Why Automation is the Best Use of Your Time – And How to Get Started

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Why Automation is the Best Use of Your Time – And How to Get Started

It can feel like you’re drowning.

No matter what you do, no matter how hard you work, no matter what productivity strategies you try; you just can't seem to find enough hours in the day.

I knew that feeling well. But I was able to escape the quicksand over the last year through one simple rule:

Work one fewer hour each day.

No, this isn't going to be one of those posts about how you need to rest more – I didn't escape 'the quicksand of not enough hours in the day' by taking that hour off.

I did it by devoting that one hour to automation.

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Rule #5: Don't Multi-task, Multi-goal

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Rule #5: Don't Multi-task, Multi-goal

You're probably familiar with the saying, 

"Hit two birds with one stone."

But imagine for a second that this saying was your reality. 
Imagine you were trying to hit two birds with one stone because you relied on those two birds for dinner.

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Read the Frickin' Manual

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Read the Frickin' Manual

At 24 years of age, Mark Cuban was far from what many would call a success.

“I was living in a 3-bedroom apartment in Dallas. I didn’t have my own bedroom. I slept on the couch or floor depending on what time I got home. I had no closet. Instead, I had a pile that everyone knew was mine. My car had the usual hole in the floorboard, a ’77 FIAT X19 that burned a quart of oil that I couldn’t afford every week.”

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My Planning Process for Achieving Unrealistic Goals

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My Planning Process for Achieving Unrealistic Goals

Over the last 6 years, I have deliberately put myself in "no retreat" situations. 

I have moved to a new city, I have set a hard deadline, or signed up to do something out of my comfort zone. Whenever I'm becoming a big fish in a small pond with my personal development, I jump into a bigger pond – even if I'm not ready.

I've done this so often, in fact, that I developed a process that helps me achieve the "unrealistic" goals necessary to make it in the "bigger pond."

Right now, I have yet another unrealistic goal. So here is how I planned to achieve it:

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How I Doubled My Creativity and Productivity by Creating Scarcity

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How I Doubled My Creativity and Productivity by Creating Scarcity

I’m a writer without the use of his hands…what am I going to do?

Those were my thoughts as the doctor put my wrist into a splint. 

For the next month, I wouldn’t be able to type.

Being an old-fashioned guy, my doctor suggested buying a notebook and pen. A fine idea, but it doesn’t quite work for writing articles on the Internet. So I came home, opened Google, and searched for solutions to my problem.

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How to Achieve Deep Focus by Using the Nothing Alternative

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How to Achieve Deep Focus by Using the Nothing Alternative

Procrastination is a writer’s greatest enemy.

We have the almost cruel fate of having a blank canvas on which to paint every day. We do not have a 9-5 working schedule. We don’t have a boss. Many of us don’t even have clients to meet on a regular basis to add some sort of structure to the day. 

We have nothing but time, a keyboard and a deadline.

With all of this unstructured time, it is becomes extremely hard to focus. One writer who struggled greatly with this was Raymond Chandler, the author of The Big Sleep.  

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