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If you missed “Episode 1 (For Writers),” check it out here. Each week, I’ll be combing through the RSS feeds, blogs, and news sites I frequent (read: “waste time on”) and link out to some great resources I’ve found.

These are all links to blogs and websites that I visit regularly, either in person or through my awesome Mac RSS reader (aptly named “Reeder”) and the apps from the great people at ReadItLater. I have culled these from the most obscure of places as well as the most popular websites alike, and each of these links has served a purpose for me–either helping to solve a problem, get something written in a gooder better way, or to just give me a little inspiration along the way.

I hope you enjoy these links as much as I have; be sure to visit each site and subscribe to their lists, as well as mine! Also, if you aren’t yet aware, I started up the mailing list again, so be sure to grab that sweet chunk of free stuff.Without further ado:

The Most Inspirational Content Ever for People Interested in Productivity

Section 1: Getting More Done

In this section are some links to articles and blog posts that helped me out during my initial writing phases of my first novel, The Golden Crystal. By the way, if you want to read a FREE preview of it, I’d love for you to check it out!

• iDoneThis – I just found this nifty little website last week, and it’s been fun keeping a “done” list rather than a “to-do” list. The verdict’s still out as to whether or not it’s actually beneficial, but it’s a great idea, nonetheless. The idea is, every day (or week), iDoneThis sends you an email asking “What did you get done today?” You answer, they add it to your personal iDoneThis calendar, and you just keep on “gettin’ it done.”
• BufferApp – Most of you have heard about this one already, but it’s new to me. I LOVE Buffer–I can browse websites, click on the cute little Chrome extension, and it gets “automagically” added to my Buffer feed (basically a scheduled list of Tweets, set to go out on a schedule I’ve prepared). It’s a great way to browse, read, and keep working, without needing to worry about actively feeding your Twitter monster’s voracious appetite.
• If This, Then That – Honestly, it was only a matter of time before some whiz-kid would come along and piece together the scraps of the internet into one magnificent, glorious, and 16-pt. font-sized app. ifttt is a way to manage most of your favorite social sites and apps, and “pipe” information from one to the other. For example, I have a recipe set up on ifttt so that whenever I mark something with the tag #writing as “read” on my ReadItLater account, it gets posted to Twitter, Buffer, and my Facebook page. Um, awesome.
• Engag.io – Another newbie to the “cool web apps” genre, Engag.io (I still haven’t figured out quite how to pronounce it) is a single place to manage, respond, and cultivate your different social sites’ conversations. I use it to manage my blog’s comments (not that there are many…), Google+ conversations, Twitter contacts, and Facebook messages/comments.
• ReadItLater – Lastly, I would be remiss to not mention ReadItLater, my personal favorite “beautiful text view” reader for web, desktop, and mobile. I am constantly on the go, and it’s nice to have a pretty interface to keep up with my reading, in an offline way! If you haven’t already, check it out and start using their browser extensions, combined with the resources I’ve outlined above, to almost automate your reading/posting schedule on social sites.

Related posts:

1. Inspirational Links: Episode 1 – For Writers

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Before I jump in, let me clarify: I think that there are ways to “strike it big” in life, and not have to worry about anything afterwards. Winning the lottery used to be enough–but with the value of a dollar plummeting, taxes, and inflation, chances are it won’t cause anything more than an extended shopping spree and a false sense of security.

I believe that there are some things out there that will help–landing a secure, super-high-paying job, or starring in a Harry Potter-length series of blockbuster smash hits might be two of them, but even then–there aren’t any guarantees.

But for the rest of us mere mortals, we’ve got to figure it out on our own: we’ve got to provide for our lives at least, and if we’ve got families, that many more people. We have to sock enough away to be able to retire one day, or at least create an opportunity that will continue to pay dividends well into the future.

So what are you doing?

How are you preparing for your future? I used to think, when I was a kid, that I’d somehow stumble upon the way to make it big: strike it rich, become a country singer (yeah, for real!), or otherwise be famous enough that people would just throw money at me.

I’m older now.

It’s not that easy. Even if my first novel somehow takes off and makes it onto bestseller lists, into book clubs, and Oprah, it just won’t be enough.

Sure, I’ll have my “fifteen minutes of fame,” but then it’ll be over. Will there be a book deal? What about a second book deal? And a third?

How many books and book deals and book sales does it take to be financially successful? What about even solvent?

These are things writers worry about. But no matter what industry you’re in, you need to be thinking about your goals; your dreams that could launch you into superstardom, and if there’s a chance that that dream, fulfilled, will be enough.

At church, we’re studying what it means to be Enough, and usually everything we have in life simply isn’t (enough).

So again, I ask you: “What are you doing after?”

After the book deal, after the wave of publicity, the awesome, thrilling Tweets from people you admire, after it’s all over?

For me, it’s to get my head back down, forget about it, and start all over again.

Starting Over

While my book hasn’t even launched, I’m anticipating at least a little bit of traction from it, due my prior knowledge in marketing, promotion, and social media. But I’m also anticipating the end of that small bit of attention, and I want to be prepared:

• I want to capture any “fans” by turning them into repeat customers (readers), advocates, and friends.
• I want to have something ”next” to give them–in this case, another book (or the promise of another one).
• I want to thank them in a prepared, thoughtful way, not a “AGGHHH!!! I’m soooo busy but THANKS!” sort of way.
• I want to continue the small successes, until they “snowball” into something real; something long-term.

Starting over doesn’t mean forgetting about or ignoring what’s happened–quite the opposite, actually. It means that I’m going to acknowledge those who helped along the way by thanking them with my time, my help, and if possible–my wallet. It means focusing on the people who helped make any success possible. And mostly, it means not pretending to have “made it.”

How to Start Over

Maybe you’re in the same boat as me–you’ve done something worthy of mention, somewhere, and you know it’s going to be wild, crazy, fun, and ultimately not quite enough. You want to follow it up with another Pixar-worthy win, but you don’t want to lose traction. Here’s the plan:

1. Plan a period of “down time.” This is down timeafter you’ve partied, celebrated, and basked in your brief glory–the next period time should be devoted to thanking, praying, planning, whatever–not working on the next thing.
2. Prepare the route you’ll take to thank everyone involved. Will it be through emails? Write it out as a form email–chances are there is more than one person you’ll be thanking this way, and you can still personalize each one.
3. Plan the next “thing.” Hopefully, this point is not the first time you’ve thought about what’s next for you–if your successful “thing” was a book, do you have another one? This is the point where you’ll plan on the juggling of both your current success and getting ready to ship your second (or third, or fourth…).
4. Write it down. My goals have a way of not getting done, unless they’re explicitly and purposefully tracked, written down, and organized. Use whatever method works for you, but don’t leave this part out.
5. Do it. I read a cool post last week about “doing” stuff. Basically, the point is: successful people don’t necessarily finish the most things, but they probably start the most. Start your next thing–if you don’t, it’s never going to get done!

Going “back to the drawing board” is good because you don’t get starstruck too soon–you’re focused on churning out good stuff; “shipping” what you’ve created. Stay focused on shipping and creating and tweaking and following it up with more creating and shipping, and–before you know it–you’ve “made it.”

It’s not the old world of “get discovered, never work another day in your life” anymore. Now it’s “create, ship, create, ship, have a little success, create, ship, have more success, create, ship…” and on and on, until you’ve achieved your very own definition of success. Don’t stop until you’re dead–you can’t, and you won’t want to anyway, if it’s something you love!

No related posts.

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In part 1 of this series, we talked about why using and recognizing our natural tendencies as sleep-deprived humans can help us get more sleep, feel better, and get more done. Sleeping is great, and looking at what we need out of it–namely, what benefits we’d like to receive from our sleep–we can use different times of the day to enter into REM sleep, Stage 3, or another stage of sleep. These different stages help benefit us in different ways, all covered in last week’s post.

This particular post will talk more about how to nap–the different methods and ways to enter into a state of awesome, sleep-filled bliss!Getting to sleep

After you’ve figured out when to nap, you’ll need to figure out how long to nap and how to do it. I’ll save you the hassle of the first one—a 30-minute nap should be all you need, once you get the hang of it and can fall asleep right away, but you can stretch this up to around 1.5 to 2 hours.

As far as taking the nap, it’s important to know that most people you talk to about all of this will scoff, using their unbelievably over-hyped schedules and superlative-ridden descriptions of their to-do lists to explain their disdain for napping. “I don’t have time to nap,” they’ll cry, “you must be so whimsically free, that you would have time for such a luxury.”

After you show them this post and convince them of the benefits, and that Winston Churchill himself proclaimed the amazing benefits of regular, daily napping, you’ll be able to steal away in peace and catch some z’s for yourself. As he wrote in his six-volume memoir of the World War II years:

“Nature had not intended mankind to work from 8 in the morning until midnight without the refreshment of blessed oblivion which, even if it only lasts 20 minutes, is sufficient to renew all the vital forces” JOSEPH CARDIERI Brooklyn, Sept. 15, 1989

Figure out your ideal naptime and how to make sure you won’t be interrupted. Here are a few tips:

• Find that cozy, dark place. I have a hard time falling asleep with a light on at night, so if you’re trying to catch some shuteye in a brightly lit office, good luck.
• Eliminate distractions. Turn off your phone, email dinger, and any other electronics that could wake you up—again, if you’re in an office, consider putting up a temporary “no soliciting: punishable by death” sign on your cubicle.
• Get warm. I’ve found—even as a strapping, hairy, macho-man—I need to be more warm than normal to fall asleep quickly. While I like to crank the AC down to 45 degrees Fahrenheit at night, I’d never get to sleep in those conditions for a nap.

