Here's Why I Don't Create a Daily To-Do List

Recently, I've been getting a lot of questions from people about how I stay productive, specifically asking for tips and tricks that I use to stay on track and get things done.

Here's a tip that I use (I'm not saying it's what you should do, it's just what I do that works for me). It may sound counter-intuitive, but I do not write down a detailed daily to-do list. I used to, but I don't anymore. Consequently, I've been getting more done, and feeling better about myself at the end of the day.

Let me explain:

With a daily to-do list, you spend the night before or the day of listing the things that you want to accomplish. We try to judge how long something will take to complete, so as not to overfill our day and leave us with unfinished jobs on the list.

Unfortunately, no matter how much of an expert you are at estimating the length of time it takes to complete a job, the daily to-do list never gets fully checked off. At least this was the case for me.

I wouldn't "overbook" myself. No. What normally happened was that there were unforeseen tasks or things that came up during the day that I had to do, which were sometimes more important and time-sensitive than what was on my list. Think of an urgent email that you have to respond to, or an emergency meeting or conference call that you must attend.

Those kinds of things are the ANTI-daily to-do list. What you had originally put on your list gets shoved to the back of the line, and often times you finish the day with an unfinished list and feel like you didn't accomplish as much as you wanted to, if anything at all.

That's not good for motivation, that's for sure.

The solution to my problem is a system I worked out which involves project to-do lists, not daily to-do lists.

Every project I'm involved in, whether it's a particular project for my blog, my LEED exam prep site, a particular iPhone application that I may be working on, etc. gets it's own to-do list.

The project to-do list is easy to create: just start at the bottom with your end goal (finish project X), and work your way backwards from there. You'll have a roadmap to completion all written out, and can easily check things off as you go along.

When I work, I simply allocate specific amounts of time "working on project X", or "working on project Y", depending on my mood, or what may seem to be more time sensitive. When "working on project X", I work on the next available task on its own project to-do list, without trying to reach a specific point by the end of the day. I just work on it as much as I can in the time given, and check off parts of the list as I go.

Of course, some tasks are required to be put on a schedule, such as writing blog posts (which should be done consistently), so there will be some things that require you to finish stuff within a certain amount of time, or on a specific date, but I try to keep that to a minimum.

Using this method, I find that I can get much more done. I don't know whether it's because I work better because I'm not stressed out about meeting "little deadlines" throughout the day, or because I'm super motivated whenever I check off a task on my project to-do lists, but it works, at least for me!

So, that's a little backstage pass as to how I get things done. If you're having trouble with productivity, or always feel like you're not getting things done, feel free to give this method a try.

Wishing you all of the best, and nothing less than success.

Cheers!

Here's Another Tip That's Kind of Like Mind-Reading

When writing content online, whether it's for your blog, article websites, or whatever, the best thing you can do is talk about a subject that people are just dying to know about. Wouldn't it be cool if you knew exactly what people were complaining about, or needed help on, so you could be the one to give them the answers?

Of course!

Now, you're probably thinking that I'm going to say something like, "Ask your audience what they want to hear", which is definitely something you should do. But, what if you don't have an audience? Or, what if you do, but they're shy or just don't respond very much?

Then asking them won't do any good, will it? Here's my little strategy for finding out exactly what people in your niche want to know about, so when you finally publish your blog post, your articles or whatever, it will be like you're reading their minds. Here's what to do:

1. In whatever niche you're in, look for forums where people in your niche get together. The best way to do this is to go into Google and type:

forum:niche

So for example, for the fly fishing niche, you'd type in:

forum:fly fishing (make sure you type in "forum", and not "forums").

Google will give you a huge list of all the top forums in the niche, usually ordered by popularity.

2. Go into one of the forums, and look for a search tool, or a search field that will let you search for certain terms that people have written in the forum posts. Some forums allow visitors or guests to perform searches without registering, while others require you to register first.

You might as well register anyways, since it's only the place where more of your audience hangs out, right? Rocking it in a forum and becoming an authority there to feed your website is a whole different story. Anyways, I digress...

