Life coaches for years have been talking about the importance of decluttering your life. The main point is, if you declutter your life, you are opening yourself up to receive better opportunities and freedom in life.

Basically, in Michael terms, when you are not surround with all the old crap from your past, you can see clearly what is important to you and are able to move forward towards it with better focus than before.

I think we all know the basics of decluttering our lives but there is so much modern clutter we do not always think about or talk about.

Here are my 7 ways to declutter your life in this modern world we live in:

DVR -The DVR has made life easy for us. We are not only able to never miss a favorite show but we can fast forward through all commercials. I noticed though that my DVR is full of TV shows and movies. I am click happy and set it up to record every reality show in the world. What went from little TV time has moved into weekends spent in front of the TV watching Housewives flip tables, crazy staff in a plastic surgeon’s office and a group of friends in Miami.

Declutter Tip: My tip is to only subscribe to shows you like and can not live without and not just every show in the world. Think about the shows you never get to or the shows you watch just for background noise. Clear them out. We all know less TV, leads to more opportunities. Figure out what really needs to be on the DVR to make you happy but not keep you attached to your couch. You will be surprised what you do not miss.

ComputerS- It is not uncommon to own a computer these days. It is not uncommon to own a desktop and a laptop. It is not uncommon to own 3 or more computers. We have computers EVERYWHERE.

Declutter Tip: How many computers do you really need? Some of us may work in a professional that requires it but not all of us. Wouldn’t it be better to have one very high end computer you can relay on and has a great back up system and support than many computers that you have to keep track of and do not support each other or your time management?

I like to have one computer which is mine. Simple and easy. I will use it until it dies and then get another one. What happens if it doesn’t work, I know ways around this such a friends and family but I do not need to clutter my life with too many computers.

Social Networking Overload – MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Friendster, Match.com, eHarmony.com, Gay.com, Adam4Adam.com, etc, etc, etc. How many accounts can we get with the exact same information on it? How many times a day do we log in and check to see if  there are any updates or changes? TOO MUCH!

Declutter Tip: First cut down on the sites. Unless you are using a lot of these sites for social networking your business which makes it part of your job, you do not need to have this much. Cut it back to just one or 2 maybe 3. You really are connected with the exact same people. on all these sites

Second, reduce all the notifications. I do not need to know that Bob Smith (who I do not know) wrote a response to a friend’s status after I did. I do not need to know you just took the “I love Lucy” Quiz. Use settings to help you be able to manage the information you truly care about and find meaningful to you.

“Online” Friends – I just talked about Facebook Friends last week. Sometimes we have so many friends on Facebook we can not find the real people we are friends with. You know you are guilty of adding someone just because they asked. You know you add people from your friend’s pages because you thought they were cute, funny, or just wanted to be nosey and look at their pictures (I am so guilty of the picture thing!)

Declutter Tip: When the feature was created on Facebook to be able to create lists so you can see only the friends you want on your main page, many people did not put you in theirs. Guess what? Do not feel bad because you did not put them in yours.

Go through your friends once and awhile and decide do you really need to be connected to all these people who are not even looking at your profile, talking to you or caring about what you are doing on there. Wouldn’t it be better to know the people you are connected with, truly care about you? You build stronger effective relationships this way.

Contacts -When you look in your cell phone to call a friend, sometimes it takes forever to find their number as your scroll through tons and tons of numbers you never ever call. You keep looking and looking and finally you find the one you wanted.

Declutter Tip: Play the Cell Phone game. You sit down and scroll through your phone. You are required, in a split second, to say who the person is and why you keep them in your phone (why you keep them and not what was the original reason you kept them. Remember relationships and needs change so people who once were important may not be like old dates, Exs, etc) As you move through the list, delete the ones you can not answer right away or can not come up with a reason to keep them which deals directly with the present (not the past or possible future need). You can always back the numbers up on your computer or your “old school” hand written address book.

Money – Where is your money? How many accounts do you have? How many investment plans? How many different life insurances or even plans you do not even realize you have? This is money clutter. Where is your money?

Declutter Tip: I love me some Suze Orman. She has a wonderful low cost kit to help you place everything in a safe place for keeping. Or you can pick up one of her books (I tend to get the audio version) and listen to her tips and create your own kit. You should have this all together and simply organized so you are prepared at any moment. This also gives you a sense of security knowing you have control of your finances. No longer is your life cluttered with questions like, “Where is my money?” plus it is not cluttered with tons of tons of paperwork all over the place.