If you have the benefit of working from home, or have an extended lunch break during which you’d be able to get home, go all out—take off the shoes, clothes, whatever, and get under the covers of your own bed. There’s no reason to “cheat” and sleep on the couch since it’s not a “real” sleep session.

I’ve used naps in the past to provide energy, focus, and motivation, all while maintaining a 9-to-5 day job, writing a book, and running a business on the side. Naps are great, but only if they’re entered into with a specific determination to use them to the maximum benefit possible. We don’t get to choose which stages of sleep we’ll get out of a nap, for the most part, as our brains and bodies tell us that on their own. However, we can use the guidelines here and in Dr. Mednick’s book to ensure that we’re getting the most gain out of our short naps as possible!

Let me know if you have questions, or if you have some experience with napping!

Stay tuned for Part 3 of this series, “How to Hack Your Sleep.” 

Did you miss the first part? Read Part 1 here. 

Related posts:

1. How to Hack Your Sleep – Sleep Less, Do More, Feel Better: Part 1
2. How to Hack Your Motivation: Part 1 – Why You Are Not Motivated

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Well, I’ve decided to go the way of the mighty news portal websites and blogs by starting a “weekend links” segment. I’m not promising anything; really, I’m not even promising that I’ll continue this shameful excuse of using other peoples’ content to fill out my own. But, rest assured that these links are pieces of content that I’ve found somewhat helpful, inspiring, or downright life-changing (I’ll you decide which are which!).

These are all links to blogs and websites that I frequent, either in person or through my awesome Mac RSS reader (aptly named “Reeder”) and the apps from the great people at ReadItLater. I have culled these from the most obscure of places as well as the most popular websites alike, and each of these links has served a purpose for me–either helping to solve a problem, get something written in a gooder better way, or to just give me a little inspiration along the way.

I hope you enjoy these links as much as I have; be sure to visit each site and subscribe to their lists, as well as mine! Also, if you aren’t yet aware, I started up the mailing list again, so be sure to grab that sweet chunk of free stuff.Without further ado:

The Most Inspirational Content Ever for Writers

Section 1: Writing Stuff Down

Okay, I know I split my infinitive up there, but I don’t care. That’s the editing section, and it comes later. In this section are a few links that helped me out during my initial writing phases of my first novel, The Golden Crystal. By the way, if you want to read a FREE preview of it, I’d love for you to check it out!

• Balancing Plot and Character - A great post; an even better set of examples that take this often “idealistic” subject from something fluffy and nonspecific to a very actionable, useful level.
• Plot Holes: What They Are, and How to Avoid Them – Um, if you write fiction, drop everything NOW and read this post. It’s pretty much all you’ll need to know about avoiding the pitfalls common to fiction-plotters.
• Theme Thoughts – Also by AutoCrit.com, this post covers that touchy-feely subject we all avoided like the plague in high school: theme. Yeah, remember that? Heart of Darkness and Moby Dick? Ok, I don’t either, but apparently they had theme, so your stories should too.
• The Most Neglected Writing Tip - A list of great writing posts wouldn’t be complete without something by the great (and now esteemed!) writer, Jeff Goins. He’s got a book deal, an awesome blog, and a huge newsletter–what more could us internet folk want from life?
• Using the Green-Eyed Monster – NovelDog.com is also a cool “all-you-need-in-one-place” sort of writing site, and this post is one that stood out to me.

Related posts:

1. Inspirational Links: Episode 2 – Productivity
2. 8 Great Resources for Writers of All Types

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As many of you know, James Rollins is one of my (and my wife’s) favorite authors. He’s written fast-paced, action-packed thrillers like Amazonia, Sandstorm, and more, and he has a great series of novels featuring his Sigma Force (a militarized branch of DARPA).

Above all, James Rollins writes in a style that is fast and easily understood. I’ve tried to incorporate his use of style and verbiage into my own writing, and you can decide for yourself how well I’ve done by checking out my new thriller, The Golden Crystal, here. James Rollins’ thrillers are similar in style to authors like Steve Berry, Clive Cussler, Dan Brown, Matt Reilly, and James Patterson, as well as lesser-known (but just as awesome) writers of great thrillers like J.A. Konrath, Barry Eisler, and Jeremy Robinson.

I started reading at a young age, and I owe my “career” (if you can call it that…) as a writer of thrillers to these awesome authors. From the moment I picked up The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown my senior year of high school, and then Sandstorm by James Rollins as a young lifeguard in San Antonio (I promise I was watching the pool…), I became infatuated with thrillers, fast fiction, and great stories. My dad and grandfather were both readers, and always had the latest bestseller in the house. When Amazon.com launched and took the internet by storm, the “problem” of having too many books in my childhood house was exacerbated, and I was quickly taught to purchase books as fast and as often as I desired. Now, almost ten years later, my wife has all but stifled my “book-buying frenzy,” but I’m still a self-declared “thriller addict.” This list is just an example of what I’ve read and recommend, but I’ll try to continue updating it as often as I can!

Again, if you have an interest in high-octane thrillers, fast-paced fiction, and just-plain-awesome scientifically-driven novels, do yourself a favor and check out this list on Amazon that I’ve created. It’s a solid list of great reads, and I’m sure you’ll find something on it that you’ll like! Leave a message in the comments with your own recommendations, and I’ll be sure to check them out!

Related posts:

1. Book Publishing and an Interview with James Rollins
2. 8 Great Resources for Writers of All Types
3. Lightning Source Calculator – Book Price & Cost (Paperback)

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This post is Part 1 of a 3-part series on “hacking sleep.” Check back for the rest of the posts, and be sure to leave a comment with your own experiences!

Maybe sleep is for the weak, but letting our workloads get the best of us is for the lame. Today, we’re faced with more options—more work, more opportunities, more of life in general. We’re also expected to do more—but no one has given us more time to do all of these things. Why not take advantage of the remedy nature has provided us? Napping is free, easy to learn, doesn’t require special equipment, and is actually hardwired into us! Read on to find out more about this “secret” life-optimizing skill we’ve all been born with!

Maybe you want to sleep better at night. Maybe it’s an upcoming schedule change, like a long trip or a vacation you need to get ready for. Maybe you’d even like to lose a few pounds, or keep that beautiful boyish figure (if you’re a dude…). More than likely, though, you’re definitely interested in getting more out of the few hours a day you’re given. You want to make the most of the time you have, and right now, it’s just not happening.

There’s nothing wrong with looking into alternate sleep cycles or special schedules for some instances, but take from someone who knows: when you begin to invest time in practicing something the Uberman sleep cycle, be prepared to really invest. In short, it’s hard.

For the rest of us, though, we can take advantage of our natural antidote to tiredness, laziness, and unproductivity immediately: napping.Our natural rhythms

Whatever physiological variables we measure, we usually find that there is a maximum value at one time of day and a minimum value at another. Jurgen Aschoff, “Circadian Rhythms in Man,” Science, 1965.

I know it sounds pretty elementary. Naps are for old people and kindergarteners, not to mention the animal kingdom. Actually, most animals sleep in a multi-phasal cycle—that’s why your dog always seems “so awake,” and is ready to go at a moment’s notice (and you thought it was because he loved you so much…) But let’s look at the research behind this in humans: A long time ago, a crusty old German guy named Jurgen Aschoff did a study on circadian rhythm, where he stuck a few human subjects inside converted World War II bunkers, where no outside light could get in. He disallowed any timekeeping devices in the bunkers, forcing the subjects to let their bodies “tell” them when they should sleep.

After a brief “readjustment” period, these subjects (turns out they were actually paid volunteers, so he wasn’t such a crazy guy after all) all reverted to their “natural” bi-phasic sleep cycle—they’d sleep for about six to seven hours at a time, wake up for another eight or so, then have a “mini phase” of sleep followed by another block of wakefulness. The cycle would repeat itself indefinitely, and thus Aschoff proposed that we, as humans, were not that unlike our animal friends after all. He concluded that humans actually have endogenous circadian cycles (read this article for more on the study, its preceding study in a Kentucky cave, and its follow-up studies in space!).

So if we were meant to sleep in multiple “chunks” during a 24-hour period, how long should each be, and how can we actually get it to work for us?

Hacking your sleep: Deciding on your “nap time”

If you’d really like to dive into this further, I’d suggest taking cues from an actual researcher who’s written a book on napping. I can think of one that’s worthy of mention, and one I use to “chart” my naps: Take a Nap! Change Your Life. By Sara Mednick (not an affiliate link) is hands-down the easiest to use and read. No wading through pages of dissertations and theses, just the cold, hard facts.