3. In the search field, type in some the following terms and see what you come up with:

• "advice about"
• "I hate it when"
• "I need help with"
• "can anyone help me"
• "I'm looking for"
• "really bad"
• "desperate for"
• "can't find"
• "have no clue"
• "newbie"
• "question about"

There's a number of other terms that you can search for that all fit the same kind of idea, but I think you understand what's going on here.

When you search for these terms (note: you may also have to fill out one of those spam captcha letter verification thingies too), more than likely you're going to get a series of forum threads that have someone in need of something.

...and there's your next blog post. Or, and there's your next eBook. The possibilities are endless of what you can find hidden in these forums, but if you really want to become an authority in your niche, you're going to have to give the masses exactly what they want to see, and this is one way to do it, even before you have a blog running.

When I search through the fly fishing forums, for example, here are some of the things I found:

Threads that were named:

• A Newb With Some Questions
• Spey / Switch Need Help
• Need Advice About Sages (I don't know what sages are)
• Rod Sensitivity vs. Long Casting
• Questions on Building a Fly Rod

How awesome is that?

And this was just from one of the terms. Some terms may offer no results, while with others you may strike gold.

And here's a bonus tip: If the threads you find were relatively recent, you can write a blog post or article specifically addressing the need or the problem, and then go into the thread itself as a user and give a brief answer/solution, and then link to your article for more information.

That's instant (highly-targeted) traffic.

Sweet!

As I start to Grow as a Blogger

Sadly, I've noticed on a lot of blogs that I've been following for quite a long time, things start to change once the blog gets really popular. I won't mention the names of these blogs, but some of them are ones that I've been following ever since the beginning, and unfortunately have grown to not like so much anymore.

When these blogs go big, the authors always seem to spend less and less time on them, and I kind of have a feeling that the blog is not the most important thing to them anymore, even through it's exactly what helped them get "famous" or find stardom in the first place.

I just wanted to send you this quick message to let you know that as I grow (and I seem to be growing at a rather alarming rate as of late), I will always put you and my blog first. I don't want to go down the same path of making every blog post or newsletter be about some product that you have to pay in order to use. I don't want to fill my blog with newly staffed authors and never write posts on my own anymore.I'll do my best to always be here for you just like I have since the beginning.

Lastly, I want you to hold me accountable for that. If at any time you feel I'm going down the wrong path with my blog, I want you to let me know so I can correct myself. I may not even know I'm doing it, which is why I'm asking you to watch out for me.

Here's How to Get Noticed in Any Niche

After re-reading a lot of books lately (which I do all of the time), including my favorites like The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss, and Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk, I honestly think that anyone can get noticed and become successful in almost any niche. The books are great and go into a lot of the "what you can achieve" type stuff, but they don't really get far into the "how you can achieve" type stuff, which is obviously super important and probably more of what you need right now. That's why I wanted to take some time to write this email for you below.

I'm basing the following information on my success as an online businessman and blogger who pretty much came out of nowhere, with almost no business experience whatsoever. I've been able to succeed both in a super small niche, as well as in a super over-crowded niche of "making money online." So, with whatever niche you're in or looking to get into, you should try to apply these 2 simple rules as much as possible, which I've always applied to my own projects.

Rule #1: Stay the Course

Rule #1 is simple, but nothing works if you keep changing your mind.

Stop changing your mind. Stop doubting yourself and your decisions, pick something, believe in it, and go for it. This rule alone will get you where you need to go and stop you from falling short of success.

Remember this when it comes to rule #2.

Rule #2: Be Different

The point here is to stand out, and the best way to do that is to be different. That's why we can still find Waldo (with his candy-cane striped shirt and red cap) amongst a sea of people on a page. He's unique.

This is exactly how I've found success online. I saw what everyone else was doing, and did something different. What everyone else is doing is what consumers and readers all eventually get used to. Choose to go the same path, and you'll just blend in with the rest.

Here are some personal examples to prove it to you:

With my exam prep website, I was the only one to ever offer an audio guide. I pitched it as a way to study for the exam while in your car to and from work, or while at the gym. Because I was the only one to do this, it became a huge hit and helped me to earn over $30,000 in one single month.

