4 Zen To Done

4 Working from Home

4 Delegating without a staff

4 Review of Four Hour Workweek

• Leo Babauta • Michael Hyatt • Stephanie Dickison • Mike Vardy •• Art Carden • Steven Aitchison • Michael Sliwinski •

magazine

BaBauta

Exclusive Interview

S p o n s o r e d b y

#4 (April 2010)www.ProductiveMagazine.com

Leoon Zen, Habits and Minimalism

Working Effectively from Home, making Dreams Come True

It is my great pleasure to give you

this fourth issue of Productive!

Magazine. I know, I know, we have

procrastinated with this one and

released it later than expected, but it is

finally here, on your screens. Enjoy.

Because of so many things happening in

my private life, ie. my responsibilities as a

father and our move to a new apartment,

the time I had left to work has been used to

focus on my company, my web app - Nozbe

and the new web app that we are going

to release this year. Let’s hope it’s the last

delay in the Productive! Magazine history.

Now on to this issue’s theme. Let’s start

with my own company - no, we don’t have

a physical „central office”. Everyone works

from home, including yours truly. That’s

why there’s always a challenge of balance

between work and private life. The two

boundaries blend and very often it’s hard to

draw the lines between the two.

The main rationale behind working from

home is not a way to save money. It is

mostly a lifestyle choice and I love it. I fell in

love with the concept when I was in college

writing my final thesis on Teleworking

(Telecommuting). This is why the theme

of this issue of Productive! Magazine is

„working from home” and we have great

experts to help me tell more about the

subject.

First off, we’ve got über-blogger Leo

Babauta who writes one of the most

From the Editor

By Michael Sliwinski, Editor

popular blogs on the Internet, Zen Habits

directly from his home office on the

beautiful island of Guam or from San

Francisco (OK, not yet, but he is moving

there this year!). We also have Stephanie

Dickinson, one of the most famous home-

office workers on the planet, author of „The

30-Second Commute:A Non-Fiction Comedy

about Writing and Working From Home”.

To cover the theme of productivity of

the self-employed home-worker, we’ve got

Art Carden’s review of the New York Times

bestseller „The Four-Hour Workweek”

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and great articles by regular contributors.

Michael Hyatt, my personal role model,

will tell you how to delegate even when

you don’t have anyone working for you.

Similarly, Mike Vardy, our laughter guru,

will tell you how to outsource... in a very

humorous way and Steven Aitchison will

tell you how to make irrational thoughts go

away.

I will also contribute twofold - with my

personal take on Leo Babauta’s Zen-To-Done

methodology and my continued efforts to

bring you the best productivity tips and

tricks in less than two minutes. On video.

Hope you will enjoy this issue of

Productive! Magazine as much as we have

preparing it. We’ll try to make the next one

happen sooner rather than later and if you

have any comments or feedback, feel free to

post it on our web site.

Yours productively,

Michael Sliwinski (@MichaelNozbe)

Founder, Nozbe – Simply Get It Done!

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05 Michael SliwinskiZen, Habits and MinimalismInterview with Leo Babauta

08Michael HyattHow to delegate if you don’t have a staff?10

Michael SliwinskiZen To Done – 2 weeks to instill a habit – early rising and blogging

12 Stephanie DickisonHow to Be Productive and Balanced When Working from Home: A Field Report

14 Mike VardyPoutsourcing: Outsourcing EffTD Style!

15 Michael SliwinskiEarly rising, 2010 resolutions and traveling 18 Steven Aitchison

7 Irrational thoughts that disrupt your life

Table of contents

16 Art CardenReflections on a Publishing Sensation: The Four-Hour Workweek in Retrospect

Productive!Magazinewww.ProductiveMagazine.com

Sponsor:www.Nozbe.com

Your Online tool for Getting Things Done – available in your computer browser, mobile phone and on your iPhone.

Chief Editor:Michael Sliwinskieditor@productivemagazine.com

Technical Editor:Maciej Budzichtech@productivemagazine.comwww.blog.mediafun.pl

Editorial Team:Lori Anderson

Delfina Gerbert

Dustin Wax

Tribute:Marc Orchant (1957-2007)The Productive!Magazine is dedicated to the memory of a productivity guru, great blogger and a very close friend, Marc Orchant who passed away on 9th December 2007.

All articles are copyright © by their respective authors. Productive!Magazine is copyright © by Michael Sliwinski. Getting Things Done® and GTD® are the registered trademarks of the David Allen Company.

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Michael Sliwinski: Let’s start with your

blog – you launched it about the same

time I launched Nozbe (early 2007) and

I’ve been tracking it from the beginning

and the growth over 2007 has been

incredible, from just a couple of hundred

of subscribers to tens of thousands by the

end of the year, how did you do it? What

were the key components to your success?

Leo Babauta: The main thing I’ve done

is try to produce extremely useful posts,

perhaps 4-5 times a week. I experimented

a lot by doing different types of posts and

posting schedules, and I’ve found what’s

optimal for my readers, for growth, and for

my schedule. The key part of this strategy

is giving away really useful content that

solves readers’ problems. If you keep doing

that, they’ll keep coming back, and once

you get a decent reader base these types

of useful posts also tend to get popular

on social media sites such as delicious,

stumbleupon, digg and twitter.

