12 Hacks to Be 99.9% More Productive That Cost Nothing
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Summary
In this episode, I share with you the 12 productivity hacks that keep me insanely productive 99% of every day. These strategies are what allow the top 1% to get more done in a day than most people get in a week. They're what I use, despite having crippling ADHD, to become a millionaire by age 27, sell three companies, and build a $100M business empire.
Transcript
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I'm going to share with you the 12 hacks that keep me insanely productive 99% of every day.
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These strategies are what allow the top 1% to get more done in a day than most people get done in a
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week. They're what I use, despite having crippling ADHD, to become a millionaire by age 27, sell
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three companies, and build a $100 million business empire. So without further explaining it, these are
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the 12 ways to be more productive that cost nothing. The first hack is to increase your cycle
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time. A couple of years ago, I was hiring a bunch of copywriters, and I noticed that one of them was
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10 times more productive than the other two. It was interesting because eventually I ended up
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meeting up with them for a work session and I saw one copywriter type with all 10 figures
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using hotkeys while the others just type with two fingers like fifth graders. It never occurred to
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me that a copywriter wouldn't know how to type. The person who is 10 times more productive,
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they also never touched their mouse. They were using hotkeys the whole time which made their
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output be that much faster. The first rule of productivity is to just get faster at the thing
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you're doing. Increase the speed of your mouse. If you go in there and just fast forward the speed
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of your mouse, it might feel weird at first, but you'll eventually get used to it. Listening to
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playbacks on any type of audio, put it at 1.5. 2x just gets faster. Learning how to type, taking
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typing classes, typing.com. Learning the hotkeys for your email tool, your productivity tool to
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make sure that everything is just one keyboard click away from getting done. An advanced version
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and use the AI to understand what you're manually doing
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for it to process it and automate the whole thing
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It could be everything from processing comments
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with even recommended texts to reply to those emails.
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and be productive costs you nothing but improves the cycle time. Which brings us to number two,
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which is to make a stop doing list. When I'm speaking at a recovery center or at a group home
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for troubled youth, I always allow the kids to sit in my McLaren. And oftentimes they ask,
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so what do you actually do? And I usually respond with, it's not what I do, it's what I don't do.
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Most of us are doing things that take up our time. And we don't understand this core principle
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called the 90-10 principle. It's 10% of your work drives 90% of your results. So the key
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thing is to figure out what are your strengths? What are you great at? Double down on those. Stop
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trying to become great at something you hate. Do enough so that it's not a deficit, but definitely
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don't spend all your time trying to take something you hate doing to try to make it something great
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when you're good at something and go be world-class at it. Also look at all your vices. When I say it's
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what I don't do, I don't drink. I don't hang out with my friends and talk about other people. I
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don't gamble. I don't vape. There's all the stuff I don't do to create the space for me to be more
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productive. I'm also a big fan of finding people that are good at the things I'm bad at and love
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to do the things I hate. There's people out there that literally play at things that I consider
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work. My bookkeeper, she would rather sit there and stare at a spreadsheet and reconcile bank
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accounts than anything else. I would hate to do that. I'd rather be on the phone talking to people.
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I'd rather be at an event presenting. So just understanding there's other people out there
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that could buy back your time, that could help you out. You can trade, you can ask for favors.
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Another idea is to actually make a list of all the things that drain your energy,
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things that you did in the last six months that you wish you wouldn't have done.
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Make that list, be clear, and then ask yourself in the future when those opportunities come up,
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Reviewing the last six months and deciding what things you did that you would never want to do
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and put that on the stop doing list is a good strategy.
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Which brings us to number three, which is to create urgency.
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I don't know if you can relate, but I'm the kind of guy back in the day
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to work on a big project, either homework for school
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so that I created a sense of urgency to get it done.
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I used to tell myself some weird line about like,
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and it just created a lot of emotional shrapnel
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First off is I set an earlier deadline for completion.
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I know, I'm making this up in my head, that's fine.
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Whatever is the due date, I make the date sometimes two weeks before.
