Month: October 2022

I Am Going To Write A Book In Public

Neera

As a part of the NaNoWriMo challenge.

Tomorrow is the 1st of November. All around the world, thousands of people will glue to their laptops, writing a novel.

They will write 50,000 words in 30 days.

That is 1,667 words a day.

This annual event is known as NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month.

Each year, I take part in the challenge. I have been doing that since I found out about it in 2011.

Sometimes I win it, other times I don’t.

Winning means writing 50,000 words before the clock strikes midnight on 30th November.

Many times, I manage only a few thousand words. But I participate each year, regardless. The only exceptions are when I am traveling in November. However, twice I wrote during the travel. It killed me and ruined all the fun, so I decided not to do that again.

In NaNoWriMo terms, I am a rebel writer.

Which means I write things other than a novel.

In 2011, I wrote a short story and managed to write only 2,340 words.

In 2012, I wrote my memoir and wrote 13,458 words towards it.

In 2013, I wrote a collection of short stories and won the challenge.

In 2015, I wrote the first draft of my first novel and won it again by writing 52,504 words.

In 2016, I wrote a travel memoir and cranked up 40,516 words.

In 2017, I wrote 14,169 words in diary-style personal writing.

In 2018, I wrote 55,757 words long self-help book and won it again.

In 2019, I wrote a collection of blog articles (15,437 words).

In 2020, I wrote the draft of my second novel (17,370 words).

In 2021, I wrote a memoir again, Diary of A Wannabe Writer (16,670 words)

This year, I am planning to finish the first novel I wrote in 2015 and get it ready for publication.

But somehow that doesn’t bring in the excitement of a challenge.

So I want to up the ante, and write another book in parallel.

In public.

On LinkedIn and Medium.

Starting tomorrow.

If I have intrigued you enough and you too want to write a novel or a book in November, you can join NaNoWriMo here.

I am going to need all your encouragement and support.

An online friend on LinkedIn wrote, “You have taken on quite a challenge there.” My response was, “The worst that can happen is I fail. But I will fail doing something. Which is not a failure but a step forward. I will learn from my mistake and do it better next time.”

I have changed my relationship with failure.

I don’t see them as failures anymore. I see them as opportunities to learn.

Back in 1993, I started a business. Selling artificial jewelry. I failed at it miserably.

Then again, in 2001. This time in health supplements. I failed again.

Then I tried my hand at selling real estate, in the middle of the worst recession Australia had ever experienced. Needless to say, I didn’t sell a single house. I had failed again.

Now, thirty years later, when I look back at them, they were not failures; they were learning opportunities.

I learned more from my failures than from my successes. “Writing” was my biggest failure. In my first performance review as a middle manager, my boss said to me, “The only thing standing between you and a senior manager role is your written English.”

Bingo!

A learning opportunity!

I rolled up my sleeves and got on with turning my weakness into a strength.

– I enrolled in writing courses.
– Joined writing groups.
– Started a blog.
– Read books.
– Then wrote some.

Today, when someone says to me, “You write very well,” I smile. I tell them it is because I am not afraid of failures.

The next 30 days will show whether I fail again and learn some lessons. Or able to use what I learned about writing in the past 3–4 years and write a book in public.

I do crazy things like these now and then.

If you have been following me for a while, you would know that back in January 2021, I posted on three social media platforms for 100 consecutive days.

Then again in April 2021, I announced that I will write 100 articles in 100 days. And I did that too.

Then, in June 2021, I set myself a challenge to write a book in a week and I did that too. I even wrote an update each day, sharing my progress.

This is something like that.

A challenge to push the boundaries and do some more under pressure.

I have been trying to talk myself out of it but the idea won’t leave me. So I am going to go ahead and do it.

What is my plan?

My plan is to fictionalize a non-fiction book.

It is going to be an interesting idea, and I am very excited about it. At least for the time being. I can’t say whether this excitement will last for the entire month.

I will not chase the 50,000 words (I am a rebel writer, after all). Instead, I am going to weave a story around the messages I want to get across. If I could do that convincingly, the skeleton will be done and the book can be beefed up in subsequent edits.

