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Get Your Free Digital Download Of Mayonnaise and Other Stories

Shhhh...

I've got a secret, special deal for you. Click myBook.to/Mayonnaise  to get my collection of short stories, Mayonnaise and Other Stories FREE.

But it's only for three days. So you'll have to act fast.

Get Your Digital Copy Of Mayonnaise and Other Stories available on Amazon for FREE.

For three days only, you can get Mayonnaise and Other Stories from Amazon for FREE.

Starting Tuesday, July 28 and ending Thursday, July 30 at midnight the price for the collection of stories is FREE to you.


Just click on the image below to get to Amazon and download your copy.


 Mayonnaise and Other Stories

One More Thing...

You get three stories, priced at $1.99 for free.  But only if you act NOW.

In return I will only ask you one small favor...

Since you're getting these stories for free, would you please, please, please leave a review?

Reviews Are The Gold Standard 

All you have to do is click HERE to LEAVE A REVIEW

The review doesn't have to be much, just a simple rating - 5 stars would be awesome - and a brief sentence or two about the stories.

That's it and it'll go a LOOONNG way toward helping me with Amazon.

Get The Kindle Reader App

Kindle and Amazon have the largest selection of books on the planet.  I was going to make a superlative statement like in the universe, but that place is pretty freaking huge, so there may be a larger selection of books available, but none that I'm aware of...

If you don't have a Kindle, you can still read ebooks from Amazon on the Kindle Free App.

You can download the Kindle Free App for iPhones, Mac, and iPad


Kindle Reader App - It's Free! Just Click the Image to download your free app.

If you're one of those "Other" people that aren't in the Apple sphere of influence - you can download the Kindle Reader App for free as well.

Get The Kindle Reader App Free for PC and Android Devices


Thanks!  And remember, this is a special 3-day promotion, and after midnight Thursday July 30, the price goes back to $1.99.

How To Stop Sucking At Your Time Management

The Challenges Of Time Management

This is not a post about kindle direct publishing.

It is about a necessary skill to learn - time management.

Time management is a skill learned and honed through decisive actions.

It's a juggling act of three things: Prioritization, organization, and self discipline.

Finding the right balance will help you improve your productivity.


We all are busy.  Research shows that Americans LOVE - in all caps - to be, and feel busy.


Perhaps its the consumer culture we are raised in.  To keep up with the "Joneses", we feel we have to work harder to get more things.

It could be the poverty of time and how we perceive to be busy, even when we're not.  It's all perception born of leisure.

It could be the Puritan Work-Ethic we were taught as kids. It's a status symbol of dystopian proportions.

The first step in any journey is to get organized.

Self Discipline, Time Management And Increasing Productivity By Doing Less

Everyone of us knows what it's like to have too many tasks and not enough time to do them all.

It's like dining at an all-you-can-eat buffet.  You take a little sample of vegetables, some pasta, a little chicken or fish, some salad and bread.  Before you know it, you have too much food on too little a plate.

This post is more about self-discipline, time management, and tactics to help you improve your productivity regardless of your tasks than anything about my Kindle Publishing journey.

I believe that these are not mutually exclusive concepts.

Actions take discipline and discipline requires organization.

But what do we do when there's more than just one action that's required?

For a writer, self-discipline is just as much a struggle as it is for a tuba player.

Or a student with homework; or a UPS delivery driver just starting their daily route.

The Burden of Demands

With any task or job, it's easy to get a sense of overwhelming.

We all have someone we're responsible to, a boss, teacher, coach.  If you're independent, congratulations, that's great!  But with that independence comes a different struggle. That's the distraction of freedom.

Whatever the demands, the only way you're going to get anything of value accomplished is by self-discipline.

There's too many details in the report; there's not enough time to get that project done in time for close of business; I have too much homework are all great examples.

We all feel it from time to time, what I think of as "the burden of demands."

So how do we overcome this challenge?

By setting up an organizational outline that places emphasis on the important things and minimizes the less important tasks we have.

This is a process of prioritization.  It's an important aspect of time management skills.

What Is Prioritization? 

Prioritization is the process of putting order to things. Of making a choice.

The most important is first, then the next important and finally the least important thing comes in last.

The idea here is that you place what is of greatest value first.  It could be a homework assignment, or it could be a phone call you need to make to a supplier for your product line.

For writers, it's placing the order to how you're going to write that next chapter in your story arc. In a story, you wouldn't place the climax ahead of the character development and expect to elicit the same reaction from your readers.

Prioritization is instinctual, but for some reason we allow the burden of demands to overwhelm our thinking and short circuit our organization.

Once you've decided on the order of importance, you need to stick with it.  Don't let S.O.S - Shiny Object Syndrome - distract you.

Stay on task until you finish one, and then move on to the next one.

Again, don't let S.O.S. become your message.

I like to think of this quote I was given by a friend a long time ago: "just because it's important to you doesn't make it urgent for me."

Prioritization Is Set and Done, What's Next?

Once you have the order of importance set - prioritization - the next step is to take your task and cut it up into smaller, more manageable portions.

