TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction About Timo Kiander Lesson #1: Lesson #2: Lesson #3: Lesson #4: Lesson #5: Lesson #6: Lesson #7: Lesson #8: Lesson #9:

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2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction. 4 About Timo Kiander. 5 Lesson #1: Set the Table. 6 Lesson #2: Plan Every Day in Advance. 8 Lesson #3: Apply the 80/20 Rule to Everything. 10 Lesson #4: Consider the Consequences. 12 Lesson #5: Practice Creative Procrastination. 14 Lesson #6: Use the ABCDE Method Continually. 16 Lesson #7: Focus on Key Result Areas. 18 Lesson #8: Apply the Law of Three. 21 Lesson #9: Prepare Thoroughly Before You Begin. 23 Lesson #10: Take It One Oil Barrel at a Time. 26

3 Lesson #11: Upgrade Your Key Skills. 27 Lesson #12: Leverage Your Special Talents. 30 Lesson #13: Identify Your Key Constraints. 32 Lesson #14: Put the Pressure on Yourself. 34 Lesson #15: Maximize Your Personal Powers. 36 Lesson #16: Motivate Yourself into Action. 40 Lesson #17: Get Out of the Technological Time Sinks. 43 Lesson #18: Slice and Dice the Task. 45 Lesson #19: Create Large Chunks of Time. 47 Lesson #20: Develop a Sense of Urgency. 49 Lesson #21: Single Handle Every Task. 50 Final Thoughts. 52

4 INTRODUCTION Eat that Frog by Brian Tracy is one of my favourite time management books. I read it a couple of years ago and liked it a lot. It offered a lot of exciting ways to improve one s personal productivity and tackle procrastination. Sometime later I started a blogging productivity list (which is now deceased) and I started pondering if there is a way to create some exclusive content for my subscribers. Finally I realized that I might have an interesting way to do this. Although Eat that Frog talks about personal productivity, I figured that I could easily apply the lessons for bloggers as well. This is how the exclusive content for my list was born. This e-book contains the very same 21 lessons that I sent to my list. The goal of these lessons is to make you a more productive blogger. At the end of each lesson there are also action steps that help you to implement what you have learned. Read this e-book and implement what you have learned. Only that way can you make considerable progress with your blogging and achieve the results you want. Cheers, Timo Kiander 4

5 ABOUT TIMO KIANDER Timo Kiander runs a blog called Productive Superdad, where he teaches busy online entrepreneurs how to save time and become more productive. He also works on web design projects on a freelance basis. Timo is a marathon runner and a triathlete. He s finished 18 marathons to date (and has pretty much lost count of how many half-marathons and triathlons he s completed). He has a family a wife and one son with whom he likes to spend his time. Getting married and being present at his son s birth are two of the most important experiences in his life so far. Timo s a friendly and approachable type of person with a strong sense of humour. He always tries to find the good in everything and is very optimistic in nature. Don t hesitate to connect with him timo@productivesuperdad.com or follow him on 5

6 Lesson #1: SET THE TABLE The first lesson is called Set the table and it s nothing more than just deciding what you want! In other words, this is all about setting goals. As a blogger, it s mandatory to know where you are going. Otherwise your motivation towards blogging may dry out too soon. When you set goals, understand that it s a two-step process: Firstly, there is the high level goal you want to reach someday. Then, there are the short-term goals you want to reach in the near future. In my case, I have defined a long-term goal to be a full-time online entrepreneur, who can earn a comfortable living by doing what I m passionate about and providing a nice lifestyle for my family. My passion is time management and I d like to teach people about this topic by writing books, doing webinars, public speaking and giving workshops. My short-term goal is more concrete and it contains a figure. My first milestone is reaching my 1,000th subscriber, then 5,000 and then 10, 000 people. After I reach those figures (especially the two last ones), I ll have a follower-base big enough for creating services and products for my audience. 6

7 ACTION STEPS: 1 Define your higher level goals. Put it in a document and print it out so that it feels more concrete. Place the document in a place where you can easily see it. * 2 Define your short-term goals. You can be as detailed as you want, but the more detailed the better. 3 Define the tasks you need to reach for the short-term goal. In my case, I m using guest posting, AdRoll remarketing and a welcome page on my blog to achieve my next subscriber milestone. 4 Put the goal-related tasks in task management software. I m using Nozbe, but there are plenty of free options available (like Remember the Milk or Wunderlist). This helps you to keep track on the tasks and schedule them. 5 Execute these goal-related tasks on a daily basis. The earlier in the day you do the tasks, the better. For instance, I work on my blog after waking up and before going to work. 6 Constantly, evaluate your task list (at least on a weekly basis) and figure out if anything can be deleted, automated or outsourced. I m using a blue wristband that I ordered from Clay Collins. It says: My List > 10K by 12/31/13. This is a great way keep the goal visible and concrete and I m carrying it wherever I go. 7