When I announced this crazy idea on LinkedIn, I didn’t realize that LinkedIn posts have a limit of 3000 characters (which is about 500–600 words). So my plan is to write an abridged version on LinkedIn and a full version on Medium. I hope it will work.

From experience, I know there will be days in the month when I cannot write. Such days come, we all know that, so I am giving myself permission to skip a few days here and there and make up for them when I can.

To save you from a flood of emails, I will publish the daily chapters in my profile and will give you updates from time to time, along with the links.

As I am writing these words, my inner critic is lifting its head and before he talks me out of sending this post, I am going to hit publish.

See you tomorrow!

Bye for now.

I Have Come Back From An Eight Week Holiday

Neera

And this is what it did to me.

This was the longest trip I had in thirty years.

After sleeping in strange beds for 49 days in a row, I was thankful to sleep in my bed for the last few nights.

Besides meeting family, visiting new places, and attending a wedding and a birthday bash, this trip had another significant purpose — mental rest.

What we do as writers is quite cerebral. We need to give ourselves mental breaks in the same way that we need to sleep. Vacations regenerate our minds and help us get out of the rut.

Before going on this trip, I was a prisoner of self-created routines. They were driving me nuts.

I was taking on more and more projects and setting myself deadlines that I knew I couldn’t meet. The trouble was that I couldn’t get out of the hole I dug for myself. Everything felt important and urgent.

I was compromising my health and wellness to chase goals that had no ultimate significance.

Eight weeks away from my routine, I could see nothing is more important than my health and happiness.

I have come back with a clean slate. My priorities have changed.

Previously they were:

1. Writing

2. Family

3. Fun

4. Health

I was at a point where I was so chasing my writing goals and fulfilling my own expectations from me that I was not taking the time to evaluate what was working and what was not.

The reality for us creatives is that we are drawing from the creative well without taking time to fill it. We are continually sucking the marrow from the things that are happening around us without realizing how stressful the writing process could be. Long breaks can help let go of all that and just relax. When we are able to do that, we get a new perspective. Wonderful things can happen when we least expect them.

Joanna Pen, a writer and podcaster, talks about the serendipity of those moments when you are traveling and you’re in a museum and you see something and you realize this is something that can enrich my book or you come across something that suddenly gives you a new idea which you wouldn’t have found, had you not been for the travels.

Downtimes give us the opportunity to reset and recalibrate. The trip helped me look at things from a new perspective. I have re-prioritized the four important aspects of my life. My new priorities are:

1. Health

2. Family

3. Fun

4. Writing

I have put health first because for the last four years I have been ignoring it while concentrating on writing. It is even above family because I won’t be able to look after my family if I am not in good shape.

The wake-up call came during the India trip itself. We were visiting the exotic Khajuraho temples when I saw color fade away from my brother-in-law’s face. He was unsteady on his feet. So we got him to sit down on a bench. He was having a stroke.

By the time we got him back to the hotel, he had lost movement on his left side. We had to cancel our travel plans and bring him back to his hometown for a further checkup. Lucky for him, he fully recovered. But it left me shaken.

For the last four years, I have not been eating well, putting on the extra weight, and neglecting my regular check-up. My excuse was that the pandemic caused interruption to my gym routine and regular visits to doctors. But the truth was, I was being careless.

Now I have joined classes every morning — three days flexibility, two days yoga and two days weights. I have also started intermittent fasting and joined Weight Watchers again.

I have merged many of my writing projects and made plans to repurpose my content. One aspect of that is to revamp my website and transferred all my writing there so that I can pick stories from there whenever needed.

My new writing routine will be to write long-form, content on Medium and Substack and short-form on LinkedIn. I will also concentrate on writing books and mini-guides.

That’s it so far.

I promise to be more regular in the future.

15 Productivity Hacks As Picked By An AI

Neera

On 21 October 2022, Ali Abdaal, a doctor turned YouTuber and Podcaster, did an experiment. He tweeted a thread with 15 productivity hacks. It became his highest-performing tweet of all time.

1 million impressions and 23,648 engagements in two days.

The surprising thing was he didn’t write that thread himself.

