Productivity - Amardeep

6 Practical Ways To Reverse A Productivity Slump

Amardeep — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 12:07:25 +0000

#2 Look at the bricks, not the wall

Edited by the author — original from Pexels

I don’t believe anyone who tells you they are productive all year round. We’re humans not robots and sometimes things don’t go to plan. Your systems can work well for months and all of a sudden they collapse and you don’t why. It’s not anyone’s fault and there’s not always a logical reason why.

It just happens. That’s life.

This happened to me a few weeks ago with the worst possible timing. Projects I had been excited by all came in at once and my brain seemed to go on strike. You know the scene from Marvel’s Avengers when where the Hulk refuses to come out to play? I felt like Bruce Banner. Out of my depth.

I had to change things up to get back to 100%. Try these techniques for yourself to see if they work for you. You don’t need to commit to doing them forever just until you get your mojo back again.

#1 Do a warm-up

When you’re in a slump, you can spend more time thinking about doing a task than it would take to actually do it. This used to happen with me and writing all the time. I made excuses to spend five more minutes on Instagram which always seemed to turn into an hour.

A simple hack I use to get myself writing is starting by taking online typing tests. The text is meaningless but it gets my fingers flowing. It’s like a game so I never procrastinate on this and this wins half the battle against my inertia.

I found this works for any high-brainpower task. Warm yourself up with something with no real pressure to get your momentum going. If you need to do heavy statistical work, find a random quirky dataset to mess about with. It’s cognitively easier because it doesn’t matter but at least you’re doing the same actions.

#2 Look at the bricks, not the wall

Perhaps counter-intuitively, when my productivity is slumping, I make my to-do list longer. The underlying amount of work doesn’t change but I break each task down into small components. I make sure it won’t take me longer than 20 minutes to cross anything off the list.

I confess part of this is procrastination. Yet, more importantly, it means nothing feels overwhelming. I can cross more items off per day which makes me feel good rather than doing 90% of one big task and my to-do list looking untouched.

If you find yourself feeling like you’ve achieved nothing in a day, why not try breaking down a task. If it’s writing an article, switch from the mindset of it’s not finished to the introduction, and the first three sections are done. It’s a more upbeat way of looking at your day.

#3 Channel your Marie

Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up made a big splash both as a book and on Netflix. Let’s be real, most of us don’t prioritize organization as much in our daily lives as she does.

Yet when I can’t seem to get anything “productive” done, I often end up tidying up my room. It’s cathartic to give order to the objects around me when my mind is so messy. It’s a low brainpower task but a job I need to do. The results are clear and in the end, you feel like you’ve done something good.

You can do the same for digital clutter too. Maybe I’m weird but I can spend hours sorting out files into the right places and feel relaxed. Again it’s a job that needs to be done but doesn’t need much thinking. Perfect for a slump.

#4 Buddy up

I’ve been my own boss for nearly six months now and I’ve noticed a glitch in my matrix. Despite enjoying my creative self-led projects the most, I often prioritized the tasks I had to do for other people first. It was as if I quit my job to be a slave to my clients instead.

I don’t believe enough self-employed people talk about how hard it is to keep up your intrinsic motivation. It’s easier to work towards other people’s deadlines because it feels concrete whereas you can always kick your own ambitions down the road.

Accountability is crucial for me to ensure I work on what deep down I know I want to work on. I’ve started sending 2-minute daily updates to people in my inner circle where I assess the previous day’s productivity and outline my to-do list for the current day. Knowing I’m going to need to explain myself if I keep missing my goals helps to keep my mind on track. You might find it does the same for you too.

I’m launching a YouTube channel soon and I publically announced my intention to post a video a week from January 2022 while on a podcast with Hasan Kubba. If you are reading this in 2022 and my channel hasn’t met this promise, call me out on social media and I promise to retweet.

#5 No sweatpants when working

When I worked in consulting, one of my everyday joys was coming home, taking my suit off, and getting into sweatpants. It signaled the end of work mode and the start of chill mode.

Once I had the freedom to wear what I want, the suit gathered dust in my cupboard. I was sweatpants all day, every day. For a while, this was great like eating candy for breakfast. I was productive and comfortable, why would I ever choose to end this?

The problem is when I didn’t feel like working then I was already in my chill mode clothes. In my new freedom honeymoon, I could make myself work like this but it became more difficult over time. I began to resent myself for working when I’d rather just lounge around. Why was I spoiling chill mode?

While I haven’t dusted off my suit, I now wear business casual during the day. Studies have shown clothing can give you more confidence and it’s made a difference to me. I get the extra benefit of being able to switch back to sweatpants at the end of the day too.

Even if you aren’t your own boss, whenever you’re doing work from your own home, try to not taint your clothes for chilling by working in them.

#6 Reboot

Machines don’t have feelings but when they are a bit sluggish, the first thing we do is turn them off and give them a rest. We then switch them on again to see if our issue is solved.

If our first instinct with a machine is to switch it off then why do we try to force ourselves to work when our CPU is overloaded? Your productivity might be crashing because you are burnt out and you can try all the hacks in the world but nothing will substitute rest.

When I feel like this, I go to sleep earlier. Anything outstanding on my list can be picked up the following day in 99% of cases.

If it’s too late for this then you might need to take some time off and completely reboot. You might think you can’t do this but you get more done by working closer to 100% when you’re back than plodding along at 40% effectiveness.

It’s simple mathematics.

Give. Yourself. A. Break.

Driven But Always Stressed Out? Download Your FREE Anti-Burnout Toolkit Now.

The post 6 Practical Ways To Reverse A Productivity Slump first appeared on Amardeep.

We All Deserve The Legal “Right To Rest” From Work

Amardeep — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 11:32:26 +0000

Don’t lose sight of how you feel

Edited by the author - Original image from Pexels

Portugal is about to burst with immigration applications.

The country recently introduced a new law banning bosses from contacting employees outside of working hours. They already have plenty of sunshine, delicious food and a low crime rate. Sounds like paradise right?

The “right to rest” law has teeth too. Companies with more than 10 employees can be fined if they contact people outside their working hours. The financial penalty combined with the risk of losing staff can save the Portuguese from the terrors of the always-on culture.

Yes, the pandemic has led to the greater flexibility many workers craved but it’s come with secret terms and conditions. Sure, you can go and drop off your kids during work hours as long as you answer my emails outside them. No one ever spells it out like that so the invasion happens in stealth. 68% of US workers reported working on the weekend outside of their contracted hours during the pandemic.

Why? Natural boundaries no longer exist when you work from home. I know I felt like I was living at work at times rather than working from home when I was an employee. Even now as my own boss, clients will expect replies at all times of the day without respect for my personal time.

Enough is enough.

This isn’t a socialist luxury

Western Europe has always had greater protections for workers than the US or the UK. Several countries even guaranteed an 11-hour break every 24 hours for the majority of workers. Some might argue Portugal’s latest law only makes sense there because they have a different culture.

Those people would be wrong.

Hustle culture and the ‘always on’ mentality has been repeatedly shown to have negative effects on not just health but performance too. Out of those expected to respond to out of hours communication, 70.4% feel psychological distress and 63.5% feel emotional exhaustion.

The problem with not having a right to rest is you are stuck in limbo between work and personal time. If you’re having dinner with your partner whilst checking your emails every 5 minutes, does it count as working? In a massive study of 3.1 million workers, researchers concluded the average workday had extended by 48.5 minutes.

Some people have converted their commuting time into working time but they aren’t comparable. My old commute used to include a 20-minute walk and 20 minutes of reading a book on the train. Compared to working, which one do you think is better for my health?

Extended working hours is a serious issue and those who work more than 55 hours per week are 35% more likely to have a stroke. Those who increase beyond this are taking risks for no additional output. It’s a fool’s game and everyone loses.

With great power…

While all the statistics make a strong case, the difference between guidance and law is significant.

The intention to stop the chronic pestering of employees is noble. Yet what about the times where it may be reasonable to contact staff? It’s tough to know where to draw the line.

Sometimes during my consulting career, I think clients did the right thing by contacting me in the evening. If I made a mistake that was affecting a large group of people then does my right to rest trump their rights? I believe it makes sense for me to be called to fix a mess I created.

It might not even be my fault but if a problem is left until the morning then it snowballs and becomes much harder to deal with. I’d rather be contacted as soon as the oil leak is detected not once it’s killed everything in a 5-mile radius.

