Nicholas Bate

Friday Seven

1. Sometimes 
2. what you wanted
3. is not to be.
4. That’s OK.
5. What you (thought) you wanted
6. was blocking
7. something better.

On Writing, 106

Writing is easy: pen and paper; fingers and keyboard.

Writing is therapeutic.

Forget for the moment the idea of publication. 

Your blog can be secret for months.

Novels need be your business only.

Writing needn’t be public to be wildly beneficial, good fun and explorative.

Go write. 

The 25 Tools of Excellence, v4: 14, The Master List

Man is a generalist. No harm in that: he is remarkably adept at adapting and to enhance this process has created a batch of tools which allows enhanced performance. 

What are the Tools of Excellence?

14: The Master List

The Master List is a definitive list of all you have to do and want to do. Regularly updated by moments of deep reflection to deep clean it, coupled with daily fragmentation when big tasks are broken down into those which are time and brain friendly. The latter are then scheduled. The magic is complete: true productivity is what multiplied by when. 

Get the tools to be brilliant in a Brave New World.

The Leatherman Pocket

Tool. 

The Most Powerful Productivity Tips, 102

Capture-Prioritise-Execute

How do you capture (see yesterday)?

How do you prioritise?

Decide: NOT by he who shouts loudest, not by that which is nearest or most easy.

Decide: that which offers greatest pay-off against your personal compass points (career/health/finance/relationships/fun/contribution) remembering that the universe is messy and moves towards entropy. Once a month re-boot the entire system.

Stay productive. Reduce stress. 

Do What You Want

Instant on kindle.

Read the reviews here. 

The Most Powerful Productivity Tips, 101

How do you capture your received tasks? Your ideas? Your ‘I need to do’ ? Your ‘I want to do?’

Notebook?

Whiteboard?

Spreadsheet?

Productivity starts with your system of task capture.

Sunday 35

1. 25 Mini Standards.
2. The Writing Primer.
3. Bram, A Spy Story: a story of coming of age, of Queen and country and the origins of Covid-19. “Once you start reading this book, it’s difficult to put down. Initially, you are immersed in the delights of Oxford academia, only to then be exposed to the starkness and brutality of Moscow during the Cold War. Bram, a brilliant Oxford chemist, turns spy whose mission is to save the world from a highly dangerous and ubiquitous threat. This book is characterised by most of the attributes of a good spy story with action, heroic exploits by a larger-than-life protagonist and a strong plot. Well worth a read.”
   
4. How to Start your Very Own Business.
5. Instant Productivity.
6. Seven choices.
7. 22 Essentials.
8. How to Create your Home Office.
9. plus The Start Up Myths
10. Stay STRONG
11. Crazy Bold Experiments
12. Just say NO to PPT
13. The Marketing Primer.
14. Being the Best version of you, the book, back in stock.
15. Redundancy
16. Hunter-Gatherer 21C
17. Tackling Stress.
18. Manage that career
19. Be Bold 101
20. You still haven’t read Being The Best?! 
21. Things They Don’t Teach at Business School
22. the secrets of success
23. Life Tips 101
24. Zen & Art of Cubicle Freedom
25. Carnage At Kodak
26. The Very Best Drugs You Need
27. Billions of Light Years Away In Another Galaxy
28. 22 Routes To Your Non Fiction Book
29. Lists For The Life You Love
30. How To Lessen E-Mail Pain
31. Professionalism 101
32. 21 Ways to Improve your Zoom Conference Call.
33. Productivity Primer
34. 101, redux
35. The Basic Basics

Stop Scrolling, Start Reading.

Bram. A spy story you won’t want to put down.

Molly & Ben The trilogy completes.

Both free for 48h

Instant availability on amazon kindle.

Kindle app is free to download and use. 

David Levithan, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist says…

“You know the reason The Beatles made it so big?...'I Wanna Hold Your Hand.' First single. Fucking brilliant. Perhaps the most fucking brilliant song ever written. Because they nailed it. That's what everyone wants. Not 24/7 hot wet sex. Not a marriage that lasts a hundred years. Not a Porsche...or a million-dollar crib. No. They wanna hold your hand. They have such a feeling that they can't hide. Every single successful song of the past fifty years can be traced back to 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand.' And every single successful love story has those unbearable and unbearably exciting moments of hand-holding.”