‘One day offices will be a thing of the past.’
—Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group
TODAY LET’S TAKE a little time to create the environment for running your project – this 30-day project that we’re hoping will turn into something great, an income stream or even a lucrative business.
Every business needs a headquarters, so today you’re going to create your own Global HQ. These days, a Global HQ can just be the kitchen table, a spare room or wherever you lay your laptop. If you want to, you can create a business you can run from a laptop anywhere in the world (as I have done).
Your Global HQ can just be the kitchen table or wherever you lay your laptop
Whatever space you have available right now, it pays dividends to set up your environment in a way that facilitates your inspiration, creativity and focus. But beware that this doesn’t become a distraction from doing your actual project. Do your microblock for today first and then have some fun with the following.
If you have a spare desk or spare room or just one half of the kitchen table, spend some time today tidying it up and getting it ready to use. Clear away any clutter – the more you can minimise distractions the better. I’ve seen some players even put up a ‘Global HQ’ sign on the door of their spare room!
If your Global HQ boils down to your laptop computer, make sure it’s tuned up. Add any software, updates or upgrades you’ve been meaning to get. Clear the desktop of all the clutter and start a new folder for your project.
Make sure that you have all the tools you need, whether it’s a good Internet connection, paints and brushes or a good-quality microphone for recording yourself. If there is anything you definitely need that you know is missing from your play kit, go place an order. Avoid the temptation, however, to splash a lot of money on equipment unnecessarily. Smart entrepreneurs can show how every expenditure for their business brings a return.
Want some inspiration? If you have a favourite quote or a photo, put it on the wall or on the wallpaper on your computer or phone. Who is your hero or inspiration for this project? If your hero is Richard Branson, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, Peace One Day founder Jeremy Gilley or bestselling author Liz Gilbert, find a picture of them or their venture and stick it on your wall.
If you don’t have a suitable space at home or if you know there’ll be too many distractions, then make sure you find alternative inspiring places to play with your project. Which environments work for you? What helps you to focus? Is it the silence of a library or the buzz of a coffee shop?
I wrote the bulk of this book in cafés around the world including in London, Tuscany and Sydney and sitting on the beach in Bali and the Philippines. My favourite working environment is a combination of good coffee, a busy setting and my favourite electronic music played on quality headphones. If you like working to music, create a playlist to help you focus. (You can listen to my favourite energising tracks in my playlist on www.screwworkbreakfree.com.)
One important tool I recommend getting hold of today is a dedicated notebook for your Play Project – this is your Playbook. Keep it with you and use it to capture all your ideas and to play out your projects as they unfold. When you begin to take your own inspiration and creativity seriously, you engage a subtle but powerful process; you’ll begin to find that solutions to problems appear at the most unexpected times, ideas for new products pop up and killer titles appear for products, blog posts and books. Record them all as they occur and you’ll find that blog posts, presentations and marketing copy seem to start writing themselves. And when you treat every idea as worth capturing, this encourages your subconscious to come up with even more ideas.
The one best habit of great performers
DANIEL COYLE, The New York Times bestselling author of The Talent Code, has spent a lot of time researching great innovators, artists and entrepreneurs from Leonardo da Vinci to Richard Branson to discover how they achieved their works of genius and as he explains on his blog:
Most of us instinctively look for Big Clues. Are they tightly disciplined, or do they work only when the spirit moves them? Are they from happy families, or tragic ones? Are they hermits or do they fly around in a social whirlwind?
And it usually turns out (surprise!) there’s really not much of a pattern. Some top performers are super-disciplined, some famously not. Some are from happy families; some sad; some are hermits, some social. Judging by this, it would seem that top performers are pretty much like the rest of us (except, you know, better).
However, there’s one small clue; one tiny, almost unnoticeable habit a striking number of top performers share.
They keep a pocket notebook.
I’m not talking about a journal or a diary filled with reflections or dreams – this is a messy, working notebook that is with them all the time, like an appendage. (In da Vinci’s case, the attachment was literal – he tied it to his belt.)
So while you’re setting up your environment and tools make sure you also get yourself a Playbook. Use something dedicated to the task; don’t mix it with your shopping lists and other more mundane notes. You might like to buy something special to use, something beautiful that will inspire your creativity. But don’t wait to find that elusive perfect Playbook – start today with whatever you have to hand. You can always transfer your notes later. If you prefer digital tools take a look at apps like Evernote, which can hold and organise all the ideas and notes you could ever come up with and keep them synchronised across all your devices.
Got an idea for a new project? Create a bucket. As soon as I have an idea for a project, a book, a chapter or just a blog post, the first thing I do is start a ‘bucket’ – somewhere to throw all my ideas into as they come to me. For something small like a blog post the bucket could simply be a page in your Playbook. For a bigger project like a new product line, it could be a new Word document, Apple Notes page or Evernote entry. Then, whenever another thought comes to you, chuck it into this ‘bucket’. Just make sure you capture it in one place. Later you can start to assemble your rough notes into the blog post or an outline of the new product – and you’ll often find the job is half done already. For example, I wrote 20,000 words for this book in Apple Notes on my iPhone while walking around London, Tuscany and Sydney.
Don’t believe the ridiculous myth that ‘If it’s important you’ll remember it’. Why use something as precious as your brain to do something a piece of paper can do better? Keep your mind clear to think. Note down every idea as they occur. Don’t let anything escape.
‘I shouldn’t write anything down unless I’m going to act on it.’ Just because you take an idea seriously enough to write down doesn’t mean you necessarily have to do it; that’s why I call it a Playbook. It’s somewhere you can play with ideas, play out your projects and experiment with new possibilities. Use the best of what you capture and leave the rest.