How to be Prolific?

[archivefive]

I want to move from being a consumer of information, to being a prolific producer of it.

So, the simple answer is to lock myself in a room for 4+ hours a day, and just write, make .mp3's etc.

But is there more to it?

- Any special mindset?
- Any special way to organize materials? How to do the research efficiently and not get bogged down or distracted by it?
- Any special tools that make it faster?

All you warriors who produce gigabytes of content, what's YOUR secret?

[Matt M]

I've been creating eproducts for quite a few years and I have to admit that there are times when it's a chore.

Think about the alternative though. You can do it for yourself or you can do it for your boss but it has to be done.

When I'm having a rough day I look at the end. Try to be results oriented. See the end and think about working towards that.

When you think "I have to start that article and I don't feel up to it ugh". Look at the end result of the article already finished and you can see the traffic coming in.

That's why you are doing it. Have that feeling of when it is finished and think of getting there. Every step along the way is getting closer to that end.

I write a sentence and think "Ok I'm a little closer". Rather than "gee, I'm so far away".

Matt

[SurviveUnemployment]

Don't lock yourself in a room 4 hours a day. Wait until you get inspired, then lock everybody else out for 48 hours or 72 hours.

To be prolific you need three things:

1) Talent
2) Inspiration
3) Tons of hard work

(I do not consider myself prolific.)

[GarryMSayer]

BIT OF A LONG POST THIS SO GRAB YOURSELF A MUG OF YOUR FAVOURITE DRINK AND MAKE YOURSELF COMFORTABLE.

For me the key to being prolific is all about motivation. To be motivated is to care what happens.

Allow me to explain...

Well, first off, let's admit that some people are able to get motivated by the smaller issues of life. There are those people who set their minds to do something, and what do you know they actually do it. So this is clearly not an impossibility.

And I hear you mumbling, "No, not impossible, except for me...."

But I'd like to suggest that you're not impossible to motivate - you may have been working on the wrong techniques.

Allow me give you an example of what I'm getting at...

The home I grew up in was not a neat or orderly place. My parents were both hoarders/gatherers/pack rats call it what you will, so we had boxes and piles of stuff all over the house. For the most part, I sort of accepted the daily mess as normal, but when I entered my teens, I started seeing things from my own viewpoint. And that viewpoint was starting to show me that things could be neater and cleaner.

I still remember when I was about 13 or 14 I'd occasionally come home from school and, before my parents got back from work, I'd clean up the house, straighten the boxes and piles as well as I could, sweep and mop what was showing of the floor, and clean up the kitchen where it was possible.

I cared what it looked like (and what it felt like).

That was motivation.

Then my folks would get home.

Of course they were pleased with the change. And I suppose Dad thought he was encouraging me, but his methods lacked finesse.

"Son, I'd like to see you do this every day, when you get home."

So for the next few days I'd clean things. But 13-year-olds are easily distracted, and eventually I'd skip a day.

When Dad got home, he'd give me a lecture and clip around the ear... and Dad's lectures did go on a bit I can tell you plus he had hands the size of shovels!

Whoa... that was a whole different deal.

No longer was it my idea, it was his. And it wasn't something I did for the fun of it any more - it had suddenly become a duty. A duty that, if I failed to perform, resulted in punishment.

The motivation had been changed on me. It had been switched from wanting a better looking house, to wanting to avoid getting on the wrong end of my father's right hand!

Avoidance motivation is hard to sustain for any length of time. Eventually I'd get so demotivated by the whole thing that I simply couldn't work up enough interest in cleaning even to avoid my dad's infamous right hook. After several days of getting rollockings, Dad would also lose his motivation and forget to discipline me.

Then we'd all go back to tolerating a dirty, messy house.

So if your efforts to motivate yourself are failing, you might look at the methods you're using on yourself. Driving yourself by guilt, fear or punitive measures? Forget it.

Ever heard the old saying, "you'll attract more flies with honey than with vinegar"? If you haven't it means that if you want to attract people or get them to do something, it's better to be 'sweet' and nice to them than being mean or 'sour'.

So if you want to get different results from yourself, you'll probably have to look to different incentives.

So how do you care?

First of all, let's admit that many of the goals we set are not things we care deeply about. In other words, we're promising ourselves that we'll do something which doesn't really engage us.

Nah!

It's time to stop beating yourself up for refusing to go after goals that simply don't light your fire. Scratch 'em off your list and let 'em go. Free up your energy for something that IS meaningful to you.

What's that you say? You've never found anything that's quite meaningful enough to stir your embers? You just can't seem to get fired up about anything?