Of course, you have to let people know

you’re out there, so my second winning

strategy has been to write as many guest

posts as possible. When you write a guest

post for another blog, preferably one that

has a lot of the type of readers you’re going

after, you’ll reach a lot of new readers

and you’ll show them just how great your

content is. Then they’ll go to your site, and

if you’ve created a lot of great content there

too, they’re likely to subscribe.

I’ve tried other strategies as well, but

these two strategies are what have been

most effective for me.

Michael: Your blog is more than 2 years

online now and it’s one of the top blogs on

the Internet (not just among productivity

blogs), I see you’ve changed your design

to be more „zen” like, what is your next

step? Next action? What plans do you have

for your blog this year and beyond?

Productive! Magazine interview with Leo Babauta

by Michael Sliwinski

Zen,Habits

and MinimalismBe passionate

about what you’re doing. If you’re not,

it’ll be hard to motivate yourself. If you’re excited about your work, you’ll jump out of

bed to do it.

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Leo: I don’t really plan too far ahead --

when I do that, the plans tend to fall apart.

I prefer to just focus on what I’m doing

right now and see what opportunities

come up, going with the flow as it were.

I’m really enjoying how things are going

with Zen Habits right now, and I don’t have

plans to „improve” the blog. I hope to keep

writing about this stuff and having fun

doing it. However, I’m working right now

on a couple of seminars to help people

achieve their goals - similar to what I’m

doing on the blog, but more hands on.

Michael: Your book, „The Power of Less:

The Fine Art of Limiting Yourself to the

Essential...in Business and in Life” has

become a bestseller, when did you

manage to write it and what did the

process look like? Was it hard to get

the book published? Did the success

of your e-books help? What would you

advise wannabe-authors based on your

experience?

Leo: I tell you, it’s tough to write a book

and run a busy blog at the same time. The

next time I do it, I will probably set up

a bunch of posts in advance and take 2-

3 week „vacations” to focus on the book

writing.

I tried to do both at the same time and

I had a difficult time. I would write my

book in the morning and then do blog

things in the late morning and afternoon.

Sometimes I’d get lazy with one or the

other and they’d suffer.:)

Surprisingly, it wasn’t hard to get

published - what really helped was that my

blog was finding some amazing success,

really resonating with readers. As a result

I had some agents and publishers approach

me about doing a book on similar topics,

and I jumped at the chance.

I’d advise potential authors to build up

a blog, and find a topic and angle that is

different from whatever else is out there -

something that really resonates with you

personally, and with your readers. That’s

what worked for me, and once I found

some success, it was an easy sell to publish

the book.

Michael: I know from your blog that

you’re an early riser and you’re waking

up at crazy 4.30 am. What do you do that

early in the morning? What does your

morning look like?

Leo: I really love the early morning hours

- a time when most of the world around

me is asleep, when I can enjoy the quiet

and read or meditate or exercise or write,

and really focus.

My morning routine changes frequently,

as I like to change things up. Also, I should

note that I wake at different times -

sometimes 4 a.m., sometimes 4:30 or

5, sometimes as late as 6 or 7 if I stayed

up late for some reason. Right now, my

morning routine is: wake, have coffee

and read, meditate (sometimes) and give

gratitude, write, exercise, then do email

and Twitter, then write again.

Michael: I’m struggling to become an

early riser myself but I always fail (after

several attempts). The main problem is

family support (lack of it – my wife likes

to stay up late) and even if I do wake up

early, I struggle to get anything done, I’m

sleepy... can you help?

Leo: It’s tough if your spouse doesn’t

support you, or if you have different

sleeping schedules. It’s really important

that you enlist her help, tell her what you

want to do and why and ask for her to help

you succeed. She shouldn’t have to change

her pattern, but maybe she can help you

somehow.

As for being sleepy when you awake...

what helps me is adjusting gradually,

by waking (say) 15 minutes earlier

until I adjust to that, and then another

15 minutes earlier and so on. If I’m really

sleepy, it helps to get some coffee in me

and have a gradual period where I wake

up and read and allow my mind to activate

before trying to work. Also, getting to bed

earlier helps.

[Editor’s note: after the interview I actually

tried again and succeeded to become an

early riser, you can read all about it in my

article about Zen To Done in this issue of the

Productive! Magazine]

Michael: Talking about your family life,

you have a house full of people, wife

and six kids – I have just one daughter

and she is a very lovely distraction, but

I sometimes struggle to get anything

done because of her (or thanks to her!) If

you write from home, how do you mange

to get stuff done and separate family life

and professional life?

I’d advise potential authors to build up a blog, and find a topic and angle that is different from whatever else is out there.

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Leo: Waking early is the first thing I do -

I let my wife and kids sleep in and that

allows me to get my most important work

done while the house is still quiet.

When the house is noiser, I do things

that don’t require as much concentration,

such as email or Twitter. I’m also good at

getting into a zone and tuning out the

noises. Also, I’m lucky to have a wife who

is very good at helping me to focus by

getting the kids to quiet down or play or

do schoolwork in their rooms.

Finally, I like to get out of the house, if

not every day then several times a week,

by walking to a coffee shop and really

allowing myself to focus on writing for

a couple hours.

Michael: My application, Nozbe, was

initially inspired by the GTD (Getting

Things Done) method by David Allen and

I’m a long-time GTD advocate. You seem

to have come up with a derivative method

called ZTD – Zen To Done. How does it

differ from GTD and why is this method

superior in your view?

Leo: Zen To Done was conceived as

a way to take the most useful concepts

of GTD but address some of the main

problems I and others found while

implementing GTD: that it’s hard to stay

on the system for long, that things

tend to stay complicated even if you’re

organized, that the system doesn’t

distinguish between what’s important and

what’s not.

