I’m one of those rare people who love to create plans for everything. If you can name any area in your life that you can have control over, I guarantee you that I have created a mission on how to improve that aspect of my life at some point. (Okay, so maybe I’m a little bit nutty in that respect, but that’s okay. )

Day to day planning is what I focus on now. To me, having a productive day is incredibly important. If I go to bed with a lackluster feeling, I’m almost certain to wake up in the morning carrying over some residual emotions from that. Or vice versa – a great day yesterday means a great start today. Planning has a lot to do with these feelings, obviously.

At first, I would plan out my days as if I was a productivity robot, able to burst through tasks effortlessly with a little time to spare. Back to back objectives with a little breathing room made up my schedules. I would think to myself, “this is what it means to be productive. This is what it means to schedule your time wisely.” Of course, I now know that life doesn’t work like that.

Something would always happen that would tear my plans to shreds. The task at hand would be completed way before my estimated time… not necessarily a bad thing. Or worse, the task at hand would take up way too much time, sometimes several hours more than I would have guessed. This happened way too often than not, and it often pushed other necessary, urgent tasks to the next day. While that would be okay once in a while, the cumulative effect wasn’t too pretty. I began to feel burnt out and stressed to the max.

Is it human nature to think that we’re more efficient workers than we really are? I’d like to think so. We all want to believe we’re great at barreling through tasks at a breakneck speed, able to conquer anything that we put in front of ourselves. The real world and our lives don’t work like this, however. We’re not perfect machines; we’re human beings. We plan for computers, but we behave like primates.

After these realizations, I began to plan in a different way. I had to be more flexible, more conscious in the realization that I can’t possibly execute my plans perfectly if I tried to box myself in a tight schedule day in and day out.

With a little trial and error, I worked out two planning guidelines that I use to allocate time to activities:

1. Only assign time amounts to those activities where time is the only requirement. There are certain things that I do that merely require I put in the necessary time. Piano practice is one of these. No matter if I choose to practice for one hour or three hours, I need to simply put in the time. Results will happen regardless, as long as I’m focused on the task at hand.
2. Schedule wide open spaces for activities that are creativity based. I love writing these blog posts and sharing my ideas with the world. Sometimes words flow effortlessly and I can create an inspired post at an incredible speed. At other times I decide to go at a slower pace, deliberately crafting my sentences and carefully choosing how I want to convey my message. These are the activities that I choose not to assign a time to.

Before I started planning like this, I would assume every task would be a #1 task. Somehow my brain thought that any objective could be assigned an allotted time amount and I would be able to finish that objective within that time frame. How wrong I was!

It’s true that some tasks will only require you to pump in the time. Running on the treadmill at the gym for 30 minutes will never, ever take 29 minutes or 31 minutes. Always 30. In order to knock off that exercise goal, all you have to do is put in the time. Easy. The same goes for any activity where time is the main measurable aspect of accomplishment, such as practicing a musical instrumental or studying.

But what about creative endeavors? It took me a while to realize that not all creative pursuits are made equal. There are instances where it’s fairly easy to finish up a project within a short amount of time. There are other even greater instances where more time is needed then you’d think. Countless times I’ve started writing blog posts that I think will only take me an hour to write and edit, but wind up being over 3 to 4 hours (or more) start to finish. Note that there’s nothing wrong with this – just the fact that it can and does happen.

Looking at planning through the nature of the tasks helped me create better plans that I can actually carry out. Try this method of planning out yourself. Plan for the human being that’s going to be carrying out your schedule – yourself.

Questions to ask yourself: Think of one of your current goal. Are you having trouble breaking up that goal into manageable chunks of time? What if you set aside one afternoon and freely worked on a section of that goal, without a time limit? Would you get more work or less work done? Why or why not?

It sounds like a weird, half-semantics quibble, right? A “deadline” vs. a “goal”? Why does the word choice matter? To me, the word choice (and as an extension, the word meanings) make all of the difference. I like to think of a deadline as a goal that cannot be changed – a deadline is something more finalized, a goal is still an aspiration up in the air. Turning a goal into a deadline can be used to motivate you to take action. Let’s get into a little deeper detail.

We all know what a goal is. A goal is something that you’re working towards – a final product, a finished masterpiece. But because of the nature of the word “goal,” we think of goals as being more lofty and something that isn’t exactly concrete. And the word “goal” is so vague, as well; the word “goal” can be stretched to apply to nearly anything. Visiting the South Pole can be a world traveler’s goal, but a college student’s sole goal in life might be to make it through a week’s worth of classes without feeling burnt out.

A deadline, however, isn’t lofty. It’s specific. A deadline is a deadline – a dead line. When something is dead, it’s absolutely dead. Its status will be forever unchanging: no longer alive, no longer up for discussion. A line is something that’s concrete; a line is immovable, it’s as clear as black and white. A deadline, therefore, is something that’s forever unchanging – a line that cannot be crossed under any circumstance.

We often think of “deadlines” in various ways, so I’ll do a little bit of clarifying. Here are a few different types of deadlines, with definitions:

• Daily deadlines. Things that you can reasonably expect to be done by the end of the day. An example of a daily deadline would be writing up a new blog post for your personal development blog.
• Weekly deadlines. Things that you can reasonably expect to be done by the end of the week, sometimes sooner (possibly within the time frame of three to six days.) An example of a weekly deadline would be creating a series of five blog posts on a topic you’re passionate about.
• Biweekly deadlines. Things that you can reasonably expect to be done within a time frame of two weeks. These deadlines generally have a bit more depth than a weekly deadline. You might be able to accomplish a good chunk of a two week project within a week, but that extra time you give yourself could be the difference between “good” and “outstanding.”