For me, here were the takeaways:

Sleep phases

Not all sleep is created equal. We sleep in different phases, each offering our bodies different benefits. Here’s a basic breakdown from Dr. Mednick’s book:

1. Stage 1 – This stage is least understood, as we spend the least amount of time in it. Really, it’s the first few minutes of “pseudo sleep,” where our minds aren’t really awake and our eyelids are pressuring us to give in.
2. Stage 2 – Stage 2 is like the foundation of sleep—it’s the stage we spend more than half of our sleep time in, and it’s the stage that helps to “reset” our brain to be more alert when we wake up.
3. Stage 3 & 4 – We can lump these stages together because they represent what’s known as “slow-wave sleep,” which is the process during which our body and brain “rebuilds” and rejuvenates.
4. REM (Rapid Eye Movement) – Perhaps the most popular and well-known sleep phase, REM sleep is the time of sleep that most resembles our waking state. As such, we are most likely to dream those wildly fantastical dreams during REM sleep, and it’s the stage that helps us improve our creativity as well.

Choosing a nap really is just about deciding what you need most out of your waking hours—if you know that you have a big project coming up, you’re going to want to be alert and focused, but mostly at your creative best. So choosing a nap from the above menu would consist of trying to get mainly into a REM sleep phase, with some Stage 2 thrown in for good measure (and because we can’t help it anyway…).

There are, of course, some specific rules that generally apply to the average 9-5 working person. Without going too far into it, the phases of sleep are not always accessible to us. For example, Slow-Wave Sleep isn’t always followed by REM sleep, and we only get the full benefit of the three main phases of sleep (Stage 2, Slow-wave, and REM) during a full-night’s sleep of six to eight hours. This means that we need to plan our naps according to what we need to get out of them:

• REM sleep, for most of us, is going to be available to us mostly in the wee hours of the day, starting at 4 am and reaching its peak around 8-10 am.
• Slow-Wave sleep depends on when we go to bed and wake up, but generally can be found mostly right after we go to bed, and then again a few hours before bed. This means a nap of mostly Slow-Wave sleep would need to happen closer to your bedtime, possibly in the afternoon.
• We can ride the Stage 2 sleep train at any time—it’s most accessible, so it’s there for taking, whenever we fall asleep.

Bottom line: if you’re a 9-5er, or have a similar, regular, and consistent day-to-day schedule for the most part, you’ll get the “perfect storm” of a nap between 1 and 3 pm, assuming a bedtime of 11 pm and a wake time of 7 am. Again, doing more research for your specific needs will help, as will understanding how age comes into play as well (I’m speaking mostly to 20-30 year olds, here, but most adults will fit these categories. Teenagers, adolescents, and kiddos—you need much more sleep anyway, but you have a parent or two to tell you when to do that.).

Further, Dr. Mednick (quoting researcher Roger Broughton) actually outlines the “perfect nap” in her book as this balance of sleep phases:

• 5% Stage 1
• 60% Stage 2
• 17.5% Slow-wave
• 17.5% REM

…and goes on to say: “if you nap when the clock strikes the zone and ride it for 90 minutes, you score a nap that couldn’t be more optimal…” Mednick, 59.

Basically, “hacking your sleep” by using naps can help you by optimizing your “asleep” hours. We can’t always have a perfect night of sleep, but when we do, we need to use it to our greatest productive and motivational benefit for when we’re awake.

The other times, when we toss and turn, wake up regularly, or just feel awful, we can use naps–systematically, thoughtfully, and well-planned, throughout the day to “fix” our bi-phasal tendencies!

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this series, “How to Hack Your Sleep.” 

Related posts:

1. How to Hack Your Sleep – Sleep Less, Do More, Feel Better: Part 2
2. How to Hack Your Motivation: Part 1 – Why You Are Not Motivated
3. “Brushing it Off” Vs. “Brushing It Off”

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Originally appearing on the amazing and useful writing/blogging site ProBlogger.net, this post is one that I wanted to add here, as I feel it really makes sense. Those of us struggling (or “juggling”) with a lot of projects, deliverables, and other tasks, can often feel overwhelmed and end up rushing things.

Don’t do that.

Instead, focus on creating, and enjoy the process–this is something I’m learning more and more about every day, as my first book enters the editing and proofing process. Here’s an example–taken from my own semi-interesting life, I might add–why you should!

“Brushing it Off” Vs. “Brushing It Off”

Are you “brushing off” the work you need to complete? Or are you able to “brush it off” when it’s finished, ready to launch into the world? I’ve had experience brushing off the things that needed to be done–and I’m sure you have, too–but I’ve also had the satisfying feeling of being able to put down my tools and say, finally, “I’m done.”

I’m referring to that point you eventually reach, after many long hours and sleepless nights, where there’s no more you can you can possibly do to improve your project, no more tweaking or adding or altering–it is done; as perfect as it can be.

But this “feeling;” this goal I invariably set for myself prior to embarking on any project, is sometimes fleeting, lofty, and quite unreachable. Sometimes it’s a matter of scope–the project is too large to possibly accomplish by one person. Other times it’s the lack of direction; we don’t know where to go with our blog–or our business–but still other times it’s just a matter of not understanding clearly our expectations, and the time it takes to complete them.

I was thinking recently about my experience as a Boy Scout during my grade school years. I enjoyed pretty much all of the events, camping trips, and fundraisers we did, but there was one annual event we participated in that was held in much higher esteem compared to the rest. My father and I, once a school year, would begin that journey every young man so impatiently awaits throughout the rest of the season–the coveted Pinewood Derby competition.

A “Pinewood Derby” is a small (about 8 inches by 3 inches), four-wheeled vehicle powered by gravity–and graphite-rubbed plastic wheel bearings (please note: the car in the above-left picture is not, in fact, a “Pinewood Derby” car… I just thought it looked neat.) The cars, two at a time, would be raced down a track made of wood. Sounds simple, but for young American boys everywhere, it was the “raison d’etre” for joining and paying your dues to the Boy Scouts of America.

Every year, my dad and I would start dreaming about what style and shape to cut, design, and paint my car. We would shoot for the most aerodynamic, stylistic, and awe-inspiring design that would still be allowed in the races (there were, of course, weight and size restrictions!). One year was a “hot dog” design that almost took home the gold, while another year was a failed attempt at a Camaro convertible with a spoiler.

We would start the project most years by planning, blueprinting, and marking the rectangular block of wood with cut marks in pencil (did I mention my dad’s an engineer?). Only after planning, sanding, cutting, and sanding some more could even begin to think about putting on the cool pewter attachments–engine blocks, headers, etc. Finally, after letting glue dry, sanding once more, and then waiting a few more days, we would apply the paint to the finished product.

With me as Creative Director and Dad as Chief Technical Officer and Director of Engineering, the product, no matter how poorly it actually performed in the races, would be something prized and rewarding for both of us–it was something we would, literally, “brush off” when we’d finish, take it inside to show Mom, and then put on the trophy shelf after it had served on the racetrack.

One year was different though. Dad was either out of town during the initial months leading up to the Derby, or I’d just decided I was old enough to get started myself. I had my wood block, access to power tools, and plenty of sandpaper.

Rather than waste time with the planning, creative process, and initial sanding, I decided to jump in get started making my dream car. I’d also decided to start about a week before the competition.

Needless to say, the car was shoddily built–it was sticky to hold, as the paint hadn’t really set well, the pieces constantly fell off (we had to bring a hot glue gun to the event), and it gave everyone splinters (I said it was part of the car’s built-in defense mechanisms). I had mostly “brushn off” the steps that he’d taught me were necessary. Dad wasn’t overly excited about it, but he knew a lesson was in store for his oldest son.

Sure enough, I realized (though much later in life) what the lesson was: while each stroke of the sandpaper and each slow pull of the paintbrush wouldn’t make a marked difference on the outcome, it was the step-by-step process we went through to ensure every piece of the puzzle was in place that created the final wooden racer. In short: the whole was much bigger than the sum of its parts.

I skipped out on a lot of the process, and because of that, I couldn’t “brush off” my work and show it off to my friends and fellow scouters. As this is an anecdote that needs to be applied to something relevant to what you’re doing, here’s the takeaway:

• Don’t cheat the system–if you’re trying to start a blog, and you know that blogs need great content, don’t spend money on a ton of ghost-written PLR articles that sound exactly the same.
• Don’t cut corners–If there’s a “standard process” that others in your niche have gone through–maybe they spent most of their early years doing nothing but churning out guest posts and commenting on blogs–don’t think there’s a “secret way” to do the same with much less work.
• Don’t “brush it off”–don’t brush off the little things. Every comment, every guest post, and every Tweet that you send is an ambassador for who you are–what you are–online. I don’t know you from Adam, so if I visit your blog and see posts written at a second-grade reading level with nothing but AdSense everywhere–what do you think that says about you? Come on, get it together!

Ok, ok, there’s always the exception that proves the rule. 

If, by chance, you do blog for money only–and there’s nothing inherently wrong with that–you’ve got systems and procedures in place for that as well that need to be honored. The “same” rules apply:

If you find that most money-making blogs are earning their income because of their massive amounts of content, why do you think you can do better only writing 3 or 5 posts per week. Spend some money on some well-written posts to fill out your site, and spend your time building your business.