The right to rest will always be in conflict with other innocent stakeholders’ rights. In an ideal world, companies would have enough staff to cover all hours healthily. In reality, some common sense will be needed on both sides even with this law.

You need to set your own boundaries

When the law isn’t giving us the right to rest then we need to give it to ourselves. Workplace stress is a vicious circle only if people let it be.

Everyone you deal with is human and they all have their own problems to deal with. Most people don’t want to make your life harder, they are just trying to make their own easier. Humanize yourself and humanize your boss. They are trying to figure out their own balance too.

I didn’t set boundaries early in my career because I was afraid to. Yet once I started doing it, I realized people were far more understanding than I expected. Deadlines are often more arbitrary than anyone likes to admit. If you’re expected to answer emails late at night then first seek to push back timelines. This worked many times for me.

If your voice is being ignored then perhaps it’s time to join the Great Resignation. Your boss doesn’t need to care about your health but you do. You only get one life. Why are you choosing to spend it replying to emails at midnight? There are over 10 million unfilled vacancies in the US right now. Secure another job before you leave to ease financial concerns. Employers will need to change their behaviour to survive whether they like it or not.

Don’t wait for your government. Claim your right to rest today.

Driven But Always Stressed Out? Download Your FREE Anti-Burnout Toolkit Now.

The post We All Deserve The Legal “Right To Rest” From Work first appeared on Amardeep.

8 Challenges Even Millionaire YouTuber Ali Abdaal Faces

Amardeep — Mon, 01 Nov 2021 23:29:10 +0000

We’re in this content creation game together

Edited by the author — Original from Pexels

You want to be a content creator. You’re sure you can be great. You’ve seen enough success porn to know all you need to do is work hard and one day you’ll make it. You’ll have the life of your dreams and live happily ever after.

Sorry, it’s time to burst your bubble.

The reality is different. I’ve grown exponentially in the last year myself and outearn my old-day job so some would think I’ve made it. They don’t see the challenges I face and how much thought goes into what I do.

Yet Ali Abdaal is a couple of years ahead of me. He’s become one of those semi-mythical beasts. A millionaire content creator. Surely Ali has made it? He must not worry about anything at all.

Wrong. He recently posted a life update and it warmed my heart to see how many of his problems I could relate to. If you dream of making it big, you must understand the realities of what this actually means.

Some of the dilemmas you face now will stay with you for years to come. You shouldn’t feel shame for being unsure as even Ali Abdaal is too.

#1 Medium to long term planning

I never thought I’d still be writing 2 years after I started. It was a new year’s resolution. As 80% of these fail, I would have been impressed if I wrote more than five pieces.

I kept going until one day I reached a tipping point. The excitement of a fresh hobby had faded. Focusing on putting out content every week became a chore. I realized I was running on a hamster wheel.

Ali’s early goal was to post two YouTube videos a week. Weekly targets create constant pressure but take you away from the big picture. It takes a certain type of person to be happy being a content mill and it’s not me. It’s not Ali either.

He’s now working on a mix of different projects, some with longer cycles than others like writing a book. He’s launching new products where he can build something long-term rather than the temporary nature of most content. You should think about doing the same to keep the passion going.

#2 What do you want from life

This planning fits into the bigger question of what’s the point of it all?

In normal careers, you follow a clear ladder of progression. You aim for the next promotion whilst trying to balance everything else on the side. In content creation, the appeal of more followers and views fades fast. The intensity of high from my first 5k followers was much greater than when I gained 50k.

We’re sold the idea becoming a content creator means freedom but how many of us live the way we dream about?

Ali has all the resources to live the way he wants but still wonders why he doesn’t live that way. Make sure you always think about how content creation fits into your wider goals for life. Some of you will want to become famous. Others would rather keep their privacy.

Know what you want so you don’t sleepwalk into a life you hate.

#3 Organizational design

Many side hustlers have unrealistic expectations of what life as a full-time content creator is like. It’s not all sunshine. Administration gremlins eat away at your day but you can’t shake them. I’m sorry to ruin your fantasy if you thought you can sit there and be creative all day.

Ali has an immense machine powered by 20 employees supporting him. You can’t reach such a scale alone unless you hate your sleep, your friends, your family, and your mental health. I don’t advise trying. I have three people working for me because I value my time.

Yet none of us know the best way to run this type of organization. It comforts me to know even Ali struggles with whether he’s managing things in the right way. Before you quit your job to become a content creator, make sure you understand it means becoming an entrepreneur too.

#4 Trying to make good content

Here’s a confession, I have tuned out of Ali’s content in recent times. He was flirting with clickbait too much and I felt it was inauthentic. I worry people will do the same to me.

Ali won me back in this video though. I was impressed he admitted he stresses about the same things I do. The temptation to get lost in the numbers can be too much sometimes and you forget what makes you worth listening to in the first place. He actually deleted the videos which I had rolled my eyes at. Top marks.

None of us are perfect and we’ll all make mistakes by following the bright lights. The simple solution is asking yourself the same question Ali asks himself:

“Am I proud of this?”

#5 Experimenting with different platforms

Newbies wonder if they are starting on the right platform.

Experts wonder if their platform is dying.

It’s funny how every platform has its own doomsayers. They shout loudly and tell everyone else the game is up! They do this for months without leaving the “dead” platform. It causes unnecessary panic for everyone in their radius.

I’m entering the YouTube world now. Ali is wondering if he should focus on TikTok instead. He doesn’t want to make TikTok content but he is scared of being left behind.

Stable times are the exception, not the rule. There will never be an extended period where you feel 100% confident you’re doing the right thing. You must accept this and back yourself to adapt if it comes to it. Panic without action is exhausting.

#6 Having a niche vs not having one

I’m sure you’ve gone through this same battle. Many people are firmly in one camp or the other in public but in private, we all doubt our decisions.

Ali knows his productivity and finance-related content make him the most money. From a business perspective, he should focus on this niche. The problem is he prefers making content about a variety of topics. Does he choose money or fulfillment?

Like everyone else, the answer lies somewhere in the middle.

My niche is now looking at how ambitious people can find balance. I feel like this will be a lifelong mission for me and I can maintain it for a long time. I hope my passion intersects with long-term income but only time will tell.

What I do know is I will never make content that is driven only by dollar bills.

#7 Day job

The ultimate decision for content creators is whether to take it full time. Most people would quit their day jobs instantly if they were bringing in $27k a week. Not Ali. He works as a qualified doctor for one day a week even though he doesn’t enjoy it.

The “doctor” label brings him respect. He’s embarrassed to call himself a content creator or a YouTuber despite his success. I can relate as I procrastinated updating my LinkedIn as long as I could. I’m still useless at telling people what I do.

People will always need doctors but there’s a tiny chance his content could get canceled. This negligible risk stops him from fully committing because he feels it gives him a backup.

It’s your personal decision to be full-time or a side-hustler but don’t let our people’s judgments keep you in a job you don’t like. Life’s too short. The skills you learn from being your own boss are highly marketable and I’m sure Ali could easily make several times his doctor salary even without a personal brand now.

#8 Time for yourself

The curse of the content creator is reaching an income target but being too insecure to take your foot off the gas.

You’d be surprised how stressed out the top writers I know are despite them easily being in the top 0.01%. It’s as if they lose perspective of how much they really need. I can spot the irrationality in others but sometimes I can’t stop myself from acting in the exact same way.

Ali knows his business doesn’t need to grow at an “exponential rate” yet struggles with accepting this. He still feels guilty when he’s having fun but he understands the importance of changing his mindset.

Wake up if you are neglecting yourself right now because of loyalty to the hustle. Mental health isn’t something you should focus on only when you have hit a certain number of views or followers. Build it into your routine now and I hope you’ll be much happier because of it.

Driven But Always Stressed Out? Download Your FREE Anti-Burnout Toolkit Now.

The post 8 Challenges Even Millionaire YouTuber Ali Abdaal Faces first appeared on Amardeep.

The Complete Guide To The Online Tools I Use In My 6-Figure Business

Amardeep — Thu, 09 Sep 2021 14:21:15 +0000

Why I use them and alternatives for you

Photo of author and edited by the author

One of the questions I get asked the most is what do I use to get everything done.

I’m a tool junkie. With my experience in the tech consulting world, I see no valid reason to make life harder for myself by doing things the hard way. I use over 50 online tools to help me with all the goals in my business. I’m not afraid to spend a bit of money to save myself a lot of time.

Yet at the same time, I have made some dumb decisions in the past and I don’t want you to do repeat my mistakes. I appreciate not everyone shares my preferences so I’ve given alternatives and explained exactly why I use everything I use to help you make a decision.

