Jobs: Sergei Kaplichny, copywriter at the publishing house “MYTH. Difficult times pass, or Lifelist in an era of constant change. Chinese Lifelist, or How the craziest winter of my life went

Sergei Kaplichny

Copywriter, blogger, entrepreneur. Graduated from the Russian State Vocational Pedagogical University. He taught English at the Ural Federal University.

What do you do in your work?

Knowledge means nothing if it is not applied and passed on to other people.

For each of the publishing house’s copywriters, there are 3–6 books every month that we must study and write articles for third-party sites. I also write posts for the corporate blog, run the “Literary Habits” section, Twitter and Telegram “MYTH”, periodically prepare a newsletter for our subscribers and design promotional pages for the site.

From all this, my own project was born called “Read a lot”. This is a book and themed gift package that I update every month and send out to many readers. It contains books from MYTH and other publishers, including fiction and children's.

How to read a lot of books and remember what you read?

The easiest way to read more is to schedule reading time in advance. For example, I have two repeating tasks every day: read 30 minutes in the morning and in the evening. At the same time, in the mornings I read business literature, and in the evenings I read fiction.
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If you spend just 15-20 minutes reading in the morning and evening, you will read 3-4 books a month.

From every book I read, I try to take at least one idea and immediately bring it to life. Here are some examples.

" ". I realized that I had once made the right step by turning down another office vacancy and starting to look for my dream remote job.
" ". My girlfriend and I started using Scrum. As a result, we began to get more done and spend time together more productively.
"Visual Notes in Practice." I started sketching pleasant impressions every day. I have long wanted to record important events and finally found the right tool.
"" Launched a newsletter.
"Startup for $100." Launched the “Read a lot” project.

What does your workplace look like?

Everyone at MIF works remotely. Therefore, my workplace is where I am in a working mood. “Read a lot” also does not require physical presence at a certain point.

The main thing is to have your brain and laptop turned on.

For three years I worked on an 11-inch MacBook Air, which was the ideal travel companion. But at the beginning of this year I switched to a 13-inch MacBook Pro Retina. It is, of course, a little larger than the Air, but the screen and battery are several orders of magnitude better.

Sergei's workplace

My phone is an iPhone 6S Plus. Stupid name, but the gadget itself is beyond praise.

I have only three screens on my smartphone: on the first there are financial applications and services that I use most often; on the second - all sorts of entertainment gizmos, and on the third - applications that help me travel and live in the capital.

I call very rarely, but I constantly read books on my smartphone, type small texts and take photographs.

As a rule, I read e-books because they are easier to take with me on the go. I've been using a Kindle Paperwhite for several years. But after buying a large iPhone, the Kindle lost its appeal.

Now I only read on my iPhone, mostly through iBooks. Books in English are in the Kindle app, and fiction in the Bookmate app.

I also often read books on my MacBook. In this case, I use the standard “Preview” program to work with PDF.

After the training of Maxim Dorofeev, the author of the “Jedi Techniques” method and the book of the same name, I completely revised my attitude towards email and switched to the empty inbox method.

I use the program to write texts. In this editor I write all the drafts, which I then edit and send to Google Docs. From there they are published or passed on.

While working, I usually listen to music selections on Apple Music or online radio Chillhop. I haven't found better music for productive work yet.

I constantly watch TED lectures and take various courses. The relationship with Coursera did not work out, but I really like Skillshare. I’ve already watched about 30 lessons there on a variety of topics: from tips on content marketing to lessons on how to properly take notes on photos on Instagram.

I also periodically look into the Primer application from Google. There, too, you can find interesting materials in a condensed form.

I regularly change the wallpaper on my smartphone and laptop. I choose them from the Smashing Magazine website. They make a monthly selection of great pictures from designers from all over the world.

Is there a place for paper in your work?

After graduating from university, I decided that I would no longer use paper. I type much faster than I write, and my handwriting leaves much to be desired.

Three years later, I’m gradually starting to return to paper media. Sometimes my girlfriend and I take a break for 15 minutes from everything we do and draw in notebooks three pleasant things that happened to us during the day. It helps to remember good times, and just great times.

What's in your bag?

I once traveled around Europe for a month with one small backpack. To buy a new item, I first had to get rid of the old one. It was a great experience.

Since then, packing for any trip consists of taking your passport and laptop with you. The rest doesn't really matter.

How do you organize your time?

In my second year at university, I started looking for part-time work online. This is how my first remote income appeared - translating articles from English. And even then I experienced all the difficulties of working at home.

I was constantly distracted, moving deadlines, procrastinating. To get rid of this, I began to study time management systems.

At first it was a regular notepad with a pen, then Remember the milk, then Tasks from Google, and then . I tried everything I could find and settled on the . This is the only service where I am satisfied with the logic, design, and speed of work.

I put all my fresh ideas into my inbox, which I sort through at the end of the day. This is important because it allows you not to chase the thought back and forth, but to immediately write it down and return to it later.

