You probably procrastinate for a bunch of reasons, but one of those reasons is that sometimes, you don’t know what you’re supposed to do. You probably have a vague idea of what you want to accomplish, but until you're really clear on the actual steps you need to take to get there, it’s impossible to take action!

In our book, Brainsprouting – How to Become Fearlessly Creative & Have Better Ideas More Often, Brandon Love and I wrote about a powerful technique called Next Action Thinking. Here’s an excerpt that should help you get your plans moving!

​"What we’re about to share is a foundation of productivity. It can be used to fight procrastination and aid in time-management, not just on new ideas, but on all your projects, big and small.

The technique is called Next Action Thinking. We learned it most clearly through the work of productivity expert David Allen and his “Getting Things Done” system. In fact, his work has become so popular that you can find it online by searching for “GTD.” We recommend reading his work in which he expands on Next Action Thinking and provides several more productivity tips. However, we felt the concept was useful enough to warrant a short summary to get you started.

The big idea is this: Many people don’t do things because they don’t know what “doing” looks like. In other words, they don’t break things down into smaller, specific steps.

While people often make “to-do” lists, they don’t make them very well. People tend to use vague statements that aren’t actually actionable. For example, a well-intentioned homeowner may put “sprinkler” on her “to-do” list. Would you know what to do with this mysterious “sprinkler” item? It could obviously mean a number of things: Buy one? Water the lawn? Practice your dance move? Who knows?

Now you might say, “But she knows. She wrote it on the list.” But we’re not so sure.

Suppose what she needed to do was to buy a new sprinkler. Is that actually her next action? Does she know what store to go to? Does she need to shop around for some prices? Does she even know the specific sprinkler she wants?

Vague statements don’t promote action. It’s helpful to be very specific about the action we need to take. If she’s ready to buy the sprinkler, she should write “Buy sprinkler at hardware store.” If she’s not ready, she should write “research sprinklers online.” Often, next actions can be written starting with a verb. “Buy this.” “Research that.” “Talk to so-and-so.”

To help get specific, ask yourself, “If I had nothing to do except this project, what would I physically go and do right now?” Next action thinking is all about getting very clear on the very next action you need to take.

Getting clear on our next action probably won’t take long - perhaps only a few seconds of thought. Unfortunately, all-too-often, we don’t take that time, and tasks are left in un-clarified, un-actionable form. When this happens, we subconsciously avoid them, the nebulous tasks stay on our lists, and the bigger project idea gets stuck in the muck.

Wherever your project is at, take a few moments to clarify the path forward. Determine the next actions the group needs to take. Double check that a specific individual is accountable for each task. Whether you need to do more research, speak to another person, or draft out a more detailed plan, by clarifying your next steps, you’ll empower people to take action with ease."

When I started my business 11 years ago, I felt scattered. I had a thousand things to do, all of which seemed important. I had a hard time knowing where to put my energy, so I’d try to split my time between all the stuff.  At the end of a busy day, even though I had been constantly working, I’d feel unproductive – like I hadn’t really accomplished anything.  

Do you ever feel like that? Scattered, unfocused, and unable to keep up with the zillions of things on the go… it sucks!

Then, I read two books, and everything changed for me.

David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” was the first one. I learned about Project Lists (which we talked about last time), and I felt immediately calm because I could finally keep track of all the stuff on the go. But I had an awfully long list of stuff! Something was missing; I still felt overwhelmed.

Then, I read Leo Baubata’s “The Power of Less” (he also authors the Zen Habits blog). Leo’s big idea is to keep things simple by setting clear limits and modest expectations. Better to under-commit and over-deliver than the other way around. Nice idea! Not new, but we all need reminders. When it comes to projects, here’s what I learned: Limit yourself to three active projects at a time.

My life was changed!

When I thought back on my most productive times, I noticed that this is exactly what I did. When I build a website, for instance, I often spend a few days of long hours doing only that. I avoid almost everything else. My email piles up, I ignore the dishes in the kitchen, and my personal hygiene is, at best, questionable.

Okay, so maybe letting your hygienic practices lapse isn’t exactly the best advice, but the key is to avoid spreading your efforts too thinly. On my scattered days, I was making an inch of progress in a million directions, instead of a mile in one.

