Do you have great ideas about what you want to do, but somehow you never find time to do them? If you’re like me, it’s because you fill your free time with time-wasting activities. Eventually, you realize that another week, another month, or even another year has gone by — but your “great ideas” are still only ideas.

In this article, I will describe different strategies for getting things done. Some are things that I’m doing myself, and some are observations that I’ve made about the success of other people. If you apply these strategies to your own life, you will cause your great ideas to manifest into actual results.

1. Screw Perfection

Sometimes you think that if you’re going to do anything at all, you want to “do it right.” You imagine what’s necessary to do the task perfectly, but some detail prevents you from doing it that way. Instead of doing something less than perfect, you do nothing at all.

For me, the pursuit of perfection has always been the largest hurdle in reaching my writing goals. I will start to work on something, but within minutes of starting I convince myself that it’s not good enough. This initial doubt causes me to give up on the idea completely. Striving for perfection is a huge hindrance, because I actually prefer to publish nothing at all than publish anything that I think is “bad.”

The result is a detrimental cycle where nothing is getting done. If you do nothing for one day, it’s simpler to do nothing the next day. Then after you’ve done nothing for two days, it’s easier to do nothing for three, and so on. Anyone who’s ever had a gym membership knows what I’m talking about: If you get out of the habit of going, it’s easy to quit going completely.

Screw perfection. If you aim for it, you will fail.

Furthermore, when you’re afraid of failure, perfection will cause a paralyzing fear that lets you accomplish nothing at all. You’re afraid of making a wrong choice, so you don’t choose anything. You’re left spinning your wheels, and time passes you by.

That’s not how success works! You can’t expect your first business to be a success without making any mistakes. You can’t expect the first book you write to be a best seller. You can’t expect the first song you record to be a smash hit.

Jonathan Coulton, an American singer and songwriter, realized this when he started his Thing A Week series in 2005. His goal was to write and record one song a week for an entire year. For the duration of the project, he recorded songs and uploaded them to his website weekly for fans to listen to, even if he didn’t think the songs were that great.

Since they were created within such a short deadline, his songs were hardly perfect (in fact, most of “JoCo’s” song lyrics are truly absurd). Even so, he successfully recorded 52 songs in a year, and one song “Code Monkey” was popularized online. This pillar song was written on week 29 of JoCo’s Thing A Week project, and its popularity attracted listeners to his other work.

The subsequent popularity of Coulton’s digital albums and his Thing A Week projects propelled him into a successful music career fueled by geek culture. He has opened live at They Might Be Giants concerts, and at Mystery Science Theater 3000 events. Coulton now makes $500,000 a year from his music despite lacking a record label contact.

The thing is, if Coulton had waited until his songs were perfect before sharing them, he might have never shared them at all. He never would have developed such a strong fanbase on his website and gotten to where he is today if he hadn’t pushed the envelope for his creativity. I find his methods for producing songs and his resulting success to be fascinating, because it’s almost as though he told himself: “Screw perfection, I’m gonna write some music.”

2. Nix Distractions

The Internet is a funny animal. It somehow manages to be the best writing assistant imaginable, as well as my most distracting arch-nemesis. Although I can use the Internet to look up word definitions, to read online articles that help inspire new writing ideas, and to broadcast my thoughts to a global audience, it is also filled with countless distractions — mostly pictures of cats.

A lot of the Internet is pointless, but it’s pointlessly amusing. One minute you’re searching for something relevant, which in turn leads you to something curious, which then leads you somewhere else entirely. I once found myself lost on the net, somehow watching a Japanese fitness video where women were working out while chanting things like “We were mugged by two men.” When I finally realized what I was doing I wondered How did I even get here?

The best way to deal with distractions? Eliminate them.

I don’t mean that you should delete your Facebook account, toss your laptop, and nuke your ISP in order to escape the Internet. I simply mean that whatever your distraction of choice is (cable TV, video games, cell phone, the Internet), find a way to distance yourself from it. Turn your TV off. Work somewhere you can focus. If you can’t concentrate at home, leave your place and go do your work at the library or nearby coffee shop. Turn your phone off.

