The industry of publishing ideas has been undergoing a revolution for more than a decade, and where it’s headed is still an open question.

As a writer, I’m excited by the possibilities. But lots of writers (and publishers) find it all a bit scary.

Today I share a conversation I had with best-selling author, blogger and publisher Seth Godin on the future of books, publishing and blogging. It was fascinating.

First, consider some of the major changes in publishing:

• Amazon has become the world’s top bookseller, without a physical location. That has changed everything.
• Writers can now publish their work online, on blogs and websites, in forums and social networks.
• Writers have no editors. They are in direct contact with their readers. Their readers talk back, so that it’s a two-way conversation now.
• The lines between books, films, magazines, newspapers and websites have disappeared.
• Ebooks are on the rise — read on computers in PDF formats, on Kindles, on iPads, on smartphones, everywhere.
• Writers have no rules, no limits, no need to stick to written words, no pricing limitations, can share their ideas live as readers ask questions, and much more.

And that’s just the start.

Where is it all going? I talked to one of the sharpest minds in the industry to find out.

It was an amazing interview! Listen to me and Seth Godin here (about 26 mins long).

Download the interview (24.9 MB mp3 file).

Some of the topics discussed:

• Whether the new world of publishing is scary or not
• The clear, well-lit path that publishing has been taking for more than a decade
• How lack of scarcity has changed publishing forever
• The new role of publishing in the online world
• How not to wait to be picked
• How Seth’s Domino Project deals with unsolicited requests from authors
• How the Domino Project planned to transform everything about publishing
• How he eliminated cover images, shortened books, eliminated advances, and what he learned
• Whether collectible editions of books work well
• Spreading ideas through books, and how paid works vs. free
• The growing problem of people hating reading
• Whether you should publish how-to or cookbooks at all
• What types of books will sell well in the new landscape
• The problem of getting selected by the masses in the vast sea of millions of published books
• Why you don’t need that many followers/friends as an author
• Why the willingness to fail is so important, with so many options available to authors
• A future where everything that happens is your fault — and whether that’s good or bad
• The horror stories of Pulitzer Prize winning authors
• Amazon’s vastly important information about readers
• Deciding to publish your best ideas on your blog vs. your book
• Why Seth doesn’t have comments on his blog
• Giving up the goal of having everyone in the world like your stuff
• The cycle of productivity, and having nothing next

I am very happy to share with you my new ebook, “The Effortless Life: A Concise Manual for Contentment, Mindfulness, & Flow.”

The book was meant to share ways to make life less of a struggle, to help you find contentment in a world where little exists, to instill a bit of mindfulness in an age of distractions.

If you’ve had problems with:

• frustration
• struggle
• distraction
• anger
• impatience
• unhappiness
• relationships
• goals
• work
• being present

… this book was written for you.

A Public Book: And it wasn’t just written by me — I wrote this book publicly, as others watched, and then hundreds of others helped to write and edit the book. It was an amazing collaborative effort, and I was humbled by the contributions.

Pay Anything: As a token of gratitude, I’m selling this book on a pay-as-you-see-fit model. That means you decide what you want to pay, and although I suggest a $15.99 price, you can pay more or less depending on your ability and how much you think it’s worth. If you absolutely can’t pay, you can get it for free (I trust that you’ll be honest and pay even a dollar if you can). If you do get it for free, please pay it forward with kindness to strangers.

And as always, the work is uncopyrighted.

Loaded Value: This book is actually a full digital package that includes 3 ebooks and a couple bonuses:

1. The Effortless Life ebook, in three formats: PDF, epub (for the iPad/iPhone and others), and mobi (can be used on the Kindle).
2. The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life, another of my ebooks that I think goes really well with this new book, a $9.95 value, PDF format.
3. Thriving on Less, an ebook that was a companion to my print book, The Power of Less. PDF format.
4. The Simple Method for Creating Habits, a brief bonus PDF that contains my habit-creation method that I teach in The Habit Course.
5. The Effortless Life Q&A video, which I’ve recorded to answer common reader questions. It’s 31 minutes, online for buyers of this book only, downloadable to your computer if you wish.

This package could easily be worth $35-50. But you can decide what you see fit to pay. (You can edit the suggested price once you click “Add to cart” … just click “Update Cart” after you’ve changed the price.

Note: iPad and iPhone users … please see the Q&A below!

