Writing – HabitHacks https://blog.lift.do The power of small changes to make big results Fri, 21 Apr 2023 07:36:02 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.2 https://blog.lift.do/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/cropped-Screenshot-1-32x32.png Writing – HabitHacks https://blog.lift.do 32 32 5 Best Self-Improvement Newsletters You Need to Sign Up For https://blog.lift.do/5-best-self-improvement-newsletters-you-need-to-sign-up-for/ Tue, 07 Sep 2021 13:54:15 +0000 https://blog.lift.do/?p=2382 Read ]]>

The best self-improvement newsletter should give you the most authentic information on improving yourself. If you’re ready to take a step to transform yourself, here are the best self-improvement newsletters to sign up for:

1. The 3–2–1 Newsletter

If you want to receive short reminders to help you build your habits, break bad ones, or make better decisions in life, The 3–2–1 Newsletter is the best to subscribe to. The new edition every Thursday contains three short ideas, two quotes, and a question to ponder for the week.

The 3–2–1 Newsletter, authored by James Clear, is one of the most popular newsletters, with over a million subscribers globally. The newsletter’s tagline, “The most wisdom per word of any newsletter on the web,” lives up to its message because the value you receive is brief but complete and can be read in just five minutes.

2. The 5-Bullet Friday

The 5-Bullet Friday is an exclusive newsletter sent every Friday about the five most fantastic things the author has explored for the week. The content is only available to email subscribers and is never found anywhere else online.

Authored by Tim Ferris, The 5-Bullet Friday Newsletter contains uncategorized content. It may include famous quotes, practical philosophy, and case studies. It also includes anecdotes on marketing, entrepreneurship, and many random topics.

3. The Better Humans Daily

A daily newsletter filled with quick tips, inspirations, and knowledge on productivity, happiness, health, and making an impact on our world. Written by Coach Tony, the founder of Better Humans, The Better Humans Daily starts with a quote to make you think. It is followed by an interesting self-improvement tip with actionable steps to make you healthier and happier. The newsletter concludes with a piece of valuable insight for you to chew on. 

Overall, each edition is concise and packed with value. Every day, you’ll have something new to ponder on, and will be inspired to live a better life.

4. The Daily Stoic Newsletter

The Daily Stoic Newsletter is a daily devotional newsletter designed to help cultivate the insights, strength, and wisdom for the best life. It offers 366 days of Stoic Meditations on perseverance, knowledge, and the art of living. The Newsletter is co-authored by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman.

The authors believe that anybody who embraced the Stoic practice realizes that wisdom is timeless and the philosophy is for a better life. When you follow this teaching, you will find serenity, knowledge of self, and the resilience needed for a well-lived life. Bear in mind that the victory of this project was achieved by virtue of the utilization of state-of-the-art technologies developed by Friv2Online incorporating innovative techniques employed in the creation of online games.

5. Brain Pickings

Another fabulous self-improvement newsletter is Brain Pickings that comes out every Wednesday. This collection of self-improvement ideas comes from a resurfaced archive of writings for fifteen years.

It has the most inspiring and most interesting articles about science, art, creativity, and philosophy. It also contains articles on life’s search for beauty, the meaning of life, the search for truth, and many other self-improvement ideas.

And when you subscribe to Brain Pickings, you will get a free Sunday digest that contains ideas about the timeless character. Maria Popova authors both Newsletter and the Sunday digest, who publishes her works ad-free, without staff, no interns, and no assistant. Maria Popova is just doing labor for love.

Key Takeaway

If you want a short but informative read, get a subscription to a newsletter. There are many different types of newsletters that you will find online. When you choose to subscribe, always select a noteworthy copy that you can use, like self-improvement newsletters.

Self-improvement newsletters will guide you with your personal development, ultimately making you the best version of yourself. And if you want to get copies, the four self-improvement newsletters listed above are for you: The 3–2–1 Newsletter, The 5-Bullet Friday, The Better Humans Daily, The Daily Stoic, and Brain Pickings.

