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4 Zen To Done
4 Working from Home
4 Delegating without a staff
4 Review of Four Hour Workweek
• Leo Babauta • Michael Hyatt • Stephanie Dickison • Mike Vardy •• Art Carden • Steven Aitchison • Michael Sliwinski •
magazine
BaBauta
Exclusive Interview
S p o n s o r e d b y
#4 (April 2010)www.ProductiveMagazine.com
Leoon Zen, Habits and Minimalism
Working Effectively from Home, making Dreams Come True
It is my great pleasure to give you
this fourth issue of Productive!
Magazine. I know, I know, we have
procrastinated with this one and
released it later than expected, but it is
finally here, on your screens. Enjoy.
Because of so many things happening in
my private life, ie. my responsibilities as a
father and our move to a new apartment,
the time I had left to work has been used to
focus on my company, my web app - Nozbe
and the new web app that we are going
to release this year. Let’s hope it’s the last
delay in the Productive! Magazine history.
Now on to this issue’s theme. Let’s start
with my own company - no, we don’t have
a physical „central office”. Everyone works
from home, including yours truly. That’s
why there’s always a challenge of balance
between work and private life. The two
boundaries blend and very often it’s hard to
draw the lines between the two.
The main rationale behind working from
home is not a way to save money. It is
mostly a lifestyle choice and I love it. I fell in
love with the concept when I was in college
writing my final thesis on Teleworking
(Telecommuting). This is why the theme
of this issue of Productive! Magazine is
„working from home” and we have great
experts to help me tell more about the
subject.
First off, we’ve got über-blogger Leo
Babauta who writes one of the most
From the Editor
By Michael Sliwinski, Editor
popular blogs on the Internet, Zen Habits
directly from his home office on the
beautiful island of Guam or from San
Francisco (OK, not yet, but he is moving
there this year!). We also have Stephanie
Dickinson, one of the most famous home-
office workers on the planet, author of „The
30-Second Commute:A Non-Fiction Comedy
about Writing and Working From Home”.
To cover the theme of productivity of
the self-employed home-worker, we’ve got
Art Carden’s review of the New York Times
bestseller „The Four-Hour Workweek”
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and great articles by regular contributors.
Michael Hyatt, my personal role model,
will tell you how to delegate even when
you don’t have anyone working for you.
Similarly, Mike Vardy, our laughter guru,
will tell you how to outsource... in a very
humorous way and Steven Aitchison will
tell you how to make irrational thoughts go
away.
I will also contribute twofold - with my
personal take on Leo Babauta’s Zen-To-Done
methodology and my continued efforts to
bring you the best productivity tips and
tricks in less than two minutes. On video.
Hope you will enjoy this issue of
Productive! Magazine as much as we have
preparing it. We’ll try to make the next one
happen sooner rather than later and if you
have any comments or feedback, feel free to
post it on our web site.
Yours productively,
Michael Sliwinski (@MichaelNozbe)
Founder, Nozbe – Simply Get It Done!
��
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05 Michael SliwinskiZen, Habits and MinimalismInterview with Leo Babauta
08Michael HyattHow to delegate if you don’t have a staff?10
Michael SliwinskiZen To Done – 2 weeks to instill a habit – early rising and blogging
12 Stephanie DickisonHow to Be Productive and Balanced When Working from Home: A Field Report
14 Mike VardyPoutsourcing: Outsourcing EffTD Style!
15 Michael SliwinskiEarly rising, 2010 resolutions and traveling 18 Steven Aitchison
7 Irrational thoughts that disrupt your life
Table of contents
16 Art CardenReflections on a Publishing Sensation: The Four-Hour Workweek in Retrospect
Productive!Magazinewww.ProductiveMagazine.com
Sponsor:www.Nozbe.com
Your Online tool for Getting Things Done – available in your computer browser, mobile phone and on your iPhone.
Chief Editor:Michael Sliwinskieditor@productivemagazine.com
Technical Editor:Maciej Budzichtech@productivemagazine.comwww.blog.mediafun.pl
Editorial Team:Lori Anderson
Delfina Gerbert
Dustin Wax
Tribute:Marc Orchant (1957-2007)The Productive!Magazine is dedicated to the memory of a productivity guru, great blogger and a very close friend, Marc Orchant who passed away on 9th December 2007.
All articles are copyright © by their respective authors. Productive!Magazine is copyright © by Michael Sliwinski. Getting Things Done® and GTD® are the registered trademarks of the David Allen Company.
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Michael Sliwinski: Let’s start with your
blog – you launched it about the same
time I launched Nozbe (early 2007) and
I’ve been tracking it from the beginning
and the growth over 2007 has been
incredible, from just a couple of hundred
of subscribers to tens of thousands by the
end of the year, how did you do it? What
were the key components to your success?
Leo Babauta: The main thing I’ve done
is try to produce extremely useful posts,
perhaps 4-5 times a week. I experimented
a lot by doing different types of posts and
posting schedules, and I’ve found what’s
optimal for my readers, for growth, and for
my schedule. The key part of this strategy
is giving away really useful content that
solves readers’ problems. If you keep doing
that, they’ll keep coming back, and once
you get a decent reader base these types
of useful posts also tend to get popular
on social media sites such as delicious,
stumbleupon, digg and twitter.
