Writing on my phone is one of the most productive things I do. I can write on my way to the gym, while I wait in line for coffee, or when I’m bored at a restaurant ignoring my friends. All I have to do is pick up my phone and write.

Writing on my laptop is an entirely different experience. It’s more disciplined, less distracted. I sit in my room like a lowly derelict, accumulating both waste and prose. After a few minutes I’m hacking away like some sort of expert. Let’s just say it’s productive in another way.

For me (and I suspect a few of you), both of these worlds are necessary for a good piece of writing. We need the ability to add to a piece whenever we want, but we also need the ability to sit down with it—alone—and pick away at its details. This is where Medium comes in.

Medium allows us to easily travel between these two worlds. The result is that writing becomes more natural. If you’re trying to polish off a piece for class, then, or maybe for work, or—even better—just for fun, Medium can help. To understand how, though, we need to look at what life was like before Medium.

Life Before Medium

A few years before I hopped aboard the Medium train, I was trapped in a universe with nothing but Apple’s Note and Microsoft Word. I would use Note on my phone and Word at my desk. The problem came when I wanted to ship something from one of these worlds to the other.

The first problem was that I actually had to send something. This was annoying. But second was that neither app was coded to play well with others. When I sent something from one device to another, then, different annoying things would happen.

When I transferred something from Note to Word, for instance, my apostrophes would get transmogrified into these weird hieroglyphic-like characters, and any numbers I used in the form of a list (mostly for sources) would get converted into zeros. It’s like two solar systems of code collided and my document was the result. To do much of anything with this post-collision piece, I would first have to undo this damage.

When I sent something in the opposite direction (from Word to my phone), a different annoying thing would happen: my file wouldn’t adapt correctly to the screen. To read it, then, I would have to zoom in and scroll from one end of a sentence to the other. Only one word accurately describes this situation—ugh.

As you can see, life before Medium made writing across worlds a little difficult. Things I wrote on my phone would, for the most part, stay on my phone, and things I wrote on my laptop would do the same. Both worlds remained safely circumscribed and untainted by each other’s presence. This made it difficult to work on a piece as much as I wanted.

A Psychology of Barriers

Each of these little annoyances acted as a barrier between me and my writing. And, as a rule, the more barriers that exist between you and something you want to do, the less motivated you’ll be to do that thing.

The above principle holds for most aspects of life. It even holds across species. In rats and mice, for instance, the more times they have to press a lever to get a reward, the less motivated they’ll be to get that reward. After a certain point, they’ll give up entirely (what researchers call the “breakpoint”). With writing, then, the more barriers we have to hurtle, the less interested we’ll be.

But desire also plays a role. If these rats and mice are particularly motivated to get that reward—say they’re working for cocaine or something—they’ll press that lever a whole lot more times. They’ll be much more willing to work, in other words, because they really want that reward. The same goes for us: if we really want to write, these barriers won’t mean much.

The problem, then, comes when we’re not that motivated. Maybe we’re between projects or rushing to class. If we have to navigate an unadapted Word document or download some notes from our phone, we’ll probably feel less inclined to write.

Breaking Down Barriers

The destruction of these barriers is a basic principle in UX. In general, the rule is to reduce the number of barriers between you and something you want so it’ll be easy to come back for more when you want these things.

Take Amazon, for instance. Amazon will save your username, password, credit card information, and even show you things that other people who share your shopping habits also buy. Now you’ll see more of the things you want and it’ll only take a few clicks to buy them. Joyous day! The number of barriers between you and your wants (in this case buying things) has thinned.

Now take Twitter. Twitter will similarly save your preferences, show you things you want to see, and generally make your experience using it less cumbersome. Now, if you get the impulse, it’ll be easy to read some articles or disparage some random stranger. Again, the distance between you and your wants has shrunk.

Most of the above is done with things like cookies, pixels, and local storage—little bits of code that recognize and track your online behavior. Collectively, these work to associate your device’s IP address (essentially its social security number) with your preferences, clicking tendencies, shopping habits, etc. This enables them to tailor their product specifically to you. The bits of code more important for writing, though, have a slightly different aim.

UX Fundamentals

The UX fundamentals essential to our story are those that exterminate the boundaries between us and our different devices. These are the sine qua non of any modern day app, and work to blend together worlds that would otherwise remain disjunct.

Medium takes such fundamentals and applies them to writing. It uploads our drafts to one place so we don’t have to send them anywhere. It adapts our text to fit the screen so we don’t have to zoom in and scroll around. And, most importantly, it makes any edit we craft on one device show up on the others. Every barrier, in other words, that once stood between us and our writing has crumbled. Now we can write wherever, whenever.

Now, I know what you might be thinking: Google Docs. Google Docs similarly allows us to work from any device at any time, saves our edits across platforms, and adapts our text to fit the screen. So why am I arguing for Medium?

Well, as great as good ol’ Google Docs may be, it doesn’t remedy all of our problems. It doesn’t, for instance, let us swipe the keyboard out of the way while writing from our phone. This makes it hard to flip between reading and writing. It’s also wildly cluttered with editing options. This obnoxious complexity is a little tedious. So while it’s certainly better than Word or Note, it still puts more barriers between us and our writing than Medium.

