new ebook project guidelines

New ebook project: Guidelines

14/06/16 Update

The audio book is now finished and I'm now getting stuck in to launch more! This week I'm writing sales copy and setting up the sales page. As always, my trusty project manager Asana is keeping me super organised and on track so that I'm not late for launch.

04/06/16 Update

I just finished writing Guidelines! Man that was more work than I anticipated…

I'm really pleased with the quality and content in the book. Revisiting all the past books I've read and reminding myself of the important lessons they contain has been a really rewarding and educational process. I just made me realise how easy it is to forget what we've already learned. That's why I'm so pleased to be writing this book – it's going to be really useful for people to reflect on the important lessons in life so we can all do better work.


It's been a while since I focussed on creating anything new (besides ofcourse the content on my blog and the podcast). Last year I spent a considerable amount of time creating the content that went into the Personal Productivity Toolkit and I really enjoyed getting into the zone and creating a product for people to enjoy. Every element of the process was fun; from writing the content to shooting and editing the videos, designing the sales page, marketing the product and releasing it into the world. A project like this requires you to tap into a very diverse range of skills and if I didn't know how to do something, I was forced to find out and teach myself something new. It was awesome!

To get my creative juices flowing again, I've decided to work on a mini-project and write an ebook.

When deciding what to write, I thought about what my existing readers would enjoy and benefit from the most. Because my book summaries are one of the most popular resources on my website, I came up with the idea to distill these summaries into a master summary. I thought: what if I write a book that summarises all the main lessons I've learned from reading all these books? What if I write them in the form of specific and actionable guidelines people can follow to do better work?

And that's when I landed on the idea for my new ebook, Guidelines.

The book is split into a few main sections. There will be sections on productivity, business, marketing, entrepreneurship/leadership, personal finance and life in general. Within each section, there will be a list of guidelines to follow. Each guideline will reference the books I've read that justify why you should follow this particular guideline.

This book is ideal for business owners, entrepreneurs, marketers and office workers who want to do better work (without needing to read a tonne of books to learn how).

I've already started writing the book and I plan to record an audiobook version as well. I don't have a hard deadline in mind just yet, but I'll keep you updated on my progress. If you aren't on my email list yet, head on over to my book summaries page and download the summaries I've already written. This will get you onto my list and I'll be sure to notify you when the new book is ready.

If you have any suggestions of guidelines I should include in the book, please let me know! Leave me a comment below and answer this question:

What is one golden rule you always follow?

(It can be related to business, productivity, marketing or just about anything)

Write it in the form of an actionable and specific “doing statement” and if possible, include a link to the book or books this rule is inspired by. For example, “focus more on less” (inspired by Essentialism and The ONE Thing).