Marc and Angel offer awesome lists for increasing productivity, happiness and love… In a very guy-friendly format.
I’m sure you’ve noticed that the Internet is all about the lists lately. I even wrote one myself, along with Marcus Williams that you may have seen called 25 Failsafe* Rules for Dads Raising Daughters… I had to get in on the fun.
It does seem like a lot of the more “inspirational” lists are geared toward women, but in pillaging the Internet for some inspiration, I came upon Marc and Angel’s Hack Life and have since become completely addicted.
But they have about a billion other lists written by Marc that seem very guy-friendly but accessible to everyone. I think my favorite one was 12 Things Successful People Do Differently.
The entire list is fantastic, but I found their list of S.M.A.R.T. Goals to be brilliant. Marc says:
Successful people are objective. They have realistic targets in mind. They know what they are looking for and why they are fighting for it. Successful people create and pursue S.M.A.R.T. goals.
Here’s what S.M.A.R.T. stands for:
- Specific – A general goal would be, “Get in shape.” But a related specific goal would be, “Join a health club and workout 3 days a week for the next 52 weeks.” A specific goal has a far greater chance of being accomplished because it has defined parameters and constraints.
- Measurable – There must be a logical system for measuring the progress of a goal. To determine if your goal is measurable, ask yourself questions like: How much time? How many total? How will I know when the goal is accomplished? etc. When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued efforts required to reach your goal.
- Attainable – To be attainable, a goal must represent an objective toward which you are both willing and able to work. In other words, the goal must be realistic. The big question here is: How can the goal be accomplished?
- Relevant – Relevance stresses the importance of choosing goals that matter. For example, an internet entrepreneur’s goal to “Make 75 tuna sandwiches by 2:00PM.” may be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, and Timely, but lacks Relevance to an entrepreneurs overarching objective of building a profitable online business.
- Timely – A goal must be grounded within a time frame, giving the goal a target date. A commitment to a deadline helps you focus your efforts on the completion of the goal on or before the due date. This part of the S.M.A.R.T. goal criteria is intended to prevent goals from being overtaken by daily distractions.
For the other 11 things, visit their site.
The other list that stood out for me was 7 Ways to Live Happier Through Love… Talk about a topic mostly dominated by women!
In this piece, Marc opens with the story of his greatest heartbreak, and through the list he intertwines truths about himself that help make the rules personal, and not preachy.
My favorite is Rule #6:
6. Learn the love language of others – Being an emotional person, I longed for a deep relationship with my father. Talking about emotions or topics on self-enlightenment was something my father was not good at. But he was good at other things. Through the process of self-awareness, I learned that my father expressed love in different ways. This enabled me to enjoy a completely differently relationship with him even though he hadn’t really changed.
Read the rest of the Happier Through Love rules here.
Cruise over to Marc and Angel’s Hack Life and check out their lists… Then come back and tell us which one inspired you most.
Image of brain courtesy of Shutterstock