If you run a business of any kind online, don’t cut the corners or “brush it off,” or you’ll most likely give people splinters. There’s a reason internet marketers spend so much time cultivating and building their email lists–why do you think you’re special and can just buy a billion emails for $50 bucks?

Don’t skimp on the details–they’re what are going to set you apart from every other teenaged marketing “guru” out there, and they’re going to also give you more experience in much less time. As so many business experts and professionals have said, “fail often.” Don’t be afraid to fail–just know that it will be a failure that will help you “brush off” a project (in a good way!) in the future.

“Brush off” your project or business now, and you won’t be able to “brush it off” in the future. Don’t “brush off” your project today, and you’ll be able to “brush it off” and show it off tomorrow.

Get it?

Nick Thacker is interested in learning and writing about ways to live better–his website is Life Hacks for Living Well, and is a repository of tips, tricks, and resources to getting what you want out of life, in a better way. You can subscribe to his feed directly by clicking here.

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I recently wrote this article to be posted on a great Christian time management blog called LifeOfASteward.com. Seriously, check it out if you get a chance. Loren does an outstanding job providing information on time management principles, tips, and tricks, and maintaining a great work-life balance as a Christian.

I’ve reproduced the post here in full as an homage to his site, but again–subscribe to his RSS feed if you can!Are you a church worker, pastor, or volunteer? Are you the kind of person who spends every waking hour (literally) on Sunday mornings helping out with anything and everything? Do you struggle with finding the time to get everything done throughout the week, just so you can be spiritually fed on Sunday?

Maybe you’re a youth director or music minister, or even the “tech guy” (or all three!). Either way, there’s probably a lot of expectations and responsibility put on you, and you need a better way to handle the pressures—and sometimes stress—of Sunday mornings.

I’m one of those people. Currently, I’m serving as the Music Director for my small church plant in Texas, and I’ve also served briefly as the Youth Director. My Sunday schedule starts at 6:00 am, when I wake up and drive 45 minutes south to church. I start by picking up beer cans and trash in the parking lot (we’re currently meeting in a pavilion that’s a dancehall on Friday and Saturday nights…). Then I go mop and sweep the floors inside the building.

When everything’s smelling fresh and Lysol-y, I start rolling the large road boxes over that contain our equipment and setup items. I begin to assemble the stage pieces and projector screen, along with setting up the speakers, soundboard, and lights. All of this can take anywhere from one hour to over two—depending on how good the band was the night before!

I’m diving into all of this to say that there’s really no way I could even think about accomplishing this stuff without some sort of plan; some sort of weekly battle strategy that I can do without thinking—I want to focus on worshiping God on Sunday, not wondering where my drummer is or if the light rig is too bright.

Oh yeah—this isn’t even my full-time gig.

I’m a marketing consultant at a Christian website company, and Monday through Friday, 8 to 5, I’m sitting in a cubicle doing just about everything else besides planning an awesome worship service.

And I run a Christian worship leader resource website, a personal blog, a side business, and I’m writing a novel.

I’m not trying to impress anyone with this amount of stuff I’ve got going on—I know you all have your “stuff” as well—kids, spouses, softball leagues, businesses, etc.—I’m just trying to point out that without a clarified, specific, and consistent “action plan” for my week, none of this could ever get done.

Maybe you could benefit from something like this, too. Maybe you’re a church musician who’s also trying to handle the music management side of things—printing and organizing copies of music, etc.—or you’re just a volunteer in charge of helping schedule Life Groups for Wednesday night. Either way, you need to be able to show on Sunday morning (or whenever else you’re there for church) and just worship. Here’s a bit of what I do that helps me “get focused” when I walk in the door on Sunday. Hint: it starts way before Sunday!

1. Get your mind right. Early in the week, prayerfully consider what it is that you’re going to do this week. This means get down on your hands and knees and specifically and intentionally ask God to give you insight and wisdom in planning out your week and each day of it. Pray for your family and friends to support you in this, and then thank Him for what he’s blessed you with so far.
2. Get focused. Block out things that you don’t need to help you plan. No email, internet, TV, Frisbee in the park, etc. Just a pencil and paper, or an electronic to-do list, are perfect. You’ve already cleared your mind and are prepared to thoughtfully start planning, don’t let distractions break your kung-fu focus.
3. Get going. Start by writing everything out into your chosen planning system. I find a simple list works best—don’t try to format as you go; don’t try to organize by area (Errands, Church, Home, Work, etc.)—just brainstorm and go nuts.
4. Take a brief break. The Pomodoro technique will help you here, but suffice it to say a simple 5-10 minute break will work wonders when you come back to your list.
5. After your break, do it again. Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like I always forget something (or 20 somethings…) when I go through my list the first time. The break should help you further focus on the stuff you’ll need to do during the week.
6. Organize by section. This is where you’ll actually split stuff up into groups—make a group for each larger project or area in your life (David Allen’s Getting Things Done is good for explaining this part as well).
7. Schedule. When you’re done grouping, try to split the tasks up throughout the week into places that make sense (“work”-related tasks can be done at work, “Church” stuff might be able to be done anytime, etc.). It’s hard to be specific about this part, since everyone’s schedules are so different—I find that it helps though to make sure everything’s out of my head and into my system.
8. Start marking stuff off. Once you’ve got a good idea about what to do, there’s nothing left to do except do it!

I know, I know—this all sounds so basic! …And it is. You’ve heard it all before, probably right here on Loren’s blog, but it bears repeating: Write down the goals/tasks, organize them, and start doing them. I can’t imagine not having a set time each week to send set lists, update the repertoire, and communicate regularly with the band members—these are necessary things, but easily forgotten or pushed under the rug without proper organization in place.

Develop a habit. Once you do this for a few weeks, you’ll be able to step back from micro-managing the system, and let it actually work for you. I don’t think about sending the set lists anymore—it’s just part of my normal Tuesday lunch breaks at work.

Finally, don’t worry. Jesus never worried, and it seems to me he’s a pretty amazing role model to have! Why worry about stuff? You can either change it or you can’t—be willing to change the things you can, and be able to let go of the things you can’t.

Thanks for reading, and to all you “Weekend Warriors” out there: let me know in the comments section what you’re doing to manage your time throughout the week to stay sane (enough) on Sunday morning!

Check out this post on Loren’s LifeOfASteward.com!

Related posts:

1. Productivity 101: Every Time You Sit Down, Make Something Happen
2. Stop Telling Me You Don’t Have Time

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I’ve been writing a lot lately. Not necessarily here, though I have been taking some time to plan out my blogging schedule for the next few months.

No, mostly I’ve been writing a novel. You can check it out here–it’s a thriller; an action-packed novel, and I’m pretty proud of it.

However, as a writer with an almost-published book (I’m self-publishing, but more on that later), I’m learning more and more of the absolute most important concept of self-promotion.

More and more, I’m learning the importance of maintaining active social media profiles, like Twitter and Facebook accounts (and Pages!), as well as continuing to try to provide helpful resources for current blog readers.

As such, I thought it might be helpful for any writers out there, whether they focus on fiction or non-fiction, blogs or ghost-writing, for me to post just a few of the amazing and thought-provoking resources that are freely available online.Some of these are websites you’ve heard of, some are not–the great part is, if you’re at all interested in writing anything, either now or in the future, these resources and blogs are great to subscribe to and get started reading.

So do it now, not later. And go write!

First, the sites that could be helpful:

1. ProBlogger – Sort of a catch-all hub for bloggers, writers, and online marketers, ProBlogger is one of those places that if you haven’t heard of it, you’ve probably been under a rock for some time. It can seriously help with your writing, but it can also give you some great ideas on marketing and promotion.
2. CopyBlogger – Another huge and constantly-growing resource for writers of all kinds, CopyBlogger has an immense archive of writing tips, tricks, and advice, and will help you sell more through your use of the written word.
3. Ghostwriter Dad – A bit different than the rest, but it nonetheless has some outstanding courses and information on ghostwriting–a field that I predict will become more and more popular in the near future as we all grow bigger and bigger platforms, yet not get any less busy!
4. NaNoWriMo – Admittedly, this forum is a little on the “14-year-old-I’m-a-writer-too-yay-vampires” side, but it’s still a great place to get some quick tips and helpful critique (especially in November!).

Related posts:

1. Great Thrillers: Books Like James Rollins
2. Inspirational Links: Episode 1 – For Writers
3. 31 Great SEO Articles for March 2010

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I’ve been working on a book project lately called The Golden Crystal, a fiction novel (thriller) similar in style to Dan Brown, James Rollins, J.A. Konrath, and James Patterson. Rather than choosing the “traditional” route of publishing through a legacy publishing company, I chose to use Lightning Source as my printer/distributor for the book, as it will save me a considerable amount of money on each run, and I get to maintain the rights.

However–and this is something many will tout as a reason for not printing with Lightning Source–there’s a lot of up front work to get a book from submission to print. If you faint at the thought of using page layout software, creating full-bleed documents, and designing book covers, Lightning Source really doesn’t help much. However, if you’re tech-savvy, you should be okay.