Okay. So let yourself off the hook and go back to your television programs, or your ball games or your fishing. Relax. It's okay. You don't HAVE to force yourself to be motivated.

Face it - judging from the evidence up to now, you're going to coast anyway, so why not just relax and enjoy it, and quit whipping yourself. It didn't work when Dad used to whack me around the head, and it won't work when you do the same to yourself.

If there's nothing in particular you want right now, fine. You can stop pretending there is.

The motivation guru Jack Zufelt (author of the book 'The DNA of Success') has made a career of being the "anti-establishment" voice in self help. His primary message is, find out what you really want. Dump all the things that are not at least a 9 or a 10 on your "desire scale" and put your energies into the one or two things you do really want.

Of course, that means you'll have to stop lying to yourself.

Jack doesn't bother trying to teach people how to turn a 5 or 6 into a 10. And I think he has a point... you need to stop pressuring yourself to do all those little, chicken-spit things on your list. Instead, you should put your energies into the stuff that counts with you - and only the stuff that counts. If you do that, there'll be plenty on your platter.

So you still think you don't know how to make yourself care?

If some guy with white eyeballs comes staggering at you waving a knife, do you care about getting out of his way? Oh heck yeah. It's natural. You don't have to sit and take remedial lessons in caring - you just cut and run.

And if you see hundreds of thousands of people being made homeless by a huge storm, do you care what happens to them? The spontaneous outpouring of help and money and resources following huge hurricanes and other disasters says that a LOT of people care.

So it's actually easy to figure out what belongs on your goals list. Take a little time to sit and leaf through your old lists. Cross off anything and everything that doesn't excite you in some way. Dump anything that you find you don't deeply care about. Especially, get rid of the stuff that you "ought to" want to do.

Whatever is left standing after you're done deleting and dumping - that's your goal.

And that's basically all there is to motivation. Just turn your attention to what you truly care about, and the motivation comes with it.

Easy isn't it?

Garry.

[archivefive]

Matt and Gary,

Thanks! Very helpful regarding mindset.

Everyone,

Do you suggest any organization techniques or tools to be more prolific?

Some people just crank out a ton of stuff, and I've got to believe that they have organizing secrets or tools to make it easier.

I am asking for more than just "getting things done." I'm looking for ways to get A LOT of things done, ways to grease the skids for "massive action" so to speak.

[BradCarroll]

Best way to get inspired and work a lot is to work even when you're not inspired. I do this and 90% of the time, I get myself inspired in a half hour or less (usually much less).

Best way to be prolific is to work a lot...but take a 3 or 4 minute break every half hour or hour or so. Maybe split up your day with a bit of exercise. And virtually swim in your niches!

[RentItNow]

One trick I did was I mind mapped exactly all the content I had, and was actually stunned to see just how much I really had to work with.

I've been using bubbl.us under the recommendation of Frank Kern.

Don't know what I would do without it now.

What is funny is it used to be my job to document the content (business entities) and keep track of information in a $2.6B/yr company and I didnt do it on my own companies until recently. But once I looked at it...WoW!

[Kevin AKA Hubcap]

For me it involves a number of factors.

1. Know where you're going- It's important to know what you want your business to look like even if you're not sure which path to take to get there. Having a clear big picture vision will hopefully keep you focused on what you need to do.

2. Use a do list- This is so simple yet very powerful. Each night write down the five most important things to do the next day. Each morning, attack those tasks and don't stop until you're finished.

3. Fear is good- In my experience I was afraid of putting my products into the market. I'd get them 95% complete and would find something wrong enough with them to justify me stopping altogether. I now realize that was just fear and the only way to become comfortable with it was to do those things that frightened me. Feeling fear is natural just don't let it control you.

4. Perfection is the enemy- Don't try to put out a perfect product. Do your best and when you're finished you're finished. Get it out in the marketplace and see what your customers think. You just might be pleasantly surprised.

5. Speed is life- Be efficient. Don't spend months on a project that you can finish in a couple of weeks. Get it out there and see if it floats.

Hope this helps,

Kevin

[Charann Miller]

Don't wait to get inspired, if you do that you won't be productive, flashes of inspiration is like lightning striking in the same place more than once, rare. If we all waited until we were inspired to write, there would be a lot less content out there in the world.

You don't need to be inspired to write and yes based upon that premise it can be a chore sometimes however if you want to create content, you have to be disciplined, have a structured plan and act upon that plan.

The more you write, the easier it gets and becomes second nature so that you'll be able to write whether you're inspired or not.

So get writing.