Yeah, I’ll admit it. So should you.

As part of my recovery process, I have to admit something. I have experienced occasional symptoms that seem to point to a disorder known as Squirrel Syndrome. I am not alone in my plight. In all honesty, it should be called, the “SQUIRREL! Syndrome.” Not familiar with that term? How about the Shiny Object Syndrome? Or maybe the “I Need to Work on This but Got Sidetracked with That” syndrome? It’s not the same as attention deficit disorder, but when it comes to multi-tasking on multiple important projects, shiny objects can sometimes become a distraction.

Hopefully you get the point here and if it affects you on occasion too, you might struggle to make it through the rest of this article without wondering about your stock investments or the next step on a project for which you’ve committed to complete. In fact, you are probably reading this article when you really should be doing something else, right?

“I’ll get back to it,” and “What was I supposed to be working on?” are all common phrases muttered by someone infected with Squirrel Syndrome. Common phrases they frequently hear might include, “I thought you said you were going to do that first?” “You left to take out the trash an hour ago but fixed the fence instead?” We won’t even discuss what social media does to these folks.

What Tomatoes?

A gentleman named Francesco Cirillo developed a timeboxing technique using a timer that happened to be shaped like a tomato. He used the timer to break down his work into intervals of 25 minutes, separated by short breaks. He called these intervals pomodoros, which is Italian for tomatoes. Cirillo’s Pomodoro Technique improves mental agility by breaking projects into focused segments. During a pomodoro interval, a person commits to focusing on one project and ignores all other sources of distraction. This means no email, no phone calls, and nothing else that might distract the person for the task at hand.

Killing Squirrels

Entrepreneurs, writers, software developers, and similar creatives have latched onto this technique as a tool to overcome the Squirrel Syndrome. Although I recently published a non-fiction book, I have a larger, major book project in the works. I have been working on this book for a few years now and I have struggled at times to buckle down and make solid progress on the few days a week I can find time to devote to it. I found a cool Pomodoro timer app for my phone and have been using it for about a year. I can attest that this technique is fantastic. I first find a time on my calendar that isn’t stressed with surrounding meetings. Then I grab a bottled water, get comfortable, exit my browser, and let my phone go to voicemail. I start the timer and get to work. It gives me a gentle musical notification when the time is up, that lets me finish my thought process without being startled. I can then choose to take a break before starting another session or starting on another project.

This technique has been a wonderful productivity tool for me when I really need to focus. I used to get easily distracted with shiny objects. Now it’s rare that I get distracted and forget to finish my

The post Kill the Squirrel Syndrome with the Pomodoro Technique first appeared on Fire Your Job, Hire Yourself.

Even though it is visited by people from all over the world, if you are reading this now, you can probably speak the language. When you visit this place, you’ll notice that it has it’s own strange type of phraseology. You’ll understand the words and language, but you’ll discover that there are many very popular and repetitive phrases used at Sumday Isle, some of which can start to grate on your nerves.

These phrases include things such as:

• Someday I’ll pay off those bills.
• Someday I’ll spend more time with the family.
• Someday I’ll start that business I’ve dreamed about.
• Someday I’ll pursue that dream.

It’s a popular place to visit, but it’s never fulfilling and always leaves you feeling empty inside. I’d like to encourage you to boycott this popular destination. Instead, set that goal, and start today to achieve it.

The post Disneyland is Second in Popularity Only to Sumday Isle first appeared on Fire Your Job, Hire Yourself.

Busy owners tend to focus on the fire at hand, and often set aside mundane tasks such as paying bills on time. Here are five great tips for helping you get those bills paid on time, assuming you have the funds to do so:

1. Online Bill Pay

Many banks offer an online EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer) service that allows you to set up one-time or automatic recurring payments to vendors. These are great for saving postage and quickly paying a bill that is about to come due. They are also excellent for paying recurring payments of the same amount monthly, such as insurance payments, lease payments, and minimum payment amounts (e.g., to ensure a credit card bill gets paid $100 per month, for example, so in case you forget to pay the full bill on time, you will at least have the minimum covered so you don’t get extra charges.)

2. Set Up Auto-pay Using Your Credit Card

Simple versions of this include setting up billing to charge your credit card instead of sending paper billing that requires you to write a check. This allows you to just pay the single credit card bill every month instead of multiple bills. If you get frequent flyer miles on that credit card, this is extra cool as long as the vendor doesn’t charge an extra fee to use the credit card.

3. Set Up Auto-pay for Your Credit Card

To avoid a late payment on your credit card bill, most credit card companies allow you to set up a minimum payment every month. In most cases, you can choose to cover the minimum due that month or a fixed amount. The goal here is to ensure you cover the minimum payment to avoid late charges in case you forget to make the payment on time. If you make the payment on time, this backup payment can be automatically cancelled for that month. Many credit card companies will allow you to pay the entire balance automatically. These payments are typically handled through ACH (see below).

4. Set up ACH (Automated Clearing House network) Payment Systems

Most big suppliers, and more and more smaller ones, offer an ACH payment options where they take the funds directly out of your bank account. This is about as simple as it gets. Some business owners get a little nervous with smaller vendors being able to draw directly from their bank account in case a mistake or evil intentions drain the account. In these cases, they might use a separate bank account and transfer payment funds into that account monthly.

