Dan Martell - Stop Wasting Life - 8 Productivity Rules of The Top 1%

00:00:00.000 The truth is, successful people don't rely on discipline or willpower to be more productive.

00:00:05.120 But these are the rules that they follow that allow them to get done even when they don't feel

00:00:09.220 like it. They're the same rules I use to go from an unproductive ADHD mess to an insanely productive

00:00:14.680 $100 million CEO. So without further explaining it, these are the eight productivity rules of

00:00:19.640 the top 1%. Rule number one, design versus default. The whole philosophy I live by is

00:00:25.860 design your life over defaulting to it. See, when I got diagnosed with ADHD at 12 years old,

00:00:30.800 I honestly thought there was something broken with me. And I went my whole life on medication

00:00:35.380 and struggling with, you know, taking this pill that made me completely different. And then at

00:00:40.700 36 years old, I decided I didn't want to take it anymore. The problem was, is that I became so

00:00:45.280 dependent on it. If I didn't take it, I couldn't get anything done. Like literally couldn't process

00:00:49.660 email or do anything that looked like financials. And through a process with a friend, I reduced

00:00:55.840 my dosing. I focused on my habits. I figured out that there was a lot of stuff that I wasn't doing

00:01:01.140 that if I added to my life, it would allow me to show up as me without the downside. And it wasn't

00:01:06.820 easy, but it took discipline. It took designing it. And most people just live their life as almost

00:01:11.800 like that's who I am. That's how it is. And that's their default. That's not how it has to be. If you

00:01:16.720 lack discipline, build a life that doesn't require it. So here's a few things I do that's very

00:01:21.080 different than anybody else that allows me to get more done focusing on discipline. First off,

00:01:26.100 I schedule most of everything I do with other people. Why? It turns out I will do more for

00:01:30.920 somebody else than I'll do for myself. If I have a commitment to go work out, if I have a commitment

00:01:34.780 to a work session, when I have somebody else involved, I'll 100% show up. If it's just me,

00:01:39.820 sometimes I'll drag my feet. Sometimes I'll cancel it. Having other people to make a commitment to

00:01:43.740 is a big game changer. Second part is I plan my perfect week. It's a framework I teach in my book,

00:01:49.320 buy back your time. And the whole idea is to start with the big priorities. Look at the

00:01:53.360 reoccurring items. Look at the meeting rhythms. Look at your goals and ensure that the week is

00:01:58.860 aligned with the goals. Because if you don't, then you're just going through the motions. You're not

00:02:02.740 moving anything forward. By doing it that way, you do the work even if you're not motivated or

00:02:08.680 overwhelmed. And it helps you stay focused on the things when you're motivated and not let yourself

00:02:13.920 get overwhelmed. The other thing I do is batch work. You know, essentially I look at different

00:02:18.220 days of the week. And I themed them to a focus on content or creation or businesses that are

00:02:24.600 all similar because most people think that they can do context switching. They think that they

00:02:29.240 can go from like one thing to the next thing, to the next thing, to the next thing. And it turns

00:02:32.840 out you suck at it. If you just look at like counting one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, 0.99

00:02:36.340 eight, nine, 10, all the way to 26, and then doing the same thing, A, B, C, D, E, F, D, H all the way

00:02:40.520 till Z. You could do that quite fast. Most people can do it about six seconds. If you go one, A,

00:02:45.760 two, B, three, C, onward, a minute plus.

00:02:49.820 So right off the bat, the math does the math.

00:02:52.080 And that's why my favorite thing to tell people

00:02:53.860 is batch the work and focus,

00:02:56.660 which stands for follow one course until successful,

00:02:59.900 meaning do similar type of work and focus on it

00:03:02.740 so you have the same energy

00:03:04.020 and get it all done at your highest level.

00:03:06.000 Another area is for me is manage your energy.

00:03:08.300 I don't believe you manage time, you actually manage energy.

00:03:10.960 When I wake up in the morning,

00:03:11.960 my ability to connect to my creator

00:03:13.720 and design and think and problem solve,

00:03:16.800 it's at the highest level.