I’m hoping this is an article you bookmark and keep coming back to for reference as you grow your own hobby, side hustle, or business.

Here we go! You can use the contents below to teleport to the parts of the article you are most interested in.

*This post contains affiliate links!

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Website
1a. WordPress
1b. Bluehost

2. Email
2a. Gmail
2b. ConvertKit

3. Audio and Visual
3a. Zencastr
3b. Adobe Premiere Pro
3c. Buzzsprout
3d. Figma
3e. Canva
3f. YouTube
3g. Google Meet

4. Productivity
4a. Todoist
4b. Notion
4c. Clockify
4d. Trello
4e. Calendly
4f. Google Forms
4g. Google Sheets
4h. Google Calendar

5. Learning
5a. Medium
5b. Blinkist
5c. Apple Podcasts
5d. Skillshare
5e. Teachable
5f. Udemy

6. Communication
6a. Voxer
6b. Slack
6c. WhatsApp
6d. Quora
6e. LinkedIn
6f. Instagram
6g. Facebook

7. Writing
7a. Medium
7b. Grammarly
7c. Hemingwayapp
7d. Cliche Finder
7e. Text Analyzer
7f. Google Docs

8. Finance
8a. Stripe
8b. Paypal
8c. Vanguard
8d. Binance
8e. Tide
8f. Starling

9. Miscellaneous
9a. Lastpass
9b. MoreYoga
9c. Amazon Prime
9d. Netflix
9e. Spotify
9f. Adblock Plus

The cornerstone of everything is the website. You can have a blog on another site but then you are at their mercy should they decide to ban you or change their format. My website is currently being rebuilt and you can see I have a cover page here. Yet if you go to this link, you might just catch what I’m building behind the scenes if you’re quick!

WordPress

Website creator

40% of the internet is based on WordPress for a reason because it has so many more options than most of the alternatives out there. The number of plugins is unrivaled to expand upon the base.

Yet if your needs are simple I would use Wix or Squarespace. You don’t need to be a developer to use those effectively. I have a technology consulting background so my learning curve isn’t as steep as it would be for most of you. Even then I’m going to outsource some of the more fidgety parts because life is too short.

My old site was based on Wix but I found it too limiting for the more advanced functions I wanted to add.

I also paid for the Astra theme and Elementor plugins to help me build the website quickly in an effective manner. It’s expensive overall so if you’re dipping your toes, it’s worth looking at the cheaper options.

You can see my current live website here and here’s a sneak peek at what I’m building.

How much I pay: $49 for Elementor Pro, $47.20 for Astra Pro (annual subscriptions)

Alternatives: Wix, Squarespace

Bluehost

Web host

You need to buy a domain to host your website and for it not to look amateur by having the website builder’s name in the URL.

The differences between the providers aren’t so large. I went with Bluehost because they are established so if I have problems then I know they have the resources to deal with them. There are more resources online on how to deal with various issues too because it’s popular.

You can’t go wrong with Bluehost even if it’s the cheapest or most feature-rich. Reliability is most important.

How much I pay: $300 for 3 years

Alternatives: Hostgator, GatorHost, GoDaddy

No social media platform has yet killed off email. It’s used by most people and is the method of communication most people are likely to see. In an online business, you need an account where you read and manage your emails then another provider to enable you to mass send emails and run marketing campaigns.

Gmail

You know what Gmail is.

Gmail is reliable with predictable usability features which is all I need is an email provider. This is path-dependent because I have used Gmail so much then I am comfortable with it and no other provider has given me enough incentive to switch.

The main debate would be Outlook vs Gmail for me and Gmail wins because it’s most commonly used by the others I connect with.

I pay for the Google suite because I want my custom email address of hello@amardeepsparmar.com. I pay one price for all of the different apps so it’s a steal in the end. If you’re paranoid about your privacy there are many other options out there for most people this is the choice of least resistance.

How much I pay: £8.26 for Google Business Standard per month

Alternatives: Outlook

ConvertKit

Email marketing software

Whatever business you run, an email list is critical. It’s the only way you can reach your customers directly and be sure they’ll at least see it without any algorithms interfering. You can use it to send sales emails or regular newsletters.

Normal email accounts like Google aren’t set up for mass sending emails so you need a separate provider for your marketing.

I was using Substack until this week because it was free and easy. Yet long term it wasn’t the right choice for me. The lack of customization and ability to do automation made it start to become a burden.

I’m currently teaching a course alongside

Nick Wolny

about how to grow an email empire. As part of it, I made tutorials about how to achieve different goals in main email providers. ConvertKit was by far the cleanest experience and had all the features I needed so it was a no-brainer to make the switch.

How much I pay: $79 a month (1000–5000 subscribers)

Alternatives: ActiveCampaign, Flodesk, Mailchimp

Although my online business started in writing, most of my time is now spent in the audio and visual space. I produce and host my own podcast, Mindful & Driven, create online courses and spend a large part of my working day on calls to other online creators.

I went into this space headfirst with my consulting hat on to minimize the learning curve.

Zencastr

Podcast recording

I produce and host the Mindful & Driven podcast which has both audio-only and video versions. I know many people use Zoom to record their meetings but their quality often resembles a potato.

I like Zencastr because it records both people locally first then uploads it so I never need to worry about a dodgy internet connection. It’s easy to use and hasn’t failed me yet.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives: Zoom, Google Meet

Adobe Premiere Pro

Video editing tool

If you’ve never tried it before, trust me, editing videos can be painful. I tried to cheap out by using different free resources but the quality just wasn’t there. I use Adobe Premiere Pro to edit everything from my podcast to online courses to Instagram reels.

For Windows users, it’s the industry video editor of choice and there’s no point swimming against the tide here. It’s quick to skill up with courses on Skillshare. If video content is an important part of your business then the costs are negligible.

How much I pay: £19.97 per month

Alternatives: Final Cut Pro

Buzzsprout

Podcast manager

For anyone looking to start a podcast, I recommend starting with Buzzsprout. It’s an easy way to manage uploading episodes and getting listed. The instructions are clear and concise and I had no problems. Their YouTube channel also has a wealth of tips and tricks.

I forked out more to pay for “Magic Mastery” which means all my podcasts sound great and the volume is even. It’s easily worth the $6 because it would take me far longer to manually fix the sound.

How much I pay: $18 for hosting per month, $6 for Magic Mastery

Alternatives: anchor.fm, riverside.fm

Figma

Design prototype tool

Of all the tools on this list, Figma is the one I enjoy using the most. It’s therapeutic for me to make my designs here. Every article image, podcast cover, and Instagram image of mine was edited here. It’s not difficult to use but I cheated a little because I learned how to use it in my corporate career so have an advantage over those new to the design world.

This week, I’ve been using it to mock up my website. For most people, I would say outsource this work to a graphic designer as despite what you think, you probably can’t make a good prototype in a reasonable amount of time. Yet I enjoy it so for me it was part work, part leisure.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives: Miro, Canva

Canva

Image editing tool

Many online business people are obsessed with Canva because of how quickly you can make a decent-looking custom image. If you have little design experience and don’t care too much, I’d recommend using Canva rather than Figma for your image creation.

The main drawback is because everyone uses it, you want to not pick the images right at the top if you want to stand out. I bought a subscription because I was going to use it to replace Figma but it was too limiting for my ideas. I now only use it for the background remover which is a waste of money and I haven’t renewed my subscription!

How much I pay: £8.33 a month (though waiting for the annual contract to run out)

Alternatives: Figma

YouTube

You know what YouTube is

YouTube is the dominant platform for sharing and making money from creating videos. At the moment my page is quite limited and I haven’t actively promoted it but you can find the video versions of my podcast there.

The barrier to entry to monetize is high. You need 1000 subscribers and 4000 hours of watch time but for someone serious, this is actually a good thing. It means if you are confident enough you can reach there, the rewards are higher than what they’d be if everyone was paid. I’m only 1% of the way there but I haven’t prioritized it yet. Watch this space.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives: –

Google Meet

Video conferencing

My use of Google Meet rather than Zoom or Teams for my everyday calls is because it was the tool of choice at my day job. The differences between the apps aren’t big enough for me to bother changing.

If you’re using a tool for videoconferencing already it’s not worth changing in most cases. However, if you want to host grander events, I’d recommend Hopin.