You probably understand this intuitively. Some friends just told me they planned on starting a big house renovation only after their wedding. It might have fit in before, but they knew they’d have enough on their minds with the wedding plans. Wise choice! But too often, we forget our wisdom and take on too much at once.

I’ll admit I’ve had good months and bad months with the practice – it’s been a multi-year experiment, and the results are clear: I’m way more productive when I choose just a few “active projects” at a time. When I try to do more, I end up accomplishing less, feeling worse, and watching even the simple projects drag on longer than I want.

Nearly every major accomplishment I can remember has been completed when I pushed other things aside and focused on getting that one thing finished.

So, here’s your job now: Choose your three active projects. What are the three things that you definitely want to get finished in the next two weeks or so?

A few things to consider:

1. The number 3 isn’t set in stone: You might want to choose some other small number. Experiment if you like, but be realistic.
2. Work vs non-work: You may want to apply this concept separately to work and personal life. Perhaps you have three active work projects, while you have two different focal points at home.
3. Keep your projects small. Leo Baubata suggests keeping projects at a scale where they can be completed within 2 weeks. If it’s bigger than that, chunk it down to make it more manageable.

It may seem counter-intuitive to limit yourself to a few active priorities when you are faced with dozens of “on the go” stuff that you feel you need to be doing. But in fact, it’s precisely BECAUSE you have so many options that you need to focus! Failing to prioritize will just delay everything.

Switching between projects is mentally costly – it’s hard to develop any momentum if you’re constantly switching gears from one project to another. Set modest goals, limit your focus, work hard, and knock it out of the park. You’ll build confidence, and you’ll be that much more excited to take the next step.

Decide what’s most important, and go do it!

​As you’ve been thinking about success, you’ve almost certainly had ideas of “stuff you should be doing” pop into your mind. Maybe you want to start writing a book, arrange a weekly tennis game with a buddy, or finally get that retirement fund started.

On top of that, every hour, you probably have a bunch of stuff pop into your mind, often accompanied by a phrase like, “I have to remember to do that!” Before long, you have a dozen different tasks and ideas being tossed around in your brain, and just like juggling balls, you’re trying not to drop anything.

This used to be a regular occurrence for me. It seemed like I always had too many irons in the fire. I felt like I was drowning. I couldn’t even keep track of which metaphor I was using. Thankfully, I found a method that changed my life.

The technique is this: Make a Project List. It’s easy, actually: Write down all the projects that are popping into your mind. Wherever you write it, call that your project list. I use a word document, but it can be pencil and paper, whiteboard, iPhone note, or anything you want.

Projects may be work-related, home-related, fun-related, relationship-related, or any other sort of related you can think of.

Before you get going, you should know the difference between an action and a project:

An action is simple to-do item. It’s something you could spend a few minutes on and then check off your list as “done.” To-do lists (action lists) can be really helpful, but they don’t usually capture the big picture.

A project, on the other hand, is anything that has more than one action associated with it. “Draft a chapter outline” is an action; “Write my book” is the project. “Do the dishes” is an action; “Keep the house tidy” is the project.

Projects may be work-related, home-related, fun-related, relationship-related, or any other sort of related you can think of. They can be finite, where they have a definite end date - like “writing a book”, or ongoing, where you expect it to never really stop, like “keeping a clean house”. Most to-do items have a project associated with them somehow. Projects can have sub-projects too. David Allen explains this really well in his Getting Things Done systems.

You might be thinking that this sounds overwhelming. Why would you want to write down every single project you’re supposed to be keeping track of? There could be dozens of them! In fact, there probably are; I ended up with over 70 projects and sub-projects on the go when I first did the exercise. Sound stressful?

Actually, my stress level decreased! The benefit of writing everything in one place is that you can let your mind relax! By having it captured and organized somewhere, your brain can do the work of thinking about your projects instead of just trying to remember them all.

Give it a try. You’ll probably find it feels really good to get a visual overview of all that you’ve been trying to juggle in your brain. You may realize there’s some stuff you’ve been overlooking, or maybe there’s some stuff that isn’t as daunting as you thought! By having a complete list that you can keep updating and reviewing, you can be sure you’re focusing on the right things.

Let’s be honest: The brain doesn’t spontaneously remember stuff all that well, which is why I often forget to put out the garbage until I’m already comfortable in my bed. We need a system to ensure we’re not forgetting about something important.