Of course, you have to let people know
you’re out there, so my second winning
strategy has been to write as many guest
posts as possible. When you write a guest
post for another blog, preferably one that
has a lot of the type of readers you’re going
after, you’ll reach a lot of new readers
and you’ll show them just how great your
content is. Then they’ll go to your site, and
if you’ve created a lot of great content there
too, they’re likely to subscribe.
I’ve tried other strategies as well, but
these two strategies are what have been
most effective for me.
Michael: Your blog is more than 2 years
online now and it’s one of the top blogs on
the Internet (not just among productivity
blogs), I see you’ve changed your design
to be more „zen” like, what is your next
step? Next action? What plans do you have
for your blog this year and beyond?
Productive! Magazine interview with Leo Babauta
by Michael Sliwinski
Zen,Habits
and MinimalismBe passionate
about what you’re doing. If you’re not,
it’ll be hard to motivate yourself. If you’re excited about your work, you’ll jump out of
bed to do it.
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Leo: I don’t really plan too far ahead --
when I do that, the plans tend to fall apart.
I prefer to just focus on what I’m doing
right now and see what opportunities
come up, going with the flow as it were.
I’m really enjoying how things are going
with Zen Habits right now, and I don’t have
plans to „improve” the blog. I hope to keep
writing about this stuff and having fun
doing it. However, I’m working right now
on a couple of seminars to help people
achieve their goals - similar to what I’m
doing on the blog, but more hands on.
Michael: Your book, „The Power of Less:
The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the
Essential...in Business and in Life” has
become a bestseller, when did you
manage to write it and what did the
process look like? Was it hard to get
the book published? Did the success
of your e-books help? What would you
advise wannabe-authors based on your
experience?
Leo: I tell you, it’s tough to write a book
and run a busy blog at the same time. The
next time I do it, I will probably set up
a bunch of posts in advance and take 2-
3 week „vacations” to focus on the book
writing.
I tried to do both at the same time and
I had a difficult time. I would write my
book in the morning and then do blog
things in the late morning and afternoon.
Sometimes I’d get lazy with one or the
other and they’d suffer.:)
Surprisingly, it wasn’t hard to get
published - what really helped was that my
blog was finding some amazing success,
really resonating with readers. As a result
I had some agents and publishers approach
me about doing a book on similar topics,
and I jumped at the chance.
I’d advise potential authors to build up
a blog, and find a topic and angle that is
different from whatever else is out there -
something that really resonates with you
personally, and with your readers. That’s
what worked for me, and once I found
some success, it was an easy sell to publish
the book.
Michael: I know from your blog that
you’re an early riser and you’re waking
up at crazy 4.30 am. What do you do that
early in the morning? What does your
morning look like?
Leo: I really love the early morning hours
- a time when most of the world around
me is asleep, when I can enjoy the quiet
and read or meditate or exercise or write,
and really focus.
My morning routine changes frequently,
as I like to change things up. Also, I should
note that I wake at different times -
sometimes 4 a.m., sometimes 4:30 or
5, sometimes as late as 6 or 7 if I stayed
up late for some reason. Right now, my
morning routine is: wake, have coffee
and read, meditate (sometimes) and give
gratitude, write, exercise, then do email
and Twitter, then write again.
Michael: I’m struggling to become an
early riser myself but I always fail (after
several attempts). The main problem is
family support (lack of it – my wife likes
to stay up late) and even if I do wake up
early, I struggle to get anything done, I’m
sleepy... can you help?
Leo: It’s tough if your spouse doesn’t
support you, or if you have different
sleeping schedules. It’s really important
that you enlist her help, tell her what you
want to do and why and ask for her to help
you succeed. She shouldn’t have to change
her pattern, but maybe she can help you
somehow.
As for being sleepy when you awake...
what helps me is adjusting gradually,
by waking (say) 15 minutes earlier
until I adjust to that, and then another
15 minutes earlier and so on. If I’m really
sleepy, it helps to get some coffee in me
and have a gradual period where I wake
up and read and allow my mind to activate
before trying to work. Also, getting to bed
earlier helps.
[Editor’s note: after the interview I actually
tried again and succeeded to become an
early riser, you can read all about it in my
article about Zen To Done in this issue of the
Productive! Magazine]
Michael: Talking about your family life,
you have a house full of people, wife
and six kids – I have just one daughter
and she is a very lovely distraction, but
I sometimes struggle to get anything
done because of her (or thanks to her!) If
you write from home, how do you mange
to get stuff done and separate family life
and professional life?
I’d advise potential authors to build up a blog, and find a topic and angle that is different from whatever else is out there.
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Leo: Waking early is the first thing I do -
I let my wife and kids sleep in and that
allows me to get my most important work
done while the house is still quiet.
When the house is noiser, I do things
that don’t require as much concentration,
such as email or Twitter. I’m also good at
getting into a zone and tuning out the
noises. Also, I’m lucky to have a wife who
is very good at helping me to focus by
getting the kids to quiet down or play or
do schoolwork in their rooms.
Finally, I like to get out of the house, if
not every day then several times a week,
by walking to a coffee shop and really
allowing myself to focus on writing for
a couple hours.
Michael: My application, Nozbe, was
initially inspired by the GTD (Getting
Things Done) method by David Allen and
I’m a long-time GTD advocate. You seem
to have come up with a derivative method
called ZTD – Zen To Done. How does it
differ from GTD and why is this method
superior in your view?
Leo: Zen To Done was conceived as
a way to take the most useful concepts
of GTD but address some of the main
problems I and others found while
implementing GTD: that it’s hard to stay
on the system for long, that things
tend to stay complicated even if you’re
organized, that the system doesn’t
distinguish between what’s important and
what’s not.