How much I pay: £8.26 for Google Business Standard per month

Alternatives: Zoom, Microsoft Teams

This is the magic. I managed five income streams on top of my full-time job and it’s now a dozen since I left the corporate world. These tools are critical to stopping me from burning out and losing track of what I’m doing.

I’d strongly recommend creating a system and sticking to it for a little while so you can see the results. Sometimes it takes a little while to get adjusted before your productivity starts to spike.

Todoist

To-do list manager

My to-do list has over 300 items at the moment. That’s not a typo.

Using a notebook to track my tasks was a mess of arrows and scratched-out tasks. What I like about Todoist is how I can schedule tasks to separate out my lists. I select my tasks for the day so I don’t get distracted and can dump longer-term items in a separate list where they don’t overwhelm me.

I can also use recurring tasks. For example, I have a task for every day I edit Entrepreneur’s Handbook to look through the queue of articles.

The difference between the free and paid versions isn’t massive but when it’s so cheap I had no problem paying. It gives me extra options and filters to keep track of my tasks.

How much I pay: $36 a year

Alternatives:

Notion

Note tracking app

My Notion is my second brain, it stores all the stuff I’d otherwise forget. I have pages for recipes, book notes, and podcast notes. It hosts my own thoughts and wacky plans that aren’t ready for the world’s consumption yet.

Storing information here means less repeat work for my brain. If I want to remember the line I loved from a book then I just go into Notion and check my notes. It’s far more efficient than manually flicking through the book and hoping it triggers your memory.

Roam Research is a major competitor so it’s worth checking out both before deciding on what system you want to use.

The great thing about it is unless you want to share your notes with other people, it’s free!

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives: Roam research, Evernote

Clockify

Time tracking

Clockify made a huge difference to my productivity when I went full time into online business. I found my schedule was messed up and I never knew how long I spent on different tasks.

Through Clockify I can track where I’m spending my time which helps me to use it more intentionally. A common problem I had was underestimating how long a task would take me and then cramming too much into my day’s plan.

Though I try not to be, I’m competitive by nature, and knowing I’m working against the clock triggers fire in my belly. If you often find yourself wondering where your time has gone then Clockify could be for you.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives:-

Trello

Task tracking

Trello is great for collaborative task tracking. I only use it in the freelancing side of my business where my client can add tasks to the “to-do” column with comments. Then I pick it up add my own comments as it goes through a workflow.

I value it because it protects my email inbox. The clarity of communication and tracking is perfect for client work because it removes the potential for misunderstandings.

How much I pay: Nothing (though the client does)

Alternatives:-

Calendly

Appointment booking app

As I write this, I think I’m going to make next week a no online call week. Calls drain my energy even if I love talking to the person and they disrupt my rhythm for the rest of the day.

With Calendly I don’t have to do the awkward dance of back and forth emails to try to schedule a call at least. When I have 5–10 a week, it becomes a headache fast.

I use Calendly to manage other people’s access to my time. I block time periods where I want to rest and automatically block half an hour before and after an existing call. This gives me the time to recover before the next round.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives:-

Google Forms

Data collection

As my online business has grown, collecting feedback has become more important. Google Forms allows me to do this painlessly in a way which many of my audience is familiar with.

I use forms to manage Entrepreneur’s Handbook submissions and Mindful & Driven preparation too. Considering the options you get for free, there’s not much need to analyze too hard.

How much I pay: £8.26 for Google Business Standard per month

Alternatives: Typeform

Google Sheets

Spreadsheet

As a former economist, I love a good spreadsheet. I was strongly a Microsoft Excel guy but today I don’t need to do complex econometrics so Google Sheets is just fine.

I use Google Sheets as a tracking tool and for when I need to structure ideas out in a table. I export the Google Forms data here to make it easier to find what I need.

How much I pay: £8.26 for Google Business Standard per month

Alternatives: Microsoft Excel

Google Calendar

Calendar

You might have noticed by now I use the Google tech stack. Whenever there’s a function covered by one subscription, I’m going to use it rather than hunting around elsewhere. Google Calendar does everything I need it to do in conjunction with Calendly.

One trick I use is checking my schedule on my Apple Watch at the beginning of the day. This delays my need to check my phone or my laptop as if I know I have no meetings to prepare for then I can have some peace of mind. It’s great when I’m out too and someone asks me when I’m free!

How much I pay: £8.26 for Google Business Standard per month

Alternatives: Outlook calendar

Every online business at its core is either leisure or learning and the best are both. For me, I’m entangled because the places I learn also tend to be the places I teach as well. Here’s where I think the best resources live.

Medium

Blog site

The membership that changed my life.

There are so many blog sites online and most are awful. I don’t want to bookmark 30 websites to read the work of the people I love reading. Medium puts high-quality authors all in one place and I’ve learned so much here.

The membership is far too cheap for what you get. It’s especially useful for those in the tech and design fields which is how I discovered it initially.

How much I pay: $50 per year for an annual membership

Alternatives: Nothing quite like it

Blinkist

Book summaries

The editor’s curse is reading non-fiction becomes less enjoyable over time. It feels like work, not leisure.

The more you read, the more realize how most of the books can be summarized quickly and the rest is filler to justify the price. Blinkist gives short summaries in both written and audio form to distill the key ideas of books.

Most of the time I find this is sufficient for me to understand what the concepts are and I don’t need to read a million more examples.

How much I pay: $60 for an annual membership

Alternatives: 4-minute books

Apple Podcasts

Podcast player

One of the problems of being an editor is I get sick of reading articles. It means most of my learning now comes from podcasts rather than blogs.

I like Apple Podcasts’ simple design and prefer to keep Spotify purely for listening to music.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives: Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Acaster

Skillshare

Online learning platform

I have always been a skeptic of online courses. It’s ridiculous because I should invest in myself so I improve faster but I have a mental block.

Skillshare is perfect for people like me and I have used it to learn Adobe Premiere Pro in a day as well as how to create a podcast. It’s a cheap subscription considering there are hundreds of online courses included. I made my own course there too and I love that people can try it for a month for free.

If you want to learn a creative skill fast and cheaply then I don’t think there’s a better place.

How much I pay: £50 annually

Alternatives: Teachable, Udemy, Thinkific

Teachable

Online learning platform

I currently use Teachable for my intermediate writing course but I’m planning to migrate it to Udemy. I’ll break down why.

Teachable as a platform is great and has everything you need. Yet it’s expensive and relies on you driving the traffic to your course. This is an awesome trade-off if you love selling but not everyone does.

As I don’t push my course aggressively, after the initial launch, sales dried up so I wonder why I’m paying still. Yet I don’t want to shove it in people’s faces to turn things around. This is why I’m switching to Udemy.

Which platform you use depends on how much you enjoy selling. The potential for supernormal profits is greater on Teachable though.

How much I pay: $39 per month (I downgraded from the higher tier)

Alternatives: Skillshare, Udemy, Thinkific

Udemy

Online learning platform

Udemy has its pros and cons relative to Skillshare and Teachable. You charge per course which means you make more per student than Skillshare. Yet you don’t have to pay a monthly fee like Teachable. Udemy, like Skillshare, will recommend your course to people in their ecosystem.

The downsides of Udemy are flash sales out of your control where they might decide to put a big discount on your course. You still get a share but it’s much lower than a normal sale. The fact there are public ratings is a reason some Teachable instructors avoid it as a few bad reviews can sink your course. Though if you’re making a course you believe in then you shouldn’t hide away from the public eye!

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives: Skillshare, Udemy, Thinkific

People think I spend most of my time creating but it’s not true at all. Most of my time is spent connecting with other people and working on different ideas and projects with them. It’s the greatest perk of what I do to have access to so many inspiring minds.

I also need to use different channels to get my own message out there to a wider audience. Managing this all can become difficult sometimes. Right now I have over 500 unread notifications from the apps below and I have group chat notifications turned off!

Voxer

Walkie-talkie app

This is one of the newest additions to my toolkit and has blown my mind. It’s just like a normal messaging app but you can send voice notes and the other person listens whilst you are talking.

It’s great for when something can be explained better through speaking but without having to jump on a proper call. Let’s say someone is giving me instructions, I can send them messages to clarify their points while they are still speaking so they can add that information. It makes working when you aren’t in the same room an extra bit easier.

It’s different to say Whatsapp where you need to wait for the completed audio and listen to it before you can reply. It’s a subtle difference but a great one. Voxer isn’t for people who like to record voice notes and delete several times before actually sending though!