8 Lesson #2: PLAN EVERY DAY IN ADVANCE So, did you plan your long-term and short-term goals? If not, take your time but make sure you do the exercise as it gives you more clarity in what you want out of blogging. This time we are taking the planning to a daily level. I remember that there was a time when I didn t plan my days in advance and I was aimlessly floating around. However, as soon as I understood the importance of daily planning, I haven t looked back. At the same time, the concept of daily planning fits perfectly to blogging as well. You see, as your blog grows you ll have more and more things to do. That s why you need to have a way to keep on top of things and planning your days ahead is the best way to do this. Planning can also prevent your procrastination. When you break a bigger task into smaller pieces, it becomes less intimidating and it s easier to take action on it. ACTION STEPS: 1 Make a monthly plan (an overview) what you want to do that is related to your blog. This happens at the end of each month. 8

9 2 Define your weekly tasks on every Sunday. These tasks are already on a more detailed level than your monthly ones, like: Write a guest post for blog XX or Interview blogger X for my blog. 3 Extract the tasks from a weekly list to your daily task list. If possible, figure out also the order of execution for each task on your list. As soon as the task is done, take it off your list. On the other hand, if you didn t finish the task, put it on your next day s list. Also, try to have the daily tasks as detailed as possible. This makes it easier to get started with a task. 4 Be realistic with the number of tasks on your daily list. If you stuff your list with too many tasks, the bigger chance there is that you are not going to be able to do them. My daily list contains mostly 7-10 tasks. 5 Once again, use tasks management software for making the management easier. You can use commercial ones (Nozbe) or the free ones (Remember the Milk, Wunderlist). 9

10 Lesson #3: APPLY THE 80/20 RULE TO EVERYTHING Today s topic is the 80/20 rule. It s also called the Pareto principle and is named after Italian economist Wilfredo Pareto. An example of the 80/20 rule could be related to clients: 20% of your clients are bringing you 80% of sales. The 80/20 rule is all about focusing on the most important part of something (the 20%) which in turn brings you most of the results. In blogging, the 80/20 task could be writing a guest post, building your list or creating an information product. In either of these cases, you are doing something which is improving your blog somehow (e.g. more traffic, exposure or income). In general, the 80/20 tasks are not necessarily the easiest or nicest ones on your list. As this is the case, they are also great candidates for procrastination. You see, it s very easy to focus on just the easy and simple things, but unfortunately they are not bringing you any true results in the long-term. Just put your focus on those important (20%) tasks, as they ll eventually bring you more success later on. 10

11 ACTION STEPS: 1 Take a look at your task list and analyse the tasks/projects in it. Which ones do you think are the most valuable with longterm effects? 2 For instance, right now my 20% of tasks are writing guest posts, improving the conversion of my landing pages, writing two new e-books and working on a big crowdsourcing project. 3 While checking your tasks/projects, which ones do you find the most complex? 4 In the steps 1 and 2 you have identified your 20% tasks. Your job is now to spend 80% of your time on them. 5 Prioritize your days in a way that you take action on the 20% tasks first thing every day. For more information, check out this video that I recorded earlier. 6 If possible, try to find ways to automate or even outsource the manual and repetitive tasks, so that you have more time for the 20% tasks. For instance, I m using a service called Efficise to outsource my manual blogging tasks (scheduling tweets, installing blog posts and keeping my blog up-to-date). 11

12 Lesson #4: CONSIDER THE CONSEQUENCES How often do you consider the consequences when you are blogging? In other words, how well do you recognize the important or less important tasks you are doing? The important tasks are the ones which have long-term effects (or consequences) when you do them. On the other hand, the less important tasks have short-term effects. Obviously, you should be spending your time with the long-term tasks, as they bring the most important results. Especially if the task has positive consequences, make it your top priority and get started with it as soon as possible. When it comes to blogging, the positive long-term tasks could be: Guest posting (building the audience-base for your blog) Writing a book (showing your expert status) Connecting with others (creating relationships with other bloggers) Obviously there are other tasks besides the ones just mentioned, but that s what a list of long-term blogging tasks might look like. 12