When choosing Lightning Source or another provider, you may want to try to figure out what your costs will be, and this calculator takes into account each variable in their pricing structure (as of January 2012).

Note: These estimates are exactly that–estimates. Your final price per unit may differ slightly; use for planning purposes only!

Related posts:

1. Book Publishing and an Interview with James Rollins
2. How to Sell A Book by Seth Godin

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In the style of Chris Brogan’s three-word “resolutions,” I spent a brief period of time summing up my three-word attitude for the new year of 2012. Not to be confused necessarily with a set of goals, these words are merely all-encompassing ideas and mindsets that will help achieve my own personal definition of success this year.

I’ve finished the first draft of my first novel, The Golden Crystal, and in the interest of literary alliteration, I’ve chosen three words that start with the letter “P” (cute, isn’t it?). I anticipate that my year will be filled with all three of these words, in differing amounts and in places I’ve yet to discover. As my goals and definition of success, at least what it means to me and my family this year, changes along the way, I’ve focused on three words that I believe will be a continuing point of focus for me.

Prepare

Finishing a book (or work of any significant length) would absolutely have not been possible without some sort of preparation. My workflow, habits, and personal motivation create a difficult environment for me when I don’t prepare well enough in advance. One succinct way to put it: if it doesn’t get written down, it doesn’t happen.

So, therefore, my vow will be to at least write down my goals, track them along the way, and measure the successes and failures as I go forth. As the next phase of writing a novel—the editing and re-writing phase—is upon me, I will seriously need the stringent and focused guidelines of written goals and a prepared plan to keep me to the schedule.

Practice

Malcolm Gladwell writes in his book Outliers that “expert” status is reached in most fields of study after 10,000 hours of practice. Using case studies like The Beatles, Bill Gates, professional musicians, and others, he makes a strong case that active, focused learning for 10,000 hours is the “magic number” of reaching a point of absolute expertise.

10,000 hours is a lot of hours, by the way. A typical American workweek of 40 hours, 50 weeks a year, would warrant 2,000 hours of “practice” in a full-time job. That’s if it’s spent actually “practicing” the work—not the administrative tasks, getting to and from work, and other non-related activities that are necessary to any job.

My goal, then, is to focus a portion of my non-working hours on practice: writing, music, blogging, etc. I don’t expect to get anywhere near 2,000 hours in any of these areas, but intentional focus and practice is something I can do daily—building positive habits for the future. Maybe 1,000 hours of writing this year is a possibility, though—meaning that in 10 years, I would be on track to becoming an “expert” writer.

Persist

2011 brought many blessings to my life—a great church job, a pseudo-finished novel, growth in my career, and oh yeah—my amazing wife! I hope and pray that 2012 will bring with it many more and continued blessings, though I know there will be down periods as well.

Through these periods of struggle and strife, my keyword will be persistence—I will persist in prayer, in patience, and in peace (sorry to overuse the alliteration), and I will be persistent in my efforts to provide for my new family.

Not to be relegated solely to the unfortunate periods, I intend to be persistent as well in the way I build positive momentum. Blogging regularly has always been a struggle for me, though every time I’ve stuck to a schedule for writing and posting, the benefits have far outweighed the time and effort spent. In the same vein, I’ve been able to finish a 110,000-word draft of the novel only by sticking to a regimented “try-to-write-every-day” approach. Persistence is a solid description for the how part of goal-fulfillment for me.

I’m not the type of person to set “goal-type resolutions” for myself—I guess the popularity of “losing 20 pounds,” “joining a gym,” and “starting a blog”-type of stuff that people come up with has lost its novelty to me. I’ve found that the best time to start something is either yesterday or today. Dieting doesn’t work, but changing a lifestyle does. Setting resolutions so often is a catalyst for failure—leading to a loss of motivation, lack of interest, and a “bah-humbug” attitude.

Instead, I opt for resolutions that are at once vague as well as actionable. Vague and undefined in a sense of specificity, yet actionable in that I can actually measure the results. Preparation, Practice, and Persistence can be applied to pretty much anything I will engage in during 2012, and yet I can measure how well I’m living up my three-word resolution the entire time.

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Novels are hard.

That sentence seems to be the best way to describe my recent exploit into the world of self-publishing. In case you weren’t aware (and interested in checking out a poorly-written yet nicely-packaged thriller novel), my self-published dream-come-true now has a web presence. The Golden Crystal is a novel that I wrote out of a desire to 1. see if I could, and 2. as a gift for my dad.

But I didn’t just choose the self-publishing route out of lack of a “real” publisher. Nay–self-publishing a novel has always been something that seemed intriguing for me, both as a person and now as a writer.Essentially, I could have started from the pitch-and-win-an-agent approach, but that seemed more suited to non-fiction authors and bloggers who have a larger (5,000+) reader base than I (since I’m on it, you really should consider subscribing–it’s a little bit of everything, but it’s all real and it’s all me!).

I could also have waited until after I’d completed the manuscript to pitch an agent or publisher, but that too wasn’t for me. Here are the reasons I’ve chosen to self-publish a thriller novel, and further down I’ll explore a bit of what I’ve learned:

• It’s on my time. No waiting around for rejection letters, editors’ notes, and cover designs. Everything was on me–the writing, design, uploading, layout, and price-setting. The self-publishing world, especially the boutique vanity presses, pride themselves on their DIY nature.
• It’s easy. Now, I may ruffle some feathers here, but I found the process to be generally and comparatively easy. I’ll talk more about this later, so just hold your horses.
• It’s cheap. Again, some toes may feel stepped on (please don’t lecture me on prepositional phrases; I’m an author now!). But I found that I didn’t have to invest dollars into a project that might never see the light of day–a win-win for both myself and the publishing company.

Related posts:

1. Book Publishing and an Interview with James Rollins
2. Top 10 Reasons Why Your Company Should Not Have a Blog

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I’ve been thinking a lot about publishing, writing, and the selling of fiction novels lately. Hmm, I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that I just finished my very first novel? Yup, and it’s looking pretty nice, too–check it out if you have a second: www.thegoldencrystal.com.

As I’ve been working with Lulu.com on the physical printing and sales of the book (sales: most likely an oxymoron for me…), I’ve consequently been researching, Googling, and doing way too much “not” work in the meantime.

I came across this post by Joe Konrath today, and it had so much wisdom; so much actually helpful advice, that I had to share it. It also has a lot of advice from my favorite fiction author, Mr. James Rollins himself…

Read the full interview here (it’s totally worth it, too, even if you’re not going to publish a book soon).

My favorite takeaways from James/Joe:

• “The way to fight piracy is cost and convenience.” True, true. Make readers wait longer and pay more for something that’s already available on that infamous pirating website, and the publisher AND author loses. In fact, just the other day I was searching for a book by a new (to me) author, and I came across a forum for sharing pirated copies of ebooks. In one of the threads, the actual author himself posted something like, “Hey guys, thanks for reading my book–I really hope you like it, and if you actually read it, you should consider supporting the work that’s gone into creating it. It’s only $0.99 right now at Amazon.” or something like that. Very classy by the author–I bought his book.
• “Windowing is useless in a digital world.” Books can now be shared, downloaded, streamed, listened to, and more in a plethora of devices. Konrath points to the music industry as proof that it’s never going to be the same again. Already major publishing houses are claiming that sales of ebooks (by unit numbers) are smashing the sales of print books. It doesn’t take a genius to wonder if things are changing for good…
• Rollins: “If left on my own, having to set and stick to my own deadlines, I’d probably still be a veterinarian.” Amen, brother. Statements like that give me hope. They remind me that pretty much all bestselling authors and smashingly successful writers had to start somewhere; had to work hard (and continue to work hard) to achieve even mild success. Thanks, James.

Related posts:

1. Lightning Source Calculator – Book Price & Cost (Paperback)
2. Self-Publishing A Novel: Choosing a Self-Publishing Company
3. How to Sell A Book by Seth Godin

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Healthy organizations seem to focus more on what’s wrong with their meme/widget/product than what’s right with it. Healthy organizations are easy to spot–whether you’re purchasing their wares or working in their ranks, it seems healthy. There’s something in the air at these places.

It didn’t seem to me like Steve Jobs spent much time touting the virtues and benefits of Apple’s latest and greatest, with the exception of things like the Expo and interviews, of course. Everything I’ve heard about the man said that he was a visionary; a modern-day Da Vinci, imagining and creating things that we thought were years away.

But I’ve also heard that he was a stickler for results. A man driven with such fervor that it carried throughout the organization. His over-the-top dedication to delivering a perfect product wasn’t just birthed out of the desire to create the “next,” or “future,” it was born out of the desire to fix what was broken today.

Sure, it has a lot to do with who the man was as a leader and as a person. And It could be due to what CNNMoney claims: “there aren’t any committees at Apple, the concept of general management is frowned on…” 

Basically, what it comes down to is a focus on fixing what’s not right first, and getting to the point where people come to expect greatness from your offerings.

I don’t want to hear another reason why “this product is better than this one because A, B, and C, and oh yeah–D also,” when that organization should be saying, “yeah, it’s pretty good. But how can it be better?”

I don’t want another product that marginally better than the last version or competing product. I want the product that’s so clearly the better alternative to the others that it really isn’t a competition at all.

