1. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Steven Covey’s book was the first real self improvement book I ever read. It’s fair to say that it was one of the most important things I ever did, as every page is packed full of information. The seven habits aren’t particularly complex, and are more useful when treated as foundations to greater habits.

It takes time and effort to truly internalise them, but it’s worth the effort once you start feeling the difference. You’ll learn how to become more efficient in your work, how to improve your relationships with other people and how to maintain your habits once learnt.

2. The Power of Focus

Focus is a vital ingredient for any kind of productive work, as without it you can end up moving from project to project without ever completing anything. This book is a little heavy on the emotional side of things, and there are a few too many stories in it, but the core lessons are extremely useful.

There’s everything in here from creating a balanced life, to learning how to ask for things (which has always been a barrier for me). Even if you find it a little sappy, it’s worth reading just for the "pick me up" effect it has.

» My review at sodaware.net.

3. Getting Things Done

The GTD method of time management has become quite popular, and once you’ve tried the system it’s easy to see why. It’s very easy to get started with, and you don’t need lots of tools or software to do anything. A few sheets of paper and some folders are all you really need to start becoming more productive.

The core idea of the system is to stop your brain from having to remember everything you need to do. Once you have your ideas and tasks on paper, you can use your brain power to actually work on things instead of remembering them (or forgetting them if you’re anything like me )

» My review at sodaware.net.

4. The NOW Habit

This is another great book for managing your time, but it also takes recreation into account. Knowing that you have to sit at your desk for 12+ hours to finish a project can make you less productive, so scheduling in some fun time gives you something to look forward to and can make you more efficient.

I’ve used a lot of this book to create my own effective schedules, and knowing that I’ll be able to take a break does work. When you work for yourself you can fall into two traps: working too much and not taking time to relax, or relaxing too much and not actually working. Creating a schedule can help with both problems, so it’s definitely worth finding out how to make them.

5. The 100 Absolutely Unbreakable Laws of Business Success

It might have a particularly long title, but this book is packed with useful tips for becoming more successful. The laws are split into different categories, including business laws and personal laws, and each law also has tips at the end for applying it to your own life.

There’s a little repetition as you get further in, but you’re bound to find something you can use to become more successful.

–

There are more recommendations in the personal development books section of the site, so take a look if you’re after some reading material.

I’d love to hear about books that have made a difference to you, so please feel free to leave them in the comments section!

Free Templates

There are three new templates in total. They’re very simple, but they were designed that way so it wouldn’t matter if I spilt tea on them or made a mistake. The first template is a blog scheduler, the second is a to-do list and the third is a daily planner.

Blog Schedule

This is the template I use on all of my blogs to try and keep some form of order in the chaos. It’s setup to use four steps for creating each post, which I outlined in “How a blog article is born“. BlogSchedule.doc (109KB) BlogSchedule.odt (12KB) BlogSchedule.pdf (40KB)

To-Do List

I usually have a dozen or so projects going off at any time, so I created this little to-do list to be used with any project. It’s meant to be as generic as possible, so it can be used for just about anything. ToDo-List.doc (56KB) ToDo-List.odt (11KB) ToDo-List.pdf (27KB)

Daily Planner

This little template breaks the day into half-hour chunks that can be used to schedule your day. See “How to create an effective schedule” for a complete guide on creating a schedule that works. DailyPlanner.xls (25KB) DailyPlanner.ods (10KB) DailyPlanner.pdf (14KB)

These templates are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 Licence, which means you’re welcome to share and modify them as long as you keep the original link and don’t use them for commercial purposes.

One of the things I wanted to create with this site was a place where I could share what I’ve learnt, so here are three mistakes I make, some more often than others. They’re all centred around a lack of focus, which can be a real productivity killer.

1) Ignoring plans I make

Planning isn’t one of my favourite activities, but I find that once I’ve started to create a plan it’s not too difficult to finish it all. Plans can take anywhere from 20 minutes to several hours to create, and the level of detail depends on the task being planned. The real problem isn’t in creating the plan, but in sticking to it.

