As we are approaching the end of the year, I will spend the next few days performing a Digital Reset to start the new year with a clean and organized digital space.
Here is the list of things I am doing.
⭐️ Emptying my desktop and download folders, archiving what needs archiving and deleting the rest.
⭐️ Clearing my inbox. Archiving what I need and deleting the rest, I already work on Zero Inbox policy.
⭐️ Cleaning up my archives as well, keeping the ones I need and deleting the rest.
⭐️ Unsubscribing from newsletters and promotions that I do not read anymore.
⭐️ Organizing my desktop and cloud storage according to the PARA structure.
⭐️Evaluating my subscriptions and unsubscribing from services that I no longer require.
⭐️ Deleting any unused apps from my phone and Mac to free up space.
⭐️ Updating my operating system to the latest version.
⭐️ Turning off all notifications.
What will you be doing to declutter and streamline your digital life to start the new year afresh?
Category: Personal Story
23 Things That Made The Year 2023 For Me
1. Journaling daily.
2. Intermittent fasting.
3. Starting building in public.
4. Writing regularly on LinkedIn.
5. Replacing annual goals with life long mission.
6. Joining ‘Ship 30 For 30’ and learning lean writing.
7. Using Silva meditation method to become a relaxed writer.
8. Bringing my inbox to zero and keeping it that way.
9. Employing PARA method to keep my digital files in order.
10. Publishing my 5th book ‘Become A Productive Writer.’
11. Writing the first draft of ‘A Writer’s Guide For Travel Writing.’
12. Turning my website into a repository for all my writings.
13. Doing ‘Building A Second Brain’ course with Tiago Forte.
14. Building my knowledge management system and kept it up to date.
15. Nailing my productivity through Author Planner & Bullet Journal.
16. Cruising from Sydney to New Zealand with family and friends.
17. Traveling through the United States and Canada for six weeks.
18. Taking a extended vacation in India to explore south and north-east states.
19. Spending a week at a wellness centre learning yoga, fasting and naturopathy.
20. Turning my Substack newsletter into a hub for teaching writing books from life.
21. Targeting my course ‘Write Your Book In 30 Days’ to coaches and professionals.
22. Joining Premium Ghostwriting Academy with Nicholas Cole and Dickie Bush ?
23. Pivoting my focus from online writing to educate through Educational Email Courses.
What made your year?
From being stressed all the time to stress-free
In 2023, I went from being stressed all the time to being stress-free for life.
It’s that time of the year when I look back and make a note of the things I achieved, mistakes I made, and lessons I learned.
As I am working through them, I realize there are several stories hidden in them that could help my readers.
For the next few days, I am going to share them here.
The first one that stands out is how I got rid of stress from my life forever.
I remember, back in November 2022, I was flat out trying to finish several projects before the end of the year that it was affecting me not only mentally, but physically.
My eyes were so tired and dried that I couldn’t keep them open. I hadn’t gone to the gym for most of the year and quit walking for months.
I thought if I could just finish this project and this project and this project… I will be fine.
But I wasn’t.
The more I did, the more work piled up.
And the irony was, I was retired and supposedly pursuing my hobbies.
Then one day, I came across an advertisement on Instagram. It was Vishen Lakhiani talking about the De Silva Meditation Method.
On an impulse, I bought the course.
In fact, I bought Mindvalley membership which had the De Silva Meditation course and hundreds of other courses by top coaches in the world.
For the next 28 days, I religiously meditated twice a day using De Silva’s techniques taught by Vishen Lakhiani.
I also started a journal to record my progress and insights. The image below shows what I wrote on the first day of starting the program.
By Day 9, I was much more relaxed. All the unnecessary fears and anxieties were gone. I was performing in a much-relaxed state. This is what I wrote in my journal:
“I have eliminated the word stress from my vocabulary and replaced it with relax. Relax is my default state from now on. There is no rush. Only calm. ‘Calm’ is positive, while ‘rush’ is negative. I am getting the same amount of work done, if not more, by being in a relaxed state of mind.”
By the end of the program, I was a new person.
What surprised me was that the transformation was permanent.
It’s almost a year, and not even once I felt rushed or stressed.
I think you can achieve the same, by whatever meditation practice you use. Just instill the message in you that you are replacing the word ‘stress’ with ‘relax’ in your dictionary. And you can get more work done by being in a relaxed state of mind.
See you in the morning
As I sat down to write my update yesterday, the phone rang.
It was my friend’s husband.
“We had to take Adrianne to the hospital on Wednesday. She will not make it. If you want to see her, don’t leave it for later.”
My heart bled. I have known Adrianne for over 20 years now. She was in the very first writing course I joined. She became my biggest supporter, urging me to keep writing endeavors, even when constructing coherent sentences or expressing my thoughts on paper felt like a daunting task.
After the course finished, we kept meeting at my house once a month, writing and sharing stories from our lives.
She is an amazing woman. Firey, feisty, an advocate for women’s rights. She is a force to be reckoned with. Longing for love and acceptance throughout her entire life, even when her own mother treated her poorly (going as far as calling her a ‘failed abortion’), she had an abundance of love to offer.
She is the most compassionate individual I’ve met in my life. Despite having so little, she gave generously and without reservation. For half of her career, she served as a certified teacher, and for the remaining half, she worked as a certified nurse. Her entire life was dedicated to serving others, using both her professional expertise and her boundless kindness.
However, she has endured immense suffering. Her initial spouse was deeply troubled, and he made severe threats against her and her three children, putting their lives in danger.