He got an Artificial Intelligence tool to generate it.

If you read the thread, you can’t pick up whether a human or a bot wrote it.

I took the 15 hacks and assessed my own habits against them. Here is what I found.

1. Set A Daily Highlight

Each morning, ask yourself, “what is the most important thing I want to do today?” and then make sure you do that thing. When you do this every day (or even most days) for a whole year, you make an incredible amount of progress.

I can swear by this advice. Around mid-year last year, I started identifying one primary task for the day and making sure I do it. I call it my Daily Focus Task (DFT). It has removed the overwhelm from my day. I no longer feel stressed if I don’t go through my whole To-do list for the day. As long as I have done my Daily Focus Task, I can feel good about myself.

2. Have an hourglass on your desk

This is a simple reminder to make the most of your time. I [Al Abdaal] uses a sand timer, but you could also use an hourglass app on your phone or computer.

This, too, is my strategy. I used to use the timer on my Windows computer that comes with the clock. But I moved to Mac earlier this year, and Mac doesn’t have a built-in timer. So I have started using the timer on my mobile phone. There is one trouble though. I can’t see the clock ticking on the corner of my computer which used to bring me back to task whenever I got distracted. I will have to find an app that I could install on my Mac.

3. Set a “No-Internet Day” once a week

This has been a game-changer for me. On Wednesdays, I [Ali Abdaal] don’t allow myself to go on the Internet till 5 pm. This means no social media, no email, no news, no nothing.

I have not tried this one. Normally I can go without social media in the morning, for a few hours, especially when I am working on a book or an article. But having all day as a “No-Internet Day,” sounds great. I got to give it a go.

4. Make a “To-Don’t” list

This is a list of things you shouldn’t do, no matter what. For me, this list includes things like checking my email first thing in the morning, working on the weekends, and checking social media frequently throughout the day.

Okay, from time to time I have vowed not to do certain things such as “not to pick up my phone first thing in the morning,” but I have never made a proper “To-Don’t” list. I am on it now. As soon as I finish writing this article, I am going to create my Not-To-Do List and pin it where I can see it at all times.

5. Use Pomodoro Technique

This is a time management technique that involves working for 25 minutes and then taking a5 minute break. I’ve [Ali Abdaal] found that this helps me stay focused and avoid burnout.

This is something I use invariably, or rather, a version of it. I work in 15 minutes snippets. Whenever I am time-pressed, I set a timer for 15 minutes and write an article or clean-up in inbox, or do research. If get in the flow state, I keep hitting the repeat button on the timer and work for 30 to 45 minutes before getting up and taking a break. This speeds me up and my output is usually much higher, working in short snippets than setting aside an hour or two to write an article.

6. Batch Similar Tasks Together

This means doing all of your similar tasks at the same time. For example, I like to batch all of my writing tasks together. So if I have to write a blog post, record a video, and write an email, I’ll do all of those things one after the other.

I too batch similar tasks together. I call it my “chaos management” time. Each day, I set aside two to three hours when answer emails, leave comments on LinkedIn posts, responds to comments reader left on my posts, etc. Before going on extended holidays, I have written four to eight weeks’ worth or articles and newsletters which was brilliant. I want to do that but haven’t been able to build a system for it yet. Something to work on and perfect next year.

7. Get in a Flow State

This is when you’re so focused on a task that you lose track of time. When you’re in a flow state, you’re usually in “the zone” and you’re extremely productive.

I have frequently been in the “flow state” and believe me, it is such a surreal experience. Sometimes I don’t even realize that I have been working for hours at a stretch and don’t even feel it. The quick way to get into flow state is working in fifteen-minutes snippets.

8. Take breaks regularly

It’s important to take breaks throughout the day, even if you’re in a flow state. I like to take a 5–10 minute break every hour or so. During my break, I’ll usually walk around, get a drink of water, or do something else to relax.

I take break automatically. Working from home means there is always something to do — dishes needs to be done, vegeies need to be chopped, a cupboard needs tidying. These mundane tasks are a great way to sort out thoughts and give my eyes rest from staring the screen. I used to go out for a walk to mark the end of the working day. But many times someone will drop in or I start cooking and miss the walk. Now I have started going for walks in the afternoon. I like this new time because I get to soak the sun and I am not rushed. Halfway, I sit on a bench in the park and meditate.