By eliminating such barriers, Medium makes it easier to write. It takes our prose, moves it closer to reach, and—by doing so—makes writing more approachable. So when Darwin famously wrote that “man has an instinctive tendency to speak,” but not “to bake, brew, or write,” Medium makes him a little less correct. Now we can write whenever we want.

Other Fun Things

1. Header photo cred: goo.gl/JfASDa
2. The technique most often used to find the breakpoint is called the progressive ratio. You can read more about it here.
3. If you want to learn how other tech companies utilze code to make our lives easier, you can read Facebook’s methods here, and Google’s here. I think Twitter’s are the most laudably transparent, though.

I’m talking about self-discipline. The most important principle of a person’s accomplishment. As stated by Elbert Hubbard: “Self-discipline is the ability to do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.”

Therefore, self-discipline is the main factor to accomplish not only your health or career goals, but also all other life goals. It’s that one determinant that opens all doors and makes what you thought were impossible possible.

This enables the average you to rise as far and fast as your intelligence and talent can take you. But without self-discipline, no matter how blessed you are with knowledge, opportunities, and genetics, you will hardly ever rise above mediocrity. For self-discipline comes with self-control — to stay on track and do what is right.

“By constant self-discipline and self-control, you can develop greatness of character.” — Grenville Kleiser

Self-Discipline Habit

Unfortunately, bad habits are easy to form, and good habits aren’t. Fortunately, even though, bad habits are easy to form, they are hard to live with; good habits are hard to form but they are easy to live with.

It’s hard to form the habit of self-discipline, and therefore self-control as well, but once developed, they become easier to practice. When the habit of self-discipline is rooted firmly in your behaviour, you’ll start to feel uncomfortable when you behave in an opposite manner.

“Everything is hard before it is easy.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

In order to become the kind of person that you want to become, learning the habit of self-discipline is a requirement. Every practice of self-discipline strengthens every other discipline, such as waking up early to make sure deadlines are met to have time for your family. However, every weakness in self-discipline weakens your other disciplines as well, such as pushing the snooze button and postponing the deadline towards the evening and making no time for your family.

Self-Discipline Development

To develop the habit of self-discipline, you need to make a solid decision about how you will behave in a certain part of an activity. For example, you decided to live a healthier lifestyle by going to the gym to do workout every day for at least one hour. You then refuse to allow exceptions until the habit of self-discipline in that area is solidly established.

Each time you turn away, as you will because life is full of temptations and distractions, you need to be determined once again to practice self-discipline until it becomes easier. This will require you to deny pleasure and delay gratification in the short-term to enjoy greater rewards in the long-term. You must be willing to sacrifice your wants in order to stay on track to accomplish the goals you’ve set for yourself, but you should never sacrifice your loved ones and your dignity.

“Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness.” —Napoleon Hill

Here are four methods that work for me to improve my self-discipline.

1. Remove Temptations and Distractions

Removing all temptation and distractions is a crucial step when working to improve your self-discipline. For example, you want to get healthier, then you need to control your eating. Throwing away all junk-food will be your first step towards getting healthier. Or you’re all over the place at work and you want to deliver a better result, then you need to have a better focus. You need to remove your smartphone and delete the applications that keep you distracted.

“Out of sight, out of mind.” — Proverb

2. Embrace The Uncomfortableness And Awkwardness

Improving your self-discipline can be uncomfortable and awkward, because it means to break out of your normal habit and indulge in a better, healthier, and happier habit.

In the book “Power of Habit” by Charles Duhigg, he explained that habitual behaviours are traced to a part of the brain associated with emotions, memories and patterns. This part of the brain is called the basal ganglia. Decisions on the other hand, are made in the prefrontal cortex, which is a completely different area. When a behaviour becomes a habit, decision making will stop, and the autopilot will take over.

Therefore, active decision making is required to break down a bad habit, and to build up a new habit. This will feel wrong, because your brain will resist the change to maintain what it has been programmed to do. So, the solution is to embrace the uncomfortableness and awkwardness. Acknowledge that a change in habit will take some time to be in your system for the better.

“Change might not be fast and it isn’t always easy. But with time and effort, almost any habit can be reshaped.” — Charles Duhigg

3. Forgive Yourself

Changing habits won’t always go as planned. You will experience ups and downs and you will notice that it’s easy to get wrapped up in guilt, anger and frustration. These emotions will not help you in your progress to self-discipline. You need to forgive yourself and keep moving forward. Acknowledge what caused the negative emotion and move on. The longer you stray away from change, the harder it will get to keep going in a positive direction.

“Forgive yourself for your faults and your mistakes and move on.” — Les Brown

Character Development

In the end, your accomplishment in any goal depends more on the person you become than what you do and acquire. By practising self-discipline, you will develop a greater self-esteem and self-respect. As Aristotle wrote:

“The ultimate end of life is the development of character.” — Aristotle

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Building The Bridge Between Goals and Accomplishments was originally published in The Startup on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

So, you really want to be a working comedian?

