The Middle Start to Life

Deals without money!

2009-10-27T22:58:00.000-07:00

Many people have let down by the government, by their employers and by the system within which they have spent their lives working. Middle Start isn't doesn't like rubbing in the bad news!!

We need money to pay the mortgage - everything else - priceless. The key to material security and money is no longer key to material security is the ability to make a deal to get what you need.

I have stuff you want and you have stuff I want, lets swap!! I write a blog, you read it! now your part of the deal is to watch these short videos from Rich Dad, Poor Dad!!

Click here for the link

Why do I want you to watch these videos - so we can start to do a deal!!

Copyright (c) Dr. Liz Miller
www.lizmiller.info

Find out more - Buy the Book!

Copyright Dr Liz Miller 2008

Dog's a friend for life

2009-10-23T22:21:00.000-07:00

I love animals, so much so that nowadays, I hardly ever eat them (sorry, that was a joke in poort taste)

Dogs tell us a lot about people. I love the Dog Whisperer and often borrow and reinterpret Cesar Milan's ideas to help me with my non-hairy friends. I have his complete Series I. Click here to find out more about the Dog Whisperer.

These are the delightful Chelsea Cats, who would make a nice dog's life hell. And Ben, see below, is a nice dog.

Getting a pet is a great decision. We have perhaps made too much of the bad publicity about pet owners, because pet animals are loving giving companions, who do everyone good, because they are so caring and much more resilient than their human counterparts.

If you think you have room in your life for a furry friend, think of Ben. A dog is good for your your mental health. Exercise, sunshine and going outside for walks improve your mood, and a close personal relationship protects you from depression.

Ben is cool and by association, you too can be cool. If you think you could give him a home, get in contact by clicking this link Ben's new friends are great

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Copyright (c) Dr. Liz Miller
www.lizmiller.info

Find out more - Buy the Book!

Copyright Dr Liz Miller 2008

Never a borrower or a lender be - Stop the cancer of economic growth!

2009-09-13T05:15:00.000-07:00

Stern optimistically suggests that it is possible to break the link between economic growth and emissions Click here for link

Who benefits from our addiction to "growth"? Only the significantly rich. And if you are reading this blog, you are not significantly rich, don't fool yourself. Rich means as many millions as you have thousands. Rich means not caring about what happens to anyone else and possibly your offspring, because they are the vehicles of your genes.

Most of us in the west already have plenty. You can only eat off one plate at a time and wear one pair of shoes at one time. Lets make the most of what we have. Instead of buying more shoes than we will ever wear, more credit cards than we will ever repay, more cars than we can drive, and ever more air miles, it is time to learn to be human. In the last 70,000 years our species has come a long way and now that we have conquered and almost destroyed the earth, it is time to take stock.

Instead of allowing the economy to grow like some massive cancer on the face of the planet, this recession is time to start thinking about what is important. Yes you need money to pay the mortgage, and to earn a living wage, but for everything else? Not so much!!

Far better to live a healthy life, than leave a decadent disease ridden mental corpse as a rotting legacy to how you helped destroy life on planet Earth.

Copyright Dr Liz Miller 2008

More about money

2009-09-13T05:13:00.000-07:00

Although I originally put this on Doctor Bloggs, it belongs here more naturally.

Understand what is happening to our money supply
Click here for a link to a film of 45 minutes that explains modern banking and money in way that you and your children have to understand if you are to survive financially

Copyright Dr Liz Miller 2008

2009-09-03T01:09:00.000-07:00

This video explains what is happening to our money supply far better than I can
Click here for a link to a film of 45 minutes that explains modern banking and money in way that you and your children have to understand if you are to survive financially

Copyright Dr Liz Miller 2008

Putting the O back in Good

2009-08-27T20:33:00.000-07:00

This post comes out of my latest anxiety, first deal with anxiety - Money!

I have already put the post on two blogs and the great God Google gets annoyed if you post the same stuff on different blogs, Money is an ongoing source of anxiety and the link shows one way to deal with it.
so Click here for the link

In addition to mental strategies, I think that we need more.

We need a system that sits in the background, and directs our lives. Once upon a time, this was called faith in God. Between the ages of 3 and 12 I was a committed Christian until Go(o)d refused a request. Before this, he had regularly helped out. My final request was a step too far. Go(o)d and I fell out and our relationship broke down completely. I became in turn, an atheist, a Marxist, an Existentialist, a Humanist and finally a Libertarian.

Nonetheless, perhaps, by the age of 12, the go(o)dly system was already too deeply ingrained to be easily got rid of. Perhaps I failed to make an appropriate commitment to evil. Because throughout my life, I have believed that doing "right" was more important than earning money, getting promoted and becoming an important person.

As a result of my belief in doing right, I am the wrong side of 50, with a large mortgage, no proper job, a plethora of qualifications. The accompanying benefits are being over 50 I don't have to worry about breaking a finger nail. Having a mortgage means I have a house. No proper job means I have time to write about what is important and my qualifications mean I can get enough work to keep my head above water.

Further evidence that I am over fifty comes is that I have resurrected my faith and called it faith in Good.

Although I abandoned Go(o)d long ago, I still believe in what is Right, Intelligent, Good, Healthy and True. And may be I gave up on Go(o)d because over the centuries, few religions can boast that they have consistently stood for those values. Even the Dalai Lama is not above criticism. While he was busy meditating, the Chinese moved in and took his country. Why have the Chinese invaded Tibet? Because they could. It would have taken massive political skill to have maintained Tibetan independence. It is, nonetheless, a trick that HongKong seems to have managed.

Looking back, I never stopped believing in Good. Even when I was sectioned and imprisoned in an Gothic Edinburgh Hospital, I continued to believe that Good would overcome evil. That Right was better than Wrong.

I see every reason to believe in Good, as strongly now as when I was five. And this faith will happily last me for the next fifty years and well beyond.

In the meantime, back on Planet Earth, my book comes out in October - I have only done two or three of which I am proud

Treating and saving one or two patients who might otherwise have died
Setting up the Doctors Support Network with Dr Soames Michelson
Being awarded the Mind Mental Health Champion in 2008

and finally,
Writing Mood Mapping, although to be honest, most of the writing has been helped along by Gill Paul, my starring Copy Editor

Click here to buy the book

Copyright Dr Liz Miller 2008

Sorting out expenditure

2009-03-15T03:02:00.000-07:00

I do not know where other people are in life, but I wish I had been able to handle my money years ago - I still can't but I am finally angry enough to make sure I do it.

Again - ripped off by PC World, who sold me the wrong piece of kit. It would not matter if I could find the receipt, I could go back and give them a bollocking! but I can't because I can't find the receipt.

The reason - I have not kept my system for receipts up to date.

This is what my brother suggested I do three months ago, and I have done it a little bit, but not well enough
1 - set up an expenses system
2 - keep all receipts - not difficult, just put them in my purse when I collect my shopping
3 - Every now and again, enter them on an Expenses Sheet
4 - Each week I can see what I have spent - roughly, then I can cross reference it to bank statements etc and always have the receipts.

This is what it looks like when I have done it - it gives me a set of tables from which I can work out, at least some of the places my money goes. Just glancing at a bank statement is not good enough for the Inland Revenue and in the next few years, in Bankrupt Britain, it is going to be a battle between you and the Government as to how much exactly of their money they get! - this is the only way to win!!! know your figures better than they ever could!!

The picture is an Expense sheet

I have scanned in a completed sheet - so you can see how it works. It almost works at the moment and this is the only system that I have still be working at 3 months after I started.
Mainly I think because it tolerates my fits and starts of activity. It also looks after the receipts, which you staple to the side of the expense sheet.

Somewhere along the line, - a - I have not been disciplined enough about collecting the receipts and b - as I discovered today, I have not been keeping my cash book up to date. I am six weeks behind. It does not matter, as I can still catch up. But I seem to have terminally lost my PC World receipt

It may seem like a lot of extra work - and why not just spend and not worry about the consequences??

Lots of reason

Just spending - is a waste of mine and the planet's resources. Instead of getting a refund, I will have to sell the bit of kit on ebay - without the packaging because of course, that went out with the rubbish. I cant keep my house clean but my cleaning lady has a robust approach to rubbish and so gets rid of it. If she didn't the house would drown, and because she does, I lose things

Anyway - most people cannot afford a cleaning lady, so its irrelevant. She is excellent by the way, and looking for work!

No one said it was easy to be rich, if it was, we would all be. Nonetheless, there is no reason why more of us cannot be self supporting.

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Rambling ideas

In my ideal world, we will all be our own businesses. Jobs will be an apprenticeship to learn tasks which you then sell to employers. In turn you employ other people to do your tasks.