I hesitate to go any farther than biweekly, because monthly deadlines more or less fall along the lines of goals and goal setting. Things that take a month or longer can  be broken down into daily, weekly, and biweekly deadlines.

I know what you’re thinking at this point. “You just defined what goals are and instead swapped the word ‘deadline’ for the word ‘goal.’ How is this any different?!”

It’s different because it makes me feel different. It should make you feel different, too.

You could have a goal that you need to walk for 30 minutes a day. That’s a fabulous goal, on the outside. But what if instead of referring to your walk as a goal, you referred to it as a deadline? Think about how you would phrase that deadline – “The deadline for walking 30 minutes must be done by 6:00 PM CST today, no exceptions.” Now you created a sense of drive and need solely with your words. With no choice but to either complete your objective or fail, you’re much more likely to be motivated to take concrete action.

Deadlines pick up where goals leave off. Goals may be what you wish your future to be like, but deadlines transform those goals into realistic action steps. How will you ever expect to achieve your goals if you don’t complete the deadlines you set for yourself?

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A deadline is like a goal that’s cast in stone. How different would your life be if you thought of goals being as unchanging deadlines instead of wishes and dreams you aspire towards?

Practical application: Pick one goal that you’ve been mulling over that you want to accomplish. Choose an aspect of that goal to work on, and set daily, weekly, and biweekly deadlines for accomplishment. Be crystal clear with your planning and deadlines, and work towards competing those objectives, no matter what.

In this post, I explain how I create my creative works, from a new blog post to an original piano piece to a speech I’m preparing to give. Hopefully by the time you’re finished reading this post, you have a stronger idea of how to express your own ideas more fully. As you can tell, this post is immensely long, but incredibly detailed.

I’m not giving you the magic wand so you can make your ideas miraculously appear better with no effort. I’m giving you the instruction manual on how to make your ideas work for you. Especially in the blogosphere, there’s a growing problem with people having absolutely brilliant ideas but a really terrible time expressing said ideas. I’ve seen people think up the most insanely original ideas ever that nobody else has even thought of before, but when push came to shove, they couldn’t fully express those ideas in a form that that makes any sense.

I’m determined to fix that problem in this post. In this post, I explain six simple steps you can use to go from having a fluffy idea to a tangible product. My goal for you is to be able to take any creative idea that you have and turn it into a reality.

These six steps are fairly simple. First, you choose an idea that you like. Next, you pick a medium for your idea and you create an outline, shelling out that idea in full. Then you compose a full rough copy drawn from your outline; afterwords, you edit that copy as much as needed until you hit perfection. Last, you put the finishing touches on your final copy and you share your finished product with the world!

So what are we waiting for? Let’s dive into the first step!

1. Think of an idea.

For any creative projects to seriously take shape, you need to start with a fresh idea.

Ideas can come from anywhere. They can be suggested to you by other people. You can go around looking at other people’s various works, and think about what’s missing from their products. What didn’t other people create yet that you can present? What new flavor can you add to the mix? Ideas also can be found via inspiration, like taking a walk and simply thinking about various topics. (This is one of my personal favorite ways to create ideas for future blog posts.)

You’ll probably get lots of really bad ideas, but a couple of ideas you come up with will be golden. Take note of those golden ideas; those ideas are the ones you want to expand on.

I recently wrote on this blog about how to create brilliant ideas. You can read that post if you’re having a bit of trouble at this stage.

If you’re still having trouble creating ideas, just ask yourself these questions: What do you want to share with the world? If you were given a platform and could speak to a million people, how would you creatively express yourself? What would you want to say to all of them?

2. Pick a medium for your idea.

So you’ve come up with your amazing idea that’s going to change mankind. Fabulous! Now what do you do?

The next two steps require you to start fleshing out your idea. Now is the time you figure out what kind of medium you want your idea to reside in, and what kind of structure your idea is going to have. First, let’s discuss the aspect of the medium for your message:

A medium is a simply the format your idea is expressed in. For example, if you’re a personal development guru and you want to speak about productivity, what kind of format are you going to put your idea in? Are you going to write a detailed blog entry? Do you want to create a short eBook? Do you want to talk through your topic in a cleverly produced podcast?

Picking a medium can be tough. If you pick the wrong medium, it can totally backfire on you and cause your message to appear not as strong. If writing an eBook might be stretching out your idea way too thin, writing a simple blog entry could possibly be a much better fit. Speaking about a detailed topic through a video might leave the viewers confused if there are too many technical points; in this case, an organized eBook would work so much better. An uplifting story told through a blog post might not have the same emotional impact as if you recorded a 10 minute podcast detailing the trials and tribulations of the story.

In any case, no matter what your idea is, the goal is to choose the best medium for your message, as Steve Pavlina would say. Find something that creates a great balance between what you have to say and what format you want to use to express what you say. Overall, your chosen medium should reflect the content of your message.

3. Create a basic outline.

With your medium now chosen, it’s time to sketch out your idea in an easy outline form.

The purpose of the outline is to give your idea a clearer shape. You want to be able to take the outline you create and then used that to chisel out a rough draft of your creative work. If you skip directly from Step 2 to Step 4, the final form of your idea might not be as coherent and clearly expressed as you’d like it to be.

Outlines can come in all shapes and sizes, so use what works best for you. Some people like to create a simple bulleted list of all of their main points; I’m a big fan of this. To create my outline of this article, I used a pencil and a sheet of computer paper. I envisioned this article in my mind and spoke the entire article out loud, imagining that I was giving a podcast of this topic to an audience from ProBlogger. As I hit a main point, I would write that in with a 1.), 2.), and so on. From there, as I would detail each numbered point, I would write in more bullets and quick words and phrases that describe those main points. By the time I was done speaking, I created a terrific outline that could guide me through writing this entire post.

