Marelisa’s Squidoo Lenses

If there’s an item that you’re particularly fond of, you should consider collecting that item. In fact, you might even decide to collect several different items. You can keep track of the things that you would like to collect by creating a Collector’s Bucket List. Here are 14 ideas to get you started:

1. Coins: This is the collection of coins from countries around the world for their artistic value.

2. Stamps: Postage stamps are one of the most popular collector items. People started collecting stamps almost as soon as the first one was issued in 1860.

3. Russian Nesting Dolls: Matryoshka dolls, also known as Russian Nesting Dolls, are sets of wooden dolls of decreasing size placed one inside the other. Traditionally the image depicted is that of a Russian peasant woman, but today you can find Matryoshka dolls depicting celebrities, political figures, and even famous scenes.

4. Refrigerator Magnets: Magnets can be found with all sorts of images depicted on them, from famous landmarks—such as the Eiffel Tower–, to Santa Claus, and even to magnets depicting slogans. You can display these on your refrigerator.

5. Sports Memorabilia: If you’re a sports lover, you can collect sports memorabilia. This can include things such as autographed baseballs, footballs, baseball caps, photographs, and so on.

6. Snow Globes: These are transparent spheres, enclosing a miniaturized scene, as well as water. When you shake the globe, it looks as if snow were falling.

7. Porcelain Dolls: Porcelain dolls, made of bisque porcelain, are beautifully crafted, with great attention paid to details. In addition, they’re dressed in beautiful gowns, and they can be worth thousands of dollars.

8. Action Figures: These figurines are made of plastic or other materials, and are often based on characters from films, comic books, or even video games.

9. Pez Dispensers: Pez is an Austrian candy—which is now available in a wide variety of flavors–that is placed in a plastic dispenser. The dispenser has a “head” on the top, which is a flip top used to dispense the candy. The “head” can be anything, such as Hello Kitty, the Starship Enterprise, Popeye, and so on.

10. Comic Books: A lot of people collect comic books, including Spider-Man, Superman, Archie, Wonder Woman, and so on.

11. Matchboxes: Lots of people make sure that whenever they eat at a restaurant they’ve never been to before, they ask for a matchbox with the restaurant’s logo on it. That way, they keep a memento of the visit.

12. Chess Sets: Avid chess players will often collect chess sets with different designs on them. You can even get a chess set that’s a recreation of the “Final Challenge” set in “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.”

13. Mugs: If you drink a lot of coffee and/or tea, then you should consider starting a mug collection. You can even select a particular theme for your mugs, such as scenes from the books by the the amazing Dr. Seuss, Impressionist paintings, and so on.

14. Americana: These are artifacts which are related to the cultural history of the United States. It can include drawings, household objects, license plates, flags, statues, and so on.

Some more items you could collect are the following:

• Music Boxes
• A demitasse collection
• Shot Glasses
• Christmas Nativity Scenes
• Christmas Village Pieces
• Model Cars
• Luxury Cars
• Sock Monkeys
• Nutcrakers
• Bratz Dolls
• Troll Dolls
• Watches
• Legos
• Disney Movies
• Precious Moments Keepsakes
• Postcards

For more ideas for your bucket list, visit “Bucket List Ideas: 1000 Things to Do Before You Die”.

I love Squidoo, but it’s always good to try new things. So when a Squidoo lensmaster whom I admire asked me to take a look at a new publishing platform he had created, along with others, I decided to go have a look. The platform is called Wizzley, and I have to say that I liked very much what I saw. It contains the best features from Squidoo and the best features from HubPages.

The pages are fun and easy to create, they’re indexed by Google almost right away, they load quickly, and they’re very attractive. The simplicity of the platform is one of its greatest assets. In addition, there’s already a thriving community at Wizzley, and I recognize lots of people from Squidoo.