13 ACTION STEPS: 1 Make a list of tasks or projects that are related to your blog 2 With that list, review it continually to see which tasks are the high-value tasks with a long-term impact 3 Focus on those important tasks and try to find a way to reduce the time you spend on the less-important ones (by outsourcing, delegating or eliminating) 4 Finally, keep this quote by Goethe in mind all the time: Things that matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least. 13

14 Lesson #5: PRACTICE CREATIVE PROCRASTINATION There are numerous books written about procrastination and how to get rid of it. In that sense, you may find it a bit surprising that the title of this post talks about practicing procrastination. The fact is that you can t do everything, so you have to choose the tasks you do. And when you make that decision, try to choose important tasks over the less important ones. Have a principle where you procrastinate on the low-value tasks, but you put the high-value tasks as your top priority. For instance, this could mean to start spending less time on your or cut down on the time you spend on social media. When you procrastinate on the low-value tasks and allocate time to the important tasks instead, you will get more results this way. ACTION STEPS: 1 Reflect on what blogging tasks you did yesterday and with that experience, determine if the task is worth doing again. If not, then procrastinate on it! 2 Go through your whole task list at least on a weekly basis and decide to abandon tasks which do not serve you. Procrastinate on those tasks as well. 14

15 3 Eventually you ll start to see the tasks you are procrastinating about on a continuous basis. Figure out if you could eliminate those tasks or even outsource them to get them out of your mind. 15

16 Lesson #6: USE THE ABCDE METHOD CONTINUALLY One thing that is certain is that your task list gets bigger as time goes by. You ll have new projects and tasks that make your list and as this happens, you ll face a problem: How can I focus on just the tasks that are important and essential when it comes to growing my blog? Enter the ABCDE method, which is a way to prioritize your daily tasks and put the focus on things that matter the most. In essence, the ABCDE method looks like this: A = The most important tasks on your list. If you have more than one important task on your daily list, you can prioritize them by setting a number behind the letter: A-1, A-2 or A-3. Consider A tasks like: Writing blog posts, writing guest posts, completing your book project or building your list B = Things you should do which are somewhat important Consider B tasks like: Answering the feedback from your blog readers, replying to Tweets or promoting your latest blog post C = Things that are nice to do Consider C tasks like: Checking your Facebook status, checking how many visitors your blog got yesterday 16

17 D = Tasks to delegate Consider tasks like: Outsourcing the maintenance of your blog, doing the blog-related research E = Tasks to eliminate Consider tasks like: Any task that is just hanging on your task/project list, but which you haven t advanced for a long time. In that case, you can ask yourself if the task is still worth keeping on your list. ACTION STEPS: 1 Take a look at your task list and categorize the tasks with letters A, B, C, D and E 2 Focus on the A tasks first 3 Keep doing the categorization on a daily basis, so that you can figure out naturally the tasks which are most valuable and which ones could be delegated or eliminated. 17

18 Lesson #7: FOCUS ON KEY RESULT AREAS This is how the book Eat that Frog! defines key result areas: A key result area is defined as something for which you are completely responsible. If you don t do it, it doesn t get done. Also It produces an output that becomes an input or a contributing factor to the work of others. To put it in other way, key result areas are something you must be competent with in order to do your job well. Otherwise you are underperforming and you are making things too hard for yourself. When this concept is applied to blogging, the key result areas could be for instance the following: Writing blog posts (8) Generating new ideas for content (10) Speaking (interviews, connecting with others through Skype) (7) Copywriting (good headlines) (7) Reading other blogs and literature (9) 18

19 Learning more about your audience and engaging with them (6) Building an list (8) Learning and applying new tools to improve my effectiveness (9) Improving the conversion of landing pages (4). However, that s not enough. In order to improve the existing skills, the next thing to do is to evaluate each one of those areas and give them a grade (between 1 to 10, where 1 is the lowest). Be brutally honest with yourself because that s the only way to improve those skills which require your attention (my grades are within the brackets as an example for you). To make things even more effective, pick one specific area which makes the most difference in your blogging and then make a plan to improve it. On the other hand, if you feel that you are unable to improve that certain area yourself, hire a professional to help you. I m doing this with my conversions as I m letting a professional rework both of my landing pages. I hope that you do this exercise yourself, because it can have a fundamental effect in your success as a blogger. 19

20 ACTION STEPS: 1 List your key blogging areas you should be competent with 2 Give yourself a grade on those areas (be brutally honest!) 3 Pick the most important area that requires your attention - the one which makes the biggest difference in your blogging. You can also hire a professional to help you out. 20