Also, all of the other exam prep websites had "support tickets" that people had to fill out in order to get their questions answered. All I had to do was show a personal looking email address (with my name in it, which is important), that people could use to contact me if they had any questions. I included this in all of the products I offered as well. Whenever I received an email, I responded right away. Word spread, and my site became known as the only place to get an immediate, direct response to a question. Of course, because I wanted to keep things as passive as possible, I included FAQs on the site that people could read before contacting me, which totally minimized the amount of emails I'd get. However, just seeing my email address there anyways helped to make people believe that I was always there to help.

With the Smart Passive Income Blog, I do even more to "be different". There are so many other "make money online" blogs out there all doing the same thing, that it actually became very easy for me to stand out.

For one, I don't hide anything. I tell it all from my own experience, even the failures or that parts that I sucked at.

Secondly, I tell people exactly where my money comes from, down to the penny. If you're a loyal reader of my blog, you know that my monthly income reports tend to be the most popular and most commented posts I that write.

Thirdly, I made sure I had a totally customized blog theme that no one else had.

Fourthly, I blog a lot about my personal life. A lot of you probably know that I have a dog named Gizmo and a son named Keoni. Maybe you've even seen the wedding video of my wife and I who turned a boring wedding dance into a killer hip-hop routine. I see so many other owners of make money online blogs who don't even use their real name, or show one picture of themselves. Sad.

Lastly, and probably most importantly, I don't hard sell or promote anything. This has probably been the key to my success, but with so many people going online today to try and make a buck, everyone is getting tired of seeing ads and promotions. That's why you'll very rarely see them here in this newsletter, and why my blog is virtually ad free. Now that's totally being different, right?

Even though this is the case, I am still able to earn a lot of money from the blog. This happens because I've gained people's trust, and when I do mention a product I've used and one that I trust in my own businesses, other people are happy to click on my affiliate links.

So, how can you be different?

I'm sure there are a thousand ways, both small and extreme that you can do to be different. Check out what all of your competitors are doing, and don't do that. Find something common between the websites that are in your same niche, and do the opposite.

This is how The-4 Hour Work Week became a success. There was no other book like it, and it was a mindset that totally went against the norm.

This is how Gary Vaynerchuk of Crush It! became a success too, by streaming live TV and talking wine to "regular" people.

What are you going to do differently?

5 Reasons Why Your Next Big Idea Might Fail

If you're anything like me, new business ideas run through your brain each and every day. Sometimes, we come across a few particular ideas that we just can't stop thinking about - because they are that good!

I think you know what I'm talking about.

Constant brainstorming, rapid note taking, and visions of success are all syptoms of this sort of "business bug".

Many times, however, after a couple of days or even a couple of months, the motivation behind these great ideas just seem to die out and never evolve into the next step. It's kind of sad, because I'm sure many of those ideas were awesome, money-making ideas.

If we can understand why this happens, then I think we can stop the momentum from slowing down and start taking things to the next level. Here are 5 main reasons why I think ideas in our head take a turn for the worse:

1. We're Not Seeing Any Results

We live in a time where we all want things to happen FAST. I mean, Google searches take .000012 seconds, and we all perform these searches each and every day. It's what we're used to.

Ideas take time to materialize, so quitting or giving up before anything even begins to happen is a sure-fire way to kill a great idea. Remember what your goals are and why you were so excited about your idea in the first place.

One trick I learned is to map out your "path"or roadmap. Write down the steps you think it takes to get to where you want to go, and you'll see that you're only in the beginning phases of the entire process. But, seeing the rest of your "roadmap" (including your goal) on paper will definitely give you the boost you need to keep going.

2. We're Unsure of What To Do Next

This happens all of the time, but it definitely shouldn't stop us. We've just reached a hurdle, and we just have to do a little more research (or simply ask someone for help!), in order to jump over it.

Also, you can go back to your "roadmap" and see what the next steps are. And, remember to take things one step at a time.

"Cinch by the inch, hard by the yard."

3. We Just Don't Care Anymore

For whatever reason, you've lost sight of why you're working so hard. When it comes to motivation, here's what you can do:

• Remember why you were so excited about your idea in the first place! Envision what life will be like at the end of the tunnel.
• Read an inspirational book. My favorites are Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk, and The 4-Hour WorkWeek, by Tim Ferriss.
• Display your favorite quotes. At my desk, I have this quote posted up on the wall next to my computer: "The Harder I Work, The Luckier I Become." Reading that always gets me going again.
• Talk it out with someone. If you're feeling low on energy, sometimes all we need is a pick me up from a buddy. That's why so many people say it's a lot easier to go to the gym or stay on a diet if there's someone else there with them.
• Take a quick break. We often work on something so much that we forget why we're doing it. Take a day or two off, and you'll often see the motivation come back in no time.

