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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!

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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!).

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1. 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.

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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.

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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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Seth Godin coined the phrase “sneezers” to describe the small majority of people on the “adoption curve” that exist before early adopters. Stowe Boyd also has a pretty great article describing what these people are like. These “sneezers” are the ones who get the widget before you’ve even heard of it. They’re lined up—in costume—before the release date has been announced. You can say they’re fans, but you wouldn’t really be doing them justice.

The thing about sneezers that’s pervasive for people like you and me—people who are bloggers, online “types,” writers, businesspeople, etc.—is that we can actually use the concept of sneezing for our own purposes.How? Well, for starters, we can use the concept for something we all make a living from, at least on some level: idea generation.  Yeah, I wrote an ebook that talks about idea generation quite a bit, but I thought it might be time to revisit the concepts again, this time using something we’re all familiar with.

Let’s break it down: you know those kids who are lined up outside of Harry Potter or the Twilight flick hours or days before the showing?

You know the people who are waiting in line at the mall’s Apple store in anticipation of the next iPad release?

And surely you know the people who have Amazon wish lists set up with scheduled reminders for the release of the next video game in their favorite franchise?

What each of these groups of people has in common is that they are all the type of person who would be able to “sneeze” about their adoptions—over and over again.

…And what does that mean for you?

It pretty much means that you need to find the things you “sneeze” about—or would sneeze about, given the opportunity. Are you the type of person to jump at the chance to be “first,” or type of guy who’s going to be the first person in your office to see the new Star Trek movie?

These things are our bread and butter for ideas. They are what we want, need, talk about, dream about, and have ideas about. We need to figure out what we’re “sneezing” about, and then capitalize on that single thread, extrapolating every idea from its core until we have what we need.

That’s how people invent great cases for the iPad or iPhone, and that’s how we keep an idea like a blog, book, website, or business going.

Think Steve Jobs started out trying to build the best computer in the world? Nope. He just had an idea that by building a computer (and then a music player, and then a phone, and then a…) that was simple to use and elegantly minimalistic by design, people would sneeze about it.

What’s your “sneezable” topic, industry, or product? Chances are, it’s either something you’re already blogging about or something your business is already creating. If it’s not, and you’re looking for something that will prove to be a scalable, flexible, and fruitful idea for your meme, figure out what it is you sneeze about.

For me, it’s figuring out how to “hack” and optimize our lives—to make it more enjoyable, fun, rewarding, easy, whatever—and then sharing what I find with you.

What’s your “sneezable” idea?

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Setting goals is one of those quirky activities our grade school teachers tried to get us to do every year, on the first day of school. They’d sit us down, pass around a handout with some hokey title like, “GOALS! WOOT! BOOYAH!” or something like that (it’s been awhile since I’ve been in third grade…). Then the teacher would twist up an egg timer to 15 minutes, and we’d “goal set” away with our two #2 pencils and the gentle, soothing ticking of the timer to calm our nerves.

What?!? Does anyone actually remember achieving any of these goals? Or even what they were?

Of course not.We were just humoring the old chap sentenced to babysitting us for the next 180 days with his or her busywork. We weren’t given instructions on how to set goals, what a S.M.A.R.T. goal was, or even why we were supposed to set them in the first place! We, like all good little boys and girls, were following instructions–a concept that has led us into dreary underpaid jobs with bosses and mundane lifestyles chasing after dreams.

Setting goals shouldn’t be so freakin’ scary. It shouldn’t conjure up nightmares of ticking time bombs and broken pencils, and it really shouldn’t be something we dread. Setting goals–ridiculous goals–can actually be a necessary, helpful, and very motivating exercise for us, if we’d only stop and realize its benefits. Setting goals:

• Can boost productivity by giving us a spark of recognition–we can look toward the future and realize it’s probably going to be better than the present.
• Can boost creativity by letting us, once again, be kids–we can dream big, forget colloquialisms that keep us “normal,” and be free
• Can help with our motivation–goal-setting can let us organize our thoughts, dreams, and inhibitions into manageable chunks of usefulness
• Can let us plan our life–do you buy a car before you get married? Do you save for a house or those 2.3 children you don’t have yet?
• Can help us relax–I can have my plate stacked with 10 other peoples’ plates, and just by writing everything down I can realize that I’m going to be able to get it all done.
• Can help us prioritize–is it really important to finish that TPS report now, or should you spend some time with your kids, ’cause God knows next week you’ll be slammed?
• Can let you see the brighter side of things–setting goals helps us realize why it is we do the things we do–the things we realize we probably shouldn’t do also end up on our goal sheets, and we can then cross them off since we’re not going to do them!

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Here’s my approach (read: strategy) to investing: find a way to put your money into holdings that provide three things:

1. Desired liquidity. Do you need the money in a week or in a decade? Longer? Figure out how long you can go without needing this money and then find an investment that matches your time frame.
2. Desired risk. Once you understand investing (and money in general), you’ll be in a better position to determine the amount of risk you’re willing to take on. The reason people may seek out higher-risk investments is that they believe the returns may be greater than an investment somewhere else.
3. Desired return. Knowing that inflation will always factor in, figure out how much your money needs to make on its own. Are you planning to retire with what you have in the  bank now, or will you be contributing slowly over the course of a career? Once again, you may often face the option of trading risk for return.

Most of the investments we talk about on this blog will be investments that are pretty easy to get your hands on. I’m not a rich guy, nor am I in any exclusive investment club (or any other club for that matter…), so if I write about an investment that I’ve had experience with, most likely you’ll be able to immediately invest in it as well. Sometimes we’ll explore investment opportunities from a theoretical standpoint, but most likely we’ll cover just the basics (stocks, options, bonds, mutual funds, index funds, a little real estate, currency, commodities, etc).

This blog will hopefully provide you with answers, or at least insight, to the questions I had while in college and shortly after. As a young adult, I knew that if I began investing right away, I would be in a wonderful financial position upon retirement, and my money would be able to work harder than I would ever have to. If you have questions, advice, or just want to throw your two cents in, leave me a comment below!

To jump in a little more, here’s some more information on each of the ares above:

1. Liquidity. Liquidity is one of those fancy Wall Street terms that really just means, “can you get the money out right away, if you needed it?” Cash in your pocket is the most liquid of all, followed usually by the standard checking, savings, and online accounts. Offshore bank accounts in Grand Cayman that need a cosignatory and a notary public usually aren’t considered liquid, though they could be more liquid than having to dig up, convert, and sell gold bars.
2. Risk–risk is really a funny thing. It’s not understood very well by most people, who think that because the stocks in a market could go up or down at any given time, they’re risky. In truth, a stock market could be risky for someone who needs to have an amount of cash available and ready at arms’ length, but for most of us, the general “risk” of an investment is really based on opportunity cost as well: what are you losing now to invest in something that might pay off later? The stock market requires paying brokerage fees, commissions, and then tying up funds for a certain amount of time–this is usually the most important risk you’ll be assuming if you go this route. And, yes, you could possibly buy a stock that goes down.
3. Return. Return is a powerful tool to help choose investment strategies–if you know what you need to have as a base return, many options available to you seem outlandish if they don’t guarantee or nearly guarantee your desired return. And while we’d all love to earn about 30% yearly compounded for the rest of our lives, more often than not we’re going to get the stock market average of 8-9%. If you know you’re going to need X amount of money for your retirement (and there are calculators out there for that), you can figure out how much you’re willing and able to sock away into investment accounts, and the only thing left to figure out is the return you’ll need to attain to reach that retirement goal. For me, it’s an average of 10% yearly–quite high, but I’m on target so far.

Related posts:

1. Investing 101: Investing is NOT Personal Finance!
2. Investing Productively 101: What is Volatility?

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Stop telling me you don’t have time.

Stop telling me how busy you are.

Stop updating your Facebook account after you’ve complained about being too busy.

Stop telling me about your favorite show on television after you tell me you can’t figure out how to start your blog.