I combined some of the best concepts of
GTD with principles from Stephen Covey as
well as my own philosophy of simplifying
and forming new habits. Zen To Done
shows you how to form new habits, one at
a time, which habits are most important,
how to simplify, and how to focus on the
important.
Zen To Done isn’t necessarily superior
to GTD, but it’s an alternative for
people like me who have a hard time
implementing the entire system at
once, who want to find simplicity in
a complicated life, who want to focus
on the important things rather than
everything that comes at us.
Michael: Can you share with our readers
your best productivity tricks? Tricks that
keep on helping you be productive and
that you wouldn’t live without? Things
that keep on coming and make the
difference? Anything?
Leo: Sure – there are many things I’ve
shared on Zen Habits and in my book, ‘The
Power of Less’, but here are three simple
tips that really work for me:
1. Focus on the most important tasks: pick
three Most Important Tasks each day
and do those first. It will make you much
more effective than trying to tackle
everything.
2. Single-task. Don’t try to do email and
write and phone and Twitter and surf the
web all at once. Close down everything
else, pick one important task to focus
on, and really pour yourself into it.
3. Be passionate about what you’re doing.
If you’re not, it’ll be hard to motivate
yourself. If you’re excited about
your work, you’ll jump out of bed
to do it. When you find yourself dreading
something, you either need to find a way
to get excited about it, or find something
else that excites you more.
Michael: You live on a small island of
Guam but now with the success of your
blog and book, you’ve travelled „virtually”
to every corner of the planet. Do you plan
to do any travels physically as well? Any
plans for the future? After all, your job
of writing can be done anywhere there is
a laptop and an Internet connection.
Leo: I went a good 6-7 years without
traveling, as I was trying to live more
frugally. However, now that I’ve eliminated
my debt, I’ve traveled to a few places in
the last year or so: Thailand, Hawaii and
Japan. I loved those places. I hope to visit
the States soon - definitely the West Coast,
where I have family, but if I can visit the
East Coast and places in between while
I’m in the states, that would be great. And
Europe has always been a dream of mine -
I hope to go there in the next year or two.
[Editor’s note: Some time after we had the
interview Leo announced he’d be moving to San
Francisco with his family mid 2010.]
Michael: OK, now that your book is
a bestseller, is there going to be a sequel?
Or a completely new book? Any early scoop
to the Productive! Magazine readers?
Leo: I’ve been doing some soul-
searching, trying to figure this out.
Part of me wants to write a second
book in a similar vein to the first book
- productivity methods simplified, but
to add a whole new dimension to it. But
a deeper part of me wants to move away
from productivity and talk about simplicity,
about living a life of less, about living
a more sustainable life, about finding true
happiness. In the end I will probably let my
readers decide for me.:)
Single-task. Don’t try to do email and write and phone and Twitter and surf the web all at once.
Leo Babauta
lives in Guam
(soon moving to
San Francisco)
and is married
with six kids.
He’s a writer
and a runner and a vegetarian and he
loves writing Zen Habits - his blog that
in a couple of years became one of the
top blogs on the Internet with 100K+
readers subscribed and counting. He’s
a published author of a bestselling
book „Power of Less”.
Leo’s blog: ZenHabits.net
Mnmlist.com, WriteToDone.com
Leo on Twitter: @Zen_Habits
Leo Babauta
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Zen To Done – 2 weeks to instill a habit – early rising and bloggingI started waking up at 5 am in the morning to start off my day with at least 2-3 productive hours before my ladies (my wife and my 1-year old daughter) woke up. Two weeks later I started blogging regularly and if you’re a subscriber to my blog you know that I post almost daily (resulting in 3-5 posts a week) and I love it.
Michael Sliwinski
It all started after I carefully read the
ZTD (Zen To Done) course by Leo
Babauta where he explained that it’s
impossible to develop all the habits
we want at once. Instead we should focus
on one habit at a time and try it for 30
days and later pick up another one.
I’m not that patient – I bent the rule to two weeks, I’m sorry Leo.See, I’m not a patient man. I want to be
and feel better right now. So I bent the rule
a little and started introducing new habits
as soon as I felt the old ones already more-
or-less put in place. This resulted in 2-week
intervals of introducing new habits.
Early riser waking up at 5 am every morningOK, it wasn’t that easy. I’m not an early riser
by design, I used to go to sleep at 2-3 am.
But I managed to change that and I finally got
the support I needed from my family, too.
My wake-up time depended upon when
I went to sleep, so when I went to sleep
around midnight, I’d wake up at 6 am.
Then I’d try to go to sleep around 11 pm
to be able to wake up at 5 am. Most of the
time I succeeded. The best part is, that
right now I’m used to waking up early and
I get really productive in the mornings
with all my email, IM, Twitter etc. closed
and I focused only on tasks I planned
the evening before. I sleep on average 5-
6 hours per day and on weekends I sleep
around 8 hours so I guess it’s pretty good
for my body too.
To learn more about my new early riser
habit, watch this short 2-minute video.
Blogging every day about stuff that matters (for me at least)I always wanted to blog more and I felt
I always had something to share with the
community... but never got to it. It was too
much work maintaining my Nozbe blog,
Productive Magazine blog and Productive
Show blog. So what did I do? I went with
the easiest blogging platform possible –
Posterous – I just send emails to my blog
and they are being converted into blog
post.