People bank with each other, not with major banks. We have trust accounts with each other - each of us only pays another when he or she needs money for some reason or other. The rest of the time we work on trust. It works as long as everyone is trustworthy!! and does things properly! I have no doubt that out of this banking crisis will come many new ways of doing business. It is the monetary equivalent of Windows getting a virus that crashes every computer that uses it. A few people using a different operating system will look smug (those whose assets are in Land or Gold) Everyone else will have their work cut out, rescuing their data and then they will think of other ways to do things - partly back to pen and paper, and partly forward with new ideas.

Copyright Dr Liz Miller 2008

Magic Marbles from Mars, and Venutian leaves

2009-02-05T01:17:00.000-08:00

The problem with currency is that it doesn't have any real value. It is something that comes off a printing press. Once upon a time, each government backed their own currency. In those days, the job of a government was to protect the borders and defend the currency, or was it the other way round?

Nowadays, there are solid assets - Magic Marbles from Mars and money - Venutian leaves

Real world assets

Magic Marbles from Mars, which store units of work

Land and resources

Shelter

Food and medicines

Gold

Symbolic exchanges

Currencies or Venutian leaves

The only relationship between Magic Marbles from Mars and Venutian leaves is what people agree.

An hour's labour, an acre of land, a house, a square meal and a kilogram of gold have intrinsic worth.

A pound, a hundred pounds, a thousand dollars and a million yen are only worth what governments and people generally think they are worth. They have no real value. We all agree that a Million yen could probably buy you a nice flat in Mayfair but only because we agree that Yen are worth having. It might cost more than a trillion Wombatians that is because none of us know where Wombatia is.

Credit Obscenity

2009-01-29T03:44:00.000-08:00

Credit Obscenity

£2 interest on 2p for one month??? and the banks are broke??? yes and the pope isn't catholic and bears don't shit in the woods.

I have just found out that through an error I underpaid my credit card bill by 2p last month. In the obscenity the banks have charged a month's interest on the entire sum outstanding. Apparently this in their terms and conditions.

Lesson 1: overpay or pay the minimum. There are no half measures.
Lesson 2: the banks are obscene. But we knew that anyway

In the meantime the suppliers have still not been paid - 90 days for the people on the other end!

The duties of a good citizen

1 - Be healthy
2 - Avoid all forms of credit

The Citizens Manifesto is there for your own good!

Copyright Dr Liz Miller 2008

New World Order is alive and well in Hammersmith & Fulham

2009-01-19T05:32:00.000-08:00

Why not just do a DNA check?
For one parking permit I needed

1)take a completed application form from J, the owner of the car
2)to complete part of the application form myself
3) to take a copy of his driving licence
4) to take a copy of the vehicle registration document
5) to take J's bankstatement
6) to contact the Council tax department to let them know that J was now living here
7) spend 2 hours in the council, and one hour collecting and copying above documents

Of the council employers, 2 only resembled human beings, the rest, were "gone". One looked suspiciously like something from the Space Captains Bar in Star Wars, and she definitely wasn't on the side of the Jedi

This is bureaucracy gone wild, and a scandalous waste of time and money. Once upon a time, you went in, showed your ID and got a parking permit. Nowadays you need an A'level in Form Filling and 21st Century Councilese. The politicians/bureaucrats have gone mad.

There will be a revolution this is not how English people live.

It is like Elizabeth I's time, when there were spies everywhere. Plus la change, plus la meme chose.

Copyright Dr Liz Miller 2008

How Blind is the Gordon

2009-01-19T01:40:00.000-08:00

Gordon can't read the small print anymore

SIZE 36 FONT and FAILING FAST (this is only size 24)

So the Gordon has thrown his lot in with the banks. Why?
Do we need banks or do we need somewhere safe to store work? None of the money that the government is pouring into banks is getting past the board.

There is no clarity in the system - we have no idea what or who the Gordon is working for. Quite obviously not the citizens of the country. What kind of New World Order does he have in mind?

News for you Gordon- we are not ready for it yet, and there are people in this country prepared to die for freedom and justice.

Yes, Britain has a history of martyrdom, on both sides of the Protestant-Catholic, bureaucratic-autocratic divide. You are not just taking the country to the edge of bankruptcy but to the edge of civil war.

Your choice Gordon, you will certainly be remembered in history, the only question is, as what?

Copyright Dr Liz Miller 2008

Money is stored work

2009-01-12T06:53:00.000-08:00

Money is stored work. Probably Marx was the first person in recent times to notice it. However that was in the mid 19th century before rampant inflation took hold of our economies.

Inflation is rising prices where too much money chases too few goods. Prices rise when there are more pounds or dollars than goods and there is a shortage of goods. Scarcity economics. When there are plenty of goods, prices drop.

In Zimbabwe, a real life laboratory of inflation, the shelves are empty. When there is only one loaf of bread, it goes to the highest bidder. If only two people able to bid, the rest starve. Prices rise because there are not enough goods and the government is printing dollars. If there were lots of food on the shelves, food would have to sell more cheaply or not sell. Shopkeepers pitch their prices high, because they can and because there are food shortages.

Deflation, falling prices, too little money chases too many goods. The price of goods falls. IT costs are deflationary. A new well appointed computer costs under a thousand pounds. In 1976, my first double floppy disc drive cost £940. Nowadays there are too many computers and too little money for them, most people can only use one computer at once. Similarly, in the High Street, too many clothes chase too few buyers. Despite the Sales, the High Street stores overstocked because they thought wholesale prices were too good to miss. They bought everything on credit, and now the price is dropping.

In the UK there are also areas of inflation - for example food and fuel. We may be able to live with an extra set of clothes, but we cannot live without food and fuel. There is not enough food and fuel on the market to lower prices. For people who can afford neither computers, clothes, nor food or fuel. Life is tough.

People charge what they can get away with. Where there is plenty of competition and plenty of goods, the price is close to the cost of production, or what the goods cost to make. Where there is a monopoly, a shortage of goods and plenty of money, the price becomes speculative and reaches what the shopkeeper thinks he or she can get away with charging.

How to get out of this spiral? These are the principles of a good citizen of MatrixEconomics.

Principles of good citizenship

Tell the truth and obey the law where it does not oppress another human being or animal
Pay as little tax as legally possible
Work and provide for yourselves, your family and your friends
Stay healthy
Be self sufficient
Do not use credit - ever, unless you are starving or homeless
Owing money is the first step to twenty first century slavery

Copyright Dr Liz Miller 2008

Process Management - Pay the Parket Tickets and steal the car

2009-01-03T07:44:00.000-08:00

Process management is the biggest con - it is the lie behind modern management
The excuse for bullying and harassment by tick the box managers who are too scared to take their noses out of the brown soup that got them the job in the first place.

Process management is killing industry - people are not machines and cannot be managed in the same. All people are not equal, only people with small minds think that people everyone is like them, luckily some of us aren't!!

Copyright Dr Liz Miller 2008

Sorting out and tidying up

2009-01-03T03:12:00.000-08:00

This is to remind me of the struggle it has been to get myself sorted, and to remind me that if I ever tell someone, just start keeping track of your money, that this is a difficult and stressful process.

Being tidy, keeping accounts is about changing your identity - there is no easy way. It involves a different mindset, and if a financial genius or organiser tells you different, they are lying. Untidiness is the enemy of civilisation!!

I have just started to get my accounts in order and to keep track of my spending and my first reaction is to write a blog post about how hard it is!

Being comfortable with my filing systems. I have recently discovered Guildhall slip files (google them ;-) . These are card A4 pockets that are better than plastic folders, because they do not slip all over the place, you can write on the covers and they are made of light cardboard, so that they do not flop about.

In addition, I use hanging folders for storage and my brother has got me using ring binders for statements etc

You have to feel comfortable with the stuff you are using ;-)

Copyright Dr Liz Miller 2008

New Economics

2008-12-29T03:53:00.000-08:00

I am, or to be more exact was, a head in the sand, anti-rich, anti-greed, non financial money idiot. However looking around and seeing the number of people who are collecting millions of pounds without even passing go, I realise this must change. A recession is the best time to change, if someone can succeed now, they can succeed at anywhere anytime. Not that I believe in the recession, I have not lost my job.

As with emotional health, financial health depends on getting "you" right. My head is more or less straight, I know I will never be ill again and my emotional, physical and intellectual life is under my control. But money wise, I have a way to go.

