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Writing it is one of those professions that are interesting. Anything and everything is useful and useless at the same time.
Writing a book is one of those things that many think it is really easy to do and provide no real challenge. I just wish more of that people where simply right. I love to have written, the writing of the book, that’s a different story.
In my experience this is how it goes (or how it had been on each book I had written). You begin with the idea, exited to begin to think on the book, plan the book, dream about the book… You even begin writing and are having fun…
Suddenly, everything when dark, you start shivering, fear begin to posses you and the writing process is over. Every time you sit on that chair to continue the manuscript you feel the cold, the loneliness, you can’t even write your own name, you fear even the name of your own book and are so happy no one knows you were writing a book… Welcome to the Valley of Despair. This is the place where you can find all the hope in the world, at least the most writers hope in the world.
If you have ever try to write a book you know the place. Most people run and never show up again after they have been there. They convinced themselves that they can’t write, they are not writers or the book wasn’t even a good idea.
Sadly there is only one way out, trough the Valley of Despair. There is no coming back, no turning around, you can quit and forget about that book or you can begin the adventure and walk trough the Valley of Despair.
I wish you good luck, it is wet, dark, cold and stinks, but it is the only way to finish that book you dream on writing.
Why is that way, I have no clue, but know many writers that struggle with it. I am one of those. I come every day and work hard to get out of there, but sometimes for weeks, even months all that I do is to shiver, be terrified, cold and in despair. All that I want to do is to quit the book. To stop writing it. To forget about it. Eventually and without any warning you are out, you survived, you are not terrified nor shivering… Eventually you discover you actually wrote a book. Then another story begins.

Should I use a Keyboard with my iPad? is probably the most common question I got when people ask me things about the iPad, Which Keyboard do you use? is probable the second most common one.
The short answer is yes. I currently use a Logitech KB810; but the answer it is much more complicated than a yes or a no. I don’t use my keyboard daily, because I use the keyboard only when I can block four hours of writing. Otherwise I will use the onscreen keyboard of the iPad.
When I got the iPad it wasn’t like that, I could not type slow enough to make it worthwhile, so I always end up using the keyboard. With a little practice and some time (and a software called TapTyping[www.twitter.com/taptyping]), I learn how to type on the screen of the iPad almost as fast as I can on the keyboard, so if I am not going to be working for a really long period of time I can use the on screen one.
The reason I pick the keyboard on those occasions that I can write more than four hours is comfort and to be able to get more screen. When using the keyboard I can place my iPad on Portrait mode and see a whole page of text, that it is irrelevant when I know I can be interrupted every seven seconds, when my four year old and the six month old baby are around.
Should you use a Keyboard with your iPad? Depends. My advice is that you learn to use the onscreen keyboard. The more components you need to carry the less chance you have to pull your iPad on a moment notice and work for ten minutes.
I carry my iPad with me and I can get use of those weird ten minutes that I am waiting and pull the last article or book I am writing and do a little bit more while waiting, but if I need a keyboard to do that, I most likely will never do it. It was exactly the reason I never did in the laptop. The laptop was heavier, and not as quick and simple to use as the iPad is.
The long answer to the short question is NO. Learn to type on the screen, learn to type fast on the screen. Remember that the iPad is not a laptop, and you may need to reconsider some of your current experiences and workflows to really get the most out of it.

After I wrote yesterday about the Lizard Brain, Gary Vamer wrote a fantastic comment that inspired the following post, he said:

“Always good to remember the Lizard brain… since our humans brains tend to forget! Nice Post, and nice reminder to push through the fear and move on. Now if I could only get the Lizard Brain and Monkey Mind to play nice I’d be all set!”

I think if somehow we could figure it out how to make that work, we will be all set…
In case you are not familiar with the term “Monkey Mind” is a term that it is usually used in Buddhist which describes the persistent churn of thoughts in the undisciplined mind. You know when your mind it is like a monkey mind, going everywhere and accomplishing or letting you accomplish nothing.
As you may guess, it is not enough to beat the Lizard Brain, if you can pass the fear and finally move but had no guidelines, your monkey mind will take over and you will do circles but accomplish little.
Even when I struggle constantly with my Lizard Brain, I have a better control of the Monkey Mind. I have learned that when I have clear expectations and guidelines for my Monkey Mind in general I am able to work much better a soon as I get the Lizard Brain quiet. I have learned that my Monkey Mind need to be reminded that there will be chance to play as we walk the path. For that reason I begin my day planning the day, reading my goals (short and long term) and trying to identify what really had my attention. Usually that process help me keep the monkey in check and force me to deal only with the Lizard Brain.
My success with the Lizard Brain and the Monkey Mind is another story.