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives: –

Slack

Communications app

Slack is the classic app for collaborating with a group. I’ve mainly used it as part of mastermind groups and it works well when the group is active.

The issue is there’s a sweet spot of size. A few highly engaged people are better than many lurkers. I feel less comfortable revealing more vulnerable information when I know there are many people reading who I don’t know.

If you can get this balance right, it’s one of the best ways to host a community for free. Group mastermind slacks are where I’ve made some of the connections who’ve later become genuine friends.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives: –

Communications app

WhatsApp is my most protected communication channel where I talk to the people I’m closest with. It’s so easy for the lines between personal and business to get blurred but I enjoy having one channel where I can’t be bugged!

Whatsapp doubles as my on-the-go note-taking app too through a little hack I learned. You can create a group with just you in it and use it to send messages to yourself. I’ve been using WhatsApp for so long, it’s the place I feel most comfortable reading and sending messages so it’s a natural fit for me. It’s the place for my brain dump before I add the details to Todoist or Notion.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives:-

Instagram

Media sharing app

Pre-online business, Instagram was the social media app I spent the most time on as a consumer. It has changed generally in the last few years from a place mainly for friends and family to share photos with each other to a space dominated by brands.

As a consumer, I’m not sure how I feel about it but as a creator, I know it’s a valuable platform to show my personality to those who want to see more of me. It’s not a platform you have to be on, it depends on your audience. I target millennials and it makes Instagram a natural fit.

I mean where else do I show my writing fans me dancing to Bhangra?

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives:-

Quora

Question and answer platform

I underuse Quora but someone like

Sean Kernan

shows the power of building an audience there.

Quora is a good way for people to dip their toes in the online world. The required effort is less than writing a full blog post yet there’s still the potential to go viral and build an audience. I skipped this step but in hindsight, I believe it would have helped me become a better writer.

All I do is post links to my articles but a longer-term strategy will be to answer questions and engage more in their community.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives:-

Professional networking

I have a love-hate relationship with LinkedIn. I connect with some incredible people through there but I get many dead-end messages too.

I’ve lost count of the number of people who’ve slid into my inbox hoping I’m going to call them for free to help them make money. If you were to consider doing that, save us both some time!

I’ve switched my default from connections to followers which means I need to spend less time accepting connection requests and the number of people who see my posts can grow passively. I haven’t bothered with LinkedIn premium at the moment because I struggle to keep up with the messages I already have.

Someone like

Tim Denning

is a master of using this platform and in the future, I’ll consider it a fun challenge to switch up my writing style to be successful here.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives:-

Facebook

Social network

I don’t use Facebook the same way I did ten years ago. It’s no longer personal, it’s all business. I only use the groups’ function where I’m part of several masterminds and moderate some of these. This includes the Medium Writer’s Academy by

Sinem Günel

Compared to Slack, FB groups are good because most people already have a Facebook account and the resistance to join is less. I find Slack better for focused groups and FB better for mass participation.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives: –

A large part of my online business is based on my ability to write and edit other people’s work effectively. Mistakes do sometimes slip through as I’m human but here’s what I use to avoid embarrassment.

Medium

Blog site

Medium is the only tool that appears here twice because I use it for two distinct reasons.

It’s the main place I write because I can reach a wide audience through the existing membership. The UI is clean and easy to use.

If you write only on a WordPress blog, stop and write here instead. Medium does encourage high-quality writing so if you want to spam and get rich quick, go elsewhere!

How much I pay: Nothing to write

Alternatives: Nothing quite like it

Grammarly

Spelling and grammar checker

If you write online and aren’t using Grammarly then sign up as soon as you finish this article. What are you doing? As an editor, I resent the author whenever I open an article and there’s a sea of red squiggly lines.

Grammarly is like a live spell checker that can be used in your browser through an extension. The free version is good enough for my needs and picks up most of my mistakes. Yet I’m relatively privileged as a native English speaker with a university degree.

My friend

Sinem Günel

told me the suggestions from Grammarly Pro made a huge difference to her English writing prowess. Considering she’s made hundreds of thousands of dollars from her writing, I’m confident in recommending it. They seem to do discounts regularly so I’d wait for those if I were you.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives: –

Hemmingwayapp.com

Writing clarity tool

Although it has “app” in the title, I use the browser version.

Ernest Hemmingway is an American author who is famous for his concise style. When you paste your text into this site, it gives you a grade and highlights where improvements could be made.

I’m not Hemmingway and I like to have longer sentences sometimes to mix up the flow for the reader. Yet this site shows me where I’ve made my text too dense and I always use at least some of the suggestions.

If you find readers struggle to read your work, there’s no harm in checking what the site says.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives: Grammarly Pro has similar features

Cliche Finder

Does what the name says

Cliche’s can be useful but they can be lazy too. Paste your writing into here to find out how often you use cliches and see if you can come up with something more original instead.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives:–

Text analyzer

Duplicate word/phrase finder

As an editor one problem, I see a lot is people reusing the same words and phrases throughout their article. I shouldn’t be halfway through your article and feel a sense of deja vu because I think I’ve read something you’ve said already.

The fix is to use a tool like Text Analyzer that tells you how many times certain phrases and words appear. If you can see something pop up a lot then it is a trigger to rephrase those sentences to make the reader experience more fluid.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives: –

Google docs

Document editor

Whenever I’m writing something, not for a blog, Google Docs is my go-to. It’s become the standard for people to use when sending documents online and most people are clued up enough on how to add comments and suggestions.

Whilst I used Microsoft Word for most of my life, it makes sense for me to use the same tool as my collaborators to reduce friction.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives: –

The money side makes the world go around whether we like it or not. I have different ways of accepting payments online, my investment accounts and my business bank accounts. Beware this is flavored by my UK background and you should always seek financial advice before putting any of your capital at risk.

Stripe

Payment processor

Stripe is a payment provider and has boomed in recent years. Several of my income sources are reliant on it so I don’t have much choice in using it. Though when given a choice, I prefer using Stripe to Paypal because the analytics are better.

Running a paid Substack newsletter has meant I had to learn how to handle refunds and disputed payments. It’s not fun. Yet, touch wood, everything has worked out so far. If you can use something simpler early on, I would recommend you do it as the backend can be confusing at times.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives: —

Paypal

Payment processor

Paypal is another way for me to receive money for my services. What’s great is I can drop people this link and they can pay me instantly. If you fancy buying me a coffee I won’t complain.

The security of payments is something I know many people worry about and it’s why Paypal is so dominant. It’s a brand name people know and trust. I’d encourage you to be highly skeptical of sending money to someone through a tool you’ve never heard of. Do your research on it or ask a more tech-aware friend.

The fees are a pain for me because of the currency conversion but the convenience and trust it triggers in clients makes it worth it.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives:-

Vanguard

Investment portfolio

I do all my investments through Vanguard though I know there are many providers. They offer low fees and are of a scale where I feel safe leaving my money with them.

I don’t actively trade anymore except for investing in the odd IPO because I don’t spend all my time reading about the markets like I used to. The likelihood I know better than a fund manager is pretty low. The chances you are better than a fund manager in the long term is low too, don’t lie to yourself.

How much I pay: % fees of investments

Alternatives: So many

Binance

Cryptocurrency exchange

I’m going to upset some people but I don’t believe in the cryptocurrency hype on fundamentals. Blockchain technology may well be the future but volatile coins with no intrinsic value are a gamble in my eyes.

Yet I’m investing anyway because I might be wrong. There are few ways to earn extraordinary results and I’ve only invested an amount that losing wouldn’t majorly impact my life.

I chose Binance over Coinbase because when I bought, they had better options to buy coins in GBP rather than USD. It doesn’t have the best user experience for the average person but it is improving.

How much I pay: % fees

Alternatives: Coinbase

Tide

UK Business bank account

Tide is a challenger online bank that is simple to set up through an app as long as you have your company set up properly. I chose Tide because I was bombarded with adverts for them and the user experience is clean. It was my first business bank account.

There’s a downside though as it’s a GBP account and most of my income is in USD so I get hit with high commission. Most of my transactions now flow through my Starling account but I find it useful to have two accounts for resilience.

How much I pay: % based fee

Alternatives:

Starling

UK business bank account

Like Tide, Starling is a UK-based challenger bank that has one considerable advantage for me. It allows me to open up a USD account.

This means my dollar-based income is no longer hit with a commission and I can transfer it to my own sterling account at a low cost. While on each transaction, the saving isn’t massive, over time it can add up quickly.