Stop making excuses for yourself–excuses are boring, and their contagious.

Stop worrying about everything–Jesus never worried, so you shouldn’t either.

Stop complaining about what you don’t have, and focus on what you do have.

Stop leaving your work for later, when you know in less than an hour, you could have it finished.

Stop putting the mundane aside to focus on the fun stuff–live like no one else today, so you can live like no one else tomorrow.

Stop being normal. Everyone around you is busy being normal, dreaming about the people who are abnormal.

Stop living in the future–all you have is the present, so do what you want to do now.

Stop telling me you don’t have time.

Related posts:

1. Stop Advertising Your Failures
2. Productivity 101: Every Time You Sit Down, Make Something Happen
3. Time Management for “Weekend Warriors”

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Investing is a scary word for people my age. I’ve been a young adult for about 5 years (I’m 24), and I was a college student for about 6 years. From late high school throughout my college career, I’ve experienced the wonderful blessings and scary truths that accompany the virtues of investing, earning, spending, saving, and wasting money.

Plenty of other blogs, websites, books, and products explain the value of saving and getting out of debt while young. While I tend to agree with their guidelines, I do have a significant problem with their teachings: not necessarily with what they include, but with what they leave out. This site is about helping you optimize and hack your life, and investing and personal finance are no exception.To be honest, investing is a part of personal finance I guess, but I like to think of it in two parts:

1. Personal finance is a term I like to use to refer to the basics of stewardship and using money; including understanding earning, spending, saving, debt, credit, and paying bills/utilities.
2. Investing comes only after you have mastered the principles of personal finance, and investing is the way to get your money to start working for you.

The problem I have found is that most young people tend to think personal finance starts around the college years, and investing should start somewhere around the 30-40 year-old age. WRONG! Personal finance and investing involve skills that many of us could have starting learning at a very young age, while in grade school even. We shouldn’t have to worry about real-life problems and real-life expenditures at the same time we’re supposed be expected to understand and take on the huge world of and investing and money management. If we taught our younglings to begin investing at a much younger age, investing as a concept wouldn’t be that difficult!

Most personal finance authors advocate getting out of debt as soon as possible. I agree. They are often proponents of buying used–rather than new–vehicles (and using cash to do so). I agree with that as well. They also promote the benefits of starting your journey to financial freedom while young. Again, I agree. The problem is that once you’ve taken control of your spending, paid off your student loans and used the “debt snowball” method to eliminate your credit card debt, what do you do? Many of these authors don’t mention anything regarding investing other than “the stock market can be risky” (correct) and “index funds are great places to invest” (also correct). While these beliefs are not wrong, I have always wanted to understand more about how to invest my money to let it work for me. I wanted to understand how the stock market works, and what different securities (types of traded investments) were available to me, a small-time individual investor with not so much money.

You see, I’ve been interested in economics since I was a kid. Not the academic “economics” you barely pass in college, but the real-life “economics” that we have a lifetime to learn. To put in bluntly, I have always been interested in money. Believe it or not, my first word was “money!” While I’m a Christian and am a firm believer that proper stewardship of the Lord’s gifts is the purpose of earning and spending money, I am also not “afraid” of money, and learning to use it properly as a tool and investment is a passion of mine.

When yet another personal finance author uses 200 pages to tell me how to get out–and stay out–of debt, and then half a page to tell me to put my hard-earned money in a savings account (as of this writing earning less than 1% per year!), I freak out all over again and pray that the rest of the college-aged guys and gals reading that book will spend just a little more time doing their own research on investing, and begin to invest their money in a way that will benefit them in the long run.

Hopefully within this site you’ll find an article or two that explains something to you–whether it be investing, being more productive, or something else–in a way that makes sense, that you can use immediately, or will help empower you to make confident investing decisions as a young adult.

Related posts:

1. Investing 101: My Approach to Investing
2. Investing Productively 101: What is Volatility?
3. Being Financially Productive: 7 Steps to A Successful Retirement

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Have you ever dreamed of writing a novel? Like a big-boy chapter book? I certainly have, and I’m almost to the point where I can check off that goal of mine. I’ve always felt like I could do as well (or better) than a lot of the novels I’d read, and since I read a lot, I figured I might as well give it a shot.

