Productivity Tips for Authors

Have you been following the Successful Author Secrets series?

If not, you have missed some insightful, informative, and useful information. These guests are really hitting the ball out of the park!

Last night was especially useful to me, so I’m posting some of the highlights so you can  make time to listen to the call while the replay is still up for free.

Bill Baren gave very useful tips on “time mastery.” If you find yourself getting distracted too often … if you find it difficult to focus on writing and/or marketing–getting your book done–you will find his suggestions tremendously helpful.

Here are a few.

1. One of the biggest things that determines success is your commitment level. The things you’re not 100% committed to will be a struggle. So if you find yourself struggling, ask yourself, “Am I 100% committed to this?”

If not, then find a way to delegate it or get out of it. If you are, then renew that commitment–and the struggle will be gone.

Try it.

2. Don’t “stockpile” information. “Google killed the Information Age,” Bill said. You can get information pretty much whenever you need it. So, don’t worry about taking in information now unless you need it. Trust that you can find it when you need it. Focus on the task before you NOW, and go find out what you need to know.

I remember learning this from a course I took with Jimmy D. Brown as well. He suggested that, when offers coming into your inbox, you move them immediately to a “Friday” file. Only on Fridays will you look at it. Great advice!

3. Don’t “check” mail–”handle” mail. Be aware of how many times you check your inbox or your Facebook page or Twitter as a distraction. Set aside specific times to do email and handle it. Either take action right away (if it’s no more than 2-3 minutes), delete it or file it (see above), or schedule it as a task.

Bill also had a great strategy for overcoming procrastination, for doing “night pages” to set yourself up for being productive the next day, and much more.

Following his suggestions has made an immediate difference in my life already.

By the way, my favorite piece of software happens to be a productivity tool that is easy to use, inexpensive, yet keeps me on track in so many ways. Check it out at http://www.authortimetips.com.

So if you’ve signed up already, make sure you go listen.

If you haven’t signed up (free), go here.

Tonight’s Successful Author Secrets class will be with  T. Harv Eker, bestselling author of Secrets of the Millionaire Mind.  Harv is going to share some of the inside strategies on how to become a six or seven-figure author.  He’s also going to share something he rarely talks about … the STRATEGY behind his best-selling book that catapulted his business like no other strategy could. Hope you can listen to both Successful Author Secrets classes today!

I’ll be posting other highlights on my blog. If you missed any, you might want to invest in the whole series. I think they’re worth really studying.