When are you going to let your fears stop you? Yes, you read that fine. It wasn’t a mistake, and your answer most likely was that I was crazy. Regardless your fears stop you constantly, sabotage you, and distract you for that goal or dream you have. The worst part is that you allow it; you let your fears do it.
Seth Godin had said a lot about what he called the Lizard Brain. The objective of the Lizard Brain is protect you, is to generate fear so you don’t do anything and stay on that place that you are fine, safe and protected. That means that anything that it doesn’t know how it is going to go, should be avoided.
The big question is when are you going to do something about it, or you are simply going to let it stop you. I wish I could give you 25 steps to beat your own Lizard Brain and accomplish this, but in my experience it is a unique journey. You need to constantly beat the Lizard Brain.
When you prove that something it is not as dangerous as your Lizard Brain is trying to make you believe, it is going to stop nagging you and let you do it. Be aware that the Lizard Brain job is to scan danger, so even if it accept that there is no danger on that little thing you just prove, it will continue, and stop you in the next step. To make things worse, it will learn the technique you use to beat it the last time, so it use a different strategy to win.
The good news, is that you don’t need to do anything. If you regardless decided to do something about it, ask: When are you going to let your fears stop you? After you remember how absurd this is, wake up and work until the Lizard Brain discover the answer to that question. At that point, she will win again and your job will be to identify how to beat it once more.

Thanks to Glenn and the Time Management Magazine for this opportunity.

You can check my Interview and my article in Time Management Magazine, get a free one month trial when you subscribe http://bit.ly/VL8Gd3

Mi friend and co-author of the book #iPadOnly, Michael Sliwinski always said that with the iPad the keyboard is optional.
Most people get their iPad and immediately get a Keyboard. I did it when I got mine on 2010 and have use it for every time I need to write for two hours or more. The reality is that for anything else I don’t need the keyboard for anything else and I am even able to work without the keyboard for writing, it is just that there is something nice when I am spending a long time siting writing to be able to use the full screen.
People it is obsessed with trying to make their iPad a laptop and get frustrated when they discover it is not. Those things that many called weakness of the iPad are in many cases exactly the strengths they have. The lack of keyboard it is one of those.
When I am going to write or respond email, analyzing data, working on spreadsheets, making presentations, mind maps and much more things, I really don’t need the keyboard for anything, and because of that I can work on many places that a laptop will be the wrong tool for the job.
The reality is that we use the keyboard and the mouse constantly because those where the best tools available on a PC. Most likely you have seen that famous keynote where Steve Jobs announce the iPhone. At that time most SmartPhones had a small keyboard, when he announced that his iPhone was not going to have any, people was sure he was going to fail. Well I think time has shown us that he was not necessarily wrong.
The iPad has exactly the same power to change the keyboard and mouse paradigm and we are seeing how more and more people it is using tablets and more specifically iPads to do their job.
In 2011 when I mention that my iPad was my main machine and that I was #iPadOnly people tough it was impossible. Two years later, many people is trying to accomplish the same, but they are not yet ready to abandon their old believes and because of that, they simply find frustration and try to do a familiar set up.
I have joke that if Apple release a mouse to the iPad, many people will get it as a compliment to their iPad keyboard. The reality is that the keyboard is optional, for most part you don’t need it, and if you spend enough time practicing and paying attention you most likely will use it on exceptional occasions, unless you write for two or more hours straight almost everyday.

Everything is about perspectives. I can work #iPadOnly because I took the time to check my own workflows and give me some perspective on what and where I am trying to accomplish and doing. My daughter eats vegetables because for her it is a normal food (and from the perspective of the parents she has consequences if she doesn’t.) In the past I was a frequent flyer (more than 200,000 miles on a year) and except when I got bumped to First Class I always found the space really small. I stop flying for a living in 2010 and begin working full time at my home office. To be honest, we haven’t travel that much on a plane since. Regardless I notice how this week my perspective changed. I use to weight more than 350lbs. That fact defined my perspective regarding the size of the rows on airplanes, and based on that perspective, they were really small, the little table is way to close (even impossible to use if the person in front of you decide to recline) the seats are tight and the person next to you (asumming you didn’t got the lucky middle, in which case is the people around you) is way to close. I did it for more than 200,000 miles every year but was never something comfortable (unless you got sent to first, that happen often when you travel that much)
As I was saying this trip came with some change in perspectives, I set my iPad mini to work on the table and decide to pull it closer because it was more comfortable to type. It was in that moment that a little something in my brain fire a smile and for a moment I was really proud. I was more than 150lbs lighter than 2008, 100lbs lighter than my last work flight in 2010 and 20lbs since my last plane trip and for the first time in my adult life I was comfortable in that space.
I am aware that airlines rows have less and less space, so I am sure it’s not that. Also I didn’t got bumped to first class in this trip. The thing is the change of perspective, this seat are not as small as I remember them, the table is not as close as it used to be, and actually this may have been the best working session I have ever had on a plane, while sitting on coach. The perspective changed and seems totally different than 150lbs ago (even 20lbs ago) from an uncomfortable space to a one that it fits perfectly.
It was this exactly the fact of how I was able to change everything that made me think about other perspectives that may also need to create an adjustment, that may need a readjustment or even a radical change.
We tend to come to the conclusion that certain things are the way they are, I did for many years , airplanes were small spaces, I never considered that: I was too big.
This is a topic that I want to continue covering, and I want to leave you thinking for a moment on what may need an adjustment on your own perspective… I can think on a couple of things…