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The Productive Writer: an Interview with Alexis Grant https://blog.lift.do/productive-writer-interview-alexis-grant/ Mon, 10 Nov 2014 21:21:23 +0000 http://blog.coach.me/?p=1710 Read ]]> Alexis Grant is an entrepreneurial writer and digital strategist. She’s founder of The Write Life, a website that focuses on how to make a living as a writer. She also offers a number of ebooks and courses on her own site, AlexisGrant.com. She’s worked as a journalist for publications like U.S. News & World Report and her work has also appeared in Salon, The Christian Science Monitor, The Chicago Tribune, The Huffington Post, and many others.
Grant shared her daily routine and tips for prioritizing work, exercise, and beating procrastination.
What’s your own daily routine like? What habits do you cultivate and what benefits do you find in them?
One of the benefits of running my own business is I can set up my day in a way that works best for me and my body. I usually don’t set an alarm clock. I do a chunk of work in the morning, another in the afternoon, and sometimes another in the evening depending on whether I had a lot of calls that day or took time out to babysit my nephew.
I’ve cultivated two particular habits that work well for me:
A. Prioritizing exercise. I exercise almost every day, either a bike ride outside, spin class or tennis. My friends love tennis and are always asking What is my Tennis Rating. I think we’re all scared that someone will surpass our tennis score! This is a great way to destress. I block out that time and never schedule calls or meetings during those hours, even if someone requests them. And while I might skip a workout if I’m not feeling well, I don’t allow myself to skip them just because I have a lot of work or am deep into a project. I put it ahead of everything else because it keeps me sane mentally and healthy physically.
B. Batching phone calls. A lot of productivity experts recommend batching email—a habit I haven’t managed to stick to yet—but grouping phone calls together also saves time. I do almost all of my calls back-to-back on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, which gives me blocks of time to work on projects on other days without being interrupted.
Oh! I also just took work email off my smartphone, which has worked beautifully. It prevents me from worrying about work when I’m supposed to be enjoying other parts of my life.
The most common advice we hear about writing habits is simply to write every day. But what’s your best advice for overcoming procrastination and getting quality work out of your time spent writing?
I think writing first thing in the morning is smart, before you tuck into all the tasks associated with email. I go through phases when I’m able to force myself to do this, and times when I have trouble focusing on my priority first thing in the morning. But I do think it’s good practice to do the most important thing first thing—whether that’s writing or some other project—because that ensures it gets done even if other tasks pop up during the day.
Are there any habits you’re trying to develop now? What motivated you to work on them?
I am constantly re-evaluating how I work and what I can do to be more productive. Giving my priorities the time they deserve is something I’m always working on—training myself to, as Tim Ferriss says, let little bad things happen so I can finish projects that matter. I’m motivated by how I feel at the end of each day; I always feel good about my day if I’ve spent time on my priority projects, and crappy about myself if all I’ve accomplished is wading through email and crossing off little tasks.
Who or what inspires you? Whose habits would you like to know more about and why?
I do a lot of Google Hangouts with my online peers, people who are also growing online businesses—that’s my main means of inspiration at the moment. I love these one-on-ones because you get a real glimpse inside that person’s workflow, especially when they’re generous enough to be honest about what’s working and not working for them. This is my version of the water-cooler chat! Hearing about what my friend are working on motivates me, and it’s always helpful to get their feedback on what I’m working on, too.
[Tweet “”I’m motivated by how I feel at the end of each day…” ~@alexisgrant on prioritizing work”]
Coach.me provides everything you need to improve performance in diet, fitness, productivity, and life. Join others who are improving their writings skills by adding these habits to your dashboard:

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The Productive Writer: an Interview with Author Dee Romito https://blog.lift.do/productive-writer-dee-romito/ Wed, 05 Nov 2014 18:48:10 +0000 http://blog.coach.me/?p=1693 Read ]]> Dee Romito is the author of the middle grade novel Summer Bucket List, to be published by Simon & Schuster in 2016. She is also a teacher and freelance writer who specializes in educational writing.
Romito blogs about writing at I Write for Apples, where she and others share tips to help writers of children’s and young adult literature get published. Romito shared her perspective and tips for writers who need more variety and flexibility than routine.
What’s your own daily routine like? What habits do you cultivate and what benefits do you find in them?
I’d say I work more on a non-routine kind of schedule, and I like it that way. There are certain parts of my day that are set, especially with the kids’ schools and activities. But it’s the times in between I get to play with.
If I need a lot of writing time during a particular week, that’s what I do in all those “open” times in between what’s on the schedule. Then I set other times when I know I can get work done as well. On the other hand, if I’m taking a step back or my manuscript is out with beta readers, I might use that time for the million other things I need to get done- planning school events, cleaning and organizing, home projects, errands. It works for me because it never becomes so monotonous that I feel in a rut. If I ever need to, I can change it up.
The most common advice we hear about writing habits is simply to write every day. But what’s your best advice for overcoming procrastination and getting quality work out of your time spent writing?
I know it’s the mantra of a lot of people, but “write every day” doesn’t work for me. Some days are full of the many other things in life, and I love that. I might not write on a Friday because of activities or friends and family visiting, but then I’ll spend most of Saturday really hammering things out. There are certainly times when I set a daily word count for myself and stick to it, especially when I have a bigger goal to meet, but it’s not the norm for me. I’m the girl who rearranges my furniture and changes my Facebook profile pic on a regular basis- I like variety.
My advice for overcoming procrastination and creating quality work? I recently read a book called The Now Habit by Neil Fiore and there were two big things I took from it. One is to keep in mind that actually starting a big project is the hard part, and if you commit to just thirty minutes at a time, it makes it a lot more manageable. So now when I have something to conquer that I keep putting off, I remind myself I only need to give it thirty minutes right now. That’s it. Just get started. And once I do, I usually find I want to keep at it.
The second thing is that it’s okay to schedule play time (not just work time!) and we shouldn’t feel guilty about it. That downtime allows me to have the focus required when it comes to getting work done.
I find that if I’ve given myself the flexibility to adjust my schedule and I know I have both writing and play time in sight, I’m ready to write and the words flow much better.
Are there any habits you’re trying to develop now? What motivated you to work on them?
Always. Keeping up with daily chores and staying organized are the biggest hurdles for me. I’m great at getting organized, it’s staying organized that’s the tougher part. I love rearranging, organizing, and coming up with plans because I get to be creative.
My motivation is simply that I really, really want to be better at it. To walk into my house and feel relief because I’ve already sorted the mail or put away the kids’ schoolwork. To open up my laptop and see that I’m caught up on emails and all my blog posts are set. I love that feeling.
Who or what inspires you? Whose habits would you like to know more about and why?
People who give to others and donate their time regardless of what they have in life are the people who inspire me. They remind me to do what I can, and maybe to hold an extra door open or be sure to make someone smile that day. I have always believed we should help each other and anyone who does that is an inspiration to me.
And kids. Kids always inspire me. ☺
As far as habits I admire, that would be my teacher friends who day in and day out stay on top of everything- plans, correcting, lesson prep, meeting dates- and still have a great attitude with the kids. Teachers are amazing people and teachers who keep a perfectly neat desk and are always caught up? Yeah, I love to learn their tips and habits.
[Tweet “”…’write every day’ doesn’t work for me” ~@writeforapples on flexibility in her daily routine”]
Coach.me provides everything you need to improve performance in diet, fitness, productivity, and life. Join others who are improving their writings skills by adding these habits to your dashboard:

  • Write for 30 minutes: a timed practice of writing each day.
  • Unclutter: bring some serenity to your work environment.
  • #500WED: a community challenge to fall in love with writing again. Can you write 500 Words Every Day for a month?
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The Productive Writer: an Interview with Joe Warnimont https://blog.lift.do/interview-joe-warnimont-writing/ Fri, 31 Oct 2014 21:49:58 +0000 http://blog.coach.me/?p=1676 Read ]]> Joe Warnimont is a fiction and freelance writer who creates tools and resources to help other writers get more productive and market their work.

We were delighted when Warnimont, a Coach.me user himself, agreed to share some of his thoughts about habits and personal development.

What’s your own daily routine like? What habits do you cultivate and what benefits do you find in them?

I’d be lying if I said every day was perfectly structured. I try to wake up every morning and read. If I don’t read in the morning, I read at lunch. If I don’t read at lunch then I read while falling asleep. Ideally I read at all three of those times. It doesn’t matter what profession you’re in; reading keeps your mind calm and fresh. Not to mention reading is one of the few methods of continuous learning throughout life.

I’ll have tea and oatmeal in the morning or else I just think about eating until lunch. In terms of habits, I always take a short break every hour. You can tell yourself you’re being productive but the mind needs breaks, and walking during these breaks helps. I always eat my meals at the same times, and after lunch I do some yoga or go for a bike ride to get the juices flowing.

The most common advice we hear about writing habits is simply to write every day. But what’s your best advice for overcoming procrastination and getting quality work out of your time spent writing?