It’s really easy – I just have to write
one more email message each day. And
this one’s to my blog. It usually takes
me between 15-30 minutes. And when
someone posts a comment, I reply via
email too! This way I totally eliminated
the psychological barrier to blogging for
myself and after two weeks, this habit is
set and I keep on writing blog posts. Cool!
Now what? Let’s start running! I want to start jogging now.Did I put on weight recently due to lack
of sports? Check. Did I always want to be
a runner but never got to it? Check. Did
I buy a red iPod nano with Nike+ for my
wife and myself? Check. Do I have a nice
big park near my house where I can run?
Check.
So what’s stopping me? Nothing. I’m
going to start running. I’ll start just after
we move into our new apartment near
a beautiful park, perfect for runners. It’s
time to lose some weight and get in shape
now that the winter is almost over. Fingers
crossed – wish me luck!
Start your 30 or 14 day trial on one habit now! Start today!That’s right, if I can wake up at 5 am and
blog every day, it means it’s really doable.
You can do it, too! Take the 30-day trial if
you have the patience, or 14-days if you
feel confident enough. Remember, one
habit at a time and you’re good to go!
Godspeed!
Question: Which habit did you want
to cultivate but never got to doing it?
What do you want to start with? Why not
today?
Michael
Sliwinski is your
chief editor of
the Productive!
Magazine and
now a host
of the new
Productive! Show site. Every day he’s
trying to help people get more done
with his web (and iPhone) application
Nozbe.com
Michael’s Blog: MichaelNozbe.com
Michael on Twitter: @MichaelNozbe
Michael Sliwinski
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Use Coupon codeEVERNOZBEto save 10%
and start getting things done withNozbe and Evernote
Evernote.com– your external brainand perfect caption tool
Integrateswith Nozbe’sProjects& Contexts
Believe it or not, some people may actually like the work you are not good at or don’t like.
How to delegate if you don’t have a staff?Whenever I write or speak on the topic of delegation, I always get a question from someone who says, “But what if you don’t have a staff? How can you delegate?” This question typically comes from staff people, technicians, stand-alone professionals, or start-up entrepreneurs. It’s a great question.
Michael Hyatt
I recommend seven strategies
to those who feel the need
to delegate but have no one
to whom they can delegate:
1. Triage your to-do list. Go through each item and assign it one of the following four letters:A – tasks that are urgent.
B – tasks that are important but not
urgent.
C – tasks that are somewhat important.
D – tasks that are neither urgent nor
important.
Now completely delete your D-level
tasks. Then go through and see how many
of the C-level tasks you can delete.
2. Use technology more efficiently.Many people don’t avail themselves of
the technology that is already at their
fingertips. For example, why struggle
with trying to setup a complex system
of email file folders and then determine
where each email goes? You think,
Should I file that email from Bill about
the ABC account and the XYZ account in
Bill’s folder, ABC’s folder, XYZ’s folder,
or all three? Instead, just move every
processed email to one folder called
“Processed Email” or, more simply,
“Archive.” When you need to refer
back to the email, let your software’s
built-in search function do the heavy-
lifting. It will find the email in less than
a second.
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Michael Hyatt
is the President
and CEO of
Thomas Nelson,
the largest
Christian
publishing
company in the world and the seventh
largest trade book publishing company
in the U.S. Michael has written four
books, one of which landed on the
New York Times bestseller list. Hyatt
serves as Chairman of the Evangelical
Christian Publishers Association (ECPA).
He has been married to his wife,
Gail, for twenty- eight years. They
have five daughters and two grand
daughters and live outside of Nashville,
Tennessee.
Michael’s blog: MichaelHyatt.com
Michael on Twitter: @MichaelHyatt
Michael Hyatt
3. Negotiate out of previous assignments. Yes, you may have agreed to take on
a certain project, but when your boss
comes back with another one, you can
say, “I’d be happy to do that. Is this
project more important than the previous
assignment you gave me? I honestly don’t
think I can do both. Which one would you
prefer I do?” If she insists on both, you
can at least insist she prioritize them and
thus set her expectations so that you won’t
have to do both of them simultaneously.
4. Ask for some volunteer help. Believe it or not, some people may actually
like the work you are not good at or
don’t like. (This is what makes the world
go around.) Sometimes you can barter
some work with a friend or colleague:
“How about if I design your new blog in
exchange for you preparing my taxes?”
This is a little bit of the I’ll-scratch-your-
back-if-you-scratch-mine strategy. You
might also consider interns or students
who are desperate for the experience and
a letter of recommendation. I have see this
work very well, provided you are clear with
the expectations up front.
5. Use variable cost alternatives. This is a phrase your bottom-line boss will
appreciate. Good leaders and managers
are loath to add “fixed overhead” (i.e.,
permanent positions). For starters, it
doesn’t provide enough flexibility if
the workload is seasonal or there is
a downturn in the economy. Instead, you
should attempt to outsource specific
projects or entire processes. Tim Ferriss,
in his fascinating book, „The 4-Hour
Workweek”, describes in detail how
to use a personal virtual assistant. He
recommends GetFriday.com, a company in
India that specializes in this. I used them
a while back as an experiment. I liked
their system, but found that my own real
assistant was all I needed.
6. Appeal for more resources.Eventually, you may need to make the
case to your boss (or yourself, if you
are an entrepreneur) that you simply
must hire someone. Before you can
persuade your boss, you need to think
like your boss. What is important
to him? How does an additional person
help him achieve his goals? I have
written previously on the topic of “How
to Get Your Boss’s Approval When You
Need It.” While it doesn’t address this
need specifically, the principles and
methodology still apply.
