I received a hard copy, glossy Internet magazine in the mail this week. As I was flipping through it, I recognized many of the writers’ names from articles I’ve seen in various places online. I stopped at one that was about SEO, and attempted to read it, but found it to be so poorly written, that I couldn’t get through it.
I’m used to most online SEO articles being very hard to read because they’re not written by professional writers. But, for some crazy reason, I was astonished to see the same poor quality writing from an actual magazine! I would certainly expect a glossy magazine to have some sort of editing process before they publish any articles, but apparently they don’t.
I’m not even talking about the content of the articles being poor. The content may or may not have been good — I’ll never know, because I couldn’t read them!
Has the Internet by its very nature of allowing anyone and everyone to become a “writer” killed good writing?
I’m starting to wonder.
Steve Pavlina has an interesting post about “Planning for Optimal Enjoyment” which really hit home for me, as I find myself naturally working in a similar manner. I always thought I did this because I was just “lazy” and only like doing what I like doing. Which is probably true, but I have to admit, this method really does work for me, and I really do get a ton accomplished!
Here’s Steve’s 10-step plan for planning your goals in a way that you will also enjoy:
- Select interesting projects. Favor projects I enjoy implementing vs. only looking to the end result.
- Add variety. Break up long stretches of repetitive work. Work in different locations. Take field trips.
- Improve balance. Blend solo time with social time. Balance physical work with mental work.
- Create a pleasing work environment. Relaxify my workspace so I enjoy spending time there.
- Involve others. Find a way to get friends involved. Form a mastermind group. Involve my wife.
- Solve problems creatively. Favor creative off-the-wall methods when the obvious solution is too dull or tedious.
- Enjoy plenty of downtime. Keep motivation high by avoiding overwork. Take vacations. Enjoy rewards for achieving mini-milestones.
- Avoid the unpleasant. If a step can’t be done enjoyably, find a way to delegate, outsource, or eliminate it.
- Use intention-manifestation. Focus intentions to gain assistance from the Law of Attraction.
- Design for flexibility. Allow daily choice making where order of task completion isn’t critical.
I can’t say that I do everything exactly as he lists here, but it’s very much inline with my philosophy, and it’s cool to know that I’m not the only one who manages to get a lot of things done while still avoiding the unpleasant work that I dislike!