SPS 002: Using the One Thing & Time Blocking to Finally Write Your First Book with Jay Papasan

Today, I am joined by Jay Papasan, Vice President of Publishing at Keller Williams Realty, Inc. in Austin, Texas. This is a real estate franchise company with over 74,000 real estate agents operating across the US and Canada.  Jay has co-authored multiple bestsellers including The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, The Millionaire Real Estate Investor, and The ONE Thing. Before co-authoring the bestselling real estate series with Gary Keller, Jay was an editor at HarperCollins where he worked on bestselling books such as Body For Life by Bill Phillips and Go For the Goal by Mia Hamm. The ONE Thing is one of my top 5 books of all time. I have a lot of favorite books, but this one I constantly go back to and highly recommend. In fact, our entire company will be reading this book next month as required reading. Today, we will be talking about a lot of the principles from the book and how they apply to writing. For all this and much more, listen in to this episode of the Self-Publishing School podcast!   You can find Jay here: JayPapasan.com Jay Papasan on LinkedIn Jay Papasan on Facebook @jaypapasan on Twitter   Show Notes [01:53] How The ONE Thing has had the most impact on Jay's life and how it is impactful for others. [03:45] How Jay ended up working on his first book at Keller Williams by running into Gary Keller in the bathroom. [05:04] Jay had actually worked on two of the books that Gary wanted to model for the real estate series. [06:46] The process for outlining the first book and how Jay wrote the chapters. [08:20] The toughest parts of writing the first book was keeping disciplined, because the novelty of writing wore off fast. Jay wrote discipline is freedom on the wall to help stay focused. [10:11] How to feel confident and overcome imposter syndrome by powering through until things shifted. [11:07] The biggest mistake made with the first book was self-publishing with an awful cover. They went cheap instead of taking the time to perfect the cover. [13:44] The writing process of creating an outline and then handing it off to researchers for additional quotes, stories etc. so they wouldn't have to go down the research rabbit hole before writing. [16:26] Coming up with visuals before writing the chapter. Having a visual ready to go will help drive and organize the writing. Lists, graphics, underlines, etc. [18:10] Time blocking every day to make sure they are writing every day. The most productive people make appointments with themselves. [19:29] Creating habits by writing an intention statement that states, when and where you will do something, makes it three times more likely to get done. [22:02] How to strengthen the discipline muscle to make time blocking a priority to get things done. Write first thing in the morning.  [29:08] Setting a time limit so that non-writing activities don't bleed into early day writing time. Use a timer to put an artificial limit on these activities. [31:21] Batching email and checking it only 3 times a day using a time limit and blocking off 18 to 20 days a month for writing. If a writing day is canceled, be sure to replace it. [35:56] Building a bunker. Finding a place to be productive and away from distractions. Store provisions, meaning have what you need on hand and sweep for mines or turn your phone and distractions off. Enlist support by explaining why you shouldn't be disturbed. [41:52] Multitasking and switching have costs. The interruptions prevent us from going deep and staying on task. 28% of work time can be lost to reorientation time. [46:23] How being distracted from a primary task can even prevent us from going back to the primary task. [47:29] What the 4 thieves of productivity are. Inability to say no. Fear of chaos. Poor health habits. The environment does not support your goals. [56:28] Advice for writing the first book. Do it for yourself and commit a certain amount of time to writing. Make it a ritual and form the writing habit.    Links and Resources: JayPapasan.com Jay Papasan on LinkedIn Jay Papasan on Facebook @jaypapasan on Twitter self-publishingschool.com Spsfreetraining.com The Millionaire Real Estate Investor The Millionaire Real Estate Agent The ONE Thing Time Blocking Mastery