The book is also available in the Kindle store, but without the other ebooks, bonuses or video.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. What is an Effortless Life?
3. Guidelines for an Effortless Life
4. Wu Wei and Doing Nothing
5. True Needs, Simple Needs
6. Reduce Your Needs
7. Cause No Harm & Be Compassionate
8. Have No Fixed Goals or Plans
9. Have No Expectations
10. The Illusion of Control
11. Living with Chaos
12. Living Daily without Plans
13. Why Plans are an Illusion
14. Be Open to the Unfolding Moment
15. Don’t Create False Needs
16. Be Passionate & Do Nothing You Hate Doing
17. Don’t Rush, Go Slowly, & Be Present
18. Create No Unnecessary Actions
19. Find Contentment
20. Let Go of Success & the Need for Approval
21. Prefer Subtraction
22. Changing Your Mindset & Getting Rid of Guilt
23. My Experiments with an Effortless Life
24. Be Like Water
25. Equal Weight to Every Action
26. Eating Simply
27. Effortless Parenting
28. Effortless Relationships
29. Effortless Work
30. Turning Complaints Into Gratitude
31. Letting Go of Struggle
32. Dealing with Others
33. You’re Already Perfect
34. Putting This Book Into Practice
35. Effortless Writing & This Very Book

Questions & Answers

Q: I bought the book and downloaded it to my iPad/iPhone but can’t open it!

A: The package comes in a .zip file, which is a compressed file. Download it first to your computer, then unzip it, then you can read it on your computer or read the epub version on the iPad/iPhone in the iBooks app.

Q: How do I read it on my iPad/iPhone?

A: Unzip the package on your computer, then drag the epub version into iTunes on your computer. Then sync the iPad or iPhone with iTunes on your computer, and the book should now appear in the iBooks app on your iPad/iPhone. Detailed instructions.

Q: How do I read it on my Kindle?

A: Unzip the package on your computer, connect the Kindle to your computer, open the Kindle’s drive on your computer, and drag the “mobi” version of the ebook into the documents folder on your Kindle. Simple instructions can be found in this video.

Today I’m happy to share with you the digital version of my new book, focus.

It’s about finding simplicity in this Age of Distraction.

It’s about finding the focus you need to create, to work on what’s important, to reflect, to find peace.

And it comes in two flavors: free and premium.

The Free Version

The free version is simple: it’s 27 chapters that you can download for free, without having to give an email address or do anything else. It’s uncopyrighted, and you can share it with as many people as you like.

Download free version here (a pdf download).

Read the table of contents.

Again, you can share this ebook freely, so feel free to post it on your blog, Twitter, Facebook, or email.

The Premium Version

The full version of focus is basically a self-taught digital course on focus, from a wide range of experts.

It contains:

1. All 27 chapters of the free ebook in digital format. Along with a crapload of extra material …

2. How-to videos
Going into more depth on focus-related topics:

• How to Single-task
• Beating the Fears of Disconnecting
• How to Find Stillness & Disconnect
• Focus & Health, Part 1: eating healthy and getting active
• Focus & Health, Part 2: sleep and stress

3. Audio interviews with experts

• Author Seth Godin
• GTD creator David Allen
• productivity coach Dave Navarro

4. Bonus chapters from Leo

• creativity and practicing deep focus
• finding stillness and reflection
• how to start changes on a broader level

5. Bonus chapters from other writers

• overcome the fears that stop you from focusing, by Gail Brenner
• how to create a minimalist workspace to find focus, by Everett Bogue
• how to take a digital sabbatical, by Gwen Bell
• life lessons from tea rituals, by Jesse Jacobs
• two ways to focus on the stuff that matters, by Michael Bungay Stanier

6. Bonus PDF guides

• How to create new habits
• Quick-start decluttering guide
• Focused email guide

This full version comes at a fairly low price
considering all that’s offered: $34.95.

Buy the book

The Kindle And Audio Versions

The book is now available in the Kindle Store. The $8.99 price for this version includes the full book, including bonus chapters, but does not include the videos, audio interviews and other bonus files included in the premium version.

The audio version is now available as well.

Also note that the premium version now includes the book in epub format, which can be uploaded to your Kindle, iPad, or other ebook reader.

No Affiliates

Unlike my other books, there will be no affiliate sales for this book. While I would love for people to review and recommend my book, I want it to come from the heart — because they think it’s a good book for others to read — not out of financial motivation. And while I think that’s mostly true of affiliates of ebooks, there’s always a mixing of the motivations.

Read more.

