Do you already have a blog? If you don't, you should start blogging right now.
In the 21st century your blog is your business card... except it's real and it actually works. If you want to let the world know who you are, what you're doing, and why someone should listen to you, blogging is the best way to do it.
Some time ago I realized that if I want to make good things happen, I've got to start working hard. I'm about to graduate from college, and if I want to live the kind of life I've always wanted, I really have no choice but to work my ass off.
And so I did. Or at least I was trying my best.
I started writing this blog. I was spending 20+ hours a week at my part-time job. I revived my iPhone photography website. I was studying direct response marketing and copywriting. I spent more than an hour each day hand-copying successful sales letters. I was working out four times a week. I was doing all of that while being in my last semester of college. Most of my classmates are already freaked out, even if they aren't doing anything else.
It's probably not hard to see that my life was not exactly fun most of the time. My quality of life was suffering, and I was beginning to feel isolated from other people. Not good for an introvert. And my productivity was beginning to suffer.
More and more often I found myself mindlessly spending time on the internet. It's one of the things I really don't want to do, yet I was often wasting hours online. My motivation was getting worse and worse. I was still more productive than I'd have been a year ago, but it was obvious that I could do a lot more.
It's a dangerous headline for a blog post, isn't it?
If you were to follow it, you wouldn't even be reading this. But while you're still here, I want to share with you the secret to living a more productive, more happy, and more fulfilled life.
Of all the resources that we have, time is the most limited.
It's always possible to make more money, learn more things, meet more people, buy more stuff, have more fun... as long as we have enough time for all of that.
But we don't.
It's great to have money. Money can buy you many of the finest things and experiences in life. Sure, there are some things you can't get for money, but there really aren't that many.
When I was a kid, I used to dream about having a yacht. I could spend hours researching different luxury yacht models, looking at pretty photos of what I thought represented a happy life.
I guess I was spoiled by our materialistic world from an early age. Or maybe I was born that way. But now I've learned that materialistic goods don't add much happiness to our lives.
I used to think that owning a Retina Macbook Pro would make me so much happier than having my two-year-old laptop. So I worked really hard and saved up some money until I could finally afford to buy it. It's by far the most expensive thing I ever bought.
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. Steve Jobs
If you're scared of doing anything, ask yourself what's the worst thing that could happen if all goes wrong. Then compare that scenario to death. I bet you it's trivial in comparison.
Let's say you want to quit your job, start a business and follow your passion. What's the worst thing that could possibly happen?
Well, your project could fail, you could waste a bunch of money, and perhaps get into some debt if you're foolish about it. You would also gain invaluable experience. And you would have to get a new job, which could either be better or worse.
Now how does that compare to the destiny we all share? If you keep in mind that you're going to be dead soon, it's really not that big of a deal to risk your job security.
Ever since I remember I've been a huge perfectionist.
Maybe I was born that way. Or maybe I learned it somewhere. I don't really know. But whenever I do something, I want to make sure it's as good as it could possibly be.
Now, isn't perfectionism a good thing?
Well, not necessarily. When someone like Steve Jobs spends years building the perfect phone or computer, he may end up changing the world. And that is, of course, great.
But what happens when the average Joe becomes perfectionist? He never gets anything done. I've learned this the hard way.
I agree with Paul that every decision you make has a huge impact on your life. But it doesn't stop there. Every decision you DO NOT make has the same impact. How often does the average person think about the choices he's making in life?
Most people don't go to college because they have a passion to learn or because they need their degree. Instead they do it because that's what everyone else is doing. They just go with the flow, and take the default option in any given situation.
Isn't that crazy?
We're talking about four years and debt, but most people don't even question if that's what they really should do. That's how I ended up in college. It took me three years to realize that.
But most people never come to this conclusion. They don't think about the big choices in life. They just get a job, get married, buy a house, and have two children. Because that's what they're supposed to do. That's what everyone else is doing. Instead of following their own dreams, they follow the American Dream.
Most people would agree that having a to-do list is absolutely essential for improving your productivity and getting more stuff done. For the past two months I've been living with a to-do list as well, and it has indeed made me a lot more productive.
I've also learned that just having a to-do list isn't enough to keep me productive at all times. What should I do to further increase my productivity and get even more stuff done?
The answer is quite simple. I should eliminate all distractions. I should only spend time on the things that I wrote on my to-do list on the day before. Yes, I can't go on Facebook while I'm writing a blog post, but it also goes beyond obvious.
Let's say that I get an email that I absolutely need to respond to. Or the phone is ringing. Or I realize that it's been a while since the last time I cleaned my room. Or whatever else seems to be important enough to demand my attention at that moment.
With a bit of self discipline, it's easy to eliminate all the obvious wastes of time from my working routine. When I'm working on my iPhone photography website, I already know I shouldn't be wasting any time on Facebook. That's kind of obvious.
Most people would agree that having a to-do list is absolutely essential for improving your productivity and getting more stuff done. For the past two months I've been living with a to-do list as well, and it has indeed made me a lot more productive.
I've also learned that just having a to-do list isn't enough to keep me productive at all times. What should I do to further increase my productivity and get even more stuff done?
The answer is quite simple. I should eliminate all distractions. I should only spend time on the things that I wrote on my to-do list on the day before. Yes, I can't go on Facebook while I'm writing a blog post, but it also goes beyond obvious.
Let's say that I get an email that I absolutely need to respond to. Or the phone is ringing. Or I realize that it's been a while since the last time I cleaned my room. Or whatever else seems to be important enough to demand my attention at that moment.
With a bit of self discipline, it's easy to eliminate all the obvious wastes of time from my working routine. When I'm working on my iPhone photography website, I already know I shouldn't be wasting any time on Facebook. That's kind of obvious.
