Gauravonomics

12 Steps to Create Your Best Self From Michael Hyatt

I have curated some of the best ideas from Michael Hyatt’s Living Forward and Your Best Year Ever to create this 12-step guide to creating your best self.

In ‘Living Forward‘, Michael Hyatt shared a practical step-by-step process to create a life plan. ‘Your Best Year Ever‘ is Michael’s take two on ‘Living Forward‘.

Both the books share Michael’s three core beliefs:

Life is multi-faceted and all our “life accounts” are important and interconnected.
To make progress in the future, we need to access our present across our life accounts.
It’s possible to make progress across our life accounts by setting well-defined goals, and creating a system to translate these goals into actions.

The two books are different in three important ways:

Michael works with a shorter horizon: a year, instead of a lifetime, and drops the focus on designing a legacy.
He recognizes the power of looking back and becoming complete with our past, to be able to look forward and create our desired future.
He packs the book with research references and quotes to back up his key premises.

The end result is a simple yet powerful book. Its value is enhanced by well-designed resources like a book website with additional resources, a companion course, and a Lifescore Assessment tool.

As an aside, Michael’s overall approach to designing his business and presenting his products and services online has become an benchmark for me for creating a thought-leadership platform. See: main website, content like weekly podcast and weekly magazine, products like Full Focus Planner and LeaderBox, courses like Get Published, Platform University, 5 Days to Your Best Year Ever and Free to Focus, and the book websites for ‘Living Forward‘ and ‘Your Best Year Ever‘. Very impressive!

I have curated some of the best ideas from ‘Living Forward‘ and ‘Your Best Year Ever‘ to create this guide to creating your best self.

Phase 1: Become aware of your present

Step 1: Assess your present: Assess your life areas in three circles — the circle of being (physical, spiritual, intellectual), the circle of relating (friends, family, community), and the circle of doing (work, hobbies, money). Then plot these onto a 2X2 [passion X progress] matrix to identify the areas you need to ignite your passion and the areas in which you need to make progress. This is similar to David Allen’s [perspective X control ] GTD matrix. In areas of low passion, you need to increase your perspective. In areas of low progress, you need to increase your control.

Phase 2: Become complete with your past

Step 2: Convert your limiting beliefs into liberating truths: Identify the false beliefs that are limiting your progress in your key life areas. The most common limiting beliefs are that we lack the power and/ or resources to change our circumstances. Now, distinguish these beliefs as limiting your progress, by identifying what cost they are causing in your life. Then, reject them and revise them into liberating truths that connect you with your power and resourcefulness.
Step 3: Review your areas of regret and gratitude last year: Review what goals you wished to achieve last year in each of your life areas, what results you ended up achieving, and what lessons you learned from your successes and failures. Specifically focus on the areas you regret the most and the areas you feel the most grateful for. The areas you regret the most provide the most opportunity for growth. The areas you are most grateful for provide a secure base from which you can pivot into new growth opportunities.

Phase 3: Envision your desired future

Step 4: Design your legacy: Fast-forward to the end of your life and ask this question: “what will family, friends, and colleagues say when I am dead?” Be present with the emotions you are experiencing and write an eulogy for yourself that you would want to be true.
Step 5: Create a life plan: Use your eulogy as the end point to create a life plan. For each life area in the circles of being, relating and doing, declare your purpose and reflect why it’s important to you, describe your current reality and your envisioned future, and make commitments to create the transformation.
Step 6: Set SMARTER achievement and habit goals: For each of the commitments you have made, set SMARTER (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Risky, Time-bound, Exciting and Relevant) goals for the year. Use a mix of achievement goals and habit goals and stagger them so that you are working on about 3 goals per quarter. Achievement goals represent the outcomes you are committed to. Habit goals represent the behaviours that will lead to your desired outcomes.

