Photo courtesy of desi.italy

How to Get a Lot Done – 7 Tips to Achieve More

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Collis Ta’eed, co-founder of AudioJungle, FlashDen, many other sites. You can find him on Twitter.

Have you ever written out a list of goals you’d like to achieve and thought, ‘How can I get all this done’? Or seen an opportunity that you’ve had to pass by because you are just flat out? Life is a torrent of choices and possibilities, and often it’s hard to let them go. Should you compromise? Or do you just need a better game plan?

As an easily excitable person, I have a really hard time constraining myself to doing just a few things. Every project seems worth doing, every opportunity worth taking. Still I know that for many people, work is a way to make enough money to relax and enjoy life. If that sounds like you, then you may not get much out of this article. However, if your days are filled to the brim and yet you still can’t wait to start that new project, then I am speaking to you!

In the last two years I’ve become a successful blogger, co-written a book, built a large business that employs dozens of people, sold all my possessions to travel the world with my lovely wife, and co-founded an annual non-profit event. It sounds like a lot, and in a way it is. But there’s no reason not do more with our lives. After all, we only get one.

Here are seven techniques that could potentially enable you to do more with your time. Have your own personal additions? Leave a comment, because I for one am always looking for more ideas!

1. Find the Platform That Gives You The Time You Need
Aside from sleeping, your work life very likely takes up the most hours in your day. So it makes sense that the greatest savings in time and productivity can come from how and where you work.

Your aim should be to align your work and your goals of what you want to get done. While it might be that your goals can be achieved through a job, I found that the biggest change in my productivity has come from starting a business.

When I worked for someone else, I spent a lot of time working on their projects. Consequently everything else took a back seat and was allocated to the early and late hours of the day, and only received a small portion of my energy.

When working for yourself, you have mastery over your hours, how you divvy them up and what you spend the lion’s share on.

To gain mastery of your own time, you sometimes need to sacrifice now for gains in the future. I took a major 6 month hit of working terribly long hours for two full-time jobs – my regular work and building our start-up – so that I could achieve the platform that would give me more freedom later on. My wife will tell you it really wasn’t much fun and there was some real lows, but it was a sacrifice we both think was worth it. Now I am able to work for myself full-time while travelling the world – and those six months of sleepless nights and heavy stress seem a small price to have paid for this lifestyle.

2. Plan, plan, plan!
If you want to make the most effective use of your time, you need a plan. Without one, trying to do a lot will give you a major stress attack. Whether it’s daily to-do lists, business plans, or a productivity system, choose your weapons and put them to use.

Personally I have two planning tools that I use constantly. Next to me I keep a notepad with daily to-do lists. They usually span two A4 pages because I like to do some serious multi-tasking.

I also carry a Moleskine notebook with me literally everywhere I go. I spend a couple of hours a week writing ideas, goals, plans, and lists in it. What’s coming up next, how to increase income on a website, lists of actionables to launch a new project, the chapters for a book, points to write in an article. You name it, it’s in there, combined with enough squiggles and doodles to impress the most idle mind.

All this planning means that my time in front of a computer is spent purely executing. There’s less wondering ‘what next?’ or ‘what should I write?’ and more getting things done.

3. Work Smart
I love the idea of working smart because it is a great enabler to getting more done. The tricky thing is figuring out what exactly “Work Smart” means. I have found the best way to think of it is to ask yourself this one question:

If you only had a year left to do the things on your lists, would you be satisfied with what you’re spending your time on today?

Deadlines have a way of quickly prioritising things and revealing what is trivial and what is essential. The biggest enemy to getting a lot done is the inane and trivial tasks that it’s so easy to get bogged down in. Distractions, unnecessary emails, low-yield tasks and jobs, and all kinds of wastes of time. Cut out the time wasters and you have more time for the important stuff.

The biggest deadline of course is our own mortality. Faced with that question, pretty much everything that isn’t truly important fades away. Steve Jobs of Apple put it best in his Commencement address at Stanford in 2005.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

4. Push Yourself, But Don’t Overjuggle
You won’t get a lot done if you don’t try to do a lot. For every person the number of tasks, projects, and things they can keep in their heads at one time is different. So it’s important to find your ideal load where it’s enough that you’re a bit uncomfortable, but not so much that you find yourself feeling overwhelmed.

