I remember working on my second book.

I was on a tight almost unrealistic timeline. I had to complete the manuscript of a 400-page book in a month in order to meet publishing deadlines.

Not finishing it on time would have meant loss of face and loss of a big deal.

And, somehow I was able to do it with a lot of help from friends, well-wishers, and by deploying the experience I had gained through The Domino Project.

There were two parts to this.

One was related to writing, collaboration, communication, managing expectations and publishing. Another was related to managing oneself, and hacking time and energy.

I will share about writing and communication bit at a later date.

Today I will share how I managed my time and energy in this unrealistic situation.

Blocked Time And Guarded It From Distractions

I dropped everything else for that one crux month when I was working on getting the manuscript ready. I also did only essential communication whether over email or phone and pushed everything else ahead. My essential communication was mostly limited to my editing team and my cover designer who was in the UK.

Moved Close To The Team I Was Collaborating With

In the beginning of working on the book, I realized that I’ll have to be face to face with my publishing team to make it work, as time was at a premium. So I booked myself into a hotel near my team for the duration of our collaboration. You do not need to do something that extreme but I had to, to be able to complete the manuscript in 1/5th of the usual time.

Had An External Motivator

A deadline is one of the biggest time hacks and motivators that I know of. I had a real deadline in the form of the super tight delivery date. If you are working on something really important and don’t have a deadline then create self-imposed deadlines and stick to them.

Kept My Indulgences In Check

Food and caffeine are/were my two indulgences. I limited them to serve my goal.

And, Didn’t Drop The Ball In The End

In the end despite having a super awesome team and help from amazing friends – long days and nights became really tiring – but I kept my cool and stayed at my path.

The result of all this was The Digital Marketing Handbook that has been called the bible of digital marketing by some of its readers.

It was all worth it.

If you are working on a super important once in a lifetime project, or you are in a new job or new situation where learning curve is steep, then you can mould these ideas to your liking and situation and sail through.

Don’t try it as a long term approach but definitely use it to win an important battle.

Let me know if you plan to try it or if you have questions.