Writing things down has an amazing impact. It commits us more. It serves as a reminder and marks our past. It allows us to get things out of our brains so we can fill them up with more cool ideas. It pushes us into the future. It helps visualize things. It creates structure. It acts as a public statement. It stirs debate. It builds awareness and brand.

Writing is an extremely powerful tool

I’m fascinated by pitch decks and executive summaries because they’re evidence of an entrepreneur’s thought processes translated through writing. The act of producing these materials is important and meaningful. Word choice and the organization of content matters.

Writing forces us to focus. In some cases that means simply scribbling ideas quickly (I’ve found Evernote very useful for this). But focus really comes when we look at our writing and challenge it to be more meaningful, honest and effective.

Startups need focus. Lots of it. Writing things down – hypotheses, problem statements, prospect lists, goals, etc. – encourages and drives that focus. Often when brainstorming new ideas or taking on new challenges I’m acutely reminded of the importance and effectiveness of writing. It provides a stake in the ground and a benchmark.

So write. Write often. Write freely. Even if it’s just for yourself, write.

image courtesy of shutterstock

Writer’s block is horrible. You might feel like your brain is caught in a choking smog, or surrounded by an impenetrable, concrete wall.

When struck with writer’s block I feel like I’m simultaneously trudging through quicksand and being punched in the face. Nasty, nasty stuff.

Writer’s block seems to hit most acutely when I’m overwhelmed and over tired; not a great combination.

Dawud Miracle reprints an article by Daphne Gray-Grant titled: 20 Surefire Ways to Beat Writer’s Block.

Aside from the fact that Dawud’s written a killer blog post headline, the tips are extremely useful.

I want to add one more tip.

Try reading and commenting more

It’s simple.

1. Scan through your RSS feeds and blogs you read regularly. Or go find some new blogs and check them out.
2. Read. Read. Read some more.
3. Don’t just scan and skim. Really, read.
4. Find something that triggers an opinion or idea, even if it’s ultra tiny, like 1 extra tip.
5. Leave a comment on the blog.
6. Go back to your blog right away and expand on your comment. Reference the original blog post. If you don’t do it right away, you’ll most likely never get to it.

Even if the post you write is off-topic for your blog it doesn’t matter. All you’re looking for is a smidge of inspiration, something you can use to propel a single, simple idea forward.

Exactly like I’m doing here. Dawud’s article caught my eye (mostly because of the headline!) I read it and immediately decided to respond with this post. I didn’t spend a ton of time thinking about it, evaluating every angle or trying to write something perfect. I just wrote it. Quick and dirty.

Being able to respond to or expand on someone else’s ideas is a simple and easy way to get something out there and chip away at writer’s block. Hope it helps!

Whether we like it or not, email is still the primary mode of communication online. That’s not going to change any time soon.

We’ve got instant messenger, Twitter, Skype, message boards, project management tools, messaging applications, etc. The list of ways to communicate online is endless.

But email still rules the day. And it still works.

Of course, the problems with email are clear. People are overwhelmed with the volume of email they receive. They scan and skim instead of reading things in-depth.

The result – when asking a question via email – is a strong possibility you don’t get the answer you need. You might not get an answer at all…

And that’s frustrating. You can’t keep asking the same question over and over, and presumably you’re asking the question because you really want an answer.

Tip: The last question you ask in an email is the one that will get answered.

People will skim your email, get to the bottom and see a call to action. If you’ve peppered your email with other questions, it’s very likely people will miss them, or won’t bother responding. They will key in on the last question.

1. Be careful about adding a PS question. This is typically the most casual question, it’s an attempt at extracting just a bit more information and continuing the conversation. But it’s rarely the most important question (although sometimes it can be!)
2. Put questions on their own line. Even if this doesn’t make complete sense from a reading/writing flow perspective, do it anyway. Make questions stand out.
3. Make the last question the most important one. The one you need answered.

It comes down to smart copywriting.

Sending email is about telling a compelling story and encouraging action. Don’t fool yourself: Email is a great sales and marketing tool. It’s a great research tool. It’s a great relationship building tool. But to extract value from email means writing in a well-formatted, easily digestible manner.

And if you’re asking questions in email – focus your energy on the last one you ask. Make it count, because that’s the one people will answer.