It’s important to be a little uncomfortable because you need stress for peak performance. A little stress will bring out your A-game. This is called “eustress” and if you think about a time when you’ve delivered a great speech, run a race, or pulled out a top performance at work, you will find you’ve been in this sort of stress zone.

If you overdo it though, you break through into another type of stress, called “distress” and here the anxiety and panic effects become a hindrance so that your productivity starts to drop.

It’s tricky to find the balance, and I find I periodically overshoot and break into the bad stresses and pressures. When this happens, it’s best to bite the bullet and drop or delay a project or two. Relieve the pressure and pull back into the right level of difficulty.

5. Team Up, Delegate, Outsource, Don’t Try To Do It All Yourself!
One person no matter how optimised, skilled and driven can only produce a fixed amount. If you really want to get a lot done, you need other people on board.

Working with other people increases the amount of resources in both time and skill that you have at your disposal. It will help you to achieve much, much more. Of course it isn’t easy to do and there are a number of natural barriers that you will need to cross. Some important things to realise:

You need to accept that you can’t do it all yourself. Because it’s hard to let go of things, oftentimes you will put up the most resistance to plans to work with others. I often have to forcibly tell myself “I can’t do this, it’s just not physically possible to be everywhere, doing everything.” Realise that it is a choice between doing less and holding on to it all tightly, or letting go and accomplishing your goals.
You need to accept that others might not do things the way you would. This is perhaps the biggest hurdle for many people in working with others. You know that you can do a certain thing just so, but someone else will inevitably do it his or her own way. Accept it, and you’ll come to realise that you also open up to things being done much better than you could have done them! And even when it’s not as good, it’s often a sacrifice that is worth it in the long run.
Realise that working with others needs to benefit everyone involved. Other people are not your tools to achieving your goals. You can’t simply use others to pursue your own agenda without thinking about them. If you are teaming up with someone, you need to figure out how everyone can win out. If you are hiring people you need to make it worth their while.
Realise you need to be systematic to make it work or you just escalate your disorganisation. Working with others is not a magic formula to increase your productivity. If you aren’t ready for it, adding more people to your endeavours will have the opposite effect and slow you down. You need to plan and be systematic in how you work so that everyone knows what they are doing, and works together efficiently and productively.

6. Work Hard!
A common desire is to amass multiple achievements, but well… not actually have to do a lot. If that is possible, it’s news to me. Last I checked, working got results, and working hard did even better.

So you have to make a choice. What’s it worth to you, what are you prepared to sacrifice? And just as importantly what are you not prepared to sacrifice? It’s important to have boundaries and not lose sight of what is important in life, so figure out what works for you.

Earlier we discussed working smart, well if you work smart and work hard, then you’ll really get a lot done.

7. Don’t be Bound by What Others Tell You Is or Isn’t Possible
If you don’t think something is possible, guess what? It isn’t. People do some pretty wild and unbelievable things. You’re a person, what makes you think you can’t do them?

In life you will encounter a lot of cynicism and disillusion, you’ll be told that certain things are or are not possible. Listen at your peril, as these are self-fulfilling prophecies.

While everyone has doubts, it’s important not to let them overpower you. If you’re feeling particularly low on confidence, there are still many things you can do to get over that. For instance:

Start Small. There’s no need to take on the whole world in a day, and building up to things is the best way to get over low confidence. Tackle a set of smaller projects or milestones, and accomplish them. Give yourself some positive feedback to build on and then go upwards from there.
Just Start. If you spend your time looking up at the top of a mountain, the climb seems a lot more daunting than if you just start with the bit in front of you. I often just jump into projects and ideas, deliberately not thinking them through, because I know that once I start, things inevitably work themselves out.
Give yourself time. Everyone needs time to accomplish their goals, and as a general rule, things usually need more time than you would think. I can’t even count the number of projects that have taken me waaay longer than I had hoped or planned for. But looking back, none of that matters. There is only what you did and what you didn’t do.

Thank you, Collis, for this excellent guest post! - Leo

How to Get a Lot Done – 7 Tips to Achieve More

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Collis Ta’eed, co-founder of AudioJungle, FlashDen, many other sites. You can find him on Twitter.

Here are seven techniques that could potentially enable you to do more with your time. Have your own personal additions? Leave a comment, because I for one am always looking for more ideas!

When working for yourself, you have mastery over your hours, how you divvy them up and what you spend the lion’s share on.

Personally I have two planning tools that I use constantly. Next to me I keep a notepad with daily to-do lists. They usually span two A4 pages because I like to do some serious multi-tasking.