If you need to do any research for your idea, now is the time you’d research what you need. You want to make sure that when you write your rough copy, you’re able to express yourself with what you mean about 95% of the time. It’s okay if your rough copy is  not absolutely clear the first time around, but you want to be able to hit near clarity. A strong outline will help you.

At the very least, your outline needs to have the main aspects of your original idea. For example, if you’re preparing to give a speech, your outline needs to at least have the main points of what you’re going to be talking about, along with all of the sub-points. Then after you get the basics of your outline written out, the next step is to write down any examples, phrases, and whatever else you want to be including in your message. You do this so you don’t accidentally forget anything important.

I know it’s a bit weird to create your outline after you pick your medium, but to me it makes perfect sense: An outline you prepare for a speech will be different than if you’re creating an outline to compose a symphony, and both of those will be totally different than if you’re creating an outline for an eBook. The outline you’re going to be writing will reflect what kind of medium you’ve chosen.

4. Write your rough copy.

So you thought up an idea. You picked the perfect medium for your message, and you created your excellent outline. The next step is to express yourself into your medium while following your outline.

If you’re writing a new blog entry, write out your entire blog post. If you’re writing an eBook, do the same thing, only in smaller chunks. If you’re composing a song, it’s time to compose that entire song. If you’re preparing to give a speech, go to the mirror along with your outline and start speaking!

Remember to use your outline! Stick to your outline as close as possible. Of course, while you’re writing, there’s a good chance that a few of the points you made in your outline just won’t make the final cut. That’s okay. The idea of the outline is to give you a basic structure that you can use write from; stick to that structure. Your outline is what’s going to give your work a cohesive, whole feeling when you’re done writing. Also, remember to use your most important ideas from your outline in this rough copy – don’t leave anything important out!

While creating your rough copy, try to get as close to perfection as you can and make your ideas as presentable as possible. There are a couple of reasons for this. One, it’s going to make the editing process so much easier when you go back to edit after you’ve finished. Two, you’re going to feel as if you’re creating something worthwhile. Instead of kind of expanding on a lot of little ideas, you’re going to be working on an entire creative work.

5. Go back and edit what you’ve created.

So now that you have finished an almost complete work, it’s time to go back and edit what you’ve done so far.

Editing, if done correctly, will actually take you a lot longer than you probably are thinking. You’re going to be looking out for a lot of things while editing. Here are some questions you can ask yourself during the editing process:

• Do your words and phrases make sense? A lot of times, you’ll write or say something that you think will sound amazing, but in reality it simply doesn’t. For writers, check to see that you have your basic grammar intact and that you chose appropriate, colorful words to describe what you’re speaking about.
• Does the order and organization of your work make sense? Make sure you’re writing, explaining, or composing everything in a very clear, very concise way. Don’t leave anything up to chance. If you’re not sure that you’re clear enough, you probably aren’t. Ask around if you’re worried. The last thing you want is to leave somebody bewildered after reading or listening to what you have to present.
• Did you do your very best? Is what you’re going to present to the world the very best you have to offer? This may seem like the ultimate silly question to ask when you’re in an editing spree, but you want what you have to say to be totally you. You want it to be a work of creative self-expression, an extension of yourself. If what you’ve composed in your rough copy isn’t your very best, go back and change it up. Make sure what you have to say is the very best of what you have to offer.

There’s a bit of leeway after you get to this step – you might find yourself bouncing between multiple rough copies and editing them all at once. That’s totally okay. Occasionally if you’re doing something that’s very complicated, you can’t help but compose multiple copies.

Be ruthless with yourself. Editing is a tough skill to master, but it’s completely worth it in the long run. Your work will appear much more thoughtful, organized, and impressive if you take the time to trim the fat off of your creative works.

Don’t rush this step, either. Especially if you’re created something that’s long, it’s going to feel like an eternity to edit everything. That’s just to be expected. Slow yourself down, take everything word by word, note by note. You want something that’s your best; you want something that’s perfect.

6. Share your finished project!

You’re done editing. Now is the time to read, hear, or see what you’ve created one last time before you begin sharing it with other people. Go back to the questions I asked above in the editing section and ask yourself those questions again for the final time.

Make sure that what you’ve created is truly the very best of what you can offer.

Creative work needs to be shared, right? Now is the fun part – now you get to share what you’ve done with everybody else! (Okay, so at least it’s the most fun part for me!) Speak that speech in front of everybody. Create a video of your brand new song and share it with the world. Publish that new blog post and get it out there! Pass your work around to your family and friends, promote your work on forums, get people to notice what you’ve done. Believe in what you’ve created, you worked hard!

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To create an awesome blog post – every single time – takes practice. But you need to have some strong basics to start from. I hope this post will truly help you when creating any kind of creative work.

So… what are you waiting for? Why aren’t you off creating something new today? Come on, get to it Remember to start at Step 1!

Timeboxing is a fairly simple time management technique. When you have a task to accomplish, you set aside a certain amount of time to complete that task. You do your very best to complete that task, regardless of the final outcome. For example, say you’re writing a new blog entry on timeboxing. You give yourself an hour to do that task in, and however it comes out is how it comes out.

With timeboxing, the quality of what you’re producing is still very important, but the overall concept is to get a finished product churned out for you to use and for people to see. The end goal is a completed item, task, or project. You can assign any amount of time (30 minutes, an hour, two hours, etc.) to any task (cleaning, writing, reading, etc.) In addition, you can always go back and revise what you’ve hammered out.