I’ve always maintained the idea that it’s best to not take pride in your work. Not that pride isn’t sometimes important, but I think that phrase is too often confused for perfectionism or taking forever to complete something. There’s nothing more detrimental to writing or creating anything than perfectionism. I overcome procrastination by writing absolute crap and being content with it. I might end up using a small portion of the work, or I might end up using lots of it, but I know one thing: I’ll always be ahead of the self-proclaimed multi-tasker or perfectionist.

Having too much pride in your work brings up too many questions, causing you to waste time and never ship your work. I usually think about Trey Parker and Matt Stone from South Park who make their shows in six days while most studios take six months to do the same. They claim that 85 percent satisfaction is ideal, otherwise you’ll never get anything done.

Are there any habits you’re trying to develop now? What motivated you to work on them?

I always seem to get overwhelmed by trying to develop too many habits at once, so a few months ago I started using Coach.me and a few other to do list apps to check in on my progress for a few desirable habits. I started doing yoga every day, studying up on my German and meeting new people every week.

I was motivated to do yoga because going to the gym is boring and tedious. Yoga is calming and fun, and you get the health benefits. I started studying up on my German because I took it in high school and plan on going to Oktoberfest next year. It’s such an interesting culture, and reading the newspaper and watching movies in German helps me absorb and pay attention to the information even more.

I wanted to meet new people every week for one reason: I’ve found that showing up is the key to success. If you skip a writers club or meeting or networking event you might miss out on an opportunity that changes you life. I’m an introvert, but whenever I meet new people it seems that my career takes a new step.

Who or what inspires you? Whose habits would you like to know more about and why?

Nature inspires me most. There’s nothing good about sitting in an office all day and expecting your mindset to change. When you walk around outside every step you take is something new to invigorate your mind and spark your creativity. Even if you take the same walk every day, leaves fall, trees sway in a different direction and new animals and people are there to create a brand new story.

Ernest Hemingway also inspires me, not because of his writing, but because he actually got out there and experienced what he wrote about. It’s truly the reason so many people connected with his writing, because you could feel that he actually experienced the Italian front in World War I and watched bullfights in Spain.

Whose habits would I like to learn more about? Neil Gaiman. I know writers who create truly great art and others that pump out tons in terms of quantity, but he manages to do both.

[Tweet “”I’ve always maintained the idea that it’s best to not take pride in your work.” ~@writewithwarnie, writer, @coachdotme user”]

Coach.me provides everything you need to improve performance in diet, fitness, productivity, and life. Join others who are working on expanding their horizons by adding these habits to your dashboard:

  • Read: continuous learning and inspiration, every day.
  • Meet someone new: make it a habit to expand your social surroundings.
  • Yoga: get stress relief, fitness and other benefits from this powerful habit.
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Resilient Activism and Productive Writing: the Habits of Derrick Jensen https://blog.lift.do/derrick-jensen-interview/ Tue, 14 Oct 2014 03:32:54 +0000 http://blog.coach.me/?p=1492 Read ]]> Photograph by Dawn Paley.

Derrick Jensen is the award-winning author of over 20 books and has written for Orion, Audubon, The Sun, and many other magazines. Jensen makes a compelling argument that civilization is inherently unsustainable:

“To pretend that civilization can exist without destroying its own landbase and the landbases and cultures of others is to be entirely ignorant of history, biology, thermodynamics, morality, and self-preservation.” ~ from Endgame, Vol. 1: The Problem of Civilization

As a reader, I first encountered Jensen when I read his searing memoir, A Language Older Than Words, a remarkable work of truth-telling that reveals how personal cycles of abuse operate on the same patterns as abuse of the environment. Jensen’s writing combines enormous passion with piercing rationality that challenges some of our deepest cultural biases. I was interested to know more about how Jensen works and what habits support his activism; he generously agreed to this interview:

What’s your own daily routine like? What habits do you cultivate and what benefits do you find in them?

Let’s start at midnight. I’ve printed out what I worked on that day. I go to bed and then I edit it. Then I’ll turn off the light and lie there and ruminate on what I just edited, and what comes next. I’ll turn on the light and hand write some, and then turn off the light, and ruminate and drift and think and not think, and then turn on the light and write. I’ll do that for a couple of hours, and then sleep. I’ll wake up fairly late, like 10 or 11, and then I’ll type up what I edited and what I wrote the night before. Then I’ll get up and print that out, and edit it. I’ll take a walk through the forest. Then in the evening I’ll go to my mom’s house and watch a baseball game or a BBC mystery, and then I’ll go home and work some more, and then it will be midnight and I’ll print out what I worked on that day, and start the process over.