Phase 4: Create a system to enable action

Step 7: Plan your ideal week: Create margin for yourself to achieve your goals by mapping your ideal week on a calendar. Assign themes for each day, and daily slots for Front Stage, Back Stage, and Off Stage time. Front Stage time is for working on the projects related to your goals. Back Stage time is dedicated to the more mundane tasks of managing the game of work and the business of life. Off Stage time is for rest and rejuvenation.
Step 8: Build your support network: Surround yourself with like minded people who are working towards similar goals. They will help you learn, offer you encouragement, keep you accountable and motivate you to do your best. These might include online communities, mastermind groups, running or reading groups, alumni networks and close friends. These might also include paid support like coaches, therapists, fitness trainers, and financial/ legal advisors.
Step 9: Motivate yourself with rewards: Identify what rewards are the most meaningful to you. Almost always, intrinsic rewards are more powerful than extrinsic rewards. For many goals, like running, the action is its own reward, as it automatically makes you feel good. For some goals, like learning a skill, the sense of mastery is a powerful reward, even though it might take time to kick in. In other situations, you might need to create an extrinsic reward, like indulging yourself with a treat for putting in Back Stage time.
Step 10: Build momentum with easy actions: Set your goals as stretch goals in the discomfort zone, but start taking small actions in the comfort zone. Start with easy micro-actions to warm up and build the momentum and confidence to tackle bigger actions. Focus on consistently building a streak, and not breaking the chain. Small, consistent actions lead to big results with the power of compound interest.
Step 11: Use if-then planning to design action triggers: Think through the various scenarios in which you will encounter different types of obstacles. Then, define what triggers you will put in place in each of these scenarios, in advance, to help you overcome the obstacles and take the desired actions. Over time, your desired actions will become default habits and your dependence on the triggers will reduce.
Step 12: Set up time to regularly review your system: Set up daily, weekly, quarterly and annual reviews to reflect on outcomes, priorities and action plans. At each level, link your goals in each life area to projects and actions within them. Use the rule of three to prioritise three quarterly goals, weekly projects and daily actions.

I am applying many of these steps in my own life, and I will write another essay on that. For now, if this essay has inspired you to apply these steps in your own life, I would love to learn about how you applied these steps and what results you achieved. Do share your experience in the comments below or on Twitter @gauravonomics.

How to Learn the Fundamentals of Sketching and Sketchnoting

I am developing a daily sketching practice and reading a number of books on sketching, doodling and visual thinking. Mike Rohde‘s ‘Sketchnote Handbook‘ and ‘Sketchnote Workbook‘ have been two of my favorites so far.

In the first book ‘Sketchnote Handbook‘, Mike outlines the foundations skills of sketchnoting, or taking notes via sketches, with a focus on live sketchnoting during conference talks. In the second book ‘Sketchnote Workbook‘, Mike applies the same foundational skills to a number of other areas, for work and pleasure.

Here is my own six-page sketchnote book summary of ‘Sketchnote Handbook‘ and ‘Sketchnote Workbook‘:

I enjoyed doing the sketchnote book summary, but I wanted to go beyond and share seven lessons on sketching and seven ideas for sketchnoting from ‘Sketchnote Handbook‘ and ‘Sketchnote Workbook‘.

Here are seven lessons on becoming better at sketching:

Focus on ideas: Choosing the right ideas, creating connections between them and finding patterns in them are more important than how well you sketch. Use sketching as an aid to create, organize and share ideas with an aim to engage both the left and the right sides of the brain.
Create a structure: Choose the right structure for your sketchnote, depending upon the relationship between your ideas. A linear flow runs left to right and top to bottom and is best for free-flowing list-based ideas. A radial flow organizes ideas into spokes around a central hub. A grid flow slots ideas into a pre-decided grid-based structure.
Learn sketching foundations: Learn the foundational elements of sketching like typography, icons, bullets, dividers, containers, arrows, and speech bubbles. You can combine these elements into more complex figures like diagrams, flow charts and mind maps.
Learn typography variations: Learn how to create variations in the typography by practicing letters in single line, double line, triple line, block, script, serif, sans serif, and 3D, in both uppercase and lowercase. You can use typography to add emphasis, convey a mood, or differentiate between parts of a sketchnote.
Create an icon library: Learn to create icons for everyday objects, ideas and activities, including objects and activities in your home and office, and objects and ideas related to your field. You can use icons to succinctly convey complex ideas without using a large number of words.
Use visual metaphors: Create a library of visual metaphors by “drawing the metaphor literally”. For instance, to depict the “jumping the gun” metaphor, draw a man literally jumping over a gun. You can use visual metaphors to add surprise and humor to your sketchnotes.
Experiment with media: Sketch with a pencil first or directly with a pen, sketch only in black or use multiple colors, paste a photo on your sketchbook and sketch around it, sketch on a notebook or a tablet, or sketch on a notebook and edit on a tablet – the variations are endless. Experiment with multiple styles, mediums and workflows until you find your preferred ones.