9. Have a set schedule

I’ve found that it’s helpful to have a set schedule for my day. I know that I’ll work from 9 am-5 pm Monday through Friday and I know that I’ll take a break at 12 pm for lunch. Having a set schedule helps me stay on track and avoid getting sidetracked.

I have a schedule, but not as tight as Ali’s. And I like it that way. I work for 3–4 hours before lunch and 3–4 hours between lunch and dinner. This schedule gives me flexibility to fit other things in my day so my days are not all work, work, work.

10. Get rid of distractions

This is a big one. If you want to be productive, you need to get rid of anything that’s going to distract you. For me, this means putting my phone on silent, turning off all notifications, and working in a quiet environment.

I am pretty good with phone and social media. I have turned off all social media notifications. My phone hardly rings during the day and if it does, I am not afraid to tell the person on the other end that this is my working hours and I will return their call in the evening. My major source of distraction is the housework. Another thing where I waste a lot of time is finding things on my computer. I am working on implementing a better system to manage digital clutter and it is helping.

11. Set goals

Having goals is important because it gives you something to strive for. I like to set both long-term and short-term goals. For example, my long-term goal might be to write a book and my short-term goal might be to write 1000 words per day.

I am a hard core goal setter. I have to say no more.

12. Use a task-manger

I use a task manager to keep track of all the things I need to do. This helps me stay organized and makes sure that I am doing the most important tasks. I use the app Todoist, but there are a ton of other great options out there.

I use Author’s Planner and Bullet Journal to create and keep track of my daily, weekly, and monthly to-do lists. It is a journal I created for myself. It is available both in hardback and softcover from Amazon. If you are interested, you can get it here. Recently I have been exploring Notion, to create a digital version of it.

13. Follow the 80/20 rule

The 80/20 rule is the principle that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts. This means that you should focus on the things that are giving you the most results.

I am not a master of identifying the 20% that gives me the best results. It is perhaps because I have not identified all the activities I do and the results they bring me. This is an area of improvement for me.

14. Delegate and outsource

Delegate and outsource the things that you don’t need to do yourself. For example, I outsource my bookkeeping/ accounting. The frees up my time so that I can focus on the things that I’m good at and that I enjoy.

I hate to admit but I do zero delegation and outsourcing. Four years into writing and authorpreneurship and I am doing 95% of the things myself. Now and then, I buy services that I can’t do myself. Delegation and outsourcing require investment and mindset shift. I need to work on both.

15. Take time for yourself

This is probably the most important tip of all. You can’t be productive if you’re not taking care of yourself. Take time for things like exercise, relaxation and hobbies. This will help you avoid burnout and will make you more productive.

I fully agree with this tip. I am an avid traveller. Pandemic kept me housebound for two years. But this year I made up for it. I have already been on two extended holidays (6 weeks and 8 weeks) and one short one ( 1 week) and have planned more. I keep enrolling in courses that interest me and have several hobbies. My problem is how to restrain myself so that I don’t put too much on my plate.

It has been a wonderful exercise to determine where I stand with these productivity hacks and where I need to concentrate to bring some improvements.

I suggest you do that same. Reading about the productivity tips is not enough, you got to implement them too. And from time to time, you got to evaluate where you stand.

How To Create Your First Digital Product In Three Hours

Neera

“If you want to grow your subscriber numbers, write a freebie,” said my mentor.

“But I don’t know how,” I cried. “And what?”
“What can I give as a freebie?”

“Anything of value.”

Something was stopping me, but I couldn’t figure out what.

I had written several articles on Medium but writing an eBook was a big step.

Then one day, almost a year later, I woke up with a tiny voice in my head.

“Write the damn book and write it fast.”

If there is one thing I learned in my creative life, it is to listen to that tiny voice.

I wrote my first ebook in one week and published it.

Then wrote three more and published them too.

I have written a guide to help you with the process.

It’s FREE. Download it here.

