learntrepreneurs

make the most of your mind

Eva Keiffenheim

7 Lessons from Silicon Valley Legend Ben Horowitz Every Entrepreneur Should Know

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On management, culture, responsibility and so much more.

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

I sighed when a fellow founder recommended I read Ben Horowitz’s The Hard Thing About Hard Things. I thought it’d be another book full of theoretical self-help fluff from a person who has never done what he is preaching.

Turns out I was wrong.

Horowitz’s book is a management bible for growing any company. I wish I’d read this book before founding my first business. His advice would have saved me from making costly mistakes.

Here are the top seven lessons from his book with instructive examples on how to apply them.

Don’t Protect Others by Whitewashing Facts.

It’s in our human nature to protect people who depend on us. This behavior is helpful when raising a child. Yet, it might be counterproductive for startup management.

I fell into the protection trap early in my entrepreneurial career. Back then, I conducted the user tests for our new app. We didn’t follow the Lean Startup approach. The product was ready. But our potential customers weren’t.

I listened to harsh criticism. Testers did neither understand the app’s navigation nor find the functionalities they were looking for.

Yet, I felt the urge to protect our CTO. I used positive framing to sugarcoat the negative feedback. I thought he couldn’t handle the hard truth.

By keeping the hardest feedback to myself, I prevented the product team from building a better application.

When you don’t share the hardest obstacles, your people can’t build a better business.

Horowitz advises us to be brutally honest with our employees. Honest conversations lead to trust. Besides, the more people are aware of hard obstacles, the more brains can start building solutions.

“In any human interaction, the required amount of communication is inversely proportional to the level of trust.”

How to apply this lesson:

Share everything you know about a challenging situation. Be both brutally honest and transparent. Don’t whitewash facts.

When you share uncomfortable facts, tell your team you have the company’s goals in mind. Growth is about tackling the hardest parts.

Always Put Your People First.

With investors in the neck, it’s tempting to prioritize profits over people — particularly when things don’t go well. When your ship might sink, you might go over lives to protect it from going down.

Yet, we should never lose sight of our moral compass. When Horowitz’s company was fighting for life and death, he still focused on what mattered. He put people first.

He was between sign and close of company saving acquisition talks. John Nelli, former CFO, would not have transferred to the new company. Meanwhile, he was diagnosed with cancer.

From a profit perspective, Ben should’ve stuck to the initial plan and let John go. He didn’t owe his CFO anything. Yet, he accepted the healthcare costs and thereby prevented John’s family from bankruptcy.

This lesson teaches us to always focus on what matters in life. You should always put people first. Thereby, you’ll not only stick to your moral compass and do good in the world but also create loyal employees as they know they can trust you.

“Take care of the people, the products, and the profits — in that order.”

How to apply this lesson:

Listen to your people with open ears and open hearts. Be generous with your words and actions. Care for your employees’ families and show understanding when anyone is facing tough family circumstances. In this way, you create a company culture of loyalty and trust.

Look for Things You’re Not Doing.

You defined and communicated your vision to your team. Your people know their KPIs and focus on execution. The entire team is on track, and you’re working hard.

Your business might be so focused that you overlook one important thing, and you no longer see the wood for the trees.

To avoid this common issue, Horowitz suggests asking one powerful question. This question invites out-of-the-box thinking and keeps different perspectives involved.

In every meeting, he’d ask: What are we not doing?

“Ordinarily in a staff meeting, you spend lots of time reviewing, evaluating, and improving all of the things that you do: build products, sell products, support customers, hire employees and the like. Sometimes, however, the things you’re not doing are the things you should actually be focused on.”

How to apply this lesson:

Make it a habit to ask in every meeting, “What are we not doing?”. You’ll shed light on the necessary tasks.

By asking this question, you’ll give your team a creative thinking space. To involve all meeting members, ask them to write down their ideas. Then, do a quick round of sharing all thoughts.

When you find different people giving similar answers, you know what should move on your list.

Create a Culture That Enables Free Information Flow.

According to Horowitz, free information flow is critical for the health of your business. It’ll allow you to learn about negative news before it’s too late.

Yet, many company cultures discourage the spread of bad news, so the knowledge lay dormant until it was too late to act. By being judgy or nurturing fixed mindsets where mistakes are viewed as failures, employees won’t share bad news.

Create a culture that encourages openness and sharing struggles and challenges. Your feedback system shouldn’t punish employees for getting obstacles into the open.

“A healthy company culture encourages people to share bad news.”

How to apply this lesson:

Thank your colleagues for sharing difficult things. Avoid choleric reactions. Be okay with people revealing a problem without offering a solution.

Show gratitude when an employee tells you something you don’t want to hear. Remember, it’s better to know about critical turning points too early than too late.

Don’t Put It All on Your Shoulders.

As a founder or CEO, you feel like you must know it all. You think you should have a solution to any problem. Yet, this thinking is flawed and will harm your business.

By taking too much responsibility on your shoulders, you restrain your people from problem-solving.

Instead of keeping the hard things for yourself, allow your team to join you in brainstorming for solutions. Give the challenge to people who can not only fix the issue but who are also intrinsically motivated to do so.

“You won’t be able to share every burden, but share every burden that you can. Get the maximum number of brains on the problems even if the problems represent existential threats.”

How to apply this lesson:

Call an all-hands and tell your employees what’s the block in front of you. Share the problem with all details and then get the team mastering to build a solution that can help your business.

That’s why you hired your team first — making your company win. By not putting it all on your shoulders, you empower your team.

Take Action on Negative Indicators.

When I learned our new users grew by 38 percent beyond the average growth rate, I strategized about the next growth steps.

Who would we hire next? Should we increase our budget for marketing campaigns? I jumped into taking action.

Entrepreneurs have a bias for taking action on positive news. We love to act on promising information such as unexpected customer growth.

On the other hand, when things don’t go as planned, we tend to blame it on the rain. We find alternative explanations for the bad results and wait it out instead of taking action.

“Almost every CEO takes action on the positive indicators but only looks for alternative explanations on the negative leading indicator.”

How to apply this lesson:

When one of your teams didn’t reach their KPIs, don’t sit it out. Instead, focus on figuring out what happened and how you can improve it for the time to come.

Which numbers or people can give you a detailed explanation about what happened? What should your team be doing differently to overcome this obstacle the next month? Take action on negative indicators.

Set Up Employee Training Structures.

When I suggested my co-founder, we set up a training program; she replied, “There are so many decisions to make, customers to win, products to improve that we can’t prioritize training right now.”

Many founders argue that putting a training program in place will take too much time.

Yet, no investment will yield to higher interest rates than investing in your people. Training will improve productivity in your company.

Moreover, when your best people share their most developed skills, your company culture will improve more than with any team-building event.

“Being too busy to train is the moral equivalent of being too hungry to eat.”

How to apply this lesson:

Teach a course yourself, for example, on management expectations. Select the best people on your team to teach other courses. Make training mandatory.

Horowitz suggests teaching can also become a badge of honor for employees who achieve an elite level of competence.

Moving Forward

As with all business advice, pick the lessons that apply to your situation. Focus on the principles that make a difference in your company.

  • Be brutally honest about hard things.
  • Always put your people first.
  • Regularly ask, “What are we not doing?”
  • Embrace the free information flow.
  • Share your burdens with your team.
  • Take action on negative indicators.

Without application and action, the best business lessons are worthless.

If you, however, apply one principle at a time, you’ll realize how these small decisions accumulate and lead to changes in your company.

Now the only question is: Are you ready to do the work?

Do you want to stay in touch? Join my E-Mail List.

7 Things I Learned Reading 52 Books a Year For Two Years

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#1: Read the books that make you want to read more.

Photo by Monica Sauro on Unsplash

I started to get serious about reading in early 2018. I committed to wake up every day at 5:30 AM and read until 7 AM. Sometimes I’d read after work, and by replacing my smartphone with an alarm clock, I’d always make time to read before going to bed.

One of my main motivations for reading more was a quote by Charlie Munger, self-made billionaire and Warren Buffett’s longtime business partner, who said:

“In my whole life, I have known no wise people who didn’t read all the time — none. Zero.”

Since March 2018, I’ve read 174 books. Here are some of the lessons I learned:

#1. Read the Books that Make You Want to Read More

Reading shouldn’t feel hard. If you don’t like the book you hold in your hands, skip it. Better to waste 11.95$ than 4 hours of your lifetime.

Books aren’t created equal — millions aren’t worth your time.

Only because your mentor liked a book, it doesn’t mean you must enjoy it. Maybe you don’t like the topic from a book on the bestseller list. Maybe you find a book too fluffy. Or maybe, the book is a classic, but you dislike the writing style.

I abandoned George Orwell’s 1984 a few pages in, and most people will blame me for not finishing this classic. But to be honest, I just couldn’t stand the negative utopia.

Lifetime is too precious to endure books you don’t like. Read the genres you cherish, the content you enjoy, from the authors you admire.

How to apply this advice

Every time you start a book, ask yourself a few questions. Do you like the tone of voice? Do you understand the content, or do you get sleepy every time you hole the book in your hands? How do you feel when you close the book: Do you want to continue reading, or are you happy you put the book aside? And overall, do you get what the author is trying to say?

Never force yourself through a book you don’t enjoy reading.

The best person to judge whether you should read a book is neither Goodreads nor your smart friend — it’s you.

#2. Communicate With Your Books

It was during my work in India when I first saw a person scribble into a new book. When I asked him why he’d destroy the book, he answered:

“Books are there for you. What’s the point of reading, if you can’t highlight your favorite sentences, ask questions?”

Since then, I never left a book unmarked. Using text markers, stickers, and pens make reading more fun, more memorable. In #7, you’ll learn how to systemize what you’ve read.

Here’s how my advice-dense books look like:

Pictured by Author

How to apply this advice

Cross out what you don’t like. Put stickers on pages where you experienced “aha” moments. Highlight what you want to remember. Jot down a question if lines are unclear. Scribble notes on the pages, to reuse what you’ve read.

#3. Replace Your Phone with Your Book

Did you know the average person spends over four hours a day on their device? If you spent half the time reading, with a reading speed of 250 words per minute and an average book length of 90,000 words, you’d finish more than two books a week.

The less time you spend on your phone, the more you’ll read.

Changing my phone habits was probably the hardest part but also the most effective one. I didn’t need to skip any activities to read 52 books a year. Decreasing my screen time enabled me to read (and write).

I tried different digital detox apps like Forest, Phocus, Freedom, and Moment but eventually, I deleted all of them. Ironically, the books Deep Work and Digital Minimalism helped me most to reclaim my time.

How to apply this advice

Disable all notifications. Use airplane mode whenever possible. When you start reading, put your phone into a different room. Replace your smartphone’s alarm function with a classic alarm clock. The only thing you can do in bed, besides sleeping, should be reading. Carry books with you while commuting. Instead of grabbing your phone, grab your book.

For a more radical guide, read Ryan Holiday’s advice for spending less time on your phone.

#4. Be Clear About Why You Read

Do you want to find facts, seek entertainment, or expand your understanding? Different books require different mindsets.