I combined some of the best concepts of

GTD with principles from Stephen Covey as

well as my own philosophy of simplifying

and forming new habits. Zen To Done

shows you how to form new habits, one at

a time, which habits are most important,

how to simplify, and how to focus on the

important.

Zen To Done isn’t necessarily superior

to GTD, but it’s an alternative for

people like me who have a hard time

implementing the entire system at

once, who want to find simplicity in

a complicated life, who want to focus

on the important things rather than

everything that comes at us.

Michael: Can you share with our readers

your best productivity tricks? Tricks that

keep on helping you be productive and

that you wouldn’t live without? Things

that keep on coming and make the

difference? Anything?

Leo: Sure – there are many things I’ve

shared on Zen Habits and in my book, ‘The

Power of Less’, but here are three simple

tips that really work for me:

1. Focus on the most important tasks: pick

three Most Important Tasks each day

and do those first. It will make you much

more effective than trying to tackle

everything.

2. Single-task. Don’t try to do email and

write and phone and Twitter and surf the

web all at once. Close down everything

else, pick one important task to focus

on, and really pour yourself into it.

3. Be passionate about what you’re doing.

If you’re not, it’ll be hard to motivate

yourself. If you’re excited about

your work, you’ll jump out of bed

to do it. When you find yourself dreading

something, you either need to find a way

to get excited about it, or find something

else that excites you more.

Michael: You live on a small island of

Guam but now with the success of your

blog and book, you’ve travelled „virtually”

to every corner of the planet. Do you plan

to do any travels physically as well? Any

plans for the future? After all, your job

of writing can be done anywhere there is

a laptop and an Internet connection.

Leo: I went a good 6-7 years without

traveling, as I was trying to live more

frugally. However, now that I’ve eliminated

my debt, I’ve traveled to a few places in

the last year or so: Thailand, Hawaii and

Japan. I loved those places. I hope to visit

the States soon - definitely the West Coast,

where I have family, but if I can visit the

East Coast and places in between while

I’m in the states, that would be great. And

Europe has always been a dream of mine -

I hope to go there in the next year or two.

[Editor’s note: Some time after we had the

interview Leo announced he’d be moving to San

Francisco with his family mid 2010.]

Michael: OK, now that your book is

a bestseller, is there going to be a sequel?

Or a completely new book? Any early scoop

to the Productive! Magazine readers?

Leo: I’ve been doing some soul-

searching, trying to figure this out.

Part of me wants to write a second

book in a similar vein to the first book

- productivity methods simplified, but

to add a whole new dimension to it. But

a deeper part of me wants to move away

from productivity and talk about simplicity,

about living a life of less, about living

a more sustainable life, about finding true

happiness. In the end I will probably let my

readers decide for me.:)

Single-task. Don’t try to do email and write and phone and Twitter and surf the web all at once.

Leo Babauta

lives in Guam

(soon moving to

San Francisco)

and is married

with six kids.

He’s a writer

and a runner and a vegetarian and he

loves writing Zen Habits - his blog that

in a couple of years became one of the

top blogs on the Internet with 100K+

readers subscribed and counting. He’s

a published author of a bestselling

book „Power of Less”.

Leo’s blog: ZenHabits.net

Mnmlist.com, WriteToDone.com

Leo on Twitter: @Zen_Habits

Leo Babauta

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Zen To Done – 2 weeks to instill a habit – early rising and bloggingI started waking up at 5 am in the morning to start off my day with at least 2-3 productive hours before my ladies (my wife and my 1-year old daughter) woke up. Two weeks later I started blogging regularly and if you’re a subscriber to my blog you know that I post almost daily (resulting in 3-5 posts a week) and I love it.

Michael Sliwinski

It all started after I carefully read the

ZTD (Zen To Done) course by Leo

Babauta where he explained that it’s

impossible to develop all the habits

we want at once. Instead we should focus

on one habit at a time and try it for 30

days and later pick up another one.

I’m not that patient – I bent the rule to two weeks, I’m sorry Leo.See, I’m not a patient man. I want to be

and feel better right now. So I bent the rule

a little and started introducing new habits

as soon as I felt the old ones already more-

or-less put in place. This resulted in 2-week

intervals of introducing new habits.

Early riser waking up at 5 am every morningOK, it wasn’t that easy. I’m not an early riser

by design, I used to go to sleep at 2-3 am.

But I managed to change that and I finally got

the support I needed from my family, too.

My wake-up time depended upon when

I went to sleep, so when I went to sleep

around midnight, I’d wake up at 6 am.

Then I’d try to go to sleep around 11 pm

to be able to wake up at 5 am. Most of the

time I succeeded. The best part is, that

right now I’m used to waking up early and

I get really productive in the mornings

with all my email, IM, Twitter etc. closed

and I focused only on tasks I planned

the evening before. I sleep on average 5-

6 hours per day and on weekends I sleep

around 8 hours so I guess it’s pretty good

for my body too.

To learn more about my new early riser

habit, watch this short 2-minute video.

Blogging every day about stuff that matters (for me at least)I always wanted to blog more and I felt

I always had something to share with the

community... but never got to it. It was too

much work maintaining my Nozbe blog,

Productive Magazine blog and Productive

Show blog. So what did I do? I went with

the easiest blogging platform possible –

Posterous – I just send emails to my blog

and they are being converted into blog

post.