Here are seven ideas for how to use sketchnotes:

Create a visual task list: Create a task list using action icons (tasks, events, appointments) and add significance to the tasks using status icons (uncertain, important, urgent). Add important details to your task list by adding diagrams to create a visual Bullet Journal. Creating a visual task list will motivate you to use it more regularly.
Plan with index cards or post-it notes: Brainstorm ideas by drawing them on index cards or post-it notes. Organize them into clusters of related ideas, then prioritize them based on importance and difficulty. Finally, plot them on a flow chart and draw interdependencies. Use this to plan work projects, workshops and book outlines. Drawing out your ideas will help you engage both your visual and verbal brains in planning.
Summarize ideas from books, talks or meetings: Focus on the big ideas, cluster them (perhaps, into groups of three), draw connections between them and find patterns across them. Focus on the ideas that resonate with you personally. Summarizing key ideas visually will help you focus on the most important ideas and the connections between them.
Recap films, TV shows or novels: Draw a cast of characters, capture the key twist and turns in the plot, and note down your most important takeaways. Drawing a story summary will help you see the story arc in new ways.
Capture food or travel experiences: Take photos or notes to capture details for reference, emphasize the highlights of the experience and add personal context and observations. Drawing your experiences will help you personalize them and savor them longer.
Create a visualization board: Draw an image of yourself five years from now in the center and your ideal situation in terms of work, money, health and family (or similar themes) around it. Put it up above your desk and use it for your morning visualization exercise. Drawing your ideal life will help you imagine it more viscerally and motivate you to work towards it.
Learn a language with flash cards: Draw an object or idea on both sides of a flash card and add the English word on one side and, let’s say, the Mandarin word for it on the opposite side. Drawing out the words from a new language will help you remember them more easily.

If you are inspired to start sketchnoting, or to use sketchnotes for these use cases, check out Mike’s website ‘Sketchnote Army‘, which showcases the best sketchnotes submitted by community members.

If you are also developing a daily sketching practice, do share your experiences in the comments below, or give me a shoutout at @gauravonomics on Twitter or Instagram.

How to Learn Your Craft and Create Your Work in Public

I just finished reading Austin Kleon‘s excellent book-manifestos ‘Steal Like an Artist‘ and ‘S how Your Work‘; I absolutely loved them and took pages and pages of sketchnotes.

Sometimes, we discover books exactly when we need to read them. I feel like I needed to read these books now, when I am beginning to (re)build a daily writing, sketching and blogging habit.

When I was reading these books, I felt like I was reading letters to my present self from my younger self. I spent my late twenties and early thirties living, learning and creating in public, and benefiting from the network effects that Austin talks about. I have been asking myself if these practices are still valid five years later, in a post-blogging, selfie-obsessed world, and Austin’s books reassure me that they are.

Here, then, are the eleven lessons on developing creative habits I (re)learned from ‘Steal Like an Artist‘ and ‘Sh ow Your Work‘.

Lesson 1. Begin Again

Sometimes, you need to throw out old work to make room for new work. Sometimes, you need to take a month, or a year, or five years off to clear your head. Sometimes, you need to go away and grow up, perhaps fail a few times, before you begin again, with newfound humility. The good news is that when you do begin again, you are not really starting over. The lessons you have learned from your old work, and the lessons you have learned while you were away, will seep into and shape your new work.

I took almost five years off from this blog, and deleted 1500+ blog posts I had written over the previous five years. Now that I am writing again, I know that I don’t want to write about things that change constantly (like emerging technologies). Instead, I want to write about things that never change (like human behavior). While I won’t be able to reuse the 1 million+ words I have written before, I will be able to use the lessons I learned through writing them.