When I go to my local library, I enjoy working in a designated “quiet area.” Cell phones are prohibited, and talking is reduced to a whisper. Everyone around me is buried in their work, and such an environment causes me to want to work too. I practically feel like I need to be working hard in order to fit in. Browsing pictures or videos on the net while the guy next to you is studying for the MCAT really drives home the fact that YOU SHOULD BE WORKING.

3. Don’t Break the Chain

Reaching your goals takes time. Even if you are able to overcome perfection and avoid distractions, your long-term goals will be slow-going. With this in mind, if you truly want to achieve something, it is best to work towards it on a daily basis.

This is tough. Life is often unpredictable, and you’re bound to be spending your time on the tasks that are in the forefront of your mind. Furthermore, you’ll likely be worn out from the demands of daily life, and the long-term goals that you want to achieve may be put off for future “to-do” lists.

Jerry Seinfeld uses a productivity secret called “Don’t Break the Chain.” His method for writing every day is to get a yearly calendar, hang it on the wall, and draw a huge X across every day that he writes something.

Over time, he creates a “chain” of Xs on his calendar. Seeing his progress visually encourages him to keep writing, so that he won’t “break the chain.” Furthermore, after 30 days of doing something consistently, it becomes a habit. At this point, it seems unnatural to miss a day in the chain.

I’m trying this now. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I’ve been writing articles to publish on my blog. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I’ve been adding to my fiction story so that I’ll eventually have about 80 pages of a manuscript. My intentions are that my blog will earn more money the more I write in it, and my fiction story will grow large enough to submit for consideration at the University of Iowa’s creative writing program. So far, my calendar’s “chain” looks something like this:

Even though I’m not yet writing on the weekends, I’ve found that the process of writing often is coming more naturally to me. While I previously used to go months without posting new content to my blog, and gave up on my fiction stories completely, I’m now noticing that I’m anxious to write more. I’m determined to mark off another day that I spent working towards my goals.

There are countless strategies available for getting things done. These are some of the best ones that work for me. I’d be interested to hear about any other strategies you’ve discovered that work well for you!

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I’ve been playing with the idea of starting an interview series on LifeReboot. It would be interesting to hear the perspectives of people who have successfully reinvented themselves doing what they love to do, and to find out how they did it. Similarly, it would be interesting to interview professional writers so that aspiring writers like myself could learn from them. Alex Moschina is a guy who fits both descriptions: Alex has successfully reinvented himself as a professional writer.

When I asked Alex if he was interested in being interviewed about his new life as a writer, he quickly agreed. Please enjoy my interview with Alex below.

Welcome, Alex! For the benefit of those who don’t already know you, will you please give us a 5-second description of yourself and your profession?

Hiya. I’m a Michigan-born copywriter / web cartoonist / aspiring author of fiction.

Why writing? What attracted you to the craft?

I’m an introspective person (or narcissistic, depending on who you ask). Writing allows me to take all the seemingly mundane aspects of everyday life and spin them into something profound. I’ve always admired how authors like Raymond Carver and J.D. Salinger do this. Reading the way their characters light their cigarettes or how they say one thing and do another in the name of propriety, you can’t help but think “I know this person.” And then their experience becomes yours.

Interesting. So how long have you been writing? Would you agree that writing for a living is a difficult road? What were your experiences that led you to where you are today?

Writing was my greatest childhood ambition. When I was in my early teens I started with short fiction and poems, and when I got to high school my first order of business was to join the newspaper. By the time I graduated college, I had more than a dozen notebooks filled with story ideas, scraps of fiction and a very rough draft of my first screenplay.

All in all, I’d say I’ve been writing for around 15 years. And I’d definitely agree that it’s a difficult career to pursue. Although entry-level positions are hard to come by, they do exist. The trick is putting in the time. If a potential employer asks for a writing sample, research the job and find out what sort of assignments you’d be working on. Then write something that matches up. Putting forth this effort will automatically set you apart from the vast majority of candidates. It also helps if you’re willing to relocate, because the hard truth is that most writing jobs are in major cities.

Knowing what you know now, is there anything that you’d do differently if you were to do it again? Put another way, do you have any advice for aspiring writers wanting to do what you do?