Thanks to How to Read a Book, the classic guide to intelligent reading, I learned not to read non-fiction chronologically. While I still read most books cover to cover, knowing I can skip irrelevant passages makes reading more relevant.

Your life is too short for passages that don’t serve your needs.

How to apply this advice

Ask yourself what you’re looking for before you open a book. Evaluate the first impression against your reading intention. Check whether the author has the credentials to give you advice. Many writers produce theoretical self-help fluff and have never done what they’re preaching.

If the book in your hands doesn’t fulfill what you’re looking for, put it aside. If you’re looking for specific information, identify relevant chapters, and only read those.

#5. Read Different Books Simultaneously

You don’t feel like reading before you go to sleep? Chances are high it’s the wrong book on your bed table.

I love reading non-fiction with technical investing advice, but this doesn’t mean I want to be sitting in bed at night with my mind buzzing with all the new things I learn. Instead, I quiet my mind with lighter fiction. Between my reading start and finish of Harari’s content-dense Sapiens, I read four other books.

You don’t want to eat the same dish for breakfast, lunch, and breakfast. Why would you read the same book at different times of the day?

“The most useful insights are often found at the intersection of ideas.“

— James Clear

How to apply this advice

Be okay with reading a few books at the same time. You can start a new book before you finished the one you’re reading. Start with one content-dense book for learning mode and a lighter fiction for nighttime lecture or weekend mornings.

If you’re interested in a book, but you’re not in the right frame of mind to read it just yet, put it on your reading list.

#6. Keep a “Want-To-Read” List

Reading is like every other part of life: Unless you choose what you want to read, others, like the airport’s bookshelves, will choose for you.

Moreover, the best motivator to continue reading your book is a long list of books you want to read after finishing.

The “want-to-read” piles on my bookshelf motivate me to read. One pile is for self-help advice, one for non-fiction, one for education and one for fiction.

Pictured by Author

How to apply this advice

Have a “reading list” in place and feed the list regularly. If you already have a list tracking in place, us it. If not, try Google Keep, Wunderlist, Amazon Wishlist, Bullet Journal, ToDoist, or Goodreads and settle on your favorite book tracker.

The filter function is a clear upside for Goodreads. In your “Want to Reads,” you can search for “date added” and “avg rating.” For ideas for your reading list, you can also use Goodreads to browse your friend’s lists.

Pictured by Author

#7. Apply Your Knowledge

Before building my first business, I had read dozens of books for each stage in the business lifecycle. But when it came to really starting, the biggest impact was just doing it.

At some point, “reading” distracts you from doing. You’ll get farther bumping along on your own without any books than you ever will reading and not doing anything.

Entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk wrote why reading wouldn’t help you become a better entrepreneur, saying:

“But how many books from these ‘experts’ do you need to read before you can actually do something? You can only read so much and at some point, you just have to do. Stop being a student, and start being an entrepreneur.”

Be careful about whether you’re procrastinating with reading and whether it holds you back from taking action.

How to apply this advice

When you finish the book, ask yourself what to do with what you’ve just read. Go back to the pages you highlighted or put stickers on. Put what you’ve learned into action items.

For example, when you read High-Performance Habits and learn about Affirmations, commit to recording your affirmation.

Unless you follow the advice from books and do something, even the smartest advice is a waste of your time.

The Bottom Line

In any case, don’t set your goal of reading a specific number of books per year and keep Mortimer J. Adler’s words in mind:

“In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.”

And whenever you find yourself wondering whether spending money on books is worth it, remind yourself of Benjamin Franklin who said an investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.

Do you want to stay in touch? Join my E-Mail List.

How PARA on Google Drive Can Make Your Life Easier

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This 4-folder system helps you tapping your knowledge in private and business

Photo by Gabriel Beaudry on Unsplash

When was the last time you couldn’t find the files you were searching for?

It’s a frustrating feeling, knowing that you have information on a specific topic, but you don’t know where to find the material.

“If you don’t have a good system for storing bad ideas, you probably don’t have one for filing good ones, either.”

— David Allen

Last week, a friend asked for scientific resources for the effects of excessive smartphone usage. Do phones cause sleep deprivation? This question rang a bell as I read and saved some papers.

Before PARA, I would have spent 30 minutes searching for the documents. I would probably have found only some parts of all resources. But thanks to the PARA Method, it took me one minute to find the correct sheets in my Google Drive.

Knowledge documentation is critical as it can save you a lot of time in the long run and help you advance your professional career. Here’s how to organize your files with the PARA method so you will find everything you need within seconds.

How the PARA Method works

The PARA system is universal, flexible, actionable, outcome-orientated simple, and quick to implement. It works both with cloud services and local storage. In this article, I’ll use Google Drive as an example.

The efficiency lies in the method’s simplicity.

On the highest level in your cloud storage, you have nothing but four main folders: Projects, Areas, Resources, and Archive (=PARA).

The highest level of your Google Drive (Source: Author).

By going through each folder step-by-step, you’ll understand where your files belong. Let’s start with the first one — projects.

1) Structure Your Projects

In this folder are your ongoing projects. What all of your folders in “Projects” have in common is their definite start and end date.

For each folder in the project folder, there is a clear definition of “done.” To keep a chronological overview, you label each folder with start and end dates.

Let me give you an example of how this date labeling looks like.

Folders inside “Projects” (Source: Author).

The numbers, like 1805 for May 2018, label start and end dates. My role as a fellow at Teach for Austria began in 1805 (May 2018) and lasts until 2007 (July 2020). Label projects with a start but no end date with an -X.

Once you finish a project, you move the folder from Projects to the last PARA folder, Archive, while extracting all helpful resources to Resources. More on that later. Before you’ll learn the magic of the Resources folder, let’s take a look at the second high-level folder, Areas.

2) Determine Your Areas

Folders in the “Area” are kind of the opposite of projects. Area folders label ongoing work without predefined end dates. You never finish “area folders” because of the work’s repetitive nature.

In your private storage, folders in your Area would be house, car, travel, hobbies, friends, product development. As a business owner, you would have a folder for employees or office management here.

In contrast to Projects, you don’t set time labels for folders within Areas.

3) Bundle Your Resources

The resources folder is your treasure. This folder is where your bundled knowledge comes together. Remember you move a done project, to the Archive?

Before you move any folder to the Archive, you go through the documents, images, and templates inside your project.

Is there any helpful resource you want to reuse in the future? These evergreen documents move to Resources instead of the Archive.

A folder within Resource is a topic of ongoing interest.

For example, typical resource folders could be project management, online marketing, SEO, productivity, or architecture.

Here is a part of my private Resources folder to give you an idea.

The Resources Folder in the Para Method

In contrast to the projects folder, the folders within resources don’t have a start or end date. It’s your area of interest that label your folder’s name. Hence, the folders are organized by knowledge area.

For example, SEO contains all knowledge regarding search engine optimization. When an acquaintance now asks about SEO resources, I can share this folder with her.

Once you create the Resources folder, you’ll quickly realize the impact of tidy knowledge organization. This folder is a clear track record of what you learned thus far.

You can fill Resources also with documents outside of your projects. For example, if you finish an online course, move your key learnings, and templates to the resource folder.

Before you take off organizing your storage, let’s consider the last folder of the PARA method — the Archive.

4) Archive What You No Longer Need

The Archive’s concept is pretty neat. When a specific project is done, and you filtered all relevant knowledge to the resources folder, you move the Projects folder to the Archive. That’s it.

The Archive contains inactive folders from the other three categories.

Similar to the project folders, archive Folders don’t have a date description in their title. The date stamp will help you locate the knowledge you are looking for.

Reorganizing with PARA is Time Well Spent

The PARA — Projects, Areas, Resources, Archive — Method is a powerful tool to organize your knowledge.

Depending on the present quality of your file organization, the PARA implementation can take you several hours. It’s time well spent. While organizing your cloud, you will stumble upon helpful documents you weren’t aware of.

By structuring your files, you tap into your knowledge and reflect on your past learnings. In the long run, a clear knowledge organization will save you time and energy.

This article is for informational purposes only, and it should not be considered Financial or Legal Advice. Not all information will be accurate. Consult a financial professional before making any significant financial decisions.

19 Things I Learned About Writing From My $699 Medium Coach

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90 hours of coaching broken down into 7 mins for you

Photo by KOBU Agency on Unsplash

Benjamin Franklin once said,

“An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.”

This spring, I followed the advice and invested $699 in a medium coaching program. Until April, I hadn’t written anything except for 150 pages of academia and 1350 pages in my bullet journals. Since April, I’ve published 16 articles on medium and filed the resignation for my 9–5 job.

Here are 19 essential lessons I’ve learned about writing from my professional medium coach, and Benjamin Hardy, PhD’s online writing course:

1. If you’re a new writer, focus on white space

The less experienced you’re with writing, the more white space you’ll need. Section breaks, paragraphs, and subtitles help you deliver your message.

My first articles are living proof that white space works. I published this article before my first coaching session and this one after it. To this date, the first article earned 9$, the second 127$. These numbers show my medium coach was right about the importance of white space.

Reserve your longer paragraphs for the time you found your writing voice. Gary Provost, a famous American author, once demonstrated how to write longer passages that sound like music:

This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes, when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals–sounds that say, “Listen to this, it is important.”

2. Publish 100 articles before you expect anything

A writing career isn’t linear. In the beginning, while you’re learning the craft, don’t expect to earn anything. As with everything in life, there’s no such thing as an overnight success.

Making a living from writing is the result of hard work. Authors earning >2000$ on medium or other platforms have spent months practicing.

You can reach writing success as well if you’re willing to put in the work.

Most writers lose faith in their abilities before reaching exponential growth. Following my coach’s advice, I committed to publishing 100 articles before expecting any return on my time investment.

3. The only way to improve your writing is by writing

The only way to get better in writing is to sit down and write. Thinking about writing, speaking about writing, and reading about writing won’t be nearly as effective as writing.

Once my coach asked me the following question, and my writing practice changed:

Do you know there’s a difference between creation and consumption time?

While consuming is all about reading and learning, creating is the process of putting words on paper.

Here’s how I track writing vs. consuming time. Tracking helps me to find a balance between learning and writing.

Image By Author

4. Writing quality will improve with writing quantity

The quality of your words will increase with practice. Instead of editing yourself a fourth time, focus on producing more content.

As an economist, I’d label it as the diminishing return of editing: The longer you edit one article, the later you start a new one.

Ben Hardy explained it’s better to publish a lousy piece than not publish at all. Some of the articles he resisted to publish, went viral afterward.

Unless you stop editing a piece and spend your time on writing a new one, you don’t create. Don’t be too critical on yourself and identify perfectionism as another form of procrastination.

Publish before you think your piece is perfect. Writing quality will improve with quantity.

5. Build a daily writing/creating habit

To write a lot, you need a writing routine. While plenty of articles tout specific writing routines, you know best what works for you.

I get up at 6 AM, practice yoga, journal and meditate. At 6:40 AM, I start writing. By 9 AM, I’ve done all of my creative work and ride to work.

It doesn’t matter which routine you decide on, as long as you stick to the habit. Or, as Austin Kleon puts it:

“What your daily routine consists of is not that important. What’s important is that the routine exists. Cobble together your own routine, stick to it most days, break from it once in a while for fun, and modify it as necessary.”

