If you want to dive into this question in detail, I highly recommend the book The One Thing by Gary Keller. In it, Keller asks a profound question. Not profound in its complexity but profound in the sense that most of us are often so busy working inside our goals that we never take the time to work on our goals. The question is basically, What’s the one thing you could do right now, today, that would make everything else unnecessary?1 When it comes to your results list, the question should be, What’s the one thing I could do right now, today, that would help me achieve all of this faster, easier, more efficiently?
For instance, let’s go back to my ideal result of hitting 2,500 words. I asked myself how I could get to my daily word count more efficiently, with less hassle, quicker. The answer was pretty simple and incredibly easy to implement, but if I hadn’t asked the question, I absolutely wouldn’t have considered it. For me, it’s about writing at a coffeehouse. What’s so special about a coffeehouse? Well, I have a great office with a nice desk and a good chair and access to snacks and water and bathrooms at no additional charge, and I’ve been writing this book for weeks during my regular office hours. But you know what else is in that office? Fourteen employees who are working on various projects that I always get pulled into. Now, just so we’re clear, they’re not the ones pulling me into the projects. In fact, they don’t bother me at all because they know I’m on deadline. But writing is a hard and lonely slog. No matter how many times I do it, it always sucks, and when I’m at work and feeling lonely or tired of writing a paragraph, I wander out to use the restroom and along the way I find three things to stick my nose into rather than heading back to work. So 2,500 words, which should never take me more than three hours, ends up taking the better part of the day.
I was still achieving my end result, so I wasn’t keen on challenging anything, but I had to ask myself, Is there a better way to do this? For me, that means working away from my staff. I like coffeehouses better than working from home because there’s always great energy from fellow hustlers and creators and sometimes I even get ideas for chapters (like the start of this one). Working on this book at a coffeehouse means that I’m plowing through this manuscript, doing way more than 2,500 words at a time, and getting there faster than I was. If you don’t ask yourself, if you don’t challenge what is and isn’t working, then you’ll never know.
3. CREATE YOUR OWN PRODUCTIVE ENVIRONMENT
Years ago, someone I admired asked me if I could advise him on the writing process. This person was an extremely talented and sought-after speaker, but he had never written a book. I thought we’d get into word counts or plot points or how to craft an outline, but he really only wanted to know one thing: How do you create a writing retreat in your home to create the perfect atmosphere for writing?
“You don’t,” I told him. “You write wherever, whenever, however you can. Creating the perfect office won’t actually help you in any way.”
He didn’t like my answer. He was adamant that if he could only set up the ideal space, then the process that had proven so hard in the past would become easier. I knew right then he’d never finish a manuscript. That sounds super harsh and catty, but it’s the truth. This is based on my years of getting hundreds of questions just like this one. A writing room is dreamy and a luxury I hope to achieve one day. But it doesn’t help you write. That’s like thinking an expensive treadmill will motivate you to run. No outside factor is going to make you more productive, and if you need a certain atmosphere to be at your best, you’re not truly in control of yourself.
I’m writing this sentence right now in the center seat on a packed flight. A last-minute speaking gig across the country means all the fancy seats on the plane were booked, but even though it’s uncomfortable, I can’t miss out on valuable writing time. Early in the morning, late at night, while my kids play in front of me at the park or at soccer practice, I write whenever, however I can. Is one space—like that hipster coffee shop or a mansion overlooking the water—more preferable? Certainly. But life doesn’t work like that. If I waited for the perfect space or opportunity to be productive, I wouldn’t ever have completed even one of my books. The key is to create an environment that can get you into the zone wherever you happen to be. For me, it’s different kinds of playlists, or a certain song played on repeat over and over and over like white noise, that helps me focus and get into production mode, even in the most hectic of places. For you it could be a certain smell, a certain type of gum you chew (no, this is not crazy), the same exact coffee order at Starbucks—any kind of repetitious cue you can give to your brain that it’s time to focus. My personal favorite zone maker is an espresso con panna and the song “Humble” as loud as my air pods will allow. In fact, it may scandalize my conservative readers to know that most of Girl, Wash Your Face was written to Kendrick Lamar on repeat, but, hey, when you find out what helps you get into the zone, you capitalize on it as much as you can.
4. KNOW WHAT DISTRACTS YOU AND AVOID THAT THING
Man, this sounds obvious when you write it out, but people who struggle to be or stay productive are usually too distracted to know they’re distracted. Every time your focus and your energy wander, it takes a long time to get them back—if you even get them back at all. Pay attention to what steals your attention. For me, it’s usually access to WiFi on my computer and the ability to see or hear the home screen of my phone. In my mind every text is urgent and possibly an employee telling me the office is burning down, every incoming email might be from Oprah, and a quick Google search to research something I’m writing about turns into a vortex rabbit hole and suddenly I find myself taking a BuzzFeed quiz to see who my ideal Disney prince might be. So guess what has to happen when I’m trying to hit a certain word count? I have to shut off my WiFi, flip my phone over, and turn the sound off so I don’t see or hear any incoming messages.
5. COURSE CORRECT
It’s easy to get sidetracked, and it’s even easier to be moving so quickly in a direction that you don’t realize it’s the wrong direction. I recommend a check-in with yourself every Sunday. Sunday is the easiest time for me because it’s when I plan out my week. I take the time to focus in on the outcome I want for the week and then ask myself if I’m really, truly headed in the direction of the next mile marker. If so, great! If not, what can I do this week to ensure that I get the results I’m looking for?
When it comes to efficiency, the bottom line is this: You’re already doing the work. You’re already putting in the time, and it would be such a waste if you were depleting your energy for no reason, or worse, potentially giving up on a great idea simply because you haven’t figured out how to make greater strides toward your goal. Do an efficiency audit and figure out where you need to tighten up and shift your focus.
SKILL 5:
POSITIVITY
I once lived through fifty-two hours of labor. Fifty-freaking-two hours. I will never let my firstborn forget about this as long as I live. In fact, even after I’m gone I’m planning to arrange it so someone sends him an occasional reminder of this fact, like those men who pay a florist to deliver flowers every year on their wife’s birthday after they’re dead.