All this planning means that my time in front of a computer is spent purely executing. There’s less wondering ‘what next?’ or ‘what should I write?’ and more getting things done.

If you only had a year left to do the things on your lists, would you be satisfied with what you’re spending your time on today?

If you overdo it though, you break through into another type of stress, called “distress” and here the anxiety and panic effects become a hindrance so that your productivity starts to drop.

You need to accept that you can’t do it all yourself. Because it’s hard to let go of things, oftentimes you will put up the most resistance to plans to work with others. I often have to forcibly tell myself “I can’t do this, it’s just not physically possible to be everywhere, doing everything.” Realise that it is a choice between doing less and holding on to it all tightly, or letting go and accomplishing your goals.
You need to accept that others might not do things the way you would. This is perhaps the biggest hurdle for many people in working with others. You know that you can do a certain thing just so, but someone else will inevitably do it his or her own way. Accept it, and you’ll come to realise that you also open up to things being done much better than you could have done them! And even when it’s not as good, it’s often a sacrifice that is worth it in the long run.
Realise that working with others needs to benefit everyone involved. Other people are not your tools to achieving your goals. You can’t simply use others to pursue your own agenda without thinking about them. If you are teaming up with someone, you need to figure out how everyone can win out. If you are hiring people you need to make it worth their while.
Realise you need to be systematic to make it work or you just escalate your disorganisation. Working with others is not a magic formula to increase your productivity. If you aren’t ready for it, adding more people to your endeavours will have the opposite effect and slow you down. You need to plan and be systematic in how you work so that everyone knows what they are doing, and works together efficiently and productively.

Earlier we discussed working smart, well if you work smart and work hard, then you’ll really get a lot done.

In life you will encounter a lot of cynicism and disillusion, you’ll be told that certain things are or are not possible. Listen at your peril, as these are self-fulfilling prophecies.

While everyone has doubts, it’s important not to let them overpower you. If you’re feeling particularly low on confidence, there are still many things you can do to get over that. For instance:

Start Small. There’s no need to take on the whole world in a day, and building up to things is the best way to get over low confidence. Tackle a set of smaller projects or milestones, and accomplish them. Give yourself some positive feedback to build on and then go upwards from there.
Just Start. If you spend your time looking up at the top of a mountain, the climb seems a lot more daunting than if you just start with the bit in front of you. I often just jump into projects and ideas, deliberately not thinking them through, because I know that once I start, things inevitably work themselves out.
Give yourself time. Everyone needs time to accomplish their goals, and as a general rule, things usually need more time than you would think. I can’t even count the number of projects that have taken me waaay longer than I had hoped or planned for. But looking back, none of that matters. There is only what you did and what you didn’t do.

Thank you, Collis, for this excellent guest post! - Leo

Posted on 25 June 2008 in Productivity & Organization |
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Comments (55)

Mike OD - The IF Life Says:

June 25th, 2008, 20:56 pm

I love that Steve Jobs speech….very good all around. Especially the comment about “Remembering that I’ll be dead soon” being the best lesson to finding what truely matters in life. Great speech….have it on my MP3 player too.

Shanel Yang Says:

June 25th, 2008, 21:03 pm

Man, that just about says it all! I can see why you’re so successful! Thanks for the great tips!

Tina Su - Think Simple Now Says:

June 25th, 2008, 21:18 pm

Wow, that’s a fantastic post Collis! Thank you for that.
I’m blanking out with stuff to add to this list. :) I think you got the core of it all.

One of the biggest realizations I had last year was that I can’t do it all myself, and that I have more ideas that I’d love to jump on than I can possibly handle during my day-light hours. :) You need to ask for help and learn to work with others. Hiring people was a learning process, because a) it’s hard to find good people b) people never do what you expect, and learning to accept that has been a growth experience for me.

Focusing on just one major item at a time is also a big one that I stand by. It’s cool to have lots of projects, but start a new project only one the last one is in a stable and successful state. Otherwise, the need to divide attention between them makes it hard for any one idea to really kick ass. :) Hope that make sense.

Thanks again Collis. Love this article!

Warmly,
Tina

Ramesh | The Geek Stuff Says:

June 25th, 2008, 21:21 pm

Collis,

Excellent Article. Aligning your daily work with the goal like you’ve mentioned is very important. I have been using GTD heavily for the last one year and I cannot live without GTD anymore.

