In the last couple days, the poop has hit the fan in my house. Water damage issues in bathrooms and a dryer crapping out on us.

It has been a mental distraction. Tiling and small appliance repair research. Consulting with my wife while trying to get some work done.

Distractions are excuses. Excuses shouldn’t be allowed. I’m fully aware of this. Life does happen, but that makes it even more important to have an easily executable plan at the ready.

To leave work at the end of the day with a simple plan, waiting on the desk, ready to go for the next day. That’s how to distraction-proof your work day. Even if life happens, there will be some hope to be effective despite the distraction that comes when Murphy’s Law hits.

Have the three most important tasks sitting front and center at the end of the day. That’ll give most of us a fighting chance.

Today’s action: I’m going to keep this one to myself. I picked one. And I did it.

Today’s Reading and Listening

Book: Duct Tape Selling: Think Like a Marketer-Sell Like a Superstar – John Jantsch

Podcast: Ep. 47 Scott Adams: The Secret to Dilbert’s Success – The James Altucher Show: James’s blog is one of my all-time favorite. The guy’s pen/keyboard has balls. It’s pretty amazing his willingness to be vulnerable.  I especially like his book:How To Be The Luckiest Person Alive! His newer Choose Yourself has been super popular, but I’d start with How to Be the Luckiest Person Alive.

Podcast: SPI 117 : Broke on a Friend’s Couch to Successful Entrepreneur with Dwight Peters of BackersHub – Pat Flynn, Smart Passive Income Podcast: A great conversation about uncovering problems and translating them into business ideas. Check out Peters’ site – BackersHub.com

Podcast: SPI 118 : How to Raise Capital for Your Startup with Bill Glaser – Pat Flynn, Smart Passive Income Podcast

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This blog is a response to Dan Miller’s unintentional challenge from his podcast on August 15, 2014: If you read or listen to 30 minutes of quality content a day, you’ll double your income. 

From September 1, 2014 through March 1, 2015, I will be doing the following:

1. Listening or reading to 30 minutes of success, growth, business, spiritual, or other mindset-shifting, skill-sharpening content.
2. Selecting one action item from that content (with some leeway to select an action from a previous day’s content).
3. Doing that one action.
4. Writing about the action or some other idea from the reading and listening of the day.