Personal Post: The Year That Was 2017

Is it a sign I’m getting older that my first thought is about how quickly the year has gone? Probably. But here we are on the cusp on 2018 and I find myself at that point in the year when I look back and see what I can learn before moving forward.

Lesson 1 – The best laid plans…

I spent the early part of 2017 setting up my life so I could become entirely location independent. Armed with a laptop, all I needed was a decent wifi connection and I was good to go. I got to spend months in the sun, living the dream and writing. Then, happily but ironically, circumstances have changed so that for the next two years I have virtually no choice but to be tied to that place called home.

Lesson 2 – Marketing makes no sense…

Never trust anyone who promises you a fool-proof system to fame or money. Whether it’s sales, platform building, advertising models or social media, no one has all the answers. In a world that is rapidly transitioning towards entrepreneurs and gig economies, there are more scammers out there than there are genuine business minds.

Lesson 3 – It’s all about helping others…

I’ve done some amazing things this year. But the thing that has given me the most satisfaction is hearing from people who have found The Realist’s Guide To Sugar Free useful. Some of the Amazon reviews have been amazing and I am so very grateful. It was because of this I wrote The Realist’s Guide To Resolutions. There are so many self-help achievement books out there that are really boring for the vast majority of readers. I happen to love them. So, once again, I studied, distilled and made a light and fun read for other people to get the benefits without having to wade through books that are, ultimately, trying to get business people to buy consulting services.

Looking forward…

I’ve come to realise that the main thing is about being happy with what matters to you. It’s not about being what other people expect you to be. If I can continue to stay true to myself in 2018, help others along the way and take it some spectacular sunsets, then I’ll be fine.

Whatever you want from 2018, I wish you every success.

The Realist’s Guide To Resolutions – How To Set Goals and Stay Motivated In The Real World

If you want to stop smoking, lose weight, get fitter, improve your career prospects or simply finish a project that’s been hanging around on your to do list for the past ten years, this book will give you the kick up the backside you’ve been looking for.

Top 5 podcasts for writers of 2017

Over 2017, podcasts remained one of my favourite forms of entertainment and education. Thinking about this post, I couldn’t help but wonder if there would be any changes from my Top 5 of 2016. Or – even more impressively – if any from my Top 5 of 2014 would make it back onto the list.

To kick us off, returning for the second year: Cortex

“CGP Grey and Myke Hurley are both independent content creators. Each episode, they discuss the methods and tools they employ to be productive and creative.”

Despite the not-a-schedule schedule being even more erratic this year, I’ve still looked forward to getting the alert that a new episode has arrived. For independent creatives in any field, Cortex is a conversation between friends about productivity, efficiency and a new way of working. Plus, someone gave me a knowing look and a ‘nice Cortex T-shirt’ comment at a hotel breakfast buffet this year and it made my day. Honestly, it’s not as creepy as it sounds. Monkey brain wins every time.

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The only podcast to have featured on all previous lists is the amazing Writing Excuses.

“Fifteen minutes long, because you’re in a hurry, and we’re not that smart.”

Although the number of writing podcasts on my app of choice (Overcast, if you’re interested) has increased this year, this is still the best one out there dedicated to craft. This year there have been a number of co-hosts who bring new perspectives. Although I miss hearing from the main hosts sometimes, I would much rather that than have no weekly podcast at all. Whether you’re still working on your first draft or if you’re a seasoned professional, there really is something in here for everyone.

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Sticking with a writing theme, Creative Penn podcast has been a great resource and a show I’ve consistently listened to over the course of the year.

“Interviews, inspiration and information on writing and creativity, publishing options, book marketing and creative entrepreneurship”

It is much less craft-focused than Writing Excuses, but still manages to stand out in a tough field of shows that want to teach you how you can make a living with your writing. I’ve discovered that most of them are seriously geared towards getting you to buy the premium course that shows you how. This is less pushy (maybe because it’s more British?), which I prefer, especially as there’s still lots of useful information and some very interesting guests.

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Writing related, but in a different way, I have a brand new stationery podcast making it onto the list this year in the form of the RSVP podcast.

“A podcast about stationery and so much more!”

What started off as an April Fool’s one-off episode on the Erasable podcast (also worth checking out if you’re a fan of writing by hand, specifically with graphite – yes that is still a thing), became a podcast of its own. In a world full of default male voices, it has been fantastic to hear these three women bring a fresh spin on things. Plus, they don’t have a problem with calling out BS, drinking fine beverages and smashing the patriarchy, so what’s not to love?