I’ve created 5 pages on Wizzley so far. Here they are:

1. The Stages of Change Model
2. Lou Holtz and His Life List
3. Create a Summer Bucket List
4. Track Your Time With a Time Log
5. Stop Procrastinating By Creating an Unschedule

Of course, I’m not jumping ship: I’m going to continue building Squidoo lenses. But now I have another platform for writing articles about the things that interest me, and that’s always a good thing.

Here are 10 quotes on perfectionism, which will hopefully inspire you to begin to move away from “it has to be perfect” to “it’s good enough”:

1. “The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.” – Anna Quindlen

2. “Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life. Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism. Confronting your fears and allowing yourself the right to be human can, paradoxically, make yourself a happier and more productive person.” – Dr. David M. Burns

3. “Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly.” – Robert Schuller

4. “I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won’t have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren’t even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they’re doing it.” – Anne Lamott (Bird by Bird)

5. “A man would do nothing, if he waited until he could do it so well that no one would find fault with what he has done.”- John Henry Cardinal Newman

6. “Perfection, fortunately, is not the only alternative to mediocrity. A more sensible alternative is excellence. Striving for excellence is stimulating and rewarding; striving for perfection–in practically anything–is both neurotic and futile.” – Edwin Bliss

7. “A person determined never to be wrong won’t likely accomplish much.” – Ken Wisdom

8. “When you aim for perfection, you discover it’s a moving target.” – George Fisher

9. “You cannot afford to wait for perfect conditions. Goal setting is often a matter of balancing timing against available resources. Opportunities are easily lost while waiting for perfect conditions.” – Gary Ryan Blair

10. “Perfectionism is not a quest for the best. It is a pursuit of the worst in ourselves, the part that tells us that nothing we do will ever be good enough – that we should try again.” – Julia Cameron

A great book for getting over perfectionism is “The Pursuit of Perfect” by Tal Ben-Shahar.

If procrastination is taking a toll on your life—you miss important deadlines, you have to pay late fees, your apartment is messy and disorganized, you haven’t been to the gym in ages, and so on—you need to find a way to drop this habit. Here are seven steps you can begin to take right away in order to cure yourself of procrastination once and for all.

1.        Write down what you need to get done. When you write something down you’re making a commitment to yourself. Start with a verb, and write down what you need to do in such a way that if you had a personal assistant, and this was their first day on the job, they’d understand perfectly what to do. For example, don’t write down, “Clean the kitchen”. Instead, write down specific orders, such as the following:

• Wash all the dishes, pots and pans, and utensils, and lay them out to dry.
• Put away everything on the countertops.
• Wipe off the countertops.
• Sweep the floor.
• Mop the floor.
• Wipe off the sink.
• Wipe off the outside of the refrigerator.
• Wipe off the stove top.
• Take out the garbage.

2.       Schedule it in your day planner. In the example of cleaning the kitchen, you can set aside an hour on Tuesday morning to perform the tasks you outlined.

3.       Find some way to make yourself accountable. As an illustration, you can invite a neighbor over for coffee on Tuesday afternoon. That way, you’ll be sure to clean the kitchen on Tuesday morning—as you wrote down in your day planner—so that your neighbor won’t walk into a dirty kitchen.  If you have a blog, you can promise your readers to post a photo of your kitchen by noon on Tuesday. You wouldn’t post a photo of a messy kitchen, would you?

4.       The hardest part is getting started. Take a timer and set it for ten minutes. Then, try to make sure that you’ve washed all the dishes in that time. When the timer goes off and all the dishes are clean, you’ll begin to feel like you’re making actual progress. Use this small success to motivate you to keep going.

5.       If the task that you’re working on is boring—and cleaning the kitchen is an excellent example of a boring task—turn on some music. This will make the chore more enjoyable. In addition, your brain will release endorphins, which are feel-good chemicals.

6.       Remind yourself to strive for “good enough” instead of perfect. Many of us put things off because we worry about making mistakes or failing. The kitchen doesn’t need to sparkle; it just has to be clean and organized.

7.       Plan a reward. Once the kitchen is clean, go out to the café around the corner and get yourself a cappuccino and a scone. While you’re cleaning the kitchen, keep your eye on the prize. Incentives work: what gets rewarded gets done.

