Has Simpleology Changed My Life?
A Busy Virtual Assistant Puts It
To The Test

by Lisa Taliga

I’ve read numerous self help books and been on a number of self improvement seminars. I love the whole area of self development and find it fascinating. However, there’s only so much learning and reading you can do, before you realise that unless you use the material and put it into action on a daily basis, you’re not really going to change anything.

Because I work from home as a Virtual Assistant, keeping productive and focused everyday is pretty much essential if I want to keep my clients happy and achieve all the things I want in life. Gone are the days where I used to turn up for work at 9am, and go through a routine until it was time to go home. I now have an endless list of things that I want to learn, do, research and implement for my business! And the buck stops with me. If it doesn’t get done, then it has a direct impact on me and my business. I’m the one who loses out, if things don’t get done!

At any one time, there really are countless things for me to do. It’s so easy to drown in a daily fog of vague notions, ideas and a nagging sense of overwhelm. And that’s the biggest recipe for procrastination and time-wasting that I know of! It’s vital for me to get a system in place where my life goals are thrust in front of me every day, and where I’m ‘forced’ to think about the actual steps needed to reach them.

I’ve tried conventional to do lists, mindmapping and spreadsheets. I don’t really like handling paper, and a long list of things ‘to do’, doesn’t do much for my motivation. I still find mindmapping helpful for brainstorming and planning the big picture. I have a schedule planned in a spreadsheet and find that useful. But I wanted and needed more. I was subconsciously looking for a tool that would help me put things into action in a more consistent, practical way.

It was with excitement that I heard about a free online program called Simpleology a few weeks ago. It’s based on the ‘simple science of getting what you want’.

When you register, you get private access to an online member’s area with all the tools you need. There are short videos, mp3s and a downloadable ebook, with various checklists to fill in after you complete each daily lesson.

You get ‘Memory Joggers’ too, which you can print out and post around your house to remind yourself of the principles of Simpleology. I’ve posted one in the bedroom and one in the bathroom!

As well as a daily lesson, you perform a ‘Daily Target Praxis’ each morning.
It’s very practical and says it can be done in 15 minutes a day. In reality I find it takes me half an hour to watch the daily video lesson and then do the Daily Target Praxis (DTP), but that half an hour is well worth the ‘investment’.

The DTP focuses you on your ‘Ultimate Life’, and your medium and short term goals, by getting you to visualise what it would be like to reach them. Then you do a brain dump of what you need to do today to get there. I love the fact that you only focus on ONE goal or target at a time. That really beats overwhelm! I used to have an intricate spreadsheet of about 20 different goals for all areas of my life such as business, health, family etc, all with different goal dates. This really doesn’t work for me. I much prefer the Simpleology approach to focusing on one thing at a time.

You’re also asked to think about the things you’ve done recently to save time and increase your energy. Conversely, you spend a bit of time thinking about stuff that may have been detrimental to your time and energy. For me, I quickly noticed that going to bed early and getting up early really increases my energy. So does drinking at least a litre of water a day. And what wastes time is checking emails too often! So these went straight into an ‘Observation Log’, giving me a constant reminder of what works and what doesn’t.

Regarding the multimedia delivery style of Simpleology, at first I thought, ‘Why would I want to watch the material on video AND then read it in the eBook?’ But I’ve found that watching and reading the lessons definitely reinforces the message. I must admit I haven’t listened to the mp3s much, but I’m more of a visual person anyway. Still, they are available if I want to listen to them whilst out walking or whatever.

Repetition – a word I usually don’t like – is key to this program. After the initial 20 daily lessons are completed, you’re supposed to take them all again! My first thought was, ‘There’s no way I’m going to repeat the whole thing again’ but now I’m actually looking forward to doing this.

I’m on Day 18 so far. I think it’s going to be very valuable to repeat all the lessons learnt. I’m looking forward to going right back to the beginning and doing some of the exercises again. Some of the exercises seemed a bit silly and a waste of time when I was doing them, but I can feel that they’ve really driven the message home to me.

Verdict: I’m really enjoying this program. It’s something I feel I can stick with for the long-term, unlike other methods where I might do them for a while, then tire of them.

The big plus for me is that it’s web-based so I don’t have to shuffle papers to look at my goals and targets for the day.

You get free software as well with your free membership which means that all the tools are accessible straight from your desktop. I’ve set Simpleology as my home page as well.

It’s helping me to focus on my ultimate goals as well as short and medium term ones. I also like not having an endless to do list, just the main items that I have to get done today.

I also like the forum that comes with membership. There is lots of positive feedback from people who have completed all 20 lessons twice and are reaping the benefits of continuing the practice every day.

I’m certain that it has increased the amount of things I get done during the day. Like any other tool though, you have to be consistent, and apply it. It’s no magic wand to a miracle life. The work still needs to get done… by you. But I’m finding I’m more consistently enthusiastic about getting things done, and feeling less overwhelmed.

The only 'downside' is that once you’ve entered your daily to do items, there isn’t much scope to add more items when you think of them. You can put these in the ‘Dreamcatcher’ though, so at least they are recorded somewhere and will appear in the system the next day.

All in all, I’d highly recommend Simpleology. I still can’t believe that such a tool is free. It goes beyond being a pure productivity tool. It really is a system to manage and create the life you want. No system is perfect though, so I’d recommend trying it and seeing if it suits you or not. You’ve got nothing to lose and you may even create the life you want.

http://virtualpa.simpleology.com/

(c) Copyright by Lisa Taliga. You may publish this article for personal use or republish it only if it is left unaltered and in its entirety, including the author information and links. You can also customize the resource box with your affiliate link.

If you have ANY questions at all about using this article, please contact me. You can access other articles here.

Kind regards

Lisa Taliga

Privacy Policy Terms Of Use Purchase Agreement Contact Us
Copyright © 2007 virtualpabusiness.com All Rights Reserved