It is interesting that June it is almost gone. There are 5 more days to the second half of the year. At this point it is a great moment to sit and reflect on what are you accomplish so far, and how in line you are with your goals. At this time many people drop the idea of those goals and will begin to plan when december comes around again.
I am a believer of reviewing your goals constantly, in order to remember where you are and where you are going. For example 5 years ago, I decided to stop smoking and begin taking care of my health. I have weight myself almost every friday since. I have lost more than 150 lbs (75 kilos) because I have remind myself often what to do and what I am trying to accomplish.
I have publish eight books since 2011. Not because I am a better writer, not because I write faster than many writers. Because I remind myself every morning that I am a writer and my business is to write.
That doesn’t mean you win all, or you are successful every time. I have fail on the blogging side many times, I get tired, busy, distracted and weeks pass without me posting, and the more I let it go, the harder is to come back.
But it is this constant checking what allow me to keep most of them on movement and had allow me over the years to accomplish many of them.
When was the last time you check where are you and where you want to go? When was the last time you check your goals? I recommend that you do that daily, in the worst scenario weekly.

When my friend (and co-author) wrote this post on friday on how we wrote the #iPadOnly book together, I decided to copy the format and tell my side of the story. Here is my post (I basically copy Michael’s format and even some text, so if you read one and then the other one you will get the contrast easier…
We just finish my first co-authored book with my friend Michael Sliwinski. It’s called “#iPadOnly – The first post-PC Book. We cover how to only use your iPad to work, play and do everything in between” and it’s going to hit virtual (and not-so-virtual) bookshelves in a little over a week. This post is a quick summary of how the book came to be, how we both wrote it (living on different continents) and some of the cool things of the process!
I begin writing about #iPadOnly on my blog
I love my iPad. It had been my main machine since 2011, and I believe it can be the main machine for many people. It is not a problem of capabilities, or performance but workflows. So I begin writing on the topic and had in my wish list to write a more formal book about it. I also was sure that the topic deserve a book, but I wasn’t ready yet, at least not by myself. I was in the process to do other projects but then I receive an email from Michael that said:

“Hello Augusto, I’m not sure if you already realize this, but we’re writing an #iPadOnly book togheter. What do you think?”