I’m talking a REAL road comic. Does grinding it out on the road, staying in condos and crappy hotels, constant rejection, emails never returned, countless car repairs, connecting flights, flying coach across the country sitting in the middle seat, losing your luggage, forgetting your merchandise, all for the the same comedy club flat-rate pay they have been paying since the 1980’s sound appealing?

Well, let me share some tips on how this dreamer (me) has managed to do it without going full-on Richard Jeni from all the nonsense that comes with telling jokes for a living.

Doing the Road

Comic: How do you do the road?

Me: You just do it!

Comic: Huh?

Me: Come to think of it, there isn’t anything really out there that shows how you do it? Besides Judy Carter’s out-comedy-dated book and comics looking to make fast cash by teaching a scam comedy class.

So, here’s how I do it — free of charge, btw. I’m a nice guy.

I’ve managed to be a full-time road comic pretty much without any representation or management. I do have some now, but I learned everything by asking questions non-stop to anyone that was willing to share their secrets. A lot of comics guys who have been doing it are helpful because they know how hard this journey is. There are some that won’t help because they are bitter assholes that never made it and never will make it. Don’t worry though, these people will all die tragically in a Megabus collison someday so have some contentment in knowing that. (kidding)

Here are my 4 essential tricks to working the road as a comedian. I picked 4 because wrestler Ric Flair just followed me on Twitter and I loved his group “The Four Horseman” as a kid in the NWA. So you only get four because of that. Blame Ric Flair for inspiring me.

1. Follow Up With The Booker From The Club You Just Performed At

No matter how you get booked at club — whether it’s from a reference, a video, an agent, or a headliner bringing you out — you have to follow up with the booker. I work a lot because a lot of big acts have brought me out on the road and that’s not lost upon me when that happens. It’s always a thrill when a big stand-up act throws you a week of work at a club you’ve never performed in.

I’ve been very grateful big acts like Chris D’Elia, Bert Kreicsher, Jim Florentine, Godfrey, have thrown me weeks of road work. When this happens I always remember it’s their show, but try to use it to come back.

Go in there, be professional, and bring your “A” game to the stage. This is your chance to win over some new fans but also a chance to get booked back at the club without the help of the headliner.

Jim Florentine once brought me to the Omaha Funnybone and I had amazing shows, because it’s an amazing club. The General Manager Colleen Quinn and I hit it off so well that I asked for her contact information to come back. Because of that, I work the room 4 times a year. Another thing I used to do is send out a “Thank You” card for letting me perform at the comedy club’s well-oiled machine.

Always follow up, especially if you do well.

2. Sending Weekly Avails

One thing that is a constant when you perform any stand-up gig: another comedian will ask, “Who books that!?”

I’ve been asking, “Who books that!?” at least once a day to comedians for about 15 years now. You would think by now I’d know all the bookers in comedy, but it’s never ending. Once you’re in at a club, you have to send out ‘avails’, meaning your availability.

Below is an example of how I send out my quarterly ‘avails’ that I do once a week, every Tuesday. I always try to personalize every email in the beginning before I send my openings.

Boom!

Send them out, sit back, and wait.

Sometimes you’ll get a response right away. Others, you’ll wait a week to 3 years. Send them out without any emotion whatsoever. They are being read with zero emotion. It’s all a numbers game. Always remember you are one of 557 billion comedians working today according to fact I made up.

I also contact clubs via websites, essentially cold calling with my information. I will include a video link from my TV set, High-res headshot, my bio & credits. From there, it’s another numbers game as to who will get back to me. There are some club managers that will do it, so don’t lose hope if they’re not getting back to you.

3. Never Get Too Comfortable

Never get too comfortable working with someone or doing high profile amazing gigs.

I once did a high profile theatre gig where the booker actually put me up in the hotel penthouse and sent a car service to pick me up. I got paid $5,000 for one show. The very next week, I was getting paid $250 cash doing a one-nighter at bar with a microphone that sounded like a trucker CB and the stage was on a pool table during the Ohio State game in Ohio. I’ll still sleep on a buddy’s couch if it’s a club I really want to work.

I really do believe this type of mentality keeps you hungry and makes you tough. This profession is a test of will and you will fall fast if you don’t want to put in the work.

4. Handling Down Time

A comedian on the road waits all day for the show.

You basically are killing time to do your 10 min, 25 min, or hour depending where you are in the line up all day long. When you’re on the road, this can be dangerous. How do you pass the time? Sleep, porn, gym, bar, porn, going to the movies, porn, writing, and porn. The temptation to get into a little trouble is overwhelming at times. There have been many times where I chose the bar and sleeping over doing something productive. I have put together a checklist that I’m trying to utilize myself so I’m not dead by the age of 50.

1) Most hotels have mini-fridges, so I try to go shopping when I first get into town. I do this so I’ll have healthier options for food and not so tempted to go eat out. Grabbing fast food after a show is so easy to do, especially after drinking. I have the beer gut to prove it if you don’t believe me.

2) Try your hardest to establish a routine when you’re in a strange town and state. What I’ve been doing is making a list of things I have to do in a day. I’m holding myself accountable…

Here’s my list:

• One hour of writing
• An hour-and-a-half at the gym
• 30 min of returning emails and messages
• 30 min of updating social media
• One of hour of comedy business work (update website, send avails, etc.)

