Stephan Miller
Building Websites, Traffic, and Income
The Elusive Clean Plate, Inbox Zero and Mind Like Water
Many people have one job. Nice! Many people have one job description. Also great. And it’s a place I hope to be some day. Until then, I have to pick my way through adapting productivity books to my life. These are some things I think I may have learned while trying to adapt them to a schedule of family, day job, affiliate marketing, freelancing and development.
Denial
I know this. Many things I deny at first come back to bite me in the ass. I had a lot of things on my plate and I had put them there. 2000 feeds. 85 social networks. 7 blogs.
Priorities in Traffic, Time and Money
Image by eristoddle via Flickr
When you do a lot of things, you have to have a system of priorities. I say that and yet I can also say that I get sidetracked about 50% of the time. There are those days when everything comes together. But I am driven like a MoFo, so even on those days, the to do list is never empty at the end of the day.
And if these things you do are spread apart, you must create your own system. No one will show you how. Being a blogger means wearing more hats than you ever thought you would. Throw anything else in that mix and add even more hats.
Thoughts on Productivity, Habits and the Price is Right
Habits are hard to break. Habits are hard to create. Any productivity book I have read that doesn’t state those two points clearly goes in one ear and out the other. I liked Zen to Done because it’s simplicity states that. Go ahead, give 450 rules and I might as well not start.
But even in simplicity, the complexity can be deceiving. Sometimes it takes rereading just to revisit the initial spark that set you off on the course.
The Continuous Process of Change
Repeating Myself
Now let’s see if I can write this post without repeating myself. Or I will have to start calling my blog 101 ways to look at productivity. But I guess that’s the way it goes. If I looked at the concept of productivity I held a few months ago I would have to laugh. And if I wrote about it and you read it, you think I am the most wishy washy person around.
Comfort Zones, Slacking and Brain Enemas
I’ve been a slacker for a couple of weeks now. The money has been good, so I slowed down. Not here at my blog, but with other projects. It’s a habit I know well and one that has sabotaged me a lot.
I ran into a place where I became comfortable. "Oh, this is nice. I can stop here a while."
The bills are getting paid. There is a little left for savings. We refinanced the house. And all the taxes for last year are going to be paid. I have been paying $300 a month for two years to the IRS. Nice to have that monkey off of my back.
Getting Past Scheduling
I revisit the topic of schedules every so often because schedules are evolving things. The reason why Zen to Done works for me is that it minimizes the importance of the calendar. I do most of this in my free time, using that term very loosely. I do get a scheduled hour and a half every Monday through Thursday, but the other days of the week are pretty much up in the air.
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