However, you’re free to review the book, give away the free version on your blog, or interview me (just email zenhabits at gmail, with “interview leo” in the subject line).

Questions & Answers

Q: Can I get it on Kindle, iBooks, or other ebook format?
A: Yes! You can buy the full book in the Kindle Store for $8.99, although this doesn’t include the video, audio and other bonus files in the premium version. The premium version now includes the book in epub format, so you can upload this file to your iPad, Sony ebook reader, Kindle or other ebook device.

Q: What about a print version?
A: That is also coming soon. It’ll be the full version of the book, but without the bonus digital files. I’m self-publishing it. No date on the release of this, but I’ll let you know.

Q: Can I see the table of contents?
A: Of course! It’s here.

Q: I just bought the book but don’t know what to do next. How do I get it?
A: You should receive an email (the one you used to pay for the book) that contains a download link. You only get 5 attempts to download the file, so don’t click on it until you’re at the computer you want to download the book to. The download should contain the book and several files, including a “readme” file. This readme file has links to the audio interviews and videos.

Q: But I never received an email with a download link … what now?
A: No worries … just email me at zenhabits+refund at gmail, let me know you bought “focus” but didn’t receive the link, and I’ll send it to you.

Q: What about an audiobook?
A: Yes! It’s available here.

Buy the book

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Every few minutes, more communications are being sent your way. Emails, text messages, voice mails, instant messages, twitter messages, facebook posts…and the list goes on.

Your human response? You simply try to stay afloat. You peck away at the latest communications at the top of your many inboxes. And since the flow of communication never ends, you slip into a life of what I have come to call “reactionary workflow.”

For those of us with great ideas and bold goals for the future, reactionary workflow is a big problem. If we spend our working hours reacting to the incoming barrage of communication, we will fail to be proactive with our energy. Our long-term aspirations suffer as a result.

For the past five years, i’ve been interviewing uber-productive leaders and teams – people at companies like Google, IDEO, and Disney, and individuals like author Chris Anderson and Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh. I’ve never asked them how they come up with ideas. I’m not interested. My fascination is how they make their ideas happen, time and time again. The outcome of this long project is MAKING IDEAS HAPPEN, being published this month.

Many of the people I met have developed ways to combat reactionary workflow. Here are a few tips on how they do it:

Create windows of non-stimulation.
Once you open the door to communications overload, you could spend all day reacting to what’s thrown at you. Piers Fawkes, founder and editor of the marketing consultancy PSFK, reserves a good chunk of his morning –  from 7-10am every day – to do research and digest the day’s trends and news prior to going through his email. Proactively blocking out time for creating and absorbing – rather than just responding – is a key tactic of productive creatives.

Keep Two Lists
When it comes to organizing the day’s tasks – and how your energy will be allocated – create two lists: one for urgent items and another for important ones. Long-term goals and priorities deserve a list of their own and should not compete against the urgent items that can easily consume your day. Once you have two lists, you can preserve distinctly different periods of time for focus on each.

Schedule intense periods of processing at a consistent time every day.
During the research for the book, I met a number of people that swore on the benefit of “power hours.” These individuals would try to compress all response-related work into pre-determined short periods of time every day, usually 1-2 hours of un-interrupted in-box clearing. The notion of compartmentalizing reactionary workflow was a theme across the most productive leaders I met.

Don’t hoard urgent items.
Even when you delegate operational responsibilities to someone else, you may still find yourself hoarding urgent items as they arise. When you care so deeply about a project, you likely prefer to resolve things yourself. Say an e-mail arrives from a client with a routine problem. Even though the responsibility may lie with someone else on your team, you might think, “Oh, this is really a quick fix; I’ll just take care of it.” And gradually your energy will start to shift away from long-term pursuits. Hoarding urgent items is one of the most damaging tendencies I’ve noticed in creative professionals that have encountered early success. When you are in the position to do so, challenge yourself to delegate urgent items to others.

Don’t dwell.
When urgent matters arise, they tend to evoke anxiety. We dwell on the potential negative outcomes of all the challenges before us—even after action is taken. Worrying wastes time and distracts us from returning to the important stuff. When it comes to addressing urgent items, break them down into Action Steps and challenge yourself to reallocate your energy as soon as the Action Steps are completed. It is also helpful to consider whether or not certain concerns are within or beyond your influence. Often your worries are for the unknown and there is nothing more you can do to influence the outcome. Once you have taken action to resolve a problem, recognize that the outcome is no longer under your influence.