I often use timeboxing when I’m practicing piano. Oftentimes, when you’re practicing a certain skill, like learning a musical instrument or a sport move, it’s easy to practice for hours on end but not get any real work accomplished. The more you practice, the worse your actual practicing becomes. Timeboxing practice into a limited amount of time forces you to make intelligent decisions based on the time you have and what needs to be done. If I give myself exactly one hour to practice, am I going to diddle around playing showtunes? Of course not! I’m going to be practicing Chopin. In this case, timeboxing works very effectively. When time becomes scarce, my practice sessions shoot up in value. Less time to mess around, more time to buckle down and get to work.

Here are some other useful uses for timeboxing:

• Highly creative work. Creative work needs to get done one way or another, and oftentimes amazingly creative people don’t bother with setting deadlines. But if no tangible work gets completed, how will the world see their gifts? Use timeboxing to get that creative work done, such as composing a song or writing a blog entry.
• Finishing off lots of little tasks together. Can you finish off 20 little things that need to be done today in a course of an hour? Batch them all together and knock them off one by one instead of doing one here, one there. Saves time and energy.
• Tedious, ugly, massive projects. Most goals that one will try to obtain in life can be broken down into numerous projects. Some of these projects will be enjoyable to blaze through; others, not so much. Use timeboxing to make an impact in completing the nastier projects bit by bit.
• Stuff you just wanna get done. Some stuff isn’t fun to do, but it’s not exactly something that can fall into a category. If it looks like a huge, looming, annoying project, use timeboxing to knock it off of your to-do list once and for all.

Remember, the goal of timeboxing is a totally finished item. You can always go back and revise if you feel the need to later, depending on the item itself.

What can you be timeboxing and completing today? Why haven’t you done it yet? Get to work!

Hyperactivity is not wasting your time wallowing in pointless, mundane activities. It’s easy to get lost in a day of internet surfing, TV watching, checking up on e-mail, Twittering, and doing a lot of other virtually worthless activities that won’t add up to any real value later on in your life. Instead, hyperactivity is choosing the one goal you want to ruthlessly go after with a vengeance and directing all of your actions and thoughts onto that goal.

Hyperactivity – in the personal development, goal setting sense – is not being impulsive, reckless, or “fly by the seat of your pants”. It’s calculated and driven. You’re getting the most amount of work done in the shortest amount of time. You’re making strategic decisions to go after the activities that give you the highest rewards in the end.

Suppose one of your 2009 goals is to create a blog that produces $3,000 worth of income a month. Difficult? A little bit. Will it take a lot of work? You betcha’. Possible? Entirely.

Using hyperactivity, you would determine exactly what you need to do for the blog to grow the quickest so you can make the most money in the shortest time possible (i.e., achieving your goal before your deadline). When you identified these activities, you would do them as quickly as possible while still keeping up a high quality of results.

If you needed to submit posts to blog carnivals, you wouldn’t think “Oh, gee, well, I don’t know if I can do that right at this time… I’m kind of busy…” Instead you would immediately do it – it’s a done deal. Essential activity identified and completed. If you needed to contact other bloggers in your field, you would put the activity on your to-do list and jump on the task as soon as it came up. If a new blog post needed to be written for the day, you would write, edit, and publish the post ASAP.

Most people think you need to work in something you love to do to be successful. That’s complete B.S.. Since when do you need to love what you do to be successful in it? The world is full of unhappy, seemingly successful people, right? The only thing different between unhappy successful people and happy unsuccessful people is the level of determination that each person brings to their own job.

Donald Trump is a master at hyperactivity and getting work done each and every single day, even during vacations. So is Madonna. You could easily become a blogging superstar in any field you chose – even if you immensely hated your field – if you only focused on what needed to be done.

The key here is choosing the right activities and doing them in the quickest amount of time. But how can you decide what to do vs. what not to do? Some questions you can ask yourself:

• What kinds of benifits will doing this activity bring me? If you’re a blogger, do you get an increase in traffic? Another post to add to your archives? Another income stream? Depending on your goals, you’re going to be wanting to focus more on certain tasks than others.
• Are there any other easier ways to be achieving this goal than what I’m considering? If you want to establish online connections, are you going to focus more on personally e-mailing other bloggers or sending them quick messages on Twitter? If you want to build traffic, are you going to focus more on blog carnivals, blog comments, or forum posts? If you’re tweaking the layout of your blog, are you going to make it more streamlined so visitors can find their way around the site easier or better at income producing? Think of all the outcomes of various possibilities and stack them up against each other in your mind.

Once you find the right activities you want to accomplish, put them in a to-do list in order of most important to least important. If you can’t decide on an order, write them in any order – you’ll be going through your entire list anyways. Read the first task, and do it. When it’s done, read the second task, do that immediately. If you need to take a break, do it in between tasks, not while you’re working on something. Breaks should be quick and refreshing. As soon as your break is up, move on to the next activity.

Hyperactivity sounds draining, but in reality it’s incredibly motivating and worthwhile. You build self discipline by pushing yourself to get through beneficial tasks that might otherwise slide to the side. You reach your goals much faster than you’d ever believe because you’re working so intently on what needs to be done.

Do you really need to check how many people visited your site 5 times a day? Do you really need to be working on that e-book nobody is going to be reading because you haven’t built your traffic up yet? Do you really need to be checking your e-mail 10 times a day, just to see if that one person has returned your request? Cut out nonessential tasks. Only do what’s necessary. Do as much of it as possible.

What’s one of your goals that if you went at with a fierce sense of determination could you make a huge dent in? What if you went at that same goal with an identical attitude for 30 days straight?

So what are you waiting for? Get started today!

Today’s secret has to do with “extreme goal achievement” – what are the specific steps you can take to always get amazing, fast results when you embark on achieving your goals?