Ask yourself,

When can you make time to write and focus without distraction?

What helps you getting into your creative state?

6. Always ask, “What’s in it for my readers?”

I felt incredibly proud to publish my first pieces. But my mentor made me realize my articles equaled personal journal entries. She asked:

Do you write for yourself, or do you write for your readers?

One should never write without your readers in mind. Here are some helpful questions, both from my mentor and the medium curation guidelines:

What’s in it for your readers?

Is your piece written for the reader?

Does this add value for the reader?

What do you want your readers to take away?

Which feelings do you aim to provoke?

7. Headlines make or break your stories success

Headlines are the entryway for your readers. If your headline doesn’t spark your readers’ interest, they won’t bother to read the first lines of your well-crafted introduction.

Benjamin Hardy jots down 10–20 headline versions for each of his pieces before he determines the best one. I follow this advice by spending 20 minutes on brainstorming headlines. Being strategic about headlines helps you reach more readers.

8. Check headlines, instead of your stats

My coach caught me on the spot with this one. Here’s what she said:

“The first times you get curated and published with bigger publications, it’s tempting to check your stats again and again. Especially if one article got published in a publication.

But instead of reviewing your cents trickling down, use your time wisely and study successful writer’s headline.”

Instead of checking your stats, study virality. Look at successful writer’s headlines, like Jessica Wildfire, Niklas Göke, Kris Gage, Liz Huber, and Tim Denning.

9. Combine logical with emotional writing

Before mentoring, I thought the number of high-quality sources lead to popularity. It turns out I’m wrong.

The combination of head and heart knowledge makes a story unique.

I come from academia, and it’s easy for me to combine other writer’s logic and craft a coherent story. However, when you look at best-performing articles on medium (like this one, this one, or this one), you’ll realize they don’t sound like peer-reviewed papers. Readers aren’t looking for pure facts.

Instead, it’s your personal experience, combined with a touch of logic, that speaks to your reader’s heart and triggers reactions. To start an article, my coach asked me the following helping questions:

What are the things you can’t stop thinking about?

What are you excited, angry, upset or inspired about?

Which difficult experience did you encounter and what helped you to overcome this?

10. Search images by emotions, instead of keywords

Choose a picture that supports the emotional message you’re trying to convey. Your answers to the questions above offer a great starting point for image search.

In the beginning, I used my pictures and searched at other platforms for the perfect image. But top medium stories demonstrate, in most cases, the built-in Unsplash image search is enough. While crafting your article, click on the + symbol and select the loupe. Then type in your emotion-triggering keyword.

Image By Author

11. Structure your article bones to write faster

Working for days on the same piece can leave you frustrated. Particularly, if you can’t see any progress. For writing development, Ben Hardy’s practice helped me the most. It might help you as well if you tend to get lost in your writing process. Here’s what he said:

“Always start with the headlines, then get all of the subsections.

Once you’ve got the subsections title them in powerful ways.

Once you’ve got the subsections titled, get quotes for each subsection or other essential elements you need.

Once you have these bones formed, begin writing.”

12. When you write, — write

Once you have the bones formed, focus on writing. When you stop for research or edit yourself, you break your flow state.

Focus on putting words on the paper. Don’t stop your flow. Don’t look for more knowledge. Use abbreviations for flowing through your craft.

  • LINK if you want to link something later on write
  • CHECK if you need to double-check what you’ve just written use
  • IMG in case you want to add an image or graphic

Editing and researching interrupt your flow state. Add all of the above once you’re done with the first draft of your piece. When you write, just write.

13. When you don’t feel like writing, write

As said in the beginning, writing quality improves with quantity. Hence, you need to write consistently. When you don’t write, you don’t produce content. You don’t learn. You don’t improve.

Create environments that help you to write. In case you don’t know how to focus without distraction, no matter what, read Cal Newport’s Deep Work. If you only have a limited amount of time for writing, focus on smaller tasks like researching headlines, images, or coming up with new ideas.

On days, where you don’t feel like writing, try to compose the worst piece you can. It’ll make your process more fun.

14. Bury mediocre passages in your editing graveyard

Editing can hurt. Deleting entire phrases might feel like going backward. But to craft excellent writing, you should edit without compromise. Mediocre sentences will ultimately lead to average articles. Not every word you typed deserves to stay in your piece.

A document that serves as editing graveyard can help. This document has the sole purpose of editing more strictly and not clunch to useless words. You cut out all fluff from your original piece and bury it in your paper. In case you miss your words or want to reuse them for other articles, you know where to find them.

If you’re unsure whether to keep or destroy a passage, read the entire paragraph out loud. Your voice is a great editing tool after you’ve written your piece.

15. Use a system to manage your ideas and articles

The more you write, the more critical it is to keep an overview. Inspired by my medium coach, I use Trello for ideas and article management. Here’s how I use Trello:

Image By Author

In the column “ideas,” I store all headline and topic ideas. I prefill most idea cards with an outline and the described bones structure. Prefilled content helps to get into writing quickly. You no longer have to sit and wait in front of a blank piece of paper, waiting for ideas to cross your mind.

Once I started putting an idea onto paper, the Trello card moves to “working projects.” Some longer articles, like this one, linger around in “working projects” for a few days as I add ideas to the piece in several writing sessions.

When I finished editing the article and found both the headline and an emotion-provoking picture, I submit the article to a publication. In the “submitted to publication” column is a timestamp on every card that indicates when I expect to hear back from the publication.

In case publications rejected my article, I move the card to the “re-edit” column as my work needs further improvement. If a publication publishes my piece, I slide the card to “published.”

All articles in the “published” column receive an entry in my article overview sheet, which looks like this:

Image By Author

This excel sheet is a great motivator for reminding you of the work you’ve completed. Moreover, this system helps you keep track of the number of articles published, your curation tags, and the publications you’ve published with. You can use your sheet to set your writing KPIs.

What indicates your on track in your writing process?

Do you measure your success by the number of articles you published?

By the words, you’ve put on paper?

Is it the total reading time in minutes, that shows your effort?

Or is it the variety of publications you’re looking for?

Be clear about your key performance indicators. The clearer your goals, the easier it’ll be to reach them.

16. Publish with publications to reach more readers

Instead of self-publishing my first articles, I should’ve spent more time researching suitable publications. Here are the three benefits of publishing with publications:

  • You reach more people
  • By following publication guidelines, your writing improves
  • Thereby, your chances of curation increase

Once you’ve written and edited your piece, research suitable publications, there are medium run publications like Onezero, Elemental, Gen, Zora, Forge and Human Parts, and prominent other publications like P.S. I love you, The Startup, The Ascent, or like this one The Writing Cooperative. If you’re unsure which publication might suit your writing, use medium’s search for your topic. Look which publications recently covered your area of expertise.

Don’t feel discouraged in case publications reject your piece. I applied three times for The Ascent before they accepted one of my articles. See the application process as a free learning opportunity; if editors reject your work, ask yourself how to improve your writing. Ask for feedback and use the publication guidelines to double-check.

17. Done is better than perfect

As a writer, you put your name behind everything you publish. I asked my coach several times how she determines a piece is “good enough.”

Instead of looking for the perfect breakthrough, give your best to produce as much useful content as you possibly can. You have to accept your okayish content if you want to become an exceptional writer.

Don’t overjudge your work and don’t fear to publish something that isn’t perfect. Once you’ve hit publish, you can let your fears go and focus on your next idea.

In retrospect, I wasted my time editing this article for 8 hours. I would’ve used my time better by posting earlier and creating more content.

Done is better than perfect. Hit “publish” once your piece is good enough.

18. Learn to write faster

Megan Holstein said in one of her inspiring articles on writing,

“Every writer’s business is a factory. We can choose to produce a better product, or we can choose to produce more of it. The more writing we put out to the world, the more readers might stumble across our writing.”

By publishing more than 30 pieces a month, my medium coach puts these words into action. Thereby, she earns more than most people I know. Moreover, with quantity comes quality. When you improve your writing speed, your writing quality improves likewise.

To increase my writing speed, I track the time I need to write an article. While this doesn’t sound highly creative, it helps me to keep my goal in mind and to focus on the process.

19. Ideas are everywhere

Whatever idea comes to your mind, be sure to capture it in your idea management board or a journal, so you don’t lose it. Ideas come best when you don’t aim to have them.

Here are some great prompts from my mentor, that helped me getting ideas:

Which stories can you tell from your life?

What’s interesting about your career?

Which resources have helped you in your daily life? How?

Which book have you read that triggered something in you?

What topic are you currently struggling with?

Which vulnerability do you dare to share?

Write about something you care about and be brutally honest about it.

Feel free to try anything you like, whether it’s investments one day and relationships the next. People follow you for your voice, rather than expertise on any given topic.

And whenever you lack ideas, check out Bookshlf to get inspired by academics, distinguished professionals, journalists, and online creators.

Want to join a life-long learning community? Sign up here for applicable insights on reading, learning, and growth.

How To Decide What To Do For A Living

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A step-by-step guide to bold decision making.

Photo by Pablo Heimplatz on Unsplash

You are on a career path.

The question is: Is this path also the one you want to be on?

Do you make a living with something worth your time?

Does your work allow you to live the life you want to live?

To live the life you choose to live?

Most people were lured into their current career path. Parents, friends, and employer branding guided their decisions.

But unless you decide what to do for a living, you’re like a ship without a sail. Or as Gary Vaynerchuk puts it:

“The one thing I know for sure, is the outcome of what happens if you don’t decide. If you never make a decision, or deliberate for too long, all the upside or potential opportunity could be lost.”

My life changed once I took ownership of my career path. Since that decision, every minute of my time became precious. I want to be on the path I’m on.

If I can do it, you can do it, too.

Once you know what you want, you can land any job you want.

Here’s how you can boldly decide what to do for a living:

0) Get Into “Peak State”

How you start something determines how you finish it. No person made great decisions while feeling like a douche-bag.

A low-quality state of mind leads to low-quality choices.

But you shouldn’t settle for mediocre choices.

You deserve the best.

That’s why you want to be in a peak state when you think about your next move.

So before you consider making a decision, check whether you’re in a state to thinking this decision through. Put yourself in an environment that supports your clear, open mind. Get into a peak state.

How to apply this advice

If you have a powerful, ritualized morning routine, you’ll be in peak state right afterwards. The time frame after your routine is excellent for altered thinking and decision making.

Another way to peak state is to get your body moving and breathing. More oxygen equals more energy. Hike through a forest, or simply breathe fresh air before you sit down.

1) Determine Your Orbit

Be selective about how you spend your time.

Rather than asking what’s possible, ask which topic is worth dedicating your life to?

You have the skills. You have the knowledge. Your life is precious. But eventually, you will die.

Your lifetime is too precious to remain within the limited boundaries of your existing reality.

To make bold, right decisions, think outside of your current environment.

How to apply this advice

Which topic makes you want to jump out of bed at any time? What issue can’t you stop thinking or talking about?

There’s no wrong answer to it. Don’t even think about what other people think about your answer. There’s no right or wrong answer. Be honest with yourself.