7. Muster the courage to say “no.” If all else fails, you may have to decline
taking on other assignments and suffer
the fallout. This comes down to priority
management. You have to establish your
boundaries and then (graciously) enforce
them. There is too much at stake - your
health, your family, your legacy, etc. - to
do otherwise. Doing this has never hurt
my career. In fact, I think it enabled me
to get where I am today. It demonstrated
to my boss that I had clear priorities and
am willing to pay the price to live by
them.
I know this just scratches the surface,
but I firmly believe in the principle that
“he who is faithful in little is also faithful in
much” (see Luke 16:10). If you are a good
steward with what you have been given,
you will eventually be given more.
If all else fails, you may have to decline taking on other assignments and suffer the fallout.
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How to Be Productive and Balanced When Working from Home: A Field ReportMany people find it a challenge to work from home. It’s full of distractions, they say. How do you work and not watch television or clean or spend the day at the movies, they ask.
Stephanie Dickison
It’s easy, I say, when you’re your own
boss – if you don’t hustle for the
work, you don’t get paid. The dirt
that’s been tracked in from outside all
week, the dishes from last night’s dinner
party and the laundry that needs to be
put away, gets left behind for an interview
you’ve got to do and write an article, all by
5 o’clock today.
That, on top of someone coming in to
replace your bathroom faucet, and oh, two
editors just emailed to say that they need
major changes (read: complete rewrite) by
3 p.m.
It’s only 8 a.m. and already you’re feeling
overwhelmed.
But it is possible to be productive and
balanced while working from home.
Here’s how:
1. Stick to your schedulePlan out your day and follow it, just as you
would in a big office. Just because you’re
physically closer to the television doesn’t
mean that you should plunk yourself down
for a dose of “reality” shows. You may
Many people I know who work at home forget to eat. I too am guilty of this.
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the day, organize your schedule around it
and you’ll see your productivity fly.
And this way, you can work AND watch
all the late-night TV you want. Sweet.
6. Reward yourselfWorking from home, you may find yourself
getting all wound up about stuff. Maybe it’s
the lack of coworkers to commiserate with or
a little cabin fever (you’ve been inside working
on this presentation for 3 solid days). The
problem is often that because your office is at
home, you can work any time and thus, you
do – nights, weekends, in your “spare” time.
The way to be productive and balanced is to
reward yourself with something that you enjoy
and isn’t work related. It helps if it’s out of the
house too. Just a half an hour away from your
desk can make a world of difference.
Go for a walk, visit a library, take a class,
meet a friend, whatever (However: skip
getting blotto at the neighborhood bar,
gorging yourself on a pint of ice cream or
going to a strip club. We both know there’s
no work getting done after that).
How to Be Productive and Balanced When Working from Home: A Field Report
have to have a talk with family, friends
and colleagues to let them know that just
because you’re at home, it doesn’t mean
you can go out for a matinee – you are
working. Of course, if you work in your
pajamas, you can see how it might be
confusing…
2. Expect the unexpectedAs much as you plan your day, you’re
bound to deal with many unexpected
events – the city digging up your sidewalk
for ethernet cables, visitors (see above),
couriers, etc.
Knowing that each day at home will be
different and accepting that will get you
through most of the frenzy. That and a pair
of noise cancelling headphones.
3. Eat somethingMany people I know who work at home forget
to eat. And though I am a restaurant critic,
food writer and avid cook, I too am guilty
of this. Perhaps it’s that we don’t have co-
workers to ask us to lunch, or a set time like
noon or 1 p.m. to get us up out of our chairs.
Office workers get two 15 minute breaks and
at least half an hour for lunch. Give yourself
at least the same courtesy. You’ll be so much
more productive. And hey, at least your
sandwich won’t be all squished and soggy.
4. Get comfortableOne of the bonuses of working at home is that
you can cater your space to you. Want to have
a huge desk with nothing on it? Go for it! Want
a cozy little rolltop? Sure thing. Candles, music
– whatever puts you in the mood! The other
thing to remember is that you don’t have to
be a slave to your desk, afraid that your boss
will wonder where you are. If you’re rocking
a laptop, take it to a coffee shop, library or
friend’s condo’s lush lobby. The change of
scenery will do you good, as will the walk - it
will boost your energy and productivity.
Plus, there are people out there. Go
mingle for a bit - you haven’t talked to
anyone all day.
5. Choose your workdayDespite having been conditioned by the
working world, nothing says that you have
to work 9 to 5 like everyone else. If you
like greeting the day at 5 a.m., then start
early. It means that you’ll be finished early
and have the rest of the day to do what
you like. Many writers I know get up late
and work late. They follow their body’s
natural rhythms, they tell me (not playing
Assassin’s Creed , ahem). Think about
when you’re most energized throughout
Just because you’re physically closer to the television doesn’t mean that you should plunk yourself down for a dose of “reality” shows.
Author of
„The 30-Second
Commute: A Non-
Fiction Comedy
About Writing &
Working From
Home” – works at the end of her
bed at a little rolltop desk in her 1-
bedroom apartment that she shares
with her fiancé, a television writer,
and their 18 pound cat. Despite all of
that, she manages to write a number
of articles a day, blog, tweet,
interview celebrities and cook and eat
for a living.