There really isn’t much I’d do differently. Yeah, I could’ve tried harder for an internship at a publishing house or spent more time in college writing than going out with my friends. But I’m only 27, and I’d like to think I have a long career ahead of me.

Still, if I’ve learned one thing it’s this: NEVER trust your first draft. In my experience, nothing worth publishing is ever written in one sitting. My advice is to get your idea out, walk away for 20 minutes, come back and revise. Do this no less than five times (trust me, you’ll find something wrong every time) before you solicit any outside opinions. And remember that writing is like any learned skill – you need to do it and do it often. And submit everywhere. Eventually you’ll get that job / acceptance letter you’ve been dreaming of.

Great advice! I agree how rough drafts can be seemingly revised forever, since there’s always something wrong that you missed, or a way to reword something to make it read better.

Regarding “getting your idea out,” would you agree the hardest thing about being a writer is overcoming writer’s block? What strategies do you use for writing even when you don’t want to?

I’ve actually found that the most effective cure for writer’s block is to stop writing. Because it’s whenever I’m away from my desk that my brain goes to work. If you can relate to this, try going for a walk or run. When you’re a mile away from your computer, notebook or even a napkin to scribble on, inspiration will strike. It never fails. Maybe it’s the endorphins, maybe it’s just your brain being a jerk. But trust me, it works.

What is your favorite book/author?

I’m a huge fan of the Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams (in fact, I’ve got a tattoo of Marvin the manically-depressed robot on my right arm). I also love The Once and Future King by T.H. White, nearly everything by Steven King and, as I mentioned already, the short works of Raymond Carver and J.D. Salinger.

Would you say your favorites influence your own writing? Do you have other sources of inspiration?

Absolutely. Though it’s really important to develop your own style. For a while I was really into Palahniuk and Vonnegut, and you could see it in my writing. Then when I started reading Carver, all of a sudden my characters were chain smokers. It’s important to note the difference between being influenced by someone and trying to write as them.

You work as a copywriter. Can you describe a typical day in the life of a copywriter?

Copywriting is journalism, marketing and creative writing all rolled into one. At any given time I’m researching a topic for my next article or writing promotional copy for a new product. It’s really the perfect day job for someone who enjoys learning new things.

What do you consider your proudest achievement in life?

It’s tough to settle on just one. The last few years have been full of proud moments – I’ve changed careers, started a website, had dozens of stories/articles published around the web and proposed to my girlfriend, Rebecca. I suspect there’s even bigger things around the corner, so perhaps I should get back to you…

What is your favorite word? Least favorite?

At present, my favorite word is “chutzpah.” Least favorite: “rad.”

What is next for Alex Moschina?

For the foreseeable future, I will continue to submit short works to magazines and journals. I’m also working on writing/illustrating the next 50 “episodes” of my webcomic, Crossed Country (you can see the first 50 here).

Alex, I really appreciate you taking the time to tell us about yourself and answer my questions. To close, do you have any final words of advice for aspiring writers today? And where can we find out more about you or read your copy?

Nike really hit the nail on the head: just do it. If you have a great idea for a story, put it on paper. Now. You can always revise it later. And as far as my output is concerned, you can check out my author page on Thought Catalog or simply Google “Alexander Moschina.” This will yield tons of links to articles I’ve written about technology, investing and other things people are surprised I understand.

Alex Moschina is a creative professional based in South Florida. He’s also a good friend and former co-worker of mine that may or may not owe me some money.

Do you know anyone like Alex that might be interested in sharing their story on LifeReboot? Please Contact Me!

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I joined a writers group this weekend. It’s a group of people who meet regularly at the library to share things they’ve written for critique. The intention is to bring a piece of writing to share, consider everyone’s suggestions for edits, and improve your writing.

Although I’ve frequently shared my writing online, sharing it in person was different. In addition to being able to see and hear how people reacted to what I’ve written, I also was exposed to their own individual writing styles. I met an older man writing a humor piece on the topic of human intelligence, a black woman revising an opinion editorial to submit to the local paper, and a mother writing about her first experience with love to submit to an essay contest. It was really cool to meet a group of like-minded recreational writers, and to read their works in progress.