Think quick. Act even quicker. Get results now.

If you suddenly found yourself under the ice in a frozen lake, seemingly unable to escape, what would be racing through your mind? Chances are you would feel extremely claustrophobic, frantically trying to escape the sheer coldness of the icy water surrounding your body. You would be smashing the thin layer of ice above you with your fists with all your might, eventually shattering a hole in the ice above your head, big enough to escape.

To you, this might be the world’s strangest metaphor. To me, this is the perfect example of how the process of achieving your goals should ultimately feel like. You must think and act quickly. If you didn’t get the results you want, modify your game plan slightly and keep on going.

So as you can see, there are three major parts of extreme goal achievement – thinking quickly, acting swiftly, and obtaining the results from your actions.

1. Thinking quickly. The most successful people in the world have a knack for thinking quickly on their feet. They see an opportunity, a problem, a possibility, and they immediately brainstorm action plans for success. They don’t wait for permission from another person for them to start.
2. Acting swiftly. Once these people have plans ready to go, they immediately get started. They take the initiative and go for what they want, acting as if they’re going to get exactly what they dream of. The most successful people don’t wait for others to give them the green light to start. They begin ASAP.
3. Obtaining the results. The world’s most successful people gather their results and observe what worked and what didn’t work. They make immediate changes to their goals and plans, and then they try something fresh and new. They don’t sit around and balk at horrible results; they accept the fact that what they tried didn’t work, and then they try something brand new.

The easy part is reading about the three parts of extreme goal achievement. The hard part is applying them to your life to consistently get great results. To do this, you have to ingrain this method of thinking into your memory.

Make this line of thinking a way of life.

Thinking like this is a habit. It’s a total way of life.

Most people think incredibly successful people, from entertainers to athletes to business people, got to super-stardom in their respective fields through a blind stroke of luck. And in some cases, that’s what propelled them to achieve the results they earned. Sometimes exactly what a person needs is an unforeseen opportunity for them to shine so their talents can be fully recognized by everybody else.

But in most cases, this isn’t what happens. The top people do what I described above. They think quickly when they see a brand new opportunity arise that hasn’t been taken advantage of yet. Once they formulate a plan, they act swiftly, trying to score the results they desperately dream of obtaining. And once they finish their plan, they obtain and glance at their results. What succeeded? What failed? What can they do even better next time to obtain even better results?

98% of people aren’t like this. Most people are fairly lazy. They really don’t care to rise above the mediocre. If you asked them where they want to be a year from now, they might be able to mumble a fuzzy, vague answer at best; if you asked them where they want to be five years from now, they’d have no clue whatsoever.

Then somebody comes along, blows away the entire status quo, becomes a celebrity in their chosen field, and the average people wonder why they couldn’t achieve those same results.

The amazing news is that you can achieve those results. You can become a blogger making a full time living online. You can go to college and get that degree you’ve always wanted. You can find your soulmate and start a family with them. But these things take time and effort; they require you to put forth an incredibly amount of self discipline and change your entire “normal” line of thinking.

Extreme goal achievement shouldn’t be a secret. In fact, it’s not too much of a secret anymore – I’m sharing exactly how to achieve your wildest goals right here in this post. But in the end, it’s up to you. You have to take those first steps. You have to find an opportunity, you need to create an action plan and work that plan as quickly as possible, and you need to measure up your results to find out how you can optimize your actions to work even better in the future.

It doesn’t matter what field you’re in. It doesn’t matter where you come from in life or where you want to go. It’s all the same, to everybody. Goal achievement, across the board, is universal.

Think quickly, act swiftly, obtain results should be your mantra. Say it until you’re sick of it and see if it doesn’t make you into a better, more successful person.

Okay, okay, I totally admit it. I’m one of those people who loves to become more productive with each passing day. But while sometimes I think reading lists like this is just a form of simple procrastination, some of the lists I find are genuinely useful.

This blog post is all about 20 ways I have personally tested and used to make myself become more productive on a day to day basis. Try out some of the tips yourself. If they work wonderfully, you’ve gained a new productivity booster that’ll last you a lifetime. And if not… well, at least you only wasted a day of your life.