I started with the Deep Tidy, getting rid of everything I don't need, and that is still going on although the worst is over. I am still getting rid of stuff I don't need

Then came Deep Organisation, putting everything in the right place, so I know where it is. This is still going on. It means finding a system of organisation I am Happy with. That reflects the way my mind works. As my mind is generally the most disorganised heap of rubbish anyone could hope to stumble across, this is proving a challenge. It means changing the way I think! There is a limit to how much I can change, on the other hand, unless I get some systems in place, all I will leave is a heap of chaos that will rapidly disappear in the swirling universe that is time and place. Organisation represents our fight against entropy and unless a person can impose some kind of order then everything they do will turn to dust.

Finding the right tools!

I have come to like hanging files and Guildhall slip files
Guildhall slip halls are A4 sized folders, closed on two edges so they act as a pocket as well as a folder.
There have been times when I have bonded better with Document Wallets but for now, the Guildhall slip files are winning

Cash flow
I have three accounts - at least three imaginary accounts but they are not working so well at the moment. I have three identities and each identity has a spending pattern, an allowance and a way of earning money.

Behaviour with money is as much a personality trait as the style a person chooses to dress in, the books he or she reads, and the way that person sees the world.

The three present identities are

Personal me - entitled only to a small amount of pocket money on a weekly basis, money runs through my fingers in a stream of wasteful impulsive purchases, no judgement and no discretion

Self employed me - the Journalist, endlessly curious off to strange places, writing about a wide range of topics

Well and Working me - this is the business person, the one with the lucrative franchise operation

Finally there will be Entrepreneurial me - dedicated to high finance with companies off shore and piles of untraceable gold.

It is only now that I am beginning to clear the debris from my life. These are things that I wish I had known much younger, and all I can do at the moment is write down everything I know so that those coming after will have an easier journey and as a consequence go further

Copyright Dr Liz Miller 2008

Ageing Parents

2008-12-25T09:04:00.000-08:00

It must seem for some people that no sooner have their children left home, than their parents need to move back in. If Mrs Middlestart had had children, that is how it would feel right now.

For me, Christmas is just another day. Well this year it was rather nice because it was our (dearly beloved and myself) first Christmas together and it was lovely. Marred only by a call from Father's carers to say, that he had fallen over, cut his head and she had called an ambulance. Which was great, apart from the guilt and the stories about an uncaring daughter not even coming round on Christmas Day to see her aging father. Well, he is not in London and I am. I have done my turn at the wheel of looking after ageing parent, and to be honest, dearly beloved and I needed a rest.

What is the solution to the ageing parent dilemma? My father, to his credit, has struggled after one hip replacement, two cardiac arrests, a respiratory arrest, a month on a ventilator, eighteen months in a nursing home, to get home. He gets out on his scooter. He is a local marvel, and all this at a sprightly 90. He should be preserved for the nation. But it comes at a cost, sooner rather than later he will lose the battle against time and despite his determination he won't be able to stay at home for much longer.

And by the way he is writing a book. He fought with the Chinditz in the war, he taught himself to windsurf at 76 and to use a computer the following year.

I can feel the collective Aarhh, isn't he amazing, and yes he is. But admiration is not the same as love and although I have a vague fondness for a creature that has been through so much, that is where it ends.

Who should make the decision as to when he has to go back to the nursing home? He wants to stay in his flat til they carry him out. He does not want to be anywhere else. He has a team of devoted carers, money is not the issue. He insists on going out and his trousers fall down, and he doesn't notice. He worries the man on the floor below, who is the guardian angel of the block. The man on the floor below, makes sure everything runs smoothly, including the lifts, without which father would be truly stuck.

If father lived miles from anywhere and no one knew about his lonely plight, would it matter? I could leave him in his flat until the carers found his body. As it is the caring neighbours remind me of my "duty".

In my father's world, he is managing fine, he just has to be careful. He doesn't think his memory is failing, or that he is losing his marbles. Today he was tired after church and fell. There is always a reason, but too many falls and he will have to go into a nursing home. Did I say, the paramedics were wonderful. Once upon a time, someone would have called his GP, who would have popped round and put a couple of stitches in, nowadays the ambulance men do that - thank goodness for paramedics. Taking him to hospital would have been a large and expensive mistake. The new health service has no place for doctors. If you need to see a doctor, you might as well start counting the nails for your coffin.

What should I do? personally I would let him stay at home until the last possible moment, but there are appearances to keep up and concerned neighbours to consider. I worry and I wish I did not. I feel more responsibility towards his neighbours than I do him. So I left him alone at Christmas, Christmas was never a happy time in our house, but of course, he doesn't have a label that explains that. I can pretend to care for most of the year but this Christmas, I put dear beloved and myself first. And I am glad I did.

There is no answer to what to do when a person can no longer look after themselves. I believe we should let them fall, not feel compelled to intervene to stop them falling. If he falls he falls, and he can afford to pay people to pick him up. In the meantime he is living at home. But for how long is a person entitled to rely on the kindness of neighbours and strangers? What is the budget and targets for this and what is the maximum number of falls allowed each year before the State intervenes?

I am sure that Gordon and the Labour government will tell us in the new year.

Getting Organised

2008-12-03T00:36:00.000-08:00

Discipline, focus, and concentration !!

The Deep Tidy was the essential foundation and it has to go on - and I am not as tidy as I would like to be and I have a dip at the moment. But fundamentally, if it is not beautiful or useful it has to go. A bit like people, - they must be entertaining or useful or you need to get them out of your life. There are enough sinks, drains and sewers in the world without making a personal collection.

A business is only as good as its systems.

A place for everything and everything in its place.

At the moment I am attacking my money and it is an attack. I have to maintain focus, drive and motivation. Thank goodness I have a brother and that he is in a position to help me. How do people without a brother get back on their feet?

This is not about getting accounts right, this is about getting yourself right first. It is only when a person can step back, observe what he or she is doing, review, and plan, is it possible to fight. It is a hard and disciplined road to storm their citadels and raze their temples to the ground.

Copyright Dr Liz Miller 2008

Getting organised - Finding the Inner Bean Counter

2008-12-01T03:25:00.000-08:00

This is for my brother, and if everyone had a brother like mine all kid sisters would have enough pocket money. Not to say he is an unfettered delight all of the time but he is helping me sort out my money. And this is what is needed.

There is no way that anyone can run a business until they have their eye on the bottom line and that does come down to money - to being a bean counter. No one can make bean stew until they have awakened their Inner Bean Counter.

My brother is visiting on an almost weekly basis at the moment. He wants to get my finances set up efficiently so that not a penny is wasted and not a penny more than necessary is given to the government to spend on the War in Iraq and arresting MPs. This means developing three key identities

Liz the company director of Well and Working Ltd
from Liz, the self employed writer and journalist
and Liz, the spendthrift, head in the clouds, daydreaming clown

These identities are powerful - not least because they are tax efficient! -
The only one that has to pay standard tax is the spendthrift clown - and this is the one that should not be trusted with anything more than a sixpence.

Most of all, Chris - thanks for being patient, while I act out my two year old toddler neuroticisms and anxieties over money - I will do my best to grow and develop a mature persona regarding money so that you and I, Salma and Martin can get rich together. In the meantime, we will keep a roof over our heads and food on the table.

This weeks lesson - Organisation gets the money organised!

This weeks targets:

1) Each set of bank statements in their own ring binder (see 3)
2) Find Well & Working's missing statements (I hope the bank doesn't have my attitude to paperwork and has kept copies)
3) 12 red ring binders - (the shop - easy)
4) Bank statements for income tax return 2007 / 8
5) Phone Inland revenue help desk 0845 6055999 to get the information to submit my income tax returns on line as it is now too late to send off the form
6) Start keeping some kind of record of the money I spend

Copyright Dr Liz Miller 2008

Deal with Problems on the day!

2008-11-08T23:24:00.000-08:00

Whatever your problem : Get expert advice quickly

This may come from established experts, your friends, reading, the Internet. If you are faced with a problem with which you are not familiar, its time to Get Help

Where ever possible, don't let problems fester - knowing your luck, they will only get worse. Finding other people who have also been through the mill helps too! for example http://www.standtoreason.org.uk/home

1 Financial

2 Employment

3 Health Advice

1 Financial Advice

Money Guardian
Learn about money where you can. Web based information on a wide range of money related issues
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money

Money Saving Expert
A useful web based source of money saving information and ideas. http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/

National Debtline
A free, confidential, independent telephone helpline for people with debt problems in England, Wales and Scotland. Telephone 0808 808 4000
http://www.nationaldebtline.co.uk/

PayPlan
One of the country's leading debt advice agencies with over 12 years experience in helping people with their debt problems.
Telephone 0800 917 7823 http://www.payplan.com/

Consumer Credit Counselling Service
A charity that assists people who are in financial difficulty by providing free, independent, impartial and realistic advice. It is run by the Credit Industry, and has an interest in helping you pay your debts, as opposed to going bankrupt
Telephone 0800 138 1111 http://www.cccs.co.uk/

The UK Insolvency Helpline
The UK Insolvency Helpline is a national telephone helpline for people with debt problems all over the UK. The service is free, confidential and independent
Telephone 0800 0746918 Website http://www.insolvencyhelpline.co.uk/

For doctors Royal Medical Benevolent Fund
Helps GMC registered doctors and their dependants in need, if resident in the UK. http://www.rmbf.org/

2 Employment

Advice Flexible working Advice about flexible working and helping develop a life work balance that supports you and your family.
http://www.workingfamilies.org.uk/

Disability Discrimination
For Employers
A quick guide to your obligations under the Disability Discrimination Act
http://www.shaw-trust.org.uk/page/6/92/

How to approach the problem of mental health in the workplace http://www.tacklementalhealth.org.uk/

For Employees,
Mental ill health is included in the Disability Discrimination legislation.