In addition to enjoying their varied perspectives, I also liked how positive and supportive the group was. Anything they disagreed with or didn’t necessarily like would be explained in a way that wasn’t offensive to the writer. Constructive criticism was offered as a response to the writing itself: “This sentence made me feel…” versus “You made me feel…”

Having a conversation with my audience this way was beneficial. I was able to better understand how people aren’t inside my head with me as I’m presenting my writing to them. Surprisingly, they’ll react in ways I totally did not expect nor intend.

To better demonstrate what I mean, consider this example. The following line is from a story I shared with the group. It’s part of a chapter where I’m introducing a new character:

Traicoff was more or less deaf in both ears, consequence of a close one in Vietnam.

When I mentioned Vietnam, my intention was to offer an explanation why the character was hard of hearing. I didn’t think much of it other than that.

My group really honed in on this, even though I thought it was only a single detail! They told me that mentioning Vietnam causes the character to transform in their minds. He’s now a military man. If the story is taking place in present day, he’s an older military man.

Furthermore, they understood why I used such foul language throughout any of Traicoff’s internal dialogue. Being a war veteran, they expected a certain ruggedness from him: he’s a guy who spits, takes no crap from anyone, and curses often.

All this considered, they also explained that my liberal use of cursing was a bit off-putting. They suggested how unless I’m cursing to define the character, all I’m doing is distracting from the story. In other words, even though I believe cursing throughout my story is acceptable, it doesn’t make the story any more bold, urgent, or important. When I curse unnecessarily, I’m really only hurting myself.

Interestingly, I’ve actually received feedback regarding my frequent cursing in my writing before. Here is a comment left on my website, in response to some fiction I published:

I don’t enjoy reading all the f… and sh… words. You can turn a lot of people off with that kind of language.

When I first received this criticism in 2008, though, it was impossible for me to distinguish this anonymous comment from all of the other negativity I’ve received from my blog articles. At the time, I figured the anonymous haters were saying negative comments about my fiction simply because they could hide behind the veil of the internet. As a result, I didn’t take their feedback seriously.

Having received similar criticism about my curse-laced writing style from people in the flesh, though, makes me realize that it is a real problem area that I need to focus on. Highlighting another example from my story, I can really see their point:

He gave only a quick glance towards the far side of the barn where the worst of the strike had hit, and might have kept running towards the house if there hadn’t been a giant fucking meteorite where his barn door used to be.

The use of the f-word here isn’t part of the character’s internal dialogue at all — it’s the narrator that’s cursing. My intention was to give the impression of just how tremendously surprised Traicoff was when he discovered the meteorite, but I should be doing that some other way. Using bad language is an amateur tactic, and I need to stop using it as my crutch.

Like I indicated previously, the writers group was generally positive. Although there were a few moments where I felt like they were “nit-picking” my piece, I believe that I was simply being defensive of my creation. I’m proud of what I’ve written so far, and naturally I’m going to be a bit sensitive when someone doesn’t love it as much as I do.

Honestly, the last thing that I want is to turn a reader off of my piece because of some bad words that I could have left out completely. The thing is, cursing in my fiction is going to offend some people, and cause them to stop reading. What I’ve managed to take away from this first meeting is that there’s a time and place for everything — but unless there’s a good reason to have my characters drop the f-bomb, I should try and avoid it.

Rewrite is a crucial part of the writing process. Armed with this new knowledge about how people reacted to my potty mouth, I’m willing to eliminate all of it when I go back to make edits. Without this feedback, I would have submitted my piece for the creative writing program that I’m applying for with the curse words still in it.

Maybe it would have caused my application to immediately meet the bin. Maybe it wouldn’t have. Whichever the case, I know that I’m serious about becoming a professional writer. With this in mind, I don’t want to do anything that will hurt my chances in that pursuit. Similarly, I’m grateful for any feedback and constructive criticism that will help improve my writing, and increase my chance of success.

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I joined Facebook recently. And like you do on Facebook, you friend people that you’ve lost touch with over the years, and catch up with them. I was quickly faced with the choice of whether or not to friend an ex-girlfriend.