All of her children have passed away and over the last three years, she has been grappling with excruciating, arthritic pain. Yet she never lost either her fighting spirit or sense of humor. She is my hero.
I went and saw her in the hospital an hour after the call. The fiery, feisty, 87-year-old dynamo was curled up like a newborn in the vast expanse of the hospital bed. Although heavily drugged, she recognized me.
“How are you, Adrianne?” I asked.
“A little older, my dear,” she said.
“How are you feeling?” I asked.
“Pathetic,” she said.
“What is the plan?” I asked
“See you in the morning,” she said.
May god relieve her from her pain and give her a better life next time.
The one she really deserves.
Do you want to be a productive writer?
Two years ago, when I became a full-time writer, I went full throttle on several creative projects.
• I joined multiple courses.
• I wrote prolifically to populate my website.
• I dusted a three-year-old manuscript and started working on it.
• I started writing an article a day on Medium.
• I commenced a weekly publication.
• And a weekly newsletter.
“I am not working,” I told myself. “I have no excuse to slack. My output should be double or triple as before.”
On the contrary, my productivity dropped.
And I experienced a full-scale burnout.
While working on a paid job, I never had to worry about my productivity. Even when I was working on tight deadlines.
Even though I was working over ten hours a day and still couldn’t finish the tasks I had assigned to myself.
I over-committed and became obsessed with productivity.
I was continually stressed, exhausted, and feeling non-creative.
I was finally free to pursue my dreams, and I was nose-diving into a disaster.
Looking back, I see the problem wasn’t with the amount of work; it was with my approach.
Somewhere along the way, I stopped thinking about productivity as the vehicle and made it the goal.
I’d lost sight of the purpose and meaning behind the work I was doing.
Every hour blocked off on my calendar, every task I added to my to-do list, and every project I started, tightened the grip on my heart and mind.
As I looked around myself, I found I wasn’t alone.
Every creator was going through the same.
Thankfully, I came out of this excruciating state.
I wrote my journey from a stressed and anxious for a relaxed productive writer in my new book “Become A Productive Writer. In the hope that it can help you to become relaxed and productive.
I know what cows feel when they fly
“Are you sure you aren’t coming?” asked my husband before walking into the briefing session before his first-ever indoor skydiving.
We were on a cruise to New Zealand and just before that, we both stood near the glass dome where an instructor was helping some daring souls to ‘fly’ in a cubicle or tube with high-velocity air blown through the mashed wire floor. Most couldn’t manage to fly. They banged on the glass wall, flipped over, and frantically headed for the door to get out of the gush of wind which was perhaps as forceful as tornadoes that can uproot trees and shoot the cows to the sky.
There was no way I was going to do that.
But then again, it costs hundreds of dollars, for the experience, and here, on the cruise, I was getting it for free. And human psychology is, not to say no to something that is free.
“What the heck. I will come,” I said and followed him.
After asking us whether we have any injuries or pain in our shoulders or limbs, the operators made us sign a waiver, which possibly said if we break anything while chasing the experience it will be of our own free will.
We were then herded into a tiny cabin with eight other people and shown a video to educate us on the dangers of what can go wrong. Then dutifully they told us how to position our bodies to minimize the damage and ‘enjoy’ the experience.
Following that, we were given the gear to wear that resembled a space suit. The final touch was earplugs and protective glasses. Unable to hear anything and walking like astronauts, we entered the dome with our instructor who did a dance in the dome (at 10 times the velocity), to demonstrate how easy the whole thing was.
Then he started picking one person at a time. The first one was a man, perhaps much older than me. He was tall and confident. But he didn’t last long. After several attempts by the instructor to steady him, he panicked and headed for the door. A couple of females followed him, one met the same fate as the man, while the other was a star. She flew so well that we all became hopeful that we can do it too.
Next was my turn. I got to the doorway, remembering to keep my chin up, hands straight, and aligned to my shoulder height. “Don’t forget to loosen your knees,” the instructor reminded me. As I stood in the doorway, and had and looked at the mashed floor for a millisecond, I realized one thing – there is no way I can get hurt unless I try to fight the wind.
I relaxed my body and let go. The next moment I was flying. The wind was so strong that despite all my effort I couldn’t shut my mouth. I also couldn’t hear anything. All I could do was enjoy the feeling of weightlessness. People around me were clapping, my husband was giving me thumbs-up.
And suddenly I knew what cows feel like when a tornado takes them in the sky.
Bloody brilliant!
Skydiving is the most daring physical act I have done in years. It taught me a big lesson. Sometimes we just have to relax. All the participants who didn’t succeed were trying to do too much and in the process knocking against the walls or flipping over.
I am taking that lesson to my writing life as well. For the past four years, I have been trying to do too much. Writing books, daily posting on social media, running courses, writing articles and newsletters. No wonder I am banging against the wall and flipping over.
I made a decision. From now on I will concentrate on writing and publishing books.
The other form of writing will happen in between.
It is more of a strategic decision than an emotional one. Books have a much longer shelf life than social media posts, online articles, and newsletters. Writing books also fits with other commitments in my life. Online writing requires you to write every day and spend time engaging with audiences. That strips me of valuable time which I could spend reading books and going deep into topics.
I am not announcing quitting newsletter or online writing. In fact, I published my cruise story yesterday Cruising Was Not What I Thought It Would Be (Part 1) on Medium. All I am saying is that writing books will be my number 1 priority.