Lesson 2. Design an Apprenticeship

You can’t choose who your parents and ancestors are, but you can choose who your teachers are. Create a list of creators who inspire you, immerse yourself in their work, find out who inspired them in turn, and then immerse yourself in the work of those who inspired them. If they are active online, follow them, and follow the people they pay attention to. Going back in time, find patterns in how they built upon each others’ ideas. Then, connect the dots in new ways, and find ways to build upon their ideas, in turn. Go beyond their specific idea, or their specific style, and try to learn their way of thinking, their way of seeing the world, and apply it in your own work. Design a long-distance apprenticeship for yourself, watching them practice their craft, learning from their process and their products and improving upon both. When you share your work, share it as a public fan letter to your heroes, acknowledging their contribution, adding new dimensions to their work and introducing them to your own networks.

Here’s a short list of my own creative heroes: world-builders (George R. R. Martin, J. R. R. Tolkien, Neil Gaiman, Neal Stephenson, William Gibson, Stephen King), culture-mappers (Pico Iyer, Steven Johnson, Malcolm Gladwell) and life-hackers (Alain de Botton, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Timothy Ferris). As I design my own creative apprenticeship to learn from them, I’ll share what I am learning, so that you might learn along with me.

Lesson 3. Contribute to Communities

You don’t only need mentors, you also need peers. Seek out talented people who are asking themselves the same questions as you are, become a member of the communities they belong to, learn from the answers they have found, and share your own answers with them. Build upon each other’s work, introduce each other to your own networks, and help each other grow. Brian Eno calls these communities a ‘Scenius’ (versus lone genius), Seth Godin calls them a ‘Tribe’. Find your communities, join them, nurture them and contribute to them.

Here are some communities I am exploring at the moment: niche publishing, self-publishing, and life-hacking. As I map these communities and identify where their hubs are, I’ll introduce them to you, so that you might get an insider’s view of them.

Lesson 4. Collect Inspiration

You are a sum total of what you are curious and passionate about. You become the things you spend your time and attention on. You are shaped by the books you read, the artifacts you collect and the ideas you follow. Expose yourself to inspiration from a wide variety of sources. If you have multiple unrelated passions, nurture them all. Collect everything that inspires you, every creative work you want to steal, in an ‘swipe file‘ or ‘commonplace book‘, which can be digital or analog. Then, go through your file regularly, try to find patterns, connect previously unconnected dots, and remix your inspirations to create new creative works.

I collect things that inspire me in two places: an Evernote account on all my devices to save web stories, reports, photos and videos, and a Bullet Journal to note down quotes, sketch ideas, list resources, and write (sketchnote) book summaries.

Lesson 5. Become an Amateur

The best way to learn something new is to become an amateur again. When you behave like an amateur, you think of your work as a hobby instead of a profession. You free yourself to have fun, take risks and make mistakes. With a beginner’s mind, you allow ourself to be curious, ask silly questions and seek help from peers and mentors. You switch your focus away from perfecting the final product to the process of learning your craft. You look at criticism as feedback that will help you improve, not as judgement on your talent. When you become an amateur, you open yourself up to possibilities that are closed to the professional and the expert.

I am writing this blog as an amateur. I have hosted it on WordPress.com and used a free starter theme. I am writing about learning how to create a daily writing and sketching practice, instead of digital transformation or social innovation. My daily sketches feature my Persian cat Leela perched on various pieces of furniture in my house, and not sketchnote book reviews. My aim is to develop a daily writing and sketching habit, not to position myself as an expert. So, I focus on creating, instead of asking myself if what I am creating is substantial, or profound, or professional.

Lesson 6. Find Your Voice

You should think of the internet as a self-invention machine, instead of a self-promotion machine. Your website can be much more than a platform to distribute your ideas; it can be an incubator to develop your ideas. You don’t only share in public when you have something to say; you also think aloud in public when you want to find something to say. Thinking aloud in public will help you clarify your thinking, get valuable feedback, make new connections between ideas and find your voice.

I started blogging again partly to find out what I am curious and passionate about at this stage of my life, what life skills I might learn which will add meaning to the second half of my life, and what I might contribute in return to the communities I am learning from.