How much I pay: £5 a month

Alternatives:

This motley crew of tools is what keeps me sane and safe. I’m not someone who believes spending time online for leisure is evil though I try to be intentional about it. Here’s the wrap-up of the final tools.

Lastpass

Password manager

With all these accounts, you can imagine it would be a nightmare to manually remember passwords. This is where LastPass saves the day.

I use a hyper-secure, ultra-long password to protect all the other passwords. Don’t get into the bad habit of using the same password on multiple sites because it leaves you vulnerable. Unless you have a photographic memory you’re going to need a good password manager. Make sure to use two-factor identification too.

I upgraded to the “families” version last month so I could share passwords with my new personal assistant. This means I can allow my assistant to see the passwords she needs but not the more intimate ones like my bank accounts!

How much I pay: $4 a month

Alternatives: 1Password, Google Password Store

MoreYoga

Yoga membership

If you’re not in the UK then I’m not sure if you can use this which sucks because love them.

Online business is terrible for the body. Sitting at a desk at home means hours can pass without me realizing it until my body begins to ache. I try to combat it with better habits as much as I can but I still have bad days.

MoreYoga has thousands of classes available online to help me stretch out. I consider my membership crucial to my business because I would break down far quicker without it.

How much I pay: £50 a month

Alternatives: There are hundreds

Amazon Prime

Ecommerce membership

I hate myself a little for much I use Amazon Prime but the convenience of the fast delivery is hard to resist. The chaos of my business means when I realize I need something, it usually means I need it immediately. The annual investment to have access to millions of products in this timeframe is unquestionably worth it for me.

How much I pay: £79 a year

Alternatives:

Netflix

Online entertainment

Puritan mindfulness people don’t need Netflix. I’m not a puritan though. Sometimes a distraction is needed to escape into another world.

How much I pay: £6 a month

Alternatives: Disney +, HBO, etc

Spotify

Maybe I’m weird but I prefer to keep Spotify for listening to music and Apple podcasts for learning. I associate Spotify with having fun and downtime. It’s something that works for me. I pay because I can’t stand adverts.

How much I pay: £9.99 a month

Alternatives:-

Adblock Plus

Browser Adblocker

It’s last but it makes a huge difference to my life. It’s a plugin that blocks ads on most websites. Companies are becoming savvier and I do need to disable it more often now when hit by a popup but it still protects my mind a little bit from the bombardment of adverts.

How much I pay: Nothing

Alternatives:-

And there you have it! That’s everything I use in my online business and some of the changes I plan to make. Drop a comment to let me know which tools you use, I’m open to suggestions.

I put in a lot of effort into this piece so I’d love it if you could sign up below or share it with your friends as a thank you.

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The post The Complete Guide To The Online Tools I Use In My 6-Figure Business first appeared on Amardeep.

How To Troubleshoot Your Mood To Help You Find Balance

Amardeep — Thu, 26 Aug 2021 08:00:31 +0000

Bad days happen to the best of us

Image courtesy of Sean Kernan

We all have those days where we just aren’t in the mood to get anything done.

For some they are rare but for others like me, they are alarmingly common. Dealing with these days and still getting things done is an important skill to balance your lifestyle.

When I slack for a day or two, it can put unhealthy pressure on me to get tasks done in a short amount of time once motivation strikes again. I don’t write every day for this reason and I shift between different tasks to keep my energy levels high.

Sean Kernan isn’t like me. He was a financial analyst for years and still wrote every day in his free time. Even as a full-time writer, he still writes daily through thick and thin which is probably why he has hundreds of millions of views online.

Whatever industry you work in, sometimes you need to work when you don’t feel motivated to avoid your workload getting out of control. Sean’s troubleshooting method can help you on those bad days.

This article is based on the Mindful & Driven episode with Sean. You can listen here or find the YouTube video at the bottom of this article.

You’ve got to ask the right question

When I don’t think I’m working as well as I can, I can get angry at myself. Sometimes we are our own worst enemies because rage doesn’t fix the problem. You might begin to focus on “what’s wrong with me?” rather than “how can I get back on course?”.

The second question is what Sean’s troubleshooting document does. It’s a series of steps he takes which focus on how to make things better rather than placing the blame. When your laptop breaks, you often don’t care what caused it, you just care about how to get it switched on again.

We choose to fight ourselves because it can feel easier than understanding ourselves. To know to get yourself back on track, you need strong self-awareness. You have to understand how your thoughts can change your mood and how external influences impact you.

It can be a little uncomfortable to admit to yourself you need a rest and can’t plow through every problem. Take the time to collect different ideas you can use to turn your morale around and write them down. It doesn’t need to be done in one sitting, you can let the list build up over time.

Tips on finding the right steps

Last year Niklas quit high paying job because he realized it was stopping him from fulfilling his potential. From a purely financial perspective, his decision was insanity. He was being paid enough to live comfortably, was good at what he did and it didn’t take up much time.

Even once he’d realized the job was sapping his energy, it was hard to quit because of the comfort of the money coming in. He kept at it longer than he should have because like most of us he’s hardwired not to turn down dollars.

Yet he had to be brutal with himself about what he wanted from life. He’d regret not freeing up his time to produce his best work more than he’d feel the loss of income.

I was in a similar position earlier this year. I knew with all my heart I wanted to be a full-time creative and I had matched my day job income. I could live comfortably on far less but it took time to shake off my psychological goblin that was addicted to numbers.

I’d advise you to be honest with yourself about how much income you actually need and how long your savings will last you. You might be able to cut more than you think you can.

I hope you found these tips useful and can see ways you can apply them to your own life. If you’d like to hear Niklas talk about it with me in more detail, check out our conversation in the video below.We aren’t all the same so you can’t steal someone else’s document and expect to solve all your problems. You’ll have unique steps and you can choose to find this exciting or intimidating. (Hint: choose exciting).

Yet you can find inspiration from what other people do. Their steps might not work for you but they might trigger related ideas that change your life. Don’t be afraid to tweak things to suit you or to adapt your own ideas if they no longer work for you.

We are constantly changing and what motivates me today is unrecognizable from who I was five years ago. Give yourself that compassion.

With those caveats, here are some of the things Sean has on his troubleshooting document.

Read random facts articles

Look at cool and clever adverts

Listen to podcasts

Going for a walk

Of his list, only the fourth step is something I use myself. As I now have my own podcast, listening to other podcasts is less enjoyable because I tend to overanalyze!

One thing he didn’t mention but works for me is laying down and staring at the ceiling. I find literally changing my perspective can shake my brain around and sometimes new ideas breakthrough.

Another way I regain motivation is by talking to someone else about whatever it is I’m working on. I tell them where I’m stuck and they might gift me an epiphany moment that puts me back at full speed.

Much of this is based on the idea of the focused brain and diffused brain popularised by Dr. Barbara Oakley. We can be in a rut because we spend too much time in the focused brain which tires us out. The troubleshooting document gives us different ways to go into diffused mode and trigger our creativity.

I hope you found this simple technique useful and can see ways you can apply them to your own life. If you’d like to hear Sean talk about it with me in more detail, check out our conversation in the video below.

https://youtu.be/Mrvh-3qbjgI

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The post How To Troubleshoot Your Mood To Help You Find Balance first appeared on Amardeep.

The 4 Productivity Tools That Run My Life and Businesses

Amardeep — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 08:00:56 +0000

Because who wants a sore brain

Created by the author of the author

I’m a frustrating mix of ambitious and plain lazy.

There are many projects I find cool but I don’t want to be working all day. I’d much rather chill with friends or watch Netflix and I’m not afraid to admit it.

Deep down can you say you’re any different?

I use productivity tools so I can spend less time working rather than so I can get more done. If someone else wants to work 100 hours every week then good luck to them but it’s not me. It’s probably not you either.

I’ve experimented with so many different productivity tools where each one promises to change my life. This is the system that allows me to work the hours I want whilst juggling a dozen streams of income.

I hope it helps you too. (P.S. None of these are ads!)

Actually knowing where the time goes

The right side of our brain spends its entire day making up stories to fit in with the way we view the world.

We tell ourselves lies like it will only take 5 minutes or I deserve a break, I’ve been working so hard this week.

My greatest problem at the start of my entrepreneurship journey was a lack of information. I didn’t know where I spent my time so I was hopeless at planning out my time. Everything took longer than I told myself it would take.

Screenshot by author

Then I started using Clockify to track how long I spent on each task I do. The competitive side of me came out when I knew I was against the clock so I became more productive. I could no longer lie to myself too.