4. We're Not Sure if Our Idea is as Great as We Thought it Was

Maybe you're having second-thoughts about your idea. Maybe it's not as awesome as you thought. This is the thought that pops into my head more often than the others, and it's definitely a downer. But here's what you can do to keep your idea alive.

Simply put - think positive thoughts. Have you ever heard of "The Law of Attraction"? It basically states that people's thoughts dictate the reality of their lives. In other words, think positively, and positive things will happen to you.

Also, you have to realize that you're not going to succeed unless you give it a shot. What's the worst that can happen? If you're doing business online, the worst is probably not as bad as you think it could be.

5. We See Someone Else Doing Something Similar, and It Seems Better

Okay, so someone "stole' your idea, or they beat you to it. Either way, it doesn't matter. Here's why:

• That fact that you see someone else doing something similar to what you had in mind is actually a good thing! In fact, it shows that it was such a great idea, that others are already using it to make money for themselves. There's a proven market for it, and now it's your turn to join in.
• The Dry Clearners Theory: Have you ever noticed how many dry cleaners there are in one location? Here in San Diego, there are over 600 (according to the yellow pages). My point is this: you don't need have a unique idea in order for it to succeed. And if there a need for something, there's always room for more options and solutions in the market.
• Lastly, all you have to do is make yours better. Put some thought into why people will choose to visit your website, read your content, and purchase from you, instead of someone else.

I know this was a rather long email, and I do apologize about that. But I hope you would agree that staying on course and jumping over hurdles is the backbone for the success of any business or blog, which is why I spent some extra time on this email.

In my next email, we'll move away from the mindset stuff and start to get into some "action-taking" items that will help immediately your online business or blog. Until then, thank you so much for your time and support!

All the best to you! Cheers!

A Secret Way to Find Content To Write About

So as I mentioned before, I have a lot of tips and tricks to share with you that will not be posted on the blog, and this is one of them.

If you're struggling with figuring out what to write about, whether it's for your next blog post, or that eBook you're working on, try this method out:

1. Go to Amazon.com and type in keywords that are related to your niche. For example, if your site or eBook was about flyfishing, you'd type in flyfishing in the search field.

2. Locate the top books in the search results, and click on one of them. This will open up the page that shows you what it's about, how much it costs, etc.

3. Look inside the cover. The cool thing that Amazon does is that it shows us the first few and the last few pages of most of their books. And what page is always shown when you "look inside"?

The Table Of Contents

The table of contents will show you exactly what kinds of things people are talking about within that niche. So, for our flyfishing example, in one of the top books, I see the following:

Part 1: Flyfishing

1. Introduction

2. Understanding Fly Tackle

3. How to Fly Cast

4. Fly-Fishing Tactics

5. The Biology of Fish

...and so on and so forth.

Now, you don't want to just copy each of these parts of the table of contents verbatim and use them yourself. They are too general! They should, however, give you ideas on what you can write about.

So for example, here are some blog post titles or chapters of eBooks that I've derived just from this part of the table of contents:

5 Types of Fly Fishing Tackle and the One That Works Best

What Exactly Triggers a Fish to Eat Your Artificial Lure

Why That Fish Won't Even Look at Your Fly

The Beginner's Guide to Casting a Fly Rod

How to Practice Fly Casting

8 Fly-Fishing Tips to Give Yourself the Best Chance to Catch Fish

Advanced Fly Tackle - For Serious Fisherman Only

You get the idea.

We're basically getting a boost of inspiration from looking inside the covers of these books. If you think about it, a lot of money went into helping the authors figure out how to organize and determine what they were going to write about, so now you can use that as your own starting point to make even better content for your eBook or blog.

So try it out. Go to Amazon, enter a keyword, look inside the covers, find the table of contents, and get inspired.

I hope you've enjoyed this tip. There are definitely more to come. Thanks, and best of luck to you! Cheers!