Too Connected - With our lives being online now, we have access to so much information all the time. We can literally be plugged in 24 hours a day. We have our social networking sites, blogs we read, emails we check, Tweets to post, online bill paying, researching purchases, online shopping, Internet porn, photos to upload, IMs to answer, etc. So much to do on the online world.

Declutter tip: I have already mentioned cutting back (not my blog of course) but you also need to unplug. Unplug from all of it. What would happened if you didn’t check Facebook for one day? ONE DAY. Can you imagine? You would lose connect with the WHOLE WORLD. But, what did we do before Facebook, before the Internet, before the computer, before TV?

We survived.

Give yourself time to unplug. Maybe start with an hour a week or a day. Build to a whole day. You will be amazed how much stress will be released from unplugging. You will be amazed how much further you get with your goals. You will be amazed how you are living life out loud!

What other declutter tips do you do that you could share with us? What results did you see from this decluttering?

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How do I celebrate my 500th blog post? I asking you for your thoughts and ideas.

When I hit my 150th post I shared 150 things about me. I want to do something to celebrate to make this great moment but I want it to be something for me as well as all of you who read this blog. I just want it to be something fun and something that will mark this moment in time.

So what are your thoughts? Video ideas? Post topic ideas? Photo ideas? Event ideas? Let me know what comes from mind and let’s celebrate 500 together!

Let me know your thoughts in the comments, Facebook, email or Twitter. I am all open for your ideas and thoughts!

Michael

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I remember when I was first introduced to Facebook. I created an account and was confused by the whole system which was so different than MySpace which was my first social networking addiction. As time went on, I got use to the system and really enjoyed how you could interact with people.

My Facebook has grown with friends. I have reconnected with friends from years ago. I have made great friends with people I normally would have met and never been able to keep in contact with again. I also met many friends who I have never met in person but have created virtual friendships through the web including meeting a guy with the exact same name as me! My family has even joined Facebook and, even though, we live in the same time we have another way to keep in touch.

Lately, I have been wondering are these people on Facebook really your friends? I mean sure I keep in touch with quite a few people but many of them I never hear from. No comments, no wall posts, and no messages. I am responding to people’s statues and wishing them a Happy Birthday but again no response back. Sometimes I will get a question which I will respond to than never hear from them again. Not even a thank you.

I have great experiences with Facebook so I will never knock it. I just wonder how we can better connect with the people on our pages. Are they nervous to talk to us? Are we bothering them? Or do we need to reach out to them?

I think it really just comes down to friendships in general. It is not about the quantity of friends but the quality of friends. Cherish the relationships you do have and make sure to help them grow.

I don’t believe Facebook has killed real life friendships, I think it has allowed us to connect to people we may never have and allowed us to stay in touch ways we didn’t have before.

What are your thoughts?

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My friend Becky sent me this hilarious list of thoughts on life.  I wish I knew who wrote them so I can thank them for such a great laugh.

Take a look at these 45 items and see if you find yourself relating and laughing until it hurts!

1. More often than not, when someone is telling me a story all I can think about is that I can’t wait for them to finish so that I can tell my own story that’s not only better, but also more directly involves me.
2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you’re wrong.
3. Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you’re going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to first do something like check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you’re crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.
4. That’s enough, Nickelback.
5. I totally take back all those times I didn’t want to nap when I was younger.
6. Is it just me, or are 80% of the people in the “people you may know” feature on Facebook people that I do know, but I deliberately choose not to be friends with?
7. Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn’t work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message board or FAQ’s. We just figured it out. Today’s kids are soft.
8. There is a great need for sarcasm font.
9. Sometimes, I’ll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the f was going on when I first saw it.
10. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
11. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.
12. I think part of a best friend’s job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.
13. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I trying to finish a text.
14. Was learning cursive really necessary?
15. LOL has gone from meaning, “laugh out loud” to “I have nothing else to say”.
16. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
17. Whenever someone says “I’m not book smart, but I’m street smart”, all I hear is “I’m not real smart, but I’m imaginary smart”.
18. How many times is it appropriate to say “What?” before you just nod and smile because you still didn’t hear what they said?
19. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a dick from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers!
20. Every time I have to spell a word over the phone using ‘as in’ examples, I will undoubtedly draw a blank and sound like a complete idiot. Today I had to spell my boss’s last name to an attorney and said “Yes that’s G as in…(10 second lapse)…ummm…Goonies”
21. While driving yesterday I saw a banana peel in the road and instinctively swerved to avoid it…thanks Mario Kart.
22. MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.
23. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
24. I find it hard to believe there are actually people who get in the shower first and THEN turn on the water.
25. I can’t remember the last time I wasn’t at least kind of tired.
26. Bad decisions make good stories.
27. Whenever I’m Facebook stalking someone and I find out that their profile is public I feel like a kid on Christmas morning. 546 pictures? Don’t mind if I do!
28. Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I’m from, this shouldn’t be a problem.
29. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you’ve made up your mind that you just aren’t doing anything productive for the rest of the day.
30. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don’t want to have to restart my collection.
31. There’s no worse feeling than that millisecond you’re sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.
32. I’m always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.
33. “Do not machine wash or tumble dry” means I will never wash this ever.
34. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Damnit!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What’d you do after I didn’t answer? Drop the phone and run away?
35. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.
36. When I meet a new person, I’m terrified of mentioning something they haven’t already told me but that I have learned from some light internet stalking.
37. I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it’s on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.
38. Why is a school zone 20 mph? That seems like the optimal cruising speed for pedophiles…
39. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.
40. I keep some people’s phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.
41. Even if I knew your social security number, I wouldn’t know what do to with it.
42. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, hitting the G-spot, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey – but I bet my ass everyone can find and push the Snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time every time…
43. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.
44. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lites than Kay.
45. The other night I ordered takeout, and when I looked in the bag, saw they had included four sets of plastic silverware. In other words, someone at the restaurant packed my order, took a second to think about it, and then estimated that there must be at least four people eating to require such a large amount of food. Too bad I was eating by myself. There’s nothing like being made to feel like a fat %$#@! before dinner.