GTD helps me to align my daily tasks (@context) with -> @project list -> which is aligned with my monthly and yearly goals -> which is aligned with my long term 5 year goals -> which is aligned with my vision and values.

Ofcouse, I fine tune my goals, project list and daily tasks as I move along. But, GTD is providing me a framework to keep me productive.

Ramesh
The Geek Stuff

Corey - Simple Marriage Project Says:

June 25th, 2008, 21:23 pm

I love the work smarter not harder mindset. This fits in with not trying to do everything yourself. Stand on the shoulders of others when you can, with proper credit given of course. It’s a great way to get more done.

pavs Says:

June 25th, 2008, 21:30 pm

Collis, i am great fan of yours :) and I am subscriber and user of all your blogs/projects.

Your amazing strength in churning out projects after projects, and on top of that get the time to write for PSDtuts and Nettuts on ten hours marathon stretch, inspires me.

Great writing. I have an idea for your next project collis. How about a blog on personal development from your own life experience (northxeast.com seems dead for now).

Looking forward for your next write up.

cheers,
pavs

Jarrod Says:

June 25th, 2008, 21:52 pm

“So you have to make a choice. What’s it worth to you, what are you prepared to sacrifice? And just as importantly what are you not prepared to sacrifice? It’s important to have boundaries and not lose sight of what is important in life, so figure out what works for you.”

Very very important.

It is very easy to think of lots of great things to do. But you have to answer the question of what really matters.

Thomas Herold Says:

June 25th, 2008, 21:53 pm

Live your dream than you don’t have to come up with all the goals. The goals will show itself as part of your way of fulfilling your dream in life.

Cheers

Thomas Herold
CEO Dream Manifesto

Thomas Herold Says:

June 25th, 2008, 21:56 pm

Ahh…forgot something important when I post my last comment. If you have a lot of goals it helps to have them right in front of you where you work.

Thomas

Sara Says:

June 25th, 2008, 22:09 pm

The hardest and one of the most important parts is accepting that others will do things differently from you… and that’s okay. Relinquishing a bit of control actually works to keep you in control of what matters: your time.

Great post–I found your personal accomplishments of the last two years very inspiring.

Vered - MomGrind Says:

June 25th, 2008, 22:09 pm

I love the “just start” or “just do it” mentality. It’s true for the small things (just start skiing down that slope!) as well as for the big things (just start that blog/ business).

Sometimes, thinking things through is not the best strategy.

Jen Lawrence Says:

June 25th, 2008, 22:25 pm

I am late to the Zen Habits party but I have been loving the posts. Work smart is such a big one for me as I try to sift through all of the things I need to do to get my business off the ground (with two demanding kids riding shotgun now that school is done). I keep going back to the basics — what’s important to me now? And try to let the other things slide.

Great post!

Adam Sicinski - Study Matrix Art Says:

June 25th, 2008, 22:56 pm

The key to your post for me is developing the ability to work SMARTER at all times. As we progress towards accomplishing our tasks and objectives, it is important to proactively stop ourselves and take the time to reflect on our methods, strategies and ways of thinking and acting. The better we are able to understand our habitual tendencies, the more effective we will be at doing more with less time.

I think the skills that are important to master here are:

- Time Management Skills
- Organization / Systemization Skills
- Planning Skills
- Decision Making Skills
- Motivation Skills
- Accelerated Learning Skills

These are probably the most critical skills that will help us to get more done in less time.

Your post was very thorough and insightful. Thank you for this information.

The Daily Minder Says:

June 25th, 2008, 23:09 pm

Awesome post. Some really good tips there. I love your writing style.

TDM

pavs Says:

June 25th, 2008, 23:32 pm

Collis, the qoute from Steve is also one of my favorite qoutes, but I didn’t read it for a long time. So when I read your post I couldn’t get it out of my mind. So slapped it on my wallpaper. The wallpaper is also an inspiration from your blog, I added my own touch from an original work by someone else.

Too bad flickr doesn’t accept a bigger size:
http://flickr.com/photos/10304942@N08/2612505572/sizes/l/

Original size: 1650×1050

Jeff - ScienceSays Says:

June 25th, 2008, 23:44 pm

Leo, you are most certainly back. Thanks for this.

