Tag: getting things done

5 Sentences To Freedom (or How To Start Living Outside Of The Inbox)

Here is why the 5 sentences e-mail rule is so important and why I expect you to use it …

I’ve written about sending short, succinct e-mails in the past (Fear of Competition Is Bullshit), but I’ve never delved deeper into the subject.

I’ve been utilizing the 5 Sentences E-mail Rule for a while now. I first heard about it a long time ago in Leo Babauta’s The Power of Less, but I never thought it was possible for the majority of my communication. In October of 2009 Leo published The Art of Brief E-mails and I decided to give it a shot. Although it took me a while before I felt comfortable using it for almost every e-mail.

I don’t follow a lot of what Leo writes in that article. For example, when I get an e-mail without a subject line I get a weird feeling of anxiety in the pit of my stomach. Kind of a “What the hell is this?” That’s probably just social conditioning so I’d like to thank David for always sending brief e-mails without a subject line to help me out with that. :)

The most important part of Leo’s article, to me, is the section on Editing:

Edit. I know, you want to write it and send it and forget it. Well, that’s rude, to the recipient. You’re saying they don’t deserve a good email. I’m not saying you need to spend hours making every email perfect, but if you can take 10 seconds to go back over an email, remove unnecessary sentences and words, you’ll be doing your recipient (and yourself) a favor.

At first it was a struggle for me …

“But there’s so much back story! This person needs to read the back story before I can get to the question/reason for e-mail!”

When you first start utilizing the 5 sentences rule that will probably be your biggest challenge. You’re convinced whoever is reading your e-mail needs every single extraneous bit of information before they are able to respond.

That is simply not true.

What I’ve found when I receive really long e-mails (not everybody respects the 5 sentences rule) is that usually right at the end there’s the golden ticket.

“So what I’m getting at is … [insert question].”

Everything after the “So what I’m getting at is” part is usually all that is necessary for an e-mail.

Example E-mail

“Hey [Person]!

Thanks for rocking. Quick question: [insert question]

Thank you so much,

Karol”

Mission complete!

Questions or proposals never need a back story. Never.

I Love To Help

No joke. I love reading e-mails, I love getting to know you, and I love answering questions. I love to help. The problem is, the more this blog grows, the more e-mails I receive and the more difficult it becomes to respond in a timely manner. By putting these rules in place now it will be much easier in the future as this movement continues to grow.

I ask you to utilize the 5 sentences rule not just for me, but out of respect for your fellow Freedom Fighters. They have questions and want answers as well. If you send short, succinct e-mails, that means I can more easily help more of you. Woohoo!

Practice and Social Conditioning

The only way to get better at this is to practice. Start sending very short e-mails to everybody.

More words does not mean higher quality. Unfortunately we’ve been conditioned to think the opposite. In school you had to write a “10 page essay” when 5 pages would do. In blogging an article over 1,000 words is “high quality” while an article of 500 words is “thrown together.” We need to change that because it’s simply not true.

Two of my favorite blogs are by Derek Sivers (Sivers.org) and Seth Godin (http://sethgodin.typepad.com). You will very rarely find them writing posts longer than a few hundred words. Interestingly, they both also respect the short succinct e-mail. Coincidence? No.

The One Situation Where You Should Never Break The Rule

Break rules, except when you need to follow them.

The 5 sentences rule can be broken and I do break it myself. I would say 95% of the e-mails I send are 5 sentences or less and the other 5% are of varying length.

Here is where the 5 sentences rule should never be broken: initial contact.

After the initial contact, you might be asked to go into more detail on your question/comment/statement. In that case, fire away!

It boils down to what Leo mentioned: respect. Sending a busy person (in other words, everybody) a 500 word e-mail is disrespectful of their time. Send them a short e-mail and they will love you for it.

[Video] Location, Productivity, and Happiness

How does location affect your productivity?

Hey hey!

I did something different here with this video. Different is the wrong word. Maybe time consuming would be better. I don’t think I’ll do it this way much in the future. Too much editing. :)

Watch the video here:

If you can’t watch the video, the gist of it is the question:

“How does location affect your productivity?”

Bonus question: “How does location affect your feelings of happiness?”