It’s really easy – I just have to write

one more email message each day. And

this one’s to my blog. It usually takes

me between 15-30 minutes. And when

someone posts a comment, I reply via

email too! This way I totally eliminated

the psychological barrier to blogging for

myself and after two weeks, this habit is

set and I keep on writing blog posts. Cool!

Now what? Let’s start running! I want to start jogging now.Did I put on weight recently due to lack

of sports? Check. Did I always want to be

a runner but never got to it? Check. Did

I buy a red iPod nano with Nike+ for my

wife and myself? Check. Do I have a nice

big park near my house where I can run?

Check.

So what’s stopping me? Nothing. I’m

going to start running. I’ll start just after

we move into our new apartment near

a beautiful park, perfect for runners. It’s

time to lose some weight and get in shape

now that the winter is almost over. Fingers

crossed – wish me luck!

Start your 30 or 14 day trial on one habit now! Start today!That’s right, if I can wake up at 5 am and

blog every day, it means it’s really doable.

You can do it, too! Take the 30-day trial if

you have the patience, or 14-days if you

feel confident enough. Remember, one

habit at a time and you’re good to go!

Godspeed!

Question: Which habit did you want

to cultivate but never got to doing it?

What do you want to start with? Why not

today?

Michael

Sliwinski is your

chief editor of

the Productive!

Magazine and

now a host

of the new

Productive! Show site. Every day he’s

trying to help people get more done

with his web (and iPhone) application

Nozbe.com

Michael’s Blog: MichaelNozbe.com

Michael on Twitter: @MichaelNozbe

Michael Sliwinski

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Use Coupon codeEVERNOZBEto save 10%

and start getting things done withNozbe and Evernote

Evernote.com– your external brainand perfect caption tool

Integrateswith Nozbe’sProjects& Contexts

Believe it or not, some people may actually like the work you are not good at or don’t like.

How to delegate if you don’t have a staff?Whenever I write or speak on the topic of delegation, I always get a question from someone who says, “But what if you don’t have a staff? How can you delegate?” This question typically comes from staff people, technicians, stand-alone professionals, or start-up entrepreneurs. It’s a great question.

Michael Hyatt

I recommend seven strategies

to those who feel the need

to delegate but have no one

to whom they can delegate:

1. Triage your to-do list. Go through each item and assign it one of the following four letters:A – tasks that are urgent.

B – tasks that are important but not

urgent.

C – tasks that are somewhat important.

D – tasks that are neither urgent nor

important.

Now completely delete your D-level

tasks. Then go through and see how many

of the C-level tasks you can delete.

2. Use technology more efficiently.Many people don’t avail themselves of

the technology that is already at their

fingertips. For example, why struggle

with trying to setup a complex system

of email file folders and then determine

where each email goes? You think,

Should I file that email from Bill about

the ABC account and the XYZ account in

Bill’s folder, ABC’s folder, XYZ’s folder,

or all three? Instead, just move every

processed email to one folder called

“Processed Email” or, more simply,

“Archive.” When you need to refer

back to the email, let your software’s

built-in search function do the heavy-

lifting. It will find the email in less than

a second.

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Michael Hyatt

is the President

and CEO of

Thomas Nelson,

the largest

Christian

publishing

company in the world and the seventh

largest trade book publishing company

in the U.S. Michael has written four

books, one of which landed on the

New York Times bestseller list. Hyatt

serves as Chairman of the Evangelical

Christian Publishers Association (ECPA).

He has been married to his wife,

Gail, for twenty- eight years. They

have five daughters and two grand

daughters and live outside of Nashville,

Tennessee.

Michael’s blog: MichaelHyatt.com

Michael on Twitter: @MichaelHyatt

Michael Hyatt

3. Negotiate out of previous assignments. Yes, you may have agreed to take on

a certain project, but when your boss

comes back with another one, you can

say, “I’d be happy to do that. Is this

project more important than the previous

assignment you gave me? I honestly don’t

think I can do both. Which one would you

prefer I do?” If she insists on both, you

can at least insist she prioritize them and

thus set her expectations so that you won’t

have to do both of them simultaneously.

4. Ask for some volunteer help. Believe it or not, some people may actually

like the work you are not good at or

don’t like. (This is what makes the world

go around.) Sometimes you can barter

some work with a friend or colleague:

“How about if I design your new blog in

exchange for you preparing my taxes?”

This is a little bit of the I’ll-scratch-your-

back-if-you-scratch-mine strategy. You

might also consider interns or students

who are desperate for the experience and

a letter of recommendation. I have see this

work very well, provided you are clear with

the expectations up front.

5. Use variable cost alternatives. This is a phrase your bottom-line boss will

appreciate. Good leaders and managers

are loath to add “fixed overhead” (i.e.,

permanent positions). For starters, it

doesn’t provide enough flexibility if

the workload is seasonal or there is

a downturn in the economy. Instead, you

should attempt to outsource specific

projects or entire processes. Tim Ferriss,

in his fascinating book, „The 4-Hour

Workweek”, describes in detail how

to use a personal virtual assistant. He

recommends GetFriday.com, a company in

India that specializes in this. I used them

a while back as an experiment. I liked

their system, but found that my own real

assistant was all I needed.