When I receive that email I tough:
– It will be cool to actually write this book
– It will be cool to work with other productive person and learn a trick or two
– This will be a really collaboration project, there is no easy way to sit in the same room
– I will be able to learn more about remote business (since my business is like that, I just don’t have Michael’s knowledge and experience, yet)
So obviously, I said yes.
We got together on FaceTime and each of us bring our best to the table; the rest, as they say, is history. Here’s how we wrote this book:
1. The communication and weekly reviews
I live in Fort Wayne, Indiana and Michael in Europe. We “met” on FaceTime and we decided to do regular, GTD-style weekly reviews together every Friday at 6 am EST (my days starts at 4:00 am, I even wrote a book about it)
Michael propose that we used Nozbe and I agreed. I have seem Nozbe from the side for years and even that my system has live on Omnifocus for many years, I was curious, so I jump in and was so surprised by the collaboration features of Nozbe. This is not my first book, I have wrote, translate and publish eight books, with six more coming out before the end of the year. Collaboration was so easy using Nozbe.
Sometimes we used Skype, mostly because there is not voice FaceTime (it will be available for some in the fall with iOS7) and iMessage when we need it a faster answer.
I am grateful of how easy was to communicate with Michael, our years of working remotely or on the go, make this part so easy.
2. We wrote in Byword using a shared folder in Dropbox
I came up with the first outline of the book, because it is how I like to write, I create an outline and then it transform itself to the actual book. Michael agreed on that approach and we decided to fill it up. Initially we tried to use Google Docs – actually Google Drive app on the iPad to write as it allows real-time collaboration… but the app is (at least on the iPad) not ready for that kind of work. Also I like to write on Black background and white font (I get less tired and can write longer), so we move to my app of choice, Byword.
After we wrote everything, it came the process of make the book a book and not a series of texts. My first language is Spanish and I also speak English. Michael first language is Polish, and he speak at least Spanish and English. So make the book in an universal language was a challenge. We did a good job, gluing it all together and then we started the long process of editing.
Since this wasn’t my first book, I knew that the easiest part was just done, writing the first draft. Editing is the hardest and longest part of a book, in my experience, I think for Michael this was a surprise.
3. Editing with Nozbe and Byword
For editing we wanted to go back to Google Docs again, to be able to edit the same files in real time… after 2 days we realized our mistake and went back to simple text files in Dropbox.
We’d set up tasks in Nozbe – if someone was editing chapter one, they’d add a task to Nozbe and comment on their progress there. Once the task was done, the chapter was “free” for the other person to dive in.
Michael learned that: “The editing part was really tough.” In my opinion it is exactly the editing that make you wish that you have written instead. We work hard until the book got a flow, and it flow well. When we began the book, I tried to explain Michael’s the Flow Well concept, but it is hard to understand (and explain) if you have never wrote a book before. During editing he got it.
After we shipped the book to Lori, the Productive! Magazine editor (She is the first native English-speaking person in the bunch so she’s doing the real heavy-lifting editing.) She is making our flow, sound in real English.
4. Having a co-author rocks
I am grateful of Michael and the fact that he co-author this book with me. I learned so much about writing, #iPadOnly, workflows and much more in the process. Agatha Christie used to say:

“I’ve always believed in writing without a collaborator, because where two people are writing the same book, each believes he gets all the worry and only half the royalties.”

I am glad to report, that at least in this case, she was wrong! I never felt that I was having the whole workload or worry, so I will be happy with half of the royalties.
We wrote a little over 50,000 words on the subject and we think you will love it and even find a trick or two. We say it’s the first ever post-PC book as it really shows you can use the iPad as your only and the main machine.
5. Writing a book is hard
Michael learned this, he was forced to wake up earlier to write. I had learned this already. After all that I have written, continue being as hard as the first one. I think, at least for me there is no hope.
Coming to you on June 27 – the first real post-PC book. The Spanish version will follow soon . We think you’ll love it. It’s full with practical advice, our experiences and the whole definition of the #iPadOnly concept and new paradigm shift we’re experiencing nowadays with the whole “mobile first” movement.
We work on our iPads. You’ll learn how we do it, how you can do it, how anyone can do it. Just have a look at the table of contents

It is by this time not a secret that I am testing Nozbe. I have been an Omnifocus user for a really long time, and have come to take for granted many of the great features that came with that software.
I decided to test Nozbe for many reasons but one is to make sure I am using Omnifocus effectively. You see, I don’t remember the last time I took everything out of Omnifocus and begin with a clean slate and even when my system had worked well, I have learned that sometimes you need a radical approach to things in order to simplify and be even more effective.
You may also know that I am co-writing a new book with Michael Sliwinski called #iPadOnly that we will be releasing at the end of June. If you have follow Michael long enough you will discover that he basically re-do his office once a year. It is always something that it had fascinated me, but that I had never done because I was of the believe that: “if it is working, do not mess with it”
The problem with that believe is that since things are working you also don’t discover new ways to do things better. It was because of that reason that I decided that this year from July 28th to August 2 I will re-do my home office, my tools, and document the week long process here.
Part of that process is Omnifocus, but because I knew I need more than a week to accomplish that I begin the test on May 9 and will continue until July 31st. There are many things on OmniFocus that have come to be second nature and that I am honestly struggling while using Nozbe, but it is also a great opportunity to discover and evaluate my system.
The problem with our comfort zone is that set us in a dangerous place that if we do not pay attention we may get stock and instead of continue moving we move at a slower pace every time. (until we stop moving)
OmniFocus it is something in which I know how to use. I am extremely comfortable using. I have tricked OmniFocus to do really cool things. The problem is that I need to make sure that it is really helping me to move forward or if this tool is keeping me set on the Comfort Zone. (that may be called better the Dangerous Zone)
I am sure during the next weeks I will be talking more about my experiences with this experiment and what I have learned from it.