To summarize, making a project list will have a few benefits for you – here are my top three:
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1. You’ll have an overview of all your stuff on the go. The list will probably be big. You might actually feel proud about it. Either that, or you’ll be motivated to change!
2. You’ll have great evidence to support saying “no” when it’s difficult. Just like clarifying your commitments empowers you to say no to new invitations, so too does clarifying your projects.
3. You’ll avoid forgetting about important stuff. By reviewing the list regularly, you’ll minimize the chances of overlooking something urgent.

So try it! And if you’re still feeling a bit overwhelmed, don’t worry. Next time, I’ll tell you my simple project-related productivity trick to help you stay calm while accomplishing more. It’s the secret to every great burst of progress I’ve ever made.

​In the past 2 articles, we looked at defining success by two methods: How we wanted to feel, and what we felt our priorities should be. Today, we’ll look at a third way of envisioning success – your schedule.

While it may seem basic, too many people allow their calendar to be filled up by default - other people's priorities. If you’re happy with the result, then there’s certainly no problem with going with the flow. But too many people are living for others all the time! If you’re feeling like you’re not really living the life you want, (or worse still, if you’re just plain miserable), you may want to give some thought to your schedule.

​What do you want your schedule to look like?

We could break this down to typical days, weeks, months, and years. The scale is important because when we think about our ideal balance of activities, it’s probably not realistic to do everything we want every single day.

Let’s start by thinking about a typical week. What activities do you want to be doing? How much do you want to be doing them?

Sketch out a week on a sheet of paper. Breaking it into rough blocks of time seems to work well: Morning, afternoon, evening, night. If you are an early riser (or want to be) you could adjust your blocks accordingly.

How many blocks do you want to be working? How many with friends? Consider adding each of these:

• Work
• Friends
• Family
• Exercise
• Leisure
• Hobbies
• Housework
• Cooking
• Volunteering
• Sleep
• Anything else you want!

​I recognize that it maybe seems odd to be scheduling “leisure time”. For many ambitious people, though, it’s incredibly necessary. I can say from my own experience that unless I block off “downtime” on my schedule, the space tends to get filled up with other activities.

You may find that you get frustrated with this because not everything fits. Do the best you can to choose the most important things and find a place for them. Remember – you’re not locked into this routine – you’re just trying to get a sense of what a typical ideal week might be like!

If you like, you can break things down to the hour and get realistic about what fits and what doesn’t. Here's a rough example with 3 blocks per day:

​Scale your rough schedule up to a year and plan any major events for you and the people you care about. Family trip? Girls' Getaway? Have fun with it!

When you think about a larger time scale – like a month or a year - what comes to mind? In a typical year, for instance, are there things you need to schedule? Perhaps you have an annual trip with your college buddies, or a family vacation?

My wife and I met a couple while travelling who explained that each year they made sure to include four things: A week vacation as a family, a “Boys’ Time” where the husband hung out with his buddies, a “Girls’ Getaway” where the wife and her friends had their time to themselves, and a week of vacation as a couple with no kids. They seemed to love their structure! (Although they happened to be on their week away with no kids...)

Use your imagination and have some fun with this. It’s important to note that the “default settings” for most people aren’t necessarily optimal. 10 hours of work, 2 hours of commuting, 2 hours of tv, 0 hours of exercise, and 6 hours of sleep may be your habits, but they don’t necessarily make for a great life. On the other hand, 12 hours a day of relaxation on the beach can get old pretty quickly too. You need to decide for yourself what balance you want, and start to design your life to work towards that!

By thinking about what you want to include in your schedule, you’re inherently clarifying what’s important to you and making yourself more likely to succeed.

If you’re like most people I know, you sometimes feel like you’re overcommitted. You have a hard time saying “no” to opportunities, and you feel over-stretched, exhausted, and on the road to burn-out.

The inability to say “no” really stems from a lack of clarity about what your priorities are. When you are clear on what matters most, it is much easier to turn down unimportant invitations, even when it leaves some people disappointed.

It’s important to realize that saying “no” is just a way of saying “yes” to something else. When you get a dinner invitation but have a prior commitment, it’s easy to say no because you understand that the prior commitment is more important. You're saying "no" to the dinner because you're saying "yes" to the prior commitment.