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Finally, in a very different  style, The Tim Ferriss Show is another overall favourite of 2017.

“Each episode, I deconstruct world-class performers from eclectic areas to extract the tactics, tools, and routines you can use.”

The thing I love about Tim and his products, be they books, videos or podcasts, is that nothing is off limits. As someone who loves to try new and inventive ways of life hacking, the wide range of topics always keeps me interested. Almost everything out on the internet is as niched down and specific as possible, but Tim constantly surprises me with some of the people he interviews and the experiments he’s prepared to try. I come away with something worth pondering every single episode and that’s pretty unusual.

So those are my top five podcasts of 2017. Some new ones and two old ones, but all of them worth checking out, especially if you’re a writer, creative, entrepreneur, life-hacker or simply enjoy damn fine audio.

2018: How to do more and worry less

As we hurtle towards the end of 2017, it’s inevitable that we start to look back over the year and ahead towards the new one. It’s a time of hope and dreams. It’s a shame then, that such determination and promise for the future only rolls around once a year.

I love personal improvement books. I’ve read hundreds of them by this point. But most people don’t. I can’t blame anyone for that. They’re notoriously dry and you have to dig through hundreds of pages to find the four really useful paragraphs they contain. You already know what I decided to do about it, right? Ta-dah!

The working title for this book was ‘goal setting for normal people’. It was never going to be the final name, but during the writing process I wanted to keep in mind the heart of what it should be about. Quite simply, to take the wisdom of those hundreds of books I’ve read, along with research papers, personal experiences and the behavioural lessons learned from writing The Realist’s Guide To Sugar Free. Then put it in an easy to read, useful and actionable book.

So what’s in it?

Plenty of information, without all the waffle and buzzwords. Things such as:

• How to set the right goals for you (and not feel guilty about the ones you don’t)
• How to plan for success (beyond the first week)
• How to hack your brain to do this smarter not harder (great if you struggle with motivation and willpower)
• How to track progress and level up (so you can continually dream bigger)

The Realist’s Guide To Resolutions will be published on December 28th. I wanted to make it available for those people who like to take advantage of the downtime between Christmas and New Year, or prefer to start the year with the thinking already done.

I’ve got my own yearly review day booked in for December 29th. I’ll consume several cups of very nice coffee, read the letter I wrote to myself at this time last year and write the one to open next year. I’ll look back at all the things I’ve done (fond memories of my four month sabbatical by the sea) and work out what I need to do to make next year even better. No doubt I’ll be slightly daunted by the sheer number of notebooks I’ve filled over the course of the year. My guess is upwards of twenty. Gulp.

If you’d rather wait until the festivities are out of the way and 2018 has arrived, then the pre-order will be delivered to your device for when you’re ready to start.

Like Sugar-Free, it’s a quick and easy read, with a dash of humour thrown in. It’s also reasonably priced (only 0.99 in most regions!) so you can get the most bang for your (literal) buck.

Here’s to a fantastic 2018, whatever that means for you.

The Realist’s Guide To Resolutions is available for Pre-order at Amazon.co.uk (or go to Amazon.com to jump to other regions)

Upcoming Offer

For those in the US, the kindle version of The Realist’s Guide To Sugar Free  will be discounted to 99c for New Year (December 29-January 4).

Top 5 books of 2017

Unlike my top 5 blogs of 2017, this post was much easier to do. I set myself a goal of reading a book per week during 2017. It didn’t work out perfectly, but it averaged out at about that rate.

However, despite having almost fifty to choose from, it was really easy to pick the standout ones for me. 

Tools of Titans

I wrote a full review of Tools of Titans earlier in the year because it made such an immediate impact on me. It doesn’t have all the answers, but it certainly will help you ask better questions. If you take nothing else from it, the whole book is a fascinating insight into how top performers in every field think and behave. When it comes to their beliefs, it’s important to remember that correlation does not equal causation, but there are certainly some patterns worth taking note of.

All The President’s Men

Technically this was an audiobook, but that still counts. In the current political world, it was a fascinating insight into the time and effort required to maintain democracy. Being British, I didn’t really know much about Watergate, but reading this did give me hope that ultimately, as long as good people keep doing hard work, there will be a day of reckoning for all those politicians and fat cats who perpetuate lies to benefit their own agendas.

