“The truth is, creativity isn’t about wild talent as much as it’s about productivity. To find a few ideas that work, you need to try a lot that don’t. It’s a numbers game.” – Robert Sutton

Do you ever wonder what makes a person creative? Have you ever thought about what it takes to make great ideas a reality? For the past few years I’ve been fascinated with what makes the most effective companies and people of our day successful.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.