Personally, when I’m cold (in any location) my productivity goes down considerably. As does my happiness. :)

Mind Control For Fun and Profit! (or How To Brainwash Yourself)

I have a secret to share with you. Click here to find out what it is…

How would you like to be able to condition someone to do anything?

I have a secret to share and I want to apologize for not telling you sooner.

I’m a long time student of mind control.

I’ve been using it selfishly for far too long and I think it’s about time I shared my top secret technique with you and the rest of the world.

Before you get any ideas…

The mind I control is my own. You too can control your mind to magically force yourself to accomplish things you previously thought impossible.

The problem with a lot of people not reaching their goals is they haven’t properly brainwashed themselves.

This isn’t just about positive thoughts and affirmations or writing down your goals.

While that stuff is all well and good it doesn’t produce results like my Mind Control Method. (Patent Pending or something.)

You should know, in advance of learning Mind Control, that failing is normal.

That said, if done right (it will take you a few tries), this has a 100% success rate.

Since a very young age I’ve had the incredible ability to achieve, acquire, or do virtually anything I’ve ever wanted. And the reason is I use the Mind Control Method.

When I was in 6th grade I used Mind Control to get a full University scholarship. (I don’t know how it is where you live, but in the U.S. Uni is very expensive.) It materialized 6 years later and I never had to pay for the Computer Science degree I didn’t use. :)

In 8th grade I used Mind Control to pay for a class trip to Chicago, Illinois.

While in University I used Mind Control to keep from ever having to get a job and to build a $100,000+ per year business at age 23.

I have many more examples, but you know I hate fluff so that’s enough of that…

How To Perform Mind Control (On Yourself!)

1) Write down what you want to happen in letter form. That is, write a letter (not a sentence; a detailed letter) to your future self explaining what already happened (even though it hasn’t happened yet). Date the letter and specify the date your goal was reached.

If you don’t know how to begin let me help start you off:

“Hey [your name],

You already know all of this by now, but some amazing things have happened in the last 6 months…”

And then start explaining what you did and how you did it even though it hasn’t been done yet. Sounds complicated. It’s not. Just do it. It’s essential to the brainwashing aspect of Mind Control Method.

“Karol, WTF, you just said writing down goals doesn’t work!”

That’s not exactly true, so please bear with me here.

2) Read the letter aloud. Seemingly insignificant, but auditory stimulation is important in Mind Control.

3) Believe. Do you believe what you just read aloud? If not, start over with Step 1. That means throw away your letter. Don’t use it as a “draft” for your new letter. Start over. Clean slate.

If you write something like “Man, it’s so cool that I won the lottery. Life is so good now.” the Mind Control Method won’t work. Why? Because there is absolutely no way you will ever truly believe you won the lottery.

Keep repeating Steps 1-3 until you have the wording so vividly clear that it feels like what is in the letter has already happened.

4) Take action. This step is where I feel like you might get caught up. But it doesn’t have to be difficult.

Begin the process of doing what your future self already knows has been done. Take it step by step as you’ve already described in the letter.

You might think this doesn’t work, but you’ve seen one of my letters already. My last Mind Control Method Letter is where Accountability Statement #1 came from. Obviously I changed it around and turned it into a blog post, but within 2 weeks of writing that I increased the readership to this blog 14-fold. And the readership keeps increasing beautifully.

The whole Mind Control Method process should take hours, not minutes. It’s not a fast process whatsoever. If you find yourself not enjoying the process it may be because what you’re writing about in your letter isn’t something you truly want.

I’ve never taught or talked about my Mind Control Method before. I always had a feeling people might think it’s dumb and wouldn’t use it. Which would be a waste of time all around.

I know you’ll use it, because you’re a Ridiculously Extraordinary Person. We don’t try. We do. We use The Iron Mind and we take action.

Go, go, go!

How To Procrastinate Like A Bad Ass (or How To Overcome Writer’s Block)

When nothing else works: procrastinate. Here’s how I did it…

Last Wednesday in Brisbane, Australia I sat down to work in the Regus Business Lounge (free access with my Amex Platinum card) and nothing came out.

Nothing.

I can’t recall the last time I had writer’s block. Usually I can at least pump out useless drivel.