If you can’t find anything, it comes down to two reasons. You’re not in your peak state, or you need more inspiration. Make learning a daily habit. Read books outside of your habitue. Visit meet-ups. Travel.

There’s no valid reason not to have any topic you burn for.

Find out what that topic is for you.

2) Analyze Your Energy Level

“The energy of the mind is the essence of life.”

— Aristotle

Two days, packed schedules.

Have you ever wondered at night, why on some days you feel drained and wasted, while on other evenings you’re still feeling fresh?

Your energy level determines how you experience your days, weeks, years, and ultimately, your life.

Yet, most people don’t have any clue about their energy drainers and givers. They never pay any attention to our energy. Our ignorance doesn’t protect us.

You won’t make smart decisions on what to do for a living unless you’re clear about your energy management.

How to apply this advice

Before you look for “what’s out there,” make sure you know “what’s inside” of you. Regularly ask yourself:

  1. Which activities make you feel good and give you energy?
  2. Which activities destroy your mood and drain your energy?

Once you pay attention, you’ll quickly realize different activities lead to different energy levels.

Feel free to copy this simple table to your journal or in your notepad and fill it for a week. You’ll be clear about energy givers and takers afterward.

Source: Author

After tracking and rating your activities, consolidate what you’ve learned. Here’s my general energy list. Notice that yours might be completely different.

Energy drainers: Repetitive tasks, hour-long computer work, detail-oriented tasks like filling spreadsheets, meetings with >5 people, PowerPoint, reading law texts, spending time with negative people, greasy food, WhatsApp, grocery shopping, driving a car

Energy givers: Teaching, writing, public speaking, networking, strategic planning, helping others, reading philosophy, self-reflection, organizing, music, time with my partner, laughing with friends, singing, meditation, ashtanga yoga, dancing, sunshine, cooking and then eating self-made dishes, driving in trains

When reading job descriptions or making job choices, we often forget what’s behind the fancy title. “Digital Transformation Consultant” might mean nothing more than sitting in front of a computer, building powerpoints, or sales pitches 3/4 of your time. “Customer Relationships” might equal sitting in front of a computer and inserting contact details into a spreadsheet. “Human Resource Specialist” might be another term for being on the phone with requiters and scheduling interviews for potential candidates.

Before deciding on a career path, be clear about your energy drainers and givers.

3) Focus On Growth

“Certainty is the enemy of growth. “
 — Mark Manson

When making your decision, focus on personal growth.

By working a job where you can acquire the skills for your future self, the chances are high that you’ll overperform.

Not because you’re smarter than your co-workers. It’s because you have a reason why you chose that career: Growth.

Pick work where you learn what you want to learn.

How to apply this advice

Where do you see yourself five years from now?

Which skills does your future self possess?

Only then think about your current reality and identify the gap from where you stand to where you want to become.

Your future job should, at least to some extent, help you bridging the skill gap.

4) Trust Your Intuition

“The more you trust your intuition, the more empowered you become, the stronger you become & the happier you become.” 
 — Gisele Bündchen

Intuition is your body’s intelligence at its best. Your brain takes in any given situation, searches its files, matches past experiences, and cues from your self to send you a feeling.

This process happens so quickly that you don’t even register it on a conscious level. That’s why intuition simply points out the way without being in your logical, rational mind.

When was the last time you felt like you just know something?

Intuition exists in all of us. The more we learn about it and listen to it, the more we can use intuition to shape our decisions for the better.

How to apply this advice

Sit down in a quiet environment and ask yourself: What does my gut say on what to do for a living?

Then, listen.

Silence your rational voice.

Don’t start to justify and explain your feelings.

You’ll notice your intuition once you’re really listening.

Does this mean you should follow intuition blindly? No. Factor in common sense and a tickle of rationality, and you’ll find the optimal balance for bold and reach your best decisions.

5) Ask Specific Questions to Your Network

“Nobody can give you better advice than yourself.” 
 — Cicero

Having a strong network is powerful. So powerful, it can even interfere with your trajectory.

It’s tempting to follow smart people’s general opinions.

“What’s my next career step?” is a terrible question to ask your network.

You’ll find yourself living their imagination of a good life. You might sway into a choice that doesn’t work for you.

Regardless of your network’s size and quality, be very selective and specific with the questions you ask.

How to apply this advice

Instead of asking your network, consult yourself first. Before approaching any friend, colleague, or mentor for advice, be clear about your orbit, your energy management, your future self, and your intuition.

Then, come up with specific questions, like:

Do you know any job in _______ (your orbit) where I can deploy my _______ (activities that give you energy) and expand my ________ (skills you want to grow)?

Once you have a specific question, find the person that can give you the best answers to your questions.

If you aren’t satisfied with your opponent’s answer, finish with: Who else do you know in _____ (orbit) I could talk to regarding this question?

6) Invest In Your Decision

“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest” 
 — Benjamin Franklin

Once you made a decision, it’s tempting to overthink. But the more you think about your decision, the more you talk yourself out of it.

We, humans, love to stick to what we know. Your rational mind doesn’t like big changes and might find ways to question your decisions.

The best way to make a decision is by putting high stakes into your decision.

Once you spend time and money on your decision, you’re signaling yourself that you’re serious about it.

How to apply this advice

Put effort into realizing your decision and invest in the decision you made.

Your initial investment is your time. But don’t just browse through books and articles. Invest time in crafting your application. Ask for intros to your future employer.

Besides, make a financial investment. Get a mentor. Go to conferences. Pay for learning experiences like online courses. Apply what you learn in the form of action.

The further you’re in, the less likely your ego will talk you out of it (because it’s generally afraid of everything new and outside of your comfort zone).

The Bottom Line

Get into a peak state, determine your area, analyze your energy level, focus on personal growth, ask and listen to your intuition, ask specific questions to your network, and invest time and money in your decision.

You’ll be blown away by everything that happens in your life, once you made a bold decision on what you want to do for a living.

Just watch the power of life unfold.

Do you want to stay in touch? Join my E-Mail List.

8 Books Written by Thought Leaders Every Educator Should Read

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“The skill I was learning was a crucial one, the patience to read things I could not yet understand.” — Tara Westover

Photo by Joyce McCown on Unsplash

In early 2018, I started asking every educator I met for book recommendations. It’s one of the habits that has changed my mind. Since March 2018, I’ve read 116 books.

This list portraits my eight favorite education books. For each book, I included my favorite quote, a one-sentence summary, three key lessons, and reasons why you might be interested in reading each book.

Table of Contents
Inspiring Stories
1. Educated by Tara Westover
2. I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
Rethinking Education
3. Prepared: What Kids need for a fulfilled Life by Diane Tavenner
4. Creative Schools by Ken Robinson and Lou Aronica
5. Mindset by Carol Dweck
6. How Children Succeed by Paul Tough
For Educators 
7. Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov
8. Mathematical Mindsets by Joe Boaler

1. Educated by Tara Westover

“The skill I was learning was a crucial one, the patience to read things I could not yet understand.”

— Tara Westover

The Book in One Sentence

An unforgettable memoir about a woman who was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom and, despite her extremely difficult family circumstances, managed to earn a Ph.D. from an elite university.

Key Takeaways

  1. Education can be a way out of the most difficult situations
  2. Whatever learning challenge you face, you can do it
  3. Life is a quest for learning; one is never done with it.

Why should you read it?

This book is not only beautifully written, but it’s also one of the most powerful success stories about higher education. You’ll peek inside a Mormon family and off-grit Idaho life. Tara’s story will motivate and stick with you long after reading.

2. I am Mala by Malala Yousafzai

“One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world.”
― Malala Yousafzai

The Book in One Sentence

I Am Malala celebrates the importance of girl’s education and portraits of brave parents who fight for their daughter’s rights in a society that favors men.

Key Takeaways

  1. The more you learn, the more you recognize the value of learning
  2. Education empowers people to have confidence in themselves
  3. All of us should stand up for the importance of education

Why should you read it?

This is one of the books that might end up changing the way you think and feel. Malala will put your life into perspective and will make you feel grateful for the rights you already have. Moreover, you’ll feel the importance of global (women) education from the first to the last scene.

3. Prepared: What Kids Need for a Fulfilled Life by Diane Tavenner

“Mastery is when you become good at something, autonomy is when you have some measure of control, and purpose is when you’re doing something for a reason that is authentic to you.”

— Diane Tavenner

The Book in One Sentence

This book is Diane’s story about designing innovative charter schools, so-called Summit schools, that focus on the ambitious goal to teach kids what they need to live a good life.

Key Takeaways

  1. Summit schools build on the three key elements: Self-directed learning, project-based learning and mentoring
  2. Summit schools make use of technology to enable personalized-learning experiences
  3. Besides reading, writing, and maths, the school teaches skills like self-confidence, the ability to learn, ability to manage their time, and a sense of direction

Why should you read it?

Diane dares to rethink our current education model by asking questions like “What is best for our kids?” and “What should I be doing now for my kids?”. Exploring these questions, she draws on stories of her troubled childhood. With hands-on advice, this story has the power to inspire teachers, parents, and decision-makers.

4. Creative Schools by Ken Robinson and Lou Aronica

“Education thrives on partnership and collaboration — within schools, between schools, and with other groups and organizations.”

— Ken Robinson

The Book in One Sentence

A guide for transforming education so that kids receive state-of-the-art training and develop the skills they need to excel in our transforming world.

Key Takeaways

  1. Several elements of our education system are based in the industrial period, like batching children by age group, fixed teaching periods, sharp subject divisions, and linear assessment methods
  2. Creative schools cultivate curiosity, creativity, criticism, communication, collaboration, compassion, composure, and citizenship.
  3. In a new environment, expert teachers fulfill four roles: engage, enable, expect, and empower.

Why should you read it?

This book highlights not only current flaws in our education systems but also provides concrete solutions, like child-centered learning and real-world curricula. After reading, you’ll know what parents, teachers, administrators, and policy-makers can do to change our outdated system.

Pictured by Author

5. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck

“No matter what your ability is, effort is what ignites that ability and turns it into accomplishment.”
― Carol S. Dweck

The Book in One Sentence

By distinguishing between a fixed and a growth mindset, the author demonstrates how success in school, work, sports, the arts, and almost every area of human endeavor is influenced by how we think about our talents and abilities.

Key Takeaways

  1. Mindsets shape whether we believe we can or can’t learn, change and grow
  2. People with a fixed mindset seek approval while those with a growth mindset seek development
  3. Role models from our childhood strongly influence our attitudes and ideas, yet we can change our mindset even in adulthood

Why should you read it?

This book is a must-read for every person looking for growth. After reading this book, you’ll be able to integrate a growth mindset into your life. For example, you’ll see mistakes as valuable learning opportunities. Studying this book can empower any educator to make positive changes in the classroom environment.

6. How Children Succeed by Paul Tough

““What matters, instead (of cognitive intelligence), is whether we are able to help her develop a very different set of qualities, a list that includes persistence, self-control, curiosity, conscientiousness, grit, and self-confidence. Economists refer to these as noncognitive skills, psychologists call them personality traits, and the rest of us sometimes think of them as character.”
― Paul Tough

The Book in One Sentence

Based on scientific studies and data from existing schools, this book explores factors that affect the success of children and proposes a new way of thinking about how children learn.

