines your character. If you outsource every unpleasant job to someone else, how will you develop the virtues of persistence, endurance, and self-discipline? Every arduous task that you complete strengthens your ability to deal with hardships in the future. If someone close to you dies, you won’t be able to outsource your grieving, and if you become sick, you can’t outsource the will to get better. If you have spent your life avoiding hard work, will you have the mental and emotional strength to deal with a crisis you can’t pawn off on someone else?
4. Work encourages personal responsibility. When you choose to do things yourself, you take ownership of the task at hand and thus the results of that effort. If you outsource your work to someone else, you may avoid having to take the blame if something goes wrong, but you also rob yourself of the joy and pride of success when things go well.
5. “The Four Hour Work Week” sets a bad example for your children. What does it teach your kids if they see that every time dad has an unpleasant job to do, he makes someone else do it? Outsourcing your work sends the message to them that every time you are faced with an arduous task, you should give up and let someone else do it for you. If you’re running for class president, why bother coming up with a campaign and making posters? You can just get someone else to do it. Being harassed by a bully? Don’t face him down….just hire someone to kick his ass for you.
I think my personal opinion on the whole thing fall somewhere in between Tim Ferris and the author of the article. Lets look at each of the 5 points…
1. I agree that leisure is not worth much unless it follows hard work. Ecclesiastes 5:12 even states that, “the sleep of a working man is pleasant.” However, what I took from the book was that by breaking free from the slavery of trading hours for dollars frees you up to pursue (with much hard work) your passion.
Sure, Tim glamorized the life of luxury and ease, but what I got out of it was that I really could break from doing a job just to pay the bills to doing something that I am passionate about and getting paid for it. There aren’t many people who change the world doing something they are not passionate about.
2. I was actually thinking this myself as I was reading it. “I wonder if any of Tim’s contracted worker’s have read his book?” Realistically, just like anything else, most people will not follow through. Only the determined few will actually go for it, leaving many others to do the work. And, learning from my co-workers, there are probably quite a few people who would be fine with the work. Some people just aren’t willing to make the sacrifices to follow Tim’s plan.
3-5. I decided to lump these all into one. Hard work does refine your character. I heard a wise man say that, “you should do one thing you hate every day, just for the practice.” His point was that if you want to be successful in life, you are going to have to do things you hate. So, you might as well get used to it.
Looking at the whole outsourcing thing as a bad example or as something that would steal your sense of accomplishment doesn’t fit with me. A man or woman is only capable of so much without the help of others. So, whether it is hiring employees to delegate to or outsourcing the tasks to a contracted worker, either way more is accomplished with the help of others.
Many business owners get caught in the trap of focusing on the unimportant tasks that will yield little fruit rather than the important ones they should be focusing on. Tim is obviously quite the master of “letting go” of the menial tasks and is not afraid to ask for help.
For those who have read the book, what are your opinions?
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Dave Ramsey’s “Total Money Makeover” giveaway
I love that Dave loves to help people get out of debt. He has been criticized for some of his methods, but I like his vision. I also subscribe to his Debt Snowball method for getting out of debt.
For those who have decided that they want to get out of debt, but don’t know where to start the Total Money Makeover
So what do I have to do to win the “Total Money Makeover”?
If you would like to be entered for a chance to win Dave Ramsey’s “Total Money Makeover,” just type “Money” in the comments below before 8:00 p.m.CST on March 23th, 2008.
A few more notes about the Total Money Makeover giveaway…
- From those comments entered I will randomly select a winner using random.org.
- Go ahead and enter each week, but only enter once (per household) for each one. (Duplicate entries or IP addresses will be disqualified)
- Make sure you enter your email address when adding your comment so I can contact you if you win (of course I won’t give it to anyone else!)
- The winner will be announced on March 24th in the comments section of this post!!
- To be sure you hear about the next giveaway why not subscribe?
Technorati Tags: Dave Ramsey, Total Money Makeover
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The Power of Nice review
I am in the middle of reading The Power of Nice by Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval. It is labeled a business book, but really is a good book for anyone who needs convincing that “good guys don’t finish last.”