21 Lesson #8: APPLY THE LAW OF THREE As bloggers, we are easily overwhelmed with the sheer amount of work: We have landing pages to create, blog posts to write, videos to shoot and relationships to create. Naturally, that s just the tip of the iceberg and many bloggers burn themselves out by having too much on their plates. On the other hand, what if you realized that there were just certain areas that you should be focusing on and which made the biggest difference in your blogging? Enter the Law of Three, where you do exactly that: Pick three of the most important blogging areas and focus just on them. In my case, I have identified my three as: Guest Posting Interviews Building my list. With these three very areas, I m making the biggest impact in my blogging and I m building a foundation for my online business when doing so. I suggest that you do the same - it ll cut down your blogging workload and make you a happier blogger :) 21

22 ACTION STEPS: 1 Pick three of the most important areas in your blogging 2 Start working exclusively on those areas on a daily basis 3 If possible, outsource, automate or eliminate as much nonessential work as possible. 22

23 Lesson #9: PREPARE THOROUGHLY BEFORE YOU BEGIN There are really two ways to do work: Prepared or unprepared. I can remember the time when I didn t appreciate the preparation part at all and I would just start working on a task unprepared. Unfortunately, this led to wasting my time, as I didn t have a plan to follow. Even if I had allocated time for the task, I spent too much on thinking what I should do next, rather than knowing my first action that I should take straight away. When you apply this concept to blogging, you should do three things: 1 Make sure that you have all the tools ready before you start 2 Make sure that you know what to do when you start working 3 Make sure your environment is decluttered and supports your focus. In my case I do the following: Write outlines for my blog posts or my guest posts in advance 23

24 Have my computer ready (all I need to do is to turn on the power when I wake up in the morning) Have all the additional material ready before I start writing (for example a book, Amazon Kindle or a website that provides me more information related to my topic) Have a list of actions defined in advance so that I know what to do next Know the right order of actions, so that I m as effective as possible I make sure I clean my workspace when I stop working. This simple habit makes the workspace more inviting when I return back to do more work. With these steps, I have been able to make the most out of my two hours I spend on blogging on the weekdays - before going to work. Also, I wouldn t be nearly as productive or my list wouldn t be nearly as big as it is today without proper preparation. Make sure that you prepare your days in advance and that you always know your next action. It makes a huge difference to your productivity and your blogging success. 24

25 ACTION STEPS: 1 Clean your workspace and keep it organized 2 Make sure that you have all the necessary tools ready before you start working on your computer 3 Make sure that you have all the necessary resources (websites, books...) available when you do your work 4 Know your tasks in advance (and even the right order of tasks you are about to do) 5 Preparation makes all the difference - the more you have prepared before working the better (like writing those blog post outlines before doing the actual writing). 25

26 Lesson #10: TAKE IT ONE OIL BARREL AT A TIME According to Eat that Frog! by Brian Tracy, one of the best ways to beat the procrastination is to look at your goal and take it one bite at a time. This is a great strategy and it makes sure you are not overwhelmed by it. Just sit down and figure out all the steps you need to take in order to reach that goal. Then, take immediate action to execute the first step. The sooner you take action, the better. As soon as you start something, your mind reminds you of that thing all the time - as long as it s not finished. This is called the Zeigarnik effect, and you can take advantage of it to improve your productivity. Right now, take your blogging goal and break it down into milestones. Then figure out the daily actions to reach those milestones (thanks to Jeff Doubek of DayTimer for this tip). Simple stuff but it works :) ACTION STEPS: 1 Define your big goal 2 Break it down into smaller sub-goals 3 Define your daily actions to reach those milestones 4 Take action on your plan as soon as you can. 26

27 Lesson #11: UPGRADE YOUR KEY SKILLS In order to keep your skills up-to-date, you should be continuously learning more about the topic you want to be skilled at. Otherwise you are taking a risk that your skills and knowledge deteriorates and that makes you weaker when compared to other bloggers or online business owners. Earlier I talked about key result areas. The main idea behind it was to identify the most important areas of knowledge when it comes to blogging. I also gave you an example of what your key result areas might look like and that you should grade your areas in the range from 0 to 10 (the higher the number, the stronger the knowledge is): Writing blog posts (8) Generating new ideas for content (10) Speaking (interviews, connecting with others through Skype) (7) Copywriting (good headlines) (7) Reading other blogs and literature (9) Learning more about your audience and engaging with them (6) 27