Think about it like a pizza.  You're hungry, with some cash in your pocket, so you walk into your local pizza joint and order a large pizza with the works.

After about 10 minutes the pizza arrives, hot and ready.

You can't just shove the whole pie in your mouth.  It doesn't work that way - besides, you'd burn the $h!T out of your mouth!

You take a slice, cool it down and take one bite.  You eat the pie one bite at a time!

So micro-prioritization is the next step in your process.

So how does this work?  Let's say you have three projects to get done.

• First, list them in order of importance, that is, what is the one thing you need to get done.  
• Next, think about how you can break that task up into a couple easier manageable, smaller slices as it were. 
• Finally, take that bite-sized task and begin.

The Pomodoro Technique - 80 percent activity/20 percent recovery

By organizing your tasks into the order of importance and then breaking them up into smaller and smaller pieces, you're making it easier to be more effective in less time.

Your efficiency does have limits, however.  It's not just a matter of organization that will help you.

Understand that we all have limits on our productivity, our performance, and our attention spans.
The trick then is to take your tasks and manage your energy with them.

There's a little technique that is called the Pomodoro Technique.

It says that to increase your productivity, you need to set manageable tasks within a finite amount of time.

What the Pomodoro Technique stresses is high, intensive levels of activity but in short duration.

It's the Crossfit of time management!

For those that don't know about Crossfit, it's a H.I.I.T program of fitness.

The routine is High Intensity Interval Training (H.I.I.T) that calls for extreme action followed by intervals of short rest.

For those of you not too worried about fitness and wondering what that has to do with productivity, time management, and self-discipline, here's how it works:

Take a small project like we discussed already.

Say it's a chapter in your book. You've organized what you're going to write about, the general path you want to go, and you sit down to write it out.

You need more skills and organization than just the ability to write. You need to set manageable pathways that you can follow to become more efficient at your task of writing.  In so doing you'll increase your productivity.

Set A Time Limit

Before you begin to work, however, the technique calls for setting a timer. Preferably a short time limit, like 20 minutes.

When the timer goes off, stop writing and walk away.

Give yourself 5 minutes off.  No exceptions!

It's the 80/20 rule of time management.  80 percent of your time is actively focused with 20 percent completely devoid of that activity.

As you can break down the tasks faster and much more efficiently without any loss of concentration, you can slowly increase your time to work but need to keep the 80/20 rule in place.

The Rule Of Three

In writing, there's a principle called "The Rule of Three".

What the rule claims is that things that appear in three's are more appealing, funnier and easier to remember for the audience than any other combination.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears is a prime example of this concept.

The form dictates that there could be three lines, or three repetitive words. Three acts are better developed, have more action and more power than a novel or play with Four acts.

That's why when we talk about writing, we claim that there's a beginning, middle and end.

For Time Management And Self Discipline, the" Rule of Three" can be broken down another way.

In the popular blog, Paid To Exist by Jonathan Mead - he writes about time management skills from a different perspective.

In an article about morning routines titled HOW TO WAKE UP ON FIRE - he writes that you have to have a plan of action for the morning.

Furthermore he writes that the tips he has for being at his most productive is having clearly defined goals, setting down and getting to work and limiting actions to the most important things on his check list to just three things.

His biggest point is stick to the rule of three.

Get the three things MOST IMPORTANT done.  Then if you have time and energy you can do more.

But only after the three things are done.

Time Management Is Easy - If You Can Get Organized

Time management is not inbred.  We are evolutionarily designed to eat, sleep and procreate.  

Time and the demands we place on it are modern constructs, sacrifices we choose to live in a civilized world.  

And time management is a skill that is learned over time, one to be honed to a fine edge like a razor on the grindstone. 

Tasks, responsibilities and obligations can all seem like burdens that overwhelm us; a 50 pound bag on our shoulders while we walk through the metaphoric mud of the day. 

Finding the right balance between doing what we have to with the right order to do them is an intractable part of honing that skill. 

By using prioritization then breaking the tasks into smaller portions with focused attention for manageable durations will allow us to make huge strides in our productivity.   

Additionally, if we abide by the rule of three, we'll see specific metrics achieved easier and more efficiently. 

Combining these concepts will help you with your time management, become much more efficient in your day and increase your overall productivity. 

The first step is getting organized!  

What Does Joe Strummer, My Short Stories And Kindle Publishing Have In Common?

How To Position Your Self and Your Stories More Effectively

In this post, we'll be discussing the largest vacuum of a self-pubslihed writer's life - marketing.

We'll discuss the stories already released on Amazon, the promotions in place and what the strategy moving forward is.

It's one of the most difficult aspects that any creative or productive person has.  It's a challenge to produce the story, art, song or merchandise, but then getting it out into the world is an even bigger struggle.

In this post, we'll focus on a strategy that I've read about many times over from some well regarded brains in the self-publishing sphere.  Some of these ideas are directly from the guys at Self-Publishing Podcast and Joanna Penn of The Creative Penn.

Basically they claim that you need to build a larger and larger catalog to help your overall promotion strategy and later on in this post we'll discuss how that works in greater detail.