6. Appeal for more resources.Eventually, you may need to make the

case to your boss (or yourself, if you

are an entrepreneur) that you simply

must hire someone. Before you can

persuade your boss, you need to think

like your boss. What is important

to him? How does an additional person

help him achieve his goals? I have

written previously on the topic of “How

to Get Your Boss’s Approval When You

Need It.” While it doesn’t address this

need specifically, the principles and

methodology still apply.

7. Muster the courage to say “no.” If all else fails, you may have to decline

taking on other assignments and suffer

the fallout. This comes down to priority

management. You have to establish your

boundaries and then (graciously) enforce

them. There is too much at stake - your

health, your family, your legacy, etc. - to

do otherwise. Doing this has never hurt

my career. In fact, I think it enabled me

to get where I am today. It demonstrated

to my boss that I had clear priorities and

am willing to pay the price to live by

them.

I know this just scratches the surface,

but I firmly believe in the principle that

“he who is faithful in little is also faithful in

much” (see Luke 16:10). If you are a good

steward with what you have been given,

you will eventually be given more.

If all else fails, you may have to decline taking on other assignments and suffer the fallout.

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How to Be Productive and Balanced When Working from Home: A Field ReportMany people find it a challenge to work from home. It’s full of distractions, they say. How do you work and not watch television or clean or spend the day at the movies, they ask.

Stephanie Dickison

It’s easy, I say, when you’re your own

boss – if you don’t hustle for the

work, you don’t get paid. The dirt

that’s been tracked in from outside all

week, the dishes from last night’s dinner

party and the laundry that needs to be

put away, gets left behind for an interview

you’ve got to do and write an article, all by

5 o’clock today.

That, on top of someone coming in to

replace your bathroom faucet, and oh, two

editors just emailed to say that they need

major changes (read: complete rewrite) by

3 p.m.

It’s only 8 a.m. and already you’re feeling

overwhelmed.

But it is possible to be productive and

balanced while working from home.

Here’s how:

1. Stick to your schedulePlan out your day and follow it, just as you

would in a big office. Just because you’re

physically closer to the television doesn’t

mean that you should plunk yourself down

for a dose of “reality” shows. You may

Many people I know who work at home forget to eat. I too am guilty of this.

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the day, organize your schedule around it

and you’ll see your productivity fly.

And this way, you can work AND watch

all the late-night TV you want. Sweet.

6. Reward yourselfWorking from home, you may find yourself

getting all wound up about stuff. Maybe it’s

the lack of coworkers to commiserate with or

a little cabin fever (you’ve been inside working

on this presentation for 3 solid days). The

problem is often that because your office is at

home, you can work any time and thus, you

do – nights, weekends, in your “spare” time.

The way to be productive and balanced is to

reward yourself with something that you enjoy

and isn’t work related. It helps if it’s out of the

house too. Just a half an hour away from your

desk can make a world of difference.

Go for a walk, visit a library, take a class,

meet a friend, whatever (However: skip

getting blotto at the neighborhood bar,

gorging yourself on a pint of ice cream or

going to a strip club. We both know there’s

no work getting done after that).

How to Be Productive and Balanced When Working from Home: A Field Report

have to have a talk with family, friends

and colleagues to let them know that just

because you’re at home, it doesn’t mean

you can go out for a matinee – you are

working. Of course, if you work in your

pajamas, you can see how it might be

confusing…

2. Expect the unexpectedAs much as you plan your day, you’re

bound to deal with many unexpected

events – the city digging up your sidewalk

for ethernet cables, visitors (see above),

couriers, etc.

Knowing that each day at home will be

different and accepting that will get you

through most of the frenzy. That and a pair

of noise cancelling headphones.

3. Eat somethingMany people I know who work at home forget

to eat. And though I am a restaurant critic,

food writer and avid cook, I too am guilty

of this. Perhaps it’s that we don’t have co-

workers to ask us to lunch, or a set time like

noon or 1 p.m. to get us up out of our chairs.

Office workers get two 15 minute breaks and

at least half an hour for lunch. Give yourself

at least the same courtesy. You’ll be so much

more productive. And hey, at least your

sandwich won’t be all squished and soggy.

4. Get comfortableOne of the bonuses of working at home is that

you can cater your space to you. Want to have

a huge desk with nothing on it? Go for it! Want

a cozy little rolltop? Sure thing. Candles, music

– whatever puts you in the mood! The other

thing to remember is that you don’t have to

be a slave to your desk, afraid that your boss

will wonder where you are. If you’re rocking

a laptop, take it to a coffee shop, library or

friend’s condo’s lush lobby. The change of

scenery will do you good, as will the walk - it

will boost your energy and productivity.

Plus, there are people out there. Go

mingle for a bit - you haven’t talked to

anyone all day.

5. Choose your workdayDespite having been conditioned by the

working world, nothing says that you have

to work 9 to 5 like everyone else. If you

like greeting the day at 5 a.m., then start

early. It means that you’ll be finished early

and have the rest of the day to do what

you like. Many writers I know get up late

and work late. They follow their body’s

natural rhythms, they tell me (not playing

Assassin’s Creed , ahem). Think about

when you’re most energized throughout

Just because you’re physically closer to the television doesn’t mean that you should plunk yourself down for a dose of “reality” shows.

Author of

„The 30-Second

Commute: A Non-

Fiction Comedy

About Writing &

Working From

Home” – works at the end of her

bed at a little rolltop desk in her 1-

bedroom apartment that she shares

with her fiancé, a television writer,

and their 18 pound cat. Despite all of

that, she manages to write a number

of articles a day, blog, tweet,

interview celebrities and cook and eat

for a living.