I also keep a timer where I work 10 min straight and take a 5 min break to check Twitter, watch YouTube clips, etc. This keeps in a pattern and not tempted to blow off what I have to do. Again, this is what I do. You may have a better way of staying on track and productive and dammit, please tell me. I need help myself!

So, there you have it!

I once performed 14 straight days in a row, 3 different states, 3 different time zones. 11 shows of 25 min on stage and 6 shows doing an hour. I stayed in 3 different hotels, Staybridge Suites extended stay, Ramada Inn, Hilton, and a comedy condo. I woke up at noon most days, went to the gym for a horrible workouts because I was hungover, and I ate horribly. I probably gained 10 lbs from all that, but it also taught me the invaluable lesson that I need to manage my time better. Time management is key to all of this because of the downtown. I can’t encourage you enough to stay organized and focused.

I’m hoping what I’m sharing will help you in trying to get out there to do what you love. Stand-up comedy on the road is the true definition of “Labor of Love.” There is no possible way you can do this unless you’re love with the art form. Never get jealous of other’s success but instead inspired by watching other comics more successful than you. This will help push you to greatness…

I think?

You have to come to terms with failure. It’s not going away. No matter how hard you try, you might never achieve everything you want. That’s fine. Actually, it’s essential. You can’t fear failure anymore than death. You don’t have to like either of them. They don’t care.

That sounds pessimistic. It’s not. We hear “failure’s not an option” a lot these days. What a load of crap. True, failure isn’t optional. It’s inevitable. At some point, even if you try everything, you’ll fail. We don’t normally choose whether we succeed or not. A good deal of the time, our success or failure owes to factors well beyond our control.

Recently, we’ve started to see some passing attention to failure as a stepping stone to success. Failure as a teacher.

Sure, it can be all these things. But you can’t just kiss failure’s ass with your fingers crossed behind your back.

It’s possible that you’ll have to fail so much that you completely give up on the idea of success. For me, accepting failure didn’t make me quit or give up. It freed me. When you decide to keep doing what you love despite a complete acceptance of failure, then you know one of two things:

You’re insane.

You actually love what you do.

Maybe your passion will never turn a profit. Or if it does, it will never turn into a sustainable income. But does that matter? Even if you have to work a pretty shit job to support yourself, doing what you love on your own time still makes you happy. At least happier than you’d be otherwise.

Does that sound like bullshit? I’m sure it does to the lucky few who found their success right away. It happens. Sometimes, talented people win early on in life. Their failure might catch up with them later.

Other times, untalented people steal your place in line, using their connections or charm. You can’t worry about that. Focus on your work, and accept failure.

Job interviews are the most painful form of torture known to modern humans. Okay, they’re somewhere in the top ten. Few things cause more stress, sleeplessness, and overall misery.

That’s just me, of course. Maybe you love job interviews. Good for you. In that case, I hope you experience the pleasure of many.

For the rest of us, I have one simple piece of advice. Assume up front that they won’t make you an offer. Just hearing those words releases a flood of endorphins, and I’m not even on the market.

You’ve accepted failure as the probable outcome. If you’re still ready to do the interview well, knowing up front that you won’t get the job, you’re ready. That’s a great head space to live in.

I’ve only got personal experience to rely on. But I’ve noticed it works. Regardless of the job or industry, I’ve always lost when I go through the interview with jittery optimism.

But when I rest on the calm assurance that I’ll be rejected no matter how great I do, I perform at my best.

It’s the same logic we tend to apply to relationships. You always seem to meet “the one” after you’ve given up on love. Why is that? Maybe we stop trying so hard. Despite all we read on the Internet about willpower and perseverance, trying too hard remains a fatal mistake we’re all guilty of making sometimes. Or a lot of times.

Part of me wishes I’d filmed my worst job interviews. In hindsight, they’re hilarious. My old strategy used to be re-reading post-it notes I’d stuck to all of my books with chapter summaries. A typical grad student strategy used to compensate for massive intellectual insecurities.

I used to think that a brilliant distillation of Foucault, at just the right time, would open the doors of academia to me.

Nope.

But that’s how I acted during interviews. When search committees asked me about my research projects, I didn’t give the simple summaries they wanted. I gave them an avalanche of details, including citations. Their facial expressions told me something was terribly wrong. My brain said, “You’re not trying hard enough! Dig deeper, Jessica!”

The end result: I took twice as long answering questions than necessary. That meant the search committees didn’t get to ask all of their questions. When that happens, you’re basically fucked.

My year on the market, I did about seven Skype or MLA interviews after sending out dozens of applications. Don’t know about the MLA job fair? Imagine a funeral, but it’s actually a conference.

Each looming interview kept me up half the night, skimming over dozens of articles and rehearsing answers to questions. I drank even more coffee than normal. And by the time my interview started, my brain was a bubbling cauldron of disorganized factoids.

Somehow I salvaged three campus visits from that mess. The first two, I bombed. For the same reasons. Trying too hard. But then something magical happened. All those failed interviews dulled me to the fear of failure. I made my peace with it.