Disability is
(as described by the Disabilty Discrimination Act)
a) Long term, ie it has already lasted or is likely to last more than 12 months
b) Substantial - nothing too trivial
c) It has to affect a person’s ordinary day to day activity, even if treatment effectively controls the symptoms.

Addictions are excluded
Find out more http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/RightsAndObligations/DisabilityRights/DG_4001068

3 Health Advice

i) Mental Health

Mental Health Foundation
http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/

Mind Apples
A healthy mind
http://mindapples.org/

Information about depression
www.bluepages.anu.edu.au/symptoms.html

Free online Computerised Cognitive Behaviour Therapy

http://www.moodgym.anu.edu.au/
http://www.myray.com/

ii) Lifestyle

Dr Liz Miller Top Ten Health tips
http://doctorbloggs.blogspot.com/2008/08/dr.html

iii) Diet

Improve your diet
http://www.sustainweb.org/pdf/MHRep_LowRes.pdf

The scientific evidence linking diet and mental health http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/publications/?EntryId5=40150&q=0%c2%acchanging+diets%c2%ac iv)

iv) Reading list
The Natural Way to Beat Depression - Basant K. Puri, Hilary Boyd
Potatoes not Prozac - Kathleen DesMaisons
Manage your mind - Hope & Butler
Healing without Prozac – David Serban-Schreiber

Copyright Dr Liz Miller 2008

The Beginning of the Business - Getting the systems in place

2008-10-23T05:17:00.000-07:00

The Deep Tidy is complete - I have a house that I can tidy in under an hour, which feels good. But it is not enough to be tidy, it is also necessary to be organised, and being organised is a different process from tidying up. Yes, my house is on the whole tidy, so tidy that last night I managed to find a variable output transformer. And did not have to pull the place apart to do so.

Clutter is the bane of the age - too much cheap tat! in our minds, in our houses, and everywhere around. There was a good reason that monks and prophets did not bother with worldly goods. It is difficult to commune with god and have visions if you are constantly interupted by a mobile phone ringing.

Get the business going

I have a bank account and some money in the bank, although at the moment work seems to have dried up. Hopefully that will be temporary. Everyone needs a business, and the clever bit is to build the business before you get the idea. It is a lot harder when you are trying to build a business and develop an idea!

I went on a course called "Getting Paid" courtesy of Clearlearning and my new Barclays Bank Account. FANTASTIC!! - even better because I was the only person on it - thanks Hannah. Getting paid is what business is about. Simple high quality information about how not to get stung! I wish I had been on it last year before I set up the business. It ought part of the sixth form national curriculum. Part of citizenship studies. Lets teach young people something they can use in later life - (I feel a rant coming on). We all have to get paid, Wimps wait around for a monthly pay slip! - learn to go out and fight for your money. Better still learn how to get your money, on your terms and for yourself, without the state taking its share first

Accounts scare me to death. This is not good. My brother came over to give me a head start with the book keeping. If you haven't got a brother, get a book keeper! These systems should have been in place long before I opened the doors. However, there is hope - because a) my brother is efficient and b) I am entering a quiet spell which will give me a chance to get the systems up and ready. So I need to make sure everything is well organised, and that keeps changing as the system of organisation adapts to what I will need as I develop the Systems to make this a world class business.

Organising is harder than tidying. Setting up Robust Systems is harder still! Systems need to reflect the way you do things and be effective and efficient way for your business does business

The strength of a business is in its Systems, and in its People. Good Systems will guide the people using them and good people will make the systems work. Good Systems and Good People together make a Good Living, recession or no recession!

Recap on Making your Living

1) Dont wait for the Genius Idea

2) Get started with the Acquiring, Perfecting and Exploiting skills - the APE cycle

3) Do the Deep Tidy

4) Get organised

5) Start the Business

6) Get Systems in place

Copyright Dr Liz Miller 2008

Financial meltdown cracks global warming

2008-10-04T00:18:00.000-07:00

Unrestrained, unsustainable financial growth is wrecking the planet.

Financial meltdown offers the planet hope - we are a long way from starving. A little bit of belt tightening and a sound economy might yet clear the coronary arteries of the western world's self inflicted heart disease

I don't think we need to bail out bankers.

I have more compassion for polar bears than bankers. Polar bears are polar bears. Bankers chose to be bankers and could still choose to be of some social benefit, assuming they are fully paid up members of the human race

Truth is Strong, Strength is True

2008-10-04T00:12:00.000-07:00

When old age shall my generation waste,
Truth shalt remain, when other empires fall
Truth stays, a friend to man, to whom thou say'st,
Truth is Strong, Strength is True,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know.'

Copyright Dr Liz Miller 2008

Money - time for a new currency

2008-09-21T01:22:00.000-07:00

With billions of dollars of Money flying around, and everyone looking worried even though so much money is meaningless, why are people predicting doom and gloom? Three facts about Money

1) Money is symbolic
It represents something. If it did not, we would sweep up leaves, to use as currency. The hairdressers and estate agents did just that, at the end of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

2) Money represents work
Money allows people to "store work". I help you plough your fields in March and you help me pick my grapes in September. In order to make sure that we keep our sides of the bargain, you give me some money in March and in September I give you some back.

3) Money no longer has a fixed value
My house costs two and half times as much money now, as when I bought it ten years ago. It has not grown an extra storey or two, it is still the same house, with the same number of rooms in roughly the same condition as when I bought it. My house has not changed, it is still "worth" the same, but the value of Money has gone down. There are "more pounds per house" than there were ten years ago.

The currency is unstable because prices change independently of worth, be it your house, my house or what we are paid.

The bargain of money as "stored work" depends on a stable currency. When the currency is unstable this happens: I work three days on your farm, but six months later you only work one day on my farm. This breaks down trust between people.

Speculators, who never do a hands turn, end up with vast amounts of other peoples' "stored work" because they learnt to play the Money Game. For them, money no longer represents work but counters they manipulate. Fine, if they played with their own counters. But this is not good for the rest of us, who lead traditional lives, earning a living and "storing the benefits of our work" for a rainy day, ie a pension. Money markets have become so complicated that Money has become a game best left to people who care about nothing else.

Those of us who use Money properly, as a way of storing and exchanging work, in order to put bread on the table, at present have no choice. But it may be time to think of alternative ways to store and exchange the value of our work.

What holds its value?
Property and Gold, but only when bought directly and owned outright.
Vouchers between trusted traders

Oil prices depends on how much is pumped out of the ground, rather than what oil costs to produce. Its price is largely speculative.
Wheat prices depend on supply, demand is relatively fixed, we can only eat so much bread but the amount grown and harvested is not so constant.
Savings accounts depend on whether Money itself has any value.

Where next? The lesson from this current financial crisis is that Money has become a game that few people can follow. Warren Buffet is finds it too much and he has a personal fortune or Gross National Product (GNP) larger than some small countries.

It is time for a new Money, one that real people can use for the purpose it was intended, ie. to store the value of work. Let the big boys play with their counters but the rest of us need to get on with our lives.

Copyright Dr Liz Miller 2008

Why The Secret is Bollocks and Rhonda Byrne writes Rubbish

2008-09-13T23:35:00.000-07:00

This book is BOLLOCKS and Rhonda Byrne writes RUBBISH

I used to joke that you could always tell someone who had been to Anthony Robbins Seminar:
They were deaf, hoarse, divorced and had just set themselves up as a consultant.

I have spent as much as time, money and effort as anyone else I know on self development, and it doesn’t work. It might if I could do it but, despite trying harder than I have ever tried before I have to all intents and purposes failed in my ambition. I cannot be Tony Robbins, or anyone else like him. Three years after writing a long list of goals during an extremely intense seminar, I had achieved one – a (second hand) bicycle which was stolen shortly afterwards.