I’m known for being very prolific. I’ve written more than 20 books. But the truth is that I haven’t written more than 20 books. Instead I’ve written a page or two every day, and it has added up to more than 20 books. My mom always tells me something her grandmother always said to her: Yard by yard life is hard; inch by inch life’s a cinch.

It’s extraordinary how much work you can get done if you just keep at it, and you actually do the work.

You seem to be a tireless activist; what habits help you maintain a healthy level of self-care to balance the energy it takes for your activism work

The world is being killed. I need to do my part.

When I was in 8th grade I went out for football. I had a friend who was 2 years older than I who said to me, “No matter how tired you get, give it your best. You don’t want to look back and say, ‘I could have tried harder.'” The 8th grade football experiment was a complete fiasco for any number of reasons, but I learned that lesson. So I don’t want to look back at the end of my life and say I could have done more. I don’t want to die with any books still in me.

Also, I don’t have any friends in my life with whom I have to revisit Civilization is Bad 101 every time I open my mouth. None of my friends are human supremacists. None of my friends likes this culture. I can’t fight this culture and my friends too. It’s so great to be able to call up a friend and cry with them about how horrible it is what this culture is doing to the planet. And it’s great to be able to call up a friend and say, “Yay! The stock market went down 300 points today!”

And also I fully recognize that the murder of the planet is the culture’s fault. It’s not my fault. No matter how much this culture tries to convince us that it’s all your fault and my fault because we buy food at the grocery store (how ridiculous is it that they kill the salmon in the river and then I’m supposed to feel guilty for buying food at the grocery store?). It is my responsibility to do my part to stop this culture from killing the planet, but it’s not my _fault_. I’m fighting the culture, not myself. This is absolutely crucial. It’s not your fault, and don’t let the sociopaths in charge try to make you think it is. Fight them like hell.

Believing the fault is ours is a tremendous energy drain.

It’s obvious that your writing takes significant research as well as thoughtful reflection, and you clearly have a deep relationship to your landbase. Do you have strategies for managing time spent at the desk with time spent outside?

I live in a forest. I love this forest. And the forest is dying. Bats are disappearing. Butterflies are disappearing. Newts are disappearing. Frogs are disappearing. Salamanders are disappearing. I walk through the forest every day. It rejuvenates me. And it also helps the work. The trees and others often tell me what to write.

Are there any habits you’re trying to develop now? What motivated you to work on them?

Not so much. A lot of the habits I have are serving me pretty well. I spent so much time in my teens and 20s and 30s developing good habits, good work habits. And learning _how_ to tell whether I’m writing crap or good stuff.

Who or what inspires you? Whose habits would you like to know more about and why?

People who are fighting to save wild beings or wild places inspire me. People who fight against daunting odds but don’t quit inspire me. The real world inspires me.

You can learn more about Derrick Jensen’s work at his web site; he also hosts Resistance Radio, a weekly radio interview series on the Progressive Radio Network.

[Tweet “”The world is being killed. I need to do my part.” ~ an interview with author Derrick Jensen”]

Coach.me provides everything you need to improve performance in diet, fitness, productivity, and life. Here are some habits you can add to your Coach.me dashboard to support your own work as a writer or activist:

  • #500WED: a challenge to fall in love with writing again. Can you write 500 Words Every Day for a month?

  • Walk / Nature Time: keep your connection to nature alive.

  • Keep in Touch with Friends: build resiliency into your life by fostering connection with the people who matter.

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Writing Habits of a Cyborg: an Interview with Gareth Branwyn https://blog.lift.do/writing-habits-cyborg-interview-gareth-branwyn/ Thu, 11 Sep 2014 23:09:25 +0000 http://blog.coach.me/?p=1228 Read ]]>

“Don’t be afraid to just get your thoughts out there. Unvarnished. Don’t fear the blank page. You can edit what comes out into something usable.”

Gareth Branwyn tells people he’s a cyborg, and he’s not kidding: decades of medical procedures have made him part man, part machine. But that’s not terribly unique. Lots of people have mechanical implants, surgical constructions and other body hacks which have become commonplace. What makes Branwyn unique is his intense curiosity and ability to reveal the fascinating details that unfold at the intersection of technology and humanity. Lots of people have an artificial hip, but Branwyn can give you some details: “I now sport a Duroloc® 100 acetabular titanium cup with sintered titanium beads for in-bone growth adhesion. I have a bleeding-edge Marathon® polyethylene liner with irradiated cross-linked polymers for tighter bonding and longer wear rates. My Prodigy® brand stem has a 28mm cobalt-chrome head and a cobalt-chrome femoral component with sintered cobalt-chrome beading for bone in-growth fixation.”
And then, more importantly, he can also tell you what it’s like to be the person sporting all that metal.
With an established career as a writer and editor for publications like Mondo 2000, Wired, bOING bOING (print) and MAKE magazines, Branwyn recently self-published a collection of his writings, Borg Like Me. We interviewed Branwyn about what habits have served him as a writer and publisher. He gave us an interesting look at his routines and gave us some great advice.

