Read on Twitter
I decided to challenge myself to create a 100 tweets thread. Everything here relates to tips, tricks, recommendations and more. Everything I've used in 2020 - Health, Content, tools, tech. In no particular order. Enjoy. 
Add meeting zones to your calendar. These are areas where you allow meetings to take place. Mine: Tues to Thursday between 11:00 and 15:00 (who books a meeting at 16:00?!)
Install @freedom on your pc / mac - it runs on mobile devices too. Use these in your deep work sessions or peak times. No more distractions
Download a sleep monitoring app - everything is dependent on you getting sleep. Everything. I use @ouraring and @risescience. Rise will tell you when your peak times are to work on the important stuff.
Protect your peak times. Religiously. Block out the time the app tells you each day and concentrate on the thing that’s most important to you. In your ‘dip’ times work on the mundane. (admin, reports etc)
Read fiction at night. I realised this as industry books would make my head explode with new ideas and tests I want to run. Fiction relaxes you. (I’ve become obsessed with Agatha Christie)
Don’t watch TV in the week. Serious, you aren’t missing anything.
Automate repetitive tasks, even if they are small, you would be surprised at the time you get back. @zapier, @IFTTT , @integromat , and others. Draw out the output and work backwards.
Saturdays are Family / Friends day. Step away from the screens. Especially the self-employed. You need this time, breaks will help keep going.
Robots, yes robots. Vacuum, lawnmower. Crucial if you need more time. My house is vacuumed every day and the lawn is ‘pristine’ and I haven’t used any of my time. Consider @NeatoRobotics and @WorxUK
Workout apps and working out at home - I use @Freeletics . I've seen more results in a month then I did at the gym. Plus you have no excuse as you can get straight to it and not have to get to the gym (the one thing that would make me miss a day or two)
Try Keto - not just for the weight loss and health - but for how it makes you feel. My mind has never been clearer. Energy levels are up, skin is healthy. So many benefits
Drink your coffee strategically. I have one just after meditation whilst I catch up on my news and info. Don't blitz it in the morning, you will crash in the afternoon. Google: Titanium Tea
Add your newsletter subscriptions to Feedly. You will read them then. Inbox’s push them down and you miss lots of info. (Newsletters are the best form of info as they have been filtered and the writer is sharing what they are passionate and knowledgable about)
Buy these body scrubbers https://swiy.io/scrub - better than a 'scrunchy' or whatever they are called. These things work. From
Big project: split it into cards in @trello, install @EleganttApp, view in Trello calendar, integrate with @todoist - Every morning when you wake up you will see what you need to get done for the day. Ticking off and moving cards to complete is very satisfying
Embrace bullet journaling. Three years in now and it has changed my life.
Read ‘The slight edge’ and make non-zero days part of your life. @yourslightedge
Avoid any Social Media ‘professional’ that tries to sell you a prebuilt calendar, ‘viral’ templates or their book - its all bullshit, trust me. Your channels, your audience is specific to you and your brand. Learn to read data, test, experiment
Try Fasting. You aren’t starving yourself, just controlling when you take in calories. Autophagy is good - look it up
Always be learning, but skip the chapters and modules you don’t need. Most books and video courses will have filler, skip that, consume what you need at the time. You learn as you do.
You will never learn to code by following a book or course. Have an idea? Use that to learn. Google and YouTube are your friends. Build your idea out and you will retain those learnings because you put them into practice.
Learn #NOCODE - seriously, the shit you can do once you get a grasp of it. Webpages in minutes, apps in mere hours. Build your MVP with nocode, if it takes off, look into pure code. That way you haven’t wasted any investment of time. Plus the nocode community are very supportive
Install @Grammarly . This thing has saved me from many typos. And the semantics for whatever the purpose of your writing is great
Get a @rodemics RodeCaster Pro · Digital Mixer if you are recording videos or podcasts. You will save time in the post as your voice sounds amazing.
On that podcast note, install @DescriptApp. This is a powerhouse. Not only perfect for quick editing but has loads more functions. Audiograms are great!
If you create a blog, video or podcast, share the shit out of it. But not just once. Write your content so you can share it throughout the year via multiple formats. (quick tip: Check out @Missinglettr - run it on one of your blog posts. Thank me later)
Create working playlists. Interestingly music without lyrics works best as your brain doesn’t need to process the words.
Sugar is shit. Really shit. The past two years of Keto I’ve had the occasional ‘Cheat day’ and eaten sweets and chocolate - you feel awful.
@SubstackInc is probably the best newsletter writing tool I’ve ever used. I’ve used to use the likes of mail chimp and active campaign - they are fine for funnels and triggers - substack is a pleasure to use
Use @trello to curate content for newsletters - install an extension that allows you to quickly add. Trello will allow you to move the curated content in other columns so you know what you have used.