Her web site: StephanieDickison.com
Stephanie on Twitter: @sdickison
Stephanie Dickison
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I strongly urge you to begin
poutsourcing today. Start at home, maybe
with the housework. As you get better at
it, start doing it at work. Soon enough,
you’ll find yourself watching others
scramble to get all the things done that
you’ve managed to offload.
And once you get tired of watching
that, there’s always those John Hughes’
movies.
Mike Vardy
Poutsourcing: Outsourcing EffTD Style!
Another element of Effing The
Dog™ is learning how to keep
everything close to home so you
can watch as your work gets
done, and not have to lift a finger. This
method is called poutsourcing.
Simply put, poutsourcing is merely
a way for you to offload some of the work
you don’t want to do to someone in your
immediate vicinity. Here’s an example of
poutsourcing in the workplace:
A worker (let’s call him Mike for
argument’s sake) is given a task
to perform by his boss (let’s call him
Mr. Meany, for argument’s sake) that
he simply does not want to do. Mike
is aware that others in his workplace
have far more of an attitude (let’s call
it ass-kissing, for argument’s sake) that
would make them more ideal to do this
very task. Mike then begins to whine
and moan about all of the things he
has piled up, how he likely won’t meet
the deadline, how he doesn’t quite
comprehend the assignment – and so
on. He can do this because he has long
standing tenure at his job (although if
you work in a union environment your
reasoning won’t need to be as extensive,
especially if the shop steward/union
representative has the workstation next
to yours – more on unions in a future
post) and has seniority. Soon enough, Mr.
Meany realizes his efforts are futile, and
he moves on to the previously mentioned
“alternatively-addituted” employees.
A common misconception is that
poutsourcing can’t be utilized in the
home. Not true. Teenagers and children
do it all the time. As a parent myself
with questionable disciplinary skills,
I find myself watching my wife doing all
sorts of activities that my daughter has
poutsourced while I practice Effing The
Dog™. I suggest you watch movies like
Bratz and most John Hughes’ films to get
a better indication of what I’m talking
about if this seems unclear – and watching
movies is an Effing The Dog™ hallmark.
And Mr. Hughes has a lot of films, so that’s
an excellent place to start.
Outsourcing has become a huge time-saver in the last few years, utilized by high-falooting executives, jet-setters and professional wrestlers . For those of you who don’t know what outsourcing is, it’s basically a means of farming all the tasks that you don’t want to do to someone else, normally overseas. The question I pose to you is: Why send your work overseas when you can keep it right here at home AND save money?
Eventually
self-professed
productivity
expert, founder
of the new
productivity
ideology:
Eventualism.
Mike’s Blog: EffingTheDog.com
Mike on Twitter: @MikeVardy
Mike Vardy
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Michael Sliwinski
Early rising, 2010 resolutions and traveling
I keep having fun recording the short
2-minute productivity videos and in
theme with this issue of Productive
Magazine I’d like to share some of my
tips and tricks that make me a little more
productive and/or efficient:
Early Risers get things done
This is a game changer, and anyone can
do it. Even „owls” like me can make it
happen.
New Year’s Resolutions GTD style
I don’t call them resolutions anymore, I
create 12 milestones and try achieve each
of these month after month.
Efficient Traveling - Switching planes
I recorded this one between planes in
the London airport. My tricks to move
around airports with lots of security
checks.
Efficient Traveling - Double-backup
This is what I do to make sure I have
all of my data with me at all times... I can
work like this on every mac.
Hope you’ve enjoyed my videos, make
sure to rate them and any comments or
feedback are very welcome!
Subscribe to this video podcast with
iTunes or RSS reader.
Michael
Sliwinski is your
chief editor of
the Productive!
Magazine and
now a host
of the new
Productive! Show site. Every day he’s
trying to help people get more done
with his web (and iPhone) application
Nozbe.com
Michael’s Blog: MichaelNozbe.com
Michael on Twitter: @MichaelNozbe
Michael Sliwinski
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Art Carden
One of his most important
contributions is philosophical,
yet practical. Ferriss asks how
we would live if retirement
weren’t an option and suggests what
economists will instantly recognize as
a pattern of consumption-smoothing.
Ferriss trades off future income for
present satisfaction in the form of „mini-
retirements” and suggests taking time
now, while we’re young enough to enjoy
it. Mixing labor and leisure rather than
bringing on either can probably raise our
lifetime satisfaction levels.
Let’s dwell on this. First, he isn’t being
short-sighted. He is recognizing an
important tradeoff. Second, he isn’t giving
us an airy exhortation to stop and smell
the flowers. Rather, he’s offering a concrete
examination of what it means to really live.
Finally, he isn’t lazy. Far from it: Ferriss
packs a lot of living into the 164 hours
every week when he isn’t working.
Every business or personal development
book worth its salt comes with a clever
acronym. This book is no different. On
pages 10-11, Ferriss offers his program
for a New DEAL. Definition, Elimination,
Automation, and Liberation as the
keys to his system. There is a certain
ruthlessness about the whole thing that
is oddly refreshing. He has said before in
an interview that he abhors sloth, and you
can tell from the way he writes the book.
He is ferocious about guarding his time
and making absolutely certain that none of
it is wasted. He summarizes this on page
32: „(d)oing less meaningless work, so that
you can focus on things of greater personal
importance, is not laziness.”