How do you avoid a life of reactionary workflow? You need discipline and a dose of confidence. Recognize your tendency to surf the stream of incomings, and gain confidence in the potential of being proactive. It is easy to sit there and react all day. You’ll never run out of work to do. But your bold ideas will suffer unless you take your energy by the reigns.

Scott Belsky studies exceptionally productive people and teams in the creative world. He is the founder/CEO of Behance and is the author of Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming The Obstacles Between Vision & Reality (Portfolio, April 2010).

I don’t often write reviews of ebooks, but a handful of them have come out in the last couple weeks that I just can’t ignore — I really think they’ll be of interest to Zen Habits readers who are interested in getting out of debt, in minimalism, or in reducing dependence on cars.

The first is a project I’m involved in: Unautomate Your Finances. An ebook by Baker of ManvsDebt, it teaches you to curb your impulse spending and become more conscious of your financial habits, so you can stop living paycheck-to-paycheck and take control of your money. I wrote a forward to the ebook and there’s a video interview with me on these topics that comes with the book. Buy it here: Unautomate Your Finances.

A quick note: the links to the ebooks in this post are affiliate links, which means that while I’d fully recommend them without compensation, if you do buy a copy you’re helping to support Zen Habits.

Some other awesome ebooks I think you’ll be interested in:

• Simplify: focuses on 7 guiding principles used by the family of four who share their journey at the excellent blog, Becoming Minimalist. Must-read.
• Simply Car-free: wonderful ebook by Tammy of Rowdy Kittens (another awesome simplicity blog) that explores the whys and hows of becoming car-free. Very practical guide that’s been useful to me as my family and I move towards a car-free lifestyle (will be fully car-free when we move to S.F. in June).
• Project M-31: Simplify Your Life in 30 Days: excellent step-by-step approach by Dave of The Minimalist Path that will target one area of your life per day for 30 days. Makes a major change manageable.

I intended to do a “Zen Habits Gift Guide”, full of frugal and green gifts that I like, typical of the gift guides you see everywhere at this time of year.

Then I revised the post to show ways to avoid consumerism — to give no gifts, or to give experiences instead of crap that will clutter people’s lives, to give consumables and hand-made things. But the post took too much research and I got lazy.

So here’s my third attempt at a post on gifts. This is exclusively on books, because, hey, books are one of the best gifts you can give, and you can even find them used sometimes if you’re trying to be frugal and green. Or give ebooks, which I personally love, and they’re usually cheaper and use far less resources than print books.

I’m listing some of my recommendations below, but this is not an endorsement to go consumerist crazy and get into deep debt. I cheerfully call bullshit on that great tradition. Remember, giving doesn’t have to cost a ton of money, and you don’t need to fall for the corporate propaganda. Be better than that.

That said, here’s a list of stuff you can spend your money on, many of them published by corporations. Enjoy, in the spirit of reading and knowledge and love.

1. My book. I would be remiss not to mention my print book, The Power of Less, partly because it helps me to pay the bills around here, but also because I think it’s a good gift for anyone who is looking for some simplicity in their life. And who isn’t, these days? The Power of Less will help your loved one to take control of a life that’s become too much, to simplify information streams and to-do lists, to form good habits in the face of previous failures, to declutter a home and workspace filled with junk.

Buy it at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Borders, or an independent bookseller near you.

2. Ebooks. Ebooks are great because they aren’t printed on dead trees, and if you buy one of mine, you can buy them once and give copies to many. Here are ebooks I offer for cheap:

• Zen To Done, the best-selling productivity ebook, a book that simplifies productivity.
• The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life, my latest, a series of articles on minimalism in many facets of your daily life.
• The Zen Habits Handbook for Life, basically the core articles of Zen Habits, showing you how to live a simpler, happier, motivated life.
• Essential Motivation Handbook, a joint ebook with Eric Hamm, designed to be a motivation resource when you need it most.

3. Awesome novels. You can’t go wrong by giving a novel as a gift. The novel has an unquestionably magical power to transport the reader into new worlds, and that is both necessary and unmatched in today’s world of technology. I could give a long list of a couple hundred excellent novels I’d recommend, but I’m going to limit myself to a handful that I read or re-read this year, and absolutely loved.

