Celebrate Your Success
I recently received an email from one of our readers. The email went on to list an admittedly impressive number of goals he was able to accomplish over the last year or so. He received a 4.0 GPA in his first semester of college, lost 14 kg, began running 3 days a week, and cut down on his excessive gaming. Because I’m also freshman in college this year, the list made me smile and I couldn’t help but feel great for him.
But there was one problem: Despite his impressive accomplishments, the tone of his email was somber and sad, because like many, he wrestled with the endless cycle with self improvement. Even though he reached all his goals he was empty on the inside.
55 Comments / 
February 5th, 2010 / 
Productivity
5 Things I’ve Learned On My 6-Week Challenge
As many of you know, just over four weeks ago I started a six week challenge. My challenge came about when I found that my productivity had dramatically dropped and I wanted to try cutting out the distractions from my life. Those ‘distractions’ ended up being Instant Messaging, Facebook, Alcohol, Television and Internet gaming.
Although I’m still on the challenge, I feel that I’m far enough along to have learned some lessons about myself and I’ve been through enough to see if this type of challenge is going to help me in the future. To cut a long story short, I don’t recommend this challenge to anyone (even if you’re trying to be productive).
34 Comments / November 4th, 2009 / Productivity
Back to Basics: I’m Now Using Timetables
When I’m finished with this post, it will be the third article written today and right now it’s only 1:30pm. I honestly can’t remember a day when I’ve wrote as many quality articles in such a short amount of time. There are three things that I can attribute to my productivity today.
The first is that I’m using an awesome Mac application called Self Control (more on that later) and the second is that I’m not longer being pestered by Diggy on Skype (it’s actually the other way around). The third reason, and the most important, is that I actually set myself a timetable for today.
61 Comments / October 27th, 2009 / Productivity
How to Get Passionate About Boring Tasks
I recently opened up to you guys and allowed you to ask me anything you want. This wasn’t some ego trip so that I could claim guru status, but I noticed that the majority of times people emailed me, they apologised in advance for ‘wasting my time’.
Therefore, I wanted to make it clear that people shouldn’t feel bad for asking me questions, and the post was a chance for people to do so. One thing that surprised me was the number of comments and emails I received about how to enjoy things that you don’t. How to get through a chore you hate but have no choice but to carry on doing.
44 Comments / October 21st, 2009 / Productivity
Breaking Free: Challenge Update #1
I’m currently on day 8 of my challenge to remove all of the restraints and time wasters in my life (television, IM, idle web surfing, alcohol etc) and I have to say, things are going very well. I’m finally happy with what I’m managing to get done each day and my productivity is through the roof.
I actually can’t believe it has been over a week already. It seems only yesterday that I wrote the original blog post. If the following five weeks go this fast, this challenge could turn out to be a lot easier than I expected.
58 Comments / October 2nd, 2009 / PluginID, Productivity
How to Make Goal Achievement 100x Easier
Without a doubt, the biggest goal I have achieved so far in life was quitting my day job. Leaving the rat race is not easy, especially in this economy, and I’m proud of my achievements. Now that I’ve ‘made it’ in this area though, I’m not staying stagnant. I have income goals, subscriber goals and goals not related to my business.
First of all, I’m pushing myself to learn a new language in as little as three months. Secondly, I follow a strict training regime in my quest to get big and muscly. These are two goals which aren’t achievable overnight, and will take both hard work and dedication to get the results I want.
55 Comments / September 16th, 2009 / Productivity
Why Last Month Was The Most Productive Of My Life
A few months ago, I realised my productivity had taken a turn for the worst. I had just came out of a long stint which involved working 7 days per week in order to stabilise my online income and once my goal was achieved, things started to go downhill. I think my lack of action came as some sort of rebound affect to the immensely long hours I had previously been putting in.
My turning point came one evening when I set myself a very simple task. My task was to note down every single productive action I had taken that that day. Of course, it didn’t include eating food and chatting to friends, but things like writing blog posts, sending emails, and that kind of thing.
65 Comments / July 6th, 2009 / Productivity
Five Ideas I’ve Implemented to Get More Done
A little over two weeks ago now, I set myself a self-discipline challenge that produced some great results. I am honestly still amazed that something as simple as cutting out time wasters in my life, over a very short time-frame, has had such a positive impact on me.
Since finishing the challenge, I’ve really “upped my game” and my productivity is still through the roof. Due to the success I have experienced in this area, I’ve streamlined my operations and brought together all my positive, productive ideas, for maximum results.
61 Comments / June 8th, 2009 / Productivity
Results: My 7 Day Self-Discipline Challenge
Just over a week ago I decided to put myself on a leash. Not literally of course, but figuratively. I decided that I wanted to push my own limits and spend 7 days focusing on only the very important things that matter to me and my business.
I took drastic action and was very critical about the areas of life that waste my time. I cut things out of my schedule that are very habitual and things that sometimes feel like a necessity. The challenge is now over and today I’m sharing the results – if any of you joined me on the day I posted about it, you should also be finished your challenge by now.
45 Comments / June 3rd, 2009 / Productivity
7 Days of Pure Self-Discipline – You In?
After spending 16 months living on my own in Cape Town, South Africa, I came to a stage where I really felt like it was the right time to leave and return to England. I was having an amazing time in the country and had tons of friends, but I really wanted more time to focus on my own projects instead of renting my mind to a boss (as my friend Jonathan likes to call it).
In my very last night in the country, I was hanging out with my “girlfriend” and one of my best friends who basically told me how jealous he was of my opportunity but how much he looked up to me even though I was 4 years younger. I remember saying to him before we said our goodbyes that “I really, really hope I make the most of my chance and don’t waste it or take things for granted.”
122 Comments / May 27th, 2009 / Productivity