The Easiest Way To Write A Book

Neera

“What is the easiest way to write a book?” asked a reader.

“Write a series of questions about a topic and then write responses to them,” was my answer.

In your business/ line-of-work, clients ask you a lot of questions all the time. Don’t get annoyed with them. Collect them. They are like gold mines.

Write detailed responses to them. Don’t just answer dryly.

  • Tell stories.
  • Give examples.
  • Include case studies.

Frequently asked questions make brilliant in-depth books.

Here are a few examples:

Frequently Asked Questions About the Universe – by Jorge Cham

The Indie Writer’s Encyclopaedia – by Michael La Ronn

84 Questions That Sell – By Paul Cherry

50 Questions On Natural Laws – by Charles Rice

101 Questions To Ask Before You Get Engaged – H. Norman Write

———

Do you want to write a book but can’t start because it feels like a daunting project?

I might be able to help.

Contact me on LinkedIn.

How To Get Out Of Herd Mentality

Neera

Researchers observed an interesting phenomenon on the 86th floor of the World Trade Centre during 9/11.

When the plane struck the twin towers, one group of colleagues on the 86th floor didn’t panic. Nor did they run for their lives. Instead, they gathered in a conference room to discuss their options.

All of them were terrified. And yet all of them regrouped to see what their friends would do.

The same thing was observed when authorities interviewed several airplane crash survivors.

The first thing people do in times of trouble is not panic.

They look at what their neighbors are doing.

If their neighbors are panicking, they’ll panic too. And if their neighbors are calm, they’ll be calm too.

It’s a typical “monkey see monkey do” response.

Doesn’t matter how intellectually savvy we think we are; deep down we have animal instincts.

And animals live in herds.

Like it or not, we are influenced by our peers and adopt certain behaviors on an emotional rather than rational basis.

We copy our neighbors even in mundane tasks.

Professor Jens Krausse of Leeds University conducted an interesting experiment. He and his colleagues gathered a bunch of people in a big hall and instructed them all to walk randomly inside the hall.

But they gave explicit instructions to 5% of the participants to walk a very particular path.

And guess what happened?

The 95% who were asked to walk randomly just followed the 5% who were instructed to follow the particular path and everyone walked on the same path.

Herds are often irrational.

In the 16th century, tulips were imported from the Ottoman Empire to Holland. Just a few years after arriving in Holland, tulips became the most sought-after commodity in the Netherlands.

At the time, tulip bulbs were worth more than gold and were sold for ten times what a commoner made in a year.

Farmers pulled out the potatoes and other crops from their fields and planted tulips, and what followed was appropriately named “tulip mania.”

There was no rationale for replacing food with flowers, especially when the bulbs were expensive.

Needless to say, the bubble burst. So many tulips were produced that their price fell. Several farmers went bankrupt.

Because we copy things until they reach their breaking point.

More recently, when the pandemic hit the world, the rate of unemployment broke all records in every country. And yet, we saw the stock markets rise.

Why would the stock market rise when the economy is performing so poorly?

This thoughtless copying causes the problem. It’s what causes the mismatch between productivity and the economy.

Technically, the economy should grow as productivity improves.

We always take things too far. The herd mentality leads to irrational actions.

How to escape an irrational herd mentality?

Introduce circuit breakers.

A circuit breaker is an automatic switch protecting the electrical circuit from damage. They switch off automatically when excess current passes through the circuit.

How can you do that?

By doing two things.

Change your environment.

It is the easiest way to escape the herd. We humans are not equipped to go against the herd. Whenever we engage in social behavior, our brains release oxytocin which makes us feel blissful. Agreeing with others releases oxytocin and makes us feel warm and safe.

And so, the most effective way to break the circuit and negate this oxytocin bliss is to change the environment.

That’s what Warren Buffett did when he realized he was getting influenced by other stockbrokers. He moved from New York to Omaha, Nebraska. By insulating himself from the crowd, he made better decisions.

What can you do to change your environment?

Develop your cynical muscle.

Question every assumption. And every solution.

You have to dig deeper, which usually takes a lot more effort.

This is often uncomfortable and tiring.

But it’s the only way to know when the herd is wrong.