Once the initial enthusiasm has waned, it becomes very difficult to stick to any kind of schedule. More interesting tasks appear all the time, unexpected events occur that throw off schedules and there are days when you just don’t want to see a particular project.

So far the best solutions I’ve found to this problem has been the following:

1. Make the plan as simple as possible – This goes against my natural urge to plan for everything and to make things as detailed as possible. Instead, I find a more agile approach works best. This starts by making one very general plan, and making smaller ones as each large milestone is completed. See Extreme Achievement for more information on this.
2. Put the plan somewhere visible – It gets very hard to ignore a plan when it’s constantly in your face. It might feel a bit silly writing out your plan on a huge sheet of paper and sticking it to your ceiling, but it does have an affect!
3. Make your plans small – No matter what you plan for, something will appear and mess it up. The smaller (and simpler) your plans, the easier it is to cope with these interruptions. This isn’t to say you shouldn’t set big goals, but rather you should aim to get there in lots of little steps rather than a few giant strides.

Planning takes work, but if done well it can save hours of time and a lot of frustration. Learn what your limits are and set yourself reasonable targets to avoid any problems.

2) Ignoring priorities

This is related to the first point, and in some ways it’s probably the biggest mistake that anybody can make when it comes to productivity. It’s an unfortunate fact that there will never, ever be enough hours in the day to complete everything. This is where priorities come in, and when they’re followed they can make a huge difference.

The hard part is accepting that in order to do something, you will have to not do something else. Once you understand and accept this, it makes it a little simpler to prioritise your actions. To further encourage sticking to priorities, any rewards should be given for tasks that were marked as “high priority”.

3) Ignoring the clock

After a certain amount of work, your productivity will take a steep decline. This is nature’s way of telling you to stop and do something else. Once of the worst habits I picked up at university was working until 5 or 6am in the morning, getting a few hours sleep and then working through the day again. Although I got my work finished, the quality suffered as I made more mistakes and felt far more frustrated.

I’ve found the root cause of this problem is not trusting myself to resume work the next day. Although I know I’ll be more effective in the morning, I’ve had too many days of slacking until the afternoon that put me off this approach. It often seems like working through the night is the only way I’ll get something completed.

I found the best way to beat this problem is to wake up an hour earlier and dive straight into whatever task I set the night before. Even if I don’t get a huge amount done in this first hour, it sets up a more productive mood for the rest of the day.

Bonus – Not ignoring other people’s standards

It seems every list needs a bonus item at the end, so here’s one thing that I don’t ignore that would probably be a good idea. Everybody has different standards, and it’s often hard enough meeting your own, let alone somebody else’s. 

Don’t get too hung up on trying to be somebody else. Improve yourself in your own way, and you’ll be far more satisfied than you ever could be by living someone else’s life.

OK, so that wasn’t a exactly textbook example of leadership. I could easily have opened up with a cliched tale of an ancient commander, leading his troops to victory in the face of overwhelming odds, but that only scratches the surface of leadership. More importantly, we all have the capacity to be great leaders without having to lead an army.

A very simplistic view of leadership is that it’s about getting people to work towards the same goal. However, the way this is done is what shows a leader’s true qualities. Bullying people into working will only get you so far, but being too easy going may not get you results at all. So what qualities do good leaders share?

• They lead by example — This is the foundation of everything else that makes a truly great leader. They set the bar high for themselves, and strive to live up to their own expectations. However, just because they have high standards doesn’t mean they expect perfection from everyone else. Everybody makes mistakes, even those with the best intentions.
• They are honest — Honesty and integrity are vital ingredients in any form of human interaction. Lying and scheming can get you places, and whilst some may get away with it, for the majority their underhanded ways will hurt them in the end.
• They have courage — If there’s one constant in life, it’s that things are never easy. It takes courage and strength of character to get yourself, and others, through these times. It also takes courage to do the right thing in the face of opposition.
• They listen — It’s easy to bark orders at people, but it’s important to listen to those you are leading. Nobody can do everything by themselves, so listen to the ideas and problems of others. It’s important to be open to feedback, because if people know you’ll ignore their problems and ideas they’ll be less likely to tell you anything in the first place.
• They nurture — There are a lot of talented people around that often feel as if their talents are being ignored. Great leaders can see the potential in others and encourage them to raise their game.
• They encourage others to be independent — A fear-based leader will not always encourage others to be independent, as this would threaten their position of "being in charge". By encouraging others to work independently, you let them know that you trust them and that they’re valuable members of a team.
• They plan — Because you’re working towards a goal, it’s essential to plan ahead. This lets people know that you’re serious about the project, and also gives them an idea of where things are going.