Key Takeaways

  1. “Executive Function” is a set of cognitive processes that drive and develop persistence, self-control, curiosity, motivation, determination, and confidence
  2. Executive Function Matters More To Academic Achievement as it begets character and character begets success
  3. Stress, in the form of a traumatic childhood experience, has a bigger impact on education than poverty

Why should you read it?

How children succeed has been described as “essential reading for anyone who cares about childhood in America.” It’s not only great for educators, but also parents as it explores traits like perseverance, conscientiousness, and self-discipline as ways to succeed in life. After reading this book, you’ll critically question the “intelligence theory” and understand why some people struggle in school and later in life while others thrive and prosper.

7. Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov

“Teach students how to do things right, don’t just establish consequences for doing them wrong.”
― Doug Lemov

The Book in One Sentence

A hands-on description of actual techniques and tools teachers can use for classroom management and attention encouragement.

Key Takeaways

  1. Effective educators have a large variety of techniques at their disposal
  2. Structure and deliver lessons with hooks, check for understandings, exit tickets, and reflection
  3. Create strong classroom cultures with entry routines, do now’s and non-verbal signaling

Why should you read it?

While this book is rather classic in terms of endorsing teaching to the test, the techniques work. In my first year of teaching, many tools helped me creating a constructive learning environment and designing engaging lessons. Doug Lemov gives countless useful, concrete tips for beginning teachers in elementary and middle-school classes. If you want to get a glimpse of the content, take a look at this well-structured summary.

8. Mathematical Mindsets: Unleashing Student’s Potential Through Creative Math, Inspiring Messages and Innovative Teaching by Jo Boaler

““Mathematics is at the center of thinking about how to spend the day, how many events and jobs can fit into the day, what size of space can be used to fit equipment or turn a car around, how likely events are to happen, knowing how tweets are amplified and how many people they reach.”
― Jo Boaler

The Book in One Sentence

Mathematical Mindsets puts Dweck’s mindset research into practice by offering strategies and activities that show every child can enjoy and succeed in math.

Key Takeaways

  1. Quality questions, described as low floor — heigh ceiling activities, are a simple and effective tool for self-differentiation
  2. Encourage students to make and learn from mistakes, as errors are a necessary precondition for learning.
  3. Focus on progress instead of performance, place effort before talent.

Why should you read it?

This book is great for pre-service teachers, as well as experienced educators who want to encourage their student’s growth mindsets. I read many book books on teaching maths, but this actionable advice has affected my teaching in the most profound way. Jo Boaler offers more practical information than Dweck’s “mindest” and is explicitly focused on teaching and learning.

Do you want to stay in touch? Join my E-Mail List.

The 1 Piece of Sleep Advice You Probably Haven’t Applied Yet

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“What we choose to focus on and what we choose to ignore play in defining the quality of our life.” — Cal Newport

Photo by Rayia Soderberg on Unsplash

Let me guess. You know that sleep is our human superpower, and you’ve read all the sleep advice. You know the benefits of lower room temperature, less light in your bedroom, and waking up at the same time every day, and yet, your sleep is still restless.

Maybe you struggle to fall asleep. Maybe you wake up in the middle of the night, with racing thoughts on your mind. Or maybe you roll around in the morning feeling stressed, unrested, or anxious.

By implementing standard sleep advice, you might increase your sleep quality, but this probably won’t be enough. For elevating your sleep hygiene, buy an alarm clock, and abandon your phone from your sleeping room.

Three of the most damaging effects of using your smartphone in your bedroom:

  1. You lose time
  2. You lose focus
  3. Your sleep quantity and quality drops

My cell phone’s alarm woke me for a decade. It wasn’t until I read studies (like this one, this one, or this one) on the downsides of smartphone use that I abandoned my phone from my sleeping room. I have never used my smartphone’s alarm since.

In this comprehensive, short article, I’ll show you how to outsmart technology by replacing your smartphone’s alarm function with an alarm clock.

The Bad Influences of Your Smartphone in Bed

1. You Lose Time

The average person needs 7–9 hours of sleep every night. Scientists have proven that one can’t catch up on sleep “later.”

„The shorter you sleep, the shorter your life span.”

— Matthew Walker

While we know we need around 8 hours of sleep; we sometimes forget that there’s a difference between sleeping and being in bed.

When was the last time you used your phone in bed? When did you scroll through your favorite app instead of sleeping?

It’s not your fault. Engineers designed Instagram, Facebook (and even Medium) to retain your attention for as long as possible. A well-intended “I’ll just text my friend,” habitually leads to infinity scrolls.

A minute becomes 5, then 10, then 30 minutes — precious time you’d better be sleeping. Checking your phone in bed is a stimulating, sleep-harming activity.

While engineers designed apps that hook your attention, it’s up to you when you let technology trick you in. You are in power to change scrolling time for sleeping time.

2. You Lose Focus

World-class performers in any field rely on affirmation, meditation, and visualization. These persons treat the time before and after sleep like treasures.

Meanwhile, a study from IDC Research showed 80% of smartphone users check their phones within 15 minutes of waking up. Instead of starting and ending your day, focusing on your thoughts, you prioritize the social media fluff of others.

Do you really want to fall asleep or wake up contemplating the latest post on your newsfeed?

Bestselling author Ryan Holiday explains why he protects his focus and time from his phone:

“Because it’s my life and it’s ticking away every second. I want to be there for it, not staring at a screen. Now some mornings, if I am writing, I might not touch my phone until lunch. On those days, I’m happier and more productive.“

3. Your Sleep Quantity And Quality Drops

We need the sleep hormone melatonin to fall asleep. Meanwhile, science discovered the light from our phones suppresses melatonin. Smartphone light has an impact on sleep.

This study showed consistent, robust evidence of an association between access to the use of devices and reduced sleep quantity and quality, as well as increased daytime sleepiness.

How an Alarm Clock That’s Not Your Clock App Improves Your Sleep Health

1. You Gain Time

With an alarm clock, you don’t need to keep your phone next to you while sleeping. You won’t have the option to start scrolling before you sleep and after you wake up. Eventually, you won’t lose precious sleeping time anymore.

“No person hands out their money to passersby, but to how many do each of us hand out our lives! We’re tightfisted with property and money, yet think too little of wasting time, the one thing about which we should all be the toughest misers.”

— Seneca

2. You Gain Focus

You decide how to spend the precious time before and after sleep. You can start and end your day without glancing at your phone and, instead, focus on what matters to you.

“What we choose to focus on and what we choose to ignore, play in defining the quality of our life.”

— Cal Newport

By abandoning your phone from your bedroom, you can implement new bedtime and morning rituals. What do you want to be doing the last thing in the evening and first thing in the morning?

My bedtime ritual is reading. In bed, I can either sleep or read. That’s how I read one book per week for two years. My phone-free morning routine starts with oil pulling, a big glass of warm water, stretching, and a 15-minute meditation. Then I dress and write. I turn on my phone when I leave for work at around 7:15 AM.

3. Your Sleep Quantity and Quality Increases

Since your screen’s blue light won’t suppress your melatonin levels, you’ll fall asleep easier.

By using an alarm that’s not your clock app, your phone can go in the other room, and with your phone in a different room, you can’t check it at night. You won’t know if you get a text message or an email. You won’t scroll through your social apps.

Eventually, your sleep quality and quantity increase, which is crucial as sleep improves your ability to learn, resets your emotions, restores your immune system, optimizes your metabolism, and regulates your appetite.

Creating a New Habit

Transitioning from your smartphone’s alarm to a classic alarm sounds easy? It is. But change only happens from taking action. So if you’re serious about improving your sleep hygiene, order an alarm clock. Now.

Getting an alarm clock is the fastest way to abandon your phone from your sleeping room. I promise it’s the $5–50 best-invested dollars. You won’t have an excuse to sleep with your phone on your nightstand.

“Some mornings will be easy. The sun will shine, and you’ll feel good. Other days will be much darker. You can’t control everything that happens to you. You can, however, make some changes to wake up feeling a little bit brighter.”

— Michael Thompson

To Transform Your Life, Start Changing Your Thoughts

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Record your voice with this four-part strategy and live the life of your wildest imagination.

Photo by Cristina Gottardi on Unsplash

Many people want to change something in their life, but they continuously fail and find themselves in the same pattern over and over again.

Did you know that 90% of your thoughts today follow the same pattern as yesterday’s thoughts? By thinking in yesterday’s corridor, you’ll repeat past behaviors. Your mind, actions, and body stay the way they are.

You can’t expect things or circumstances to change. Nothing changes unless you change.

Yet, many people fail to apply this advice. I didn’t feel comfortable in my body for years, and still, I felt unable to change until I stumbled upon one tool that changed the way I think, look, feel, and act: Affirmations.

Affirmations are inspiring self-talk. When repeated regularly, affirmations affect your subconscious and strengthen you mentally.

By repeating affirmations, you wire your brain to your future instead of repeating your past all over again. Once you change your thoughts, you’ll make new choices that ultimately lead to new behaviors and experiences, thereby creating your new self.

“The latest science in neuroscience says that when you close your eyes and rehearse an activity mentally, you begin to install the neurological hardware in your brain to look like you already did it.”

— Joe Dispenza

Follow these four-step morning affirmations and direct your attention to what you want in your life. You will gain more clarity, focus, vitality, and implementation power for your days ahead.

To apply this method with maximum effect, record your voice (more on that later). Before, select your favorite prompts for mindfulness, posture, vision, and mindset.

#1 Mindfulness Prompts to Get You Started

First, slow down your busy mind with prompts for awareness. These reminders help you find focus and calmness.

  • Take ten deep breaths. Inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth.
  • Close your eyes. Feel your body touching the surface beneath you.
  • Breathe in fresh energy and exhale all worries and concerns.
  • Scan through your body, from the top of your head to the tips of your toes.
  • How does your ___________ (stomach, hand, head, foot) feel today?
  • Listen to the sounds around you.

Once you’re grounded in the present moment and notice physical sensations, you’re good to go to the second step:

#2 Questions to Set Your Inner Posture

Before visualizations and actionable prompts, you want to ensure you plant your ideas into fertile ground.

Entering a state of gratitude, abundance, and appreciation sets the tone for winning your day. The deeper you allow yourself to experience these feelings, the more powerful your vision manifestation will be.

  • What three things are you thankful for today? Feel the gratitude in your belly, expand gratefulness to your entire body, and let it flow beyond your body.
  • How much gratitude do you allow yourself to feel today?
  • Who helped you get where you are now? Send a mental note of appreciation to this person.
  • You are enough. No matter what you are doing today. You are enough the way you are. You are right the way you are. You are right the way you look. At this moment, you are enough, no matter what you are doing.
  • You can achieve whatever you’re striving for.
  • You are in control of the decisions you make. You determine your speed of life. Your life is in your hands. You already have everything you need to create the life you want to live.
  • Focus on your strengths. Remember, when you ______ (produced something you are proud). How did you feel?

Feeling gratitude and abundance takes practice. Try this six days in a row before you conclude, “I don’t feel any gratitude.” On somedays feelings are stronger, on some, they’re subtler. There’s no right or wrong about it. Both spectra are fine as long as you don’t judge yourself.