28 Building an list (8) Learning and applying new tools to improve my effectiveness (9) Improving the conversion of landing pages (4) Then, you should pick one specific area which makes the most difference in your blogging and then make a plan to improve it. So, have you picked the specific skill you need to master yet? If not, now is the time and the way you can truly stand above the crowd in those selected areas is to do the following: 1 Read every day regarding the topic. If possible, buy a Kindle, so that it s easier to buy the books and carry your personal library with you wherever you go. Try to read at least minutes every day and if you can read more, all the better 2 Roll-in to online trainings, workshops and seminars. That way you can ask from the experts who are teaching the topic to you 3 Take advantage of podcasts. In fact, buy a MP3 player as well and have a podcast playing when you are on the move. This is a great and effective way of taking advantage of your time 4 Don t just leave things on a theory level - take action on the knowledge you have learned. For instance, you could create a mini-project, where you have to apply (and test) your new knowledge in practice. Another great benefit about this is that you ll most likely have to find out more 28

29 information about the topic as you encounter different challenges in your project 5 Write about it. For instance, what I m doing right now is that I m writing about the topics I have read on Eat that Frog and I learn more about it as I write it. When you write about the stuff you have learned, the new knowledge sticks better in your mind 6 Teach it to others. Finally, decide to teach your topic to other people. That is yet another great way to learn more as you are forced to dive deeply into your subject. Besides, you ll learn more from your students, as they start asking you questions or when they share their own experiences of the topic with you. With these steps, you can definitely improve your skillset and become better in those areas that matter the most. And when you become better, you ll have better self-confidence. It s also less likely that you procrastinate on the tasks you are knowledgeable about. ACTION STEPS: 1 Identify your key result areas 2 Read every day regarding the topic 3 Roll-in to training, workshops or seminars 4 Take advantage of podcasts 5 Create a sample project 6 Write about it 7 Teach it to others. 29

30 Lesson #12: LEVERAGE YOUR SPECIAL TALENTS We all have our special talents and sometimes it may take some to realize what those talents really are. If you are really stuck, you can take for instance a DISC test to help you out (please be aware that although you have to give your personal information to get to the test, it s worth it). Figuring out your strengths serves really two purposes. First, you ll find the qualities in yourself that are truly unique. For instance, my DISC profile said that I have very strong time management skills, so I have leveraged that information by immersing myself with time management books, blogs, podcasts and videos - and having my own blog about it. Then, you ll find the topics you like to write about easier. Especially if you re just starting your blog and you are wondering what topics to cover; this serves a great starting point for your blog s topic selection. Use your talents to make a contribution to the world. Just make sure you take the time to find your talents, because when you do, your life will be much simpler and you can get rid of a lot of distractions. 30

31 ACTION STEPS: 1 Take a DISC test 2 Analyse your results and spot your strengths 3 Figure out if any one of the strengths could be taken advantage of in blogging 4 Immerse yourself with the knowledge related to your special talent and learn it well (see the step #11 for more details). 31

32 Lesson #13: IDENTIFY YOUR KEY CONSTRAINTS A road to a goal is rarely just taking steps from point A, to point B, to point C. In fact, you have probably realized that the road is much bumpier and curvier than you thought. There is something that you should pay close attention to when reaching your goals and that s the constraints between you and your destination. Ask yourself: What is holding me back? or What constraint there is between me and my success? After you have found the constraint, take immediate action to remove it. According to Brian Tracy, the constraints can be analysed by using the 80/20 rule: 80% of the constraints are internal. For instance you might not have the competence to do something or there could be a habit that is slowing you down 20% of the constraints are external. This could be for instance other markets or the government. When you apply this to blogging, figure out if you have a specific skill that is missing? For instance, I became frustrated because I wasn t making as fast progress related to my blog as I wanted. That s why I hired a coach to help me out. 32

33 With the help of my coach, I found a vision and real goals I should be striving for. This made me more productive and I have been able to make much faster progress than going forward by myself. ACTION STEPS: 1 Know the goal you are trying to reach 2 Learn what is holding you back - in other words, what is the key constraint 3 Find a way to alleviate or remove the constraint. For example, get more training or hire a coach 4 Remember that 80% of the time the constraint is inside of us, so start looking for answers from there. 33

34 Lesson #14: PUT THE PRESSURE ON YOURSELF If you want to be successful, you have to take the initiative and take responsibility for your life. The fact is that no-one is going to do the work for you - you have to take action and turn your goals into reality. By taking action, you get the ball rolling and you move closer to your goals. However, taking action is not enough. It s also important to set deadlines for your actions. For instance, imagine that you have to leave town for one month and you have only one day left to do your most important tasks. What would those tasks be? Or imagine that youve won a prize to a beautiful beach resort far away, but you have to leave tomorrow to get the prize, what tasks would you be focusing on today? In both of these imaginary situations you are creating urgency to get work done and you are forcing yourself to take action in order to meet the deadline. If you feel that setting imaginary deadlines is not effective enough, make yourself accountable towards others. In fact, this may work even better as you share the goal with someone else and this forces you to take action and keep your promises to other people. Even if putting pressure on yourself may sound hard, in reality it s not. It s just making sure that you take action on those things that 34

