We all Need More Headspace. You know - time & space to think & make better decisions. More time & space to be creative at a deeper level. A magical place where you can achieve more with less effort.

I'm always better with a plan. Planning gets a bad wrap from hustle culture - as if it's some kind of procrastination for weak people who can't just get in and get work done.

I'm not usually a goal setter, but yesterday I found myself jotting down some goals on my daily walk. Goals are a weird thing. Some are big, some are small. Some are intentional others are off-handed. But every goal has focus, energy, time & attention attached to it. So if you're going to set a goal, you need to make sure it's worthy of those things.

Deep Work. It's all the rage. Spend four hours of your day in deep work without distractions & get your best work done.If only the real world was like that.

I have 10k unread emails in my inbox & I couldn't be less stressed or anxious about it. I was a strict inbox-zero girl for over 10 years until a conversation with a friend made me completely abandon it. One day I looked at his phone and saw 500 unread messages. So I asked the inevitable question. How could you have so many unread messages without having an anxiety attack?

I know this is going to come as a shock, but some days I am a terrible procrastinator. I sit staring at my task list, re-arranging, and talking myself out of doing things. I let myself be distracted and I get to the end of the day not having accomplished anything important.

Open loops are one of the biggest productivity and money drains in any organisation. I started my career as a receptionist and executive assistant. Early on there was one time when my boss drove an hour to an appointment that I had failed to confirm. And no one was at home 😱. Rookie mistake.

I both love & hate Slack at the same time. A few weeks ago I tweeted out in a mad rage about how everyone should learn to use shift+enter in Slack messages. To my surprise, so many people just had no idea you could do that. And actually thanked me.

I am the worst for putting things off. Even easy things that I know won't take long and that I've probably done a thousand times before. Like last week when I was trying to write some landing page copy. I wasn't even writing from scratch, we had done this event multiple times before.

I'm lazy. There I said it. Most people look at me and think Woah, she's super organised! And it might look that way at first glance. But if something isn't immediately easy, I'm very unlikely to do it. Or continue doing it. Instead of beating myself up over it, I lean into it and build systems to make the things I want to do easier.

Today is day 7 of the #75hard challenge for me. This is the second time I've done the challenge. The last time was WAY back in 2019. And no matter how many times you do it before, it's still HARD!

18 months ago I was done with business planning. We had tried ALL the things. Quarterly planning days, 90 Day Years, Yearly planning retreats. Nothing worked. We would start off gung-ho and ultimately fizzle out and accomplish very little.

I'm giving up on the Zettelkasten Note-Taking method. Two years ago I read the book How To Take Smart Notes. It changed how I think about notes forever. I diligently started taking fleeting notes & literature notes & permanent notes. I spent hours figuring out how to implement it, watching youtube videos on how other people did it and creating products to help others understand it.

Are the world's best writers also the world's best note-takers? If you've been knocking around the creator world for a while you've probably had someone tell you that you should be keeping some kind of note library. But why? Why should you waste your time writing notes when you could be writing content?

Our phones can be a huge distraction when it comes to not only productivity but also being fully engaged with life. Most advice I hear when it comes to phones is just to have more self-discipline. But what if instead, we turned out phones into the ultimate knowledge management device? And instead of getting distracted by Twitter, we instead reached for a book or podcast or article?

I'm obsessed with looking under the hood of other people's systems. No matter how good my system is, how happy I am with it, or how well it is running I'll always jump at the chance to see how somebody else is doing something. This used to lead me into spending days re-arranging my whole system or switching tools.

A year ago I didn’t know what the heck a Zettelkasten was. Permanent Notes? Literature Notes? Now I’ve made hundreds of notes that have turned into published content. It’s how I stay so prolific. But there is still so much confusion around the Zettelkasten system, and even when you understand it in principle, it’s often hard to grasp practically how it works. Often the best way to learn is by watching someone else do something, so here’s a real-life note I’ve taken from consuming all the way through to permanent note.