00:03:18.080 So when I wake up, I have a morning ritual that I follow

00:03:20.700 to allow me to produce and create my best work.

00:03:23.540 I don't save that till I'm tired in the afternoon.

00:03:27.120 In the afternoon, I schedule meetings

00:03:28.940 because I love being with people and it energizes me.

00:03:31.700 So I always look at right time, right action.

00:03:34.380 Throughout my day, there's certain types of work

00:03:36.720 that I'm gonna put and insert

00:03:38.400 so that it gets the right type of energy

00:03:40.260 that I've got for that activity.

00:03:42.120 So that's why I'll even split up my day with workouts

00:03:44.460 so that I can reset my energy

00:03:46.020 so I come into the next meeting focused.

00:03:48.440 If you ask me to talk about the thing

00:03:50.640 that had the biggest impact around designing my life

00:03:53.240 versus the default reaction,

00:03:55.140 it's understanding my calendar design creates my reality.

00:03:58.840 So if you only use this,

00:04:00.160 you'll be ahead of like 99% of the people.

00:04:02.400 But if you want my template for the perfect week,

00:04:04.420 I'll tell you where to get it at the end.

00:04:05.900 The problem is that you're probably struggling

00:04:07.640 with discipline and that isn't enough,

00:04:10.000 which is where rule number two comes in.

00:04:11.660 build your habits. When I started in business, I used to think getting into flow state was

00:04:16.380 something that happened randomly. Some like magical moment throughout my week where I'm like,

00:04:20.520 oh my God, it was like I was working and I felt connected. It was the best thing I ever did.

00:04:25.200 And it wouldn't happen for a while. And I'd be like, oh, why am I struggling so hard to get into

00:04:29.880 work? But then I learned you can actually make it happen by design and it all comes down to your

00:04:34.740 habits. One of my philosophies around this is your habits determine your future. So all I got to do

00:04:39.500 is look at what you do every day

00:04:41.200 and I will tell you what your future will look like.

00:04:43.300 The crazy part about being in flow state

00:04:45.160 is that when you're in it,

00:04:46.780 it feels like you can do anything.

00:04:48.700 I mean, you don't have a desire to go to the bathroom,

00:04:50.740 you're not hungry.

00:04:51.680 It gives you energy because you're focused on a task

00:04:54.660 and using parts of your brain, which is familiar

00:04:57.540 and you know how to do it,

00:04:58.660 but at the same time, it's stretching you

00:05:00.020 and then building the habits that precede it.

00:05:02.540 It's just like shooting content.

00:05:03.600 Before I shoot content,

00:05:04.620 I have a whole process that I use

00:05:06.700 to get into the energy of communicating.

00:05:08.900 If I didn't, I wouldn't be able to come consistently

00:05:12.020 to shoot and to share with you.

00:05:14.040 The way I think about habits

00:05:15.120 is I break them down into two things, rituals and triggers.

00:05:18.420 And those things can help you get into flow.

00:05:20.400 So for example, in my home,

00:05:22.100 I have this specific chair that I use to trigger me to vision.

00:05:26.160 When I sit in that chair,

00:05:27.500 it's this beautifully positioned place

00:05:29.020 where I'm overlooking the city that I live in

00:05:30.940 and I'm allowing myself to dream.

00:05:33.440 That chair has become a trigger.

00:05:35.780 Another example is my ritual around working

00:05:38.400 that I need to put headphones on.

00:05:40.500 And I usually put EDM music with no words.

00:05:42.960 I want the beat there so it keeps my mind focused,

00:05:45.640 but that ritual of when I do deep work

00:05:48.280 allows me to get into flow a lot faster.

00:05:50.880 You can use location as triggers.

00:05:52.180 It's like when you walk into your office,

00:05:53.740 you can use the doorframe as the trigger

00:05:56.480 to remind yourself the kind of work

00:05:58.560 that you're there to do.

