The cabin emitted a loud ding, like someone outside the plane wished to come in. Seeing as how we were 30,000 feet in the air though, I presumed we had reached our cruising altitude. Soon coming over the loudspeaker, the captain confirmed my theory.

Reaching down, I pulled my laptop out of my backpack. It quickly powered up and I just as quickly had a blank document open. I had decided it was time to start a new business. My previous venture had come up short a few months back and I was itching to get out there once again…

Common advice dictates that you do nothing until inspiration strikes. That if you wake up uninspired or unmotivated, you are under no obligation to do your work. Particularly in the creative fields.

But is that good advice? History is undoubtedly filled with geniuses who waited for the muse to shine upon them before picking up their pen. Is that the rule though? Or the exception? Surely there is more than one way to get to where you want to go.

Personality Types

I had a conversation with a relative recently. We were discussing personality types. She and I both considered ourselves Type-A’s.

…

Six months. You’ve worked tirelessly for six months. At the start, you knew nothing about e-commerce. You didn’t know what dropshipping was or the logistics behind it. All you had was an idea: you wanted to start a watch brand. Since then, you’ve figured things out one baby step at a time. You connected with a manufacturer. You ordered samples. With the help of your fiance and also your mom, you did a photo shoot. You taught yourself how to edit images. You built a website and planned your marketing strategy.

All the while you told yourself: Don’t get too…

“If your first business had done well, do you think you’d still be doing it today?” she asked. “I’ve never thought of that,” I said. “But yes, I probably would.” I don’t aspire to build businesses for their own sake. I build businesses in the hopes of creating the one. Of creating something that is fulfilling, something that I love.

My wife and I started dating in high school. We’ve been together ever since. Because of that, entrepreneurship has always seemed to take the place of dating in my life. I’d start a business, hoping it would work out, but…

I once had someone pay me to organize their life. That’s not the way they phrased it. That’s what it was though. Their life was scattered. Chaos and disorder surrounded them. They wanted me to pull them out of it. I said that’s not something I normally do. They said they didn’t care. Take my money was the essence of their plea. I took it. I showed them what to do. They didn’t like it. They wanted something “else.” I shrugged. We went our separate ways.

My system isn’t fancy, but damn is it effective.

I do everything in Google…

The nausea isn’t surprising. That doesn’t make it any more pleasant though. I let out a groan of discomfort and try not to move. The TV’s flashing with the animated sequences of Rick and Morty. I focus on it, hoping to forget my gluttony. It works. At least, for a while. The dishes still need to be done, but there’s no rush. The day is mine for the taking (or the wasting). For some reason, I turn off the TV and start playing dance music on my phone. …

I sat at my desk. My eyes were shut. I had just completed a chapter of For Whom the Bell Tolls. And now, patiently, I reworked my way through the storyline. From the beginning all the way to my current spot. I recounted where it all started. What happened from there, what characters came in at what point, and what led to the events happening as of present. These were early days in my reading journey. I felt that I needed to remember as much as I could from everything I came across. Otherwise, I wasn’t a true reader.

Turns…

Before embarking on any venture that involves more than one person, knowing how productive they are is invaluable. Whether that be a business partnership, new collaboration, or a simple meeting, it is to your benefit to recognize their productivity levels ahead of time. Otherwise, you may be stuck carrying the bulk of the workload. As you navigate through your side of the deal, they’ll still be crawling through the initial stages. As you give them updates as to your progress, you’ll have to hound them to provide the most basic of communications.

In my near half-decade of writing about productivity…