Rutbuster: The Power of Small Changes & Some “Me” Stuff

March 11th, 2010

Sometime in January, I read an article in Success Magazine called 44 Ways to Jumpstart Your New Year. The first item of 44 recommended we make one change in our lives for a period of one month. (The other 43 items were nice and helpful, but this one was the winner for me.) The idea was to do something new that you had thought about but had not done, such as meditating for 20 minutes each day or not watching television.

My deliberate change for the month of February was to only listen to music in the car. It may not seem like much, but for a somewhat addicted NRP listener, it was a pretty big change of routine. (Though it was helped by the fact that the local NPR station has decided to play the BBC during my morning drive time. I don’t even like the BBC when I’m in London, much less in Los Angeles.)

My other changes were a side effect of going to see a naturopath in an attempt to get sick less often and have more energy overall. They were to keep a food diary, have a vegetable with breakfast, cut down on carbs, and eliminate dairy. I also cut out alcohol completely for most of the month (and then cut back on an ongoing basis). 

So, how did listening to only music in the car affect me? I found myself feeling more energetic and getting more done in the car. (I pulled over a lot to jot down ideas for projects I am working on in a little notebook I carry with me.) I also pulled out CDs I hadn’t listened to in a while, which was fun. The bottom line is that being in the car was a “different” experience, which was stimulating and obviously got me thinking in new ways.

What about the dietary changes? I had thought I would miss the wine, but what I really missed was cheese. Who knew? Cutting out these things, adding a vegetable at breakfast, and the other changes, made shopping for food and preparing it a deliberate and also somewhat “new,” which I think is a good thing.

At the end of the month, I went back to listening to the talk on NPR sometimes (not in the morning, though), but I am still listening to more music. And although I occassionally partake of the dairy products, most of the dietary changes are ongoing and resulting in more energy.

I didn’t get it together to do an “official” daily change for the month of March, but I am going to implement one today for the next 30 days, which is to do one at least one thing per day that will help me achieve my current #1 goal: to complete an eBook to sell through Your Industy Insider.

Like the blog, it’s about careers in the entertainment industry. (I don’t want to get too specific because I haven’t announced it on YII yet.) Where am I now on creating it? I have a rough outline and some partially-written sections and I am about a quarter of the way through a book on the current layout of the music business. I want to actually have the eBook book launched in 30 days.

Here’s a rough list of what I need to do: Finalize the outline, finish reading the music business book, write a rough draft of the book, get feedback and rewrite as needed, get book cover made, create a page on YII through which to sell book, create bonuses for my Mogul Mindset eBlast recipients who buy the book first, get book formatted and in the correct format to sell, do announcement(s) on YII, create press release, do other marketing for book…

I’m sure I’m forgetting things, but I’ll fill you in on my progress as I go along. I consider a “thing” as either 1) one task if it’s something that can be completed in under an hour or 2) one hour working on something (such as reading the music book, working on the outline or actually writing the eBook).

I am sharing this process not only to force myself into accountability, but because I get a lot of questions about how I get everything done and I am hoping by giving you this step-by-step example, you will be helped in your struggle to fit everything you want to accomplish into your 24/7 life.

Okay, so what do you want to accomplish most right now? Want to take a step a day? Or it there some other daily change you want to implement? Share in the comments!

Related posts:

1. On TOTALLY Blowing a Deadline- and Now What?
2. Checking in with Our Guru (& Me)

Filed under: personal stuff