Here are 10 specific ideas that I've stolen from books I've read. These are things I've bought, disciplines I've instilled, habits I've nurtured, and ways of thinking that have completely changed my life. Change your environment for success from Twilight Tharp's book, The Creative Habit. I credit this amazing book with completely overhauling my working environment. The author talks about how your workspace should be set up to remove friction from the creative process. It's the reason why I decided to install wooden paneling in this room as this provides a simple backdrop for me to film YouTube videos and I never need to change this. I also have lights permanently in place now in this room and I can control these easily for different moods. Red, light, blue, purple. But fundamentally it means that I can start filming very easily. The friction for starting my creative process has been removed. When you walk into a room, you are setting the tone. If it's cluttered and chaotic, your mind will reflect this. This is another reason why I try and keep this room free from clutter and distractions and I only have tools in it which are essential to my work. It's also now just a place that I really enjoy being in and I think that's really important for me in terms of producing good work. The analog table from Austin Cleon's book Steel Like an Artist. Straight after reading this book, I bought a small wooden table to put in the center of my workspace. The author talks about how he divides his own workspace into two parts, analog and digital. The analog desk is for offline work, writing, sketching. It's a space that he uses for pure creation. The digital desk, on the other hand, is where ideas are edited and published. 90% of the time that I'm here at my analog table. I spend writing, but I do obviously use this for filming YouTube videos as well. That this little area here has become almost like my space where I generate all of my good ideas. and I eliminate all distractions from it by never allowing myself to have any digital device that's connected to the internet on my analog table. This analog desk has been invaluable for my focus and helping me being consistent with my writing. Writing rituals from Stephen King's book on writing. Stephen King is very clear that routine is everything when it comes to building a writing life. When he's writing a first draft, he closes his door. I now have a lock on my door largely because it doesn't close properly and it stops my cats from coming in and out. When I sit down to write, I put the lock on the door and I follow Stephen King's advice by writing at the same time in the same place so that writing becomes a habit rather than a struggle. I need to write to come up with ideas for videos and I also do a lot of different journaling and creative writing. By following Stephen King's idea of having a regular time and place for writing has really helped me nurture the habit and I now only associate my analog desk with writing. This is my place where I come to lock in and write. Never have a bad day again. In January 2023, actor Jeremy Rener was crushed by a 14,000lb snowplow while trying to help a family member. He suffered over 30 broken bones, a collapsed lung, and severe chest trauma. He's very lucky to survive. His harrowing book, My Next Breath, documents his traumatic experience and recovery. But there was one line in the book which really struck a chord with me. I have the blessings of knowing what a bad day really is, and I'll never get to have another one ever again. After nearly dying, he sees each day as a gift. All of the pain, setbacks, and difficulties feel small compared to the fact that he's alive and able to continue living and being with his family. The book reminded me about the paradox of going through the worst times of my own life. Awful experiences, as painful as they are, ultimately have made me stronger and much more grateful for the people I have in my life. When I do X, I will do Y from Tiny Habits by BJ Fog. The simplest way I have found to start any new habit has been to use this framework. You can build a new behavior by attaching it to things you already do. For example, when I go to the toilet, I will do one press up. When I brush my teeth, I will do a 10-second plank. The X in the equation is an existing behavior, something I already do, and the Y is the new behavior that I want to build. This works so well because the existing behavior is already baked into my routine. I credit this idea with nurturing my running habit over the years that as the name of the book suggests the key thing is to start off doing the new habit in a really tiny way. Small wins matter. In his book, The Power of Habit, Charles Dig talks about the role of small wins in shaping habits and creating largecale change. Each win, no matter how small, helps build the confidence and momentum that is needed for much larger success. This idea is why I now do a daily journaling exercise called AMWAP, which stands for as many wins as possible. I simply write down as many small wins that I can think of that have happened that day. Even when I've had a really awful day, I always find some small wins and something positive to write down. Getting into the habit of doing this has had a really big impact on improving my moods and overall happiness. Pebbles from Michael Rosen's book, Good Days, an A to Zed of hope and happiness. Pebbles are very short tweetsized pieces of writing. They're observations that capture random thoughts and memories. The idea is that we think in fragments. One minute we can be thinking about a piece of work and the next we remember that we need to buy some cat food. Writing is usually coherent and flows from one sentence to the next. Pebbles are the opposite. This kind of writing just records the fragments as they arise in our minds. The small pieces make up something that has meaning according to one pebble being next to another which is next to another, like a pebbly beach. I think why I find writing pebbles so useful is that it encourages me to pick up a pen and write whenever I have an interesting thought. Once I start writing, I'm much more likely to keep on writing. The personal book as a direct result of reading Darren Hardy's The Compound Effect, I copied an idea he talks about in this book. In the year leading up to my 10th wedding anniversary, every day I wrote down the little things I noticed about my wife that I was grateful for. The throwaway moments that perhaps she didn't think I paid attention to. Over the course of a year, I ended up writing a whole book. I eventually gave this to her as an anniversary gift, and she said it was the best present she'd ever received, more significant than anything money can buy. Stealing this idea has had a really profound effect on my marriage. Notice the cues. In his book, Indistractible Near Eal talks about noticing cues or triggers and why this is key to understanding why we get distracted. After reading this book, I started to pay close attention to my own behavior, particularly when it came to my wandering focus and crippling phone use. At the book's suggestion, I started to document the times when I felt compelled to reach for my phone and what it was that triggered this urge. Over time, I started to notice patterns in my behavior. And once I was aware of this, I was able to make changes. But this process of reaching for a pen rather than my phone is something which I credit with nurturing many of my journaling exercises. And I now track my habits in a much more consistent way. You're not too busy, you're distracted. This idea comes from Someday is Today by Matthew Dixs. When I read this quote, I started to pay more attention to where my time was going each day, and it made me realize that so much of my time was leaking away on low value activities. I would happily make time to watch YouTube videos each week, but I would convince myself that I didn't have time to write more consistently. Instead of telling myself that I was too busy, I started to ask myself what I was choosing to be distracted by. And as with a lot of the ideas I've talked about in this video, it all comes from being aware of and paying more attention to your own behavior. This idea from Matthew Dix's book has been invaluable for me in terms of journaling more and tracking the habits that I want to grow. If you've made it this far into the video, you will see just how important writing has become for me. And if you'd like to know 10 ways in which you can change your life with just a pen, then you're in luck because I've made a video about this very subject and you can watch it here. Thank you for watching and I'll see you in the next one.