But if you don’t have it yet, or aren’t sure how to make it, I’d start by figuring out how to make the absolute best version of what you have.

Forget about the money it costs to produce.

Forget about the time it will take.

Forget about who you need to hire to make it happen.

Just do it.

Can’t? I’m sorry, but I guess you’re not going to offer the best version of it, then. In that case, go do something else and let your competition do it better.

I know I’m contradicting much of what the Lean Startup mentality preaches, and that’s for a reason: this isn’t lean startup advice. This advice is for the company that’s coasting, tanking, slowly growing, or just existing. This advice is for the IBMs, HPs, Chevys, BPs, and a thousand other “eh”-type companies.

This advice is for those who’ve already proven they can do something, and they’re thinking that’s enough.

They want to focus on the “Look, look! Check out what we can do that’s better!” mentality, when they need to focus on the “Look! We fixed all that crap that made you all made before and we dare you to find something wrong with this!”

Note: they will find something wrong with it. It’s inevitable. That’s what makes this all so hard. You’ll spend so much more time, effort, and resources trying to do it way better, making it hurt that much more when someone’s not happy with it. 

No one truly thinks Apple is perfect. But many, many people argue that their products are somehow “better” than the rest. That’s because they threw the “norm” out of the water.

A phone that you don’t have to replace every six months? WHAT?!?

A computer that doesn’t fill up with crapware and need to be defragmented every other month? NO WAY!

A tablet that makes everyone realize why they need a tablet? NEVER!

Get it?

Stop spending R&D money, time, and effort promising eventual improvements. Start plugging holes immediately in the products that you do have. Does your GUI suck? Fix it immediately. Then go make the shopping cart work with AJAX.

Please, please, PLEASE don’t waste my time, and yours, waiting around for your system to be marginally better than the rest. We’re in the technology industry–you realize how quickly everyone else is going to catch up and just make you second-best, right?

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How do I not get hurt?

Don’t get into any new situations or relationships.

How do I prevent people from being upset with me?

Don’t do anything out of your comfort zone.

How do I stay on people’s “good side?”

Don’t do anything thought-provoking.

How can I prevent causing any trouble?

Don’t do anything controversial.

How can I prevent being stressed?

Don’t start any new projects.

How can I make sure I’m always content and satisfied?

Don’t learn anything new.

How can I know that tomorrow I’ll be okay?

Don’t take any risks.

How can I make sure I won’t fail?

Don’t take any chances.

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In a previous post on being financially productive, I talked about how to set up a simple plan for retirement using a “financially productive” mindset. In this post, I’m going to get a little deeper into the concept of investing productively–basically, investing in a way that’s actionable, measurable, and productive to our goals. This idea starts with an understanding of a basic investing principle called volatility.

Let’s start with a parable: Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of super unleaded fuel for their Nissan Xterras. Both get to the top of their respective hill, only to find that the price of unleaded fuel in their area has skyrocketed almost overnight! Since they both needed to get to work that day, the purchase of gasoline is seen as a necessity, something we’ve talked about before. Most necessities are considered necessities because by definition, we don’t get the luxury of being able to “price shop” over time, e.g. with gasoline, we can’t easily say, “I’ll just wait ’til next week to buy gas…” We are locked in to the purchase of a tank of gas every few days, and therefore we are bound by the inherent volatility of gas prices in our area. Getting back to our protagonists from above, Jack and Jill are forced to pay more for their gasoline than they have in the past few weeks due to the increase in the cost of a gallon of gas. However, a week later, the gas price goes back down $.10, and they each happily fill up their gas-guzzlers and go on their merry way.

They’ve just experienced the wonders of price volatility, or the measurement of the expected change in price over time. In other words, volatility is a number representing the change of price compared to another number, often used as a benchmark.

Volatility in the stock market means the same as well, and the individual security being analyzed usually is compared with the metric of the price change in a benchmark index, sector, or overall market (many stocks are compared to the S&P 500). A common measurement term similar to volatility and useful for investors is the stock’s beta.

Beta is a ratio of the underlying security‘s movements as compared to the aforementioned benchmark, and is meant to say, “for every 100% move in the benchmark, this security moves x%.” An example would be if I buy Company A with a beta of 1.1, Company A has historically (albeit recently) moved 110% for every 100% the S&P 500 (or whatever benchmark we’re using) has moved. By definition, the overall market (and thus our common benchmark–for simplicity’s sake–the S&P 500) has a beta of 1.0, and individual issues are ranked compared to that 1.0 benchmark.

Betas can be negative, as well, and a negative beta value correlates to an inverse-price effect compared to the benchmark. For example, if Company B has a beta of -2, it is implying that if the benchmark moves up 7%, Company B’s stock will move down 14%. The opposite is also true–the negative number merely implies the stock tends to move in the opposite direction as the overall market.

Who Cares?

Jack and Jill don’t really have a choice when they fill up their vehicles; the price shown is pretty much what they’ll need to pay, unless they drive around town and find a better price, or wait for prices to go down everywhere (or up!). However, when actively investing in the stock market, it’s a productive and helpful tool to know how much deviation a stock price can (usually) move, up or down. It shouldn’t necessarily be a reason for or against investing in a security if everything else looks sound, but it can help produce results in some other ways to know a bit about what you can expect:

1. If you’re risk averse, a stock with a beta greater than 1 can mean you’re in for some sleepless nights and second-guessing. High-betas don’t really imply more risk, but they’re usually the best roller coasters in Stock Market Land.
2. Knowing that you’ll need to withdraw the money some day (a target-date fund, education expenses, retirement, etc.–this is part of your productive financial plan, remember?), you may not want to take the risk that your stock is on the downswing instead of sailing high above the market. Remember, if a stock has a beta of 3, you’re expecting the stock’s price to mirror the motion of the market three times over. Of course, this very fact can be helpful if the market itself is riding high–your investment could triple the returns of the market!
3. High volatility means you may be able to get some steep discounts when the market isn’t doing so well (or a high negative volatility could mean good prices when the market’s doing great). It should give you a general sense of how much movement is considered “normal,” at least assuming past volatility accurately defines future volatility (hint: it doesn’t, but it’s close more often than not!). Understanding this, we can use a productive stock for productive results. See how that works?

Using volatility and beta, you can better prepare yourself for the inevitable up- and downswings in the markets, and not be quite as surprised when your investments take a tumble or shoot up overnight. Remember, volatility is not necessarily a reason to invest, but it can help us prepare emotionally, determine when to get in or out of a stock, and compare two otherwise similar investment securities. Therefore it’s a necessary ingredient for creating a financially productive plan for our future, including our retirement portfolio.

Use volatility and beta to help hedge against your own risk aversion, and use them to craft a productive portfolio that provides a measurable and mostly expected return over the years!

Related posts:

1. Investing 101: Investing is NOT Personal Finance!
2. Investing 101: My Approach to Investing

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Ever wondered what the absolute best steak recipe was? Interested in creating for yourself the type of perfect steak that melts in your mouth, right in the comfort of your own home? Let me paint a picture for you:

You come home from work after a busy day, craving the ultimate man-meal of USDA Choice Top Sirloin, cooked to medium-rare perfection with the best steak recipe possible, served up with homemade mashed potatoes and corn-on-the-cob. The problem? You’re a bachelor, and there’s no one there to cater to your every whim. Maybe you have the time, but not the know-how. Maybe you’re a 5-star chef, but you live in an apartment, and your version of a grill is a George Foreman’s Lean, Mean, Fat-Grilling Machine.

Either way, now you can enjoy 5-star restaurant-quality steaks (and other meals) in the comfort of your own home, with nothing more than an oven, a dream, and a pot of water.

“The only time to eat diet food is while you are waiting for the steak to cook.”
Julia Child (1912-2004)

Well, it’s been through numerous incarnations and experimentation, and I’ve spent many hours concocting the perfect version of the best steak recipe, but I’ve finally done it: I have successfully recreated the Ruth’s Chris, Morton’s, and/or other world-famous steakhouse medium-rare perfect steak. My roommate and I both prefer medium-rare as our go-to doneness option, and I persuaded begged him to let me use one of his recent grocery purchases as an experiment: a 2-pound aged USDA Choice top sirloin, about 1.5 inches thick.

Did you say pot of water?

Yes, I did. I’ve been reading up on a cooking method called sous vide, French for “under vacuum” (basically). The idea is that water cooks the meat much more evenly than heat that’s dispersed through air or through metal (grills, pans, pots, ovens, and other traditional cooking methods commonly cook foods this way). By wrapping the meat in air-tight plastic (in this case a plastic Ziploc bag), you can cause the water to have close contact with the meat without causing the watery osmosis effect of boiling.

The main goal of sous vide is to heat the water to a level far below the boiling point (212° F), yet high enough that the meal can still cook to your desired doneness. The target temperature for my perfectly cooked steaks are 130°-140°, the proper temperature of a medium-rare center. You can actually buy a sous vide oven, and most operate like crock pots, in that the user can select a temperature and drop in the food, leave it for awhile, and take it out when ready.