It's Not The Story That's Most Difficult

Obviously getting the story-draft written down presents a huge problem, even for the most accomplished writer, getting started can be overwhelming.

The Dangers Of The Blank Page

Staring at a blank page is just a daunting, scary task.  If it wasn't that scary, more people would write!

As I already said for any writer getting started is one large hurdle.  Like ten-feet high type of hurdle.

Then you have to find cover art, where to get the stories to readers and ways to promote them.

It's been said that for a self-pubslihed writer, it's 20% writing and 80% promotion.

My Short Story Updates

On Amazon I've a few stories available through Kindle Publishing in their store right now.

My strategy is and has been, to promote one for a month as I release more stories, then promote another one while working on new manuscripts.  Right now on Amazon there is two stand-alone stories, "The Ballad of John Walker" and "It's Not The Things We Say".  Also, there's a collection of more humorous, fun stories under the collection "Mayonnaise and Other Stories".

Some of you know about my short story "The Ballad of John Walker." Published mid-June 2015, the story has gained some traction in the last month and could stand to gain a little more in the coming months.



 The Ballad of John Walker - get your digital copy by clicking the picture!




What you don't know is I owe you all a full-hearted thank you for helping get it moving on up in Kindle Short Reads for Suspense and Thrillers. That's awesome and helps a ton!

For those of you that don't know about it, it's a short read that examines the dangers of living in a society ruled by surveillance and paranoia.


Another title that's out takes a more fun approach. A more humorous take, "Mayonnaise and Other Stories" is a mostly made up  account of living in the world today.  From the eyes of a ambitious child hell-bent on getting a pack of gum; to the power of OCD and the irony of judgement; to the follies of a delusional teen athlete.


And just released there is the short story, "It's Not The Things We Say".  An intense look at the power that miscommunication can take within a relationship. Whether its a child and parent, a boyfriend and girlfriend or any schism between loved ones, often it's not what we say as much as how we listen to each other.


So to wrap up, that's three short stories on Amazon that've been published to date.  The promotional efforts so far have been dedicated to the first short story, The Ballad of John Walker and it's been pretty labor intensive thus far.

Places it's been promoted so far:

• This blog
• Amazon's Kindle Publishing marketplace 
• Facebook, including Facebook ads (not a great R.O.I. and Facebook Groups)
• Google Plus Communities
• Daily Free Ebooks (yes, even though it's $0.99, it can still be listed on directories such as DFE)
• Good Reads
• Just Kindle Books (A small price to publish and promote)
• KUFADS - a British based ebook promotion service (a small price for a week's promotion)

So far the results have been a trickle but with a first book, a short fiction piece no-less, it's not to be a huge seller, but a starting point for a broader platform.

Moving forward, there will be lighter promotions on this story and more attention pushed to the "Mayonnaise" collection and "It's Not The Things We Say".

Gaining Momentum Is Hard, Maintaining Momentum Can Be Just As Hard

Why Newton Got It Wrong

Newton claimed that an object in motion tended to stay in motion unless some external force was applied to stop it.  Well that may be true for objects, but for most writers, once you get going, you reach a point where stopping is dangerously seductive - and the restart is almost impossible. 

After writing a story, the last thing I want to do is sit down and begin the editing process, much less begin a new story.

I'm fairly certain that's true for any artist or producer.  Build something, spend all that energy and emotion to create something and you're spent.  There's limits to the process.

Athletes are the same way.  There's only so much energy they have to spend.  That's why the build up their stamina over time and train in specific, detailed tasks to increase their endurance and improve stamina.

One technique to do this is called the Pomodoro Technique and I've written about how to utilize it to increase your productivity in a former post you can read HERE.

How does that work with marketing you wonder?  Well there's plenty of evidence that the more titles you publish, the easier it is for people, and fans, to find you.

What that means is that while it's no fun to turn around and work on the next story, or the next idea, it's critical for you to help build an audience.

Think about you favorite band.

Chances are, if they've been around for a while they have a number of songs and records out there.  They may be official releases, bootlegs, any thing that keeps you engaged and interested.  If they don't have material to release, they tour, play live shows to keep them in your minds.

With that in mind, I have three, potentially four more stories to release between here and September.

There's a working title that I'm working on through Wattpad, an online forum for authors and hope to garner some keen insights about the story while it's on that platform.

It's still an early draft, but you can see it on Wattpad under the working title "A Fine Day For A Swim".



 
Get the early draft "A Fine Day For A Swim" on Wattpad by clicking the link above.

The Goal Is To Get To The Finish Line In One Piece

This whole process is about writing a number of short stories to build a platform for something I'm working on next.  It will be a departure from the short story line I've been working on right now and one that still needs to be more fully developed, but this whole process has been to build a platform to move forward from.

I'll be releasing "A Fine Day For A Swim" in mid-August.  With its release there's an accompanying story "The Palm" that will be included with either another story in production or as a potential stand-alone story as well.

Finally there's two other stories that are being fleshed out right now.  One is under the working title "Shooter" and the other is without a title but would be the longest story included in the summer release calendar.