The first element of his program is
„Definition.” Here is where the process
will resonate with devotees of David Allen
and Getting Things Done. Exploration is
fun, but there are a lot of projects out
there that take more time and energy
than they’re worth. Before making
a commitment, we should always ask „what
is the desired outcome that makes all the
effort worthwhile?” (p. 51).
The second part of his program is
„Elimination.” Here is where things
get really interesting, and I especially
enjoyed something that is near and dear
to my economist’s heart: his application
of Pareto’s Rule, which suggests that
80% of output comes from 20% of input.
It’s very easy to hide behind a „busy”
screen--I know I certainly have--but
often the things with which we are busy
are, at best, unproductive and at worst,
counterproductive.
So what should we do? Once again,
Ferriss suggests that we think hard about
what we’re doing and eliminate projects
of relatively low yield in order to focus on
projects of relatively high yield. In Ferriss’s
case, he saw that most of his revenue
was coming from a few customers, while
the bulk of his customers provided a lot
of headaches and very little in return.
He was able to improve his effectiveness
by focusing his attention on the good
customers and cutting the bad customers
loose.
It’s easy to just be “busy,” but
busyness is not necessarily correlated
with production. Ferriss notes that it is
often the very opposite: „(b)eing busy
is a form of laziness--lazy thinking and
indiscriminate action” (p. 73). To address
this, Ferriss proposes a useful thought
experiment, asking what one would do if
you had a heart attack and could only
work for two hours a day. Or for two hours
a week. This brings the relevant trade-offs
into high relief.
It’s deceptively easy to go from task
to task without doing anything important.
Thus, Ferriss suggests a „low-information
diet” based on the fact that „(m)ost
information is time consuming, negative,
irrelevant to your goals, and outside of
Four-Hour Workweek author Tim Ferriss lives the dream. As far as I can tell, he coined the term “Lifestyle Design”. I read the first edition of his book shortly after it was published, and I look forward to reading the new “revised and expanded” edition at my earliest opportunity. For those of you who haven’t yet had a sip of the Kool-Aid, here’s a summary and a few thoughts. As an economist I found the book absolutely fascinating and extremely instructive. I hope you agree.
Reflections on a Publishing Sensation: The Four-Hour Workweek in Retrospect
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Art Carden
is Assistant
Professor of
Economics and
Business at
Rhodes College
in Memphis,
TN and an Adjunct Fellow with the
Oakland, CAbased Independent
Institute. He is a regular contributor to
Lifehack.org and Division of Labour.
Art’s page: ArtCarden.com
Art on Twitter: @ArtCarden
Art Carden
your influence” (p. 83). Deciding what
does and what does not need to be
known is a skill that takes time to acquire
but that pays high dividends in the
form of (again) time to do things that
we find useful and interesting. Further,
information differs from knowledge. It
is one thing to know facts. It is quite
another to know how to use them.
„Selective ignorance” allows you to filter
your information input and ensure that
only the really important stuff gets
through.
He doesn’t use this terminology
specifically, but Ferriss recognizes the
irrelevance of sunk costs when he exhorts
us to „Practice the art of nonfinishing”
(p. 88). Just because you start something
doesn’t mean you should finish it. This
runs directly counter to that noble advice
we’ve always gotten about finishing what
we start and it doesn’t apply if it involves
leaving someone in the lurch. A better
habit would be to avoid starting things
that aren’t going to be worth finishing.
Obviously, there is no way to know for
certain which things these are, but it is
worth trying to find out and to be diligent
about making sure that something will be
worth finishing before you agree to get
involved. In the best-case scenario, you
develop the habit of only starting things
that are worth starting and then finishing
them in a way that exceeds people’s
expectations.
Ferriss’s program complements other
organizational programs like Getting
Things Done and Seven Habits of Highly
Effective People. Ferriss encourages
a certain ruthlessness in deciding what and
what not to do, discussing three kinds of
tasks that get in the way of effectiveness:
„time wasters,” „time consumers,” and
„empowerment failures”.
The third of these is important in
any organization. „Empowerment” is
a popular buzzword, but sometimes it
fails to go beyond the buzzword stage.
Empowerment that aligns people’s costs
and benefits with the decisions they are
supposed to make is meaningful. We are
surrounded by competent, intelligent
people, and we need to be diligent about
training them to make independent
decisions.
Everything that comes across
your desk will fall into one of three
categories: things you should do, things
someone else should do, and things no
one should do. On page 122, Ferriss
argues that „...unless something is
well-defined and important, no one
should do it.” This stands in contrast
to our normal ways of doing things.
Deciding who should do something is
a convenient rationale for meetings, but
meetings are a fantastic way to waste
time; Ferriss points out that „(m)eetings
should only be held to make decisions
about a pre-defined solution, not
to define the problem” (p. 98). This is
precisely the last thing we should do,
but it provides an example of what
happens when responsibilities are
poorly defined.
The third aspect of Ferriss’s DEAL
is automation. Stuff has been defined,
that which can be eliminated has
been eliminated, and now it is time
to automate what can be automated.
Here he offers an important piece
of advice and an important principle
about organizational effectiveness.
„Never automate something that can be
eliminated, and never delegate something
that can be automated or streamlined” (p.
122). He further notes that „(u)sing people
to leverage a refined process multiplies
production; using people as a solution
to a poor process multiplies problems”
(p. 122).