I figured “Sure, why not? We’re both adults now, and everything that we had together was a long time ago. What’s the harm?”

She accepted my friend request, but I stopped myself from really delving into her profile and pictures. I was certain that she’d have a new man, a new job, and a new life that I knew nothing about — but I knew that if I dared to look closely there was a chance I’d get jealous or upset.

Fast forward a few weeks, and I see a status update from her about her workplace. It’s a video of her office headquarters in New York, shot in an “MTV Cribs” style. I watch the video, see the super sweet company she’s working for, and get mad.

My knee-jerk reaction is raw jealousy. Her office reeks of Google-esque perks. The office culture looks young and tech savvy. There’s a break room stocked with video games, a pool table, and holy crap is that pinball? There are countless rooms filled with expensive video editing equipment, filled with young editors doing creative work. The video wraps up with a glance at the cafeteria, which serves great food during the day and transforms into a chill bar atmosphere at night.

She is working somewhere where the office culture and environment is infinitely cooler than any place that I’ve worked in my life, and I’m jealous. What makes me even more jealous is how the video’s comments indicate that it’s her first job out of college, and that she’s been happily working there for the last four years.

My rational mind tells me that she must have worked very hard to get where she is now, and that I should be happy for her. My irrational mind, however, makes me wonder HOW THE HELL DID SHE GET SO LUCKY!?

(My irrational mind is often times much louder than my rational mind.)

Ever since I watched this video I’ve been in a fit of jealous rage. I’m mad because she’s younger than me, but has surpassed me career-wise by landing a super sweet job at a super sweet company. I’m mad because in her very first attempt at finding a career she found something that she’s been excited about doing for four years, whereas the longest I’ve ever tolerated a job was only three. I’m mad that I always get frustrated at my day jobs and burned out by the work that I’m doing, because I don’t have a workplace that I’m anxious to go to. I’m jealous because I’d love to work someplace similar, where the employer not only acknowledges that work should be fun — but encourages it!

These feelings have dominated my subconscious for the last 24 hours. I’ve been bombarded with feelings of anger and frustration and self-pity when I’m trying to work, trying to relax, or even trying to shower. I tell myself that I should be happy for her. I tell myself that I don’t know the whole story, and that I’m making huge assumptions from only one glimpse of what she’s up to. All this considered, I still can’t help but feel jealous.

I tell myself that it’s not a competition, and that there are other things in my life that I am proud of. Perhaps I’m not as successful as I’d like to be regarding my career, but that doesn’t mean I’m unsuccessful as a person. It simply feels like it’s a bigger deal than it is since “work” plays such a large role in who we are as individuals. Consequently, I think that I want what she has.

I have to stop and ask myself: What am I really jealous of?

When I look at her job title, I wonder “is this what I want to be doing?” and the answer is “No, I want to be a writer.” So what is it then?

She’s working with creative minds in an environment that encourages creativity. That’s something I’ve never had at a job, and that’s something I’d enjoy.

So how do you cope with these feelings? You’re faced with something another person is succeeding at, and instead of feeling happy for them, it makes you feel bitter and enraged. Your reaction is raw, unyielding, and often irrational.

Most people cope by complaining about it. I admit that I’m doing some serious complaining this very moment. You think “Oh woe is me life’s unfair blah blah blah.” Aside from venting your frustrations and maybe feeling a tiny bit better, this method of coping is pointless.

The better option is to channel this feeling into positive action. Although I tell myself that life’s not a competition, humans are competitive by nature. You can use these jealous feelings to inspire you to create positive change in your life.

Maybe jealousy is the feeling that you needed in order to finally “wake up.” Maybe it’s the kick in the pants that you needed to start doing something you’ve been wanting to do but haven’t had the courage to. Maybe it’s the motivation you need to really look at yourself and say “This isn’t who I want to be, and now I’m going to do something about it.”

Whatever the case, jealousy is definitely a pool of raw energy that can be tapped. To quote a friend of mine: “Are you drawing from that pool?”

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I was recently contacted by a LifeReboot reader who described the concept of “Golden Handcuffs.” Roger was trapped in a job that he didn’t enjoy, but he was making so much money at that job he felt like he had no choice but to stay there.