The Future Is Unwritten

So the final tally is two stand-alone short stories and 1 collection of stories already released with promotion being focused on just the first one so far. That first story being "The Ballad of john Walker", with "It's Not The Things We Say" being the other stand-alone.  "Mayonnaise and Other Stories" being the collection, with all three of them being available on the Amazon platform for the next 90 days in exclusivity, after which they'll be placed on a couple other ebook platforms and promoted in different ways.

"A Fine Day For A Swim" is next in the pipeline for release, and will be available in about a month, after some tweaks and edits.

It's sister story, "The Palm" will be released at the same time and will be either a stand-alone story, or included with "Shooter", depending on how things are shaping up at that time.

The last two stories in the plan will will out a couple weeks to a month after "A Fine Day For A Swim", placing the overall short story count at 6 to 7 stories.

Once that's over with, the gears are switching to a new program, and I'll be discussing that down the road after it's more fleshed out with a more clear strategy and timeline.

In conclusion, the heading to this section of the post is about the marketing strategy, or any strategy you set in to motion.

One of my favorite song writers was Joe Strummer, lead singer and writer for the seminal British Punk band - The Clash.

Along with songs that dealt with changing the political spectrum for the betterment of the working class, he wrote anthemic lines like "Let Fury Have The Hour, Anger Can Be Power, If You Know How To Use It".

But one of his greatest sayings was "The Future Is Unwritten".

Just the promise and hope in that line is enough for me to believe in the optimism in tomorrow.  And while 80% of my time is devoted to marketing short stories that, in and of themselves, are difficult to promote and sell, this line reminds me that tomorrow is a new day.

And that philosophy goes toward your marketing campaign as well.  Get your stuff out there and don't be afraid to make changes.

If something is working, go all in.  If something isn't working, then change tactics and direction.  And keep building up your catalog.  The more you do, the greater chance it can catch on with your audience.

You never know about tomorrow, the future is unwritten.

I Need Your Help With Something....

You Are The Most Important Factor With My Kindle Publishing Journey

Have You Heard - My Short Story The Ballad Of John Walker Is Out Now!  

It wasn't too long ago that I published the short story "The Ballad of John Walker" through Kindle Publishing.

June 16th, 2015 to be exact.  Right away it surged to the top of new releases, and since that point it's slowed down. 

The main reason?  Not enough reviews.

   Get your copy and leave a review!

Leave A Review On Amazon And I'll Email You A Free Beta-Version Of A New Story! 

First, thanks to everyone who picked up a copy!  Don't worry - if you want to grab a copy you can get it by clicking HERE.

Now what I need are Amazon reviews.  Every review is important for Amazon to recommend this story and future titles.  Amazon has a "bot" that looks for reviews as a way to value the titles on their bookshelves so it really helps my profile in the eyes of the Amazon bot. 

Here's what I need you to do: 

After picking up the story "The Ballad of John Walker" once you finish it, you'll be asked on the last page to leave a review.  

The more stars I get the higher that Amazon views the story.  It will ask you for a headline and quick worded statement.  

To make it easier for you, here's a suggestion of what to write: 

A short evocative read that will resonate with you long after you finish.   A suspense thriller that will shock you and make you consider the dangers of a surveillance state. This kindle short reads as a fast-paced mystery, thriller and suspense all in one! 

Or you can write something like this:

A gritty suspense thriller, The Ballad of John Walker will make you think long and hard about living in the modern security state.  What would you do if everything you had was taking away from you in an instant?  This short kindle reads like a answer to this what-if and serves as a clarion call for us all.

It'll take less than a couple minutes and will go a LONG way toward how the story gets seen by Amazon, their search engine and how it will rank with Kindle Publishing.

Leave A Review Get A Gift For YOU 

Finally to entice you even more, if you leave a review, shoot me a quick private message at my personal email address and I'll send you an early pre-release version PDF of my new short story "A Fine Day For A Swim" before I publish it! 

This short story won't be out until sometime in late August, so you get to be the first readers and FOR FREE! 

P.S. as a bonus, look for my new ebook, Mayonnaise and Other Stories - for only $1.99 reduced for a limited time from $2.99.

Get The Ballad of John Walker Now

Get Your Copy Of Mayonnaise and Other Stories Here (For a reduced price of $1.99 now)

My Kindle Publishing Journey Update #1

How To Achieve Goals You Set For Yourself, One Task At A Time

In late April I began this blog as an experiment.

An experiment to document how to start something important, something of value.  Maybe nothing of any worth to someone else, but something of incredible value to me.

It was about starting something, my kindle publishing journey, and seeing it through in a public medium - this blog.

So what's in it for you? 

To Achieve Goals You Need To Set Goals

My experiment was to see if I can get some readers to share in the journey of taking a risk, in this case self-publishing some short stories through Kindle Publishing.

It was about becoming vulnerable and naked.

My thoughts, my words out in the world to be poked and prodded, judged by anyone that wanted to judge it.

And this blog was started with the idea that if I could do it, anyone could do it.

Maybe not write stories and publish, but maybe write a business ebook, play with acrylics and start painting, or perhaps take a guitar and strum a song.

Not to be famous, not to become rich, but just to do it.

