Category Archives: Productivity

Product First, Everything Else Second

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Why try to market, organize a business for, or sell a product if your product doesn’t even exist yet? I’ve been guilty of this a thousand times: recognize a great idea, get excited, and run outside to get everything off the ground. I’ve filed Limited Liability Corporations, printed posters, made announcements, and tried to raise money – for projects that hardly even made it on paper.

There are several problems with this. First, you’re spending a ton of time doing work that is not relevant until you have something to show for it. Time spent on “extras” means time not spent developing great content, executing ideas, and bringing your vision to life. Product is at the core of every great business and must come first (pray tell me one organism that grows from the shell inward?).

Moreover, the execution of ideas seldom aligns with the vision outlined in the first place. After facing obstacles and discovering new approaches to the same problem, the end result may look or feel nothing like the thing you set out to build. Any time you spend marketing, filing papers, and chasing investor deals for your project before you realize it will most likely be a complete waste of time. There will be a major disconnect between the core and the shell trying to promote it. Everything you did outside the lab will be invalidated by the discoveries within.

If you don’t have a product or story to tell, nothing else matters. Forget all the extra bullshit and get to the real work.

If It Doesn’t Work…

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…Try again differently. Don’t give up. Don’t dismiss it as a failure and leave it behind in the dust. Not yet. Don’t let all that hard work go to waste. Learn from your mistakes, figure out why it didn’t work the first time, and put lessons learned into practice. Try again, but differently this time. If you lose a second time, sit back and analyze the situation again. Debrief. You cannot wave it off in ignorance and shame. You must study your defeat. Only when you can draft an educated and supported thesis on your shortcomings should you be allowed to dismiss your attempts as failures and move on.

Save the Best For Last

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Deliberately procrastinating the bad may hamper your ability to completely enjoy the good by the thought of the less favorable ahead. You risk spoiling the good for no reason (or at least enjoying it less than you could otherwise). Get the chores out of the way first (homework or Brussels sprouts), and save something to look forward to. Convince yourself that you are earning the dessert at the end of the meal. You’ll appreciate the victory even more.

The Perception of Obstacles

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Track runners do not see hurdles as road blocks; they see hurdles as an extension of a normal step. Sure, it may take practice to build the confidence necessary to jump hurdles. Even to start practicing, you need to set aside any fears or trepidations you have about the road ahead. You need to ignore the fact that hurdles are obstacles. You need to see hurdles as a part of the game. If you signed up to play the game, learn to love the hurdles. Obstacles are only obstacles if you see and treat them as obstacles.

Down To The Wire

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Deadlines exist for a reason. In spite of procrastination and poor time management, they make sure things get done. Sometimes, all it takes is a looming deadline to help you cross the finish line. If it wasn’t for a daily deadline, this blog probably would not exist. I would not have written this post.

If you want to get something done, impose a deadline and have others hold you accountable. Simple.

Put It On Paper First

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Before spending lots of money or time realizing your “vision,” put it on paper first. Unless you can afford to waste resources or fail miserably, it’s far better to outline and iterate your project in writing. Pens and paper are cheap. Payroll, equipment, and building blocks are not. That’s why people started using blueprints, screenplays, sketches, budgets, business plans, outlines, storyboards, and recipes. By mapping your vision, you liberate ideas from your skull onto a medium others can review. On paper, you can objectify your idea better and collect feedback from peers who can help you.

Yes, this may be a fundamental concept. “Duh, Craig, of course you should plan things on paper.” But it kills me how many people jump into the deep end without thinking first. And it amazes me how much time I’ve wasted getting dirty without a plan. Hours and hours of design, coding, and crafting to get me nowhere when I could have realized project faults on the page early on. Trust me, put it on paper first. It’s not a real idea until someone can read or see it – including you. Thank you, Mark Godwin, for reminding me of that.

A Healthier Recipe for All-Nighters

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Staying awake all night is never healthy, and I do not endorse it. I may have permanently impaired my memory and shaved 15 years off of my life by sleeping so little through high school and college. Sometimes, however, all-nighters need to happen. Beyond pure determination, optimism, and focus, most people need a little outside help to get the job done.

Everyone uses a different method. Most people go straight for caffeine. The issue? Short-term punchy solutions like caffeine, sugar, cocaine, or other psychostimulants can really shake the body and falter the mind. Coming down from these substances will surely game you over. If you can continue to pace them out to keep the buzz alive, more power to you. In extreme circumstances, I’ve taken a small sip of coffee or an energy drink every 20 minutes to keep fueling the fire. Keeping pace takes a lot of calculated effort; too fast or too slow may fail you completely or spin your system in the wrong direction. I suggest you avoid uppers altogether.