I set up a lot of experiments on myself: I worked at night, shifted all tasks to the evening, worked on personal projects in the first half of the day, and worked with constant breaks. Eventually, I realized that I work best in the morning. I wake up at 6:00 and get to work or go to the gym first (if there is a workout that day).

Every day I make a to-do list. If a task consists of several steps, it becomes a project and is completed in stages. At the end of the day and at the end of the week, I sum up the results: I look at what I managed to do and what I couldn’t do, and I continue to move on.

I schedule meetings, negotiations and discussions in the afternoon, when my productivity drops.

Last year I lived in China for five months and borrowed several habits from the people of the Celestial Empire.

Every day after lunch the Chinese go to bed. If they had lunch in a cafe, they may fall asleep right at the table. If they are in the office, they take out folding beds and pillows and fall asleep. From the outside it looks very funny.

The Chinese also always carry containers with them and constantly drink water. Even police officers have a special compartment next to their holster where you can attach a small thermos.

Some people find themselves taking an afternoon nap while on the road.

Now I also drink water constantly and sleep for 20-40 minutes after lunch. Helps you quickly restore strength and feel invigorated.

What is your hobby?

A few years ago I made a list of 100 things I've never tried in my life. I called this project “Lifelist”, told my blog readers about it and began to fulfill this list. And it was he who determined many of my subsequent hobbies.

I walked 50 kilometers.
Learned how to cook falafel.
I gave up the Internet for one week.
I rode a motorcycle.
Learned to snowboard.
Mastered Photoshop.
I remained silent for three days and did a bunch of different things that I constantly put off until later.

As soon as I have a free minute, I look at the list, find an unfulfilled item and begin to complete it. The coolest thing is when people follow my example. Several hundred people have already completed their lists and upgraded themselves.

Point No. 51. Travel with a backpack for several weeks in unfamiliar places and cities

What place does sport occupy in your life?

Three years ago I signed up for a gym. A friend helped develop the program and showed what was what. Three mornings a week I went to the other side of town and lifted weights. And I liked it.

But due to constant travel and movement, when the breaks between trips to the gym began to be several weeks, I realized that I needed to look for something else.

I came across the service. This is an application that contains hundreds of exercises. The coolest thing is that the exercises are done with your own weight. To stay in shape, you don't even need to leave the house. Just the perfect thing for remote workers and avid travelers.

I carried out training in Yekaterinburg, Transnistrian Bendery, Chinese Shenzhen and other cities where I was brought.

This year I decided to try myself at something completely new. Signed up for boxing. To be honest, I would never have thought that boxing was such a complex and exciting sport. You need to train a lot, but you should never turn off your head. You need to constantly think about strategy and monitor your opponent’s behavior.

Life hacking from Sergei Kaplichny

Here are some pieces of art to get you started:

"101 Reykjavik" by Hallgrimur Helgason. I first read this book more than seven years ago after watching the film of the same name. I was simply amazed by his amazing talent for juggling words. It is very difficult to find 101 Reykjavik for sale. At one time I went to Iceland to buy this book in English.
“Foam of Days” by Boris Vian. A very sad work, which was also made into a crazy movie. As in the previous book, I really liked how the author played with words. The sad plot, of course, also cannot help but touch you.
“More Ben” by Sergei Sakin and Pavel Tetersky. The already classic story of two cute assholes who set out to conquer London in the late 90s. Soft drugs, shoplifting, harmless fraud, the life of robotic Englishmen and testing the strength of friendship. It's all there, sprinkled with great humor. Always a pleasure to re-read.
"Pollyanna" by Elinor Porter. One of the kindest books I've ever read. Young orphan Pollyanna comes to live with her aunt, who does not have a great love for life. Pollyanna teaches her aunt and everyone around her to enjoy everything they have. It’s very interesting to then transfer the Pollyanna “game” to your life and also enjoy everything that happens around you.
"" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Classic. I try to reread it at least once a year. I'm always discovering something new.

From business literature, I would put the following books in the exclusive package:

"Remote. Office Is Optional by Jason Fried and David Hansson. For me, this book became the starting point into out-of-office life. I had tried to work as a freelancer before, but after reading it I finally realized that I had nothing to do in the office. And he didn’t work in offices anymore.
“Fuck It.” Send everything to...! The Paradoxical Path to Success and Prosperity by John Parkin. The easiest and most accessible way to comprehend Zen in the modern sinful world is to send everything to hell. One of the best books on self-development, because the author knows how to find a great approach to the reader.
“Steal like an artist. 10 Lessons in Creative Self-Expression by Austin Kleon. Just the bible of a modern person who wants to be creative. Too useful tips for creative people.
“Important years. Why you shouldn’t put off life until later ′′ Meg Jay. The book helped find answers to pressing questions. I think it is useful for everyone to read, although it is aimed at people in their 20s and 30s.
“Introverts. How to use your personality traits » Susan Cain. A book that helped me better understand my own character, learn to accept myself for who I am, and move on, developing positive qualities. It will be useful for those who are ready to look into themselves.