And if there was interest in monetizing your art, then perhaps this blog could help you find your way.

Just like I did.

A Man With(out) A Plan -Kinda, Sorta

Truth be told, my whole approach was what I like to call "The Spaghetti Solution".

Throw things at the wall and see what sticks. In other words, I would try a number of different techniques and see what creates any kind of traction.

We all know that a plan can help you get where you want to get to faster, but what if you're unsure where it is that you're trying to go?

How do you plan for the frontier?

Columbus sailed for India when he crashed into North America. It wasn't even on his map.

So this blog was started with an idea, getting stories written and published, but the how and where it was going was the unknown.

And I wanted to share my discoveries with you, the reader.

But that would presume that somebody would read it.

Does Anybody See This Blog?  

What if you wrote something and nobody read it?  What if everyone hated it? 

It's been said that you can't please anyone if you're trying to please everyone. 

The only way to be sure it had the chance to be read is to publish it.

Write it.  Then rewrite and edit it.  Format it, find cover art and publish it.

That was my going to be my process and I'd figure out the rest of it as I went forward.

As I mentioned earlier, I began this blog to detail my experience with taking short stories and self-publishing them on Amazon's Kindle program with the idea to inspire myself and anyone else reading to create a path and follow through.

In other words, I wanted to detail my experiences, offer some tips for anyone reading the blog (is anyone reading?)  and to document my experiences in real time.

All with the concept that if I could do it, so could you.

Now That My Story "The Ballad Of John Walker" Is Available On Kindle Publishing, What's Next? 

This experiment of mine isn't finished.

I published one story with the idea of publishing a few more.

A slow drip, drip, drip of stories to be released over the course of the summer and beyond.

The Ballad of John Walker was just the beginning.  (Click the link and download your copy now!)

In the week and a half that the story was published, it's been downloaded a few times.  Lots of clicks - upward of 200 clicks at about 9% conversions.

Not great stats obviously. But better than if I never put it out.

My next story should be out sometime around the 4th of July.  Maybe before, perhaps just afterward and I'll try to create a cross-promotion for it, and document how it does.

Whether you're a writer, an artist, musician or looking to start your own business, get off your ass and do something.

Joe Strummer of The Clash used to say that the future is unwritten.

So sit your ass down and write it the way you want.


What are some of your goals?  What plans do you have in place to see them happen?  Leave a comment! 

The Ballad Of John Walker Is Out Now By Kindle Publishing

Kindle Publishing and The Ballad of John Walker: Available Now! 

The hardest step to take in any journey is the first one.

Once you take a step, the momentum to take a second one is easier.

If you're in business, finding the first client is often the hardest.  The momentum from that first one helps you move toward the second. With each client, you're motivation to find the next one increases and it eventually gains traction.

The Ballad of John Walker: A Short Story

You see this in sports all the time.  A shooter hits a shot, they become more aggressive in their next shot. A runner strides over the starting line and the second, third and consecutive steps are easier.

The hardest part then is in gaining inertia, finding momentum.

And you can't have momentum without taking the first step.

Don't Worry About The Future, It's Never Here

True, there will be obstacles in the way, some seen and others unseen.

How you handle the hurdle is what differentiates those who run the race and those who just think about it.

It's said that a problem is only 10% what it presents itself to be and 90% how you handle it.

If you wait until you have enough money saved, or you have one more year of experience, you'll find you're always chasing something you can never catch.

Tomorrow.

There's always something else you can learn, study, more money to save.

So when's enough to get started?

I don't know the first thing about how to market an ebook.  But I've read about some strategies and so I developed a plan.

It may work.

Or I may fall on my face.

But the only way I'll find out is by launching it and doing the follow through I have in mind.  I'm sure it won't work as I picture it, but that's how we learn.

By trying something, failing and learning.

Experience is the best teacher.

Announcing My First Kindle Publishing Story: The Ballad Of John Walker

My new short story is available NOW on Kindle as an ebook.

The Ballad of John Walker is $0.99 as an ebook and you can get it by clicking here:





I'd really appreciate the download and leave an honest review.  It helps with the visibility of the story, especially as I begin to add more to the library.

Don't Have A Kindle?  No Worries...

You can download the kindle reader app for your PC, laptop, and smartphone here:

Kindle Reader App

Kindle Publishing Tip: How To Conquer Overthinking And Become More Productive

Ready, Set, Wait...?

You've developed an idea and created a plan.

It's not perfect, and not airtight but a plan none-the-less.

There's a definite beginning, somewhat of a middle, and a hoped for, predicted end.

But you can't sit down and get the first word written. Or make the first pitch or sale's call.

You're frozen.  But why?

We're innately born to avoid risk.  It's a survival instinct and one that we are ingrained to abide.

Whether you're trying to build a clientele, promote your services or use a platform like kindle publishing for your self-publishing goals, the most important step to take is the first one.

Let me say that again.


The most important step to take is the first one. 

Without taking the first step, action is impossible and you won't be able to meet your productivity or kindle publishing goals.

Analysis by Paralysis

Too often we're risk adverse and try to wait until we have all the answers and every solution figured out before we proceed.