During my mini-hiatus after the birth of my son a few more productivity tips did come through for the Ultimate Guide to Productivity.

They seem to have stopped at this point so maybe the Ultimate Guide to Productivity group writing project meme has played out its course. That’s totally fine. I’ve listed the remaining submissions below.

You can still submit a post if you’d like – just tell us your best productivity tips!

In the meantime I’ll start the huge task of reviewing all the posts again and preparing the much-promised e-book. I can’t give a deadline at this stage, and as soon as I get a handle on the work I’ll call for help from others. But here goes nothing!

1. Tag, I’m It! by Christina Haas
2. Number 1 productivity tip by Shannon
3. Productivity: Snooze It or Lose It by Connie Reece
4. Automation: My Ultimate Guide to Productivity by Alaeddin
5. Meme Week: My Secret to Productivity by Mark Goodyear
6. Cutting Out the Bull: Information Overload and Productivity by David Bohl
7. Fear – The Ultimate Productivity Blocker by Shaboom
8. Ultimate Guide to Productivity: A Tip the Worx by In The Worx

If I’m not mistaken, this brings our total number of submissions to 137!

I’ll be posting the full list shortly so there’s a single page to access all of the great productivity tips. And again, you can keep sending them in if you’ve got them…

Last week the Ultimate Guide to Productivity surpassed 100 submissions. These are productivity tips and ideas submitted by people from across the blogosphere in an effort to help others get more productive. Each person has their own unique twist on things, and in combination the Ultimate Guide to Productivity is an amazing resource.

The submissions keep coming. Here are 20 more productivity submissions, bringing the total to 129!

1. Challenge Your Brain for Productivity – 5 MITA Steps by Robyn McMaster
2. My Ultimate Productivity Tip: Unplug! by Hugh Hollowell
3. 10 Ways Communicators Can Stay Productive by Nonprofit Communications
4. One Is A Productive Number by Carolyn Manning
5. Ultimate Guide to Productivity: To-Do Lists by Tonya
6. The art of getting things done by Vernon Lun
7. The Greatest Productivity Secret Of Them All by Roger Carr
8. Productivity Tips for Writers by Yvonne Russell
9. A Housewife on Steroids by GP
10. Single Best Productivity Tip by Susan Sabo
11. How To Organize Your Desktop to Boost Productivity by Anthony
12. Productivity Group Writing Project by Vickie Turley
13. What’s Your Greatest Productivity Secret? by World Wanting Peace
14. Get More by Doing Nothing by Lyman Reed
15. Productivity Group Writing Project by Karen Del’Marmol
16. Ultimate Guide to Productivity by Jeff Simon
17. Ultimate Guide to Productivity: My Tip by Gillian Hood-Gabrielson
18. What is my secret to being productive? by Sunny Days
19. What’s my top productivity tip? by Tracey Lawton
20. The Greatest Productivity Tip in the World by Alex Brie

Feel free to contribute your own productivity tips, even if you weren’t tagged by someone to do so. You can start a new thread of this group writing project meme and share it with others.

Productivity is a topic that never goes stale. We all have different ideas, opinions and things that work for us. And some people swear by a life of chaos and randomness.

There’s no perfect answer to being productive. That’s what makes productivity such an interesting subject. And that’s what makes collecting so many productivity tips and sharing them a great experience. Out of the volume of posts written about productivity tips there must be at least one thing that each of us can experiment with; and that would make the Ultimate Guide to Productivity a success.

With this latest batch of submissions we’ve surpassed the 100 mark (we’re at 109!) and I want to thank each and every one of you for submitting your productivity tips.