• The Pleasure of My Company: A Novella by Steve Martin. I don’t think of Steve Martin as a writer, but in this tiny little book, he’s created a wonderful, wonderful read. I’d read Steve Martin’s Shopgirl and enjoyed both the book and the movie, but The Pleasure of My Company is even better. I can’t believe I hadn’t read this or even heard of it until recently.
• The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. Not really a novel, and not particularly new, it’s still a really gripping tale. I don’t know why I never read this before — maybe it sounded too depressing or something, but boy was I wrong! This was an amazing memoir, and usually I don’t like memoirs at all. Such great stories, and overall it’s a moving and superbly written book. You won’t believe this woman’s childhood — at the same time unbelievable, sad, funny, inspiring, unconventional, brave. If you haven’t read this book yet, please please do!
• Fortress of Solitude and Motherless Brooklyn. Two beautiful books by Jonathan Lethem, one of my most favoritest of current writers. All his stuff is good, but these are my two favorites right now, and you can’t miss by giving either as a gift.
• Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. Wonderful little historical fiction novel set in the mountains during Communist China under Mao, about the magical powers of reading.
• The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Historical novel, utterly fascinating tale of white people raised by the black help, set in Jackson, Mississippi just as the civil rights movement was taking off. Really well done.
• Bel Canto. This isn’t a new book, but if you know someone who hasn’t read this book by Ann Patchett yet, but who loves reading, give this book to them. I love all her stuff actually but this is the best.
• Read more of my novel recommendations here: 50 Amazing and Essential Novels to Enrich Your Library.

4. Personal development books. Also known as “self-improvement books”, these are popular this time of year as people look to change their lives for the better. There are lots of books I could recommend, but I’m going to highlight just a few:

• Unclutter Your Life in One Week. The fantastic Erin Doland of Unclutterer.com (a must-read blog) just published a book I love and think you’ll enjoy very much. Highly recommended if you’re looking to declutter.
• Career Renegade: How to Make a Great Living Doing What You Love. Author, blogging friend, and career expert Jonathan Fields wrote the perfect tome for creating the life you want doing the work you’re passionate about.
• No Impact Man. Written by Colin Beavan of the No Impact Man blog, full of great tips for reducing your impact on the Earth in a practical way, without having to go live in a cabin in the woods.
• 365 Ways to Live Cheap. Written by Trent of The Simple Dollar, one of the best at extremely practical advice on living a frugal life.
• The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun. From Gretchen Rubin of, yes, The Happiness Project blog, it’s not out yet (will be out Dec. 29, 2009) and I haven’t read it. But I know Gretchen’s writing, and there isn’t a better writer on creating happiness in your life.
• The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man. For the men in your life, this isn’t about how to win the “chicks” or get six-pack abs … it’s a refreshing guide to being a gentleman, a lost art in today’s world. By Brett of The Art of Manliness blog.
• 10,001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget. Similar to Trent’s book, written by the authors of the excellent Wise Bread personal finance blog, the title says it all.

5. Even more books you’ll love. Some of my other posts on books:

• 50 Amazing and Essential Novels to Enrich Your Library
• 20 Amazing and Essential Non-fiction Books to Enrich Your Library
• 10 Books That Shaped My Life, and 40 Others I Love
• 7 Current Writers I’m In Love With
• Best All-Time Children’s Books

For other books that I recommend, see the Zen Habits bookstore on Amazon link. I get a small cut from each sale made there. In fact, if you click through and buy other products from Amazon (not just the books I recommend), I will get a cut. So feel free to click through and buy anything you like from Amazon, if you were planning to buy it anyway. Don’t buy a bunch of useless products just for me.

A couple months ago I released The Essential Motivation Handbook, along with co-author Eric Hamm of Motivate Thyself, and the response from readers has been strongly positive.

But Eric and I wanted to do more — to add more value for those who bought the ebook. So today we’re happy to announce we’re sending out three bonus podcast videos to everyone who bought the ebook, and the videos will be available to anyone who buys it from now on.

Bonus videos
We’ve created three bonus podcast videos addressing reader questions on motivation, as a thank-you for those who buy the ebook.

In these videos, Eric and I both answer some of the most common motivation questions, including:

• I have great desire to achieve my goals, but often lose steam before getting there. How do I keep the head of steam going?
• Is it possible to force motivation? I feel like the harder I try, the less it works. Sometimes when I give up it finally works.
• My 3 1/2 year old daughter will start pre-school next week. How can I motivate her?
• I hate running but I want to be a runner — how should I overcome the hate?
• How do you motivate people who are really stubborn, close-minded and don’t think their lives can change?

We’re sure you’ll find them useful, as they add a lot of value to what we’ve put in the ebook already.

