Productivity Rabbit Hole

Does it actually help? I don't know. Let me check the forty-five apps I just downloaded and get back to you.

Dear Writer,

I’ve been watching a lot of productivity videos this week. I’m a fairly productive person. I don’t feel like I’m lacking in accomplishment. But I’ve got a lot to do in the coming months, and I like having systems when I’m gonna do a thing, so I went on the hunt for some suggestions and came across this guy named Ali Abdaal on TikTok. I’ll admit, at first, he seemed like just another scammy “make $8000 a minute Because Internet” dude, but there was something about him that seemed genuine. So I followed him to his YouTube channel and fell down a productivity rabbit hole.

For days. I mean… you guys. I’ve been downloading apps and organizing my thoughts and building Trello boards and CLEAN ALL THE THINGS!

(I mean… I wasn’t literally cleaning. My house is still a fucking mess. But you know what I’m getting at.)

I have a lot of work to do in the coming months. I have my day job, and my media company, but I also have to finish the “How Story Works” book by October 15, hand that off to my editor/best friend, get everything ready for the various avenues of self-publishing, record the audiobook for Audible… all by January, when that bastard is going to be for sale.

Once and for all.

Done.

Here’s the book cover Kelly told me not to design until I was done writing. I still need to tweak the language, but overall… I don’t know. What do you think?

And in November, I think I’m going to be doing Nano-inspiration videos, maybe on TikTok? Quick little inspirations and tips and etc. I’m writing those now so they’re all ready to go then. I don’t know how TikTok works exactly, but if you want to follow me, I’m @lanidianerich.

But you know what’s weird?

I’m not overwhelmed.

Not in the slightest. Dr. Jones kicked my ass on the phone last week and told me to get it together and write this book and do all the things I’ve been afraid to do for the last few years, and we put together a rough sketch of a plan and a timeline, and suddenly, my overwhelm just melted away.

Which makes me wonder a bit about overwhelm, that maybe it’s not about how much we have to do, but how we feel about what we have to do. I’m excited about all of this. I’m excited about getting this goddamn book finally done. I’m excited about doing videos on YouTube again. I’m excited about friggin’ TikTok, if you can believe that. Arguably, all of these plans will take more time and energy than what I was doing before when I found it ridiculously taxing just thinking about getting out of bed in the morning.

Now, for some reason, with a workload that’s easily doubled from what I had before, I’m somehow ready to go. I mean, I’m not looking this gift horse in the mouth or anything. I’m gonna ride this wave as far as it’ll take me, and from there, I’ll claw and scrape my way to the end if I have to. But right now, I’m feeling pretty good.

So, I’m doing this thing. I’m doing it with systems and strategies and random ideas and a lot of coffee. The next three months are going to be the start of a big thing for me, and I’m going to need you guys. I’m going to need you to cheer me on when I get exhausted. I’m going to need you to retweet and follow and like and subscribe and tell your friends. I’m going to need you to come to my Saturday Create-Alongs.

What’s a Create-Along? Glad you asked.

From 10a-2p EST every Saturday starting September 25 and going at least until my deadline, I’m going to host live create-alongs on YouTube where I write this goddamn book live, 25 minutes working and then a 5 minute break where I chat with whoever’s there with me. Do you have a project you’d like to finish? Doesn’t have to be a book. Are you knitting a sweater? Painting a picture? Making costumes for your kid’s school play? Perfect. You qualify. Subscribe to my YouTube channel for notifications.

Trust me. It’ll be fun.

Everything,

L