I imagine that many of us can relate to Roger’s situation. Sometimes you’re in a bad spot and the “what if” questions stop you from making any changes about it. You imagine that it’s too late to start over. You think it would be dumb to come this far only to throw it all away. You’re afraid that you’ll never rise to this level again if you tried something else and failed at it.

Roger’s success story might encourage you to try anyway. From his email:

Shaun, what you’re doing is worthwhile and I applaud you for your work and courage.

In regards to my story, I just followed my feelings. I had worked in various IT roles (support, engineering, security) and was making very good money doing so — but I was inherently unhappy once I stopped learning new things. I had earned multiple different vendor certifications through self-study while working (CCNP, CCSE, MCSE, MCNE, A+, etc.) and with each I progressed to more “prestigious” roles. After meeting each goal I found myself once again bored and unhappy. As you wrote, I was simply trading time for money.

A co-worker and I discussed our feelings at length regarding this phenomenon which we referred to as “The Golden Handcuffs” – making so much money at a job, you simply can’t leave it.

Before getting into IT, my co-worker had been a series 7 stockbroker at Charles Schwab making $100K+, but he had found himself in a similar predicament – trading time for money. He told me that while working at Charles Schwab he found himself envious of the support techs, because despite making less than half of his pay, their job was more appealing to him than being a broker. He bought a Novell study guide, obtained his CNA certification and began to apply for $30K IT jobs. The one he happened to get was working with me.

While sitting at my desk one day, stressed by some arbitrary deadline, I stared out of my cubicle and through the window. I saw a maintenance man blowing leaves off the sidewalk in the rain and thought to myself how much I would like to trade jobs with him. That’s when I recognized how miserable I was, and I made the decision to do something about it…

I had always been interested in law enforcement, but I had no idea how to go about becoming a police officer. I did, however, have a neighbor who was a police officer so I went to him and inquired about the process. As I found out, North Carolina has a standardized curriculum that is delivered at community colleges throughout the state – some of which even offered it at night!

I continued working and attended the academy in the evenings for the next nine months. I had no social life, but somehow managed to meet my wife during that time and we were married about a year later.

I joined the police force as a reserve officer (same uniform, authority, jurisdiction, etc. – but unpaid and you make your own schedule) and continued to work in IT. I had changed companies in an attempt to find happiness while maintaining my income level, but it was a lost cause. I loved being a police officer and was volunteering an average of around 30 hours per week at the PD on top of my 40 hours working to pay the bills.

I discussed changing careers with my wife and my father, neither of which liked the idea; they both wanted me to continue working in IT and believed that I should just “play cop” on the weekends. And so it went… I continued to toil away for a few more years. Things only got worse. I finally had enough and knew what I had to do.

I spoke to the Chief and asked for a full-time position, which he happily offered me. I went to my boss the next morning and turned in my 2-week notice. I went to my wife that evening and told her about what I had done. She was unhappy to say the least, and I thought that my decision may cost me my marriage, but thankfully it didn’t.

I started full-time at the police department four years ago, and have never regretted my decision.

What I like most about Roger’s story is that he describes it as “following his feelings.” Although it may have taken some time to recognize the need for change, get educated, and move to a different career — he was enthusiastic about the new life he was creating, and he was therefore unstoppable.

What’s interesting about the notion of “Golden Handcuffs” is that it doesn’t have to be a good-paying job that’s trapping you. It might even be a job that pays you poorly, but the simple fact that you receive a steady paycheck prevents you from taking action towards the life you want to be living. I’m certain that many of us believe we must continue to work in our “trap jobs” because we feel like we must — not because we want to.

As Roger implied, acknowledgment is only the first step of the reinvention process. When he looked out the window and felt jealous of the maintenance man working in the rain, it triggered a series of changes that led him to his current, more fulfilling life. Even if you know that you’re unhappy, and you know that you need to make some changes, ask yourself whether or not you’re actively working towards your life goals. If you’re not, then you really don’t want them.

Roger, you are an inspiration to all of us who want to be working a job that pleases the mind, body, and soul. I’m grateful for your success story, and wish you the very best in your new life. Thanks so much for sharing!

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