Follow the seven steps above and get that kitchen cleaned and organized. Then, apply the same steps to anything else you’ve been putting off. Soon, procrastination will simply be a bad memory.

For more information on how to stop procrastinating, visit my Squidoo lens, Procrastination and Morita Therapy.

What if I were to tell you that you have complete control over your life?  And that you can choose how you want to feel and how you will act regardless of circumstances or of what others say or do?  This is how proactive people live their lives.

In his fabulous book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, Stephen Covey explains that there are seven habits that all successful people adopt.  The first of these habit is to be proactive.  Being proactive means that you take responsibility for yourself and for your actions.  It means that your attitude is the following:

• I create my life.
• I will choose how to respond instead of just reacting to others and to events on auto-pilot.
• I know what I want.
• I take action to get what I want.
• Instead of making excuses I look for ways around obstacles.
• Instead of saying “I’ll try” I say “I will”.
• I know that even in the worst of circumstances I have the ability to choose my attitude.
• I act within my circle of influence instead of worrying about things over which I have no control.

If you’d like to read more about Stephen Covey’s bestseller, visit my Squidoo lens “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People“.  In addition, you can read my blog post “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Habit 1“.

One of life’s best guarded secrets is that the only thing that is holding us back is ourselves. We limit and sabotage ourselves constantly with beliefs such as the following:

• I’m not good enough.
• I’m not smart enough.
• I don’t deserve to be truly happy.
• I’m not worthy.

These beliefs have been drilled into our subconscious and it’s very difficult to let them go, despite our rational mind’s attempts to tell ourselves that these beliefs just aren’t true, that they’re not serving us well, and that it’s time to let them go.

The Sedona Method is a very powerful–yet very simple and easy to learn method–which will help us quickly release any beliefs which may be holding us back.

It consists of three simple questions:

• Could I let this feeling go?
• Would I let this feeling go? (Am I willing to let this feeling go?)
• If so, when?

In order to learn more about this incredible technique visit my squidoo lens “The Sedona Method”, or visit my blog post “The Sedona Method – Let Go of Negative Emotions and Limiting Beliefs”.

Watching the holiday classic “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is a beloved holiday tradition for many. From the theme song announcing that Christmas time is here, to the Christmas pageant, to Charlie Brown’s sad little Christmas tree, this half-hour special officialy kicks off the Christmas season for both young and old.

Charles M. Schutz wanted to make sure that the religious meaning of Christmas was central to his holiday special. The speech given by Linus when Charlie Brown asks in exasperation “Isn’t there anyone who can tell me what Christmas is all about?” is taken straight from the Bible.

The film is also filled with the typical “Peanuts” humor, as reflected in this exchange between Lucy and Charlie Brown:

Lucy: I know how you feel about all this Christmas business, getting depressed and all that. It happens to me every year. I never get what I really want. I always get a lot of stupid toys or a bicycle or clothes or something like that.

Charlie Brown: What is it you want?

Lucy: Real estate.

Go ahead and visit my squidoo lens “The Peanuts Gang: A Charlie Brown Christmas”.

For more holiday cheer visit these articles on my blog:

• Getting Over the Holiday Blues | Five Ways to Keep Your Spirits Up During the Holidays
• 28 Glorious Christmas Traditions
• Fun, Whimsical Gift Ideas for Creative People

Keeping a journal is about translating your experiences into words, storing your memories, and keeping a record of your life.  Often, we don’t embark on the adventure of keeping a journal out of fear of the blank page.  However, the internet is filled with journal prompts you can use to help get you started.  Below you’ll find ten journal prompts; so take out your pen, open your journal, and start writing.