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Justin’s friend Dana came to visit us a few weeks ago. While she was here we decided to take her to the Pirates Dinner Show. You can not come to Orlando without seeing a dinner show.

I purchased us VIP tickets so would be able to sit in the front, get upgraded food, participate in the show AND get our picture on the actual ship with a pirate. (I paid for VIP really just for the picture on the ship with a pirate, seriously)

We arrive early and eat appetizers and enjoy the pre-show. Justin and Dana purchased drinks in cool metal souvenir glasses and I got a shaped pirate glass.

We get walked into the show to sit down and our pirate (the one we are supposed to cheer for) comes over to introduce himself.

He talks to the straight couple next to us with kids and then turns to us. He asks where we are from and Justin says we are from Orlando and Dana says she is from Texas.

Our pirate turns to the straight guy and says, “You know what Texas is known for?… Steers and Beers…” He pauses, looks over to Justin and I and says, “What did you think I would say?” (the famous saying is Steers and Queers) and walks off.

A gay joke? Not even a funny gay joke but an offensive one. This is how you introduce yourself to us?

I do not walk around all day thinking about being gay. I just walk around being me. There are moments like this that remind me that some people do only think of me as being gay.

Did this comment ruin the night? NO! I was getting my picture on a pirate ship! We had a fun time and I got my picture!

I would love to think my positive attitude is what allowed me to move on with my night but part of me is afraid it is the simple fact that I have gotten use to these type comments and just have learned to accept them and move on…

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What would happen if you went up to someone in their 60’s and told them they were too old for something? They would be offended. They would be insulted. They would feel worthless.

All my life I have had to fight the opposite. I was always told I was too young. Too young to do this. Too young to understand. Too young to do what I do.

How does age tell people how mature someone is? How does age tell people how talented or smart you are? When does age mean something more than the years you have been on this Earth?

I wonder if there is really a time when you are the “right” age. The perfect age where you are no longer too young or even considered too old.

My guess is never…

I was always fighting this battle to be accepted. I wanted to be the age where I wasn’t too young. Each year I gained, I felt closer to the “right” age.

As time went on, I learned a lesson. This wasn’t about my age. I was fine with my age. What I wasn’t OK with was people’s perspective on my age.  This had nothing to do with me but had everything to do with them.

When we criticize others about their age, we are only reflecting how we truly feel about ourselves. When you say someone is too young this can be because of your own personal regrets from when you were younger, the fear of yourself getting older, or shock of facing reality that you didn’t or aren’t doing what you wanted to do in life.

Not everyone called me too young. Many people acknowledged me for what I did, celebrated with me and cheered me on to do more. These people were comfortable not only with their ages but in their own lives.

When you find yourself making the judgement that someone is too young or too old, take a look at yourself and question why do you need to say this? What is this saying about you? What changes can you make in your own life?

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I believe in karma.

I have seen it over and over again. What goes around truly comes around. All you have to do it wait and see. At the same time, what you give it is going to be what you get back.