The problem, I quickly found, was that writing a novel wasn’t difficult. Figuring out a plot idea, or developing character sketches, or even the basic research wasn’t hard. The tricky part was–and still is–keeping everything organized. 

I’m currently participating in an event called “NaNoWriMo,” which stands for National Novel Writing Month. It’s an annual no-holds-barred writing extravaganza every November that exists solely to encourage and promote the idea of writing a full (50,000 word) novel in a month. Since I’d started my project a few months ago, I’m going to be shooting for 50,000 words in November that I can use to stuff my blog with great posts for a year (!). But here’s a bit of what I’ve learned, 70,000+ words into my book:

In my head, my book makes sense on a general level. You’ve got the good guy–the unassuming stereotypical hero archetype who saves the world, against all odds (I did mention it was a genre thriller, right?). But it was when I tried to get slightly more detailed; slightly more granular, when things got out of hand.

How does Person A get from Point A to Point B, while taking out Person B? What about Person C, who’s supposed to be with Person A the whole time? What about Setting A? What time does the sun even come up in Setting A in December? Will people be able to tell that I’ve never even been anywhere near Setting A?

Arg!

As such, I thought it might be helpful to all you other aspiring novelists out there, or anyone who’s engaged in the process of or considering writing a large, multifaceted work. Here are a few tidbits I’ve learned from doing this only once:

• Don’t try to keep everything in your head. You will fail, and your book will suck.
• This means to write everything down. I thought it was sort of a waste at the beginning of the project to go through and figure out who each character was and write it in a character sketch–who cares what they eat for breakfast? But it was a huge help to be able to write freely, knowing what their twitches, quirks, and characteristics were.
• Spend ample time outlining  each section before you dive in. I can argue that it’s great to just “jump in” and go nuts, but after awhile you really will be better off if you take some time to plan your attack. For this process, I use a combination of Scrivener and Evernote. More details below.
• Plan to rewrite. Everything. This is the phase I’m sort of in now–going back to the prologue and figuring out what parts don’t make sense (most of them) and which sections need to be rehashed (all of them). Don’t take it as an insult, but (especially if this is your first time scoping and writing something of this magnitude) it’s probably not nearly as good as you think. Unless you think it’s terrible. Then you’re probably right.
• Figure out which sections/paragraphs/sentences/words you don’t need. Then chop them out.

• How should I keep everything organized on my computer?
• What should I be writing in? (hint: it’s DEFINITELY NOT anything that starts with “Micro-” and ends with “-ord”)
• How should I organize my research files and links so that everything’s in the right place when I need it?
• What if I want to write at work, on a PC, or at home, on a Mac? Or what if I need to type an idea into my phone to sync with a server somewhere?

Well, I found my answers. They may not be perfect, or all-inclusive, and I might change my mind in the future. But for me, it’s a good start:

Using Scrivener and Evernote to Write Your Novel

In short, I use Scrivener to write and get creative. But I use Evernote to plan, store, and organize the stuff that starts in my brain. The three notebooks I currently have are:

• Ideas: This is where the book got its start. Everything starts as an idea, and I’ll have notes called “General Plot Ideas,” “Plot Holes,” “Questions,” etc. in here.
• Research: I love how Evernote has plenty of ways to “clip” stuff–this feature is paramount to incorporating into my workflow. If need to quickly find out how tall a monument is (’cause I’m gonna blow it up or something…), I’ll find it online, clip it, and do the bibliography info way later, so I don’t need to remember anything except my data.
• Current: This is a developmental notebook that came about from my differing day-to-day workflow. Usually I write from my MacBook Pro, but sometimes I’m on my PC at work. I don’t have Scrivener at work, so I need a way to keep my current place in the novel that I can immediately and effectively sync at a moments’ notice. Keeping a scratch file or two is a headache-solver for me.

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