That changed my entire attitude to job interviews — especially campus visits. My goal became less about saying the one thing that secured a job offer. Instead I just focused on making it through my interviews like a normal person would. Instead of saying what I thought committees wanted to hear, I spoke my mind. Can you believe that worked?

And it turned out that I’d been doing that already, to some extent, the whole time. The trouble was that I acted like a normal person for part of my interview, somehow saw that as deficient, and then overcompensated. Becoming aware of that made all the difference.

As one of my friends delicately suggested, “Maybe you just need to learn when to shut the hell up maybe?”

Yeah, that.

My last campus interview felt enjoyable. The moment I boarded my flight, I pretended it wasn’t a campus interview. I’d just been invited to give a guest talk, all expenses paid. All I had to do was answer questions succinctly and honestly, and then talk about something I already enjoyed doing.

It worked. Can you imagine that? I didn’t try to impress anyone. I stopped worrying about saying the right thing. It freed me up to listen more and actually have conversations with people.

Maybe it helped that I was in the midst of a level-5 cold with appropriate doses of meds. That tends to mellow you out. (See previous posts.)

You want an example. Here’s one. One of the most fatal interview questions goes like this, “Where do you see yourself in five years?”

Most interviews throw you some version of that question. Previously, I’d said what I thought they wanted to hear — an ambitious research agenda, accelerated timeline to tenure, awards, and so on.

But finally, I just said what I meant. “I see myself teaching here and publishing articles. I want to make students better readers and writers, and help them get actual jobs with their degrees. I’d like to get involved in a major service project that increases our retention and graduation.”

Bingo.

Actually, ignore everything I just said. If you can use the words “retention” and “graduation rate” during any job interview, you’re golden.

We make our biggest mistakes when we try to impress people. Normally, most of us know better. But job interviews work people up into the strangest states of mind.

For me, the best solution involved a complete suspension of my ambition. After all, I’d already laid all the ground work. I’d read. Done my research. Prepared my job talk. It did me zero good to stay up rehearsing until 1 am in my hotel room. Pretending that there was no job placed me into the perfect frame of mind. Maybe this outlook can work for you.

Terry(fictional ) is a hard working woman she strives for the best and works in long stretches, she manages to get the task done but still fails to impress with her results. The output doesn’t reflect the amount of hard work she puts into getting it done. To be true, she is not effective and efficient in her approach and very often ends up being unproductive. What is wrong with her effort? Why she ends messing up everything?

Well, today I will give you one most powerful mantra to be effectively productive in whatever task you perform and that is:

“To Fall In Love ” to lose yourself fully in what you are doing, anything done without heart & soul in place is bound to give an inefficient outcome.

Why It’s Important To Be In Love With Your Task/Profession?

I have observed and deeply experienced that any task small or big, easy or complex demands certain level of passion, love & commitment. That extra care, that romanticism with your work has to exist to help it reach to its ultimate desired state.

Have you experienced whenever you are doing something which put’s you into a kind of flow you hardly realize the time which passed by, it’s a state of deep engagement where you are kind of lost and feel ecstatic, I call it a state of Meditation where you miss most of unproductive things, that sound of distraction no more exists and someone has to wake you up to bring you back into the state of normalcy. Yes, it may be a crazy state to be in, but it works wonders & you can only attain that state of absolute flow only & only when you are in absolute love with your task, your professions.

I Feel:-

If your work is in perfect harmony with your heart & soul you are bound to create magic with your endeavors

You may like : It Is Good To Startup But It Is Wise To See If You Can Pull It Through ?

Summary :

So if you are looking to excel in your workplace and want to be effectively productive in your deeds you have to fall in unconditional love with your work. So it is highly advisable that you choose your profession right, else you will end up wasting your life for something which is against your own will and will force you to make unwanted adjustments and compromises.

This life is a valuable asset which needs to be lived the way you want, to create something meaningful out of it, to share it with the purpose larger than life itself, you can’t simply go about it casually and live like a burden, you have to preach it like a prized possession and do wonderful things being a blessed human to make your life joyful and blissful

Keep Reading, If You are 💚 💚 Do, 👏 👏 Clap & Click Here to subscribe to hear more from me.

For More Such Articles You Can Also Check Out My Personal Blog :

http://www.techprenuer.com/

Thank You All…..Thanks For Being There, Inspiring & Loving…

The Most Powerful Way To Be Effectively Productive ! was originally published in codeburst on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

It’s been eight weeks since I began my “50 books in 2018” challenge with my friend Tom Kuegler.

I was pretty terrified to take on this goal of reading at least one book a week, considering I barely kept up with reading one book a month last year.

My excuse was always that I didn’t have enough time. After all, I have a full time job, work on my side hustle full time outside of work, and travel frequently.

But deep down I knew that was bullshit, and that I could make time if I truly wanted to.

This goal has truly transformed my life in the past eight weeks — really challenging me to take a look at how I’m spending my minutes during the day.

I’m excited to share that I’m currently finishing book #9 for the year, and loving every book reading moment.

