Getting It Done

Getting It Done

I was asked in Melbourne, as I’m asked almost all the time, how I can generate so much material in so short a time. I publish several newsletters, columns, articles, videos, podcasts, and book portions on a monthly basis. In addition I handle the usual 80 emails a day, and appear on AlansForums.com at least three times a day. Oh, yeah, and then there’s this blog. Yet I work far less than most people.

My facetious response is that I strive for volume and not accuracy. A truth that is equally uncomfortable for people, however, is that I have two basic techniques to generate enormous volume:

1. I plan my work in advance.

2. I NEVER self-censor or self-edit. I don’t second-guess myself.

Can my writing be improved? Sure. Would it make a significant difference for my point and for the reader? No.

My past guests at my Thought Leadership Workshops: David Maister says, “You know what has to be done. The problem is you don’t do it.” Marshall Goldsmith says, “What got you here, won’t get you there.” (In other words, change your habits to reach new levels.)

I’m telling you to seek success and forget about perfection.

Here’s a radical thought. Write an “appointment with yourself” in your Filofax (or whatever calendar you use) to write an article, or blog entry, or position paper, or part of a book at a certain time on a certain date. Keep that “appointment” sacrosanct, as if it’s with a client. Eventually, schedule three or four a week, and you’ll find yourself producing prodigious amounts of material.

Stop procrastinating. Stop saying you’ll get to it when you have time. Stop telling yourself you can’t decide what to write (content) or where to put it (vehicle). Just write it and place it anywhere.

I hope this is of help, because I’m not rewriting it.

© Alan Weiss 2011. All rights reserved.