His last element is what he calls
„liberation.” The Four-Hour Workweek is
a great book for the twenty-first century
because this is a time that is by all
measures historically unique. People have
more discretionary time than ever before,
and our social capital infrastructure is so
far poorly-equipped to handle it. We can
stop and smell roses, or we can write that
book we always wanted to write, or we
can...you name it. Our ancestors had no
such luxury, as Deirdre McCloskey points
out in her ongoing series of books on The
Bourgeois Era: extremely low productivity
meant that almost every waking hour
had to be devoted to producing enough
calories to stave off death.
Thinking and choosing are difficult
and sometimes unpleasant. The long-run
benefits outweigh the short-run costs,
however, and this is one of the core
messages of The Four-Hour Workweek.
Tim Ferriss offers a handy step-by-step
guide to lifestyle design and to having
what we want out of our short time on
this rock. It’s worth at least one reading-
-probably two, or maybe three--because
it lays out principles and practices that
bring us closer to the dream, whatever that
dream may be.
Ferriss offers his program for a New DEAL. Definition, Elimination, Automation, and Liberation as the keys to his system.
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Steven Aitchison
In this article I will look at seven
common irrational thoughts and
hopefully if you suffer from irrational
thinking it will help you to change.
1. If someone criticizes me there must be something wrong with meThere are many reasons why people
criticise each other but it does not mean
there is something wrong with you if they
do criticize you. It means they have a
differing opinion to you which is fantastic
as without differing opinions in the world
it would be a terrible place to live.
A lot of us suffer from irrational thinking which can affect our lives in a dramatic way. It can seperate the successful people in life from the unsuccessful ones, it can mean the difference between loving someone and hating someone, it can be the difference between peace and war. All wars, yes I mean ALL, are caused by irrational thinking.
7 Irrational thoughts that disrupt your life
© L
iv F
riis
-lars
en -
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lia.c
om
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Sponsored by#03/2009 www.ProductiveMagazine.com
Steven Aitchison
is a personal
development
blogger. He
currently
works with
the homeless
dealing with issues such as drug
addiction, and alcoholism. He has a
degree in Psychology and has been
a counsellor to alcoholics. Also an
affiliate marketer and writer he
has penned 3 books on personal
development and making money
online.
Steven’s Blog: Change Your Thoughts
Steven on Twitter: @StevenAitchison
Steven Aitchison
2. I must always seek approval in order to feel good about myselfMany people have thought this at one
time or another in their lives, however
it becomes damaging when it is an
entrenched belief. There is no way you
can please everybody all the time so there
is no point in even trying. Seek approval
from yourself and if you’re happy and feel
good that’s all that matters. Yes it’s nice
to have other people’s opinions but don’t
go out of the way to please other people.
3. I won’t try anything new unless I know I will be good at itMany people suffer from these types of
thoughts. Trying new things in your life
is a way for you to grow and learn more
about yourself. You don’t have to be good
at everything in your life but it doesn’t
mean you can’t enjoy new experiences
even if you are not good at them.
4. It’s not my fault my life didn’t go the way I wantedI have news for you; it is your fault. This
doesn’t make you bad and it doesn’t mean
you are a failure. You have control over
your thoughts and therefore your actions.
Your thoughts and actions will determine
your life. If you constantly blame others
for the way your life has turned out you
have given all your power away to other
people. Take the control back and take
responsibility for your thoughts and
actions.
5. I am inferior to everyone elseThat’s just the way you feel, which
doesn’t make it true. You have qualities
that nobody else can touch and other
people have qualities that you can’t touch.
Recognizing your strengths will build
your self confidence; recognizing others
strengths will build their self confidence,
but don’t put yourself down when
recognizing that somebody else is better
than you at something.
6. I was rejected which means there is something wrong with meThis is over generalizing like the person
who was rejected in a relationship. They
think it always happens to them and they
must somehow be unworthy of love.
People reject others due to differing
ideals, just like you do, but it doesn’t
mean you are in any way unworthy it just
means your ideals don’t match someone
else’s ideals.
7. If I feel happy about life something will go wrongAnother common irrational thought. You
deserve all the happiness you make for
yourself; your past is your past. If there
are still issues lurking from your past that
is blocking you from feeling happy about
today speak to someone about it. Do not
tinge your present and future thoughts
with bad memories or else your present
and future thoughts will get infected and
your life will always stay the same.
How to stop your irrational thoughtsSimple! Just catch yourself every time
you have an irrational thought or self-
defeating thought and replace the
wording of your internal thought. For
example, you are driving on a beautiful
day and a bird decides to shit on your car.
You might think:
“That always happens to me, why do
they always shit on my car?”
To
“It’s about time I got the car washed”.
Look for the keywords in there
“always”, this is an untruth. If birds always
shit on his car his car would be floating
in the stuff. So catch yourself with untrue
statements such as:
“always” e.g. I always get caught in the
rain (If that were true you’d be a fish)
“I never……………………” e.g. “I can
never get a parking space.” (If that were
true you wouldn’t be able to go anywhere
in your car without stopping).
“I couldn’t……” e.g. “I couldn’t walk a
mile” (have you tried?).
“I’m hopeless at……………”e.g. “Oh,
I am hopeless at talking in a group.”
(usually said while talking to a group of
friends).
“It’s terrible……” e,g. “Isn’t it terrible
that it’s raining?” (Eh! No, it’s not
terrible).
There are a lot more irrational thoughts
out there and you have to be conscious to
catch yourself thinking them. I hope this
article helps you to catch your irrational
thoughts and brings your life into
perspective.
It does not mean there is something wrong with you if people criticize you.
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