Not having enough time was a complete bullshit excuse all along.

My endless minutes of mindless phone time has transformed into meaningful minutes of mindful reading time.

I read when I wake up in the morning, on the subway, on my lunch break, at the deli after work when I’m waiting for my usual sandwich, and before I go to bed every night.

All time I had previously spent mindlessly scrolling on my phone.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my social media and phone time, but I was wasting a fuck ton of time scrolling without purpose. Now, I’m more productive and engaged when I am on the phone.

Two months into this challenge that I was so scared to take on, and I feel more at peace, less addicted to my phone, more satisfied with my days… I find it easier to fall asleep at night, I’m enjoying my subway commute more, and I’m learning so much more than I had imagined.

So you can continue to hold me accountable, and see what I’m actively reading, I’ve decided to share the #50Books2018 tracking doc I created:

#50Books2018

On the first tab, you can check out the books that I’ve read so far / what I’m currently reading. The second tab is a template for you to use as well if you’d like! If you’re joining the challenge and want access to track yours on this google doc, LMK, I’d love to add you!

Has a goal ever transformed your life? How so? I’d love to hear, please comment below :)

If you found this article useful please do 👏 and to share it with your friends. Remember, you can clap up to 50 times — it really makes a big difference for me.

We can also connect on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn! ❤

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How My 50 Book Challenge Has Changed My Life So Far was originally published in The Startup on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Overwhelmed? Take a step back and reset to basics that work.

There are moments in which we need to take a step back and focus on the critical stuff. To take the 30,000 ft. view to understand the bigger picture so that we can adjust and redesign our life’s building blocks.

For the past few years, I have been experimenting with proven practices and habits to enhance our impact and productivity. Through that process, I have learned that two key principles, when successfully combined, have the power to keep a human being operating at peak productivity.

The approach is simple. If we compare a productive life with the concept of travel, what are the key elements defining our movement?

1. Direction:

Setting ambitions at the intersection of identity and purpose.

2. Fuel:

Adopting a daily routine that will drive you to your goal (by keeping us focused on action)

1. Direction: setting your ambitions at the intersection of identity and purpose.

Basic premise: the absence of meaning in what we do heavily impairs our ability to perform at our best.

What person, at a personal and professional level, do you aim to become in the next few years? Are your daily actions contributing to becoming that person as you go along? How are ambitions balancing your different areas of responsibility in your life?

How long since you last devoted time to this critical thinking?

I have been prey of modern life myself, the whirlwind and busyness, the need to “survive” day after day. But there is a way to gain distance and start owning our lives again.

Aspirations without principles will lead to failure and frustration. Our aspirations should be the result of the person we want to become, they need to be identity-defined. They need to reflect intention. Otherwise we won’t be able to find the consistency between our broad targets and the path we walk on a daily basis. And with no alignment between our objectives and our actions, we won’t be able to find purpose in our journey. It is not the achievement of our goals, but the person we become trying what brings meaning to our lives.

If we don’t solve this puzzle first, then the rest won’t be built on solid ground. If we don’t believe in what we are doing, we won’t be resilient when we hit our lows, our times of doubt. We won’t be able to refocus and regain our centeredness. We won’t be able to establish clear priorities and to live by them, to stay on the ball. A sense of direction and deep intentionality are what keeps us in the right direction.

2. Fuel: adopting a daily routine that will drive you to your goal.

”An object in motion continues in motion” — Isaac Newton

Basic premise: eliminate willpower from the equation. Structure your day in a way that you are prompted to action by a simple process.

As a parent, I have seen how a child with no routines struggles to adapt to the basic needs of social life. We all need rely on processes, in one way or another, to function. It is a basic premise of human nature.

A well defined set of processes, habits and routines become critical when trying to maximise our personal and professional output. Our mind does not cope well with grand objectives, placed in the distant future. Lack of connection between what we want from the future and what we need to do today, combined with a pure reliance on willpower, leads to failure. You may have suffered from this when setting your typical new year resolutions. I have been there. Research show that the initial push last 4 to 8 weeks, at most, in the absence of a strong framework.

We need to simplify the present and define the actions that week after week can get us closer to such goals. This is why processes become key. We may think of this as the funnel that we need to build between now and our objectives.

Step 1 — Define the High-Impact Actions that have the best predictive power of the result. These are the actions that, if sustained week after week, will help us get closer to the goal.

For me, continuous learning about personal development, productivity and effectiveness is one of my key personal aspirations. My High-Impact Activity is to do as much research as possible on the topic, which is reflected in my goal of reading 50 books per year.

Let’s pick another example. To properly structure my own learning and thinking, another High-Impact Activity related to the same ambition is to create a written body of work. This is reflected in my additional goal of writing at least 40 articles in 2018.

Step 2 — Set up a process that works for you. If you are, like me, most fresh in the morning, you could work towards your ambitions through a solid morning routine. In my case, I wake up early to meditate, read and write before leaving for work.

As I mentioned on a previous post, I devote 30 minutes in the morning to read, while sipping my coffee. Once I leave home for the office, I will turn on an audiobook. My commute will take me another 30 minutes, so by the time I hit the office I have normally gone through 1 hour of the content that matters to me. This is more than enough to go through 1 book a week, on average. That is 52 books per year.

