Below is an apt comparison, I write for people on the right.
Virgin Losers vs Chad Improvers
Where will it be monetized?
Book Sales
UPDATE: I am halfway through implementing my pen edits for my first novel and I anticipate having it available for purchase by March 15th, 2022
Update: the book has seen an editor and is being read by a private audience. While I wanted a March 15th debut, this process is not to far from being complete. The cover illustration is nearing its final draft and we are excited release more information soon.
Update: After the book went through a private audience, it was decided to continue moving towards publishing the novel – but with clear lessons learned. As the work on the book was set down for some time while others were providing their talents to it, I became immensely busy working on other projects. Unfortunately, this meant that the book was going to be stalled for publication again. At the present moment, it is quite clear that this is more of a blog post…
So with that, I hope you and I both have a clearer picture of why I keep writing, who I am writing to/for, and where this blog is headed.
i 2022/01/12 09:40:56 TIMELOG:BLOGGING Today I wanted to take a small step away from Tim Ferriss and talk about some… methodology.
For a very long time, I was much the opinion of everyone else when it comes to time management: try time logging. Sure, that stuff works for a while… but over time the system becomes cumbersome. In this post I want to share with you why time logging as others promote is stupid, and instead I’ll offer you a technique that works.
Why Time Logging is Stupid
There are two kinds of time logging: active and passive time logging.
Active Time Logging
Active time logging is when you print off two sheets of paper that have each day of the week cut up into 15 minute blocks of time. The idea is that you use one to schedule out your week, and the second one to log what you did over the course of the week. That’s like 70-90 entries per day, or well over 500 per week.
This is stupid when you really get down to it because you are having to actively maintain a record of what you are doing. And so others invented passive time logging.
Passive Time Logging
Passive time logging is when you put technology to work and having it make entries for you. There are some apps for the browser and your phone that allow the software to access your movements, actions, and any other data-input to infer what you are doing with your time, or let you categorize what you were doing for entries made to the log.
This is stupid because you are creating a dependency on technology for generating the data and the accompanying software for maintaining it. And the point of life is not to glued to our technology.
So let me share with you what works.
Time Benchmarking is Big Brain
Let’s get right down to it, Time Benchmarking is what works. The reasons for why it works are deceptively simple.
If you have only 3 important tasks set for the day, how long does it take to do those three tasks? If you have to enter a start time and an end time for 3 tasks, that’s 6 entries. I am sure you can handle that on a day to day basis. You probably text more often than that.
What’s more, those three most important tasks are probably like the ones you had yesterday, and they are most likely the ones that you will have tomorrow as well. How long did it take you yesterday as compared today? How long do you think it will take you tomorrow?
But you don’t only have to benchmark the important. You can start to discover with a stopwatch and timer how accurate your powers of estimation are for using time. Set a timer for how long you think it will take to do something and then start the stopwatch once you get started.
Questions to consider
If you get done before the alarm, why did it take you less time than you thought?
If you didn’t get done until after the alarm went off, why did it take longer than you expected?
These kinds of insight can create tremendous insight into your work and managerial process.
An example?
How much time do you routinely dedicate to investing your money?
If you annualized that effort, how much time would you have dedicated?
Assuming your benchmark is the slowest you went all year, how much time have you dedicated so far?
Assuming your benchmark is the fastest you’ve ever done it, would the outcome of doing it less frequently be worse, same, or better?
After I asked the following questions, I saved nearly 80 hours a year. What would you do with two work weeks of time?
When you benchmark the time you use on the activities you routinely do, you can discover how to trim processes down to the essential. This in turn leaves you with an abundance of time to reflect on things, read important stuff, or… like… polish pennies.
As you know, we have been reviewing Tim Ferriss’s 4-hour Workweek and the personal transformation process: DEAL. Up to now we have covered Definition and Elimination, and today we are going to narrow in on Automate – the hardest chapter to implement.
I started off by saying that implementing the concepts in Automate is the hardest, and I do believe that. We as human beings are so engrossed by the works of our hands, it is difficult (albeit a sin against the corporate gods) to pay others to do our work. As a business owner, that’s par for the course. But for an employee, there is that fear that you could get caught, or shunned for not doing the work you are paid to have completed. Emphasis on ‘paid to have completed’.
But before we really dig into the meat and potatoes of your income automation architecture, I need you to do something. I need you to do an exercise and this single exercise will change everything for you as we move forward in the DEAL process.
Write Instructions to be Followed
Let’s say that you have a house full of plants and so you have to water those plants every once in a while. When you go about watering the plants this next time, what I need you to do is write the instructions for how to water the plants. This process is not only clarifying for you, but it also allows you to communicate with others how you do the things you do. And you don’t have to only do it for the plants, how about your pet snake? Or your laundry? Or how about… you get the idea.
Take the day, or the next couple of days, to write out instructions for everything you do around the house.
Alixander Court 