You know know what blows my mind?
When a super affiliate will spend TONS of money on their home entertainment system and their car, but they’ll start budgeting when it comes to their office.
If you’re going to spend most of your waking hours in front of your computer, why not have the best computer and office setup money can buy? Or at least the best you can afford if you’re not yet a super affiliate.
Not only do you want to be comfortable and enjoy the time you spend working in front of the computer, but studies have shown that upgrading to a 30 inch monitor or multiple monitors can significantly increase your productivity.
Once I heard that I immediately bought a 30 inch Apple Cinema screen, check it out :
Btw, I just recently upgraded to this 30 inch screen and I gotta tell you.
I LOVE IT!
It really has significantly improved my productivity, now I’m seriously thinking of getting a SECOND 30 inch Cinema display. Only problem is I need to get a bigger desk first! LOL
I also upgraded to a real keyboard; the tiny apple wireless keywords suck!
Let’s flashback and see how I used to work :
This was my setup when I first started my affiliate business. What’s REALLY sad is that even after I went full time as a super affiliate, and I had the money to majorly upgrade, I was still using the same setup for almost a year!?!
My business paid a HUGE price for this, in terms of lost productivity, increased stress levels, etc, etc…
Do NOT make this mistake.
Does your work environment need a serious upgrade?
30 inch screen apple cinema display productivity work environment
Yeah, I used dual at a friend’s house while on vacation. It was amazing how much more I got done during that week. The only problem is it’s hard to keep from multi-tasking and losing focus.
I wanted to get a second monitor, but I think I’m talking myself in to getting a whole new system.
John P
Great post, Amit. I can attest to massive productivity increase with two larger monitors. I use a 24″ for work any graphics work & coding and a larger wall-mounted 37″ LCD for everything else. Make sure you use DVI/HDMI for best quality and perfect refresh rate. Plus, since I don’t subscribe to cable television, the larger monitor doubles as my mini-media center for the office.
Like Amit, I used to use a laptop and, though quite mobile, the small keyboard and small screen really hindered my productivity without even knowing it. For travel, I keep all my working data on a portable, secured harddrive and keep a backup of everything I am working on in the cloud. (Using both Dropbox and MS Fileshare/Livespace. And Google Docs for office documents.)
@JohnP — You can train yourself to resist multi-tasking by focusing on just one project/goal at a time, but still use the dual monitor setup to increase productivity. I don’t keep e-mail or AIM or twitter or RSS open on either monitor while working. And I run Skype on my tablet (a few feet away, and out of eyesight), for phone calls, but I don’t look at who’s online to distract me.
I don’t have a vision board… just Googled it and will check it out. =)
Also… for those of you who do NOT already use whiteboards… do yourself a favor and buy a couple whiteboards from Costco or Staples. Mount them within easy-reach of your station (so you can just swivel your chair and write on them) and at easy-writing height from a seated position. You’ll notice another huge increase in productivity!
Having used a tablet laptop for a few years now, being able to quickly jot something down or draw something out (with a lot of space to work with) will let your mind open up and will make it easy to take quick, color-coded notes — so things that pop into your mind will not distract what you are working on. On the average, every distraction causes a 20-minute loss of focus on what you are working on. So, by quickly getting something out of your mind onto the white board, you can go back at the end of the day and process whatever you wrote. I use one whiteboard for quicknotes or tasks and another for design ideas or brainstorming.
I should have made this response into a full blog post. That’s how it goes, I guess. =)
Quick follow-up… just realized I already have a “vision board” without knowing what it was called. I have a small space at my desk where I place cut-outs of a few exotic cars I am looking forward to buying, as well as print-outs of some properties I am set to buy in the future. I had no idea there was a “name” attached to this activity. Cool.
Also, Amit… I noticed your chair in the photo. Have you tried a Herman Miller Aeron office chair? They are fantastic and may increase your productivity even more by helping keep your back from bothering you after a few hours of work.
http://www.hermanmiller.com/aeron/
Best chair I’ve ever owned. You can usually find them for around $700 USD. And they are well worth it!
Amit,
I really enjoy your blog when you are talking about affiliate marketing and we all really appreciate the tips…
But lately, you have simply been bragging and boasting about being a “super affiliate” and how great it is. The home your buying, the condo in FL, now the monitor (albeit this post is thinly disguised as teaching how to be more productive).
I don’t mean to be rude, but these posts are not what your readers come to your blog for. I understand that you are proud of your success, but you don’t need to keep reminding everyone that you’re a “super affiliate”. We get it.
Whats a vision board, i dont see it?
Hey Jeff,
just a guess but is it possible you have some negative beliefs towards wealth?
I remember getting mad and not wanting other people to succeed at IM because I had negative unconscious beliefs towards financial abundance.
I’m not saying this is the case for you Jeff, but maybe you should give it some thought.
Nowadays, I love your Lifestyle posts Amit!
1st – they prove whats possible
2nd – they give me ideas for my desired lifestyle
3rd – they help people like me ask “why am I pissed about his success” then dig deeper and deeper and eventually, figure out my limiting beliefs so I can then begin changing them and start creating the life I want and deserve.
to anyone else out there who procrastinates, DIG DEEP!
Thank You Amit!
Very cool Amit when I went two 2 22″ monitors my productivity did go up. And I absolutely love it for working with programs, and multiple websites up at the same time all in plain view. But keeping all the instant messaging programs in the other monitor open has been an issue with controlling my distractions.
The vision boards are an amazing visualization tool. My wife has one at her desk and a vision board program as here desktop screen saver that scroll images with sound.
I am also trying to do what looks like Amit has mastered a virtual paperless desk and work environment. Right now its crazy all the paper. I just downloaded turbonote to keep postit like notes instead of paper notes. and installed a print to pdf program to keep all printed items on file instead of in a filling drawer.
Lastly , Amit never ceases to amaze and inspire me daily. Even with simple post about a new monitor. I have never met him but feel like he is a part of my daily inspirational team.
Amit keep up the amazing work and thank you.
Hi Amit
I love your screensaver of looking down on the earth from space. Please could you tell me where you got it from?
Hi Amit,
Can you please tell me what timer you have there next to your monitor? Did you get it online?
Thanks.
WOW Amit thats Awesome, that you got “one” new lcd thats just fantastic