Her web site: StephanieDickison.com

Stephanie on Twitter: @sdickison

Stephanie Dickison

© Monkey Business - Fotolia.com

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I strongly urge you to begin

poutsourcing today. Start at home, maybe

with the housework. As you get better at

it, start doing it at work. Soon enough,

you’ll find yourself watching others

scramble to get all the things done that

you’ve managed to offload.

And once you get tired of watching

that, there’s always those John Hughes’

movies.

Mike Vardy

Poutsourcing: Outsourcing EffTD Style!

Another element of Effing The

Dog™ is learning how to keep

everything close to home so you

can watch as your work gets

done, and not have to lift a finger. This

method is called poutsourcing.

Simply put, poutsourcing is merely

a way for you to offload some of the work

you don’t want to do to someone in your

immediate vicinity. Here’s an example of

poutsourcing in the workplace:

A worker (let’s call him Mike for

argument’s sake) is given a task

to perform by his boss (let’s call him

Mr. Meany, for argument’s sake) that

he simply does not want to do. Mike

is aware that others in his workplace

have far more of an attitude (let’s call

it ass-kissing, for argument’s sake) that

would make them more ideal to do this

very task. Mike then begins to whine

and moan about all of the things he

has piled up, how he likely won’t meet

the deadline, how he doesn’t quite

comprehend the assignment – and so

on. He can do this because he has long

standing tenure at his job (although if

you work in a union environment your

reasoning won’t need to be as extensive,

especially if the shop steward/union

representative has the workstation next

to yours – more on unions in a future

post) and has seniority. Soon enough, Mr.

Meany realizes his efforts are futile, and

he moves on to the previously mentioned

“alternatively-addituted” employees.

A common misconception is that

poutsourcing can’t be utilized in the

home. Not true. Teenagers and children

do it all the time. As a parent myself

with questionable disciplinary skills,

I find myself watching my wife doing all

sorts of activities that my daughter has

poutsourced while I practice Effing The

Dog™. I suggest you watch movies like

Bratz and most John Hughes’ films to get

a better indication of what I’m talking

about if this seems unclear – and watching

movies is an Effing The Dog™ hallmark.

And Mr. Hughes has a lot of films, so that’s

an excellent place to start.

Outsourcing has become a huge time-saver in the last few years, utilized by high-falooting executives, jet-setters and professional wrestlers . For those of you who don’t know what outsourcing is, it’s basically a means of farming all the tasks that you don’t want to do to someone else, normally overseas. The question I pose to you is: Why send your work overseas when you can keep it right here at home AND save money?

Eventually

self-professed

productivity

expert, founder

of the new

productivity

ideology:

Eventualism.

Mike’s Blog: EffingTheDog.com

Mike on Twitter: @MikeVardy

Mike Vardy

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Michael Sliwinski

Early rising, 2010 resolutions and traveling

I keep having fun recording the short

2-minute productivity videos and in

theme with this issue of Productive

Magazine I’d like to share some of my

tips and tricks that make me a little more

productive and/or efficient:

Early Risers get things done

This is a game changer, and anyone can

do it. Even „owls” like me can make it

happen.

New Year’s Resolutions GTD style

I don’t call them resolutions anymore, I

create 12 milestones and try achieve each

of these month after month.

Efficient Traveling - Switching planes

I recorded this one between planes in

the London airport. My tricks to move

around airports with lots of security

checks.

Efficient Traveling - Double-backup

This is what I do to make sure I have

all of my data with me at all times... I can

work like this on every mac.

Hope you’ve enjoyed my videos, make

sure to rate them and any comments or

feedback are very welcome!

Subscribe to this video podcast with

iTunes or RSS reader.

Michael

Sliwinski is your

chief editor of

the Productive!

Magazine and

now a host

of the new

Productive! Show site. Every day he’s

trying to help people get more done

with his web (and iPhone) application

Nozbe.com

Michael’s Blog: MichaelNozbe.com

Michael on Twitter: @MichaelNozbe

Michael Sliwinski

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Art Carden

One of his most important

contributions is philosophical,

yet practical. Ferriss asks how

we would live if retirement

weren’t an option and suggests what

economists will instantly recognize as

a pattern of consumption-smoothing.

Ferriss trades off future income for

present satisfaction in the form of „mini-

retirements” and suggests taking time

now, while we’re young enough to enjoy

it. Mixing labor and leisure rather than

bringing on either can probably raise our

lifetime satisfaction levels.

Let’s dwell on this. First, he isn’t being

short-sighted. He is recognizing an

important tradeoff. Second, he isn’t giving

us an airy exhortation to stop and smell

the flowers. Rather, he’s offering a concrete

examination of what it means to really live.

Finally, he isn’t lazy. Far from it: Ferriss

packs a lot of living into the 164 hours

every week when he isn’t working.

Every business or personal development

book worth its salt comes with a clever

acronym. This book is no different. On

pages 10-11, Ferriss offers his program

for a New DEAL. Definition, Elimination,

Automation, and Liberation as the

keys to his system. There is a certain

ruthlessness about the whole thing that

is oddly refreshing. He has said before in

an interview that he abhors sloth, and you

can tell from the way he writes the book.

He is ferocious about guarding his time

and making absolutely certain that none of

it is wasted. He summarizes this on page

32: „(d)oing less meaningless work, so that

you can focus on things of greater personal

importance, is not laziness.”

