SLT002: How Routines Can Simplify Your Life, Simple Ways to Get the Most out of Search and Research

Well, we got past our first episode and in Episode 2 we discuss how using routines can help simplify your life, and some simple ways to get the most out of search and research.

Routines help make things predictable, let you better plan you time, and make things more efficient. So, we’ll be sharing some tips on how to tap into that power so routines can simplify your life, too! When something is new to you or you need more information, most people turn to Google to find answers. But are you using Google as effectively as you could? We’ll share some of our tricks to help you become a wizard at search and research! Read more…

Main Topics:  

Vanessa’s Topic: How Routines Can Simplify Your Life

Two Common Reasons People are Disorganized:

• Lack of Defined Priorities or Life Goals:  Without purpose you’ll continue to run around aimlessly allowing others to dictate to you what’s important.
• Lack of Routines:  Overwhelming reason for disorganization but having set routines is one of the greatest tools to helping you get and stay organized.

Key Components of Creating Routines w/Family, Co-Workers or Employees: 

• Establish EXPECTATIONS: Example: You want your kids to clean room, make the bed, get ready for bed, clean up time, play time, etc.
• SHOW exactly how to get the task done and WHY.
• PRACTICE with them! Repetition and recency (do task often and not too far apart…daily) are keys to learning a routine faster.
• Establish a system of REWARDS and CONSEQUENCES

Morning /Nightly Routines:

• Morning and Nightly Routines: Your day really starts the night before!
• Pack lunches.
• Set out clothes and iron if necessary (I use a hanging shoe organizer to set out 2 weeks worth of clothes).
• Set yours and your kids’ alarms clocks.
• Have kids shower at night…it’s calming and one less thing to worry about!
• Prep your coffee and set out your vitamins and medications.
• Set the breakfast table.
• Check school backpacks and folders.
• Review your calendar and school schedules.
• Create a checklist and post it on the door or common area for all to see.
• Prep dinner: review your menu, take out freezer items to defrost.

Paper and Mail Routines:

• Check mail daily and sort it right away…don’t let it pile.
• File…don’t pile.
• Use and Action File to organize your daily papers.
• Use a scanner to keep digital files instead of paper files.
• Save documents in Evernote or Dropbox.
• Sort through your kids folders daily and be scrupulous.  Don’t keep what’s not important.  Use a keepsakes bin to store your child’s favorite papers.

For a more detailed list of routines and links to helpful tips, check out the notes Vanessa created for a special presentation she gave to a group of moms: http://getsimplifized.com/routines-briefing

Dan’s Topic:  Simple Ways to Get the most out of Search and Research

We all use the web to Search and do research, but many many of us were never really taught good search skills.

• When you’re doing research, know that many search engine results are skewed positive simply because of advertising and affiliate efforts.
• First few results on a page, the ones typically bolded or with a highlighted background at the top (and sometimes the bottom) of the page are paid advertisements.
• These may provide you lots of information, they’re also there to lead you to buy the product.

 Many other top links are what’s called Affiliate Links.

• Affiliates get a small percentage of the sale of a product.
• So while not all affiliate links are bad, they too are there to lead you to a sale.
• Many websites that end in “review” or “reviews” are affiliate sites that compare different models or brands of whatever you’re searching for.
• The key is determining if the review is from someone you trust. If this search is the first time you’ve been to that site then you’re trust level may not be as high.
• We use affiliate links for products we use and would recommend anyway. Not all affiliates disclose their affiliation so take the advice of many of those site with a grain of salt.

Crowd sourced reviews…like reviews on Amazon. 

• When we do buy things, we often buy from Amazon and we’re Amazon Prime members because you get free 2-day shipping, and access to free Amazon Instant videos (not that we watch much TV, but thought you might like to know they’re free). It makes things simple.
• Items typically rate between 1 and 5 stars
• The more ratings the better because then you have a broader view
• Click on the Star levels to see ratings from each
• You can learn as much from 1-2 star reviews as you do from 4-5 reviews

For restaurants and service locally, check out Google Local and Yelp

• Both have crowd-sourced reviews
• So do services like Angie’s List but you pay for membership

A technique I use for lots of things, including searching and researching: Think in the obverse (or opposite)

• You’ll find lots of info out there about how “good” things are, but as I mentioned, it’s skewed
• So when you’re searching for whether something is good, you’re also hoping to find out whether it’s not good so you don’t get taken!
• So, search for “xxx sucks”
• People have less motivation to take the time to post bad info (not making money from it)
• Highlights problems they’ve had with the product or company…you won’t find that on the product’s site!
• Obverse searching helped me decide on which online backup to go with. I chose DollyDrive, hands down.  The two other big names I searched where just riddled with results (over 2000 for one) and zero for Dolly Drive.  Unscientific? Yes. Simple technique? You bet!

Some simple tips for using your Google Search Bar:

Exact Phrase:  If you want to search for an exact phrase, use quotes. [“simple life together”] will only find that exact phrase. However, if you type “simple life” together, you’ll find pages that contain the exact phrase “simple life” and also togther.

Either/or: Google normally searches for pages that contain all the words you type in the search box, but if you want pages that have one term or another (or both), use the OR operator

Not: If you don’t want a term or phrase, use the minus “-” symbol. Using the sample example as before, if I search for “simple life” in quotations, I’m swamped with results for the TV shoe “The SimpleLife” with Paris Hilton.  So, I could also choose to use “simple life” in quotations and then “minus symbol” Paris -Paris

Give music a test drive: Looking for the latest tunes or a song from your high school days?  just type the artist or song title in the search bar and you’ll probably get a few YouTube Options!

 Speaking of YouTube:  You know it’s the world’s #2 search engine, behind it’s daddy, Google (who owns YouTube).  Need to know how to do something? Install a car stereo, make an Everything Bagel Mix, Delete a Facebook post from your iPhone…YouTube is the place for you!

Current Weather Conditions: Type “weather” followed by the city and state, US zip code, or city and country.

Conversions:

Google Converts Units of Measure: Google’s conversion tool can convert between many different units of measurement of height, weight, volume and many others. Simply enter your desired conversion into the search box and we’ll do the rest.  This tool is perfect in the kitchen when you need to convert for recipes.  So, to convert from cups to tablespoons I simply type in: X cups in tablespoons.

But don’t stop there…you can use this tool to convert all sorts of things from currency, and distance, to measurements in time (although I have to admit I could easily convert years to days but still have no idea what 4 score an