Financially and emotionally I am worse off. It has taken me four years to recover from the burnout and my programmed vulnerability to a lot of daft "Get Rich Quick Schemes". Wanting stuff is not enough! Emotion clouds your judgement. Rich people are not emotional or impulsive, watch Alan Sugar, Theo P, Duncan Bannatyre and Barbara Needham if you want proof.

THE MIDDLE START TO LIFE: Progress to date

1) I am largely tidy
2) I have a micromillmeter of slack in my life that gives me time to start planning my day and week
3) I have a vaguely realistic assessment of what I am doing and where I am going
4) I have found a cheaper and more direct route to making the difference I want to see in the world

First understand the APE cycle - Acquire skills, Perfect skills, Exploit skills,

Playing the Lottery is not a reliable way to make a living. You need to have something people want enough to pay money for, if you are going to get other people to pay you.

STEP 1
Read this book

It will start to change the way you think about money, assets and earning a living

STEP 2
Buy a company - from the Internet. It will cost you £30, begin to set up bank accounts and start to get familiar with the ideas. It is not that difficult but it takes time.

STEP 3
Start to learn the nuts and bolts of business and how companies and VAT etc work. These are basic skills. Open the bank account, start to put spare money into your business, use it as a vehicle for saving. Understand the mindset of the business person.

Do not wait until you have a winning business idea before you start finding out about business.

YOU DO NOT NEED A BUSINESS IDEA TO START A COMPANY.

I have got to Step 3 without having done Step 2 first. It is making life difficult. I now have a winning business idea but I am bogged down in learning how to run a company when I should be making hay. I would have better learning about business instead of jumping up and down to “Life will never be the same” –

Never mind, I needed the exercise

Copyright Dr Liz Miller 2008

The Deep Tidy continues - Steps to date

2008-07-28T22:41:00.000-07:00

The Deep Tidy is a process and I am glad to report that I am largely keeping it up, in my own way.

The "study" is tidy once or twice a week. Deeply Tidy! Desks clear and everything in its place.

The Next Step is The Deep Organisation
Where I not only collect all the objects and papers associated with one topic together but I actually get them classified and organised into some kind of order

In the meantime I can summarise my activities as

1) Know who you are
2) Understand yourself
3) Understand others
4) Understand the career cycle APE - Acquire skills, Perfect skills, Exploit skills
5) Make space in your life
6) Be completely tidy
7) Be completely organised
8) Make more space in your life
9) Make more time in your life
10) Clear up loose ends

I am, for the first time in many years, hovering around the 6),7),8) mark

I am not completely tidy but getting there. I am developing a tidiness instinct. I still have loose ends left over from January or earlier, but at least most are this year.

Finally, I cleared up one from Five years Ago - I have finally had a piece of research accepted for publication that I did five years ago.... with a lot of help from my friends! At least it will now go on permanent record in a peer reviewed journal and it brings to an end my dealings with the DSN. Or at least this phase of the relationship.

The next step is working out where I am meant to be going next
Seven areas

I - Tidy up and organise - still working on the organisation
II - Matrix psychology - ebook + presentations
III - Finance and money - Accounts + investments sorted
IV - Marketing and websites
V - Health - calm, diet, core strength and running
VI - Occupational Health Well and Working
VII - Voluntary Work, Stands to Reason

As it says in the song
"Nothing is going to stop me now"

Copyright Dr Liz Miller 2008

A better life

2008-07-08T04:09:00.000-07:00

As humans there are a few things we need to do, if our species is to survive

1) Live a worthwhile life rather than one that is easy and convenient based on fear and greed
2) Clean and heal the planet
3) Learn to look after ourselves properly! we are complex organisms
4) Head for the stars - which is where our destiny lies, once we have grown up and got the nest tidy!

Copyright Dr Liz Miller 2008

Competition, rewards and barriers to entry

2008-06-01T22:00:00.001-07:00

I am deeply involved in Eben Pagan's Guru Mastermind Programme
This guy is a hero!! - he walks you through what you need to know
Just listening to the Brad Fallon interview http://www.gurumastermind.com/CD8/teleclass/080530_replay_stompernet.asp

The guys are talking about "selling information products" - which means for the rest of us, is selling e-books at inflated prices!

Listening to this I realise:

1) Competition in any area depends on the reward, reduced by the "barrier to entry"
2) Most experts do not want to pass on their expertise because that reduces the "barrier to entry"

In other words Competition depends on Reward
Barrier to entry

"Barrier to Entry"

The "Barrier to Entry" describes how difficult it is to get started - for example "Being an World Class Boxer" has a relatively low "Barrier to Entry".

Even though a World Class Boxer demands a type of physical body, determination and years of practice, there is a relatively low "Barrier to Entry"Any young man can go to the gym and learn to be a Boxer. You do not need a smart background, you need guts and determination but no GCSEs or University degree.

The rewards are massive - Status, titles, feeling good about yourself - having a fantastic body, having a goal, status, fantastic self discipline. But because there is a low "Barrier to Entry" the competition is steep! Boxers are the most disciplined and physically well tuned men I have ever examined. It is a lot tougher to be a World Class Boxer than have a career in medicine. The low "Barrier to Entry" means worldwide a lot more guys want to be world class boxers than want to be doctors.

Doctoring has a high "Barrier to Entry"

In order to be a Doctor, you need to have a good education, a stable background, good school, good GCSEs, Excellent A'Levels, no financial worries, good study skills, stable mental health etc etc etc

There are great rewards - status and lots of money, security, interesting job - and everyone needs doctors
There is a high barrier to entry - long years of study and self discipline
The competition is not steep - how many doctors do you know? the high "Barrier to Entry" means that once people are inside the circle, it is easy to make a living.

The greater the reward, the greater the competition, limited by the "Barrier to Entry"

The Lottery is another example -

There is a great reward, - win Millions,
There is only a small barrier to entry - a pound ticket
Therefore:
There is massive competition - everyone buys a ticket

The same principle applies to selling pornography on the Internet
There are great rewards, earn Millions! - lots of people want pornography
There is a small barrier to entry - a video camera and some Internet expertise
Therefore:
There is massive competition - the Internet is swamped with pornography!

At the other end of the scale, - Professor of Assyrian Archeology

There are minimal rewards - not a lot of people want to know about Assyrian Archeology
There is a high barrier to entry - long years of study, academic intelligence
There is not a lot of competition - how many people do you know who want to be professors of Assyrian Archeology do you know?

Copyright Dr Liz Miller 2008

The Deep Tidy to Deep Restructure

2008-05-31T06:52:00.000-07:00

The Deep Tidy has worked, I am losing fewer things and finding other things within a few minutes. The surface of my desk makes a regular appearance, and in most rooms, I know the colour of the carpet. Nonetheless this is not enough to make an impact on the world! If the next ten years is to be different from the last fifty, something has to change.

Now that the debris is clear, I see the problems go deep. If the products of my mind are to bear fruit, my mind needs more than a Deep Tidy, it needs a Deep Restructure. Just like a failing business, it needs better Systems.

Systems are the backbone of a business. When someone buys a business, they buy the Systems to achieve results. Without effective Systems, everything is done as though for the first time, like the man with no memory. He makes no progress, Ground Hog day follows Ground Hog day. Bad systems are like bad habits. My life is full of bad habits, from ignoring bank statements to throwing my clothes in a heap and occasionally removing the smelliest items to the washing machine. Being tidy has helped get rid of my worst excesses, but more is needed. If tidiness is next to Godliness, I need more than a divine intervention.

I spent this afternoon in Deep Thought. How do I see the world? What do I want to achieve? What does all of this mean? Is this a sacred cow or a cowpat? What is the most useful way to organise my life and the budding business that is now my life. As I set out in my new business, Well and Working Ltd, I need Systems. Those Systems need to work at all levels, from where I store my paper clips, to how I organise my computer files, to where I keep my books and papers and how I structure my thinking. There is no room for compromise in a Deep Restructure.

The bookshelves took the first hit. As I rewrite medicine (http://doctorbloggs.blogspot.com), I do not want to become bogged down history, thus existing medical textbooks have been banished to the basement. From now on, everything not relevant to the success of the business goes in the basement. Organisation and Classification are the foundations of an effective and efficient System. A place for everything and everything in its place.

I have always prided myself on being a free spirit. Nonetheless, success depends on a submitting to a System, albeit to one of my own making. Unless the harness is on and and working, nothing will go anywhere. The purpose of the Middle Start, is to have an impact as big as Julius Caesar had on the Roman Empire. The Deep Restructure is about developing Systems, that, in the words of Occupational Health, give "Full and Effective Service".