1. Keep a list of inspirational quotes at hand. Whenever you feel down and unmotivated, whip one out and think about its meaning for a little bit. Then get back to work!
2. If you can’t get out of a creative thinking rut, get up and walk around. Doing a bit of (very) light exercise will get blood flowing to your brain and naturally make you more alert, allowing you to kick your productivity up a notch.
3. If you’re chugging away at an absolutely boring task, take frequent breaks. Work for two minutes, then listen to your favorite song. Rinse and repeat as many times as needed. Eventually you’ll build enough momentum where you’ll continuously work on your task without taking so many breaks.
4. Snack (preferably on healthy foods) throughout the day. It’ll keep your energy levels up.
5. Look your best! Even if you’re your own boss and work at home throughout the day, seeing yourself  dressed up and looking gorgeous in front of the mirror is a confidence booster. More confidence = more motivation. More motivation = more reason to be productive.
6. Find a soul stirring reason why you’re doing the work you do. I’m not talking about a mission statement or a goal. I’m really talking about a reason as to why you’re working on your project to begin with. If you can find that passionate reason, you’ll gain motivation and productivity.
7. Experiment with brightness in your work area. I work best when my working area is brightly lit – the brighter, the better, but not so bright as to think I’m staring into the sun.
8. While on that note, experiment with the room temperature as well. I used to have an awful problem with procrastination and feeling sleepy, until I realized that the cold temperatures where I work were making me sleepy to begin with.
9. Make your work space so clean it’s absolutely nauseatingly beautiful to anybody who passes by. Not a single messy spot should be visible to the eye… or to anybody with x-ray vision with the power to see through desks. A neat working space has the same effect as de-cluttering your mind. Thinking becomes easier.
10. Light candles. Seriously! For me, whenever I light my buttercream candle, the vanilla scent actually boosts my productivity. Experiment with different scents  to see what they can do for you.
11. Have you ever tried to work with white noise in the background? It’s pretty soothing. For me, music is too distracting, probably because I’m a musician at heart. However, white noise works wonderful. Try out this tip by turning on a fan on low in the background while you work.
12. Take frequent looks out your window.  When I glance outside into the world, I’m reminded that I’m not alone on this planet, and that I’m connected with everybody else. That alone is motivating enough for me to continue on with my work with an increased productivity rate.
13. Take frequent looks at your clock. When you realize time keeps passing you by as you procrastinate,  you’ll suddenly feel an urge to actually get something worthwhile accomplished.
14. Work with somebody else. Find another person who can act as your assistant for the day, and get him or her to help you with your mission. Work always goes quicker and more productively if you can find somebody you trust who knows what they’re doing as well to aid you.
15. Find somebody who’s an expert at what  you’re doing, and pick at their brain. How do they schedule their days? What kinds of advice can they give you to make your work more efficient? (For example, if you’re learning piano on your own, wouldn’t taking piano lessons from a master at piano make sense?)
16. If possible, focus solely on one task or project for the entire day. Without having to switch tasks every hour, you can seriously boost how productive you become. Your mind won’t have to change modes of thinking so often.
17. Have to tackle a project that’s extremely boring? If possible, do a lot of little, easy tasks that are super simple right before starting that certain project. The momentum you gain from doing simple tasks you love will carry on well into that boring project.
18. Take everything one step at a time. Don’t worry as much about getting a lot done (save for unless you have a deadline) but getting quality work done. More isn’t better. Better is better.
19. While doing your work for today,  mentally think about where you’re going with what you’re accomplishing. What do you want to do tomorrow? Use that knowledge to trim the fat off the projects you’re working on – get rid off all nonessential tasks as much as possible.
20. Tackle your daily tasks out of order. If you’re forced to do a list of items, break the order that you would normally accomplish each thing. It won’t feel like such a chore to get so much work done, and you might find that pairing different tasks in a different order will get them done more quickly.

Now, stop reading this blog and tackle that task that you’ve been procrastinating on. You know you wanna finish that task once and for all!

When it comes to quitting a bad habit, or even changing that bad habit to a more suitable one, you can find lots of (un)solicited advice from a variety of sources… including in the self-help world.  Unfortunately, the personal development community has given a lot of awful advice in this field that simply doesn’t work. That’s not to say that some advice they give out doesn’t work for some people, but the majority of advice fails to really help others to change their awful habits.

This is also apparently in a few other communities. Consider Weight Watchers for example. A few people will have brilliant success losing a lot of weight with Weight Watchers or any other “fad” diet program. However, the majority of people will only lose a little big of weight, then they’ll start slacking off, and eventually come full circle to square one again. What gives?

Most of the time, when quitting something bad for you – whether it be trying to quit coffee or go vegetarian – the tools are right in front of you. There are hundreds of thousands of diet plans out there essentially telling you the same exact mantra in a reworded, prettier gift box. “Eat less, exercise more!” is what they all say, deep down inside. On the outside, that advice is deceivingly simple. Once you open the package, you realize how tough applying that advice really is.

One of the main problems I see with people is they get frustrated at themselves for not getting “the plan” right. You planned to lose weight, but things came up. You planned to finally kick all caffeine from your life, but somehow you can’t evade that Starbucks that’s 5 minutes from your house! You can keep going. I’m sure you have a couple you’d love to add as well.

But what if the problem didn’t lie with your willpower, courage, or strength? Then we have a different story.

This article shares with you a two tips I’ve found helpful in being able to quit anything. I used to weigh dangerously thin for my height (6′, 114lbs), but I’ve been able to bump it up to about 130lbs now by eating correctly and exercising a lot. Nearly all of my success I can attribute to changing bad habits of mine (no exercise, TV watching) to better, more conducive habits to get the results I want – in this case, weight gain. The process of gaining weight hasn’t been easy, but what I’ve learned along the way can possibly be of use to many people.

Do your research before you even begin.

A lot of people want end results right now, immediately, when they snap their fingers. It’s too bad the real world doesn’t work like this, eh?

For example, say you want to be able to lose 20 pounds by May 1st. That seems like a generally reasonable goal – that’s over 10 weeks away, and average healthy weightloss is somewhere between 2~3 pounds a week. Most people would probably pick a diet that looks appealing to them (Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, Atkins, Nutrasystem, or eating and exercising to whatever degree they deem “correctly”) and off they would go, losing weight.

However, a few of the more brilliant folks around us would do what I would do. They would comparison shop around to see what all of the diets have in common. What are they suggesting you eat? Don’t eat? How much will you be required to exercise? What are some success stories of each diet? Failure stories?

Doing all of this background work seems like a lot of extra baggage – and it is a lot of work, no question. But by doing this, you gain an even clearer shot of success by looking at the road ahead of you. Figuring out underlying patterns lets you in on what obstacles you’re going to be facing. If you know what kind of troubles you’ll be encountering before you even begin, you can prepare yourself for the bumpy road ahead. You won’t be so surprised when a few large speed bumps suddenly appear in front of you.

For example, say you’re researching how to lose weight, and you discover that nearly everybody who starts any diet always complains about having a weak moment when they go to a restaurant. Nothing on the menu is ever healthy enough, they complain. Instead of skipping the meal and eating when they arrive home, they pick something horrendous to eat at the restaurant. This in turn leads down a slippery slope. “I don’t really care what I eat now, I already broke the rules once!” becomes their mantra; pretty soon they’re completely off the diet and back to where they started from.