00:05:59.640 And it's just these simple mental frames,

00:06:01.480 these identity resets that allows high performers

00:06:04.320 to perform at a level that most people,

00:06:06.140 again, they just go through their life by default

00:06:08.240 there's no design to it. So one of my favorites is when I sit in my car every time I have these

00:06:13.380 really cool cars I'll review my goals list. So I have this list of the 12 goals I want to get done

00:06:18.540 for the year and I just review them. I ask myself is my calendar reflect this? Do I feel in the

00:06:23.160 energy of receiving it? And I just go all in sitting in that car in that environment for me

00:06:29.140 where that trigger allows me to get more done. But if you really want to be insanely productive

00:06:33.200 you gotta change your thinking.

00:06:34.700 Which brings us to rule number three,

00:06:36.320 systematize everything.

00:06:38.160 Have you ever forgotten to pack something for a trip

00:06:40.380 and like you get to that place and it drives you nuts

00:06:42.580 because like the one thing you needed

00:06:44.020 maybe is your swim shorts or your sunglasses?

00:06:46.300 I don't know what it is, but everybody's got a thing

00:06:48.660 and it's nothing's more annoying than getting to a place

00:06:51.500 and not having what you expected.

00:06:52.940 Would you find it weird to know

00:06:54.280 that I have a system for packing my clothes?

00:06:57.220 I call it the CEO packing playbook

00:06:59.160 and I've had it for almost a decade now.

00:07:01.160 The reason why is I don't want to forget things.

00:07:03.980 I want to make sure that if I go on an Ironman race,

00:07:06.820 I don't want to forget my swim cap.

00:07:08.580 Or if I'm going mountain biking, I can't forget my clip-on shoes.

00:07:11.400 Or if I go snowboarding, I need my toque.

00:07:14.080 Here's a mental quote I want to offer you is to consider this.

00:07:18.280 If you find yourself doing something more than twice, create a system for it.

00:07:21.840 The coolest part is system stands for save yourself time, energy, and money.

00:07:26.660 Because if you do it once, you don't repeat it.

00:07:29.100 I'm a huge fan of checklists.

00:07:30.540 Again, if you haven't read my book,

00:07:31.960 I talk about it all the time

00:07:33.120 because there's three specific benefits from doing them.

00:07:35.680 Number one is you eliminate procrastination and confusion.

00:07:38.600 If I have a checklist

00:07:39.180 and I got something I got to get done,

00:07:40.680 I just follow the checklist.

00:07:41.820 It's like if my brain has to go

00:07:43.540 and think about what I'm about to do,

00:07:44.960 then I'll drag my feet, you know, like pack my clothes,

00:07:48.100 get some financial processes finished.

00:07:50.200 Checklists help me not procrastinate

00:07:52.120 or be confused and just move forward.

00:07:54.240 Number two is it creates consistency.

00:07:56.160 Back in the day,

00:07:56.980 I used to have to check all my different social networks

00:07:59.420 and make sure I responded to emails

00:08:00.880 and make sure that I checked this.

00:08:02.660 And I created a checklist

00:08:03.500 so that I was always consistently

00:08:05.280 on top of all the inbound messages in my life.

00:08:08.220 The coolest part is if you follow a checklist,

00:08:10.160 it also allows you to avoid having to do rework, right?

00:08:13.140 Where you do something and it didn't get done right

00:08:15.120 because you missed the step.

00:08:16.400 And then it's gotta come back to you to get done.

00:08:18.940 That's called the defect.

00:08:19.980 And if you wanna waste your time and energy,

00:08:21.800 have defects out in the world with your work

00:08:23.720 that then comes back onto your plate

00:08:25.280 and then you're backed up

00:08:26.460 and it just keeps a cycle of like being overwhelmed.