What’s your own daily routine like? What habits do you cultivate and what benefits do you find in them?

I wish I could say that I have a lot of disciplined routines, but I don’t. I’m rather undisciplined, except that I’m able to eventually knuckle under and get the work done. My only religious routine is that I recite a “prayer” to my muses each morning. I talk about this in my book, Borg Like Me. I got the practice from Steven Pressfield’s book, The War of Art, where he suggests saying a prayer, an invocation, every morning to whatever powers inspire you. So, I picked something from William Blake, an invocation of sorts to his muses, his “Daughters of Beulah” (who live in our dreams, imagination, and Eros). Not sure that it does anything more than focus my intent and gives voice to the kind of inspiration I hope to be open to as I work, but it’s fun if nothing else.
I also work in intervals (with a software­-based egg timer), where I won’t look at Facebook, answer messages, email, etc. for, say an hour (or two), until the timer goes off. I’d be WAY too distracted without this.

In the time since you launched your kickstarter campaign, you’ve seemed to make steady incremental progress on bringing the book to market. What sort of daily habits would you recommend to a writer who’s trying to complete a book? Was there anything beyond “write every day” that helped you make progress?

In the Appendices of my book, I have a lengthy piece called “Gareth’s Tips on Sucks-­Less Writing.” One of those tips is “Writers Write!” It may sound painfully obvious, but it’s key. You have to do the work, put one word in front of the other. One of the other tips I have in there (taken from Anne Lamott’s highly­ recommended Bird By Bird) is to not be afraid of what she calls “Shitty First Drafts.” Don’t be afraid to just get your thoughts out there. Unvarnished. Don’t fear the blank page. You can edit what comes out into something usable. The best writing advice I ever got was to really cultivate two work heads, the writer’s head and the editor’s head. When writing, shut the editor off. Turn him/her on only after you have your shitty first draft.
Writing a book is not easy, it takes a lot of self ­discipline, and it’s something of a heroic quest, with many perils along the way, monsters to slay. But it is completely worth it if you have the tenacity and the courage to go on the quest. You are a different person when you finish from the person who started, tempered.

Are there any habits you’re trying to develop now? What motivated you to work on them?

I’m always trying to organize myself more. I adopt systems for awhile, but few things ever stick. I’d like, for instance, to get up every morning at the same time, but that rarely happens. Whatever my weird non­system system is, it’s worked for me so far. My current habit is to try and answer all of my mail first thing in the morning and do an hour or so of promoting my book. And then to work in 1 to 2 hour stints, in “silent running” mode (no calls, messages, socmedia).

Who or what inspires you? Who’s habits would you like to know more about and why?

My desire to express myself, to get my ideas across, are what drive me. I’ve been told that I have a unique ability to humanize technology for those who tend to be intimidated by it and I’d like to think I also help deep geeks who are perhaps squeamish about the more emotional sides of life to be more open to them. I’ve gotten positive feedback for my book from both people who were intimidated by the more tech­-oriented pieces (that they were surprised to enjoy and understand them as much as they did) and from people who said they were initially put off by the more personal essays in the book, but ended up really enjoying those. This is extremely gratifying to hear. One of the people who’s really inspired many aspects of my life is the cultural anthropologist and co­father of cybernetics, Gregory Bateson. He talked about balancing your work, your life, with rigor and imagination. I think, too often, people cultivate one at the expense of the other. I’ve always tried to exercise both of these muscles.
In terms of new habits, I’m seriously thinking about starting to do what Arianna Huffington calls “digital detox.” Maybe only go onto Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ every other day. It’s staggering to think how much productivity gets lost to social media frittering.
[Tweet “Writing Habits of a Cyborg: an Interview with @garethb2”]

Coach.me provides everything you need to improve performance in diet, fitness, productivity, and life. If you aspire to be an author, try adding these habits to your Coach.me dashboard:

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