But my mind was blank and I couldn’t come up with anything.

Coming from the guy who wrote this article, it was pretty sad. :)

Most tips for curing writer’s block state to take notes, read/research your topic, and just plain force it.

I forced it, and when nothing happened it was time for a radical change.

I decided to procrastinate.

It’s what a lot of us do best, after all. :)

How I Killed Writer’s Block With Procrastination

Following is the exact series of steps that lead to a cure for my writer’s block. Can you guess what the secret cure was before I give it away at the end?

1) I missed lunch with friends because it was pouring rain and I didn’t want my laptop to get ruined.

I was already frustrated due to the writer’s block, and this just increased that frustration.

2) So I went to the Gallery of Modern Art and stared at abstract paintings for an hour.

Ahh, immediate happiness.

3) The rain died down so I walked to my CouchSurfing host’s place.

It was a 30 minute walk and it started raining again 10 minutes in. I got pretty soaked, but all I could do was laugh at that point.

4) Went to an old school guitar store to play refurbished guitars from yesteryear.

I love playing guitar and I especially love small, old school, guitar shops.

1930s uke?! Don’t mind if I do. Weird no-name guitar with a triangle neck? Yes, please.

5) Cooked dinner for a household of 5 (my CouchSurfing host’s place).

I love making dinner, especially when it’s my World Famous 4 Bean, Soy Free, Gluten Free, Vegan Chili.

6) Went to see an old Australian “horror” movie at the Gallery of Modern Art called Turkey Shoot. (Not about shooting turkeys.)

Nothing like a good laugh to make you feel amazing.

7) Hung out at a bar and tried Ginger Beer for the first time.

I don’t drink soft drinks and I’d been practicing Ocsober (no alcohol in October), but I’d never heard of Ginger Beer (it’s a non-alcoholic soft drink) so I decided to try it. (It’s really popular in Australia.)

Let me tell you, it was outstanding. I love ginger and this stuff was very gingery. (Is that a word?) I’ll probably never drink another one, but it was awesome none-the-less.

You can see I’m an outstanding procrastinator. By this time it was after 11pm.

I hadn’t touched my laptop in 12 hours!

When we got back home I decided to fire up my computer and I was “magically” inspired to write. So inspired that I wrote 2 articles (both guest posts for other blogs) within 90 minutes. My goal was only to write 1 article, but everything was flowing.

Why Did Procrastination Cure My Writer’s Block?

Sometimes, just sometimes, the best way to deal with writer’s block is to do anything but write.

The key, however, is to do things that are fun and inspiring. I love modern art, playing guitar, cooking, old horror movies, and trying new things. I jam packed all of that into my day.

How do you cure writer’s block?

Or any mental block for that matter. Please share it in the comments.

On Achieving Goals (or “Just Fucking Write”)

What’s the difference between a successful person and an unsuccessful person? Shocking, but simple, answers inside…

I was talking to a friend recently about meeting deadlines and he said something that hit home:

“Just fucking write.”

No matter what your profession that same statement is relevant. Just replace “write” with whatever it is you want to do.

If you’ve ever read War of Art by Steven Pressfield or On Writing by Stephen King (both highly recommended) you know they say the same thing. Maybe with a little more tact. ;)

Sit down with a goal in place and don’t stop writing until you reach that goal.

If that means it takes you all day, so be it. If everything’s flowing and it takes 30 minutes, great. The point is to make it happen.

If you’ve always wanted to write a novel and have dragged your ass, National Novel Writing Month is coming up in November.

Leo Babauta at Write To Done has written a great blog post detailing how to get that novel written.

What do his tips boil down to?

Just fucking write.

No matter what you want to do in life you can always make an excuse not to do it.

Instead, why not make an excuse to do it?

10 years ago I remember listening to a Robert Allen audio program and he was discussing success mindset. The difference in mindset between being successful at something and being unsuccessful is subtle.

An unsuccessful person will state “I can’t achieve X.”

If we tell ourselves something is impossible it’s going to be difficult to plow past that negative statement.

A successful person, on the other hand, asks “How can I achieve X?”

See the difference?

Declare a statement and that’s that.

Reframe the statement as a question and you’ve set yourself up to create success.