00:08:28.920 i remember when elon launched his first car the roadster he had so many defects that had to come

00:08:33.800 back into a warehouse everybody was freaking out because there's like hundreds of cars that they

00:08:37.720 thought they had delivered to customers but they were missing the checklist to do the delivery to

00:08:41.800 make sure the car was done and then it all had to come back for the rework number three is it allows

00:08:45.880 you to buy back your time see at first you do it it's your checklist then eventually a virtual

00:08:50.680 assistant so they help you out and now i have a house manager that takes care of all the things

00:08:55.080 in my life they're the ceo of martel family and they follow checklists that i created first for

00:09:00.280 myself then for my assistant and now for my house manager here's a pro tip for knocking this out of

00:09:05.480 the park is add checklists and contacts in your calendar in the description you put the checklist

00:09:11.800 in there so that when the notification pops up you know exactly what you got to go do but there's

00:09:16.520 another rule that will make you exponentially more productive which brings us to number four

00:09:21.480 don't repeat yourself this is one of my favorite philosophies that my nerdy programming background

00:09:27.320 brings out of me all the time most people don't realize that if you're going to do something once

00:09:31.480 you want to document it so that you never do it twice and the best way to do that is to use a

00:09:36.120 thing called a stencil or a pattern so that it makes it consistent every time if i was manually

00:09:41.640 painting all the birds on the wall it would take me like hours whereas with the stencil i can get

00:09:45.640 it done in an hour and that's the difference between doing manual work that you're dependent

00:09:49.800 on a specialist to do versus having a stencil that allows you get a lot done so don't repeat yourself

00:09:55.080 broke people get good at doing tasks rich people get good at avoiding them in many ways i'm 0.68

00:09:59.880 successful because i don't do things that other people can do but the only reason i can have them

00:10:04.760 do them for me is because i've created the blueprints the templates and the stencils for

00:10:08.760 them to do the work the way i would do it because i've created that frame here's how to not repeat

00:10:13.320 yourself number one stencils are exponential improvements having a template a blueprint a

00:10:19.880 structure that other people follow to get the same result is a game changer number two is having

00:10:25.080 checklists that creates the process i mean i have a system for creating systems which i always

00:10:30.280 thought was obvious but when i showed my friends they were like oh my gosh dan that's so smart

00:10:34.360 well of course because if i'm gonna create systems i need a template and i need a process to show

00:10:39.080 people how to do it so i never have to do it again and it's done right it eliminates the steps in the

00:10:43.560 process number three is packing lists are cool that's a system but a stencil is a complete copy

00:10:49.960 a packing list gives you a checklist so that you don't forget anything like your toothbrush

00:10:54.440 a stencil says how about you have a copy of all the stuff in your toiletry bag and that's

00:10:59.640 a separate bag so that when you do travel you just grab the bag that you know has everything

00:11:03.800 and put it in your luggage so you absolutely can't forget anything because the same thing

00:11:07.080 you took on your previous trip four is an advanced move but it's using ai to create stencils so one

00:11:12.360 of my favorite prompts after i'm playing with some kind of ai chat is to ask it to give me the prompt

00:11:17.880 that would generate that specific output so then i'm asking ai to give me the stencil that i can

00:11:22.600 copy and paste in the future to get to that place way faster but sometimes it doesn't matter how

00:11:27.160 systematized the task there's something holding you back and that's where rule number five comes

00:11:31.800 in. Call your shot. A while ago, I heard a stat that said that 22 million people in the US are

00:11:38.140 millionaires, but only 3 million have visible apps. It occurred to me I had the first, but I

00:11:43.480 didn't have the second. And if I did, then I'd be kind of a unicorn. So I made this crazy commitment

00:11:48.620 because I called it Project Visible Labs. I gave myself 90 days and I went all in. And I will tell

00:11:53.200 you, I thought it was going to be easy until I hit a plateau. For three weeks, I didn't lose any

00:11:57.620 weight. And the crazy part is I had stakes, meaning that if I didn't do it, I had to enter

00:12:02.180 in a fitness competition as is on stage in a freaking speedo. That's kind of bananas. What 0.93

00:12:08.120 made it different for me is I believe in these three things. One, you have to have a clear goal.