You can spend hours, days, weeks, months and even years waiting to know it all.  And guess what?

You never will.

There's always something to learn, to tweak, to optimize.

The more you analyze all the factors and wait to act, the further you are from achieving your goals.

The guys at Self-Publishing Podcast are great at being distracting, but also offers tons of advice that can apply not just to writing, but productivity as well.

Sean Platt partners with David Wright and Johnny B. Truant, and on the podcast Sean likes to say that when it comes to writing "perfect is the enemy of done".

If you think about it, that's perfect advice for everyone. You don't need to make something perfect before you launch it, design it or promote it.

To get started, make a plan and take that first step.  You can change course once you begin.

See where the path takes you.  Evaluate where you are and then decide if you're on the right path.

But you'll never get where you want to go without that first step.

3 Tips To Help You Stop Failing And Find The Success You Deserve

Why You Suck And Will Fail Every Time 

Goal Setting Is A Process Toward Success, But First Slay Your Dragon Of Distraction 

Whether you're looking to run a marathon, write a book and publish it traditionally or through resources like Kindle Publishing, or simply improve performance, it's important to get rid of distractions.

It takes conscious, sustained effort to the finish line.  Like a runner, one foot in front of the other is the surest path to get there.  But if you don't have a plan to where you're going, the one foot strategy will just get you lost.

It's easy to get lost in the world today.

From Facebook and Twitter, to smartphones that you can watch Netflix on as well as check email, it's really easy to get distracted.

Learn how to prioritize your time and your responsibilities to get the most out of your day! 

Conquer Your Dragon Of Distraction

Distractions can consume your most precious commodity - time - if you don't know how to conquer it.

Like a dragon, the imaginary reptile that would horde riches and defend them against all challenges, distractions can overwhelm you before you know it. It will steal your time and destroy your dreams.

Like any major obstacle, the key is get the task down to manageable size.  You can't eat a pizza in one bite, so why do you think a major task can be done in one sitting?

It also gets WAY more difficult when you allow distractions to enter into the picture.

We all know how easy it is to turn on the TV, check Facebook, email or other ways to fall down the rabbit hole of doing everything but what you need to do.

Why do you think horse trainers put blinders on their horses?

It's too easy to get distracted.

So conquer your dragon of distraction by creating a plan, get more focused and you'll meet your goals.

You've Slain The Dragon Now Improve Your Productivity Even More

Before we discuss the tips to help you improve upon your productivity, and move you closer to your successes, we need to define a couple things first.

• Goals are the designated finish lines for your work. They're the end point for what you want to accomplish.  They are the outcomes of necessary steps to get to the finish line. 

and

• Process is planned action. It's the necessary steps taken to move toward your goal - it's the foundation that builds the path toward success or failure.

finally,

• Success is the outcome of proper practice - it's the tangible reward for well-planned hard work. 

Now that we've established the groundwork needed, the key to meeting your goals and finding success, you need to have a detailed plan.  

The 3 Best Tips To Improve Productivity To Meet Your Goals And Find Your Success

1) Have A To-Do List: 

Think about everything you need to accomplish and everything you'd like to get done for the day.

Next make a list of tasks you need to accomplish makes it easy to stay on track.  You can use a piece of paper - I know, a little old school, but create two columns. In one column place your most important items to accomplish, and put everything else in the other column. 

Having a list allows you to check off the important things, gives you a sense of completion and allows you to see what you started your day with and what you finished.  

2) Keep Your List To The Rule Of Three: 

In a recent post at the blog Paid To Exist, Jonathan Mead wrote about how to maximize your day by creating to-do lists but emphasized that you need to keep it to a manageable limit - his suggestion?  

The list should abide by the Rule of Three.  

Simply, make your list, keep it small and check off what you finished. Depending on the specific tasks, three items a day can be much easier to accomplish than worrying about everything you need to get done. 

3) Wear Blinders, Then Allow Yourself Distractions

You have your list and you've limited it to the rule of three.

Finally you need to wear blinders.  And allow yourself to be distracted. What?

It's true you need to put away potential distractions in order to get the work done.  It could be blinders from social media, TV, whatever, but you need to block out anything that gets in the way of your progress.

Look, we all get distracted. It's natural.  We only have a finite amount of willpower to conduct disciplined tasks, the kind of tasks that "the process" requires.

At the final drive of the Superbowl XXIII, Joe Montana famously is said to have looked up into the crowd during a TV timeout, saying to teammates, "Hey, isn't that John Candy?"

At that exact time, he was distracted - some say he was unaffected from the pressure of the moment, but he was distracted.

But once the ball snapped, he was able to block out all the distractions, driving the team to a touchdown and winning the game.

Had Joe Montana been distracted a play or two later, the game could've ended much, much differently.

But when the time to be focused was there, Joe Montana blocked out the distractions and exceeded his preparation.

So put blinders on and focus. It doesn't have to be for long periods of time.

Joe Montana is the essence of the Pomodoro Technique.

He was focused when it mattered and allowed himself to be distracted and relaxed between periods of focus.