Hello! Welcome to The Weekly 3x3 By Ev | Edition 14 🎉It's been a busy week of being featured in things 😄. I got to speak To Asim from The Mighty Creators Podcast about how you can transform yourself from a consumer into a creator. And then just yesterday was featured in Coffee & Pens Prolific Writers Special alongside some other very special writers. I'm always honoured to be asked on podcasts or interviews. Hope you can get value from both.

You don't actually need a fancy note-taking system to get your notes and ideas organised. There are so many tools for thought and note-taking tools out there these days that it's can be easy to think it's about the tool rather than the system. When we are not clear on our system it's easy to go chasing new shiny apps.

Kindle, Real Books or Audio Books? Everyone seems to have an opinion on what is the best reading medium these days. But what if we didn't have to choose? Here's how I use all three mediums.

Everyone is obsessed with Zettelkasten lately, but is it really as good as they say? What makes Zettelkasten such a different note-taking system? Is it the structure of the notes? The interconnectedness of the notes? Perhaps. But maybe it's something more. Maybe it's the practices that accompany the system.

I've been obsessed with the daily for as long as I can remember. A few years ago I started a company called The Daily Page where I designed daily pages templates for the iPad. There is something really simple about focusing on a single day.

Starting from scratch is overrated. Every day we do things that we've done a hundred times before. We write emails, plan our weeks, write these essays, research, write newsletters. And most of the time we stare at a blank screen and start from scratch.

I consider myself a bit of a rebel when it comes to consuming content. A conversation with a creator friend the other night highlighted to me that I have come to view content consumption fundamentally different from most people.

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 used to hate yearly planning. And I think it comes down to my relationship with goal setting. I’m not much of a goal setter. A year is a long time and I don’t like to be locked into heavy goals throughout the year.

Most of us go through our lives literally just running on a hamster wheel.We wake up, we do the same things, we drive the same way to work, or eat the same meals, and we put things back in the same place.

Consistency. I bet it's on your list of 'want more of it' in 2023. After all, it's the holy grail of productivity & self-improvement. And yet most of us feel like we're failing at it most of the time. But what if locking yourself into a rigid view of consistency is actually hindering you rather than helping you?

Strength training has taught me more about consistency than any other thing I've done in life (including growing as a creator). The other day my trainer programmed inverted rows (under a low bar and pulling/rowing up). Every time I've attempted them before I have had to do them in batches. So when she said 15 reps I yelled an expletive in my head.

When starting something new you should probably find a way to do it daily. For years I thought the way to become a creator was to write two blogs a week (or 2 podcasts or two vlogs). After all, that seemed like a reasonable amount of writing each week.

I almost signed up for an 8 week summer book writing bootcamp this morning on Instagram. I don't need another Bootcamp or mastermind or course to actually write my book. I have an outline, I have half the content for it already! But I thought maybe this is what I need to get this thing finished.

Reminder: You are under no obligation to play by anyone else's rules. Most of us don't remember a time before the noise of the internet (& Twitter) meant every time you scroll you see another influencer or person with a social media account telling you how you should be doing everything in your life.

I am the queen of unused trackers. A few days ago I threw out a tweet declaring tracking bankruptcy. It came as I looked at my Daily Page and realised that the tracker I set up to track my mood daily that I thought would be interesting, I had used a total of 2 times out of 50.

I have a decent library of books that sits in and around my desk. I designed it that way. Literally, my desk is built into my bookshelf. Every book holds a significant moment or memory or reason for being on that shelf.

Consistency is hard. But when you master it, it's addictive as hell. 2 months ago I started training again with a personal trainer after taking a break for about 6 months. Starting again was HARD. Especially because I know what strong feels like. But what seemed hard on that first day is now starting to feel easier (if you can call lifting weight easy!).

I've been a little MIA this week. You might have noticed, maybe not? On Monday I landed myself in the hospital after having chest pains & thinking I was having a heart attack. Don't worry, I was cleared of any heart problems.

This is going to be an uncomfortable essay about consistency. I am going to put a caveat at the beginning to say I am NOT the queen of consistency. Most of the time I write about things I'm currently experiencing and thinking about. So take this as much as an essay I'm writing for myself as for anyone else.