Over the years, I discovered a few natural solutions far more effective and less destructive than stimulants. A generous helping of vitamins B and C through supplements, juice, or fruit can boost your energy, antioxidize your body, and keep your immune system on its feet. Apples and orange juice got me through college. Moreover, you can leave lights on, fight yawns, and move your body as much as possible. Keep the body and mind active.

The real secret weapon? Drink water. A lot of water. Water keeps you cool, hydrated, and toxin-free. A large volume of water will keep your organs working overtime for you. Yes, that means frequent urination. Annoying? How many times have you had to wake to go to the bathroom? When it comes to sleep, your bladder is boss. Fill that thing nonstop, and it will keep you awake. I consumed 139 fluid ounces of water on my 16-hour-straight drive from Los Angeles to Denver today; in part with good conversation, those water bottles kept me sharp and alive. I made it in one piece and with energy to spare. But now, after 36 hours with hardly any rest, it’s time for me to go to sleep. Good night.

Accelerating Forward By Dropping Stuff

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Sometimes the most effective way to move on in your life is to let things go. Identify the people, places, and things that make you unhappy or hold you back. Surmise a life without them and calculate out how to get there. Throw away the trash, any relics that tie you backward, your toxic environment, or regressive relationships. Dump all the weight on your shoulders over the side. Only then will you truly feel free to take the next step in full. The more you let go of at once, the more dramatic your acceleration forward will be.

Like monkey bars on a jungle gym, you must let go of the old to reach the new. Empty your pockets, cut the ropes, and ignore the shouts as you leap forward. The only person who can move you forward is you.

5 Reasons Why I Blog Daily (And You Should, Too)

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The college essay ruined writing for me. Having only ever been asked to deliver the formal five-paragraph essay in school, I came to dread the written word. I procrastinated assignments to the bitter end. Determined to revisit writing and heal academic wounds, I committed to blogging daily in March. I could never have imagined how fruitful this journey would become. Today marks my 250th post and over 50,000 words since I started blogging eight months ago. Now, I am in love with writing. I encourage everyone to blog for the following five reasons:

  1. Output – Through a commitment to generating content daily, you condition yourself to build a large personal volume. Little by little, you end up with a novel’s worth in literature. Many authors, including Tim Ferris and Tucker Max, have expanded their blogs into best-selling books. With tact, you can leverage your authored library into strong returns. Output is more than half the battle; a daily commitment can bring it all home. Will I publish a book? Not planning on it, but maybe someday!
  1. Craft – By blogging every day, you hone your skills as a writer. You learn to develop ideas faster, structure arguments more strategically, and define your authorial voice. I lost practice writing after college and blogging brought most of it back.
  1. Experimentation – A blog and its community can be great places to test ideas, develop concepts, start conversations, and collect feedback. Theories can evolve over time through posts, comments, impressions, and personal conversations. If you want to test the validity or integrity of your ideas, throw them to the wolves online.
  1. Memorialization – I blog to preserve ideas, concepts, discoveries, and lessons. I found myself learning a lot, offering advice to friends, and teaching so many lessons that otherwise disappeared into the wind. It felt like a total waste to keep everything in the back of my mind. By publishing, I save thoughts and expand the public reach of potentially useful ideas.
  1. Connectivity – Blogging connects me to readers in ways I never thought possible. Through exchanges in comments, email, and conversation, I continue to develop intellectual relationships with professionals, estranged friendships, acquaintances, and people I’ve never met at all. I learn so much from you. Thank you all for reading! It has been an absolute pleasure. Cheers to many more!

The Snowball of Entrepreneurship

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Entrepreneurship is all about momentum. Hell, business is all about momentum. Ever roll a snowball to build a snowman? When starting a business, you need to push everything to a start, pack more snow on, recruit people to help you roll the ball as it gets bigger, and keep things going smoothly. If the ball stops, you will have to apply extra force to get it started again. Keep people excited, keep the idea alive, and keep people having fun. The energy alone will inspire your team, the caliber of work, and the vision at hand. Stop for no one.

Be careful and mind your surroundings. Some leaders get too excited about the work to notice the cliff ahead. One sharp rock could shatter your snowball. The trick with momentum? Stay fresh and always look forward. Avoid tunnel-vision at all costs so that you can chart the best course for your project. Listen to your team, your mentors, and the market around you. They may see something you don’t and could save the snowman’s life.