For me, this is an ongoing journey, but it shows up most commonly with my family. I get excited by the thought of going out with friends or taking on a new project, but I’ve now realized that by saying “yes” to too many evening commitments, I am too-often saying “no” to time with my wife and son.

Things got a lot easier for me after I did this short activity.

Saying "no" gets easier when you get clear on your "yes!"

What commitments do you want to have in your life?

Make a list of all the different things you care about: Health, Career, Spouse, Friends, Kids, etc. Maybe you volunteer. If you have hobbies, add those. What about kids' activities? You likely have more commitments than you realize!

Once you’ve got a list, arrange these things you care about into a hierarchy. What are your top commitments? Are there some commitments on the same level as others? The task of prioritizing can be challenging, but that’s really where the value is. Arrange things the way you believe they should be prioritized (which is often NOT the current way you’re doing things – don’t worry).

Here’s my list as an example:

Once I had my list, I realized that I wasn’t really committing as much time as I wanted to my top priorities – my time was being filled with stuff from the bottom of the list. Once I saw it visually, I found it was much easier to make the changes. I spent more time doing important things, said “no” more often, and I even stepped away some of my former “lower level” commitments entirely!

Give it a try for yourself! Everyone’s list will look different, and it will likely change over time, but by making a draft of it, you’ll get a clearer vision of what success means to you!

And, once you’ve got the priorities clear, it’s much easier to schedule your time. (And that’s what we’ll talk about next time…)

Last time, we talked about your values. Our next three activities are going to focus on your vision for the future.

Over the next three blog posts, we’re going to look at success from three angles:

• How do you want to be feeling?
• What commitments do you want to have?
• What do you want your schedule to look like?

Each of these activities is quite short, and together, they’ll help you develop a stronger vision of success. Without overloading yourself in details, you’ll discover if you’re off course and have the opportunity to correct the trajectory.

For long-term success, we need to really understand what we're shooting for. Fleeting desires and superficial goals are too-often inconsistent and incompatible with our deeper yearnings.
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How do you want to be feeling?
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Write a list of feelings that come to mind when you think about this question. This may overlap with your values activity a little bit, but it may not.

Try to think specifically about the state of mind (or state of being) that you want to be feeling – calm, happy, or invigorated, for example. Write down as many words as you can think of in 60 seconds.

Now, see if you can prioritize your list and get your top three desired feelings, in order.

Once you’ve got your top three, try to get clear on what you mean by those feelings. What will you see and hear? What will be true? In other words, how will you know you’re feeling the feeling you want? (You’re noticing this sounds a lot like the values activity, right? It’s based on the same idea: Get really clear on what matters most and the path will become more obvious…)

Here’s an example from when I did this activity. My 60-second list, my narrowing-down to my top 3, and my brief thoughts that clarify what I mean by the feelings I chose.  Give it a try!

Done? Great job!

Next time, we’ll look at your commitments (and share the secret about why it’s so hard to say no).

​Hi all! I get lots of people asking for book recommendations, and lots of people ask what my summer plans are, so I thought I’d combine the two ideas! Here’s my summer reading list. Technically, I can’t really recommend these books yet because I haven’t read them… but they have all been strongly recommended to me. Check back to see what I’ve learned! Or better yet, check them out yourself and share your ideas!

Drop the Ball - Tiffany Dufu

This book explores the social expectations on men and women. While “male management styles” typically dominate the work culture, “female management styles” typically dominate the home environment. The author argues that both of these things need to change in order for people to be happier. My wife read it and said, “It’s like she’s been hiding behind our couch listening to all our little arguments.” It was both validating and insightful, so she insisted it be pushed to first on my list.

Getting The Love You Want – Harville Hendrix, PhD.

This book is all about exploring and improving the relationship between couples. As my wife and I approach our third wedding anniversary, we’ve had this book recommended to us on at least 3 different occasions from different people. As I understand it, it teaches practical techniques for eliminating negativity and better respecting each partner’s individuality, while simultaneously strengthening the connection. Exploring the balance between individuality and unity seems important: Giving up oneself is a recipe for resentment, but lack of connection would seem to make a relationship meaningless. I’m excited to read it… (and practice the exercises…)

​How to Raise an Amazing Child the Montessori Way – Tim Seldin

Our son, now 2 years old, goes a Montessori daycare; he loves it, but the biggest surprise is how much WE have had to learn as parents. Many people say parenting is really intuitive, but frankly, sometimes my intuition has caused things to get a lot worse. (Apparently, for instance, it’s not really the best option to pin your kid down in order to brush his teeth…) Some simple techniques have really made things easier and more fun.  This book was assigned reading 6 months ago, but I didn’t do it yet. This summer’s the time!