You might hate timesheets if you’ve had to do them for work but Clockify’s use of graphs and colors makes it feel fun. There’s something I thought I’d never say.

If you find yourself feeling like you never have time, start using Clockify and see where it actually goes!

Tracking the bits and bobs

If you’re creative, you might have no problem in coming up with things to do but the hard bit is remembering them. I’m sure I’ve forgotten to do many things that might have changed my life.

My to-do list has over 300 items at the moment. A standard notebook and pen don’t cut it when you’re thinking both long term and short term.

This is why I started using Todoist after seeing it in a YouTube video by Thomas Frank. It’s the only tool I pay for on this list but it’s only a few dollars per month.

Todoist is great because it allows you to add tags to tasks and to schedule them out to the future. You can make tasks recurring too. If you hadn’t noticed I write here on Tuesday every week and I can’t forget because of the task I set up!

It’s easy to drag and drop tasks to push them to tomorrow too. A feature I might use too much. It hosts my repeatable checklists too such as for my podcast editing. Each time I edit, I duplicate this list so I can check off each task.

Screenshot by author

Try it. You’ll enjoy life more when you don’t have to keep a mental to-do list all the time.

Storing the important stuff

Todoist is great for tasks but you need something else for the information you want to keep forever.

There are many options on the market such as Evernote and Roam Research but I use Notion. I find it has the right mix of power and usability.

My Notion is my second brain, it stores all the stuff I know I’d forget. I have pages for recipes, book notes, and podcast notes. It hosts my own thoughts and wacky plans that aren’t ready for the world’s consumption yet.

Notion gives your mind a license to let go of everything you put in there. If you’re overwhelmed like I was, you can imagine how freeing that feels.

Protecting time

When I have 5–10 online calls every week, it didn’t take long for my schedule to become a nightmare.

There’d be this awkward dance where you’d tell someone the times you were available and by the time they replied, you’d already booked in others. I also want to avoid the tyranny of back-to-back calls forever.

I use Calendly to manage other people’s access to my time. It’s pretty simple, I send them the link and they can pick from slots that I’ve pre-prepared.

There are two features I love:

You can automatically block specific time periods before and after the call. I put an hour on either side which means I always have time to recover from staring at a camera and smiling.
I use my business Gmail calendar to put all my personal appointments too. As it integrates with Calendly, no one can book my time when I was planning to go to a yoga class!

I love talking to others but it has to be at a time where I can give my all to the conversation. Calendly gives me the power to give myself the rest I need between interactions

These tools combined cover every aspect of how I organize my life and businesses and allow me to do far more than I would be capable of otherwise.

Test out the tools for yourself to see what works for you. I’d recommend using Calendly first because it exposes the holes in your day and what your biggest time sinks are.

These apps answer four questions so your brain doesn’t have to:

Clockify — Where do I use my time?
Todoist — What do I have to do?
Notion — What was that thing again?
Calendly — When’s the best time to talk?

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How Being Understanding Not Kind Will Help You To Find Balance

Amardeep — Wed, 11 Aug 2021 15:17:10 +0000

It’s a path to self-forgiveness

Image courtesy of Andrew Gold — Edited by the author

Andrew Gold has met some extreme people compared to most of us through his work creating documentaries for BBC and HBO.

A real-life exorcist who believes he is curing young people of possession by demonic forces.
A woman called the “crazy baby lady” whose hobbies include waving plastic fetuses in the faces of young girls who are planning to have an abortion.
A former jihadist who created the bomb recipe for the Boston bombings.

He doesn’t live in an echo chamber and it means he has developed unconventional opinions. He despises the phrase “be kind” because he knows more than most that kindness is open to interpretation.

He promotes the idea of being understanding instead. This mindset helps him to learn more from life and be less angry when people disagree with him. Living your life ruled by your own sense of morality can lead you to make decisions that take you down a path of burnout and stress.

This article is based on the Mindful & Driven episode with Andrew. You can listen here or find the YouTube video at the bottom of this article.

There is no unselfish act

It’s become popular to associate what you do with a deeper meaning. People convince themselves they are changing the world for the better as a point of pride.

Yet things aren’t so simple. Andrew thinks we all need to recognize that we are led by ideology rather than fact. We often live our lives in a way that allows us to paint ourselves as either the hero or the victim. Of course, we could never be the villain or a minor character.

Some people work crazy hours because they tell themselves what they are doing is vital for others even if it isn’t. Their need to portray themselves as the hero might be greater than the actual need of the people being helped.

If you’re burning out then ask others if you can take a break from your responsibilities. When I’ve done this in the past, people are far more understanding than I expected.

Demons and fairies don’t exist

Demons do not exist. Neither Andrew nor I advocate the use of exorcists.

Yet some people with mental illnesses have been temporarily cured by using an exorcist. This is because the mind is so powerful that it can overpower itself when you believe something wholeheartedly.

This situation happens with those addicted to hard work. They believe so strongly their success is due to them breaking their back that they can’t stop. The Intelligence Trap by David Robson hammers home this point. The smarter we are, the more able we are to convince ourselves of anything even if it isn’t true!

Take Arthur Conan Doyle, the brilliant mind behind Sherlock Holmes. The master of logic believed in fairies because of a prank where fairies were pinned above his head when he was sleeping. As the pins looked like belly buttons, Arthur concluded fairies could reproduce and had to be real.

If it can happen to him, it can happen to you!

The intern pyramid

A good example of using understanding rather than kindness is the intern pyramid created by Andrew’s friend.

The startup founder hired four interns who he wanted to keep on. The natural next step in my mind would be to start paying them yet he had a better idea. He talked to the interns and learned what drove them. They wanted more responsibility rather than more money so he hired more interns for the first batch to manage!

He now had a pyramid of free labor who were all happy because their needs were being met. His business could get more done and his own stress decreased!

First instincts can be wrong so always look out for opportunities where you can decrease your workload and keep the people who help happy. It’s a win-win.

I hope you found the mindset reframes useful and can see ways you can apply them to your own life. If you’d like to hear Andrew talk about it with me in more detail, check out our conversation in the video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_SpOpxOibo

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7 Subscriptions to Increase Your Productivity and Organization

Amardeep — Tue, 10 Aug 2021 08:00:04 +0000

Combined they cost only $30 per month

Edited by the author — original image from Pexels

Life isn’t all about being productive and organized. But the better you get at these two, the more free time you can have to do the other things that really matter.

I have often found myself overwhelmed because I suffer from Shiny Object Syndrome. Something new comes along and I get distracted meaning I end up working longer hours but getting less done! If you’re like me then these seven subscriptions can help you keep your sanity.

Combined these work out to around $30 per month and you might be able to get away with more of the free versions!

Clockify

When I left my job to become a full-time entrepreneur, it didn’t take long for my productivity to nosedive. Without the pressure of trying to squeeze in my side hustles, I kept procrastinating and ending up working late nights.

Clockify has been my savior because it exposes my bad habits. The interface is simple; I tell it what I’m working on and start a timer. Working against the clock triggers my competitiveness and stops me from getting distracted.

It has helped me plan my time better too because I know how long it takes me to get things done on average. This means there are fewer days where I set myself unrealistic targets and my mental health is better for it.

I use the free version!

Lastpass

I have several hundred passwords for all of the various online accounts I have. No human can ever remember that many passwords and I don’t want to tie them to a particular browser. Forgetting and resetting passwords is a pain that I think we all like to avoid.

No, the solution is not to reuse the same password on multiple sites unless you enjoy being hacked. The key is to make your master password impenetrable to protect all the others and use two-factor authentication.

I pay $4 per month for LastPass families.

Skillshare

I have always been a skeptic of online courses. It’s ridiculous because I should invest in myself so I improve faster but I have a mental block.

If you want to learn a creative skill fast and cheaply then I don’t think there’s a better place.

I pay £50 annually (I believe it costs $168 annually in the US) — Affiliate

*You could just sign up for all the courses you want, binge them in two weeks then cancel your membership and not pay a dime if you wanted.

Medium

The membership that changed my life.

I started as a reader before eventually deciding to have a go at writing for fun. I was just meant to organize my thoughts. Fast-forward 15 months and I had quit my job to become a full-time creative. The thousands of articles I’ve read have taught me so much and made me grow as a person.

If you aren’t a member what are you waiting for?

It’s only $5 per month or $50 per year for access to thousands of writers and experts in their fields. A no-brainer.

I pay $50 for an annual membership.