You read all of their tales of restaurant woe and decide not to go to any restaurants for first four weeks of your diet, to make sure nothing will be knocking you off your path. And after 28 straight days on your diet, you know you’ll have the willpower to not even want to eat horrible foods at any restaurant. You won’t want to break that chain you created for yourself. 28 days free of crappy foods? Oh yeah!

This is an incredibly powerful simple step, if you take the time to utilize it for your own good. You might not be able to stop all of your future problems, but you can make a good dent in diminishing your own future havoc.

To sum it up, doing your research before you even begin to quit allows you to see patterns in the various habit-quiting methods there are out there – this in turn allows you to see the obstacles you’re against so you can start planning to dismantle those obstacles before you start changing your habits.

Forget about the big picture. Take it a day at a time.

Every adventure in life starts with one small step. And even though you might get very, very far and even accomplish some of your major goals, you still took small, daily steps to arrive at your destination. Sometimes the steps you take are like leaps, other times they’re more like baby steps. All in all, every little thing you do today has the possibility to push you towards where you want to be in the future.

The “big picture” I’m referring to here are those major goals that every personal development guru and his or her mother tells you that you need to set before you embark on a life mission. “Why are you cutting caffeine?” “Why are you quiting smoking?” “Why are you not eating any more fatty foods?” The gurus demand reasons from you. If only you could remember your reasons for starting in the first place, you can soar to the end of your goal because those reasons and mission statements will provide an endless stream of motivation from your gut when the going gets tough.

I’ve found that to be largely B.S.. Sure, those mission statements work fabulously well on occasion, but only when I’m already feeling somewhat motivated to begin with. To me, they’re like an adrenaline shot when my motivation is on 1/4 empty. But when my motivation is… say, 1/10th there, those mission statements are the equivalent of taking sleeping medication. I just don’t care what my original intentions were – I just don’t care period.

Circumventing this problem was fairly easy for me – whenever I had a day where I knew I had to exercise (to gain muscle, of course) and I felt like I didn’t want to do anything, I just reminded myself I only have to exercise for today. I only have to get through these three sets of dumbbell bench presses, and then I’m done for the day. I only have to get through these three sets of bicep curls, and then I’m done for the day. When I got home, I only have to eat these two veggie chicken patties, and then I’m done for the day.

Grand goals and schemes work wonderfully when planning for the future. And to an extent, they dictate how you’re day is going to look, to the degree you let them. But day by day actions are going to get you to your goals, not big picture thinking. Motivation is best when taken in daily – and even hourly – doses.

To me, thinking about how I’m going to look when I’m toned and 145lbs in 6 months is demotivating when I realize I have another ~6 months to go before I’m where I want to be. But knowing that I only need to do an hour worth of exercises today and then eat a few things every couple hours? Hey, that’s easy! I can definitely do that. One step at a time, there’s no need to rush, says Jordin Sparks.

You can even use this thinking whenever you feel overwhelmed with a large goal. Starting a new business, building relationships, you name it – take everything one day at a time.

And when you’re quitting a bad habit, simple action steps you can do right now makes the quitting process incredibly easier.

* * * * * * *

Most everything else you need to know about changing a bad habit is common sense – have a goal, break it down, and so on. But when these basic steps start to become trite and don’t work out quite as well as you hope, I hope my two tip will come in and save your sinking ship. It’s with the basic steps and these two tips that you’ll be able to change any bad habit, every time. They worked fantastically well for me.

What tips and tricks have you found to be incredibly useful for quitting bad habits? Share them in the comments!

In my last article on present and future mindsets, I explained two thought patterns 99% of the population operates on through a daily basis – a present-based, pleasure oriented mindset, and a future-based, goal oriented mindset. The self-help world loves to stress how important future-minded thinking is. One reason for this is that thinking about the future obviously works fantastic when you’re strategically thinking about which goals you want to achieve. And this reason makes sense, too – thinking too short term can severely hamper what we think we can accomplish.

But then something strange happens. We begin to think that if we don’t apply future-minded thinking to everything in our lives, we’ll never achieve our goals. Somebody else will always be vying to be one step ahead of us, and we can’t have that, can we? This is the mindset that leads to people trying to make incredible self-discipline jumps that they can’t handle: they try to get up every single day at 4:30am without any practice; they try to eat purely healthy foods; they cut out every single “bad” time wasting activity they can think of. The future-based mindset thinks of “fun” activities as unneeded time wasters. Enjoying yourself leads to not getting any work done on your goals, and that’s not acceptable.

It’s just too bad – human beings don’t work like that. We aren’t wired to have a future-based lifestyle. People need balance; we want to work hard and achieve our dreams, but we also want to have a little fun (or a lot of fun!) along the way. If I’m feeling emotionally drained, I’m going to feel apathetic. And if I feel apathetic, I’m surely going to encounter decreased motivation. We need to have fun! We need to enjoy ourselves and not become too wrapped up in the future.

Self help guru Steve Pavlina often talks about how he picks goals that are intrinsically fun and worthwhile to go after – goals that excite him in the present. To me, this is the epitome of perfect goal setting. When your goals are incredibly fun and motivating to work on every step of the way, you’re killing two birds with one stone: the present-based mindset is being satisfied because you’re immensely enjoying yourself, and the future-based mindset is happy because you know you’re working to create the life you dream of.