​Age of Discovery – Ian Goldin & Chris Kutarna

This book was gifted to me, and I’ve been hearing about it as a commentary on our times. The subtitle is “Navigating the Risks and Rewards of Our New Renaissance,” which sounds pretty cool to me. While the other books seem to talk about family-related ideas, this book, I think, talks about global stuff. It’ll be my “big picture thinking” for the summer. I really have no idea what it’s going to talk about, and that’s exciting to me!

​Bear Snores On – Karma Wilson & Jane Chapman

I’ve read this before. Many times. But I’m going to read it lots more too. It’s a board book that I read with my son. It’s about a bear who slumbers away while a party develops in his cave. When he wakes up, he’s super-sad to have missed the fun! Don’t worry… it all turns out okay.

The Little Prince / Le Petit Prince – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

This one is a kids’ book, but I’m reading it for me. I’ve got both the French and English versions. I’d like to keep working on my French, and reading chapter by chapter – I’m thinking French, then English, then French again – should help me learn some new language! Plus, it’s a great story with powerful messages for people of ALL ages.

​Feel free to comment with your own recommendations! Happy summer reading, everyone!

If the idea of “values” seems too esoteric for you, try thinking of “energy boosters” – music, exercise, time with the kids, etc. You’ll find that your “energy boosters” end up revealing your values, since we are energized when we are living in alignment with what is most important.

Now try looking at the other side. What are your “energy drains”? You might think of them as “vices” or perhaps “anti-values”, but the main thing is to identify what you DON’T like. What is the direction you do NOT want to go? Make a list of those things too. Take another 2 minutes.

You might notice that it sort of looks like a flower, or maybe a tree (or possibly even a stick-figure with no arms - but that doesn't fit the analogy so well, so just ignore that...). It has both roots and shoots. The activities are the part that people see, so a lot of our attention gets focused on them.  The roots are often unseen, but they deserve our attention also because they so strongly influence what we do.

Values: Our values are our ideals. These are the things we hold dear (or things that we WANT to hold dear) as we go through life. Values end up forming a decision-making framework as we make the tough choices of life (and even the everyday choices).

Vision: The vision we set for our lives creates a destination towards which we want to move. Great companies set strong visions which guide their actions, and there’s no reason that individuals can’t do the same.

Activities: The activities we choose to do should move us towards our vision. Our vision and values will inspire a particular venture, and we take action on it by taking the first step.

To summarize: The vision sets our course, the values tell us how to act on our journey, and the activities are the things we actually do along the way.

Throughout the process, we need to have regular opportunities for reflection.

Each step we take gives us the chance to reflect, and each reflection gives us the time opportunity to pivot. We can always begin stepping in a new direction.
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When we make these changes mindfully, we can change with every step. Our values, our vision, and our activities continually grow.

It’s worth pointing out that the whole process is powered by risk taking! Just as the sun and water nourish a plant, the process of taking risks allows the philosophy to grow.

Of course, my philosophy of life is probably not yours. I explain it only as an example with the hopes that it will help you develop your own! But you're welcome to use mine as a starting point if it's helpful.

So where do you start? Anywhere!

• Take an hour to clarify your values;
• Bang out a first draft of a vision statement on your laptop (though truth be told, I prefer a pen and paper);
• Write a bucket-list;
• Take a step towards any goal that seems even slightly relevant;

It doesn’t matter!

Whatever you do, you will be giving yourself the opportunity to redefine success and develop your philosophy of life.

Try starting with the simple technique: Take a risk! Think of something cool you want to do and take a step. You’ll be on the right path.

So – what are you waiting for? Go do something!

​One of my engineering teachers always said, “The first step to designing a solution is to really understand the problem.”

It applies equally whether you’re thinking about a new technological gadget or redesigning your life. So let’s take a moment to do a little self-assessment.

Thinking back over the past year, on a scale of 1-5, how would you rate your:​

• Clarity of Values
• Vision
• Risk-Taking
• Work Habits
• Self-Reflection & Learning