The first element of his program is

„Definition.” Here is where the process

will resonate with devotees of David Allen

and Getting Things Done. Exploration is

fun, but there are a lot of projects out

there that take more time and energy

than they’re worth. Before making

a commitment, we should always ask „what

is the desired outcome that makes all the

effort worthwhile?” (p. 51).

The second part of his program is

„Elimination.” Here is where things

get really interesting, and I especially

enjoyed something that is near and dear

to my economist’s heart: his application

of Pareto’s Rule, which suggests that

80% of output comes from 20% of input.

It’s very easy to hide behind a „busy”

screen--I know I certainly have--but

often the things with which we are busy

are, at best, unproductive and at worst,

counterproductive.

So what should we do? Once again,

Ferriss suggests that we think hard about

what we’re doing and eliminate projects

of relatively low yield in order to focus on

projects of relatively high yield. In Ferriss’s

case, he saw that most of his revenue

was coming from a few customers, while

the bulk of his customers provided a lot

of headaches and very little in return.

He was able to improve his effectiveness

by focusing his attention on the good

customers and cutting the bad customers

loose.

It’s easy to just be “busy,” but

busyness is not necessarily correlated

with production. Ferriss notes that it is

often the very opposite: „(b)eing busy

is a form of laziness--lazy thinking and

indiscriminate action” (p. 73). To address

this, Ferriss proposes a useful thought

experiment, asking what one would do if

you had a heart attack and could only

work for two hours a day. Or for two hours

a week. This brings the relevant trade-offs

into high relief.

It’s deceptively easy to go from task

to task without doing anything important.

Thus, Ferriss suggests a „low-information

diet” based on the fact that „(m)ost

information is time consuming, negative,

irrelevant to your goals, and outside of

Four-Hour Workweek author Tim Ferriss lives the dream. As far as I can tell, he coined the term “Lifestyle Design”. I read the first edition of his book shortly after it was published, and I look forward to reading the new “revised and expanded” edition at my earliest opportunity. For those of you who haven’t yet had a sip of the Kool-Aid, here’s a summary and a few thoughts. As an economist I found the book absolutely fascinating and extremely instructive. I hope you agree.

Reflections on a Publishing Sensation: The Four-Hour Workweek in Retrospect

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Art Carden

is Assistant

Professor of

Economics and

Business at

Rhodes College

in Memphis,

TN and an Adjunct Fellow with the

Oakland, CAbased Independent

Institute. He is a regular contributor to

Lifehack.org and Division of Labour.

Art’s page: ArtCarden.com

Art on Twitter: @ArtCarden

Art Carden

your influence” (p. 83). Deciding what

does and what does not need to be

known is a skill that takes time to acquire

but that pays high dividends in the

form of (again) time to do things that

we find useful and interesting. Further,

information differs from knowledge. It

is one thing to know facts. It is quite

another to know how to use them.

„Selective ignorance” allows you to filter

your information input and ensure that

only the really important stuff gets

through.

He doesn’t use this terminology

specifically, but Ferriss recognizes the

irrelevance of sunk costs when he exhorts

us to „Practice the art of nonfinishing”

(p. 88). Just because you start something

doesn’t mean you should finish it. This

runs directly counter to that noble advice

we’ve always gotten about finishing what

we start and it doesn’t apply if it involves

leaving someone in the lurch. A better

habit would be to avoid starting things

that aren’t going to be worth finishing.

Obviously, there is no way to know for

certain which things these are, but it is

worth trying to find out and to be diligent

about making sure that something will be

worth finishing before you agree to get

involved. In the best-case scenario, you

develop the habit of only starting things

that are worth starting and then finishing

them in a way that exceeds people’s

expectations.

Ferriss’s program complements other

organizational programs like Getting

Things Done and Seven Habits of Highly

Effective People. Ferriss encourages

a certain ruthlessness in deciding what and

what not to do, discussing three kinds of

tasks that get in the way of effectiveness:

„time wasters,” „time consumers,” and

„empowerment failures”.

The third of these is important in

any organization. „Empowerment” is

a popular buzzword, but sometimes it

fails to go beyond the buzzword stage.

Empowerment that aligns people’s costs

and benefits with the decisions they are

supposed to make is meaningful. We are

surrounded by competent, intelligent

people, and we need to be diligent about

training them to make independent

decisions.

Everything that comes across

your desk will fall into one of three

categories: things you should do, things

someone else should do, and things no

one should do. On page 122, Ferriss

argues that „...unless something is

well-defined and important, no one

should do it.” This stands in contrast

to our normal ways of doing things.

Deciding who should do something is

a convenient rationale for meetings, but

meetings are a fantastic way to waste

time; Ferriss points out that „(m)eetings

should only be held to make decisions

about a pre-defined solution, not

to define the problem” (p. 98). This is

precisely the last thing we should do,

but it provides an example of what

happens when responsibilities are

poorly defined.

The third aspect of Ferriss’s DEAL

is automation. Stuff has been defined,

that which can be eliminated has

been eliminated, and now it is time

to automate what can be automated.

Here he offers an important piece

of advice and an important principle

about organizational effectiveness.

„Never automate something that can be

eliminated, and never delegate something

that can be automated or streamlined” (p.

122). He further notes that „(u)sing people

to leverage a refined process multiplies

production; using people as a solution

to a poor process multiplies problems”

(p. 122).