Soon you’re in a state of open-hearted mindfulness and ready for vision manifestation.

#3 Powerful Affirmations for Manifesting Your Vision

Now you created the fertile ground to plant your visionary ideas.

Pick the questions that feel out of your comfort zone. You aim to dream and think as big as you can.

  • Imagine you achieved everything you aimed for in your life. How do you look? How do you feel? How do people around you react to your _______ (wisdom, power, drive, courage)? 
    Picture yourself as vividly as possible. Feel your new self.
  • Where do you focus on to bring more _____ (love, gratitude, laughter) to your life?
  • What are the three most important steps today, you can take to move towards your vision? Where do you have leverage for change?
  • If your day goes perfectly, what does it look like? What’s your posture?
  • How do you feel at the end of the day?
  • What will you be most proud of this evening?
  • Which three steps you can take today that bring you closer to your vision.

#4 Inspiring Assertions for Your Winner Mindset

Lastly, you want to finish strong with inspirational prompts for manifestation.

Pick five or come up with a sentence that has more meaning to you personally.

  • Courage means to speak up for yourself. You are courageous.
  • Focus on practice instead of performance.
  • Compare yourself to nobody but your yesterday’s self.
  • Treat yourself as someone you’re responsible for helping.
  • You attract everything you want into your life, including money, relationships, and opportunity.
  • You are free, and you inspire freedom in others. You are calm and confident. You are fulfilled, and you are loved. You focus on the things you can control in your life. You are healthy, and you are strong. You are living your dream while being balanced.
  • Whom can you help today through your actions? How can people win with and through you today? You rise by lifting others.
  • You are compassionate. You listen to your feelings and sense the apprehensions of others. You do not react. Instead, you act intentionally.
  • Be uncompromising with your time and with the things that you let into your consciousness. Everything you consume, media or food, affects you and your energy level.
  • You only get what you dare to ask.

How to Apply It: Ready, Set, Record!

By recording your favorite affirmations for mindfulness, posture, vision, and mindset, you will win any day that you listen to your recording.

Highlight your favorites, grab your phone, and press record. The most powerful affirmations are the ones you record and speak to yourself.

Make sure to leave enough pauses behind every prompt so you can think and feel. For example, when you give yourself the prompt to take ten deep breaths, literally breath into the microphone ten times.

Ignore your ego, who’s probably telling you recording your voice is ridiculous. Just do it and start winning every single day.

Photo by Author

You might not see it at first, but if you stick with it, there is no other habit that can bring a bigger transformation than listening to your self-recorded affirmations.

“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive — to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.”

— Marcus Aurelius

Do you want to stay in touch? Join my E-Mail List.

Education Systems Are Sick. Here Are Three Suggestions for a Cure.

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How schools can use talents, tech & growth mindsets to better prepare the next generations.

Photo by LinkedIn Sales Navigator on Unsplash

“We may not see the future, but our students will and our job is to help them make something of it.”

— Sir Ken Robinson

The next generation faces climate change, digital disruption, and need skills like critical thinking, problem-solving, information literacy, and self-directed learning.

Yet, most schools haven’t changed since your parents went to school.

Our education system operates in an outdated framework. It’s like we’re desperately using Henry Ford’s assembly lines to create the future of mobility.

Unless we want our kids to blame us for pushing them through a sick system, we better change the frames in which schools operate.

Below are three instructive examples of how to improve school systems. By reading, you’ll understand how teachers, grading systems, and technology can drive us into a new education era.

1. Attract The Best Talent To Teaching

Future education systems attract the most qualified people, so children learn from the best.

Meanwhile, we’re personally familiar with the high percentage of teachers who don’t like teaching or even worse, who hate children. It’s those persons that trampled on the emotional entryway to our brains and devalued our respect for the teaching profession.

And as if bad memories weren’t enough, the current system doesn’t even attract fresh, ambitious talent. There are careers in the private sector, in politics, in the artistic field, but not in school.

I made a brave decision when I waived half my salary and ignored social expectations to teach at a school rather than to consult at McKinsey.

This decision shouldn’t have felt brave. A teaching career needs to shine as bright as working for the “Big Three” does to some business students.

How to attract the best talent into the teaching profession?

By professionalizing a teacher’s job. Here’s a checklist for decision-makers:

  • Adequate workspaces with quiet cubicles for undisturbed deep work and rooms for team meetings and parent-teacher conferences.
  • Proper work equipment, including laptops, WIFI, and stationery for lesson preparation and communication.
  • Core working hours that enable team-oriented work and free the teaching profession from the stigma of a part-time job.
  • 360° feedback systems that support teachers in their personal and professional development.
  • Career paths and opportunities besides teaching, similar to Singapore’s leadership and senior specialist tracks.

„Like any other profession, career advancement is only limited by your own performance and potential.”

— Ministry of Education, Singapore

Once enough teaching prospects apply, universities can pick the most suitable candidates based on leadership qualities needed for teaching, like decisiveness, self-awareness, courage, clarity, empathy, and the willingness to learn.

2. Measure Student’s Progress by Learning Instead of Grading

In a new education era, students focus on learning progress instead of grades.

When education scaled in the 20th century, grades were our best guess for performance measurement. Now, we know better.

“Schools reward students who consistently do what they are told. Academic grades correlate only loosely with intelligence. Grades are, however, an excellent predictor of self-discipline, conscientiousness, and the ability to comply with rules.”

— Eric Barker

The most successful students are those who understand what teachers want and follow the rules. A student who arranges his worksheets in the right order and nods silently often receives better marks than his peer, who asks critical questions and challenges the status quo.

Here’s the unwritten formula to grade success: “Accept the ideas of your superiors and implement them quickly, silently, and never critically question any teacher.”

With this mantra in mind, you might wonder how students are supposed to become tomorrow’s critical thinkers and creative minds. Good point.

It’s hard to foster creativity and critical thinking when grades reward those who follow the rules.

Besides, children read grades as a measurement for their intelligence. Many students derive or destroy their self-worth based on a grade (and their parents’ reaction to this grade).

By an overrated attribution of meaning, the next Thomas Alva Edison might lose her interest in science, concluding she’s not good in Chemistry.

“I’ve never been good in _______ (subject),” is the most noxious statement grading has produced.

A new education era replaces grades with learning progress.

How to measure a student’s learning progress?

By teaching kids to judge their progress based on learning instead of grades. Guiding questions could be:

  • What new did you learn today?
  • What have you done better than yesterday?
  • What mistake did you make that taught you something?
  • What’s the most helpful feedback you received today?
  • What did you try hard today?
  • What are you curious about, and what will you explore next?

Future schools build on the work of the American psychologist Carol Dweck who demonstrated the role of mindsets in students’ achievement.

Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset (Source: Author based on C. Dweck)

“Test scores and measures of achievement tell you where a student is, but they don’t tell you, where a student could end up.”

— Carol Dweck

Photo by Daniel von Appen on Unsplash

3. Using State-of-the-Art Technology To Facilitate Learning

In a new education era, all children experience personalized learning.

Remember when you were sitting in a classroom, bored to death because some of your classmates didn’t get the concept? Or were you the one rushing and struggling, because you didn’t want the others to wait for you?

Unfortunately, classroom reality hasn’t changed much.

Schools expect students to learn at the same speed and with the same means. It doesn’t help that we batch children through our school system, assuming age is the most important thing they’ve in common.

Future education systems make use of technology to adapt learning to students’ individual needs.

How To Make Use of Technology?

By scaling best practices like BetterLesson or Teach to One.

Teach to One has digitized 10.000 math units as educational games and explanatory videos. In large rooms, children of different ages learn simultaneously while each student works on a device. Algorithms determine personalized daily schedules based on student’s learning needs, with each schedule and instruction plan adjusted to suit their ability and most successful learning method.

In classrooms with technology, teachers are learning guides, motivators, and coaches. Instead of keeping an entire class quite and busy, they focus on social interaction in 1:1 check-ins and smaller group settings.

“In Teach to One, you’re always doing something. Because there is no set curriculum, you can keep moving up. Once you know something, you can just go on to the next concept and figure that one out.”

— Student at Teach to One

The result: Within five years, these students learn 40–50% more mathematics than comparison students with conventional teaching methods.

Algorithm facilitated curricula can give students what they need in the way they need and when they need it.

“The future is called digital learning. It’s the most important innovation in education since the invention of the printing press.”

— Rafael Reif

The Bottom Line

Students, parents, teachers, community leaders, and decision-makers — together, we have to demand courageous and new solutions in education! Little will change if we stay quiet.

Let’s start by acknowledging all the great teachers who make the best of a diseased system. The ones who explore new ways of teaching, encourage students to ask critical questions and focus on learning progress.

Let’s help them by attracting more talent to teaching, shifting the grade focus to learning focus, and using the power of algorithms for student’s personalized learning experiences.

There’s no reason any student should not enjoy learning.

Do you want to stay in touch? Join my E-Mail List.

Sources

Barker, E. (2017). Barking up the wrong tree. The surprising science behind why everything you know about success is (mostly) wrong. Harper One.

Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Random House.

Haynes, V. (1995). Being a Head of Class Isn’t Same as Having Inside Track on Life. Chicago Tribune.

Papageorge, N. W., Ronda, V., & Zheng, Y. (2019). The economic value of breaking bad: Misbehavior, schooling, and the labor market. National Bureau of Economic Research.

Robinson, K. (2010). Changing education paradigms. RSA Animate, The Royal Society of Arts.

Singapore Government (2020). Teaching Careers.

The Economist (2014). The digital degree. The Economist Group Limited.

How To Prioritize Your Goals When Working From Home

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Don’t let others dictate your day.

Photo: Jason Strull/Unsplash

During the ongoing quarantine, many (privileged) people are working from home.

The initial euphoria of working in sweatpants gave way to a new realization: You can easily prioritize the goals of others over your intentions.

Finally, after many days of self-experimentation, I found a way to structure my time in a way that makes me feel satisfied and content.

By following these steps, you can integrate this structure, too.

The importance of prioritizing your own goals

If you’re a people-pleaser like me, you know how good it feels to promptly reply with “yes,” both in private and business context.

Mentor: “I wrote a new article on business transformations, and I’d love to have your opinion on that. Can you feedback?”

Me: “Yes, of course, I’d love to help you with that as I find the article’s topic interesting (and I appreciate our relation).”

Schoolfriend: “Do you want to join our trivia night via Zoom tomorrow night?”

Me: “Sure, I’d love joining our Zoom reunion (as it’s always fun to see you).”

Former boss: “We haven’t talked in a while. I’d love to know which projects you are currently working on.”

Me: “Yes! Let’s schedule a call on which of the following dates are you available?”

Here’s the problem with saying yes to everything: By consistently fulfilling the requests of others, you stop advancing your goals.

In my case, the result of pleasing people is an exhausted, drained, and unsatisfied individual that isn’t looking forward to her next working day.

There will always be a next new exciting opportunity to say yes too, but doing so too often means you say no to your own goals.

Saying no doesn’t mean you can never join any trivia nights again. But it does mean that you work towards your goals FIRST before you prioritize the requests of others.