New site
We’ve put up a new site for the ebook with more info: The Motivation Handbook. It has an interview by Daniel Richard with Eric and me about the ebook, along with lots of other info on the ebook and how to sign up as an affiliate.

I’d like to thank Daniel for the initial setup of the site, as well as Eric for revamping it with his Frugal Theme. We hope you find it useful!

FAQs
I thought I’d share some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), from the site:

Q: Why do I need this many articles on motivation?

A: We all need motivation sometimes. If you’re having motivation problems, this ebook will tackle the issues you’re facing from many different angles.

What makes this ebook really valuable, though, is that it’s more of a reference than a step-by-step instruction guide. We encourage you to read it in bits, opening it and reading an appropriate article whenever you are in need of motivation. As such, there will be times when we repeat ourselves in the book, but that’s OK — you’ll need the same motivational advice at different times. Don’t read it from cover to cover — pick it up at the times when your motivation flags. We’ll be there to help.

Q: What does this ebook add that your sites don’t already have?

A: A more important question is: what’s your time worth? Because honestly, you can get all this information from our blogs, if you are willing to spend the time to dig through hundreds or thousands of articles to find what you’re looking for. If your time is valuable, however, we’ve saved you all that time — we’ve hand-picked the best motivational articles we’ve ever written, and put it in a nice, readable package you can read anywhere, whether you’re online or not.

So if you’re more interested in free, you can get the info without cost on our sites. However, if you don’t have the time to dig through all those old posts, we’ve done it for you. This way you’ll have motivational posts at your fingertips, right when you need it. We think your time is valuable, and we hope you do too.

Q: What format is the ebook in? Does it have DRM or other restrictions?

A: This ebook is in DRM-free PDF format, which means once you buy and download it, you can read it on any device that can read PDFs, email it to yourself, without restrictions. We don’t have plans at this time to offer it in other formats, but you’re free to convert it from PDF to anything you like.

Q: Can I use part of the ebook on my website?

A: Yes! This book is Uncopyrighted, which means we give you permission to reprint parts of the ebook in whatever format you like, whether it’s on your blog, in your book or ebook, in a magazine or newsletter, in a classroom or business. Please do share our content, and if you can give us credit, we’d be most appreciative.

We do appreciate it even more if you pay for a copy of the ebook first, of course.

Buy The Essential Motivation Handbook.

Other ebooks:

• Zen To Done
• The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life
• Zen Habits Handbook for Life
• The Power of Less (print book)

“What you are is what you have been. What you’ll be is what you do now.” - Buddha

Post by Leo Babauta.

I’m excited to announce that the companion to my best-selling Zen To Done ebook is released today: The Essential Motivation Handbook.

I’m releasing this new ebook along with co-author Eric Hamm of the Motivate Thyself blog, as a way to help those who are trying to be more productive and to reach their goals, but are having problems finding the motivation to stay on track.

That’s most of us, I’m sure you’d agree. This ebook will solve those problems.

The ebook is just $14.95 — a small price to pay for finding the motivation to reach your goals. You can buy your DRM-free copy here: The Essential Motivation Handbook.

This ebook is intended to serve:

1. As a handy reference: any time you need motivation — just refer to this guide.
2. As a great companion to the ZTD system — it’s much easier to stay focused and productive if you can find the motivation.
3. As an easy way to find dozens of great motivation tips without having to spend time searching for them online, filtering out the useless stuff.

I’m sure you’ll find it useful. In fact, Eric and I are offering a 100% money-back guarantee, immediately, with no questions asked.

Update: We’ve released three bonus video podcasts on motivation for those who buy the ebook.

Here’s the Table of Contents:

1. How To Motivate Yourself
2. The Only Two Secrets to Motivating Yourself You’ll Ever Need
3. A Guide to Beating the Fears That Are Holding You Back
4. Task Ninja: Form the Action Habit
5. Top 20 Motivation Hacks
6. The Ultimate Guide to Motivation – How to Achieve Any Goal
7. Progress, Progress, Progress! 5 Tips To Keep You Moving Forward
8. 7 Steps to Turn Your Self-Improvement Desires Into Reality
9. 25 Killer Actions to Boost Your Self-Confidence
10. 6 Small Things You Can Do When You Lack Discipline
11. 16 Ways to Motivate Yourself When You’re in a Slump
12. 5 Tips For Motivational Recovery
13. The Magical Power of Focus
14. 10 Ways to Beat the “Can’t Get No Satisfaction” Syndrome
15. 30 Incredible Places to Turn When You Need Inspiration
16. How To Deal With Negative Feedback
17. How to Doggedly Pursue Your Dreams in the Face of Naysayers
18. Achieve Your Dreams Despite Pressures of Work and Family
19. Why You Should Celebrate Your Mistakes
20. How to Actually Execute Your To-do List
21. The Yin And Yang Of Persistence
22. Enduring the Valley to Get to Success
23. How To Relax And Why It’s So Important
24. The Simple Guide To Single-Tasking Success
25. Stop Reading About It and Do It

There isn’t a better ebook on motivation in existence. Buy it here: The Essential Motivation Handbook.