Daniel Richard | WE Says:

June 25th, 2008, 23:46 pm

Collis! Great seeing you here on ZenHabits! #5 (delegate, team up, “d-n-d-i-y”) is one thing that I practice lots. Now that you revealed one of my secrets… :)

Laurie Says:

June 26th, 2008, 0:39 am

I think everyone needs to wait tables at some point in their life. You learn so much waiting tables. You learn to deal with the public and a service role. You learn to work as a team, delegate, and think ahead a couple of steps. Good waiters really work hard. They must work smart or they don’t get any tips.

Kiran voleti Says:

June 26th, 2008, 1:09 am

These points are really helpful to everyone.Nice post Collis.

Thanks
Kiran
http://www.dotndot.com

Ryan McLean. Says:

June 26th, 2008, 2:58 am

Working smarter not harder is definately the key. I think also that capacity is important. For example, I could do something significant (like preach to a crowd, or run a parliment meeting) but afterwards I would be completely dead, and would probably need at least a day to just do nothing and rest.
As you increase your capacity then you decrease the time you need to rest and you can get more work done. I talk about this on my fiancial blog also

Joe | A New Band A Day Says:

June 26th, 2008, 4:38 am

I think that a big part of achieving is arriving at the point of realisation that you need to get something done. Yes, this sounds fairly basic, but you can find yourself procrastinating and stuck in indecision-limbo for years.

There’s a lot to be said in the idea that once you sort out the small things in life, and you feel balanced, then you can start moving forawrds. I felt held back for years, but once I calmed down and got focussed, it all started to fall into place, maaaaaan.

Michael Moniz Says:

June 26th, 2008, 4:45 am

Work Smarter is a huge tip I always try to remember. A lot time we think we are doing so much and getting no where so we must need to work harder. Not always true.

Sometimes we need to think about our lives and what we are doing and decide if we are going about it the right way. We need to see if it is actually the process that is keeping us from getting the results we desire.

Eugene (Editor, Varsity Blah) Says:

June 26th, 2008, 5:14 am

“I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult.” – E.B. White

samuel h. padut Says:

June 26th, 2008, 6:43 am

Great Post Collis. Many thanks

Charles Forster Says:

June 26th, 2008, 8:34 am

Great article with some really solid points. As someone who consistently has multiple projects going on at once, I can fully understand where you’re coming from.

It’s taken me a long time to become as efficient as effective as I’ve become, but one of the things that’s helped me so much is to actually plan my day ahead. I open up iCal and create time blocks for each of the projects I want to tackle. Some of them are as simple as Admin which can mean anything to do with invoicing, email, backend, etc, and the others are project specific. More than anything else (trust me I’ve tried a lot) this keeps me on task and says to me, “you have this time to complete it, if you don’t finish, move on.”

Desi @ TheItalianVoice Says:

June 26th, 2008, 9:12 am

This is a great entry, thanks for sharing and….I’m very delighted to have one of my pics here to attend this post, thank you so much =)

Marc and Angel Hack Life Says:

June 26th, 2008, 9:32 am

Work smarter, not harder! It’s the key to getting the most out of life.

Great tips. I actually created a 60 second guide to GTD that descibes how I’ve personally implemented some of these GTD-based tips in my own life. http://www.marcandangel.com/2008/06/16/how-to-get-things-done-in-1-minute/

Stephen Smith Says:

June 26th, 2008, 9:47 am

Great comments folks, keep the suggestions coming!

Marjorie Says:

June 26th, 2008, 9:49 am

Very useful, excellent post! I’m adding it to my list of Inspiring Blog Posts, which includes one that Trent Hamm over at The Simple Dollar wrote a few months ago about how he’s so productive.

I’ve tried to live according to Jobs’ philosophy, but it can be so bloody easy to just bury my head in the sand and do everything that’s thrown my way. However, I’ll keep this post handy for when I need a pick-me-up and feel as if there’s just too much on my plate.

Cheers,
Marjorie

tabji Says:

June 26th, 2008, 10:21 am

I liked what you said about living each day if it were your last day on earth. I asked myself what would I do if it were my last day on earth and that helps me proritize things I do.

Saj Says:

June 26th, 2008, 11:23 am

I gotta get a notebook for sure..
Thanks.. :)

Sue Says:

June 26th, 2008, 11:47 am

Number 7 is huge. Its the small moments in everyday that contribute to the way we think about and see the world.