There is a simple way to evaluate whether you prioritized saying yes to others over saying yes to your own goals: How much progress are you making towards your ambitions?

Is there something you always wanted to do, but “never find the time to” because you keep saying yes to others? How do you feel after a home office day? If your answer is along the lines of “unhappy, dissatisfied, exhausted, drained,” take the chance to change the flow of your days.

You have control of how you feel at the end of a day.

You are in charge of acting on your dreams. If you don’t take ownership of prioritizing your tasks, others will take over with ease. Eventually, you will live the life of others.

Excursion: The diminishing return of fulfilling requests of others

There’s a diminishing return of fulfilling the requests of others. On the x-axis, you see the time a person spends on completing the requests of others at a ten-hour workday (0=0 hours 10=10 hours). On the y-axis, is the person’s personal satisfaction level after a day of work (0=very unsatisfied 10=very satisfied).

The diminishing return of fulfilling the requests of others (Source: Own Illustration)

The graph demonstrates that fulfilling the requests of others has a diminishing return on your satisfaction level.

The green slope shows that our satisfaction sharply increases with the first hours spent on fulfilling the requests of others.

For me, a day on the green slope means I enjoy my morning routine and focus the next few hours on writing. Only afterward, I focus my mind on fulfilling the requests of others. For about three hours in the afternoon, I enjoy doing good for others, like proofreading a friend’s thesis or checking in with a friend who feels lonely these days. Later afternoon, I shut off my phone again and take the time to do one of my favorite things from this list, like writing a Goodreads review of a book I finished.

The yellow slope visualizes that with every additional hour spent on fulfilling requests of others, your satisfaction levels alters slower. Replying with “yes” and working or helping two more hours of your workday does not do any harm. Being on the yellow slope, you might ask, “What could I be doing instead, that increases my satisfaction level more with the same time invested?”

In the words of economists: “What are your opportunity costs?”.

For me, a day on the yellow slope means I started the day, again, with my morning routine and deep focused work on writing. At lunchtime, I check my inbox and messages. The first hours of helping and replying still feel amazing. But in contrast to a “green slope day,” I continue helping others, while some part of me is longing for other activities. I ignore my need for “alone quality time” and continue helping others.

That behavior is still tolerable. While you could have found more satisfaction in another activity, fulfilling the requests of others is still ok for your satisfaction.

Sounds ignorant? How much good can you do to others if you feel unsatisfied with yourself?

On the pink slope, shit hits the fan with every additional hour spent on fulfilling the requests of others, your satisfaction decreases.

If you already helped other persons for 5 hours that day, any additional hour spent can feel like a burden.

When entering the pink slope, there is no good in continuing fulfilling the requests of others as it drains your energy.

For me, a day on the pink slope starts with my phone interrupting me during my morning routine. I pick up and begin fulfilling the requests of others right away. “There is no time” for working on my writing or podcasting. I continue replying to e-mails.

The thing is, you do not do any good or help society if you give yourself up in helping others.

3 ways to prioritize your goals over the goals of others

1. Know your personal goals and write down the three next steps

Logically, you need to know your life goals to prioritize them. As you are reading this article, you probably know your intentions.

If not, read John Strelecky’s guide on finding your big five for life. Once you know your big goals, break them down into the three next steps.

One of my life goals, for example, is to become a speaker and writer. Why? I want to inspire others to live following their mind, body & nature. As this goal is still kind of abstract, I break it down to three achievements for the next day. Today, for example, goes as follows;

  1. Distraction-free writing for >2 hours
  2. Research two strategies for podcast marketing
  3. Prepare one new podcast episode.

In fact, during the home office, distraction-free working is quite a challenge.

That’s why you need to do another step.

2. Each day, block time for deep work

Next, you need to schedule a time for your work on your calendar. According to behavioral scientist Dan Ariely, your mind is most productive 2–3 hours after waking.

You want to use this time to make progress on your goals. We schedule our meeting times, but we barely schedule deep thinking time for our work.

I start working on my most important task of the day right after waking up (tea+yoga+meditation). I protect the clarity of my mind by rigorously turning off all distractions the night before.

Instead of my phone waking me, I use an alarm clock. I have an alarm clock without the possibility to check any messages or news directly. For my inbox, I use the inbox when ready for the Gmail extension. So, I turn my phone off, and I don’t visit any social media or news sites during my first deep working block.

3. Protect your deep thinking blocks

As demonstrated in the beginning, one readily agrees to help and please other people. Don’t get me wrong. Helping other people is essential and valuable.

I strongly believe that we rise by lifting others. So you should even OFFER help to people you feel you could help. But helping others is even more powerful when you do so while also accomplishing your priorities.

Here is some advice on how to protect your deep thinking blocks

  • Only say yes to projects that fully align with your goals or where you are the perfect person to help. To all other frame something like:
    “Thanks for reaching out. I appreciate you asking XYZ. It sounds as you’re making great progress at XYZ. Unfortunately, I have to decline your request as I have committed to three big projects. That’s why I decline every other request, regardless of how small, big, interesting, or exciting it might be.”
  • Maintain a “Said no to list”
    On this list, write down everything you said no to before. This list can help you in making a decision when you feel unsure whether to say yes or no.
  • Bundle “fulfilling the needs of others” into blocks during a day. For example, commit to checking your phone only after you have completed your three most important tasks of the day.

The Bottom Line

Prioritize your goals first, before fulfilling the dreams of others.

Your goal is to reach the sweet red spot where you help others while still taking the time to advance your ambitions.

Prioritize your goals by knowing your priorities.

Then, schedule and protect your deep thinking time.

The diminishing return of fulfilling the requests of others (Source: Own Illustration)

If you do not take care of advancing your personal goals, nobody will.

What are you going to do less? What is the next request you will say no to make time for what matters most to you?

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What Every Entrepreneur Should Know About SEO

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The only step-by-step guide you need to succeed in SEO

Photo by NordWood Themes on Unsplash

Sales funnels, social media strategies, email marketing…these are only a few of the things any digital entrepreneur has to understand and apply.

As someone who has worked with several digital businesses, I know how overwhelming all of this can feel.

Unfortunately, I can’t provide a solution to all these areas, but after reading this post, you’ll be able to cover one of the essential areas of any digital business: SEO.

Setting up a website is easier than ever before, but how do you ensure people find your work?

SEO is the most effective way so that people really find your website.

You probably read articles on keyword research, backlink strategies, and H1 tags before and you might be aware of the importance of SEO, but how do you put all of this into action?

“A website without SEO is like a car with no gas.”

— Paul Cookson

WordPress.org was the CMS of choice for the websites I created. In retrospect, I can also recommend wordpress.org from an SEO perspective as there are great plugins and resources.

SEO is significant leverage to increase your visibility in the online space.

SEO can help yoga teachers, product owners, company co-founders, dentists, etc. — anyone who owns a website. Important message first: you do not need to have coding skills. Let’s take a deep dive into the three significant areas of SEO.

On-Page SEO

On-Page SEO is everything you do on your website. More specifically, on-page SEO contains Keyword Research, Content Strategy, and SEO Copywriting.

On-Page SEO is one of the three pillars of SEO (Source: Eva Keiffenheim).

Keyword research

Keyword research is the most important part of On-Page SEO. Unfortunately, I did not take this seriously two years ago and wrote my first blog articles before doing keyword research. By skipping the research step, my pieces were, from an SEO perspective, useless.

Without proper keyword research, you optimize for words that don’t help you advance your business or product. Here’s how to do proper keyword research so that you don’t waste as much time as I did.

First, consider your company’s mission and your audience before diving into the technical part of keyword research.

What is your unique selling proposition? How does your service/product enhance your visitors’ /companies’ lives?

Then, through the eyes of your visitors, think about which search terms users should find you for. Consider that your visitors do not look for technical terms.

An ugly but substantial truth upfront: the best SEO in the world won’t improve a shitty product or low-quality content. In case you are unsure about your product or service — use your website to ask for feedback and learn from potential customers instead of reading this SEO guide.

After doing proper keyword research, my final result looked like this table. I used a google sheet to prioritize my keywords (feel free to duplicate the research template to your cloud):

My Keyword Research Sheet (Source: Own Sheet based on Yoast SEO Academy)

Here’s how I filled each column with content and how you can master your keyword research, too.

For the first four columns:

  • Start with brainstorming all keywords that come to your mind and use the free tool “answer the public” for finding questions users ask related to your search term. Brainstorm at least four to five main groups for the first column.
  • Find related keywords to your main groups based on google search with Yoast google suggest expander
  • Look for keyword suggestions and keyword’s rank and search volume with ubersuggest by Neil Patel
  • Compare the search volume for different keywords over time and region with Google Trends and fill in the column “traffic potential.” Note that this is no exact number, but your best guess.

As I had new websites with a domain authority lower than 5, I aimed for mid to long-tail keywords. A mid-tail keyword would be “Yoga Studio Vienna” and a long-tail keyword “Ashtanga Yoga Studio next to Vienna University.” Long-tail keywords contain 4–6 content words and are therefore more specific. You reach a more targeted audience, while the search volume (people that type this word combination into google) is lower.

“In SEO the keyword length matters because, at least in the beginning, we’re going to go after long tail keywords — very exact, intention-driven keywords with lower competition that we know can win, then gradually we’ll work our way to the shorter keywords .”

— Austen Allred

For me, focusing on long-tail keywords also made sense from the conversion potential. People who google “Yoga Vienna Mysore Style in 9th district” are more likely to become my customers than people who google “Yoga.”

You also notice in the excel file that I scored “chance for conversion” higher for long-tail keywords.

Lastly, make a good guess on your chance to rank in the top three.

Ranking in the top three means that google displays your site in the first three organic results for your specific keyword. Score your chance by researching what the three best ranking sites for your particular keywords are doing.

For ranking research, open an incognito window to research. With the tool “I search from,” you can access google from any location.

Do you have content that’s better than the current top 3? Do the current top 3 have a low domain authority? Great. This keyword is your chance to rank.

After you identified your top 5 keywords, check the competition that is ranking best for those keywords, and make better and more relevant content than they do. Here’s how.

Content Strategy and Content Creation

Before you determine a specific content topic, think about the search intent (=what are your visitors looking to find on your site).

Do your visitors want to buy something? Are your visitors looking for information? Do visitors come to your site for educational purposes? Each page you create should exist for one search intent.

Here’s what your website’s content pieces can do:

  • you can demonstrate competence (case studies, industry updates, awards, lengthy testimonials from previous buyers)
  • create consciousness about what you do (product pages, service descriptions)
  • develop a sense of belonging (behind the scenes & team, company culture, philosophy on things)

Great! Once the search intent is clear, you can focus on creating content. If you already have ideas on content, you can skip the next paragraph as it shows you how to come up with content ideas.

As the Content Idea Generator, Google Analytics is a great tool. However, the best way is to ask your target audience about their interests.

You can also follow relevant hashtags on social media. Here are my favorite hacks for content creation:

  • Find the content that performs best with buzzsumo
  • Monitor new web content with Google Alerts
  • Research the trending topics of the world with Google Trends
  • Type in the first idea of your keyword and look at the sentences google suggests

Are you clear about the content you want to cover? Great, let’s continue with actually composing the content.

