Sunday
Jul272014
New book on its way!
Sunday, July 27, 2014 at 8:36 I’ve just signed a contract with Hodder’s to write a book in their new Secrets series. It will be called Secrets of Productive People: 50 techniques to get things done, scheduled to be published Summer next year.
Reader Comments (15)
Hi, Mark
I have to ask....are you going to use any particular system to help you get the book written? LOL!
Yes, the system I'll be describing in the book!
"We are creating this work – not because it has to be done – but because we are busybodies and we do not know how to swim on the river of life. And we prefer a kind of senseless insect-activity to a genuine activity which may often be no activity.
I don’t say to be quiet, to do nothing, I don’t say that at all. But I do say it should have sense, it should have meaning – what we do.
And the greater part of what we do everyday has damn little meaning."
Henry Miller,
A Conversation With Henry Miller
You stated:
"Busyness vs Creative productiveness: Autofocus vs Secrets of Productive People"
It sounds as though you're implying that Autofocus creates busyness. When used with an intent to meet our responsibilities (yes, living in civilized society requires us to swat at flies to stay on the right side of our communities and the government and to maintain our chosen lifestyle) AND to pursue our passions and goals, Autofocus, DIT and his other systems can be QUITE effective to allow us to do both PLUS have plenty of discretionary time to boot.
AndreasE's DSAF (AF4 modification) allows him to write international bestsellers, do interviews and book tours as well as take care of his family and follow his other passions. Like all tools, their effectiveness is largely dependent on the knowledge and intent of the user.
Thanks, Mark for everything you've taught us and the many great threads the forum posters have laced with many helpful tips. I know that what I've learned on Mark's site has been invaluable to me. It's been more helpful to me than my one and a half years of cognitive reconstruction therapy! Resistance isn't always psychological. Sometimes it's physical pain or a glitchy brain. My implementation is far from graceful, but I manage to get the important stuff done somehow thanks to Mark and his wonderful community. Plus, his resistance busters and guiding principles allows me to have plenty of free time overall as well. (I'm not claiming that it's an easier but it's certainly doable. I'm stalemated far less often than before I started learning from Mark and his community. That's a coup for me! LOL!)
p.s.
I'm going in for my second cancer operation (stressful as hell) yet Mark's teachings has allowed me to have no backlogs of the important stuff. Busyness crap seems to take care of itself without my help. I'd rather have clean time off than fill up my time swatting at flies. DIT: Commitment vs Interest is my golden rule for building my weekly/daily MITs. Trust me, I battle PLENTY of resistance almost constantly and lots of that resistance aren't because of my disabilities. They are just my normal aversion to boredom. LOL.....but it's doable thanks to the teachings provided on this site. (There's a wealth of information here.)
Thanks, all.
As usual, I apologize for the horrible grammar and spelling.
It's good to hear how much you've been helped by this website. It's certainly been my experience for a good many years now that I can keep up to date with just about anything, provided I don't let the "anything" grow too big. Of course other people may not agree with my choices of what to do and what not to do!
As part of writing "Secrets of Productive People" I decided that the ideal time management system would have four characteristics:
Simplicity – there should be little or no system overhead
Drawing Power – it should draw you into your work without experiencing procrastination or resistance.
Thoroughness – it should encourage working to completion.
Self-Limiting – it should restrict you to what you can actually do in the time you have available during the course of the day with no piling up of long lists of undone work, half-done projects or backlogs.
I think I've succeeded in producing at least two which fit these. Now I'm trying to decide which is the better. They are both about equal in terms of two of the characteristics. But one is slightly more thorough at the price of being slightly more complicated.
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Very best wishes both from me personally and on behalf of all the readers of this site for your forthcoming operation. May all be well.
Thanks for the well wishes. The first cancer operation was a success as all that cancer is gone. YAY! That leaves me quasi-optimistic about the next two surgeries. Fingers crossed. Without the knowledge you generously offered us via your books and this website (My copy of DIT is pitifully worn and marked up), I wouldn't be able to hold the fort down by myself. I haven't even told my family yet! I want to wait until everything is done and the worries are gone. THANK YOU for allowing me to conduct my life my way.
You stated:
Drawing Power – it should draw you into your work without experiencing procrastination or resistance.
For me, no system will do that. I'm a hard-wired boredom avoider with a glitchy brain. Thanks to you, I get stalemated far less often. For me, approaching boredom will ALWAYS require determination and effort no matter what system I use. Thanks to your principles which help me to create a useable overview and make (mostly) good decisions to build my WILL DO lists, I lose far less cognitive energy making decisions. Most importantly, I waste far less cognitive energy forcing myself to start. The forcing part of aligning my brain to be DETERMINED to START what I REALLY don't want to do and follow through is MUCH REDUCED because my recalcitrant brain is tempered a bit with a growing history of successes using your various resistance busters. Most importantly, you are the only guru who offers a smorgasboard of principles, systems, resistance busters and other tips to choose what works. You are also the only guru who actually ENCOURAGES people to find what methods best suit them. Your community also forster this as opposed to most gurus teaching "their one size MUST fit all (unless there's something WRONG with you)! Even with my trip ups and avoidance forays, I know how to gently lead myself back. I also have an arsenal of tools to fit whatever circumstances. You have given me more confidence to feel OK in my own skin no matter how long it takes or what methods I use. Even catching myself adrift is OK because you've taught me how to guide myself back to my todo list.....even THAT BORING JOB on the list taunting me....
p.s. It also doesn't hurt that I also love your wicked sense of humor! Humor is a great salve.
Freudian slip?
"Your community also forster this as opposed to"
I meant to write foster....LOL!
Actually properly it's pronounced foster and was so pronounced by my grandparents and still is in our native Northumberland. But in the South of England we prefer to have it spelled right than pronounced right - so my father pronounced it forster and so do I.
You wouldn't need to buy the book then!