35 matter and that you can make true progress towards your goals by kicking your own butt. So, how do you put pressure on yourself when it comes to blogging? Well, you can set a goal and announce it on Twitter, Facebook or to your list. This way you have an audience to be accountable for and this forces you to take action. Another fine way of holding yourself accountable is through mastermind groups or through personal coaching. ACTION STEPS: 1 Take responsibility for your own blogging success 2 Define imaginary deadlines and sub-deadlines for your tasks. Make it a game where you try to get the tasks done before the deadline 3 If you think that setting imaginary deadlines is not enough, set a goal and announce it to your Twitter followers, Facebook fans or to your list. To take things even further, announce your goal on a mastermind group meeting or hire a personal blogging/online business coach to help you with your goals. 35

36 Lesson #15: MAXIMIZE YOUR PERSONAL POWERS What is the key to super-productivity? Is it: Waking up early? Outsourcing? Doing the task first thing in the morning? Having a task list? Sure, all the above options give you the good head start to productivity, but what if I told you there are other things that can make you even more productive and they are a bit counter-intuitive compared to the ones I just mentioned? Consider these options: Stop overworking Work at your own pace Get enough sleep Guard your physical health The fact is that when you take care of yourself first, only then you can become more productive and get more done. So if we take a look at the latter list in detail, here s what those points mean: 36

37 Stop overworking Many times people think that working long hours makes you more productive and you get more done. Sure, this strategy can work short-term, but eventually you are increasing the risk of burning yourself out. And when you burn yourself out, you are incapable of working at all. Blogging tip: Work less and limit your working hours. For instance, you could decide that you stop working every night by 9 o clock and you continue working the next day. Work at your own pace Are you most productive in the morning? Or perhaps you get a lot of work done in the evening? We all have our own preferred times of the day when we perform the best. Try to figure out the times when you are the most productive and if possible, schedule your work around these times. Blogging tip: Figure out when is the best time to write blog posts. For me this is in the morning (between 8 am and noon) and in the afternoons, right after waking up from my power nap. Get enough sleep It goes without saying that without enough sleep, we can t function properly. Sure, there are people who can manage with less sleep than others, but most people need approximately 7-8 hours of solid sleep in order to be productive. Make sure you go to bed at the same time every night and wake up around the same time every morning. That way you 37

38 have a regular daily rhythm that your body is telling you when to go to bed and when to wake up. Blogging tip: Sleep enough and you can focus better and increase your performance as well. In order to wake up productive, I try to get at least 6-7 hours of sleep every night. That way I can perform well, wake up refreshed and get most of my blogging stuff done before hitting the office. Also, after taking a power nap in the afternoon, I m full of energy and writing comes naturally to me. Guard your physical health We have already covered a lot of great ways to improve one s productivity. However, there is still something missing when it comes to improved performance and that s nutrition and exercising. So if you haven t paid any attention to these things already, it s time to start right now. First, get into the habit of exercising on a regular basis. The goal is not to make you an Olympic athlete, but to improve your physical fitness so that you can have enough energy for the day. This exercising could be for example walking a bit or maybe riding a bicycle. Whatever it is, start out gently and figure out what is the best sport for you. Make sure you understand the limits of your own body before you start an exercise routine. The best way to get a clear picture of this is to talk with your doctor about this before you start. 38

39 Second, make sure that you pay close attention to your nutrition. This way you can feel energized throughout the day and it can even help you lose some extra pounds as well. In my case, I try to avoid using excessive amounts of sugar, white flour and I eat as much organic food as possible. As I don t know you, it s very difficult to say which kind of diet you should be following. That s why you should talk to your doctor or certified nutritionist before making changes to your diet. Blogging tip: I have found many blog post topics when I have been exercising. Just make sure you have a chance to capture those ideas, so that you won t forget them. ACTION STEPS: 1 Stop working overtime 2 Figure out your optimum working hours 3 Get enough sleep 4 Exercise enough and pay attention to your nutrition. 39