Lesson 7. Learn in Public

When you learn something in public, you end up becoming a teacher to others who are learning the same thing at the same time. When you wonder about something you are fascinated by, others join you to wonder together. When you share your obsession with something you love, you connect with others who love the same thing. Make a commitment to learning in public and, if your own work is not ready to share yet, begin by sharing your influences.

I am reading books and taking courses on writing, self-publishing, sketching, thinking visually, forming habits and lifehacking, and applying them in my own life. I’ll share my successes and struggles, but I am beginning by writing about my influences: Julia Cameron’s ‘Artist’s Way’, Ryder Carroll’s ‘Bullet Journal’ and Austin Kleon’s ‘Steal Like an Artist‘ and ‘Sh ow Your Work‘.

Lesson 8. Journal Your Habits

When you are developing a creative habit, having a routine is more important than having unlimited time or resources. Use your constraints to channel your creativity, perhaps even create artificial constraints. Set ridiculously simple, easily achievable goals that you can consistently hit (Stephen Guise calls them ‘Mini Habits‘), create a chain of daily victories, and make a commitment to not break the chain. Start a daily journaling practice and use your journal to track your habits.

I have set myself a goal to write, sketch or blog daily. Some days, I do all three; other days, I do one or two of the three. For the first month, I have not set myself a goal to reach a daily or weekly word count; even one paragraph is enough, as long as I am writing (or sketching) every day. I am tracking my writing and sketching habits, along with other habits I am trying to develop, in a Bullet Journal.

Lesson 9. Become Findable

You can be found only when you become findable. You become findable when you do work that you love and then share your work. When you share your work, people who are interested in it will find you across geographical boundaries, and share it forward with their own networks. Over time, the network effect will kick in and your connections with likeminds around your work will create serendipitous opportunities that far exceed the benefits of traditional networking over cocktails.

I have experienced the benefits of being a part of global community of likeminds, and the network effects it creates, firsthand, and I am writing again party because I have missed it over the last few years.

Lesson 10. Tell Your (Back)story

Your creative process is as important, and as interesting to your community, as the product you create. Document your workplace, your process, and your work-in-progress product daily. When you finish the day’s work, share a snippet from it, and add context. Equally important is your own backstory; people want to know the person behind the creative product, and even value your product differently based on how they connect with your story. Learn to share your own story and how it has led to your current project, and learn to connect your story to your audiences’ stories.

Here’s my story and here’s what I think your story might be. Of course, all our stories are work-in-progress and I hope we can play a part in moving forward each other’s stories.

Lesson 11. Mix Analog and Digital

Your brain works differently in digital and analog modes, so learn to use both. Perhaps, create an analog workspace with paper, post-it notes, Lego blocks, pencils, pens and markers to think through your ideas, find connections between them, and figure out how they fit together. Then, use a digital workspace with a smartphone, tablet, scanner and laptop to create your work, publish it and share it. Or combine digital and analog in your workflow in different ways, by making part of your work digital and part analog.

I don’t have the space in my tiny apartment to have two workspaces, but I use a similar hybrid creative process. I sketch in my Muji sketchbook, then take a picture from my iPhone and post it on Instagram. Or, I write on my Moleskine notebook with a smart pen and the writing gets synced with my M+ Notes app. I am hoping to develop my sketching in both analog and digital modes, by learning to sketch in charcoal and learning to edit my scanned sketches on my tablet.

In Summary: Begin Again

Let me end this post with the lesson I started with. If you used to have a daily creative practice, if you used to learn in public, if you used to share your work, and you stopped, begin again. I would love to hear your stories of beginning again on Twitter or in the comments below.

How to Develop Creative Habits: Three Powerful Daily Practices

Three Powerful Daily Creative Practices

Welcome to my new blog: Learning Creative Habits With Gauravonomics.

I’m a recovering creative developing a daily writing and sketching practice, using three powerful daily creative practices.

The first practice is to rebuild my creative muscle by meditating, journaling and sketching every morning. The second practice is to replenish my creative spirit by creating space and time for my passions every day. The third practice is to reclaim my creative identity by creating and sharing my work every day.