Use @RoamResearch - I can see my brain on the screen. Get it, but don’t just use it. Watch all the tutorials. it will help you write amazing content, create great presentations and more. No more forgetting things, it's all there
Use @webflow to build sites - I wish I’d had this a few years ago. An absolute pleasure to use to build websites. I’m now looking to convince my WordPress clients to move over.
Journal every day. Not in a ‘dear diary’ way, but get what's in your head on paper. There’s something about writing it down. Google ‘journal prompts’ to get inspiration on what to write about. Build it however you want - make sure you have a chapter for daily gratitude.
You don’t need to be in the office to get your work done. Really. The people that want you there are micromanagers. Read everything @chris_herd puts out. Things are changing in 2021.
Follow @dvassallo and @arvidkahl - quality stuff and you will learn loads - zero to sold, digital products and more
Subscribe to the PRO version of http://Trends.vc by @DruRly, this is one email I look forward to receiving. (one day I will feature on it)
Read Atomic habits by @JamesClear - It will change your life. Really
Stop wasting time on reporting. Use @DashThis or Google dashboard. Automate it all. You don’t bill clients for this time. And Fridays suck for reporting. Create a live dashboard you can access any time or setup auto emails. (add your commentary though)
Workout in the morning. The longer you leave it the more excuses you make
@figmadesign, @sketch, @AdobeXD are your friend. Non-designers - search for UI kits for these tools and you can build your idea how you want it. (even prototype)
JUST START.
Cloud gaming - get on it now. Don’t buy a gaming pc that you have to update every 6 months. My current subscriptions: Shadow, Nvidia GeForce and Xcloud. Play anything, anywhere on any device. (GeForce already has a browser-based one for iOS - the others will follow soon)
Automate dinner with a food subscription. More so to avoid the ‘What are we having for dinner tonight?) - plus if you’re not too good at cooking you will learn some new techniques
“You have power over your mind—not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”– Marcus Aurelius
Don’t assume paid advertising will be the saviour of your launch. Put the time in for word of mouth, content, communities, relationships. Ads are intrusive, remember that
Write every day. A blog, a newsletter, a tweet... anything.
Meditate. No its not as woowoo as you think. Do it just before your work out, your mind will be clear
On that note, struggling to find ideas and inspiration? Shower or read a book or meditate or go for a walk. The ideas will come.
Financial tools to run my business: @Xero - all accounting and invoices, @ignitionapp for proposals, @FUTRLI for forecasts. I’m financially illiterate - these tools get the job done for me. Number one thing to do - a good accountant. (invest in that)
Clean up your phone. Remove Facebook and YouTube from your phone now, and any games. Then set up time blocks for distracting apps. Especially at night, many times I’ve been sucked into a Reddit Rabbit hole
Install @JustGetFlux on your machine, it will remove blue light and help with your sleep
Stop making other peoples dreams come true and work on your own. Today
Make sure your stripe, PayPal, Gumroad, Etsy, podia and others notifications are on.... the only interruptions you should get on your phone is when you’ve made a sale.
You will not get rich from dropshipping
Stop making stupid people famous. (this includes anyone from Love Island, Towie, Made in Chelsea, Kardashians etc. Block them all) - you can install blockers on your browsers
Install dftube - this will block any of the other videos when researching on your tube. All you will see is the video you want. This has helped loads when learning things and not being distracted by other interesting things
Set up SPF records for your domain that points to Shopify. Most of the mails will stop going to spam
Delete Microsoft office. Use Gsuite. Who uses pivot tables anyway ;-) Plus if you really want to get sorted, use @airtable instead of spreadsheets - you can then do anything with that data
Split test everything. You may have your assumptions or some data to rely on but won’t know until it's out in the wild. Split testing and tweaking will get you to that high performance. Includes, copy, tone of voice, website, landing page, ads, etc
Buy a sous vide - best steaks ever. Restuarant quality and precisely how you want them. (plus pulled pork, brisket) I use @AnovaCulinary. Talks to my watch and phone.
Want to add smart light bulbs to your house? It will cost you a fortune, rather install smart home light switches. I use @LightwaveRF throughout the house but am looking into @BrilliantTech (they are cool)
Want your vinyl on Sonos... don’t buy their expensive convertor. Learn Raspberry Pi by following this tutorial: https://signup.dosen.io/2fLU
@spotify is better than Apple Music or Prime music for discovery - Do not rely on the charts. Probably sound like my dad now but everything on the radio is manufactured and shit.
Read the Daily stoic by @RyanHoliday , you will find the occasional quote that can change everything. You don’t need to go deep into stoicism, but some of those philosophies can make a big difference
Download @readwiseio - all those kindle highlights and @pocket saves will come up in brief daily reviews where you can swipe left or right.
