He said the way to be a better comic was to create better jokes and the way to create better jokes was to write every day. But his advice was better than that. He had a gem of a leverage technique he used on himself and you can use it to motivate yourself—even when you don't feel like it.

He revealed a unique calendar system he uses to pressure himself to write. Here's how it works.

He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker.

He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day. "After a few days you'll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You'll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job next is to not break the chain."

"Don't break the chain," he said again for emphasis.

Not everone gets GTD (Getting Things Done). I know I didn’t. It made my head spin.

I have nothing against the system or David Allen. I’m sure it must be awesome for some people (that’s why it has all those followers, right?). But for others, it just doesn’t fit. Mostly with creative-minded people.

When it comes to GTD and other systems, it’s often too easy to get into a habit of over-engineering your system. You “geek out” on your system and lose sight of the point of pursuing productivity in the first place.

Plus, there’s a big gap in resources on productivity that doesn’t involve complex jargons and elaborate diagrams (see the GTD matrix). Typically, this exists in the creative sector. I’m not saying GTD doesn’t work or that it isn’t wonderful. It just doesn’t connect with some people (and makes others want to vomit).

Here are seven of the best, simple, and sometimes seemingly upside down tips for being more prolific.

I used to carefully craft a bunch of buddy lists in my instant messenger. Friends From Home, College Friends, Bay Area Friends, Work, Previous Work, Current Work… it kept growing and growing until I suddenly realized how fruitless it was for me. Then I merged everyone into one big group called “Humans”.

Simplify. Don’t give your users the shit work.

Because so many people got The Hit List as part of MacHeist, I’ll do a special series of posts on it. This was supposed to be one long post, but got over 5000 words. If you want to read the entire thing in all its glory, you can do so here. We now return you to your regularly scheduled post.

The Hit List. Not the most impressive of names, but quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with in the world of simple to-do lists almost through full-on project management. The simple design of the application, basically a computerized notebook pad, allows you to use it in nearly any way possible. A task can be as simple or as complex as needed.