1. Productivity Tip by Jenn Givler
2. Productivity Tip – Just Start by Andrew Garrett
3. My Key To Productivity by Matt McDonald
4. How Productive Are You? by Tish
5. Time management for graphic designers by Rob Cubbon
6. Productivity Tips 2.0 by Stephen
7. My Most Powerful Productivity Tip by Ellesse
8. Ultimate Guide to Productivity by Ian McKenzie
9. Ultimate Guide to Productivity by GTD Wannabe
10. The ultimate productivity tip by Matthew Cornell
11. My single best tip for productivity by Brett Kelly
12. My Key to Productivity by Andrew Barbaccia
13. Blog Even More Efficiently by Scott Hartshorn
14. The Greatest Productivity Tip in the World by Gary Vaughan
15. The Ultimate Guide to Productivity Group Writing Project by Joy Slaughter
16. Single Best Productivity Tip by Leo
17. Join the Ultimate Guide to Productivity by JC
18. My top productivity tip by Steven Aitchinson
19. Phil Gerbyshak
20. Virtual Assistants and Ultimate Guide to Productivity by Key Business Partners
21. Ultimate Guide to Productivity (My First Meme) by Geoff R.
22. The Ultimate Guide to Productivity – What’s your secret? by Mary Ann Copson
23. Continuously Increase Productivity by Embracing the Optimization Mentality by John Wesley

My goal was to reach 100 submissions before I started compiling the e-book. But this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep submitting! I won’t be able to do a lot on the e-book for a couple weeks still, so please feel free to post your own productivity tips, tag others and let me know about.

Dave Olson deserves special mention. He submitted his productivity post over a week a go, but each time I summarized the latest list of great productivity tips, productivity tricks and productivity secrets I forgot to include his submission. It wasn’t intentional on my part, it just happened.

Please check out Dave Olson’s productivity post, 5 secrets to becoming a productivity guru.

Phew. It’s out there!

And there are more great posts for you to enjoy as well. Certainly nowhere near the 893 posts that Darren Rowse got from his latest group writing project. Crazy. Amazing. Kudos! Of course, he picked an easier topic…*chuckle*

Here are the latest submissions to the Ultimate Guide of Productivity group writing project meme. You can still participate. There’s no deadline. Maybe it’ll go on forever…

Just write a blog post with your best productivity tip(s). Let me know about it and then tag others with links to their blogs, so they participate as well.

1. What productivity? by Paul Enderson
2. The Tale of the Gnawing Scrimshanks by Zep Hopper
3. The Ultimate Guide to Productivity by J David Macor
4. Making The Most Of Your Productive Time by Winterbride
5. Passion and Productivity by PixelHead Online
6. Secrets to Being Productive by Dan
7. The Key to Productivity: Immediate Deadlines and Mini-Goals by Renita T. Kalhorn
8. Being Productive Online by Charity Ondriezek
9. The Key To Being Productive by Robert Hruzek
10. Productivity Hint? NO! by Annie Boccio
11. 25 Ways to be Jazzed about Productivity by Liz Strauss
12. Productivity Tips by Lillie Ammann
13. Tips for increasing productivity by Sera Strawbridge

We now have a total of 86 submissions. Hopefully we’ll get another 14 to reach 100, and go beyond that as well.

What’s your best productivity tip?

Lifehacker is a great site. The bulk of its content can directly improve your daily productivity. A lot of it is quite technical, in terms of how to use technology to be productive, but there’s plenty of “general interest” discussions as well.

I think our Ultimate Guide to Productivity would do the Lifehacker team and community proud. We have a range of tips from a variety of sources. Some tips are very specific, focusing on blogging or technical productivity, while others are broader, focusing on life issues, passions and goals.

On that note, here are 20 more blog posts filled with great productivity tips:

1. Tag! Productivity – how do you get so much done? by Mark Silver
2. Ultimate Guide to Productivity: My Secret by Ellen Moore
3. Technology Could Be Your Best Friend – Or Not by Jonathan
4. 100 Ways To Be More Productive by UKStevieB
5. Secrets to Productivity by Tara
6. 7 Productivity Hacks for Bloggers & Writers by Kim Roach
7. Ultimate Guide to Productivity: My Tip by Cristine Favreau
8. Blogging and Productivity by Daniel
9. The Ultimate Guide to Productivity – Systems Check by Beth Dargis
10. How can you squeeze more out of your day by Rebecca Morgan
11. Being productive (and mean) by Kim Kotecki
12. The Ultimate Guide to Productivity Group Writing Project by Bonnie Gillespie
13. Best Productivity Tip: Disable Your Inner-Critic by David Wahl
14. 20 Steps to Maximize Your Productivity by Daniel Sitter
15. Tips on Productivity – How to Achieve Your Goal of Making Money Online by Maki
16. Prioritizing Your To-Do List by Deborah Brown
17. My Two Cents on Productivity by Asgeir Hoem
18. Five top tips for increasing your productivity by Aaron Russell
19. I have Clarity…Now Let me Explain by Martin Neumann
20. Ultimate guide to productivity: My tip by Julie Fleming-Brown

For those keeping score that’s 73 total submissions.

