The science-backed method that helps solopreneurs start (and finish) their hardest tasks

They say it takes about 20 minutes to refocus every time you switch tasks.I don’t know about you, but I don’t have 20 minutes to waste every time I switch between the tasks on my list. My time is limited. So I created a way to skip that 20 minute hazy moment where you’re faffing around…

The life-changing method I created to manage work that was waiting on me, get back to people faster, and create more space to do my best work.

My foolproof weekly planning routine that takes me about 10 minutes every week and keeps me organised across my work, my creator business & my whole life.

Lately I’ve been struggling with my process for getting big creative projects done. They feel like they are taking forever to finish. Each step feels big so I put it off thinking I need a bigger chunk of time to deal with it.

I am a master procrastinator. Not because I don't know what I should do or because I'm not motivated - but because most of the time I just don't have the headspace to get stuff done.

I was listening to an Instagram reel the other day from Sahil Bloom talking about finite v infinite games. If you're not familiar with the concept...

Yesterday I searched Google for the phrase 'How To Stop'I couldn't exactly articulate what I was trying to find, but basically, I wanted some advice on what it looks like to slow down, stop, & rest. I assumed I'd find some advice on this exact thing. Except I didn't.

I love this time between Christmas and New Year. It's always so full of hope. It's quiet and gives me time to think, plan & dream for the new year. And like everyone I'm thinking about goals I want to accomplish, creating concrete plans of reaching those goals.

Daily planners are not a new thing. It's literally the simplest & most powerful way to plan the day. Take a sheet of paper (or screen), put the date at the top & start organising your day. I remember getting my first Filofax and then going on to design my first paper (then digital) planner pages.

Despite what it looks like, I'm not one for complicated systems.And while I admire all the people who can put their head down for days and go through long yearly reviews & planning rituals, that is not for me.

Unpopular Opinion: Procrastination has nothing to do with your motivation (or discipline) levels. I constantly defer tasks on my list to tomorrow. So much so that I created a list in my daily planner called 'All The Thing I'm Putting Off Till Tomorrow.' At first, it was a joke, but it's become a key way of noticing patterns in my behaviour.

Most creators still take notes like they are in Miss Buckman's 6th grade class summarising that book they only half read and wished they had watched the movie instead. If you want to create your own unique ideas that stand out, here's how you should be taking notes instead. Great creators are great consumers. But they are not summarising every single word they read & hoarding it away for when they might need it.

Do you journal at work? When most people talk about journaling they do it in the context of their personal lives. You don't often hear people talk about journaling when it comes to work. But I've found that work journalling can actually make you a more productive, happier employee.

I've often wondered if I wasn't a creator would I still be so bullish on building a knowledge library? And the answer is a resounding YES. It might look a little different with different kinds of knowledge stored. But I believe building a knowledge library can help accelerate whatever you are pursuing in life.

For years I clipped notes from things I was reading & consuming and put them into a notes inbox to process. I was under the impression like many people that notes were some static thing that were meant to be stored away for safekeeping in case I might need them sometime. I was optimising the process of note-taking for storage.

In the last 2 years, I can't tell you the number of courses I've signed up. Some I've finished, some I've completely forgotten about simply because life is busy and there's always a lot going on. No matter how good they are if they are not front and centre in my system they just get left behind.

Your note-taking system will never be as valuable as just the act of note-taking itself. Whether you subscribe to Zettelkasten or PARA or GTD or something in between, the emphasis in the productivity & PKM space is usually on the systems of storage.

I coach clients for a living. Both one on one & in group situations. Every coaching call clients jump on, ask questions, get clear and I send them away with an action plan to work on.

If you've been following me for a while you'll know I've had a few things to say about Readwise. Not always good. But last month I signed up and I'm ready to say I might be wrong. I'll always be outspoken on the subject of highlighting without taking notes.But if you are taking notes then Readwise can be a helpful conduit to get those notes into your PKM.

I have more Kindle books in my library than I care to admit to you. It's not that I don't read. It's that there is more to read than I can keep up with. If I could spend my days curled up on my favourite chair reading and taking notes, I would. Unfortunately, I don't have that kind of time and I doubt you do either.

Writing notes is cool. But building those notes into a library of useful content is even cooler. I see a lot of creators (& I used to do this as well) throw notes into some kind of database give it a category like 'mindfulness' and then move on. Or use bi-directional linking to just link a bunch of words and hope they'll find them again later.

I've never run out of ideas in the year I've been writing online. My ideas list is always overflowing with new things to write about & I often get asked where I get so many writing ideas from. The truth is much simpler than you might think. Every one of my ideas comes out of my daily note-taking practices.