Read more.

Other ebooks:

• Zen To Done
• The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life
• Zen Habits Handbook for Life
• The Power of Less (print book)

“Never, never, never, never give up.” - Winston Churchill

Today I received an email from the lawyers of author Susan Jeffers, PhD., notifying me that I’d infringed on her trademark by inadvertently using the phrase “feel the fear and do it anyway” in my post last week, A Guide to Beating the Fears That Hold You Back.

The phrase, apparently, is the title of one of her books … a book I’d never heard of. I wasn’t referring to her book. I’m not using the phrase as a title of a book or product or to sell anything. I was just referring to something a friend said on Twitter.

Her lawyers asked me to insert the (R) symbol after the phrase, in my post, and add this sentence: “This is the registered trademark of Susan Jeffers, Ph.D. and is used with her permission.”

Yeah. I’m not gonna do that.

I find it unbelievable that a common phrase (that was used way before it was the title of any book) can be trademarked. We’re not talking about the names of products … we’re talking about the English language. You know, the words many of us use for such things as … talking, and writing, and general communication? Perhaps I’m a little behind the times, but is it really possible to claim whole chunks of the language, and force people to get permission to use the language, just in everyday speech?

What if this were taken to an extreme? What if some billionaire (say, Bill Gates) decided to start trademarking thousands and thousands of phrases, so that he could charge us for each use, or so that we’d have to link back to the Microsoft homepage with each reference? The language, in this scenario, could be entirely privatized if we allow this sort of thing.

So, while this post is probably ill-advised (and yes, I realize that I’m actually giving publicity to Ms. Jeffers), I have to object. I think we have a duty, as writers and bloggers and speakers of the English language, to defend our rights to … words. Free speech is a bit of an important concept, I think.

As an aside, I think the idea of jealously protecting copyright and trademarks, in this digital age, is outdated and ignorant. You want your ideas to spread, and you should encourage people to spread your ideas, not put up all kinds of boundaries and restrictions and obstacles to that being done. This blog, for example, is Uncopyrighted, and will always be free, because I want people to spread my posts and ideas. I think it’s actually good for me as a writer, and it’s (not insignificantly) better for the writing community in general if we can share each others’ work freely. I’m hoping that with posts like this, and the good work of thousands of other like-minded people, the old mindset of fencing off ideas and language will slowly change.

So, no, I will not be adding a Registered Trademark symbol to the previous post. And no, I won’t be adding a phrase of legalese to the post. And no, I won’t even attribute the phrase or link to her book, as I wasn’t referring to the book. And no, I won’t remove the phrase.

I’d rather be sued.

Oh, and I’m not going to change the title of this post either. You’ll have to remove it from my cold, dead iMac.

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On a side note: You may feel free to use the title of my book, The Power of Less, in any of your blog posts, on Twitter or even (gasp) everyday conversation.

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As long-time readers know by now, I’m a book lover. But I have a confession: sometime late last year, I went through the longest (by far) dry spell of reading in my life.

I was reading, sure, but I wasn’t reading books — I’d been doing a lot of online reading instead. Looking back, I can see that the problem came when 1) I was turned off from books by a few hard-to-read non-fiction books that bored me to tears and 2) I was on a tear with my online reading, obsessed with a couple of topics at the time.

Today I’m happy to say I’ve been reading more than ever in the last month and a half. My cure: I started with fun-to-read, easy fiction that drew me in and wouldn’t let me go. I continued that for a few books and then slowly transitioned into (slightly) meatier stuff. What follows are some of the better (as opposed to the trashier) books I’ve read, and can recommend with pleasure. I hope you’ll enjoy some of them!

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. I don’t know why I never read this before — maybe it sounded too depressing or something, but boy was I wrong! This was an amazing memoir, and usually I don’t like memoirs at all. Such great stories, and overall it’s a moving and superbly written book. You won’t believe this woman’s childhood — at the same time unbelievable, sad, funny, inspiring, unconventional, brave. If you haven’t read this book yet, please please do!