When we think of leadership, we often assume it is reserved for certain people. After all, leaders are born, not made, right? The truth is, you have the potential to be a truly great leader, and it doesn’t have to involve leading hundreds of people. Setting an example to those around you is also a form of leadership. The goal doesn’t have to be completing a new project or building a skyscraper, but becoming a better person.

I still wanted to write about games and software, but productivity and videogames are two very different audiences, so it was a good idea to split the blog into two. Originally I was going to pick some generic name for this blog, but I decided to use my own name which was very out of character. It seemed like it would be a good growth experience.

So Why Did The Writing Dry Up?

I didn’t follow a schedule

I’ve tried blogging with and without schedules, and I’ve found that using a schedule improves the quality and frequency of my work. Being able to see what articles will be published in the next few weeks allows me to prepare and research, and I find myself sometimes drafting posts weeks before they’re scheduled to be posted. It’s a nice feeling to know that you’ve taken care of a week’s worth of work.

“Not an expert” syndrome

I often feel that I can’t write about something unless I’m an expert on it, and I don’t really consider myself an expert at anything. Clearly, that has an effect on how much I write.

A Cold Writing Style

I didn’t really let my personality show through in any of my earlier work, and it made writing something of a chore. There can sometimes be a feeling that you should distance your personality from your blog, which probably comes from a need to protect the ego. People will criticise your blog no matter how good it is, so it’s only natural to try and separate it from yourself as much as possible.

Perfectionism

Another point that’s related to not being an expert. I’d often write lengthy articles, and then bin them because they were full of perceived imperfections. Perfectionism is a huge barrier to personal productivity, and it’s even more problematic because it can be justified as “trying to maintain a level of quality”.

How I’m Solving These Problems

Making a schedule

Looking ahead, I can see how my blogs are going to shape up over the next few weeks. This is a big help for scheduling work, and means I know a big article won’t sneak up on me. It could be argued that keeping a schedule removes some of the spontaneity and passion from a blog, but it suits my working style so I’m inclined to disagree.

Sharing my Experiences

Instead of trying to write from an expert’s point of view, I should write from my own point of view and discuss my experiences, the problems I’ve encountered and anything else that might help other people. If I’m struggling with something, the chances are that other people are struggling too.

Letting Go Of Fear

Being criticised is part of life, and is definitely part of the internet. Letting my personality show is an important part of making the blog readable, and more importantly they make it more interesting to write for.

The Tough One

Dropping the perfectionist part of my personality is going to be difficult. I think this is something that will have to solved by experiencing life from a non-perfectionist point of view. For example, trying to live as a non-perfectionist for 30 days, and then seeing what happens.

Now It’s Your Turn

So how did you find your blogging feet? What’s bugging you and what do you think is holding you back?

The two most important goals for me are:

Improve every day

As the tag line suggests, I want to improve myself every day. I also want to improve the day of anyone who reads this blog.

I love to learn, and I’ve realised that blogging is a great platform to learn from. Not only can it help you interact with intelligent people who share your passions, but it helps you improve yourself as you start to learn your own capabilities.

Say something worth hearing

A lot of people with blogs want to be heard. I want to say something worth hearing. Sharing what I learn is a big part of this goal, and as blogging is also a good learning platform, the odds for achieving this are stacked in my favour.

The rest

I have plenty more goals, but these are the core ideas that I’m building the site around.

I’ll be updating some of my older articles from the Sodaware blog to publish on this site, but for the next few months I’ll be focussing on adding new, interesting content.