Do you constantly feel like your note-taking is lacking? You take notes & you highlight. You have databases filled with quotes. But your notes are a chaotic mess and rather than being helpful to your creator life they are a constant cause of stress and anxiety. The more you consume, the more chaotic it gets.

Traditional wisdom tells us we should have a lead magnet to 'trick' people into signing up for our newsletter because no one just signs up for newsletters anymore right? WRONG. Every day, no less than 5 people sign up for my newsletter without having to be coerced or 'tricked' by a lead magnet.

In 2 years I've grown from 0-18k here on Twitter and people are always asking me what the secret key or tactic or hack to unlock growth is.

The biggest creators I know have started on one platform and then as they grew they branched out onto multiple platforms. Because being a creator on a platform isn’t just about the content, it’s about understanding the platform, engaging with people and a million other different factors.

Social media can make us crazy as creators or writers. On the one hand, it's the perfect conduit to get our message out there and build an audience. On the other hand, we're constantly wrestling with algorithms, and the shortest shelf life for all of our content.

Twitter Impressions are down. That seems to be the only thing I hear from creators at the moment. And yeah, it sucks. But it's not the first time they've gone through a dip, and it won't be the last.

Content alone isn't going grow your audience on content platforms. As creators, our main 'thing' is creating content, so it's easy to see social media platforms as just big distribution channels to get more people to see what we are creating. But if the internet is just one big distribution channel for your voice you are missing the point.

It's the (new) age old question - Should you publish on Medium or your own blog? Over the past few weeks, I've had multiple people ask me why I chose Medium over my own blog or substack or the many other platforms I could write longer-form content on.

Just over a year ago I got started writing on Twitter. I always viewed Twitter as a distribution platform. A place where you came to tell the world things you created. But these days Twitter has become my main publishing platform where I test ideas and get (mostly) instant feedback on them.

1000 people. 30k essays. 7 million words.When I first heard that we had 1000 people in the January cohort of ship30for30 I thought I might have to quit my day job after all 🤣

The creator economy is both wild and lonely at the same time. On one hand, I feel so lucky to be living in this moment where there are so many opportunities for creators. And on the other hand, it's an extremely lonely place that's easy to quit

It's easy to get caught up in numbers on Twitter. There is literally numbers everywhere. Number of followers, number of likes, engagement rate numbers, numbers of notifications. It's enough to make you think that Twitter is all about numbers...

You don't need a million-dollar launch to have a successful digital product.

I've been on a creative sabbatical for the last 4 weeks and it's been the best thing I've ever done as a creator.

So many creators I speak to are scared to launch their first product.I suspect there are a lot of reasons but the main one I hear is "Don't I have to have a big audience or following to launch a product?"I launched my first product with 500 followers, no email list & I made $3k in 4 weeks.

Over the last couple of years, I've said yes to a million things as a creator. New projects, platforms, launches, content, newsletters, communities and more.

I almost wasn’t able to write such a glowing review of 2022. It was October and I was nowhere near reaching the (very reasonable) goals I had set for myself.

I spent a ridiculous amount of time last year launching products. I think all up it was about 11 products from templates to courses to workshops to guides. I tried it all. And I made a fair amount of money doing it as a second income. Launches are fun (when they work) and they provide a nice windfall of cash for that month that you are launching. But they are also exhausting work and when you are not launching… no one is buying.

I spent a ridiculous amount of time last year launching products. I think there were 11 in total. Launches are fun (when they work). And they provide a nice windfall of cash. But when I wasn't launching... no one was buying.

Here's what no one is telling you about being a creator... it's relentless. Being a creator seems fun at first as you proudly hit publish on your first blog post, or write a Twitter thread that gets more than a few likes and suddenly you start to build a bit of an audience.

I love it when I see people launching their first Notion template. After all, it's where I got started. I launched my first free Notion template in December 2020 and countless more after that. And by far the best advice I ever received from seasoned template creators was to put it on Gumroad.

Don't despair over Gumroad removing the pre-launch feature. Recently Gumroad removed their pre-launch feature. If you've been using it to pre-launch your products you might be wondering how the heck to do you do a pre-launch now?

Here’s an Unpopular Opinion For You: Having a day job and being a creator are not mutually exclusive.You can do both well & enjoy them. I do. Most people assume I’m a full-time creator. But nothing could be further from the truth.

I don't break bad habits. I focus on building good habits. If you do a search on Quora for habits, you'll come across many questions about how to break bad habits. It seems that we're more obsessed with breaking bad habits than we are about building good ones.