00:12:12.480 Second, you have a timeframe. Three is you have stakes. So for me, it was entering the fitness

00:12:16.380 competition. Most importantly, as I called my shot, I invited my videographer to my house to

00:12:21.700 follow me around, to look at the scale. And then I told the whole world, everybody on the internet,

00:12:26.420 this is what i'm doing this is my timeline and if i don't do it then there's public accountability

00:12:30.740 see most people don't want accountability because then if they fail they're going to do it in public

00:12:34.580 but steven covey used to say all the time accountability breeds responsibility if you're

00:12:39.140 accountable for your action you'll be responsible to do the right thing so i want to teach you a few

00:12:43.380 big ideas number one is verbalize your goals to activate them a lot of people have a vision they

00:12:48.660 have dreams they have things they want to do projects they don't tell anybody if you don't

00:12:52.740 talk your goals out loud it doesn't activate them think about all the people that you follow on the

00:12:58.020 internet they call their shots non-stop elon musk we're going to colonize mars gary v i'm going to

00:13:03.940 buy the new york jets these are things that people that hardly know these people know about them

00:13:08.500 because they don't stop talking about it number two is they commit to others they text a friend

00:13:13.940 they let the person know this is my time frame hold me accountable so they use their peer group

00:13:18.660 not as a negative thing, as a positive thing.

00:13:21.140 I call it a positive peer group,

00:13:22.720 where you then have your friends ask you,

00:13:24.520 how are you doing with that?

00:13:25.460 You know, I heard you're trying to do that

00:13:26.560 Project Visible Labs, is that happening?

00:13:28.760 Being accountable to other people that see you every day

00:13:31.100 and they see you make decisions

00:13:32.140 and you go out to dinner with them and they go,

00:13:34.120 hey man, doesn't look like you're doing that thing

00:13:36.020 you told us about, that'll keep you on track.

00:13:37.840 I also learned having other people involved

00:13:39.700 makes it easier for me to stick to.

00:13:41.460 So if I schedule time to go to the gym with my trainer,

00:13:44.580 I'm not gonna quit on them.

00:13:45.880 If it's just me, I'm probably gonna bail

00:13:47.840 if I'm not feeling up to it.

00:13:49.140 Number three is competition makes it fun.

00:13:51.460 So not only did I have a stake,

00:13:53.660 if I didn't hit it,

00:13:54.640 I had to enter in a fitness competition.

00:13:56.080 If I hit it, I gave myself permission

00:13:58.120 to buy one of my dream cars, a Ferrari Pista.

00:14:00.540 One of the most beautiful in my mind cars.

00:14:02.760 And then it became a thing.

00:14:04.700 And everybody asked me, did you get your car yet?

00:14:06.620 What are you doing?

00:14:07.340 Are you on track?

00:14:08.380 And it was just like a fun experience

00:14:09.960 because I remember the day I hit my goal,

00:14:12.740 I showed up and we made it a whole event.

00:14:14.760 Everybody on my team came out to see it

00:14:16.480 and it came out and it was delivered.

00:14:17.840 And I had that car for weeks prior before ever driving it

00:14:21.440 because I wanted to honor the process.

00:14:24.020 Number four is make a public commitment on social media.

00:14:27.280 Decide what goal you want to hit, what timeline,

00:14:30.440 post it on Instagram and tag me,

00:14:33.120 Dan Martell, 2Ls of Martell on Instagram.

00:14:35.160 I want to see you make a public commitment

00:14:37.920 to your future, call your shot. 0.93

00:14:39.920 But if you've committed,

00:14:41.400 you still might struggle with spending too much time

00:14:43.520 on things, which brings us to rule number six,

00:14:46.080 which is compress the timeline.

00:14:47.800 Anytime I've launched a product,

00:14:49.540 my business coaching, my fitness program,

00:14:51.800 my mindset program, anything,

00:14:53.100 I've announced it before I ever had it built.

00:14:55.020 It's just been my default.

00:14:56.080 I learned a long time ago to default to action.

00:14:58.540 If I have a thing that I wanna create,

00:15:00.860 I just have to start selling it

00:15:02.340 because most people think about all the things

00:15:05.040 I could do to start it and get ready to start it

00:15:07.420 and da-da-da, and I'm like,

00:15:08.720 the only thing to do is to get a customer

00:15:10.860 and then that'll be a forcing function to move forward.