His last element is what he calls

„liberation.” The Four-Hour Workweek is

a great book for the twenty-first century

because this is a time that is by all

measures historically unique. People have

more discretionary time than ever before,

and our social capital infrastructure is so

far poorly-equipped to handle it. We can

stop and smell roses, or we can write that

book we always wanted to write, or we

can...you name it. Our ancestors had no

such luxury, as Deirdre McCloskey points

out in her ongoing series of books on The

Bourgeois Era: extremely low productivity

meant that almost every waking hour

had to be devoted to producing enough

calories to stave off death.

Thinking and choosing are difficult

and sometimes unpleasant. The long-run

benefits outweigh the short-run costs,

however, and this is one of the core

messages of The Four-Hour Workweek.

Tim Ferriss offers a handy step-by-step

guide to lifestyle design and to having

what we want out of our short time on

this rock. It’s worth at least one reading-

-probably two, or maybe three--because

it lays out principles and practices that

bring us closer to the dream, whatever that

dream may be.

Ferriss offers his program for a New DEAL. Definition, Elimination, Automation, and Liberation as the keys to his system.

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Steven Aitchison

In this article I will look at seven

common irrational thoughts and

hopefully if you suffer from irrational

thinking it will help you to change.

1. If someone criticizes me there must be something wrong with meThere are many reasons why people

criticise each other but it does not mean

there is something wrong with you if they

do criticize you. It means they have a

differing opinion to you which is fantastic

as without differing opinions in the world

it would be a terrible place to live.

A lot of us suffer from irrational thinking which can affect our lives in a dramatic way. It can seperate the successful people in life from the unsuccessful ones, it can mean the difference between loving someone and hating someone, it can be the difference between peace and war. All wars, yes I mean ALL, are caused by irrational thinking.

7 Irrational thoughts that disrupt your life

© L

iv F

riis

-lars

en -

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lia.c

om

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Steven Aitchison

is a personal

development

blogger. He

currently

works with

the homeless

dealing with issues such as drug

addiction, and alcoholism. He has a

degree in Psychology and has been

a counsellor to alcoholics. Also an

affiliate marketer and writer he

has penned 3 books on personal

development and making money

online.

Steven’s Blog: Change Your Thoughts

Steven on Twitter: @StevenAitchison

Steven Aitchison

2. I must always seek approval in order to feel good about myselfMany people have thought this at one

time or another in their lives, however

it becomes damaging when it is an

entrenched belief. There is no way you

can please everybody all the time so there

is no point in even trying. Seek approval

from yourself and if you’re happy and feel

good that’s all that matters. Yes it’s nice

to have other people’s opinions but don’t

go out of the way to please other people.

3. I won’t try anything new unless I know I will be good at itMany people suffer from these types of

thoughts. Trying new things in your life

is a way for you to grow and learn more

about yourself. You don’t have to be good

at everything in your life but it doesn’t

mean you can’t enjoy new experiences

even if you are not good at them.

4. It’s not my fault my life didn’t go the way I wantedI have news for you; it is your fault. This

doesn’t make you bad and it doesn’t mean

you are a failure. You have control over

your thoughts and therefore your actions.

Your thoughts and actions will determine

your life. If you constantly blame others

for the way your life has turned out you

have given all your power away to other

people. Take the control back and take

responsibility for your thoughts and

actions.

5. I am inferior to everyone elseThat’s just the way you feel, which

doesn’t make it true. You have qualities

that nobody else can touch and other

people have qualities that you can’t touch.

Recognizing your strengths will build

your self confidence; recognizing others

strengths will build their self confidence,

but don’t put yourself down when

recognizing that somebody else is better

than you at something.

6. I was rejected which means there is something wrong with meThis is over generalizing like the person

who was rejected in a relationship. They

think it always happens to them and they

must somehow be unworthy of love.

People reject others due to differing

ideals, just like you do, but it doesn’t

mean you are in any way unworthy it just

means your ideals don’t match someone

else’s ideals.

7. If I feel happy about life something will go wrongAnother common irrational thought. You

deserve all the happiness you make for

yourself; your past is your past. If there

are still issues lurking from your past that

is blocking you from feeling happy about

today speak to someone about it. Do not

tinge your present and future thoughts

with bad memories or else your present

and future thoughts will get infected and

your life will always stay the same.

How to stop your irrational thoughtsSimple! Just catch yourself every time

you have an irrational thought or self-

defeating thought and replace the

wording of your internal thought. For

example, you are driving on a beautiful

day and a bird decides to shit on your car.

You might think:

“That always happens to me, why do

they always shit on my car?”

To

“It’s about time I got the car washed”.

Look for the keywords in there

“always”, this is an untruth. If birds always

shit on his car his car would be floating

in the stuff. So catch yourself with untrue

statements such as:

“always” e.g. I always get caught in the

rain (If that were true you’d be a fish)

“I never……………………” e.g. “I can

never get a parking space.” (If that were

true you wouldn’t be able to go anywhere

in your car without stopping).

“I couldn’t……” e.g. “I couldn’t walk a

mile” (have you tried?).

“I’m hopeless at……………”e.g. “Oh,

I am hopeless at talking in a group.”

(usually said while talking to a group of

friends).

“It’s terrible……” e,g. “Isn’t it terrible

that it’s raining?” (Eh! No, it’s not

terrible).

There are a lot more irrational thoughts

out there and you have to be conscious to

catch yourself thinking them. I hope this

article helps you to catch your irrational

thoughts and brings your life into

perspective.

It does not mean there is something wrong with you if people criticize you.

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