Finally - Don't Worry About Failure: 

Easier said than done, obviously.

We all worry about doing something and falling on our face, of standing out from the crowd, of failing and being laughed at and shunned.

It's so high school, but we all share in the fear of falling on our face.  But why? 

Because we're social animals and on an intuitive level we know that being shunned by the community could have been deadly.

Luckily we don't live in caves with wild, feral predators stalking our every move.  We can agree that society may have some problems, but we can also agree that living in one is a huge benefit over our ancestors.

It's nice to know that we don't have to fear being thrown out of the tribe and have to fend for ourselves.  

Now we just get laughed at.

When I say don't worry about failure, it's not that we can fail without repercussions.  But what are those repercussions?  If you're working a job, and your family depends on your income, fear of failure, of losing your job should be a concern but it shouldn't overwhelm you.  

Failure is often a great learning tool. It's reaching our limits, finding the edges to our capabilities that we learn what we're capable of.

The key to success is pushing your boundaries to their limits and that's how you'll find your limitations.

By knowing your limitations you can better operate within your capabilities, and you'll improve your productivity and eventually find the success you're looking for.

Slay the dragon of distraction, make a plan and set your goals, keep it simple and you'll find the journey of achieving success both enjoyable and easier to accomplish.

You'll stop sucking in no time. 

Kindle Publishing For The ADD Crowd

Shiny Object Syndrome

How To Avoid Losing Out By Becoming Distracted

In the warm Atlantic, there's a fiercely aggressive predator fish known as the barracuda.  Long, snake-like with a huge row of teeth, the barracuda attack their prey quickly.

A little known legend is that barracuda are attracted to shiny metal objects.

Whether this is a wives tale or reality, the point is that a shiny attractive object gets the barracuda's attention.

Like those GIF's of kittens sitting around in a basket with their head's snapping to and fro with the rhythm of an unseen object offscreen, the barracuda are thought to ignore what they were up to at the moment and follow the new shiny object.

Cute aren't they.  But distracting.

Did you already forget that this post is about staying focused?

We all fall prey to it. The key is not to let it drag you into the swamp.

Rescue Your Writing From The Dragon Of Distraction

I've fallen into the trap multiple times, including recently.

This post has taken over a week just to get to through the first draft.  Starts and stops and fits in between, like a tantrum-throwing kid, this post has evolved a number of times, in concept and in design.

Since my last post, I've chased around a number of solutions, tips and gimmicks from supposed gurus.

I'd bought a number of new books, watched TED talks and documentaries.  I'd subscribed to a number of blogs promising how to increase my productivity and my efficiency.

I'd begun taken two new online courses, all the while looking for more courses to take.

In other words, I was chasing the shiny new object.

I stopped working on short stories.

The daily process stopped.

My editing sat unedited. The stories sat, collecting dust as manuscripts, unworked and under developed.

What did I learn?

You have to stay focused on what's important.

Or allow all your time to get sucked away into things that don't matter for the task at hand.

Basically I forgot my own lessons.  I lost discipline.

Having learned how easily it is to get distracted, the biggest take away for me, is to just sit down and write.

You can't slay a dragon in one battle, or in one strike.  It takes time I imagine.

Run A Marathon In Less Than 2 Hours (or at least write about it)

Sunday the Rock 'n Roll Marathon was run in San Diego.

Don't worry, I didn't run it.  Oh, God no.

That would be bad news.  Not just for me, but for the actual runners around me.

The sweating, heart-pounding, achilles tearing disaster that my plodding knee exploding herky-jerky strain of running in a race like that would be both comical and tragic simultaneously.

I'd be laboring profusely, snot bubbles bursting from my nostrils, armpits swampy and wet, and that'd be just from the effort of standing in the crowd!

It's just not for me, so I didn't even attempt it.

But I know some people who did.

And they trained.

Some trained for years to get the stamina and endurance built up.

Others trained to get their pacing down so that they could challenge a goal.

As I wrote about the Pomodoro Technique previously, the key to productivity is make it manageable doses.

Being a writer is a lot like being a marathon runner.

If you focus on just the outcome, it seems too difficult a journey.

Focusing on the process in short durations, such as the Pomodoro Technique teaches, makes the outcome easier to accomplish.  One word, one sentence at a time will produce the length and word count you eventually want.

That means, focusing on making small bite-sized portions that will help you accomplish your outcome.

And the sum becomes a byproduct of its parts.

Like a marathon runner - put one foot in front of the other and you'll become a champion eventually.

Kindle Publishing Isn't As Tough As You Think

Kindle Publishing: Writing Isn't Beef Jerky, It's Not That Tough

So you have a story or idea to shake the very foundations of the fiction world. 

You can write it and self-publish it through Amazon's Kindle Publishing.

It's not as difficult as you may think.

Perhaps you have a tip to share that will make people healthier and happier.  

Or, maybe, you have a productivity hack that will make people more efficient at their jobs, and wealthier as a by-product.

And you want to share those ideas with the world.

You just know they would make a great story or ebook.

But how do you get started? 

The task can seem like a mountain instead of a molehill, especially if you've never written more than anything other than your name before.

