They say that everyone has a book in them. If so, what type of book should you write?

Should you write a novel, memoir, or a manifesto?

In the Drivecast today, I talk about a different type of book that you can create faster, sell easier, and actually make some money.

Click the play button above to listen.

When you start a project, it’s often hard to know where you need to focus. There are often multiple sections/objects that you need to take into consideration. I often question what item I should start with? This often requires that I set priorities for each item.

Selection by priority is hard to do. I ask myself; what is important and what isn’t? Often I just start with one thing and take action. Over time, I’ve found that it’s better to take action on one item than spending extended time trying to reach a conclusion.

Centered Focus

However, if I have a center focus, I can quickly make a decision. I just simply run my idea through the lens of the center item. I find the easiest way to explain this is a visual illustration. For a five category project, the X pattern is very helpful.

Read more here . . .

The Power of Centered Focus

 

Four Burners Theory

Imagine it this way. Your life is represented by a stove with four burners on it. Each burner representing one major quadrant of your life.

* Burner one represents your family.

* Burner two is your friends.

* Burner three is your health.

* Burner four is your work.

The Four Burners Theory says that “in order to be successful you have to cut off one of your burners. And in order to be really successful, you have to cut off two.”

The ultimate work/life balance conundrum.

I’ve seen this concept espoused by a number of writers lately, each with a slightly different take.

At first, I thought it would make sense to simplify things. I could easily lump my friends in with my family. Many of my family members are friends, so in many cases that would be easy. For work, I could easily get a standing treadmill with an elevated desk for my office, combining the health and work burners.

Read More Here . . .

The Four Burners Theory

 

Increase Productivity; that has been my goal for years as a personal development blogger. I’ve read a number of books and applied various techniques over time. Some have worked well, others have failed miserably. My challenge is that I’m a creative. I have shiny object syndrome. I love to create and use new things. This challenge often presents itself with a lack of focus. Put a new post from Facebook, a new tweet from Twitter, or a notification of a new email, and my focus instantly deflects.

For years my best defense from shiny object syndrome has been time boxing. I simply turn off all distractions, set a timer for 50 minutes and do one (and only one) thing till the timer goes off. Then I take a ten-minute break and repeat as necessary. This technique works well and can often double or triple my productivity during a distraction-filled day.

Since the time boxing technique has been my go to productivity strategy, I was intrigued when I heard about the Mastery Journal from podcaster, John Lee Dumas of EOFire. Listed right in the description was the fact that this journal could help me master these three skills:

Click here to continue . . .

Increase Productivity: A Review of The Mastery Journal

Back in 2008, someone told me that as a blogger, I should write a book. I had been blogging for a few years and the idea sounded compelling. I had written a lot of posts and figured that I could just combine them into a longer document. I had heard that time boxing could help me get a book done. I decided to give it a try.

However, when I sat down to write, I decided to try a little experiment. I am a big fan of the writer, Og Mandino.  He wrote fiction. His motivational stories of a human ragpicker changed my life.

I knew I had written a lot of non-fiction blog content. I felt confident that I could write a non-fiction book, but I questioned myself; could I write fiction? Could I write a story with emotion and conflict and even disaster, like Og did? Could I go from just facts and figures to one with a plot, places, and characters?

I decided to find out.

I got a cup of coffee, a pen, and paper, and found a quiet place on the couch.

I set a timer for fifty minutes of uninterrupted time and picked up the pen.

Nothing happened.

My mind was blank.

Read the rest of the post here . . .

Fifty Minute Writing Test: Take The Challenge

When you do the same daily tasks over and over, it’s nice to have a reusable printable to track your progress. Instead of printing your planner on paper, you create the reusable printable on photo paper and use a dry erase marker to add items and check them off. Since I follow a daily time management tracker as part of my Matrix Five Priority System, having one that is reusable saves me a lot of time and paper.

Photo Instead of Paper

Currently, I’m working through the 100 day Mastery Journal from EOFire, where I write down my daily plans the night before and then take action on each task the next day. Creating 5 x 7 inch printables allows me to list my upcoming tasks on a colorful grid and keep them on my desk where I can see them at a glance. The Matrix Five printable works perfectly with the time boxes in the Mastery Journal.

Reusable Printable: Free Download

Here are the Hi-Rez photo png files. Just download them to your computer and upload them as a 5 x 7 glossy photo to your local photo retailer.

5 x 7 Horizontal View  (Click link, then right click and save as to your computer)

5 x 7 Portrait View (Click link, then right click and save-as to your computer)

See the rest of the article here.

Reusable Printable: Creating a Matrix-Five Action Planner

 

It’s amazing what you can accomplish in five minutes.

You can . . .

Ten Things You Can Do In Five Minutes Or Less

Matrix Five; an unusual name for a time management system that allows you to set and track priorities across five pattern grids, including a day planner, short term goal priority grid, all the way up to a complete life plan. Matrix Five makes time management easy.

The following podcast is a simple introduction to the program.

Matrix Five: Priority Time Management

 

Back in 2006, the second year of my personal development blog, I wrote about a simple time boxing concept called the Power of 48 Minutes. It’s a technique that I had learned from a presenter at a speaker’s conference. Simply put, you turn off all distractions, set a timer for 48 minutes and work on one and only one thing until the timer goes off. Then you take a 12-minute break. You can repeat this as many times as needed.

Since 2006, I have used the time-box system hundreds of times. The technique has significantly enhanced the way that I work and has led to the creation of a simple, yet efficient, personal time management system.

Read more about this technique here . . .

The Power of 48 Minutes: How This Simple Idea Changed My Life

The ten hour daily planner is a free printable that allows you the flexibility to plan out your workday, from door to door, including commute time and meals. It’s designed for flexibility and allows you to track work time as well as breaks.

There are four versions of the planner.

Here are the Links.

Download: Basic ten-hour daily planner

Download: Basic ten-hour daily planner with morning routine

Download: Ten-hour daily planner with four sessions

Download: Ten-hour daily planner with four sessions filled

Download: Full-Color Planner

Download: Full-Color Planner – Filled In

The rest of the info can be found on my blog post today. Info below.

Information on the Mastery Journal is Here

Ten Hour Daily Planner: Plan Your Day Fast