All Things
Productivity

Pulling Your Weight

The most productive people contribute the most to society.  Taking on a larger burden leads to a more fulfilling life.

Rising to the Top

In order to lead a 1% life, you have to become a 1% person.  Become elite by producing more than your peers.

For newbies to the art of getting things done:

Let’s start with the best advice up front.

Just get started.

If you want to become prolific in any field, you have to make productivity a habit.  In fact, you should strive to make productivity a part of your Self Identity.  You want to think of yourself as someone who gets sh!t done.  Better yet, become someone who gets sh!t done everyday.

Consistency is a key attribute of top producers.

However, producing at a high level requires more than just hard work.

We’ve all heard the phrase:

“Work smarter, not harder.”

But it’s more like:

“Work smart and hard.”

It’s not necessarily about being as busy as you can be all of the time—though it does tend to start like that.  In many ways effectiveness is much more important.  That is, work quality and efficiency trump everything.  Otherwise, Tim Ferris’s Four Hour Work Week wouldn’t exist.

But maximizing productivity generally does begin with doing the work everyday.

That’s really the only way to achieve Mastery anyway.  As they say, you have to put in your 10,000 hours.  Competence is a vital aspect of being productive.  And the best way to get more competent is through deliberate Daily Practice.

However, systems also play a major role in productivity over time.

Structuring your day is a big deal.

It’s crucial to carve out the space to work on the projects that matter most to you.  Deep Work is something you have to make time for and finding Flow doesn’t often happen by chance.  Getting there on command takes repetition.  The more repetition, the more easily you’ll be able to reach your Peak State.

The ability to Focus is requisite for High Performance.  Winning the battle against Procrastination and Distraction requires Discipline and effort.

Motivation is fleeting.  You can’t depend on it.

Instead, cultivate the ability to get things done despite internal and external circumstances.  It doesn’t matter how you feel.  It doesn’t matter what is going on outside of yourself.  If you want to do anything of significance, you have to put in the work regardless.

Still, you should try to make it easier on yourself.  Willpower is a limited resource, after all.

Great Habits are one of the keys to Achievement for a reason.  Make the right behaviors automatic and success becomes more likely.  Create a solid Morning Routine.  Eat a proper Diet.  Prioritize high quality Sleep.  Clear out mental clutter through Meditation and Mindfulness. 

If you don’t take care of your mind and body, it’s difficult to summon your best self.

Beyond that, there are tons of productivity tools that can help make a difference. 

Examples include:

• To-Do Lists
• Bullet Journaling
• Task Batching
• Automation
• Inbox 0

Time Management is another important factor.  Strategies like Block Time, the Pomodoro Technique, and ____ can be helpful.

There are also many things you should try to avoid.  Some are obvious.  Others are less so.

For example:

Don’t try to multi-task.  We all think we can do it.  But it’s just a myth.  The brain isn’t designed to do multiple things simultaneously.  Instead, our attention just alternates between each job inefficiently.  When you switch from one to the other, part of your brain’s resources will still be dedicated to the preceding task.  This is called attention residue.

Push notifications and high sugar foods are two other things that often get overlooked.

Push notifications from text messages, social media, or email disrupt your dopamine drip and stifle your alpha brainwave state.  Foods that are high in sugar also wreak havoc on brain function.  If you want to do your best work, you have to protect your mind.

Improving your personal productivity is multifaceted.

However, the calculus is even more complex for organizations.

If you’re an Entrepreneur (or anyone else who leads a team), there is more to consider than your own personal output.  Many things influence the productivity of an organization.  Still, the buck stops with you in the end.  Thus, Leadership skills become paramount.

You have to create a structure others can thrive in if you want to achieve business success.  This requires organizational skills like Delegation and SOP development as well as “soft skills” like Communication and Compassion.  In business, your people are one of your most important assets.  How you manage them influences  production in a big way.

The bottom line is this:

Whatever you’re looking to accomplish, you can’t escape the need to produce.  So spend some time identifying new practices that can increase your output and old ones that are holding you back.  A little internal work can have a massive impact on the quality and magnitude of your external work.

My Productivity Posts