I believe there are some great simple ways to improve your karma. Here are 30 ways I like to do to improve my karma:

1. Do not put on an act
2. Excuse other’s mistakes
3. Be impeccable with your word
4. Be willing to cooperate
5. Let go of jealousy
6. Learn from your mistakes
7. Say you are sorry and mean it
8. Stop judging others
9. Keep your opinions to yourself
10. Give to others and do not expect a return
11. Start the day off with a good intention
12. Smile more often
13. Give someone a hug just because
14. Learn to truly listen
15. Give love
16. Plant a tree
17. Give out more compliments
18. Look for the positive in people
19. Love yourself
20. Under promise, over deliver
21. Go with the flow of things
22. Be sensitive to people around you
23. Assume the best about people
24. Let go of your ego
25. Remember that every minute counts
26. Do not use words as weapons
27. Give respect to earn respect
28. Stop blaming other people
29. Be a great friend
30. Be loyal

This is my list of 30 ways to improve your karma. I know you have a few you can add yourself, please share with us ways we can improve our karma in the comments below.

~ How people treat you is their karma; how you react is yours. ~ Wayne Dyer

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The Universe sent me this note today:

Happy?

Are you?

Are you now?

Are you now happy?

Now.

You are.

You are happy.

You are happy now.

And I’m happy for you!

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When ever I find myself loving gossip too much or enjoying other people’s drama, I know it is time to look at my own life. These are red flags to me that my life is lacking excitement.

Other red flags are not remembering what you did yesterday or on the weekend. Finding yourself feeling bored and tired. Or even seeing yourself jealous or envious of other people’s excitement.

It is time to check in with yourself and see what is going on.

• Maybe you are working too much
• Maybe you are not spending time with friends and/or loved ones.
• Maybe you are too busy
• Maybe you are overcommitted
• Maybe you forgot to take care of…YOU!

The first step to bringing excitement back is to take a sick day from life.

Yes a whole day. Let go of meetings, To Do Lists, Cell Phones, Texts, Calls, Obligations, Facebook, Twitter, TV, Chores, Work, etc. Let it all go and spend the day doing something for you.

Spend the day at the beach reading and enjoying the sun. Go to a theme park with friends. Have a spa day where you can relax and be healed.

It is your sick day from life to help you reconnect with you! After this time, I think you will see life differently. It is a mini-vacation to get yourself back into gear and taking care of who needs your attention most…YOU!

Now you can start finding more ways to make your life exciting as you move forward…

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I have mentioned before that I had a hard time going through middle school. The kids weren’t always the nicest as we know kids can be.

I dreaded going to lunch because this was when the name calling would be the worst. My friends and I sat at the table which was right next to the table of a group of the jock/surfer boys.

I still do not know why I never suggested to my friends we move to another table but I think it is because I knew the answer. I would be asked to moved and they would stay.

During lunch everything would be going well and then the Peck twins would start on me. It wasn’t so much both of them but one of them who enjoyed it the most. He would start asking why I always eat with girls. Why am I so girly? I am a fag. I must be a fag. Look at this fag…

It seemed to be the highlight of his day. At least it was only at lunch…

Well, it was only at lunch in the beginning…

He then decided to start before school. He would gather his friends up and they would come to where we always stood waiting to go to class and the names would begin again.

We moved at one point in time to the other side of the building. It was nice for awhile until he found me over there it would begin again. He would drag his friends over and they would begin the name calling, the questions and making me wanting to run but I couldn’t. I had to stay and deal with it. No one was there to help me. No one was there to understand.

He loved making fun of me. He loved bullying me. It made him feel good. You would see the pride in his eyes whenever it would begin and when I would get to the point of fighting tears.

This tore me up through out those years and I hated  him. I would run into him after school at a store or resturant and hide so he wouldn’t see me. I would take longer walks to get to classes to avoid him in the halls. I would avoid party invites if I thought he might be there.

As an adult, I think back at those times and wonder why he was so cruel to me? What did he get from making fun of me?

He got attention. Attention which made him stand apart. Stand apart from his twin bother.

They were known as the twins. When you talked about them, you always talked about them together. They were invited to the same parties. They were sometimes even in the same classes. When they weren’t together, the first question always asked to him was where is your brother? They had the same hair cut and even shared the same clothes.

He asked my friend out once and she said no. Not because he made fun of me but because twins freaked her out.

I want to believe he picked on me because he was hurting inside. He was feeling bullied himself and, as a teen, the only way he knew to make it better was to pick on someone else. It was rough on me but who knows how rough his life was on him.

Who knows where he is now? Maybe he does homoerotic modeling with his brother. Maybe he is a guitar player in a band. Maybe he is a CEO of a company.

I deep down wonder if he even remembers me.

I wonder if he knows how much he hurt me.

I wonder if he regrets what he did.

I wonder if he is sorry.

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