I also devote around an hour to my writing every morning. I have further unpacked my target of 40 articles per year into a more manageable objective of 5,000 written words per week. So every day I set myself to write between 500 and 1,000 words in an hour, regardless of the result. I just write and when the time is up, I stop. Done for the day.

Just hitting the 5,000 word count every week has proven to be enough to produce valuable material for a 1,600 words article per week, which I edit over the weekend and I publish on the following week.

Step 3 — Forget about the goal. Just focus on the daily action and trust the process.

Reading 50 books seems like a very ambitious target, but you can see how unpacking that into a daily low-effort routine can drive you to the goal. Starting very small, almost with an insignificant devotion of time, will ensure that you build a sticky habit. Those 60 minutes daily allow me to stop thinking about the goal by keeping me focused on the necessary daily action.

Let’s turn again to my writing. Over a single year, 40 published articles of 1,600 words (my average article length) amount to 64,000 words of edited work. That’s enough material for a book, based on a single hour of work per day. The power of small routines practiced daily.

Bonus point — Gamify your way towards your objectives. The power of keeping track of your weekly targets.

I use the Teal iPhone app to track some of my personal development targets. Having to fill a dashboard with my progress on a weekly basis makes the whole process a fun challenge.

Try with your preferred metrics in there… how about “weekly number of prospecting calls to customers?”. Choose what may work for you depending on the high-impact activity you are trying to track and let the dashboard be your reminder.

You can build upon this framework to maximise your impact and productivity

You could define productivity as the successful combination of 1) meaningful aspirations, 2) a predictive set of daily processes and 3) the execution of small actions consistently on a daily basis.

It is easy to see how this framework can be applied to any aspiration, personal or professional, to align objectives and behaviours.

You could build upon these 2 basic premises to design effective morning and evening rituals, reconquer your sleep hygiene or craft an effective professional workflow that matches your energy levels throughout the day.

I will be sharing how I went about creating these and other processes and routines in future posts, so stay tuned and… keep moving!

If you enjoyed the article, please consider hammering the clap button :) and sharing the post.

You can connect with me on twitter here or read more articles like this on my blog rafaelsarandeses.com.

Also, feel free to leave a comment below! Thank you for reading.

This story is published in The Startup, Medium’s largest entrepreneurship publication followed by 301,336+ people.

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You Want to Be Productive? You Need a Purpose and a Process was originally published in The Startup on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Often the things that have the biggest impact on your success are small and inexpensive. While I don’t promote consumerism or excessive spending, there are cool little tools that will help elevate your success and hack your life.

I’ve learned about many of these tools through books and podcasts, and now I want to share with you the best one’s for you to try, to see if they’ll give you similar results.

This post is fun, and I loved writing it. It’s such a good feeling to share ideas that can have a major effect on other people’s lives.

Here we go. Below are thirteen purchases under $500 that will significantly elevate your success:

1. Think And Grow Rich book ($5.70)

The book that many entrepreneurs say has changed their life and led them to carve their own road of success is Think And Grow Rich. It’s a cult classic and even though it was written a long time ago, the lessons are still relevant as well as timeless.

If you only get one item on this list, then I insist you buy this book and have it next to your bed.

Let it remind you of what you are capable of and what you must practice daily. I have read it more than ten times, and I encourage you to do the same.

2. Kindle E-reader ($119.99)

Successful people all read and the more you learn to improve yourself, the quicker you will reach your goals. As someone who has struggled reading traditional paperback books because of my eyesight, the Kindle has changed my life.

The model I recommend is the Paperwhite, and it can be taken anywhere with you especially if you travel. Almost any book can be read on it, and it’s one of life’s simple pleasures.

Avoid using tablets with the Kindle App if you can because you will find you will become distracted with social media, email, notifications, etc.

3. Bellicon indoor mini trampoline ($399.00)

We all have days when we are off and are lacking energy or suffering from a headache.

The Bellicon is the only piece of fitness gear you need. It’s not only heaps of fun to bounce on a trampoline in the comfort of your own home, but it also gets your lymphatic system going.

NASA has done several studies on trampolines / rebounders, and even the famous Tony Robbins uses one of these before he goes on stage.

Movement is life and bouncing on a trampoline can be done while watching a Youtube video, listening to a podcast, or even talking to an overseas friend on Skype.

Your success will transform when you start to exercise more. At fifteen minutes a day, bouncing on a trampoline can fit into anyone’s busy schedule.

4. Meditation App ($4.99 per month)

I think we have hammered the point home here on Addicted2Success about meditation many times before, but in case you didn’t get the memo, it’s crucial to your success to start meditating.

I looked at my own circle of entrepreneurs that I know, and I figured out that more than 80% of them meditate.

There are really only two apps to use when meditating and they are: Calm and Headspace. I personally use Calm, but both are great.

An app is the best way to go because it helps keep you on track, it gamify’s your progress, plays calming nature sounds, and has stunning visuals.