00:15:13.500 it actually helps you compress the timeline

00:15:16.240 because it gives you a real feedback loop

00:15:19.000 of what's important and what's just noise.

00:15:21.620 Parkinson's Law says work expands to fill the time available.

00:15:24.820 If you ask somebody to get something done,

00:15:26.100 they say, I'll get it done by Friday.

00:15:27.460 Just ask them, can you get it done by Tuesday?

00:15:29.220 I can't do Tuesday.

00:15:30.260 How about Wednesday?

00:15:31.040 Yeah, I could probably do Wednesday.

00:15:32.320 Ding, ding, ding.

00:15:33.000 All of a sudden now people are getting things done

00:15:34.980 a lot faster for you,

00:15:36.500 which means you get more done in a calendar year,

00:15:38.420 which means you make more money.

00:15:40.360 I remember one time I was coaching a private client.

00:15:42.060 They flew all the way to Kelowna for us to sit down for a half day to review their 10-year plan,

00:15:46.820 their big goals. They wanted to build 100 million a year business over the next decade. And I was

00:15:51.000 like, cool. But then I asked them a simple question. How probable do you feel it'd be for

00:15:56.700 you to accomplish the 10-year goal in one year? One out of 10. If you had to make it happen,

00:16:01.300 are you confident you could get it done in a year? And everybody replied. There was a few

00:16:05.740 other people and they all said, ah, probably like a three or four. I said, interesting. I said,

00:16:10.980 could you get it done in a year if you knew at the end of the year if you didn't hit your goal

00:16:15.600 that you would lose all of your business your bank accounts would zero out and you'd never be

00:16:20.080 able to start another company for the rest of your life they said well now it's a 10 i said

00:16:24.440 interesting what changed motivation all of a sudden now they made it a must not a nice to have

00:16:30.160 that's parkinson's law the work will expand to the time you give it most people are scared to

00:16:34.920 choose aggressive timelines but what i've learned is doing that actually gives you the creativity

00:16:38.800 to force you to come up with the answers.

00:16:40.720 So I'm always trying to find opportunities

00:16:42.600 to create forcing functions.

00:16:44.040 If I can put myself in a situation

00:16:46.540 that forces me to get something done faster

00:16:48.940 by making a commitment to somebody else

00:16:50.480 or just deciding this is when it's got to get done

00:16:52.720 by tomorrow morning and not delaying it,

00:16:54.600 that creates a better product.

00:16:56.420 Having shorter timeline forces simplicity.

00:16:59.460 You can't overcomplicate it,

00:17:00.840 which is usually the thing that stops people

00:17:02.560 from actually being successful.

00:17:04.240 And it turns out simplicity scales.

00:17:06.960 Most people struggle in business

00:17:08.500 because they do 1400 different things

00:17:10.420 instead of choosing the one to three things

00:17:12.040 that actually make some money

00:17:13.360 that they love to do that the customer wants.

00:17:16.280 And if you do that, simple scales, complexity fails.

00:17:19.880 The human mind is designed to add complexity.

00:17:22.440 So you gotta fight against this.

00:17:23.920 And over the years I've learned

00:17:24.920 a goal without a deadline is just a dream.

00:17:27.400 It's something people want, they aspire to it,

00:17:29.960 but it doesn't have any meat because there's no timeline.

00:17:32.800 The one thing I do all the time with my team

00:17:34.540 is just asking me, give me a date, give me a date,

00:17:36.560 give me a date.

00:17:37.080 Now, all of a sudden, I've activated the execution of that project.

00:17:41.680 But here's most entrepreneurs kryptonite, their phone.

00:17:44.500 You have access to the entire world in seconds,

00:17:47.300 which is why number seven to be insanely productive is cut out distractions.

00:17:51.780 Here's a big idea.

00:17:52.840 Turn off all your notifications on your phone.

00:17:55.200 Turn them off.

00:17:55.920 I dare you.

00:17:56.760 There was a life before your notifications,

00:17:58.920 before they even built that feature, and there'll be a life afterwards.

00:18:01.540 And if you want to save your time, your energy, your focus, turn them off.