SEO Copywriting

Your blog posts are SEO Copywriting. I had to fail before realizing that SEO Copywriting is nothing similar to journaling or blogging.

In SEO Copywriting, your keywords come into life.

If you do not have the time (but the money) to outsource, take a look at SEO copywriters on Fiverr. I am a big fan of the YOAST plugin as it monitors your post’s quality and gives actionable advice on what to change.

Here is a checklist for single blog posts and SEO quality:

Before jumping to the (easier) part, one mistake I want you to prevent making: NEVER optimize different articles for one keyword. Otherwise, you are competing against yourself.

Technical SEO

Technical SEO improves your site in such a way that search engine spiders can crawl your website and index your content in their search results.

Technical SEO is one of the three pillars of SEO (Source: Eva Keiffenheim).

If you are already familiar with the terms “crawling, indexing and spiders” you can skip this 5-minute video.

The technical side is my favorite SEO part because you can work through a list step by step. In case you are wondering who determines the importance of each factor, take a look at Google’s search quality evaluator guidelines (Dec 2019).

If your time is better spent on other tasks and you have the financial resources, hire a Technical SEO freelancer on Fiverr. The following checklist can still help you determine which specific tasks to look for.

Page Speed Optimization

Page Speed matters. Check your current page speed with GTMetrix or with Googles Page Speed Insights.

Both metrics give you tailored advice on how to improve your page speed. The easy fix is the proper size of your web images (I reduced my image sizes with tiny png.)

As a rule of thumb, a picture should never exceed the size of 200kb. There are also plug-ins for image auto-optimization, but in my experience, the manual adjustment works better.

In addition to image optimization, use a caching plugin (I used and liked wp fastest cash).

On a side note: FB Pixel or Hotjar can make your page slower. Only enable both when you are testing and analyzing something. Otherwise, consider switching them off.

Mobile Optimization

The Google search algorithm strongly favors sites that are optimized for mobile devices. Most WordPress themes are mobile responsive.

Nevertheless, always make sure that the mobile content is displayed correctly.

For exploring your site’s mobile-friendliness, you can use the google chrome built-in testing tool to view your content from different devices. Here’s a video that explains how.

Repetitive Technical To Do’s on Your Site

  • Use Tags for Hierarchy <H1> <H2> <H3> — only one H1 Tag per site (check source code on every single site)
  • Use Meta Title Tags (e.g., check with this free tracker from SEObility where your site needs improvement).
  • All URLs should be human-readable and contain keywords. Remove stopwords (such as “a” or “and”) from your permalinks.
  • Alt descriptions of images. The alt description is the text that appears in place of an image on a webpage if the image fails to load on a user’s screen.
  • Have clear path navigation visible on your site. Breadcrumbs show your visitors how the current page fits into the larger structure of your website and allow them to navigate. Moreover, Breadcrumbs allows google search to determine the structure of your site more easily. Add Breadcrumbs with the help of a Breadcrumb Plugin.
  • HTTP Status Codes. Check for 404 errors in Google Search Console at Crawl errors. Google Search penalizes sites with many errors, as this can be a sign of bad maintenance. 301 redirects can help in solving this issue.
  • Use Structured Data in your sites. Here’s an SEO’s guide to writing structured Data. Alternatively, Schema&Structured Data is a helpful plugin for WordPress Sites.

Crawlability

The crawlability determines whether search engine bots (like Google’s crawling spiders) can discover your site.

If your site is not crawlable, bots can not find it, and not list it in search results. Here’s how you make your sites crawlable and your On-Page SEO worth your work:

  • Submit your XML.sitemap via the Google Search Console (Here’s how to submit it).
  • Check whether your site has duplicate content that needs removal. If duplicate content is necessary, make use of canonical links and the robots.txt to avoid problems.
  • robots.txt file tells search engine bots where they can or cannot visit your site. For example, you do not want your audience to find your checkout page in the search results. The official syntax of the robots tag is: <meta name=”robots” content =”value”> The most common robots value are index, noindex, follow and nofollow

Off-Page SEO

Off-Page SEO is everything you do away from your website that brings traffic to your site.

This part of SEO is about so-called “inbound links” from other websites to your site.

The higher the domain authority (=trustworthyness and relevance on the internet) of sites that refer to your site, the more valuable is such a link for you. Links from high authority domains to your site tell the search engine (e.g., Google) that you are referred to from trustworthy sources.

Let’s have a look at ways to gain those backlinks. In contrast to Technical SEO, (whitehat) backlink building requires continuous long-term work.

Off-Page SEO is one of the three pillars of SEO (Source: Eva Keiffenheim).

Backlink strategy

There are several paths that you can include in your backlink strategy:

  • Google alert for your company name and always claim to mention your enterprise’s name + a link to your site
  • Google your keyword inurl:blog intext”learn more” to figure out blogs you can address
  • look for old content in your niche, make it better and send it to all sites that currently have old backlinks
  • For a high domain authority page link, you can contact your last education institute and suggest writing a blog post for them. For example, I composed a blog entry for Vienna Business University on “Do you need to study if you want to found your company?”

Public Relations

Press coverage can help to gain more traffic from external sources. I followed these steps to gain traction from newspapers:

  • Build a Public Relations network by attending journalism meetups and talking to journalists at conferences.
  • Draft a story and send it to contacts you met and general newspapers.
  • Prepare a media kit with the image sizes and company description length required for your newspaper.

Sounds too easy? This step is all about trial and error, story, and timing.

The more you try, the likelier the chances that a newspaper will cover your topic and refer to you. Are there any trade journals in your niche that would benefit from your insights?

Is there any local newspaper in the area you grew up that would want to portrait you? These are good questions to start with.

Conclusion

For successful SEO, the three fields of Technical SEO, On-Page SEO, and Off-Page SEO are equally important.

The three pillars of Search Engine Optimization (Source: Eva Keiffenheim).

Your time is limited. Decide how much time you dedicate to each SEO field and you want to outsource specific parts like SEO Copywriting or Technical SEO.

SEO is a never-ending process. If you’ll ever say “I have done it all, and I’m finished with SEO,” — you did not understand SEO at all.

Even a few hours of serious SEO work can move the crawl spiders to index your page.

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6 Simple Ways To Find Joy in Remote Teaching

by

#5 Empower your students by appointing technical assistants

Photo by Anthony Tran on Unsplash

Intro

All over the globe, educators work remotely. Through remote teaching, many schoolteachers don’t enjoy their job anymore.

Joyless lessons are a dramatic problem for student’s learning success. If teachers aren’t fond of teaching, students aren’t fond of learning either.

“Teachers who love teaching teach children to love learning.”

— Robert John Meehan

Hence, as an educator, it’s your responsibility to relish online teaching as much as possible.

Here are four actionable steps for making your remote teaching fun.

1. Close your device and allow digital time-off

Be okay with not being accessible 24/7. Set your boundaries. Be clear about when you are not reachable.

Before remote schooling, you set your natural boundaries by leaving the school building.

Working from home, you are responsible for creating those boundaries. If you do not create barriers, your students can neither see nor accept them.

Even if you’re not physically in the same building with your students, teaching is still emotional work.

For example, if you correct assignments on google classroom, you put yourself in the eyes of each of your students. That’s tiring.

Allow yourself to take digital breaks during the day. Award your eyes with unfocused glances into the distance. Slow down your speed of thought.

Put on your favorite music and dance for some minutes. Take the time to prepare your meal.

Here’s a list of things you can do in your home while taking a break:

  • Meditate for a few minutes. If you don’t know how to start, consider trying Calm or Headspace.
  • Breathe deeply or become versed in the breath of fire.
  • Take a nap — take a look at this TED Talk by Matthew Walker in case you think resting is a waste of time.

Only if you feel rested and in balance, you can revel in teaching.

Remember to take digital time-off and close your devices, even for some minutes during the morning.

2. Schedule digital breaks with your students

Do you remember your student, that regularly asked whether you like the new __________ (haircut /outfit /ruler)?

Don’t you miss the casual, comical conversations in the hallway? Many of your students do miss the break time with you.

You were and still are, a critical person of reference for your kids.

Stay this person of reference for students. Give them time to talk to you outside of task assignments.

A “google meets” every other day can do the job. Label this 10–15 minutes meeting as collective recess.

Your students determine what to talk about. In my class, I implemented the “we do not talk about assignments during the break” rule.

You’ll be surprised how much you learn by seeing your students in their homes.

Soon you’ll realize that these playful moments lighten up your days. Joint breaks make your teaching more joyous.

3. Make one cheerful call for every negative call you make

Sounds like extra work? From a time-wise perspective, I’d agree. But you will soon appreciate the energy generated by those appreciation calls.

Your student’s parents do struggle theses days: short-time working, cut paychecks, cramped living conditions, or sick relatives. The list of burdens is endless.

An unexpected encouraging call from your kid’s teacher will bring a smile on their faces. And on yours, too.

You will realize that positive feedback calls bring joy into your days. You will soon realize your motivation hits peaks after such a dialog.

Use this motivation to enjoy your teaching. You deserve to have fun during remote schooling!

4. Stay in touch with colleagues you love talking to

During a precorona week of school, conversations with colleagues happened naturally (sometimes even too much).

Now, the natural exchange with your colleagues is gone. Unless your school hosts online conferences with networking time, you don’t chat with your co-workers.

The lack of natural chatter offers an opportunity for you:

Schooling remotely, you decide whom you want to call. Probably your choice does not fall on the negative, gossiping co-teacher.

You can selectively pick the persons you want to chat with. Call the ones you admire. Text the teammate you miss — Check-in with your humourous companion. Laugh together, gossip together, and share your worries.

“All problems exist in the absence of a good conversation.”

— Thomas Leonard

These conversations will wash away any humdrum and make your remote teaching more fun.

5. Empower your kids by appointing technical assistants

Technical support is your newest job requirement. Fixing your student’s technical issues can be time-consuming.

“My smartphone can’t upload my homework in this Google Classroom” is a prompt you might be hearing from time to time.

If you do the technical fixes on top of your daily schedule, you will soon feel exhausted.

Put your students in charge of technical issues and create a win-win solution to this dilemma.

A promotion interview between you and your student could flow like:

“Julia, I realized you always deliver your homework on time and never had any technical issues. I’m impressed. How do you do that?”

“I don’t know. I guess I’m good at using my smartphone.”

“Technical proficiency is a skill giving you multiple job opportunities in the future. Would you support me as a technical assistant? It’s a job of high responsibility as I’d rely on you to fix technical issues of other children.”

Some of my students even managed to record their screens. Julia shared a tutorial for the entire class. She learned autodidactically and strengthened the class community.

By transferring your responsibility for technical matters to your students, you create more space for other activities. Like self-care:

6. Take good care of your self-care

Eat and exercise. Get plenty of sleep. Treat yourself with self-care time. You are a role model for your students.

If you take good care of yourself, you can inspire students to take good care of them as well.

Your students can tell whether you are teaching from a position of exhaustion or satisfaction.

The better you take care of yourself, the better your interaction with your students. The more joyful your teaching — the more joyful your children’s learning.

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