London Is the Best City in America by Laura Dave. A first-time novel, but it’s so smartly written that you wouldn’t believe this was a first effort. There are so many stories about separations and marriage and relationships out there, you wouldn’t think anyone could tell another stories in a way that was compelling and different, and yet Laura Dave was able to do that. The title is confusing until almost the end, but it does tie in with the theme. The book, btw, has nothing to do with London … but it does teach you about the origins of the terms “honeymoon” and “wedding toast” which is a nice compensation. Loved this book and I recommend it. Dave has a second book out that’s on my to-read list.

The Pleasure of My Company: A Novella by Steve Martin. I don’t think of Steve Martin as a writer — actor, comedian, sure, but not writer. But if you think about it, he’s written screenplays and lots of comedy routines, so he must know how to write. Well, it’s a bit unfair that someone so talented on the screen can be so talented as a writer — I can’t act or make people laugh (much) and I have perhaps half his writing ability. The Pleasure of My Company is a tiny little book, but what a wonderful, wonderful read. I’d read Steve Martin’s Shopgirl and enjoyed both the book and the movie, but The Pleasure of My Company is even better. I can’t believe I hadn’t read this or even heard of it until recently.

How to Talk to a Widower by Jonathan Tropper. You might not think a book about a man who lost the love of his life in a plane crash, and then spends a year wallowing in grief and self-pity, would be fun to read, let alone hilarious. You’d be sadly mistaken. I was, but the first pages of the book proved me wrong and I laughed and loved this book from beginning to end. Some great characters in here, besides an overabundance of wit.

The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby. This book also proved me wrong, once again. I didn’t think it would be interesting to read about someone else talking about what he’s been reading, but I read the book anyway because I just adore Nick Hornby. Btw, Nick, if you happen to read this blog, email or twitter me because I have a man-crush on you, or at least on your words and wit and written personality. I would love to get a beer sometime. Anyway, I’ve ordered half a dozen books just reading Hornby’s descriptions of some of the books he read and loved. The book is a reprint of a bunch of his columns for a UK magazine, where he talks about what he’s been reading for the last month. Basically what this post is (and he was the inspiration for this post), but with wit.

I Love Everybody (and Other Atrocious Lies) by Laura Notaro. I didn’t love this book. It’s a series of non-fiction humorous stories from Notaro’s life, and they are funny … but she tries too hard to be funny (as opposed to Hornby, who has a more understated humor) and in overreaching the humor often falls short. Still a decent read, but not my favorite on this list.

Diary of a Bad Year by J.M. Coetzee. I don’t know how to describe my relationship with Coetzee’s writing. He’s brilliant. His books are incredibly well-written and interesting and thought-provoking and different. But he just doesn’t entertain me, engage me, on the same level that Hornby (for example) does. This book was awesome though, if slightly frustrating to read. It has a unique structure: the top of every page is a series of essays by a (fictional) author, the middle of each page is a narrative by that author, and the bottom of the page is a narrative by a young woman who he has a crush on, and who changes his life. The essays by themselves are well done — the first few are as close to my political philosophy as I’ve seen in fiction. But the story that unfold below the essays is what draws you in. The (slight) frustration comes because we have to simultaneously read three things at once, which is unique but difficult because you have to keep switching between diferent voices and stories and ideas. Overall, an excellent book, though.

Watermelon by Marian Keyes. Not the most literary of books on this list, it’s still a good story of a woman going through a divorce and finding refuge with her family in Ireland. I liked it, and will probably read others by Keyes soon.

Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination by Helen Fielding. I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book, as I’d previously read a couple by Fielding that were at once funny but kind of annoying because of their diary format. This story wasn’t in diary format, and I think Fielding is much better this way. It was a fun story of a woman who isn’t sure if she’s unfairly judging a man because he seems Arabic, or if she’s imagining things (she has, as the title says, an overactive imagination), or if she’s really in the center of an international terrorist plot. I ended up liking Olivia and would love to read more of her. A good read.

What good books have you read lately? Share in the comments!

More books you’ll love:

• 50 Amazing and Essential Novels to Enrich Your Library
• 20 Amazing and Essential Non-fiction Books to Enrich Your Library
• 10 Books That Shaped My Life, and 40 Others I Love
• 7 Current Writers I’m In Love With
• Best All-Time Children’s Books