Blinkist

In the good old days, I used to read non-fiction for fun but I can’t do that anymore. The more you read, the more realize how most of the books can be summarized quickly and the rest is filler to justify the price.

I use Blinkist to listen to the short versions of books before deciding whether or not it’s worth paying the money for the full thing. Most of the time it isn’t in my experience and I’m not someone who gets a kick out of boasting about how much I read.

It’s more important to have a few key ideas that you remember and implement in your life rather than reading thousands of pages without remembering anything.

I pay $60 for an annual membership.

#6 Notion

Notion is where I dump all my notes and long-term thoughts. It takes a huge load off my brain and is set up in a way where I can easily find information when I need it.

For example, it has all my book notes, all my meeting notes, and all the recipes I use regularly. I used to store this information in notebooks but I always ended up losing or forgetting about it. Roam Research is a major competitor so it’s worth checking out both before deciding on what system you want to use.

The great thing about it is unless you want to share your notes with other people, it’s free!

I use the free version!

#7 Todoist

From the name, it’s obvious what this subscription does. It’s a to-do list on steroids and allows many options for grouping activities together. I particularly like that I can add any task whenever it comes to my mind to the list and schedules a date for when I plan to do it.

I only look at the list for the day when I’m working which helps me to focus and not worry I’ll forget the million other things floating around my brain.

The difference between the free and paid versions isn’t massive but when it’s so cheap I had no problem paying. It gives me extra options and filters to keep track of my tasks.

I pay $36 for an annual subscription.

These are the actual subscriptions I use after experimenting with many different productivity and learning systems. I think these give you by far the best bang for your buck of the options out there and I hope they are useful for you!

https://youtu.be/YXi15v8L6-c

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How To Use Mindset Reframes To Find Balance

Amardeep — Sat, 07 Aug 2021 15:41:57 +0000

You’re closer than you think

Image provided by Tim Denning- Edits by the author

Tony Robbins missed by a mile.

He was taking golf lessons and trying his hardest but he didn’t seem to get anywhere near the hole. As you can imagine, it was deflating to not make any progress.

Yet his instructor pointed out the margins between success and failure are so thin. All Tony had to do was adjust his swing by a few millimeters and he’d hit the target.

Tim Denning, the massive online writer, told me this story as he explained how powerful reframes can be on our outlook in life. Once Tony thought he was close, he regained his confidence and improved significantly.

There are many times in our life where our mindset works against us. Tim collects small phrases he can use to turn around the way he thinks and put him in a positive mood. I looked into a few of the examples he mentioned to help you apply them to your own life.

This article is based on the Mindful & Driven episode with Tim. You can listen here or find the YouTube video at the bottom of this article.

Your brain is like a CD

Tim used to be a DJ before the MP3 age. Back then if one of his CDs got a slight scratch, the pattern would be broken and the music would sound completely different. He likens this to the brain where you want to use reframes to break negative thought patterns.

You know your own mind better than I do. You know that sometimes your mind plays tunes you don’t want to hear and might not rationally make sense. These are your targets. You want to find a quote to snap yourself out as fast as you can. A quote is a reframe. You use the quote to snap you out of negative thoughts.

You’re closer to Richard Branson than you think

We tend to idolize people who appear in the press. We think we could never be like them but it’s in our heads. Some people are complete outliers but many are more normal than you think they are.

Tim used to see Richard Branson as his hero and told his friend how much he’d love to meet the Virgin billionaire. His friend set him a challenge to do it rather than a daydream.

At this point, Tim worked in a bank and didn’t have anywhere near the global reach he has now. Yet he knew a guy who knew someone who knew Richard Branson. It was only four degrees of separation.

He even got invited to one of Richard Branson’s famous parties.

The lesson is if a twenty-something junior bank employee can work out how to reach a world-famous founder then stop believing you can’t reach your idol.

Have less not more

This is a simple reframe Tim uses whenever he finds himself getting jealous of others. He doesn’t need much to be happy so what’s the use in wasting time caring about what he doesn’t have.

This has become part of my own life after stumbling upon the Minimalists a few years ago. I used to chase more through owning stuff I didn’t need and traveling for the sake of impressing others. You might notice if you watch me in interviews that all my t-shirts are the same but in different colors.

I don’t care about brands or showing off my material possessions to others and I’m much happier because of it.

If you find yourself scrolling through Instagram and being saddened by other people’s perfect lives, this reframe could work for you too. You can be happy for others and the experiences they have without coveting it for yourself.

Build your own

Your reframes don’t need to be the same as mine or Tim’s. Don’t try to be a clone of either of us.

I might hate the reframes you use but it’s irrelevant if they make your life better. Don’t seek approval when you start collecting quotes to reprogram your brain.

I know many people who rely on Nike’s slogan of “Just do it” whenever they overthink things. It’s cliche but it works for them and it’s nothing to be ashamed of!

Seek quotes and stories that you find profound for the greatest chances of success.

I hope you found the mindset reframes useful and can see ways you can apply them to your own life. If you’d like to hear Tim talk about it with me in more detail, check out our conversation in the video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vPaiyFbgjw

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How To Use The ‘Keep This Not That’ Journal Method To Find Balance

Amardeep — Fri, 06 Aug 2021 16:07:55 +0000

Help to get through tough experiences

Photo courtesy of Komal Kapoor— Edited by the Author

Gratitude journaling has become a cliche.

For many people writing down a few things you are grateful for each day doesn’t work. Sometimes bad things happen and pretending everything ok isn’t a magic fix.

Yet this doesn’t mean there aren’t other forms of gratitude that could work. The poet and author, Komal Kapoor, developed her own method to deal with heartbreak. She was driven to it because she didn’t want to admit to her friends how badly she had been hurt.

Komal calls it her “Keep This Not That” journaling method and has since used it to deal with all kinds of negative shocks to her life to maintain her balance. It’s a welcome antidote to toxic positivity.

The core idea is to recognize the negative sides of an experience but try to then let it go. It allows you to express your full range of emotions and not bottle anything up.

This article is based on the Mindful & Driven episode with Komal. You can listen here or find the YouTube video at the bottom of this article.

How to do it

First, get two pieces of paper.

One will be where you let out all your negative emotions. If it’s a break up then it’s everything you dislike about a person. If it’s not getting promoted, then it’s every way in which you feel you were treated unfairly. Write down your feelings without shame or hesitancy. This is for you, no one else has to see it.

On the other piece of paper, write down everything you will remember fondly. In most nonsevere cases, there are always at least some moments that were good. Let’s say you were passed over for promotion but along the way proved to yourself you could lead a presentation with confidence.

As you may guess from the name of the method, the positive list is something you keep. It helps you to remember the good even in the bad moments.

The negative list is yours to destroy in whatever brings you the most satisfaction. Komal burns her lists but maybe you less dramatically through it the trash.

Don’t skip the negatives

I’m not happy all the time and neither are you. There’s no point in acting otherwise. Giving yourself the freedom to rant to yourself without consequences feels freeing.

Social media teaches us everyone else’s life is perfect but this isn’t true. Don’t hold yourself to such an unrealistic standard.

Sometimes your feelings can be confused because the good and the bad are all mixed up. When you’re coming down from a high, you may have allowed yourself to be blind to the red flags. If you’re unhappy but struggling to write down negatives, it makes it even more important so you can get to the core of what’s causing your discontent.

You can learn from these but you don’t need to cling to the dark thoughts associated.

How to find the silver lining

Be sure to frame the positives in terms of yourself. Be self-absorbed. Celebrate your achievements and your character.

If nothing else you’re still here. You didn’t let the bad experience break you and you’re trying to find ways to deal with it. This makes you strong no matter whether other people belittle your problems.

Whenever you feel low, your list serves as a reminder of how great you are. It doesn’t matter whether you fell short in the past. There were lessons learned and you can use these as an encouragement to not let the feeling overwhelm you.

Mark it with a ceremony

Komal found her method resonated with a lot of other people and started leading workshops related to it. People would bring their negatives list with them and they’d all burn it together while seeking comfort in knowing they aren’t alone.

There’s a reason so many major religions and cultures have rituals. It makes us feel part of something bigger than us and like we belong. While Komal initially used her journal method so she didn’t have to share with her friends, I’d always recommend letting others know what’s on your mind!

I hope you found the ‘Keep This, Not That’ journalling method useful and can see ways you can apply it to your own life. If you’d like to hear Komal talk about it with me in more detail, check out our conversation in the video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBh-Ds5XDiQ

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