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Because I just want that urgency to focus my creativity that allows me to come prepared
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If it's prepping for a podcast I'm going on or working on my book deadlines or whatever
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it is, I'd rather have the date way sooner that it's needed so that I also have the breathing
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Another strategy I love to use is to block time in my calendar, usually about 90 minutes
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I like to use a Pomodoro timer, which is 25 minutes of focused work and then five minutes
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off to refresh to use the bathroom to get some water. And then it goes off and I'm back at it
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again. Whatever project I'm working on, if I put that block time, those 90 minutes in my calendar,
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and I do three sessions of that Pomodoro, it helps me overcome my ADHD. It focuses me. And
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because the timer is counting down, it's like every five minutes, I'm like, how much did I get
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done? How much did I get done? It's almost up. It's almost up. And it just focused me to get
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the most work and makes me more creative and more resourceful and doesn't waste my time.
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Which brings us to number four, which is to commit to others. This one, very few people use. And it's
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one that I use almost on a daily basis. I remember when I was writing my book, I tried three times.
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The first time I sat down and said, oh, I'm going to commit to writing every morning. And for three
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weeks, I sat there and I wrote and I wrote and I had no process and no purpose. And honestly,
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I didn't even know what the book was going to be about. And I tried again and I figured, you know
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what, maybe I should do this different. And I had a friend help me out with the outline. But the
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problem was I was still doing it on my own. By the time I gave it my third shot, I realized I
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need somebody else to be committed to. So first thing is I hired a person that became my book
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CEO. This person managed me as the talent to be accountable to them. Second is I hired another
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writing partner. That way I had somebody that was waiting for me on my writing. And then I also had
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somebody that was an editor where we would schedule time together to review the work as a team. And on
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that call, we would do the work of writing the book. Without that, I probably wouldn't have
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created the type of work I did because having somebody else that is a co-creator, a collaborator,
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somebody to bring different creative ideas, it actually made the whole process fun. And I now
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use that strategy in all the different areas of my life from doing paperwork I don't want to do
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to creative ideation with some new content ideas with my team to strategic planning. Instead of
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doing it solo, I always invite one or two other people to collaborate with. Even when I had no
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money I would just call a friend and ask them if they wanted to do like joint working sessions
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sometimes we'd meet up at a coffee shop other times we would just connect over zoom they have
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accountability to me because I'm sharing my screen and then we just set a timer we check in with each
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other we just make sure that hey whatever project we said we would move forward we committed to that
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person because it turns out you will do more for other people than you'll ever do for yourself
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just think about your dog I mean if your dog's sick you're like the world stops and we get that
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dog healed up and all the medication we give 100 completion of whatever pills the doctor says
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Whereas for you, you will go long periods of time sometimes not feeling good without ever taking care of yourself, let alone if you get medication, maybe you'll finish 60, 70 percent of it.
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So understand committing to other people is actually a very powerful tool to keep us focused and be really accountable, which brings us to number five, which is to schedule time to recharge.
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I'm not proud of this, but I used to be the person that would work 100 hour weeks.
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I would just get up, crank, ignore everything else, ignore my health, ignore my friends, ignore my relationships because I was just doing whatever I could to try to be successful.
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because I didn't take the time to recharge, to reset.
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for what I call step functions of growth ideas.
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See, the magic that I've discovered is in the reset.
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could be that book idea. It could be that idea to call a friend. It could be a conversation with
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somebody that you didn't even plan. And what I've discovered is the world works this way. There's
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two different systems, no matter who you are. Think about the yin and yang. There's a sympathetic
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system, which is fight or flight. And then there's the parasympathetic system, which is to relax and
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to chill out. There's the anabolic system, which takes protein to build muscle. And then there's
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a catabolic system that eats the protein. There's eustress. And then there's distress. Eustress is
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when you decide to do something hard and you push on the world to change and distress is when you
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feel like the world is pushing on you and it makes it hard. Understanding that if you want to be the
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most productive, the most creative, the most expansive, that you have to have some push
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and also some time to pull, some drive and also some reset. I now have cut off time for when I
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finish my work because I know my brain's not going to work well after that. No good decisions
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are going to be made. And I also understand how my body and my energy flows. So for example,
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I'll go sit in the hot tub and just sit there on my phone and outline new video ideas or reach out
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to friends I haven't seen in a while or think about creative ideas of things I might want to
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do over the next six months. It's understanding that you can't always be going charge, charge,
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charge because it's actually in the reset where you create the space that makes the creativity
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and the big needle moving decisions come to life. I've learned over the years that vacations make
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me a better person for my team, for my family. So when I go away and I go mountain biking with
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my friends or I take my family and we go to Europe somewhere is when I come back, I just feel
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energized. I feel that I've got more life to give other people. And it turns out that if you're
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building businesses with other people, you have partners, you have customers, you have vendors.