If you’re having trouble finding motivation, quit working on your goals and enjoy yourself! Most of the time, probably 98%, a clear lack of motivation is a hint that we aren’t giving ourselves permission to have fun in the present. While our minds might be saying “all work, no play!” our emotions are screaming out “We need some play, some of the time!”

When you’re feeling unmotivated and apathetic, do something that makes you feel happy and content. It’s as simple as that. Play an old video game that you love. Take a long walk outside and enjoy nature. Watch your favorite sitcoms. Have a deep conversation with a close friend. When you feel happier and fulfilled, return to working on your goals. You’ll have increased motivation and a drive to accomplish work that only happiness can bring.

Our human ability to imagine a better future for ourselves and translate our vision into words is something most people take for granted. As a result, most people don’t bother setting goals – they have a general idea of where they’re headed and where they want to go, which is good enough for them. And that’s totally okay! You don’t need clearly defined goals to have a sense of direction in your life. (This also includes people who set goals in only a specific area in their life and let all of the other facets slide – e.g., the manager who only sets goals to meet certain monthly quotas in her business.)

In Philip Zimbardo’s awesome book, The Time Paradox (opens in a new window), he explains there are several perspectives human beings look at time through: the past, the present, and the future. The past perspective is concerned with past events and how we relate to and think about them; the present perspective is concerned with how we’re going to find immediate happiness in our lives; the future perspective is concerned with what actions we can take right now to achieve our future goals. While the three time-frame labels aren’t exactly breathtakingly new, the unique twist on looking at the time-frames makes the book incredibly worthwhile to read.

I’ve read parts of it, and already it’s changed my views on thinking of my personal goals and my limited time. In this blog post, I want to share two mindsets with you that he talks about in the book – the “present-minded mindset” and the “future-minded mindset.” Both are ways of living and analyzing time management with. Utilizing both of their unique benefits in your life can make your life a more richer, rewarding experience.

The Present-Minded Mindset

The present-minded mindset is being totally focused on the present moment, with no regard for how your decisions will affect your future at all. Generally this means being focused on what can make you pleasured and happy immediately, without looking at the long term consequences of your actions.

Smoking is an example of a present-minded action. So is eating that double quarter pounder with cheese you just ordered from McDonald’s because you’re a bit hungry and need some fuel. Drinking copious amounts of alcohol, gambling, and whittling away your time at video games are all activities that make you happy solely in the present. These choices lead to future consequences down the road – lung cancer, a failed liver, a highly developed character in a video game – but your focus isn’t on the future. It’s completely on the here and now. What can you do right now to give yourself a little thrill?

You see this mindset with teenagers and young adults. Do you have a one night stand to make you satisfied, or do you wait it out just a bit longer to find somebody you’re more comfortable with? Risk vs. reward thinking is subtle here – you may know promiscuous sex can lead to unwanted pregnancies and STDs, but that’s not what’s on your mind. Your mind is set on what the immediate rewards are, so why dilute that with thinking about future consequences? The rewards you’d get from having sexual activity right now is far greater than analyzing the pros and cons in your mind.

The Future-Minded Mindset

The future-minded mindset is being totally focused on the future, with all of your current actions stemming from a desire to want to build a better future for yourself or others.

Why do high achievers always achieve so highly and make the rest of the population scratch their heads in awe and wonder? It’s not because they’re that different than you – it’s because they’re solely focused on the future. They have specific goals that they must accomplish at all costs, and they eschew everything that doesn’t lead directly to their desired results.

Future-minded people have no will to engage in pleasurable activities that only benefit them in the now. Choosing between watching a half hour TV show and reading a book about their desired work field, they’ll always choose the book. Distractions need to be dealt with and removed ASAP; what matters most is getting results. Anything else isn’t worth the battle.

Delaying gratification whenever the future rewards outweigh the immediate benefits is something future oriented people are masters at. If I told you that I would give you either $50 today or in two months I’d give you $100, would you choose the former or the latter? Future-minded people would immediately choose the latter. To them, the choice is simple – there’s a bigger reward to be had in the future if short term happiness is skipped.

Combining the Two Mindsets for Amazing Goal Achievement

When people set goals, it’s rarely in a present-minded mindset. Goals start out with a future-minded thought, e.g., “I wish I made more money!” Then they turn into some kind of  more specific statement, “I will make $3,000 a year completely through my personal development blog.” It’s only then do we turn our goals into a present-minded version, “I make $3,000 a year completely through my personal development blog.”

Writing out your goals completely in the present seems like a fabulous idea on the surface – if I can imagine my goals are real right now, that would make me want to act in congruent with those goals. If I feel like I’m already making $3,000 a month through my blog, I might be more apt to continuously deliver actions that really do get me those results; I’d create an awesome self-fulfilling prophecy for myself. But is a present-minded model of goal setting really worth it in the end? It’s both yes and no. If present-minded written goals conjure up thoughts of immediate happiness and instant gratification, then they can be pretty effective. Otherwise, I would personally would stick to future-minded goal setting.

It’s important to have a razor sharp focus on the future to know specifically where you are headed in all areas of your life, but it’s also equally important to enjoy your present moment as much as possible.

Present moments allow you to have immediate fun; future-minded thinking allows you to gaze into the future and allocate your time to goal achievement. Living solely in the distant future can drain your happiness bit by bit because you don’t feel as happy as you should; living without a regard for tomorrow can make your life miserable in the future. Becoming so obsessed with the risks in life can lead you not take calculated risks that could end up being major rewards.

Where do you fall in the grand scheme of things? Do you focus more on the present, skipping out on your long term goals to have fun right here, right now? Or is your focus more skewed towards the future, missing out on fun right now for a better life someday? Focusing on the future but also having fun in the present is the way to go – but you can’t go wrong consciously choosing the way to spend your time, every day.