“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”
~Annie Dillard

Adam Says:

June 26th, 2008, 12:00 pm

Excellent post. The thoughts on mortality and how it applies to the present reminds me of a quote from Man’s Search For Meaning by Viktor Frankl: “Live as if you were living already for the second time and as if you had acted the first time as wrongly as you are about to act now.”

Adam Says:

June 26th, 2008, 12:35 pm

Another thing that I like to think about that pertains to productivity, in a way, is the history of the “American Way” over the past hundred years. With the development of machines we had an opportunity to be able to DO more things as the machines could allow us to meet our basic needs much quicker than before. However, instead our society decided to MAKE more things, which in turn required more consumption, which in turn required more work to support the consumption and so the vicious cycle continues.

Anyways, working in information technology, I know first hand the value of automation. I try and occasionally ask myself if my machines are working for me or am I working for them? From there I can try to identify areas in which I can further automate something, or lately I’ve been making it so I can better work from home.

I just think as humans beings in 2008, we have amazing capabilities as far as productivity and potential goes. However for most people, to quote Office Space: “I’d say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work.”

Genesis Says:

June 26th, 2008, 12:57 pm

Excellent post with a lot of great points in it. As far as guest posts go, this is definitely the best I´ve seen! Good job, Collis.

I find that much time is wasted simply sitting and thinking about how much I DON´T want to do something. And really, the best way to get stuff done is to simply stop thinking and do it. Still working on implementing that concept fully.

Mary Says:

June 26th, 2008, 13:21 pm

Leo,

Thank you for this post. I took a pay cut to take a job closer to home, with fewer working hours, so that I would have the time and energy to start my own business.

I love that I have two extra hours in my day with my new commute. My stress levels are down and my creativity is up. Since I now have my platform, I am starting to work hard and make progress.

I will be printing this and posting it on my wall as a reminder to keep me on track.

Tony | Spark Victory Says:

June 26th, 2008, 13:32 pm

I really like point 5 the best. I feel that often people don’t delegate enough. You are only one person and there are only so many hours in a day! Empowering someone with the skill level and accountability you have will obviously double the efforts and maximize the results. An important factor in delegation is the way you carry it out. For example, the gopher vs. steward methodology. The gopher delegation is to literally tell someone what to to do for each step of the way: “go for this, go for that, do this, don’t do that etc.” In certain situations this can be very effective. But will require more time. The stewardship method is: develop trust with the person, establish the results desired, provide guidelines on how to do it and have them accountable for it. You will now be able to get it done, train a person to do it and free up time for YOU to address higher priorities.

Debs - Food Is Love Says:

June 26th, 2008, 17:45 pm

I like this list. I’ve also always been someone with lots of projects going on (cofounded a nonprofit organization in my early 20s while working full-time, manage a website, write fiction, etc) while still taking time to play and rest and explore and be healthy.

I’d add to the list: know yourself. Know what you’re good at, where you run into stumbling blocks, and how much is realistic for you in a given day. Know whether you’re someone who hates to-do lists, loves them but needs them to pertain to each day, or likes them but needs them to be ongoing lists with items to check off as you get to them.

Know also how you want to stretch or challenge yourself, and do it a piece at a time.

Food Is Love

Piankeshaw Says:

June 26th, 2008, 18:37 pm

Great tips!!

I guess the only point I would add is to disengage completely from the task at hand periodically and do something fun or silly.

This helps to avoid burnout and stagnation and recharges energy.

Collis Says:

June 26th, 2008, 23:49 pm

Thanks guys!!! I didn’t realise this article had gone up already, so was really neat to see all the bazillions of comments :-) And some really great ideas in there too!

JC Says:

June 27th, 2008, 0:03 am

Some good advice. Learning how to achieve your goals, step by step is a big lesson.

Love your sites Collis, keep it up.

sunaina Says:

June 27th, 2008, 2:30 am

A very well written peice of advice. I really liked the concept of work hard, giving oneself positive feedback and maintianing a book. I just started scribbling in a small book and I realised how messy it had become. Got to maintain a big a4 one and a small one also handy enough to carry always. Thnaks a lot.

Skellie Says:

June 27th, 2008, 3:37 am

What a great post–really inspiring for me. I’ve copied your to do list idea and keep a moleskine next to the computer with my tasks for the day :).

As for what I would add, I think it’s important to emphasize how necessary it is to get your existing commitments in order before you add new ones, otherwise you won’t be able to give yourself fully to new endeavors. Patience is key. Just not too much of it!