Daft Punks' soundtrack to Tron is great to work to
Use site:Reddit in your search queries. It’s amazing to get real people replies on a subject rather than something that’s been optimised for search
Change your view for work - I use @GetCroissant, £25 a month and I can book a couple of hours at a different desk whenever I want. Good for those that are distracted by the kids or partners
Install @rescuetime on your machines. After a bit of teaching, it will show you where your time goes on what tasks and software. You can also set goals e.g: 5 hours or productive time. Remember, there is a difference between being busy and being productive
Get a smart scale - yes the body fat may not be exact but at least you get to see a trend and that your efforts are working
Subscribe to a decent coffee bean provider if you drink your coffee black. Nespresso's tasts like feet, without milk. I use @pactcoffee with my @AeroPressHQ . Best coffee ever
Buy a waterproof notepad for the shower. The ideas will come, you need to record them
Buy a cheap set of pens with a built-in light - for when those ideas strike at night. @UKMUJI has some cool little notebooks to leave at the side for those midnights brainwaves
Use those notebooks by your computer. When an idea or something you want to look into comes up, write it down in there. Then get to it later
Write without editing. Just brain dump everything. Stopping for editing will kill your flow
On that note, don’t want to write? use @DescriptApp auto transcription and dictate your writing. Or use dictation on your phone. Fix grammar and punctuation later
Get a stream deck from @elgato, great for live streams but also good to have all your shortcuts on there and quickly start apps
Want to start the same apps for specific projects? Use workspaces https://signup.dosen.io/2fMV - group apps for different jobs. Say you have a shortcut for design, you can add all your adobe products, or finance and have all the sites and apps related to that open in one click
Starting a newsletter, export all your Gmail (or other mail clients) contacts and add to your list. Send an email to ask them if they want in or out. That’s your first emails added, in some cases may be a couple hundred. Start with who you know - ask them to share too
Add @shorby_ to your Instagram account for any link in bios. It’s the best looking URL saver and has analytics
Find an accountability buddy, plus if you can, do a live-work session together with an end goal. Works wonders. Can’t find anyone, register on @focusmate and get shit done
Keep posting on that blog. As frustrating as it gets, one day one of your posts will get pick up and it will have a domino effect. I made this mistake and am starting afresh with my new site
@todoist and fantastical from @flexibits work well together. Especially Fantastical's video call integration. Set up meetings in plain English and it sorts it for you. Great for integrations with Trello and others too
Cuba Llibres are best when served in a copper mug. Fact
Abolish throwbackthursday, hump Wednesday, or any other of those pointless hashtags. They do nothing - and unfollow anyone that does. (notice I didn’t tag words)
You can tell Alexa to set timers for specific things: 'Alexa set a rice timer for ten minutes', 'Alexa set a chicken timer for 1 hour and 20 minutes.' Multiple timers with labels. Easy
@answerthepublic, @SocialAnimal_io or @BuzzSumo will give you ideas to create content. Or just look at the auto completes in a google search bar
Have daily check-ins with your team/ friends/network/family. I use http://daily.so from @nocodelife - it helps those that don’t usually speak up in the zoom calls have a voice
Check out Banner Bear from @yongfook - you could use it to generate all your social posts in an hour or two after setting up. Especially if you have specific branding. I used this to generate 1500 icons to sell in two hours. (more detail on my site soon)
Embrace tweet threads (how meta) write them, consume them. http://Threader.app allows you to compile them too. Every line is an interesting point.
Outsource when you can. Even if you can do the job. It gives you so much time back plus you learn more techniques. Build a black book of skilled team members so you can call upon them whenever you need them
Moleskin notebook and Sakura Pigma Micron Fineliners a match made in heaven. Love writing with this setup.
@Ember_Tech mugs are amazing. You get to spend a little more time with that coffee or tea.
Get smart plugs for your studio if you record video. Plug your lights, cameras and other equipment in. Create a recipe on your Alexa to turn them all on when needed with a trigger, 'Alexa 'Start filming' instantly you are ready to go and no messing about and losing your momentum
When scrolling through Twitter, if you move past the same users tweets without reading, unfollow. Make your Twitter account interesting. Or embrace Twitter lists. http://Commun.it is a great tool to clean up your Twitter
"Be yourself', "Be authentic', are not Instagram strategies. Anyone sharing that is bullshitting you and creating filler. You need executional advice.
And that's it.
This is the sort of stuff that will be going into my substack. It launches next week. YOu can signup here: https://vinnovate.substack.com/ Episode 1 is going out next week. Thanks for reading!
This is the sort of stuff that will be going into my substack. It launches next week. YOu can signup here: https://vinnovate.substack.com/ Episode 1 is going out next week. Thanks for reading!