Copyright Dr Liz Miller 2008

The Deep Tidy IV

2008-05-25T02:05:00.000-07:00

The Deep Tidy continues

My place has become a Zero Tolerance Zone. I have taken to heart William Morris' 'Have nothing in your house that not either useful or beautiful' and everything is on the line. Even the cats are only here by the skin on their teeth. Madam, it is true could never be anything but beautiful. She is, in Matrix Psychology terms, a Sensitive Individual. Her appearance is her. She does not need a mirror to know she is beautiful. She is beautiful, whatever she does she does it with elegance, cuteness, and grace. She is a perfect cat, charming, companionable, and a pleasure to have around.

On the other hand, her sister, Georgie could not care less about her looks.
Georgie has to be brushed daily. If I forget, her fur goes into dreadlocks, she vomits a hair ball and looks like a Rastafarian. But Georgie is 'not bovvered'. She may lick one or two hairs into place, but only after ten minutes brushing and the hard work is done. Georgie is a straight forward cat. She knows her rights. It is best if visitors do not sit in her chair. She eats whatever there is and looks like one of the sheep from a Victorian picture of farm animals. Although Madam is beautiful, Georgie is useful. If I had mice, Georgie would catch them. When I want to work, Georgie sits on the keyboard. At night, Georgie requisitions the bed. Georgie is a Robust Individual.

Madam and Georgie do not like visitors. Nonetheless, they occasionally take a shine to someone. Georgie has fallen in love with Ray, to the extent I call him the cat whisperer. She sits for hours on his lap, while he does double handed stroking and gets left out of the conversation. Ray is gentle and appreciative, sensitive and people focussed. Her System X opposite, a Social Sensitive. If she had a choice, she would pack her bags and move in with him. Madam, on the other hand, a Sensitive Individual, is in love with Naz. Naz is dynamic, she understands people, and a natural organiser. Confident, entertaining and charismatic, Madam is putty in her hands. Naz is Madam's System X opposite, a Robust Social. Luckily neither Naz nor Ray are in the market for cats.

The Deep Tidy is merciless. Today I put out five bags of rubbish. My place is like the Tardis. Over the course of the Deep Tidy, I must have got rid of well over 50 black bags, made half a dozen trips to the tip and deposited umpteen items in the local Oxfam shop. Regardless, the place is still overcrowded and the stuff keeps coming out. Somewhere, someone is making this stuff and hiding it in my house. It is no longer like lancing a boil, it is more like draining a fistula.
However today, I looked around my study and the place felt lighter. It may not look tidy yet, but there are cracks of carpet showing through the undergrowth of paper. The surface of the desk is definitely made of glass, and the ceilings no longer bow under the weight of memorabilia stored in the attic.

By the end of the week, I will have been through everything I own at least once, and slimmed it down to essentials. More 'pitosuction' may be necessary before I can pass the Feng Shui test, but it is moving in the right direction and most importantly, I feel so good about it!!
For more pictures go to http://www.nicolaslattery.com/1363/13351.html

Copyright (c) Dr. Liz Miller http://www.drlizmiller.co.uk

Copyright Dr Liz Miller 2008

Family Money and incompetence

2008-03-17T23:43:00.000-07:00

Most people want money and this is a mistake. Because wanting money makes you greedy and greed makes people foolish. On the other hand, if you don't want money, like me, you will soon lose it. For me, money is a source of massive anxiety - not (just) because I have huge debts but because of my experiences with it, my beliefs and how I have been conditioned and the person I am. Money makes me anxious and it doesn't matter how much I have or spend, I am still anxious about money.

The only way to get rid of fear is by desensitising yourself. It is never going to be fun. Some of us are more fearful than others. It is the price we pay for our sensitivity. Expose yourself to the object of your fear and then manage the anxiety. If you feel comfortable you are not getting rid of the fear. Just get frightened, wait for the fear to subside and start thinking clearly. As therapists get rid of anxieties about spiders, you and I need to get rid of our anxiety about money. "But", I hear you say, "I have bills to pay, how can I not be anxious?" How does being anxious help you pay those bills? Maybe that anxiety motivates you to go out to work in the morning to a job you hate. But is it easier to write a cheque when you are trembling with fear? Or is it easier when you have a clear head and are already thinking what you can do to earn some more money so you can get more of what you want?

And yesterday was great day for desensitization, in other words it was emotional hell. But today, I still feel anxious but I am not as paralysed as I was before. Yesterday I finally tackled the tiny family trust - now split between 16 people. I discovered XXX Commercial Surveyors have been sitting on the family property using the rents and major works as sweeteners their friends. This is a wild rumour, I can’t prove they have any friends. Nonetheless if someone could explain why a property possibly worth close to £3 million pounds has yielded no income for fifty years, I would be grateful.

How did this happen? First, - it is 'family money' which makes it highly emotional. It was the place where Grandfather did his best work. The work that still gets him an occasional mention in books on the subject, eighty years on. None of his own children have a bone in their backs when it came to thinking for themselves. The property was left in trust and the trust was not to be touched. There must be thousands of such properties around the country. Because the family is too 'nice' or too 'frightened' to broach the subject, the agents get away with murdering the investment. They gently milk the family cow, cushioning their own businesses against harsh economic reality

Back at Home Farm, mentioning The Property or talking about money in anything other than hushed tones was like launching a Scud missile at the Pentagon - massive retaliation. The war zone only quietened down when no one was left standing. I would love to what proportion of families population argue about a) money and b) floorboards. To live a house, a person needs money and floorboards, but one creates volcanic emotion and the other gets polished or covered with carpet. In a rational world, we would handle both with equal calmness.

Yesterday I got stuck in!! Because I am anxious and go from paralysed passivity to wild nuclear aggression in a split-second, I am not necessarily negotiating sensibly. However, at least I am trying to sort the mess out before another generation allows XXXX to keep passing Go without going round the Monopoly board. For me, the gain will not be so much the money but the chance to flush out my own taboos. I am excited and mad about this one. Nonetheless if I am going to learn to manage money, I first have to learn to manage myself in the presence of money

Copyright Dr Liz Miller 2008

Are you a Classifier or an Organiser?

2008-02-09T00:05:00.000-08:00

Classifier or Organiser??

What on earth is the difference you may ask and why on earth is it important?

It is the difference between Charles Darwin and Bill Gates, the difference between discovering and creating. Darwin discovered how life on the planet evolved. Bill Gates created the Microsoft Corporation. Very different achievements, yet in terms of their impact on the world, Darwin and Gates are running neck and neck.

Darwin liked to talk about his ideas with his friends. He only got round to publishing his ideas ten years after the Voyage of the Beagle. And that was because a young Huxley was about to publish the same ideas under his own name. If Gates had been on the Voyage of the Beagle, he would have started selling cruises.

What you make ask does this have to do with you and me??

Everything! !

Because if you are a classifier like Charles Darwin, you have to discover the best way to sort your things. Square forms in a square box, yellow paper in a yellow folder and classified and put in its natural place. You find a system that best fits the way you naturally think. On the other hand, if you are an organiser like Bill Gates, you create a system that organises the chaos around you.

Are you a "Darwin Classifier" or a "Bill Gates Creator-Organiser"?

I am a "Darwin", and I have finally discovered a system that reflects the way my mind works. Briefly, I have a hard backed A4 week to view diary. I have two hard backed A4 lined books, one contains my Daily To Do List and the is my Project Book. Both books have a complex system of page referencing using coloured index tabs. I have a number of different sized white boards, which I use for rough planning. In addition, I have three boxes of hanging files and two cupboards with 14 shelves of stationary, papers and references, which, since the Deep Tidy, are in almost perfect order. This ridiculously complicated system simply reflects the way my mind works.

"Darwins" use the natural order.

On the other hand, the "Bill Gates Creator-Organisers" are the opposite. They create the order.

A "Bill" creates a system or organisation that helps him or her reach his or her goals. This starts with your computer files, your desk, your cupboards, and your home. You tailor the system to do what you want it to do. Even if they are in a hopeless mess themselves, Bills can still be excellent at organising the outside world.

Are you a "Darwin" or a "Bill"?

It matters, because it is a key to sorting yourself out and putting your affairs in order. That order depends on your nature. And until your affairs are in order, you cannot move onto the next stage.

Stage 1 - The Deep Tidy

Stage 2 - The Sort Out

The Deep Tidy

2008-02-06T22:25:00.000-08:00

I am sure I am not the only human on the planet with too many things! - yes, everywhere I look in my overlarge house are things, my things, the cats' things, other peoples' things and things I have been given. Each one is a little distraction, a memory, a failed project, a reminder of something I haven't quite finished or meant to do.