The problem

Put simply though, I don’t have a sous vide cooker, nor do I have the money to go out and buy one. I’m sure there are some pretty nifty features included with the newer models (mp3 players on the LCD touch-screen, HDMI input so I can hook up my Sprint Evo 4G and watch my 8 megapixel home videos, a Garmin GPS, etc.), but I felt like if I could just recreate the same result in my own home, convince my fiancee and roommates of the benefits, and prove to the world it can be done, I’d be able to write a bestselling book about it (or at least a blog post that my mom will read)!

I got to work. It turns out there’s plenty of information about sous vide-style cooking, but not a definitive resource for at-home sous vide cooking using common kitchen materials. This blog post will change that. Here’s the exact recipe I created for my perfect and absolute best steak recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 steak, 1-2 lbs. – aged is better, USDA is good. The thicker the better also, and ribeyes and sirloins work the best. You want one with great marbling–the little white lines of fat running up and down throughout the meat.
• 1 large plastic bag – don’t be cheap (you’re not buying a $400 sous vide cooker, get the Ziploc stuff already!)
• 1 large pot of water – the more water the better, it’s easier to maintain a consistent temperature with 1-3+ gallons of water
• kosher salt (or sea salt) – a lot; optional if you’re not salting beforehand.
• spices – I like Montreal Steak Seasoning; some purists say nothing more than some coriander, salt, and pepper

Method:

1. I like to salt my steak; salting pulls moisture from the inside of the cut and doesn’t change the fat content at all. Instead, the salt and lack of water helps relax the protein, causing tenderness without sacrificing taste. Read this article for “proper” salting, and you’ll be fine: http://steamykitchen.com/163-how-to-turn-cheap-choice-steaks-into-gucci-prime-steaks.html
   1. Unwrap the meat from its packaging and place it on a thickly-salted plate. Salt the top and sides of the cut as well.
   2. Let the salt work for an hour. The meat won’t go bad, and you’ll start to see water droplets on it.
   3. Rinse the salt from the top and bottom of the meat and pat dry. VERY dry–if you don’t dry the meat, you’ll be effectively steaming it when you cook it (bad).
2. Heat the oven to desired temperature and place the pot of water inside to begin heating.
   1. Rare: 125–130°F
   2. Medium-rare: 130–140°F
   3. Medium: 140–150°F
   4. Medium-well: 150–155°F
   5. Well-done: 160-212°F
3. Bag it.
   1. Let your meat come to room temperature, and place it in the plastic bag.
   2. Add in the dry spices. Rub it down with the herbs and spices, and try adding a slab of butter or liquid smoke to the bag as well (if you decide to marinate, do it prior to placing it in the bag, and don’t let too much liquid into the bag either).
   3. Using a straw (or your lips, if you’re man enough), suck out as much air as possible. The bag should conform to the meat and look like a shrink-wrapped slab. Seal the bag shut. Hint: the zippered Ziploc bags are NOT airtight; use the old-school kind.
4. Toss it in.
   1. Drop the bagged slab(s) of meat into the heated pot of water; cook for at least half an hour.
   2. Don’t let the bag touch the oven coils–plastic melts, causing holes.
5. Sear the outside.
   1. Heat a skillet on the stove to medium-high, and let some olive oil or butter start to smoke (about 2-3 minutes for oil, about 30 seconds for butter).
   2. After at least half an hour, take the steak out of the oven. It will be a gross grayish color; this is normal.
   3. Throw onto a buttered frying pan, grill, or Foreman grill (heated to High) for 10 seconds on each side. This will sear the outsides of the meat, caramelize the outer edges, and give it that grilled-to-perfection look.

Umm, how long?

It will take half an hour or so for the inside of your steaks to reach the same temperature as the water. After that, don’t worry about over-cooking the food–it can’t get any hotter than the oven’s current setting, and the meat will only begin to dehydrate (noticeably) after 4+ hours in the oven. Seriously. Don’t worry about it–leave it in while you take a shower, walk the dog, work out, whatever!

I’ve cooked mine for 30 minutes, 2 hours, and over 3 hours, with the exact same effect. If you need to prepare a meal as well, this is the perfect steak recipe!

It turns out many top restaurants are using sous vide-style cooking methods for their busiest hours, because of the simple fact that they can throw in 20 proteins at the beginning of the evening, heat them to desired temperatures, and simply sear them for a few seconds when needed. Voila! Made-to-order top-notch steaks–they look and taste perfect, and their customers never know their meals were previously relaxing in a hot tub for four-and-a-half hours!

Final tips

1. Make sure you use good-quality meat. I’ve tried this recipe with less-than-stellar product, and the results aren’t bad, they just taste like less-than-stellar food cooked well. Again, the thicker the better. Look for great fat content (marbling, like on most ribeyes), and don’t trim the steaks of excess fat before the water bath.
2. Don’t know if your oven is the right temperature? Grab a cheap thermometer, either a turkey-thermometer (one that sticks into the meat) or an in-oven thermometer. It may take at least 20 minutes for the water to reach the same temperature as the oven air. If you’re in more of a hurry, try microwaving batches of water incrementally and pouring it into the pot before you place it in the oven.
3. Make sure it’s airtight. I can’t stress this enough. If your bags aren’t airtight (or have holes in them), your meat will be 1. squishy and chewy, 2. sloppy and slimy, and/or 3. not good in general. You might as well throw it in the bathtub and cook it there if your bags let water in.
4. Don’t worry about timing. The timing is the least important thing to worry about–be sure the steak is prepared well and you sear it immediately after you bathe it, and you’ll be fine. This method allows for those last-minute trips to the grocery store, cooking the rest of the meal simultaneously, or simply running errands during the cooking process (provided there is someone at home to watch the oven!).

Happy cooking! Let me know what your results with this are–again, I’ve only tried steaks, but I believe this DIY at-home sous-vide hack is good for many other methods of cooking (cheesecake, anyone?)… I think that in this world of being too busy, not having enough time, and trying to do everything at once, having a recipe like this on hand will not only help boost our productivity inside and outside the kitchen, it will give us more time to do the things that really matter.

As an aside, I’ve had multiple people at work mention that they’ve tried this recipe, as well as my grandfather, who doesn’t cook at all! The results? All of them said it was either the absolute perfect recipe for the best steak they’ve tasted, the greatest and easiest way of cooking the best steak they’d ever seen, or simply the tastiest way to prepare it.

Either way, all of them LOVED the recipe for the best steak, and said it’s so easy to do, they’ll not only be trying it again soon, they’ll be cooking ALL of their proteins in this style to achieve the “best steak” results for their food!

Thanks for visiting, God bless, and see you soon!

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In the past century or two, there was a pretty basic productivity formula for the American wage-earner:

1. Go to school.
2. Get a job. Save 10% or more from each paycheck.
3. Retire. Live off the pension fund, 401(k), and Social Security.

Family-building usually happened between 2 and 3 (get married, have 2.3 children and a dog, buy a house in the suburbs).

Things have changed. We no longer live in a world where we’re expected to do something with our lives, however big or small. Rather, we’re encouraged to make our own way, to be productive, to create and destroy our own boundaries, and do what we love. Here’s a better financial productivity plan for today’s twenty-something that can help take your future into your own hands:

First, what do I mean by financial productivity? Well, I wanted to differentiate between just a “plan” and an actual “active,” “productive” plan for our lives. A financial plan can really be anything–put some money under the bed every now and then, etc. But a “productive financial plan” is one that not only encompasses a broader worldview to give you more well-rounded understanding of your own risk aversion, it’s meant to be a productive way of saving, investing, and planning for the future with specific and measurable action steps to get you there.

1. Start learning about personal finance. Get good at saving money and “stretching” a dollar.
2. Go to school. Try to earn a degree that will make you more valuable.
3. Start learning about investing. Practice “paper trading” or using sites like Up-Down.com. This is a productive step that cannot be ignored.
4. Get a job. Whether you work for someone else or create your own income stream, start to plan your long-term investment strategy.
5. Start actively investing. Set aside money after tithes, bills, savings, and monthly expenses to invest with.
6. Re-assess as needed. This could mean reevaluating your financial situation as you change careers, start a family, have an unexpected or planned large expense, etc.
7. Retire and live off of your savings and investments. If you start investing in your early- to mid-twenties, have a decent nest egg upon retirement, and your investments continue to perform well (8% and up), you’ll be fine. If you’re like me and will probably “work” (as in earn money doing something I love) until I croak, you shouldn’t need to worry about money.

Note and disclaimer: I’m a Christian, and I firmly believe that the good Lord will guide me and provide for me the earthly things and possessions I need to raise a family and have a comfortable and God-honoring life. I will control the aspects of my life God has assigned for me to control (my day-to-day tasks, productivity, and decisions), but I know that I am under His jurisdiction and guidance, and He will place me into situations that will let me grow and learn. While I fight for what I want in this world, I know that I will only attain what He wills for me to have. I believe God values and rewards us for making steadfast and responsible decisions (through prayer and consultation) about money and life, and so my plans and writings here will reflect not a denial of Christ’s power in my life, but rather the decisions that I’ve carefully and prayerfully (and actively!)  made to honor Him.

