productivity tips

I’ve heard about this guy for a while – knew he was about entrepreneurship or start-ups or business something or another – Guy Kawasaki.

This guy made me want to take notes and then kick ass. So I did.

Here are the notes:

“And how,” you ask, “did this lead to kicking ass?”

Well, I sent out over a thousand dollars in invoices, put two websites on line, and wrote this post about a great speech.

Four Things I Learned, Out of Ten

If you don’t feel like watching the video, below are 4 things I learned from it.

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-3755718939216161559&hl=en&fs=true

1. Create milestones. When you are starting on a project, Guy says, it’s a smooth as freshly zambonied ice – infinite possibility. Unless you can envision milestones in the distance, you may end up skating in circles. Milestones help you prioritize.
2. Mantras are better than mumbo-jumbo. There is a very funny bit about mission statements that have nothing to do with…well, anything.
3. Ask women. I already knew this, but I never thought about it as applied to a business plan. Guy’s view is that men have a genetic deficiency when it comes to judging business plans.
4. Don’t go alone. He puts it, “find a few soulmates.” Two is better than one and all that.

Matt Kreiling
kreiling@gmail.com
360-359-6473
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Seat-at-the-Table Writing

DreamingRight.com

Posted via email from tinynow’s posterous

productivity tips, the creative process

Maybe the reason Homer is so happy is that he thinks fast.

A new study shows that some rapid problem solving, or even watching speeded up episodes of I Love Lucy causes feelings of elation.

Read the full article here.

honoring distraction, productivity tips, the creative process

Commit publicly to your goals. Instantly create forces that will both push and pull you towards accomplishment

What did you promise these guys?

Imagine shame.

Awful, isn’t it – something you want to avoid. For me, shame is the worst. It’s like I’m a broken machine, beyond hope of repair.

Now visualize success.

Listen to it, taste it, feel it. This should feel good.

I ask you to take a look at these two states of being to get a sense of their ability to motivate. Behaviorist psychologists explain our actions as either reward-seeking or punishment-avoiding. They have proven that the carrot and stick are highly effective. (If you want to increase your writing habit using negative conditioning, check out Write or Die).

When you tell all your friends, acquaintances, and readers that you have set a goal, you are activating the dynamic tension between your desire to accomplish that goal and your dread of having to tell everyone that you failed.

If your a people-pleaser, like me, publicly committing to your goals is probably the number one method of getting them done. I quit drinking this way…twice. (I started drinking when I was no longer around anyone who had heard me make the public commitment.)

My Public Announcement

I set my Gmail to autorespond.

Here is what it says:

I won’t be checking my email until January 4th. I am scrambling to launch my website, dreamingright.com, before I start my new job.

I hope I don’t let you down!

creating habits, meeting goals, productivity tips dream right

Which of these reminds you of the internet?

“Surfing the web” is a horrible and inaccurate metaphor. The artful physicality and subtleties of catching a wave have little to do with the hunched, glassy-eyed aimlessness of link-clicking.

The information on the internet is as vast as an ocean, but the waves don’t break that clean. The staccato click of the mouse and sudden jumps from web page to web page make browsing more like “sucking on the machine gun of the internet” than “surfing the web.”  Maybe, “standing beneath the mudslide of the internet” or “dumpster diving the internet” would work better.

Read more…

everybody loves GTD, honoring distraction, productivity tips, the creative process, useful technology