Collis Says:

June 27th, 2008, 3:45 am

That’s so true, Cyan always tells me I’m not allowed to start new projects until the old ones are finished. and sometimes I even manage to restrain myself … but it’s hard :-)

Joefrey Mahusay Says:

June 27th, 2008, 4:35 am

Very inspiring article. I guess I would change some of my working style. I would love to read this article though over and over again.

Great job Collis! :)

Mats - Notes about the World Says:

June 27th, 2008, 10:30 am

This is great. I’ve been trying to live after rules like these the last 4 years, changing my habits around, getting in shape, changing my career around and then travelling the world. It’s hard work at times - and more difficult than before, but just the feeling from making real decisions about your life that follows your own dreams is worth it all!

Ben Says:

June 27th, 2008, 23:04 pm

Some good tips and superficial in my opinion. Check out the book “Why Work Sucks and How to Fix It”. It talks about work and the paradigm shift from “booking time” thinking to Results Oriented Thinking.

Nice effort, but you are giving advice based on manipulating an old paradigm. Get out of the old mind set and challenge the assumptions associated with time based work thinking.

This post pissed me off! There are better answers, and you are not offering it pretending you are. You are outside of your expertise because how you work and make your living is very different than most. This is not to say that your tips aren’t helpful. They don’t go far enough and they don’t apply to a whole lot of people.

I can take this strong stance because I have lived what I am referencing, and also what you write. Not enough. Sorry! This is head talk not zen talk. Stick with what you know from experience and do not generalize it to everyone.

Ben

Rach Says:

June 28th, 2008, 1:09 am

WOW, what a comprehensive article! Great job Collis! This all really rang true with me — as luck (life?) would have it, I recently started a new (highly demanding) job on the same day that my website was finalised and ready to launch… so life has been rather hectic! Without my trusty to-do lists, I think I would be completely lost! Thank you for sharing your thoughts & providing an insightful, well-thought out post Collis…

Rach
http://www.brightsidelover.com

Soft Skills Says:

June 28th, 2008, 13:57 pm

Wonderful post. Just want to add an important point that I felt needs to be stressed more than anything else: “Know what you want and follow your mission”. My experience is that many people become really productive and good at what they do, but unfortunately only realise after 5 years of intense work in one particular direction, it wasn’t really what they wanted. So before you think hard on how to become efficient, think even harder on what you are about to do is actually worth it, that you love it, you can take it all and that in 20 years time when you look back it is indeed what you wanted to do.

Anyway, some of my thoughts …

Nathalie Lussier Says:

June 29th, 2008, 11:37 am

Though most of them are the basics but while reading I realized that we usually forget them in an attempt to rush through something and end up spending more time and achieving less. Got a feeling the consistency in practising these stuff is the key ..

TopWaysToSave Says:

June 29th, 2008, 20:56 pm

I love when people try to help inspire others on matters like this. Definitely well written and hopefully people take at least a few of the pointers to heart. Most autobiographies of succesful people all say similar items so obviously they all have some of these traits in common. The one thing I try to always push is WRITE it down. Make daily list. It helps you get organized and helps you push yourself. If you write it down your making more of a commitment to complete that task.

Vincent Nguyen Says:

June 30th, 2008, 16:19 pm

Very well written article indeed!
The two most profound points that jumped out at me were “Plan, plan and plan” and “Working Hard”
We live in a society where it is way too easy to get trapped in the vicious rat race cycle and then we forget to step and reflect on our thoughts/actions. We forget or neglect to give ourselves some time to plan out our endeavours in life. At times our job might be too mundane, redundant or just downright boring and that can definitely take a toll on your work ethics. By not stimulating your mind/body with passionate activities we might tend to loose our “Work Hard” mentality/attitude.

Pete Says:

July 1st, 2008, 10:24 am

Being in the creative business, I have multiple projects going on all the time. Organization is essential to success, b/c time is money and lost time is lost money. This article makes some great points, but #7 is key for me.

Don’t let others limitations limit you. It is easy to believe something is impossible when you always hear it is. But true wisdom comes from experience, not knowledge.

http://www.yinvsyang.com

max Says:

July 10th, 2008, 15:19 pm

Collis - you inspire me to achieve more…

Personal Trainer Says:

July 22nd, 2008, 12:23 pm

This is a great list. Every procrastinator or person who struggles with ADD should print this list out and wrap it around their wrist like an NFL quarterback puts the plays around theirs.