1.  What advice would you give your fifteen-year old self?

2.  Are you living out your dreams?

3.  What is the one thing you would change about your current life?

4.  What are the ten things you are most grateful for?

5.  Who are your heroes?

6.  Do you consider yourself a success?

7.  What’s your happiest memory?

8.  What three people from history would you like to have met?

9.  Do you have any major regrets?

10.  What’s the biggest risk you’ve ever taken?

For more ideas on journal prompts you can use, visit “119 Journal Prompts”. In addition, you can create a journal jar and fill it with slips of paper, each containing a different prompt. For instructions on how to create a journal jar, visit my Squidoo lens “Unique Handmade Gift: A Journal Jar”.

“Zen to Done” (ZTD) is a productivity system created by Leo Babauta of “Zen Habits” fame. ZTD is based on David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” (GTD), as well as on the work of Stephen Covey and others. It’s a set of 10 habits that will help you get organized, simplify your life, get things under control, and get things done.

Leo advises that you work on one habit a month, instead of trying to incorporate all ten habits into your life at once.  The ten habits of ZTD are the following:

• ZTD Habit 1: Collect

This is the capture habit. The two keys to the capture habit are to write everything down before you forget, and to empty your notes into your to-do list when you get back to your home or office.

• ZTD Habit 2: Process – Make Quick Decisions on Things In Your Inbox

An inbox is anything where you collect incoming information.  First, try to minimize the number of inboxes that you have.  Second, go through your inboxes once a day, going through each item one by one, and deciding what to do with each item immediately.

• ZTD Habit 3: Plan

At the beginning of each week list the Big Rocks that you want to accomplish–the 3 to 6 most important things you want to get done that week–and schedule them first. Each day, create a list of 1 to 3 MITs (Most Important Tasks).  Try to get through your MIT’s first thing in the morning.

• ZTD Habit 4: Do One Thing at a Time Without Distractions

Select a task and decide that you’re going to work on it either until it’s done, or for a set amount of time (say 30 minutes). Focus on the task you’ve selected to the exclusion of everything else during the time that you’ve allotted to that task.

• ZTD Habit 5: Simple, Trusted System

GTD asks you to place your tasks (“next actions”) in a series of context lists, such as @work, @phone, @home, @errands, @waiting, etc. Keep simple lists: all you need is one list for each context–which you check daily–and a projects list that you review either daily or weekly.

• ZTD Habit 6: Everything in Its Place

Your life can be completely organized with the following two rules: everything you own should have a home, and when you’re done using any item, put it back where it belongs.

• ZTD Habit 7: Weekly Review

Your weekly review should be a review of the goals you’ve set for yourself, long-term, mid-term, and short-term, and the progress you’re making on each of your goals.

• ZTD Habit 8: Simplify

Reduce your goals and tasks to the essentials. Review your task and projects lists and see if you can simplify them. Simplify your commitments and your incoming information stream.

• ZTD Habit 9: Routine

Set and keep routines. A morning routine, for example, could include meditating, going for a run, processing your inboxes, and reviewing your MIT’s for the day. Find routines that work for you.

• ZTD Habit 10: Find Your Passion

If you’re passionate about your work, your task list will almost seem like a list of rewards.

For more information on Leo, visit my Squidoo lens “Leo Babauta”.  For an in-depth review of ZTD, visit my blog post “The 10 Habits of Zen to Done”.

1. “You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink.” — G. K. Chesterton

2. “You simply will not be the same person two months from now after consciously giving thanks each day for the abundance that exists in your life. And you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law: the more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given you.” — Sarah Ban Breathnach

3. “Take full account of the excellencies which you possess, and in gratitude remember how you would hanker after them, if you had them not.” — Marcus Aurelius

4. “We can be thankful to a friend for a few acres or a little money; and yet for the freedom and command of the whole earth, and for the great benefits of our being, our life, health, and reason, we look upon ourselves as under no obligation.” — Marcus Annaeus Seneca

5. “Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy — because we will always want to have something else or something more.” — Brother David Steindl-Rast

For more gratitude quotes visit my blog post “49 Gratitude Quotes and a Poem Of Thankfulness”. You can also donwload a free ebook on “114 Ways to Celebrate Life”.