The Year of Living Danishly

I loved this book. It was funny, quirky and a staple in my general mission for 2017 to declutter and strip my life back to the basics of what I really want and need. Given that I love hot weather and the sun, I didn’t think there would be anything about the physical location of this book that would appeal to me. But it’s about more than just daily temperatures and hours of sunlight. It’s about what makes you happy even when conditions are extreme. Simplicity is a great way of working out what gives you joy when many of the distractions are gone.

Black Box Thinking

If you want to learn from your mistakes and actually benefit from them, then Black Box Thinking is a must read. Whether you’re self-employed, a cog in a big machine or at the forefront of any decision making, this book will make you see why you can’t always trust yourself. The examples involved are often extreme and terrifying. Can’t understand why people won’t back down when the facts are so clearly stacked against them? You will after reading this.

Turtles All The Way Down

Whilst the others were all non-fiction, Turtles All The Way Down had to go on the list. Technically a YA book, it’s also wonderful for adults. This book vividly brought to life how the crawling compulsion of OCD feels. It was beautifully written and deserving of all the accolades and positive reviews heaped upon it. It’s great to see John Green publishing again after the phenomenal and crippling success of The Fault In Our Stars.

So there you have it. The best books I discovered in 2017 and why. Feel free to tell me others I really should have read in the comments section below so I can add them to my 2018 list.

Top 5 blogs of 2017 for creatives

I’ve got a few ‘top 5’ posts coming up to round off what has been an unusual and exciting year. One of the first subjects that came to mind was this one, the 5 blogs I have found most useful during 2017.

It was only as I started really thinking about what they were that I realised that actually, I’ve moved away from blogs as a resource. I’m not sure if this is a trend, or whether I’ve just had a change in circumstances. Instead of having favourite sites I return to time and time again, I’ve instead been more likely to search by subject and consume a variety of blogs I find. The chances of me returning to any specific site are slim.

Perhaps, unfortunately, it has something to do with how fake news (actual fake news, which is generally the polar opposite of what is being branded fake news) has got me second guessing everything. Instead of taking any one person or comapany’s view as truth anymore, I find myself always verifying sources. I suspect that 2018 will contain more of the same.

However, I did manage to find 5 blogs that I have returned to more than others. Unsurprisingly, these cover my main interests of writing, travel and how to stay productive and healthy.

 

The Creative Penn

Joanna Penn has quite the enterprise going now. There’s a lot of really useful information on the Creative Penn website and I find myself returning to it frequently. Bridging art and commerce, Joanna’s site is future thinking and always optimistic, no matter what craziness and uncertainty exists in the world. She’s making money from people wanting to be authors, but she’s up front about expecting money in exchange for valuable insights, rather than being a ‘get rich quick on kindle’ scammer.

Goins, Writer

Jeff Goins has made a career from writing about writing. When you look at his work about work it all sort of gets a bit meta, but there’s a lot of important takeaways included. The concept that actually, in today’s world we are moving away from a single-track career progression and into a varied career of diverse options, is something that has really resonated with me this year. As I look towards 2018 this site has been great at reminding me to keep my options open, embrace opportunities and ignore the imposter syndrome.

Chris The Freelancer

Admittedly I tend to watch Chris’s videos on YouTube more frequently than I visit his blog. He’s built quite the channel about working from a laptop while he travels the world. He was one of the first resources I came across while looking at the way the world is gradually turning towards a laptop, gig based economy. Unlike many digital nomad sources, he has a professional approach, steering away from the backpacker with a side-hustle content that forms much of the information out there.

Pick The Brain

The banners at the top of this site cover off all the things near and dear to my heart: motivation, productivity, health, self-improvement. It focuses on doing the things required to move you forward to a dream life, but isn’t all about the hustle. Productivity is great, but not as a way of doing even more so you can burn yourself out. Instead, a healthy momentum is the name of the game. Even when the information isn’t new to me, it always acts as a good reminder to stop and think.

Brain Pickings

Although it has a very similar title to the one above, it’s very different. With much longer pieces, it’s not full of snappy soundbites. There are no quick wins to take away here. Instead, the posts are more critical and philosophical. More academic, if you don’t mind me using that word. The insights are numerous, but you have to work for them. Honestly, in today’s world of short attention spans and instant gratification, I don’t think that’s a bad thing.