5. Old School Organizer

For paper bills that you still need to pay, consider obtaining a 31-slot bill organizer (or file folder if you can’t obtain a bill holder). When each bill is received, open it, determine when you need to make the payment, and place the bill into that numbered slot. When it’s time to pay bills, grab all the upcoming bills and deal with them.

NOTE: I have a slotted bill organizer just like this in my office. It saved my hide many times!

Signup for our free giveaways and private mailing list.

#accounting #AccountingTips #bookkeeping #GetBillsPaidOnTime #SlottedBillOrganizer

The post Five Easy Tips to Help You Get Your Business Bills Paid on Time first appeared on Fire Your Job, Hire Yourself.

Stock investors are always looking for that killer investment that will provide the highest returns. They are focused on searching far and wide for that one little-known diamond in the rough, that will magically take off and become extremely valuable.

What many entrepreneurs don’t realize is that the absolute best investment, that will produce the greatest returns, is an investment in themselves. You.inc has unlimited potential if you can be absolutely open and honest with that reflection in the mirror, and figure out exactly where investments need to be made.

Health Investments

If that investment isn’t nourished properly and exercised regularly, it will quickly become a high-risk venture that might shut its doors overnight, without warning. This means that purposeful investment must be made in healthy diets, regular exercise, fresh air, and time away from stress. This sounds easy but a high majority of these entities expire long before they should have because this inexpensive insurance was never taken care of. By the time they realized the fatal mistake, the entity was too far in the red to recover.

Education Investments

A mind is a terrible thing to waste. Experts say that it is similar to a muscle in that it should be regularly exercised. If you are not continually challenging yourself, you will eventually find that your nimble asset has become a dinosaur. Your once-creative thought processes will not remain sharp and fresh if they are not continually used, stretched, and adjusted for changing times.

Is your business struggling with something? Why not get educated about it and become an expert on that subject so you can solve the problem? Invest in education…continual education. Do not ever stop reading, researching, and learning. When someone thinks they’ve become an expert, it’s important for the to understand that the King of the Hill remains the king only if he continually stays on top of the hill. Without this continual education, the king will soon discover that someone else is higher on the hill, or that the hill has moved. Use it or lose it.

There are so many ways to continually educate yourself. Try listening to educational podcasts instead of music. Read a book to learn something new instead of read the newspaper. Watch a YouTube training video instead of a series of random, funny clips. When surveyed, almost all millionaires have stated that they continually educate themselves, especially in areas they need to improve. This isn’t the stone age anymore. It’s easy to find solutions to everything you lack. There are classes, counselors, coaches, trainers, medications, courses, videos, podcasts, books, ebooks, and more, that can help you obtain the education you need.

Employee Investments

Companies with employees are only as good as the employees themselves. You’ve heard the saying that a chain is only as strong as it’s weakest length? When that chain is under pressure, it will first break at the weakest spot. If you are the owner, supervisor, or even coworker, it’s important to clearly understand that it’s the employees that bring companies to life. It’s also employees that are often the cause of a company’s death, through poor customer service, theft, breakage, errors, expensive mistakes, etc. Employees are often one of the largest investments a company makes. Properly training those employees, providing structure and support, and learning how to correct them without alienating them is critical.

Disease spreads quickly. In some cases, knowing when to dump an investment, cut bait, and let them try to be successful somewhere else, is the key to keeping morale high among the rest of the team. Always remain fair and ethical. If a bridge gets burned, make sure they are the one who lit the match.

Family and Friendship Investments

All too often, stressed out entrepreneurs tend to take those, who are closest to them, for granted. In many cases, that supportive spouse, child, relative, close friend, will indeed give you a little slack when you need to focus on work. However, cashing in that chip too frequently will quickly make it distasteful. Those who are closest to you will feel that they are no longer important to you, and human nature will start building up protective walls and you may find that you are not longer important to them. Sometimes, to avoid the pain of rejection, a person will proactively reject. Remember that “Hurt people, hurt people.“

Similarly, taking the stresses of the job home can start to wear down relationships. I have seen this in my own life, from both sides of the equation and most of the time, there is nothing healthy and beneficial to a relationship when this stress comes along for the ride. Yes, sometimes a well-timed hug can help the stress fall away for a while, but when the stress comes home day after day, you’ll notice friends and family scattering like fish when you come around.

When all is said and done, only friendships will remain. When you are dead and gone, only the memory of your friendships will be cherished. The most valuable people in my life are those few who took time to truly love me in one way or another. I’m not talking about the kind of short-term love that was based on what I accomplished or who I knew. I’m talking about that special love found in close friendships. Sometimes it is unconditional love (thanks Mom), but in most cases, it’s a deep love because we took time to invest in each others’ lives. For me, there aren’t too many of these really close friendships, and I need to continually take time invest in them. They are good investments with long-lasting, valuable returns.

Did you actually read all the way down to hear? Wow, that is impressive! Please leave a message below and tell us all how YOU invest in You, Inc. or if there are other areas that should be considered.

If you found this post inspiring, please consider sharing this link with your friends on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter. Thanks!

The post You, Inc. is the Best Stock to Buy! Invest in Yourself! first appeared on Fire Your Job, Hire Yourself.