I don’t know.

What are you asking me for? My focus is down the drain. Half the time I even forget to finish the sentence I’m

I’m writing this first on lined paper, with a real pen. How old fashioned.

My laptop is turned off, my wifi is left floundering around bouncing from wall to wall, and I’m hunched over my desk, pen in hand, feeling very much like Bob Cratchit.

But my productivity has increased tenfold!

I used to mess about online it seems, doing things I THOUGHT were productive, like checking stats and conducting research and searches. But my writing output has been painfully low.

Only when I was on a trip to Edinburgh without my laptop, and with my iPhone battery dead, did I grab the pad and get scribbling.

My handwriting is apalling, but I only need to read it for about a day until I type it up, and that is super quick [like 4 minutes for 1 article].

If you haven’t already, grab some lined paper, a pen, and your keyword list, and get going!

If the same happens to you, with productivity shooting through the roof, let me know!

– Lewis

lewis@yournicheblog.com

I recently bought a book called ‘Todoodlist‘, by Nick Cernis. [Official site: www.todoodlist.com]

In Todoodlist Nick teaches a very simple concept. Ditch complex systems if they’re no more effective than simple systems.

The To Do list is his main example, and one I now use every day.

Old Way: Sure it’s excellent to have a to do list on your iPhone which syncs back to RememberTheMilk on your desktop which syncs to Google Calendar which displays in the side of your gmail inbox and sends you an alert via Instant Messenger or email or SMS when a task is due…

But MAN IS THAT COMPLICATED!

Yes… this was my system until last week…

Certainly for putting off tasks until some point in the future a reminder system is great, but for the day to day, what’s wrong with a little bit of paper?

I was lost in the unproductive world of the over-productive tools.

With a few basics twists on the concept of the to do list / mind map you can make yourself more productive and able to focus better on the task at hand.

This is how it’s worked for me, and I love it so far.

Plus – Nick is a very funny guy. I dream of being that funny and smart. Literally, I dream.

The book is about 100 pages long, and entertains and teaches with interesting stories and essays.

You need to read it. You will probably like it as much as I do.

- Lewis

Yesterday I mentioned Productivity Tricks. So today and tomorrow I’m posting 2 of my favourites.

“Don’t break the chain!”

This technique is credited to Jerry Seinfeld, and you can read about it at lifehacker.

First, you get a calendar (a physical one is better – you don’t want to use something like Google Calendar for this), and you define your Daily Action.

For example: Do you need to write 1 article every day for your website? Do you need to keep your accounts in order to save pain in tax season?

The concept is simple. Day 1, you do your task, and you put a big fat juicy red cross through the day on the calendar. Day 2, you repeat, and your chain has begun!

You now have to keep up your chain of red crosses as long as you can.

This works well because the idea of breaking your chain will grow more painful than the thought of doing your daily task. Woo!

This is an excellent way to form new (positive) habits.

I use it to get myself to write every day, even if I don’t feel like it.

Do you use “The Chain”?

- Lewis