The Power of Nice advocates the Biblical principal of sowing and reaping in business and personal interactions with people and suggests that we should give before trying to receive. The authors show various stories where people who gave out of the kindness of their hearts, often reaped huge rewards from unexpected sources.
It does not appear to be a “Christian” book, but there are clearly Biblical principles spread all throughout the book.
Personally, the book is convicting me of some of my behaviors and I am getting some good ideas of areas that I can improve in. It is always a good thing when you can find areas in your live that need improvement.
Ironically, Donald Trump endorsed the book. From everything I have seen and heard of him, he doesn’t seem to subscribe to these principles, but maybe I am wrong. Anyway, it is a good read for the business minded and those who are not. I hope the winner enjoys it!!
What do I have to do to win “The Power of Nice”?
If you would like to be entered for a chance to win “The Power of Nice” just type “Power of Nice” in the comments below before 7:00 p.m. CST on March 2nd, 2008.
A few more notes about “The Power of Nice” book giveaway…
- From those comments entered I will randomly select a winner using random.org.
- Go ahead and enter each week, but only enter once (per household) for each one. (Duplicate entries or IP addresses will be disqualified)
- Make sure you enter your email address when adding your comment so I can contact you if you win.
- The winner will be announced on March 2nd in the comments section of this post!!
- To be sure you hear about the next giveaway why not subscribe?
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Joel Greenblatt’s “Magic Formula” for investing giveaway
If you are wondering what the heck I am talking about, then let me explain. In Joel Greenblatt’s book The Little Book that Beats the Market he explains his “magic formula” for beating the market.
“The Little Book…” is fairly basic guide to investing in stocks. If you know anything about stock-market investing, you know that if you “beat the market” by earning more than the stock market averages, then you are doing very good.
Anyway, let’s get to the point. I liked the book a lot. Joel lays out some very convincing evidence that this system for investing will work IF you stick with it for the long haul. I plan on getting started on his system as soon as I knock out the remainder of my debt. But, since I have not actually tried his system I can’t fully recommend it.
Since I liked it so much, I decided to give it away…
What do I have to do to win Joel Greenblatt’s “Magic Formula”?
If you would like to be entered for a chance to win “The Little Book that Beats the Market” just type “Magic Formula” in the comments below before 7:00 p.m. CST on February 24th, 2008.
A few more notes about the Joel Greenblatt book giveaway…
- From those comments entered I will randomly select a winner using random.org.
- Go ahead and enter each week, but only enter once (per household) for each one. (Duplicate entries or IP addresses will be disqualified)
- Make sure you enter your email address when adding your comment so I can contact you if you win.
- The winner will be announced on February 25th in the comments section of this post!!
- To be sure you hear about the next giveaway why not subscribe?
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You gotta love Oprah. She just loves to give stuff away and now she is getting personal finance guru Suze Orman in on it with her.
You need to move quick on this one, but Oprah and Suze Orman are giving away a copy of her (Suze’s) eBook “Women and Money.” You only have until 8pm EST on February 14th to get your copy. Here is the link to get Suze’s eBook (on Oprah’s website.)
Technorati Tags: Suze Orman eBook, Oprah
thanks to Christian Finance for the heads up on this…
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“Money, Possessions, and Eternity” giveaway
This is another book that I have not yet read, but have heard good things about. It has great reviews on Amazon and I have had it recommended to me multiple times. So, the winner will have to let me know how it is…
Money, Possessions, and Eternity is written by Randy Alcorn and from what I hear he provides a good ETERNAL perspective on the whole issue (as the title states).
What do I have to do to win the Randy Alcorn book?
If you would like to be entered for a chance to win Money, Possessions, and Eternity just type “Randy Alcorn” in the comments below before 7:00 p.m.CST on February 10th, 2008.
A few more notes about the Randy Alcorn book giveaway…
- From those comments entered I will randomly select a winner using random.org.
- Go ahead and enter each week, but only enter once (per household) for each one. (Duplicate entries or IP addresses will be disqualified)
- Make sure you enter your email address when adding your comment so I can contact you if you win.
- The winner will be announced on February 11th!!
Technorati Tags: Randy Alcorn
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