40 Lesson #16: MOTIVATE YOURSELF INTO ACTION Sometimes we are our own worst enemies and we sabotage ourselves with negative self-talk. This makes us put ourselves down for nothing and make things harder than what they really are. We create our own meanings of what s happening to us and with a negative mind-set, it s easy to just see difficulties around. That makes everything more complicated, especially if something unexpected happens and things are not moving along as we would hope. However, if you have an optimistic mind-set, things look different - even when something goes wrong. Consider the following traits that optimistic people have: 1 Look good in every situation. Very often you can also find a good side in what has happened - even if the event was initially a negative one. For example, if you submitted a guest post to a big blog and the author/editor of that blog rejected it, realize that you can always submit the post to some other blog. In most of the cases your post will be accepted and you soon forget the rejection experience 40

41 2 Seek the valuable lesson in every setback or difficulty. Believe it or not, there is a lesson to learn in every difficulty. However, sometimes it takes longer to understand the lesson. For example, my first webinar was a disappointment. In fact, so few people registered to it that it had to be cancelled (I should have achieved at least 100 participants, but only 25 confirmed). This taught me to understand my blog readers a bit better and especially what topics they d prefer in future webinars. I have now got over the disappointment and I understand that it was an important milestone on my way to my goals 3 Look for the solution to every problem. Instead of wasting your time and energy in complaining when something goes wrong, you should try looking for solutions instead. Become an action-oriented person rather than a complainer. For example, I had issues with my landing pages as they weren t converting as well as they should. Instead of keeping this matter to myself and bitching and moaning about it, I hired a conversion specialist who looked at my pages and gave suggestions on how to improve them. By taking action I was able to overcome the negativity and things moved on in the right direction 4 Think and talk continually about your goals. Make sure you keep your goals in front of you all the time. Visualize them so that you know where you are heading. For example, you could create a blogging-related vision board, which lists the goals you want to achieve as a blogger: 41

42 Is it writing a book? Is it growing a six-figure blog? Have it visible somewhere where you can see it when you work so that you won t forget the goals you are working towards. ACTION STEPS: 1 Stop the negative self-talk 2 Implement the four steps for achieving an optimistic mindset. Your life will change for good - guaranteed! 42

43 Lesson #17: GET OUT OF THE TECHNOLOGICAL TIME SINKS Technology has changed our lives a lot over the past 20 years. Nowadays it is almost exceptional if a person doesn t have connectivity to the Internet from home or own a mobile phone/smart phone. Even if technology has made our lives easier with new applications and services, it has it s downsides, too. Nowadays it s expected that we are available almost 24/7. We also feel the pressure to reply back to the message that just landed in our inbox - even if the sender doesn t specifically require this from us. Rather than letting the technology command you, make a decision to command the technology instead. The world won t collapse if you don t check your every 5 minutes. In fact, when you detach yourself from for a while, that s when you become more relaxed and less stressed in your life. ACTION STEPS: 1 Understand that the majority of messages are just worthless. When you receive a message, ask yourself if it s bringing you value and process your messages accordingly: Use the delete button without any restriction, and unsubscribe from lists if possible. 43

44 For those valuable s, create a special folder (e.g. processing) which contains just the messages that need further action on your part 2 Decide when you want to be interrupted by communication tools: When writing blog posts or doing anything else that plays a big role in your blogging, turn off your mobile phone and shut down your instant messaging clients temporarily 3 Have a day when you don t touch your computer at all and just do offline stuff instead: Go to the movies, exercise, spend time with your family or go to a restaurant with your spouse. The world will wait and most likely you will return to work the next day refreshed and full of energy. 44

45 Lesson #18: SLICE AND DICE THE TASK One of the reasons that make us procrastinate is when we are trying to tackle a task that is too big at once. This only makes us feel overwhelmed and more likely we are trying to find ways to delay starting the task. If you are experiencing this, try slicing the tasks into smaller pieces. This serves three main benefits: 1 It s easier to get started 2 It s easier to complete a smaller task than a bigger one 3 You gain momentum more easily. Even by doing just a little of your small task, you feel great for starting it in the first place and you feel motivated to complete the task (and complete the sequential ones as well). Let s say that you are writing an e-book. If you know that it s going to be a big one (close to 7000 words), then just thinking about this fact alone is capable of slowing you down. However, once you realize that you get the task done easier when you split it into smaller pieces, you are most likely getting your e-book finished at some point. Consider writing just 500 words per day versus writing the whole 7000 words at once. This way it becomes much easier to start your task - and finish it as well. 45