These three powerful daily practices have had a transformative impact on my life, and if you are also a recovering creative, they can also transform your life.

1. Meditate, Journal and Sketch Every Morning to Rebuild Your Creative Muscle

Every morning, I wake up at 5am and follow the same morning ritual. First, I meditate to focus my mind. Then, I journal to empty my mind. Finally, I sketch to make sense of what’s on my mind.

I practice a combination of Pranayama and Vipassana meditation, first paying attention to my breath, then paying attention to the sensations in my body.

I journal and sketch in my Moleskine smart notebook with the Neo2 smart pen. Writing with pen and paper teaches me to trust my hands, and combine words and figures, and the M+ Notes app backs up my daily journal entries and sketches.

My writing desk has become my favorite place in the house. The rug under it has become the favorite perch for my Persian cat Leela.

Within a short time, this simple morning ritual has had a transformative impact on my life.

I am feeling both more connected with my dreams and more rooted in my reality.

Every morning now leads to resolutions small and large and a replenished will to realize these resolutions.

2. Create Space and Time For All Your Passions Every Day to Replenish Your Creative Spirit

I am learning to embrace all my passions, create space and time for them in my house and my life, and build connections between them.

I am reading graphic novels and teaching myself how to sketch using charcoal and color pencils. I am listening to jazz and western classical concerts and learning how to play the piano. I am learning to use my body as a canvas for creative expression, even if that’s sometimes simply an excuse for buying even more sneakers. I now want to start running long distance again, practice writing and speaking Mandarin regularly, and learn how to grow an indoor garden.

I recently redecorated my house to create space for all these passions. My little one bedroom apartment now fits a treadmill, a piano, a writing desk and an art supplies cabinet. Now, it’s not only a house for #LeelaCat and me, but also a creative studio filled with books, music, plants and art.

I have always read a hundred books every year; now I am reading a book every other day. I’m reading books related to my passions that either inspire me to become better or show me how to improve. I start my day at 5am with writing, and finish my day at 11pm with reading, and fit all these passions in the hours in between.

Within a few short months, I have gone from being a minimalist to being a maximalist and my creative spirit feels more alive than ever before.

3. Create and Share Your Work Every Day to Reclaim Your Creative Identity

I am blogging again, after years, as a public commitment to create and share my work every day.

I have always felt that I am meant to write books, many books, fiction and non-fiction. I have written a non-fiction book before on the future of engagement. Since then, I have tried to write the next book a few times. I have bought domain names for these books. I have even designed the book cover for one book. But, I haven’t finished any of these books. My mind is a graveyard of unborn books.

This time, I am telling myself that it is better to write 52 essays in a year, one essay a week, and see if they add up to a non-fiction book. I am telling myself that it’s better to write 52 stories in a year, one story a week, and see if they add up to a novel.

I am telling myself that the only way to reclaim my creative identity is to create and share something small everyday, even if it’s only a photo, sketch, or story about #LeelaCat. I am telling myself that if my inner artist child wants #LeelaCat as his muse, I should indulge his need for fun and whimsy.

My inner artist child is happy these days. For the first time in years, I am writing regularly. Some days, I write as many as 5000 words, between my morning journal pages, my stories and my essays. After years. I am also sketching regularly, and I feel that the writing and the sketching, just like the essays and the stories, are helping each other.

Creative Recovery is a Lifelong Journey

There’s good news and bad news about creative recovery.

The bad news is that creative recovery is not linear. I have good days and bad days, good weeks and bad weeks, good months and bad months. Every few weeks, every few months, every few years, I feel like I have returned to where I started from.

The good news is that creative recovery is not circular either, it’s spiral. With every cycle I go through, I learn more about myself and my inner artist child, and I become better at protecting and nurturing him.

Creative recovery is a lifelong journey, and I am hoping to develop and deepen these three daily creative practices for life.

I am rebuilding my creative muscle by meditating, journaling, and sketching every morning. I am replenishing my creative spirit by creating space and time for all my passions. I am reclaiming my creative identity by creating and sharing my work every day.

I hope you’ll join me on my journey, and share your own successes and struggles. You can sign up below to receive my updates via email, and follow my updates on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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