How I Wrote a Book in Just 21 Days 

Over the years, I’ve discovered that productivity is heavily influenced by the resources we consume and the habits we cultivate. One habit in particular has had a profound impact on my ability to achieve my goals and stay focused. Even as someone who was already productive, I found myself struggling with certain projects and deadlines. It wasn’t until I embraced a specific approach to managing my time and energy, that I began to see real progress. In this discussion, I’ll share how this approach works, its impact on personal and professional growth, and how it can be combined with other strategies to maximize effectiveness. If you’re looking for ways to boost your productivity and stay consistent, this might just be the solution you’ve been searching for.

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I’m Igor Kheifets, and this is The ListBuilding Lifestyle. The podcast is for anyone who wants to build a wildly profitable email list working from home. If you’d like to make six figures, travel the world and help people improve their lives in the process, this podcast is for you. I also invite you to claim a free copy of my best selling book, the list building lifestyle Confessions of an email millionaire at www.igorsbook.com
Get the free book plus $3,000 bonus package that includes my best capture page templates, email swipe files and traffic blueprints, visit www.igorsbook.com for details, And now it’s time to claim your List Building Lifestyle!

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I’ve had some big impact on my productivity over the years from multiple sources. Then I’ll give you the sources, because I believe that, based on the teachers I study, or the books I read or the mentors I listen to, my productivity changes. And this is actually true both for the quality of my relationships, the quality of my discipline, the quality of my income, it actually changes based on what I am consuming or where I’m investing my learning time.

And so this is why I got to be very, very careful about where you’re putting in your time and your attention, because based on that, you might be changing your trajectory. So I’ll give you a couple of teachers in a bit, who really help with my productivity. But the one habit that I swear by to stay productive every single day is, the principle of the first hour of every day. So meaning it really does matter when you work on your business and how you set your priorities.

For me, after reading the book “The Perfect Day Formula” by Craig Valentine, which is a really thin book, but like nothing sort of life-changing. After reading this book, I was introduced to the concept of the first hour of every day. And the concept is very simple. It simply states, whatever your most important goal is, whatever your highest priority is, invest into that the first hour of every day.

03:28
And I started doing that at the time, I was already pretty productive, so you couldn’t really surprise me or amaze me with like productivity advice, but I was struggling with getting a few projects out the door, one of which was writing my book, the book that many of you have read and some of you are reading right now, the book, “The List Building Lifestyle Confessions of an Email Millionaire”. And this was really weird, because a book is nothing but content that’s wrapped with a hard cover. And until then, I’ve produced lots of content. By then, I’ve already done lots of webinars. By then, I’d already written lots of sales pages. By then, I’ve already written 1000s of emails. I’ve already done articles and blogs.

So I wasn’t a stranger to content, but I just couldn’t get the book done, and I told myself that I just didn’t have the time. But I realized it wasn’t true. And I realized that once I started devoting the first hour of every day to working on my book. In the first few days, it was just trying to create an outline, decide on chapter titles, doing research. But then slowly but surely, I started actually putting in the time to write every chapter, and I completed that book from the moment I started to the moment I had the entire manuscript done. I think it took me something like 21 days, or 19 days, and I had the whole thing done. And the first draft of that book was actually over 30,000 Words!

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Now I never published that draft, because it was so technical that I ended up turning into a guy once I read it, once I’ve written it, and I read it, I looked it, and I said, you know, this doesn’t even read like a book, this reads like a manual to to building your list! And this wasn’t my intent with the book.

With the book, my intent was to create something that where people would read it, the message would stick. Because the message I needed to convey was that if you want to make money, you need to build an email list, that an email list is the most important asset you can, you know, possibly build. Even today, after so many years of doing this, I know for a fact, if you take away everything else, but let me keep my email list, you will destroy me, right? You just absolutely take everything away, I will be back making seven figures, probably within six to 12 months! It’s having an email list, it’s that powerful!

And I’ve seen this actually done by people. I’ve seen people who quit the industry, walked away for whatever reason, sometimes it’s health, sometimes it’s, you know, they just got bored, whatever! Then they came back, and they still had their email list. They just started re-engaging the list, and very quickly they were back making six figures and multiple six figures and then seven figures, all within the first year! And I think that’s tremendous! I think that’s incredible! And so the message that I wanted to pass with the book onto the reader was that building an email list is the single most underrated but most important thing you can and should do!

So I needed to rewrite the book, and so I let it sit there for maybe six months. I procrastinated about it, and then I gave it another shot. And then this time, I’ve invested the first hour of every day. This time I knew exactly what to do, and I followed the exact same process, and this time, I completed it in 12 days! And so, this is the manuscript, you know, as The ListBuilding Lifestyle book that we have today.

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Now, incidentally, I have another book that I’m about 30% done with, and I haven’t been investing the first hour every day into, because that hour is now taken by some other more urgent and pressing things, but that’s really the principle!

So what’s that one principle I swear by? That’s the principle The First Hour of Every Day needs to go to the what’s whatever is the most important and most pressing project that I have right now. And of course, the priorities may change, you may start the month with one project, but then midway through the month you have a different one that needs attention, so you will switch!

But what I find incredible is that no matter where I am, whether I’m traveling, in a hotel room or I’m in Mexico chilling, or I’m at home in Canada or in my home in Bulgaria, doesn’t matter where I am, as long as I abide by that principle, as long as I follow and stick to that principle, I get a lot done, like a whole lot!

08:13

And that’s actually the principle that I teach, not only every student that I work with, but also every person that I work with on my team. You know, I have one person on my team who’s on this webinar right now, she’s listening, and she knows exactly how I feel about her! I’ve told her many, many times.

You know, she came in a couple years ago, she came from a different company -I kind of stole her, to be honest, the guy who runs the other company is still upset with me for that- And you know, she’s super capable, but she always had trouble with this particular thing. In other words, she could do anything! She can do anything! And yet she would have weeks sometimes when she wouldn’t get anything done. And you know, when you work with me, especially as closely as she’s been working over the past couple years, is unacceptable! It just doesn’t happen, like I will not let it be, if that’s the case!

And so, one of the first things that I taught her was this one principle, and it completely transformed her ability to stay productive! So, it didn’t teach her to be productive. She could have been productive before! She actually has, I believe, either an engineering degree or a law degree, which, you know, she’s a smart, and really capable young lady.

But she would go on these -how do I say- like, spells, right? She would have a good spell and a bad spell. I don’t know if you guys can relate to this! Like, I certainly can. Like, she would have, like, a good three weeks where she would be super productive, she would be just cracking projects one after another! you know, producing ridiculous amounts of material and getting a lot done, and then she would have, like, two weeks where she would get nothing done and feel terrible about herself!

And you know, this now when I kind of examine what she’s been working on. Now, this happens not as often, way less often than before! It still happens! We’re all human, and sometimes you just don’t feel like doing anything, whether it’s the first hour of every day or the last one! But this principle really did change a lot for her, at least from my perspective. I don’t know if you ask her, maybe she’ll tell you differently!

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Thank you for listening to The List Building Lifestyle, get access to the previous episodes, transcript of today’s show, as well as other exclusive content at www.listbuildinglifestyleshow.com. Also remember to claim your free copy of my best selling book at www.igorsbook.com. It explains how I made millions with list buildings starting from scratch, plus I’ll give you $3,000 worth of free bonuses, including my best landing page templates, email swipe files and traffic blueprints. Go to www.igorsbook.com, now to claim your free package!