William Morris said 'Have nothing in your House that is not either useful or beautiful'

I am following a programme called The Deep Tidy. The Deep Tidy is a Zero Tolerance Zone. It allows nothing that is not either useful or beautiful. Where there is overcrowding, decisions are based on utility and aesthetics.

I have just spent an hour on one drawer which is largely full of sewing kits. I used to collect sewing kits from all around the world. As I rarely even so on a button these days, this collection is pointless. Nonetheless, it took me an hour or more to tear myself away from them and the other trivia in the drawer. An hour well spent? definitely! I have an extra drawer in my life, and a sense of satisfaction that may become addictive.

The Zero Tolerance Zone extends to computer files, which have now been placed in neat categories and folders, Career, Financial, Social, House, Business, Education, etc. Each major category has subcategories, Social divides into Friends, Addresses, and Financial divides into Accounts, Investments, and so on. I have deleted every file I no longer need and forced everything else into a category.

In truth I have a large back up drive, with all my back up data archive, so should I become desperate for a deleted file. The drive at 8x4x2" takes up no space at all, and in the meantime my computer space is clear. I also have a box for items to which I am too attached to get rid of, a singing dog from my niece, cards from my best friends, and a piece of Mammoth tooth, a birthday present from the Cheetah in my life.

This blog bears witness to the petty triumphs and disasters of my life, as do blogs everywhere. By giving them a place in cyberspace, it gets those insignificant details out of my life and lets me get on with the important things, like The Deep Tidy and setting up the Foundation. Someone once said to me 'if you spent less time updating blogs, you might have got your book written' but she was always a bit of bitch! I have done both, the book is written and looking for a publisher, it has been a reciprocal process.

The Deep Tidy is essential environmental hygeine. Over the coming months, I am going to keep you posted as to how my financial fortunes change, so that you can see how I did it. How one person got rich, very rich.

'The Secret' and all the other 'wish upon a dream' ideas which stir up excitement and greed are bollocks. The only people that get rich from those schemes are the people selling them. They are variations on the 'How to make Instant Money' schemes- 1) send £10 to the above address 2) put an advert in the paper that says 'How to make Instant Money' 3) give out above advice. The latest schemes are all about 'How to Make Money on the Internet' - Answer 1) send £10 to the above address 2) set up a website advertising 'How to Make Money on the Internet' 3) give out the above advice

I have started with a Deep Tidy in preparation for the Foundation. Watch this space, I am documenting everything I do on this journey, so that other people can follow or not, or just take the steps that are best for them. Your legacy starts with you, have nothing in your mind, on your computer, in your cupboards and in your house that is not either useful or beautiful and preferably both. Begin to step into the zone of Peak Performance.

http://www.drlizmiller.co.uk/

Copyright Dr Liz Miller 2008

Getting Organised

2008-02-04T11:20:00.000-08:00

Do you have the as much trouble as I do in finding a way of getting organised that suits you? I have tried all sizes of diaries, and a dozen different types of 'To Do' lists. Have you, like me, read every self help book, been on every management course and every self development seminar that mentions the phrase 'Time Management' and you still failed?

I have finally got the answer - as does every snake oil salesman on the Internet! but this answer is free because I do not have your answer, I have my answer. And I can't sell you my answer, because it won't be right for you. The point about getting organised is that you have to find a system that suits you. You have find out what suits you. Other peoples' ideas are helpful, so help yourself, but their system won't work for you, any more than you could wear their clothes, live in their house with their husband and raise their children. They are not you!

This is how I do it. The first part is an A4 lined, spiral bound, hard backed notebook. I use a page a day, for to do lists, for project planning, for remembering ideas. The spiral binding means I can tear out the odd page without The Book falling apart. The hard back means I can get it out and write in it anywhere and its size means I can't easily lose it.

The second is lots of little tape Post Index markers. These mark pages, in books, in Library books, in The Book, anywhere you want to draw attention to a page without turning down the corner.

The third part is hanging files. I did not come to them lightly. Hanging files are ugly, officey and lose their tags. Nonetheless I have tried everything else, A4 files, plastic folders, document wallets, small desk drawers, larger desk drawers, but I have had to come back to hanging files. If an entrepreneur could come up with cute hanging files, even Theo Pamphitis would invest in the business.

Your answer is to try on, and try out every system of organisation until you find the one, like Cinderella's glass slipper, that fits you perfectly!

If Tidiness is next to Godliness........

2008-02-04T10:56:00.000-08:00

Do you ever feel like you do not know where anything is? and you end up buying two three or more of the same thing because you cannot find the first??? The Deep Tidy is the Time-Rich, Cash-Poor answer to the age old problem problem. The Cash- Rich, Time-Poor answer is to buy another, a third or even a fourth. But, if it has not already done so, in the long run that approach will drive you crazy

When was the last time you got fed up with your stuff? just too much of it, and it is everywhere. "Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink". Wardrobes full of clothes and nothing to wear. If you or I are going to sort the world out, we have to get clear about one thing. And that is we have to start by sorting out ourselves. Once you have been through everything you own, you will almost certainly be as surprised as I was to discover how much of it, you can throw away. What is the point in having two tubes/packets/boxes of something you use once every six months? It just means your house is as cluttered as your head

I would like at this point to say I feel free as a bird, but even a shallow tidy, you know there is always another layer. The Deep Tidy means that over the last six months I have touched almost everything I own at least once. It does not mean it is sorted out, just put into piles. But I can close the doors and drawers of my cupboards and come back to the details when I am ready. At least I know there are no unseen monsters lurking in their depths. I can finally start to relax in my own home. If Tidiness is next to Godliness, I am entering holy orders!

The 4 hour week - Timothy Ferriss

2008-02-03T23:44:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYpRja0-vrU
This is a great video - Timothy Ferriss summarises his ideas about how to save time.

My first idea after seeing his video, is to save time by not reading his book. The ideas are all there on the video, everything else is padding. I wish every self help book would provide such a good summary. It is all you need! you don't need to be drawn in to buying the book.

I am going to sell an e-book called 'The last impulse buy you ever make' . It will explain this rule, don't buy the book, read the back cover. All the information ebooks is freely available on the Internet a year after it has been published! Once enough copies have been sold, people put the information on their websites for free and move onto the next great idea.

I read a ten word review which said "Only Tim Ferriss can work a four hour week" which is a brilliant. Nonetheless even if we cannot be Tim Ferriss we can learn from his ideas, especially those in the video, which to you save time, I have summarised below.

1)The 80:20 rule, most of your effective work is done in 20% of your time - work out which it is and do more of the effective stuff.
2) We only work 40 hours a week because we are conditioned to do so
3) Pay other people to do things for you, if you can pay them less per hour than you can earn in an hour
4) Only look at emails twice a day (twice a day?? twice a week might be more sensible)
5) Find out what you are good at and concentrate on it, and don't spend time on what you are bad at
6) Only look at essentials, catch up on what you need to know, rather than try and find out about everything -
I liked that one, - "only look at what you need to know". This of course will narrow peoples' thinking, as everyone gets more and more focussed on less and less. I suppose its no worse than getting less and less focussed on more and more. But it doesn't leave time for reading blogs, let alone writing them!
7) Get rid of everything unnecessary in your life -

All of which takes me back to The Deep Tidy "Have nothing in your life that is not either useful or Beautiful" - William Morris

Citizen, Freeman or Wage Slave

2008-02-02T23:50:00.000-08:00

Wage slavery is not a lot different from any other kind of slavery. As a wage slave you are tied to your house, your relationships and your job. You have to do what your employer tells you and when he says 'jump', you say 'how high'. You cannot afford the divorce, the separation, even to fall out with your pals.

Your lodger is more free than you. If he loses his job, he can find another. He cannot pay his rent, you put him onto the streets. He gets a place in a hostel and gets another job. He is at least a Free Man, he may not own much but he or she owes nothing.

You lose your job, you are unable to pay your mortgage, you lose your house. If you have paid more for your house than it is sold for, you go into debt. You go onto the streets, your credit record is ruined. You cannot borrow, you do not even know how to live. You cannot get another job. The only work you can do, expects you to have a credit card and a credit record.

Twenty first century Citizenship is financial independence. You own your house and you have sufficient money or resources so that you can sell your work to live but you do not owe any significant sums of money. You may borrow but you do not borrow money because you need to. You borrow to improve to your credit rating, you stay in control.

Middle Start is my journey towards Citizenship. I have not even earnt my freedom yet. The first step is to make sure that more money comes in each month than goes out. Doing the books each month, is my financial gym and I have not been for January.

This journal is so that when you read about self made multimillionaires, you will know it is not as easy as it looks. They will go up in your respect. The intention is to show exactly what happened, with no glossing over the truth. You may decide that it is easier to let other people do it, and that slavery has its benefits. After all, empires need slaves, and World Government is on its way.