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Those conversations are going to be a lot more fun when you've reset yourself, you've new energy,
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you're recharged to attack your work. I think most people feel guilty taking time off. They
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think anytime I'm not working or I'm not showing up for my team, that I'm just one second away
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where something massive is gonna implode on my life
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eventually that pressure cooker is gonna overflow.
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but your body will start going into adrenal fatigue.
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they've not created any self-care in their life.
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you can't redline your body nonstop and it not be upset with you. Productivity is being able to
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stay consistent for long periods of time without having to reset because you went too far. Which
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brings us to number six, which is to wake up early. This one is going to be controversial,
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but early risers make more money. Period. Full stop. If you look at any person that's ever
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succeeded from Churchill to, you know, Steve Jobs, they get up earlier than most people.
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Now, I'm not saying you have to join the 5am club, but I'm not saying you shouldn't.
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you might wanna consider changing your whole day
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and really attack the work, do creative things.
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I get four hours every day from 4 a.m. to 8 a.m.
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some creative projects to really move my dreams and goals forward because I'm up that early.
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Does that mean I go to bed early? Yep, I do. I'd rather wake up early, connected to my creator
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and really plug into the availability of the world because everybody else is sleeping. It's
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like a different brainwave that's going on. It's quiet. Nobody's interrupting me. No distractions
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than not have that massive boost in productivity. And it carries on for the rest of the day.
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just a little bit earlier, a little bit earlier,
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Now there's a whole book on this by Brian Tracy.
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but most people tend to mess this up all the time.
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do the most important thing. I always think about the leading domino. What's the most important
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project? Typically the thing I least want to do. But I know if I do that first, that's going to
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set me up for the rest of the day. Essentially, it's the project that is going to guarantee me
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success. Marketing, sales focus, revenue driven opportunities for you to get in front of new
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people. So anything that kind of gives you angst, but it's a meaningful project, I want you to start
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with that first. It might be working out because that's hard for you. It could be reading a book.
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Whatever you need to do to really upgrade your life,
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so that you build that momentum for the rest of the day.
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And then you can do whatever you want with the rest of it.
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It might be to get one hour studying for that big test.
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send out emails to people you've been meaning to connect with those cold calls obviously time zones
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matter but you just want to get the hardest thing the biggest rock the frog eaten first do it first
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thing in the morning most people like put off the thing because they want to get ready to start
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it's like i'm not ready i need my coffee i need my energy i need this i need my crystals i need
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my timer yeah you need some stuff but just start the work there's no better answer than just doing
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the thing. Which brings us to number eight, which is to follow your energy flow. I used to be the
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person that would take meetings all the time. If somebody could only meet at 8am, okay, let's talk
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then. Or if I had to create some content, it's like, when can I fit it into my schedule? And
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it's like, all right, end of the day, 4.30, I guess that's all I got, 30 minutes. The challenge
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is it turns out that the energy that I have throughout my day shifts and changes and the
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type of energy I need for certain types of work is different. And if I mix them up, then those
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tasks, those projects are not going to get the best version of me. I look at how my energy is
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going to flow from the early morning to the late morning, to the lunch, to the early afternoon,
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to the late afternoon. And I mapped the activities or the projects to that. So for example, for me,
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I start my day with creative tasks, things that require kind of a unique perspectives, ideation,
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outlining stuff, writing, creating, designing. That is my morning. I'm super blessed to be able
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to do all of that before I ever have a meeting,
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and then I put all of my conversations, et cetera,
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I had little kids that became human alarm clocks,
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and batching those projects that require that energy together
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most people will do more to avoid pain than to gain pleasure.
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We're always trying to look for the danger out in the world
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So for example, when I wanted to lose 30 pounds in 90 days,
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I created the downside if I didn't achieve that goal.