46 Never take a task as it is - split it down into smaller components and start completing those smaller tasks on a daily basis. I can guarantee you feel good about yourself when you do so! ACTION STEPS: 1 Split a task into smaller pieces 2 Eliminate those smaller pieces from your task list on a daily basis 3 Start the task and let the momentum pull you through it 4 Feel good about the accomplishment. 46

47 Lesson #19: CREATE LARGE CHUNKS OF TIME Sometimes you have to accomplish something which requires a lot of your time and effort. To make sure you have all the time you need, you block time off in your calendar. This way you can focus solely on that particular task and nothing else. For instance, right now I m working on a book project which requires a lot of my attention and my time. It s definitely one of the most important projects I ve ever had and it will have long-term effects on my online business. As a consequence of these reasons, I have made the necessary changes to my blogging routines. I just publish the bare minimum of posts that my audience expects from me (a post on a biweekly basis). I have also decided to postpone certain things and even limit the amount of podcasts I do for now. All this is happening because I want to give as much time as possible to completing this big project. Another good way to allocate even more time to this important aspect is to create content as much in advance as possible. For instance, I write two months worth of blog posts in advance. This way I can focus on other things, while my blog is still fed with fresh content on a continuous basis. Finally, make sure that every minute counts. If you are travelling, prepare well enough for your trip so that you have all the necessary material on your laptop. Especially if this is a business trip and you 47

48 are travelling alone, take advantage of this time as it s very good for getting blogging related work done. ACTION STEPS: 1 Batch your content creation 2 Postpone projects that are not necessary to be completed right now 3 Schedule time off your calendar and focus on the important projects only 4 Take advantage of your travelling times and do blog-related work then. 48

49 Lesson #20: DEVELOP A SENSE OF URGENCY Instead of procrastinating on your task, create a desire to get started now. Also, develop an urgency to get a task done. Don t just talk about something, take action on it. As soon as you do that you are gaining momentum and it s going to pull you through the task or a project. The faster you take action, the sooner you are reaping the rewards. ACTION STEPS: 1 The sooner you get started with the task the better 2 Understand that once you get started, two things happen: You gain momentum and it s going to pull you through the task Your mind reminds you of the task as long as it s unfinished (the Zeigarnik Effect). This makes you want to complete the task, so that those internal reminders would fade away 3 Develop a fast action habit. Try to figure out the first possible moment to take care of your task - as quickly as possible. Please note that ethical shortcuts are allowed (for instance delegating the task to someone else). 49

50 Lesson #21: SINGLE HANDLE EVERY TASK According to Eat that Frog, singularly handling requires that once you begin, you keep working at the task without diversion or distraction until the job is 100% complete. Let me tell you an example how I applied this in my own life some months ago. I was in the middle of a big project (writing a book) and I realized that I needed more time to focus on the project if I wanted to complete it in time. I looked at my tasks and realized that I had to postpone certain other projects, stop doing something completely and take a smarter approach to content creation. For instance, I had been writing these newsletter s to my blogging productivity list based on the book Eat that Frog and I had already sent 13 messages so far (Eat that Frog contains 21 productivity lessons in total). I understood that I could write the rest of the newsletter s (8) in one go if I was disciplined enough and I had enough time to do this without distraction. That is basically what I did and once I was finished, I was super happy about this achievement! How was this possible? Well, first I understood the long-term value of this book project I was working on and as it was my #1 priority, I 50

51 had to find every possible moment for it. This gave me the motivation to write all these s at once. Second, I was on a holiday when writing the messages, so I had more time than usual to get the work done. Even though I wrote just one in the morning, I continued the rest of the writing in the afternoon. The afternoon writing session came in two parts: First, I wrote when my wife and son were taking a nap. Then, my wife mentioned that we should go to the grocery store to buy some food. I asked my wife if I could stay home writing, when she and my son went to a store. She said yes and this was a huge advantage as I was able to get everything done before they got back home. ACTION STEPS: 1 Pick a task, start doing it and don t stop until it s ready 2 Understand the value of the task. If it has a long-term impact on your business, dedicate time to it accordingly. If there are other tasks that are preventing you from focussing on that long-term job, find a way to get the other task off your hands as quickly as possible (by finishing it at once) 3 Work when your family is sleeping - in the morning or in the afternoons 4 Communicate with your spouse that you need time and quiet time for doing the task. Explain that completing the task is important to your success. Take full advantage of the available time and just get the work done! 51

52 FINAL THOUGHTS I hope that you have enjoyed this free e-book! Before you finish this, I still have one request for you: Spread the word about Online Business Productivity by clicking the Tweet button below: I hope I was able to improve your blogging productivity? Kind Regards, Productive Superdad aka Timo Kiander 52