And although the flow of submissions has slowed somewhat, I’m still seeing a handful or more per day. Hopefully more people pick up on the group writing project meme, write their best productivity tips, and tag others. Once we hit 100 or so I plan on getting the e-book going…

The Ultimate Guide to Productivity continues to develop with more submissions and great productivity tips coming in.

To-date we’ve had a total of 53 submissions, including the 14 listed below. Take a look at the previous submissions:

• The Secret to Being Productive – 28 submissions
• What’s Your Best Productivity Tip? – 11 submissions

As previously noted, I do want to put together a free e-book of all the tips. I’m tempted to wait till we hit 100+ because that’s a great benchmark for the project. But we’ll see what happens.

In the meantime, check out the latest submissions. And don’t forget, you can participate too! Even if you haven’t been tagged by someone, write a blog post on your best productivity tips and let me know about it. That’s really all there is to it.

1. Increase Productivity by Conquering Procrastination by Gia Combs-Ramirez
2. Ultimate Tip To Reach GTD Nirvana by Andrew Flusche
3. Productivity Secrets Project by Lisa Sabin-Wilson
4. Maximizing Productivity by Ah Pek
5. Thoughts on Productivity by Rowan Manahan
6. Being more Productive with your Marketing Efforts by Chris Brown
7. The Ultimate Guide to Productivity by Don The Idea Guy
8. 5 Productivity Tips That Help by Brett Evans
9. The Ultimate Guide to Productivity by Sue Olson
10. Productivity Tip for Students (From the Other Side of the Fence) by ispf
11. There’s only one secret to increased productivity by Colleen Wainwright
12. 8 Productivity Tips to Take Control of Your Life by Krista
13. Choices Are Made Long Before You Decide – Productivity Tips by Jonathan
14. Secrets to Productivity by Randa Clay

What’s Your Best Productivity Tip?

Share your productivity tips with us — write a blog post, link back, email me and link to others that you find valuable. The more people participate, the more diverse and interesting the submissions will be, along with the eventual e-book.

Are you a super productive person? Do you slice through to-do lists like a crazed ninja?

How do you do it?

ploop has a very nice little diagram showing his “zone of productivity.” And don’t worry it’s kid friendly.

We all struggle with too much work and too little time, and while some of us have given into the chaos and accepted our fate, others beat their heads against the productivity wall.

The simple act of thinking about productivity and what we can do each day to help ourselves is a good start. But I know there’s more to it than that.

The Ultimate Guide to Productivity is a compilation of your tips and ideas on productivity. It’s a simple group writing project that you can spread across the blogosphere at your discretion. Just follow the instructions here.

Response has been great so far!

And it now looks like I’ll be putting together a FREE e-book on behalf of all contributors. When you do contribute a post and tell me about it, please include a short bio about yourself (pictures are welcome too), so I can use that information in the e-book. I may need volunteers to help me with the e-book as well, if you’re interested!

In the meanwhile we continue to collect lots and lots of great productivity tips. The first 28 productivity submissions were posted a few days ago, and now we’ve got 11 more to highlight:

1. The Ultimate Guide to Productivity — What’s Your Secret? by Derrick Sorles
2. Instigator Blog: Productivity Tips by Mitch Owen
3. The Childlike Secret to Productivity by Kim & Jason
4. Just Do Something, Already by Lorna
5. Productivity Secrets by Angela Smith
6. Maintaining Productivity In The Midst Of Interruptions by Lexi Sundell
7. The Key to Dunking Your Doubts and Unclogging Your Optimism by Adam Kayce
8. A Nice Collection of Productivity Ideas by Dan Markovitz
9. My Ultimate Guide To Productivity by Vlad
10. A stupidly simple way to have a productive day by Jonny
11. My Secret to Productivity is Not Really a Secret by Char Polanosky

You can participate in the Ultimate Guide to Productivity Group Writing Project as well. I hope you will…