I recently hit 33 days straight of meditating twice a day with the Calm app and the silly green badges do seem to make me feel good, and like I have progressed in life….lol. Crank up your success and start meditating like a real entrepreneur!

5. Fearless Motivation album ($16.99)

I discovered Fearless Motivations music through Spotify originally, and it’s exactly what you need to listen to before a big event, meeting, or session at the gym.

Essentially, the album’s they have put out consist of motivational music with pumped up speeches been spoken over the top.

Fearless Motivation has quite a few albums so I would recommend starting with the one titled “Today Is The Day.”

Don’t worry if people see you in your car driving, performing power poses and talking loudly to yourself, this is exactly what the albums are designed to do.

6. A snake plant ($16.99)

Whether you are into gardening or not (I’m definitely not) having an indoor Snake Plant in your bedroom will help improve the air quality.

Green houseplants are also great to look at after staring at a computer screen because the color green helps refresh and relax your eyes. This is why many cars have a green dashboard light.

There are lots of indoor plants available although many shopping centers and office buildings have chosen the Snake Plant because it gives off more oxygen than other options, and removes some very nasty chemicals in the air.

Apparently, indoor plants can also help improve your mood and therefore reduce depression. For less than $20 you really can’t go wrong with a Snake Plant.

7. Rode smartphone mic ($79.00)

In the age of podcasts and recording content, a simple tool that you must have is a quality microphone. The one I use it the Rod Smart Lav because it can plug into an iPhone and it comes with its own recording app.

This mic will allow you to record interviews with people, and it can also be synced up to any video that you might shoot at the same time.

I’ve also used it at live events too, and it’s worked well. This device is an excellent way to come across as a pro in your field of expertise.

8. Video camera ($279.00)

We’ve all heard that content is king, and right now, social media is all about video. With platforms like Periscope, Meerkat, Facebook Live, and Snapchat, it’s important to be able to share video content that is decent quality and can educate the world on what you have to give.

As you get better at filming video’s, you will elevate your success and potentially become a thought leader in your field.

The video camera I recommend is the Canon HF 606although there are plenty that will do the job. What you want is something that records in HD, and ideally, is compact.

9. Lava lamp ($17.99)

No, it’s not a throwback to the 1960’s. The lava lamp will help elevate your success by creating the right kind of mood. Your best work is done when you are in a powerful state.

Every major recording studio has a lava lamp for a reason, and it’s because it helps us be creative. Entrepreneurship is closely linked to creativity so it will help bring out more of the best in you.

I’ve had one next to my writing desk for over five years now, and it really gives me the good vibes I need to come up with memorable ideas to change the world. So get groovy baby and try out a lava lamp to help elevate your success!

10. A domestic flight ($199 — $500)

Working hard on your dream of trying to be successful in your field can take all of your brainpower and energy.

We need to reset once in a while to refuel and gain a different perspective on our current challenges. A domestic flight of around one hour away from where you live is a great way to take a break and see new things.

For me, the domestic flight I take is to Sydney, which is not far away and helps me to hang out at different places, and see people I haven’t seen for a while. Whenever I come back from a short trip, I always feel refreshed and full of new ideas.

11. Sleep mask ($25.90)

The way you sleep will impact your success more than you realise. In order to get a good nights sleep the experts recommend having your bedroom as dark as possible.

For many years I slept with the blinds up and wondered why I never slept well.

It was only when I heard a few interviews of Arianna Huffington explaining some of the fundamentals of sleep that I changed things up. The cheapest and easiest way to better your sleep is to buy a sleep mask.

You can also use this same sleep mask when you are flying on a plane and need to get some sleep. I’ve used one for about six months, and it’s been a big help.

There are lots of different types available, and almost any of them will work. The one I use is a “Sleep Master Sleep Mask” which is the same one that Tim Ferriss talks about on his blog. Try it out and see what it feels like to sleep better and have more energy.

“Money never sleeps but you must if you want to be successful”

12. Web hosting for a blog ($4.99 per month)

Whatever your vision is, you have to create a web presence for your message. Even if you are an individual with no business or a brand new blogger, everyone should have a simple, free WordPress site. I’ve had one

for little over a year, and it costs me $4.99 per month for hosting.

It’s a way for people to contact you and see all of your social media channels in the one spot. It makes you stand out from the crowd, and it gives you an online presence that represents what you value and your beliefs.

Spend another $10 and get yourself your own domain name at the same time.

I promise this tiny, monthly investment will be worth every dollar.

13. Running Shoes ($79.99)

It’s easy to get stuck at our desk all day working away on our vision to change the world and never move

around. This is why society has become obese, and this is why we can feel tired halfway through the day.

The final investment you should make is on some lightweight running shoes that you can walk, and hopefully, run around in. I like the Nike Free runners although there are so many good ones to choose from that are made by other brands.

When you’re traveling overseas and taking in the sites, a good pair of runners becomes even more essential.

Make it a habit that when you’re working long hours on a project, that you go outside every two hours in your runners and at least walk around the block. This will help reset your mind and balance out your energy levels.

Originally posted on Addicted2Success.com

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13 Purchases Under $500 That Will Significantly Elevate Your Success. was originally published in Personal Growth on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.