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I’ve actually been thinking about motivation and its effect on boredom (and vice versa) quite a bit this past week. Was I bored? Actually, not really. Honestly, I was pretty motivated. It was just something I was chewing on for awhile because it seems to be an excuse I have used before for remaining in a certain “funk,” or having a “lack of motivation,”  and it’s certainly something I’ve heard others use as an excuse for not doing. Also, The Art of Manliness just wrote a post on “Characteristics of An Educated Man” that I thought touched on increasing motivation by analyzing boredom pretty well.

Boredom isn’t really something I’m struck with very often–I’ve certainly been bored, and I’m not going to say otherwise, but I’ve gotten good over the years at keeping my mind occupied enough to prevent boredom. I’ve also been motivated and productive, and at times have still been bored–so I wasn’t sure if it was something that’s been an issue for anyone else, but if so–here are some thoughts on the subject. It turns out that there have been some other bloggers talking about motivation and boredom this week as well, one of which was Trent over at TheSimpleDollar.com, who wrote Boredom is Our Enemy. I’m not going to go into his post much, as I don’t want to keep you from reading it, but I will be referencing part of it in this post soon.

Boredom as a Motivation Killer

Perhaps the most important reason we have to “prevent” or “overcome” boredom is to prevent becoming unproductive, or experiencing a decrease in our motivation. We want to stay as motivated as possible, knocking things off the to-do list, while staying focused and engaged in our work. Boredom can set in and immediately derail our motivation and productivity efforts–causing us to spend too many hours in front of the TV, on Facebook, and generally away from what we should be doing.

If you’re interested in preventing boredom for these reasons, keep reading–I’m going to go over a few ways I’ve “prevented” boredom and maintained a high level of motivation by being able to control my actions and thoughts.

Boredom as a Brain Killer

Maybe slightly exaggerated, I’m of the firm belief that boredom can actually harm us mentally. Do I have actual scientific evidence to back up this claim? Nope (at least not yet). But if you spent enough time Googling, I’m sure you’d be able to come up with something that confirms my hypothesis. My reasoning is simple–life involves interactions, whether with people, stuff, or our surroundings. The very definition of boredom seems to fit in with this concept quite well; namely that without environmental triggers to occupy or actually engage with us, we get bored, lose motivation, and ultimately “fail.”

But is this a problem of our environment or our own conceptual understanding of it?

I tend to think it’s the latter–sort of an “it is what you make it” concept. If I believe I’m bored, I’m probably bored. If I start to think I’m not motivated, I’m probably not very motivated to do something about it. If I believe I’m engaged and interacting in some way, I’m probably going to be hard-pressed to argue that I’m bored…

Enough with the idealistic rambling…

So, what can we do to “prevent” boredom and jump-start that motivational boost? For starters, it’s about understanding boredom for what it is–failure to interact with our environment, due to a lack of “interesting” subject matter, or a void of subject matter altogether. For that reason, I’ve prepared the ultimate bulleted-list of things to do if our environments begin to get too “void of subject matter” and cause us to lose that motivating edge:

• Fill it with more stuff.

You laugh, but what you may not realize is that our boredom is so often brought upon by our own doings it becomes habitually reinforcing. In plain English, we can prevent boredom by removing the things from our current situations that make us bored and replace them with things that are motivating, productive, and engaging.

Huh?

What I mean is, find the things that are causing boredom–is it your work? Your nightly ritual? This can be a difficult step–easy in concept, difficult to actually figure out. But try to figure out what it is that you’re currently doing that’s causing you to feel “bored,” and replace it with something that’s not so boring. Trent (that guy I mentioned up there who wrote that post I also mentioned up there) says that he keeps a “project book” filled with projects that aren’t necessarily pressing, but things that he can pull out on the occasion he feels bored or unmotivated.

Bored Bucket

Because I’m an avid amateur alliteration aficionado, I’m going to call this my “bored bucket.” Inside my bored bucket, I’ll place projects that I’m not currently needing or wanting to work on, for whatever reason. These projects are things that might help motivate me if boredom begins to set in. Maybe these projects are:

• Not pressing. They need to get done, but not right now.
• Not interesting enough. They’re things I want to do someday, just not now. They’re currently not going to help motivate me as much as something on my current list.
• Not feasible. Building a house isn’t something I’m in a place to do right now, but it’s something I’d like to one day accomplish.
• Not fun. Some projects stay on our list because they’re not really that interesting or fun, but still need to get done. They’re dangerous, but we can’t really take them off. Often they are things our spouses have assigned to us.

When boredom sets in, we just go to the bucket and look through our list. The idea is that something should present itself as a “yeah, I guess I’ll work on that now”-style option (something that will help motivate us) and we’ll be able to at least keep our minds occupied long enough to prevent the temporary bored bugs to get the best of us, until we can resume the thing(s) we are supposed to be working on.

So far, it seems like a good and workable solution. Admittedly, I don’t have a problem with lack of motivation or boredom too often, but I’m thinking it might be because I actually have been employing Trent’s method in my mind for awhile, without realizing it. My wife loves to make fun of (among many other things) the fact that I have so many “projects” going on at the same time. Here’s a brief list that comes to mind:

• Read the Bible again
• Finish my novel
• Learn AfterEffects CS5
• Learn Russian
• Finish the Christmas album
• Create an informational product to sell here
• Create a membership site for LoopingWorship.com
• Write a music theory book
• Lose 15 pounds

Again, not all of these things are set up in my productivity system in a way that they’re “ready” to be worked on yet. By this I mean I can’t just start doing some of these larger projects without doing some planning and organizing first. However, part of using a motivational and productivity system like mine is that I create Projects that have actionable to-do Items within them, like David Allen’s Getting Things Done methodology. So while I couldn’t just pop open Wunderlist (my favorite to-do program currently) and start going down the list of Items for the Learn Russian Project, I could use my “bored time” as a motivator to create the Items that need to be there.

The bottom line for me is to remain focused on a few sub-projects at a time, because that’s how I work best (not multi-tasking, which I don’t believe in, but working on subsequent projects “simultaneously,” meaning multiple projects within the scope of a business day), and using my Bored Bucket as a backup; a go-to in a worst-case scenario. As I’ve used this system, it seems that the old adage of doing something to build momentum holds true as well, so whenever I start doing a project that’s in my Bored Bucket, it often ends up leaving the bucket and becoming something that lands in my rotation of current projects.

This, of course, doesn’t mean that it’s good for my workload(!). But it inevitably keeps me from getting bored…

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I’ve spent countless hours of my young life figuring out which productivity systems worked best for me. I’ve gone through programs like Things, Evernote, the Omni stuff, and my current to-do list manager, Wunderlist. Yes, I understand the inherent irony behind spending most of my waking hours wading through feature bloat and trying to do side-by-side comparisons of Mac, PC, and phone apps and software.

And, as it turns out, there’s already a fantastic place online dedicated to giving us the rundown of what’s best, what works well, and what has the best-looking icons. What I finally ended up realizing, though, is that “productivity planning” and “task management,” at least as it has to do with how most us structure our time, all boils down to one thing: Projects. David Allen’s book, Getting Things Done, seems to be the de facto standard method of organizing our thoughts into specific, actionable, and manageable tasks. And it works pretty well, I must admit.

The problem, though, is not with the system–it’s the approach we’re taking to using the system. Specifically, it’s the applications, methods, and “things” we put in the way of the simple concept behind task management.

Projects

Projects are the bread and butter for a system like GTD. Projects keep every task in a drawer, every item in a spreadsheet. We all have the overarching stuff going on in our lives that translate into Areas, like “Home,” “Work,” “Personal,” and “Finance,” etc. Projects, though, are the things inside each of those larger areas–the things that hold our day-to-day To-Dos and tasks and mini-projects.

When we start to grasp the concept of project management, things begin to come into focus. Instead of “getting our finances in order,” we mentally separate “saving for a car” and “preparing for retirement” into different and, for all intents and purposes, mutually exclusive buckets–or projects.

Our “saving for a car” project becomes filled with individual tasks–”research bank account savings rates,” and “call dad for advice,” etc., and our “preparing for retirement” project fills up with “open a Roth IRA,” and “sell that crappy ex-US index fund” (not that I’m opposed to ex-US index funds…).

When we look at one project per day, in this case, our overall goal of being financially fit becomes much easier to handle. We don’t need fancy checkboxes fed to us by the latest iPhone app, nor do we need any electronic system whatsoever. These systems become useful to us only after we’re able to conceptually grasp the difference between a large, long-term “goal” and a shorter-term, manageable-in-chunks “project.”

I’ve started naturally thinking in terms of “projects,” and while I swear by my Wunderlist syncing and Evernote notebooks, I only started using them after I had clear, concise areas with individual and independently-constructed projects within each.

Once this mindset becomes second-nature to us, the “system” we use for managing, cultivating, and structuring the mindset will become apparent. From there, it’s a matter of finding the features we need our system to have, and the deliverables we’d like for it to produce:

• Do we need it to have the ability to sync between multiple devices? Mac t0 PC and vice-versa?
• Do we need it to be able to update with a simple email reminder?
• Do we need it to be able to export a project’s items as a PDF?
• Do we need it to look pretty?

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