00:18:05.840 no more vibrating no more buzzing no more screen time you decide when you go check in don't let

00:18:11.760 any person in the world just automatically disrupt your life did you know your inbox is nothing more

00:18:17.280 than a public to-do list for strangers on your time crazy turn them off a while ago i had the

00:18:23.920 privilege to be invited to spend a week with richard branson his home in switzerland and what

00:18:28.000 i saw was a guy that not only refused to have a phone or have any distractions or have anybody

00:18:34.000 bugged them honestly was his process for taking all the inbound requests on his time emails text

00:18:41.040 messages everything and it got filtered through his assistant why because he only wanted to look

00:18:45.600 and be presented the things that needed his unique perspective everything else somebody else could

00:18:50.160 deal with that changed everything i saw him do that and i go wow now i understand why he has all

00:18:54.000 the time to go skiing with us or do all these crazy pr stunts or charity events and that's

00:18:58.400 when i changed my whole life so a lot of people brag about inbox zero how about zero inbox that's

00:19:03.760 the way i live my life it's a whole inbox gps process so i break this down into three types

00:19:09.200 of distractions number one digital distractions these are your phone notifications the apps the

00:19:14.480 notification jewels even having access to netflix or youtube downloaded videos when you're trying

00:19:19.520 to get work done and you're like oh man i just want to go watch some stuff and reset my brain

00:19:23.840 those digital distractions on those devices are the killer of getting anything done you want to

00:19:29.040 be the most unproductive have those available to you all the time you want to have discipline and

00:19:34.560 get rid of the digital distractions number two are physical distractions it's everything from having

00:19:39.280 the mental distractions of staring at a messy space to not having headphones on that really

00:19:44.960 dial you in and focus to having any person just be able to come in and bug you when you're in your

00:19:50.240 focus time i remember having a client once that used to brag he says yeah i do these things called

00:19:54.080 gas meetings and everybody loves them and i'm like what's that he goes got a second meeting

00:19:58.240 are you serious? What part of working with me made you think that that was a good idea? No,

00:20:04.840 these times throughout the day, you can walk into my office and we have a conversation,

00:20:09.300 but got a second meetings is a distraction and also tells you that the person doesn't plan well

00:20:13.960 enough and that they're always bugging you to interrupt you when you're focused. Number three

00:20:17.580 is internal distractions. And these are things from lacking clarity to having too much stress,

00:20:22.740 feeling the overwhelm. And it usually comes from like not having a vision or not dumping your task

00:20:28.080 or not prioritizing anything.

00:20:29.480 That's why like even something as simple

00:20:31.100 as going to the gym for me

00:20:32.940 is about getting my mind right.

00:20:35.060 That's why I always say exhaust the body to tame the mind.

00:20:38.080 That internal distraction, that mind clutter

00:20:40.900 sometimes needs a rhythm that you have in your life,

00:20:44.280 meditation, writing things down, productivity apps,

00:20:47.160 so that you can do your best work

00:20:48.980 to keep your mind focused on the task at hand.

00:20:51.260 But here's the real truth.

00:20:52.280 If you're struggling to get the work done,

00:20:54.280 you might be missing something else.

00:20:55.900 Which brings us to the last rule.

00:20:57.360 know your purpose so this crazy story of a musician named oliver anthony he wrote this song called

00:21:03.380 richmond north of richmond it was about essentially taking a stance a lot of people tried to use it

00:21:08.740 for politics but i like the message i like the energy and i remember reading his story to find

00:21:14.040 out that he used to live in a trailer park drove a 20 year old car struggled his whole life with

00:21:19.660 addiction and drinking and here's this moment that shifted everything and he was on a podcast

00:21:25.020 and somebody asked him what changed and he said two things one i discovered god and two i stopped

00:21:31.020 making about myself and i started making about other people and when i heard him say that it

00:21:35.820 occurred to me that i'd seen this pattern in so many people from oprah to elon to everybody that's

00:21:42.700 had success they stopped making about themselves it wasn't to be rich to be rich it was to be rich

00:21:48.380 to be of service they started to get purpose if you have a why that's bigger than your fear then