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And for me, I chose to enter in a fitness competition
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that was the stakes. So do you think that I didn't hit that goal or I absolutely crushed it? I mean,
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the stakes were so high. I had something to avoid, to run away from. Using this idea for yourself
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strategically is the most productive thing you could do. Maybe there's a political campaign you
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would hate to donate to. And if you don't hit your timeline, you don't hit your goal, you have
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to donate $500, $1,000 to that political campaign and like really honor it and follow through with
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it i mean some people if they're trying to get healthy just the commitment to themselves that
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they will publish a photo of themselves in their underwear on their social media is enough fear of
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embarrassment to run away from to go get that result so just think about it for yourself i think
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that if i want to be productive i need a downside thing to avoid to drive away from to get my result
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which brings us to number 10 which is to get a carrot on the stick this is essentially the
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opposite of my previous point. This way you'll double your motivation. Think about it. If there's
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a stake or something at risk, if I don't hit it, what's my reward if I do hit it? Implementing
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rewards for your goals is a game changer when it comes to being productive. When I was training for
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my Ironman, I had a family vacation on the line if I didn't finish the Ironman. So I told my wife
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when we were out eating at a restaurant, do you think she asked me if I wanted dessert? No. She's
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you have to train tomorrow. When I told her I had to get up early with a bunch of friends,
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did she give me a hard time? No, because she knew what was on the line. Even enrolling other people
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to that reward will help them create positive peer pressure on you to achieve that outcome.
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In those situations, I like to create it where it's not just a reward for me, but it's a reward
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for my family, for my team members, for my friends, so that they get behind supporting me on my goal.
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And it always comes back that you'll always do more for other people than you'll ever do for
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yourself. So create the reward that helps them as well so that everybody wins. Which brings us
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to number 11, which is to honor your schedule. I can directly correlate someone's net worth to
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the increment of time they schedule into their calendar. It's bananas to me. Most people do not
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plan, do not put things in their calendar. Every day is an opportunity for, I don't know, whatever
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I feel like, or every week is, I don't know, whatever happens. And it's crazy because it's
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difference between a life by design versus a life by default if you can just understand that putting
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the big rocks the pebbles the sand into your calendar first before the rest of the water and
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the other demands on your time come in will allow you to be more productive than anybody else you
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know the key though is is to honor the calendar not context switch not dismiss the notification
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not pretend like it's not there first thing in the morning for you to attack but sometimes you're
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you're working on something you didn't finish it so if you didn't just move it to the next time
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block maybe to the next day or maybe to the afternoon one of my favorite concepts is this
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thing called parkinson's law i was just sharing it with a friend the other day because she asked
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somebody to get something done and the person said well i'll get it done at the end of the week
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i said why didn't you ask for it to get done tomorrow they said well i don't know i go well
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that's the difference between four days and one day and she's like i didn't want to be that person
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i said well you could at least asked parkinson's law states the work will expand to the time you
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allocate to it. And that's true for your calendar. It's true for other people. Momentum is about
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stacking small wins. So if you start doing what you say, when you're going to do it is going to
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build that confidence because you're keeping the commitments you made to yourself in private. So
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build that discipline, which brings us to number 12, which is to turn off all notifications on
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your phone. Some of you guys are like, no way, Dan, I'm not doing this. And I'm going to tell
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you there are professional PhD doctorate employees working at all these tech companies, building all
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this software that their only job is to distract you. And when I think of the most unproductive
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thing you could possibly do is allow the notifications, the apps to interrupt you when
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you are doing something that you decided was important to you, just because somebody else
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somewhere in the world sent you a message, your focus is worth more than somebody else's
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notification. Remember one time I was messaging with one of my new employees and he would always
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reply, always reply, always reply. And I sat down with them when I went on one and I shared with
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them. I said, Hey, I love that you want to be on top of things and respond to me right away. But
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that also tells me that you're easily interrupted. If you're doing it with me, you're probably doing
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with other people, which means I'm not getting your best work because I'm not getting your focus
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work, your heads down deep in the zone work. So I'm going to need you to batch those activities
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into one block time so that if you need to reply to me, just sit down and look at your old text
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messages and reply and then get back to your next project. Most people will never do this because
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they are addicted to the dopamine hits of those notifications. But to do your best work, you have
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to get into flow state. And to do that, you need to get lost in your work, not distracted by those
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notifications. Most people are on their phone all day not working because it's an illusion of
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productivity. Responding to people's messages feels like you're doing something, but you're not
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getting anything done. You're staying busy, but you're not creating, you're not producing, you're
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not pushing a project forward. You're just moving a bunch of information. It's not that it doesn't
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have to get responded to, but stacking that and doing it on your own time instead of allowing an
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app to bug you is going to be a game changer for productivity. If you want to learn the 44 cheat
00:21:08.880
codes I know at 44 that I wish I knew at 24, click the link and I'll see you on the other side.