Don't Fear The Page

It's easy to stare at a screen or sheet of paper and not know how, and where, to begin.  

It's normal.

But it's only normal because you give it the power over you.

The page is blank, empty, clean.

And it's waiting. 

It's waiting for you to write, to put your ideas onto it, and massage them to make something great spring from the page.

Think about writing as a conversation.  

Unless you suffer from an extreme case of Glossophobia (Wikipedia definition here), speaking with a friend, your family or even yourself, isn't a daunting challenge.

So why do you give writing more power over you than it deserves? 

Simply write in a plain, simple language.  

Talk to yourself and your family on the page and you'll find writing less stressful than you already make it.

Have Conversations With Your Audience: Chatting As Writing

Now that you realize that writing isn't something mysterious, you need to identify your ideal reader.

Who is the person you write for? 

 Is it someone you already know? 

Are they someone that you imagine would enjoy your thoughts? 

If so, then start writing to them.

Stephen King claims he always wrote to his wife.

Kurt Vonnegut claimed he wrote to his sister.

Whoever you choose to write to, once you can imagine how they will respond it becomes immensely easier.

Imagine what that ideal person just had for lunch, or dinner, or breakfast.  

The best idea to strengthen your writing is to write to a person you trust, know, and care about.  If you're uncomfortable writing to a real person, you can create an imaginary person.  

Think about what they look like, where they lived and grew up, what type of job and family they have, where they go for vacations.  

Anything you can think about to make them appear real to you and help you write to them in a friendly conversational tone.

If you imagine what your ideal reader likes, what they eat, what they dislike, and write to them like their sitting right next to you, you'll make your writing flow, get to your writing goal quicker, and be able to share your story and ideas with the world.  

If you're trying to get your stories out to the world, Kindle Publishing is a great way to go about it.  

But before you can publish, you need to know how to write more, and more effectively. 

Bite Sized Is The Right Size

Think about your writing like eating Thanksgiving dinner.

You sit down and on the table there's turkey, mashed potatoes, vegetables, stuffing. You pile it all on your plate in smaller portions.

And you grab a fork and knife.  You can't just shovel all that food into your mouth at once.

You cut the turkey, take a bite and chew. Absolutely delicious (unless you don't like Turkey, and then you can substitute your favorite food here).

What you've done is taken a huge feast, made it more manageable by plating it, and then cutting it into smaller and smaller bite-sized portions.

Writing should be thought about the same way.  Only think about writing in productivity terms.

Create a realistic target, maybe a word-count or a certain amount of time.

I've discussed the technique of using a timer as a tool in my post Get Off Your Ass And Write, and recommend the Pomodoro Technique.

What is the Pomodoro Technique?

 

It's a productivity tactic of setting a timer for 20-25 minutes and working intensely for that duration. It's a great technique to that helps you improve productivity in short, intense bursts of activity. 

How it works:

Set a timer for a duration of time, but a short, manageable amount of time - 20 minutes is a great starting point. 

Once the timer hits, you take a 5 minute break from whatever tasks you're performing.  

Get up, walk away, do something to distract you from what you were just working on and come back once the break is over.

How To Improve Productivity By Using A Word Count

A technique that I like is setting a word count.

One easy word count to aspire is 500 words a day.  

500 words is about 2 pages of text with space left over. 

It'd take a reader about 5 minutes to read it. 

It's not that difficult. 

Think about it in a different way. 

Say you have an ebook idea that is targeting 15,000 words.  Daunting idea to write, edit and publish if you focus on the outcome. 

Instead, focus on 500 words at a sitting.  If you can do that, 500 words a day, it will only take 1 month to finish the first draft of your ebook idea. 

If you're writing in multiple bursts of 500 words in a day, you can dramatically reduce the length of time it will take you to complete it. 

But you need to sit down and get it done. 

And once you meet your daily word count or timeline, that's it. 

Don't keep going any longer. 

Earnest Hemmingway claimed that you should finish writing for the day when you still know what you're going to say next. 

This tip is great because it'll help you stay fresh and be able to have a good platform to begin writing with the next day.

You can see some other great Hemmingway tips on writing HERE.

Write In Doses, It'll Come Up Roses

By writing in short productive bursts and limiting your word count, you'll meet your daily limit easily.  Once you master 500 words or 25 minutes a day easily, you can add another element to your routine.  But only as long as you're able to make your initial word count and the new element without issue. 

You have an amazing story, an outstanding tip, or incredible hack to improve productivity and efficiency; you need to share it!

In summary:

•  Write to a person.  Make it someone you know well.

•  Write in a conversational tone.  We all communicate every day without hesitation.  Writing is no different.

•  Short, intense durations on a daily basis will beat one inspired, manic day.  Don't wait for inspiration, just sit down and write daily. 

And don't be afraid.  Let me say it again, just sit down and write daily. 

By writing in a conversational tone and in small manageable doses to a person you "know," you'll be able to write easier, quicker and get your story told in no-time. 

But you have to sit down and start.  

And once you finish, you can then go out and share your story with the world through Kindle Publishing.  

It's easier than you think.