Money

2008-02-02T00:03:00.000-08:00

One of the objectives of the Middle Start is to get enough money to pay for a reasonable old age, not of course that meaning that I am about to sign off or claim a pension yet. In truth, I do not have a pension to claim, or investments to live off.

First thought of the day. The ability to earn money is more important than money. This covers a lot. Of course, having money brings with it the ability to earn money. Health helps too. A demented 90 year old is not going to make good investments and even the most secure fortune can be squandered.

Nothing beats McCawber's advice. Annual income £20, Expenditure £19 19 shillings and six pence = heaven Annual income £20 Expenditure £20 pounds and six pence = MISERY

I woke up with half a dozen schemes as to how I might make some money. The best one was using the ideas that Dearest and I are putting together, put them into a company and sell half to a Pharmaceutical company. This is not so absurd, since if you read my other blogs you will understand my interest in psychology. However, no one gets anything for nothing, and any scheme that is going to sell, is going to take a lot of work to get together.

My resolution for this year has been more money in than out. So far January has not been a great success. Even before tax, there was a lot more out than in. I can make excuses, but I have spent money I have not earned, although in fairness, I have started back to work, even if I have not yet got a job.

The problem with money is that no one teaches about it, at least not in a reliable and consistent way. There are numerous courses on 'How to make a million on the Internet'. Mostly these are variations on the old scam 'How to make a million' - Put an advert in the paper that says 'How to make a million - send £10 to PO Box 295 for full instructions'

'How to make a million on the Internet' courses sell information that will persuade people to 'send £10 to PO Box 295 for full instructions'. Nowadays, everyone is chasing smaller and smaller rewards for greater and greater effort.

I know this because I have sent a large number of £10s to various schemes or scams. The information is all the same, and a year later it is everywhere for free. It is very difficult to sell information, except perhaps in a niche market.

My attitude to money runs deep. At the start of the Industrial Revolution, the factory owners wanted to get people to work in their factories, so they offered them money, lots of money. However the workers found that they only needed to work for a couple of days in order to get everything they wanted or needed and they did not turn up for the rest of the week. This meant that orders were not fulfilled and and the factories lay idle. So the factory owners cut wages. This then meant that the workers had to work the whole week to buy what they needed.

The modern freedom is financial independence. This is freedom from job slavery. The modern citizenship is financial independence. Only people who are financially independent can make objective decisions as to how the country should be governed, as to how children should be educated. The first step of government should be to help its people achieve financial independence.

Middle Start is the journey of an ordinary somewhat misguided 50 something towards financial independence. I am documenting this journey, mostly for myself. But may be one day it will serve as a guide to other people in my position who want to avoid the mistakes that I am about to make.

The Deep Tidy III

2008-01-28T00:06:00.000-08:00

The first phase of the Deep Tidy is almost done. There will be pictures.

The first phase of the Deep Tidy meant going through everything I own and throwing away everything that was not useful or beautiful. I have made the odd mistake, but luckily no one has died.

One major trick is getting organised, putting the remaining things in some kind of order so I can reasonably find them again.

I have always had serious trouble getting organised. Diaries have been a nightmare. The struggle has been finding one I can bond with and use for more than a few days. I have tried tiny diaries, long thin diaries, big page a day diaries, A5 diaries and tiny week to view diaries. I lose them, forget to fill them in, have two or more going at once. It has taken me almost five years of concerted searching to finally bond with a style of diary. For over a year I have used an A4, week to view, hard backed diary. I have ignored people who say, that's big, that doesn't have much space and how do you carry it around. The A4, week to view, hard back diary is a major pillar in my Deep Tidy.

I have also struggled to find a way to organise my paperwork, folders, files, boxes, books, cupboards have successively failed. Oxfam have recieived a steady flow of filing systems over the years. However finally I have discovered a way to make hanging files work for me and even though I have three drawers of hanging files, I am using them!

Finding a system of organisation into which to shoehorn the surviving mess has been a key to the success of the Deep Tidy. Organisation is categorising and sorting. Everyone organises themselves differently, and the Deep Tidy simply means you find the system that suits you best. By contrast, everyone in time management, management training, office work is saying, do it this way, do it that way. The answer for me, has been to do it my own way. If only I had had the courage to invent my own system years ago. Hanging files go hang!!

In the final stages of the Deep Tidy, it becomes important to keep the place tidy, and that requires constant discipline. The Dog Whisperer says about dogs, exercise discipline and affection, in that order. I am finally learning to do that for myself. I have to be my own pack leader, my own owner and my own dog. I delegate things to myself on a regular basis. And I am now developing a zero tolerance policy for mess of all kinds.

There is still a bit more work. But perhaps for the first time, I have finally organised myself in a way that suits me. The house has become increasingly weird, it will never sell or rent to anyone else, so it looks like I am stuck here.

The Deep Tidy II

2008-01-25T23:59:00.000-08:00

The Deep Tidy continues. The purpose of a Deep Tidy is to get everything tidy. It is like preparing for death. Tidying up your affairs so your relatives do not have to do it. The Deep Tidy is a preparation for death. As someone said 'the good thing about old age is that it doesn't last long'. Another way of looking at it 'Have nothing in your life that is not either beautiful or useful'.

A place for everything and everything in its place, but I first have to get rid of everything I don't need. Everything that I do not need has to go, either given away or thrown away. It is hard, sometimes it takes an hour or more to tidy a single drawer, getting rid of lipstick I never wore, wrong coloured eyeshadow and spare pairs of uncomfortable shoes. My house has risen three inches on its foundations since I started.

I have struggled for years with my administration and bank statements. If I cannot organise my own money without having a panic attack, I am not going to get rich. Years have gone by without opening a bank statement.

Amazingly, I never had my identity stolen and no one defrauded my account. It was fine until I decided I wanted to get rich. That was where the 'Fly by night' schemes came in and I lost many thousands of pounds. The wounds are still too sore to go into details. However being scammed has desensitived me to money when years of therapy, counselling and coaching never helped.

The Deep Tidy has been going for some months and it is gaining momentum. This time last year, my own paperwork and mess overwhelmed me. I had bookshelves lining the walls of every room in the house and it was still a mess and unsurprisingly I did not know where anything was. I am entering the zero tolerance phase. I have gone through everything I own in the last six months. I have rid of at least a bag of rubbish a day. Some days I manage six or more, other days I don't manage any. If I buy something new, I try to balance it by getting rid of something else. As they say in government "The process is continuing". I never want to experience such a build up of entropy again.

System X is made up of Fractals. A fractal is a pattern with a common design. A fractal can be multiplied a thousand times or more without losing its underlying structure. The Fractals of System X constantly reinterpret the ways in which we understand the world.

The Fractals of System X constantly bring in new ideas, ready for the Deep Tidy to sort, classify, keep and develop them or throw them away. The purpose of the Deep Tidy is to make room for the Fractals of System X to grow and develop.

The Deep Tidy works like the good fish on the coral reef and the birds on the back of the rhinoceros. It keeps the parasites, fleas, trivia and rubbish at bay, which would otherwise clog up and suck the life out of the Fractals of System X.

I realise I want more than money, the money will follow. After all if it was easy to be rich, we would all be rich. Was Julius Caesar the richest man in Rome? No, but he is Rome’s most famous son and still has more influence on the minds of schoolchildren, than any individual businessman or woman alive today.

System X is setting the fires for a change in biology, medicine and psychology. The Deep Tidy is making room for the Fractals of System X.

The Middle Start is under way.

The Middle Start in Life, Why nothing so far has worked

2008-01-25T08:46:00.000-08:00

Why nothing so far in life has worked

There are many people making a Middle Start in life. The Middle Starters have made several false starts, have experience, a little energy left, and one last chance to make a difference to their lives.

This is the Middle Start: Your children have left, or you never had them and now you are too old. Career, long since plateaued, but you can manage, just. A house, a divorce, and a string of failed relationships. But like Pandora, you have hope!

I am making my Middle Start in life. I am fifty something, where once I was forty something. I have wasted most of my money on fly by night schemes. I am not a business entrepreneur, nor snake oil sales agent, but I can do somethings well. I have had coaching, counselling, been to every self-development seminar in town, to no benefit. Why has everything I tried so far not worked? I have spent my life doing the wrong things, and doing things wrong. Instead of finding and developing my strengths, I have chased rainbows, just because everyone else was chasing them too.

This blog is the story of my journey from poverty to pounds, because this time, I know I am going to make it, and this story is my witness. So if you are making a Middle Start in life, join the journey because this time I know I am going to make it.