00:21:53.580 you'll do it most people focus on the how when they should be focused on the why the bigger the

00:21:58.300 why the easier the how i mentor a lot of youth and i get asked this question all the time like

00:22:02.940 how do i discover my purpose how do i discover my why how do i discover my vision for my life well

00:22:08.540 here's what i know pain is inevitable every human being by the fact that you're alive will go through

00:22:13.580 pain suffering is optional the thing that's missing so that the pain doesn't become suffering

00:22:19.100 is purpose. It's the antidote. Find that and it makes the zest for life a lot easier to deal with

00:22:25.220 all the challenges. A way to keep it front of mind is I have a vision board, you know, and I put mine

00:22:29.660 on my phone. I put it on the wallpaper of my laptop so that I have a vision of my purpose, what I'm

00:22:35.000 trying to do and why it matters to me and all the different components, the personal, the fitness,

00:22:39.880 the relationships, the health, the impact. It's all there. And I review my goals annually, five years,

00:22:46.780 25 years out every week every month and honestly every day for the year because i have purpose

00:22:52.740 daily it's not something i do once and i forget about it i just build the plan and put it in a

00:22:57.420 drawer and never look at it it's something i put all around me i have a guy in my office he has it

00:23:01.940 printed out on his desk in a framed envelope we have our goals on the wall here you know and

00:23:06.940 they're all stacked like a ladder so that everybody sees it if you visualize it it makes it easier to

00:23:12.260 hit most people are trying to hit a target that they don't even know what the target looks like

00:23:16.500 So one of my favorite ways to do that is make your progress visible.

00:23:19.500 And I'm talking dashboards or habit tracking.

00:23:21.980 You can use apps.

00:23:22.860 You can write it down, keep it old school if you want,

00:23:25.500 but just make sure that you see the progress towards your purpose.

00:23:28.900 Because if you do that, nothing will stop you in many ways.

00:23:32.340 The way I think about your ability to create and attract your future into your life,

00:23:37.060 it takes 300% focus.

00:23:39.260 You have 100% clarity of what you want to create.

00:23:41.500 You have 100% belief you can do it.

00:23:43.460 And 100% of time you believe and have that clarity.

00:23:46.220 that's how fast you can bring into your life now is it easy nope is it possible thousand percent

00:23:52.220 and this is the deeper deeper stuff that sometimes i don't share is that your true purpose in your

00:23:57.180 life sits right next to the worst thing that's ever happened to you and if you're willing to explore

00:24:02.380 that i think you would find a drive that you didn't know was there to support people that have

00:24:07.980 gone through the thing that hurt you the most the most pain maybe the most shame you've ever had

00:24:12.700 helping other people get through that easier or avoid it could become the most important thing

00:24:17.420 you do with your life a lot of people talk about happiness i like to think about fulfillment you

00:24:22.620 know i don't want life to be easy i want it to be challenging to shape me and my philosophy is two

00:24:27.740 things i wake up every day to try to be the 10.0 version of myself the person that is the most

00:24:33.500 connected and graceful and determined and confident in many ways i think about becoming the person

00:24:39.180 i needed most in my darkest days the person i would have listened to and if you wake up every

00:24:43.980 day to strive to be that person and do the second part which is to share yourself with the world

00:24:49.260 and that could be your kids because that's probably your world or your community or your

00:24:53.740 crossfit gym or your church or honestly i'd encourage you to consider social media as you

00:24:58.860 become your 10.0 version and you share yourself with the world that is fulfillment and no matter

00:25:03.580 what happens in the world, you will feel incredible about that pursuit. So as I mentioned earlier,

00:25:09.160 if you want to get started quickly with your perfect week, just head over to Instagram,

00:25:13.540 Dan Martell, 2Ls and Martell, and message me the word perfect on my Instagram account,

00:25:17.880 and I'll send it directly right over to you. And if you want to learn how to get more done

00:25:21.140 than 99% of people, click here to watch the next video.

Dan Martell - December 24, 2024

Stop Wasting Life - 8 Productivity Rules of The Top 1%

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