improvement pill here so recently i made
some simple changes to my daily routine
which allowed me to get significantly
more done than i did before i went from
creating just three to four videos a
month
to doing more than eight so in a sense i
was able to double my productivity and i
was able to do this
by implementing five simple proven
tricks for getting more done
our first trick is all about finding an
exclusive location
for your work so the thing is i am
currently renting out a studio apartment
in ho chi minh of vietnam
and it's nice and all but i found that i
would constantly get distracted
trying to work at the table in this room
and that's because i do
all sorts of things in this particular
location the seat and table that i try
to work at
is the same seat and table where i would
play video games on my computer it's the
same seat and table where i would eat
lunch and dinner and it's the same seat
and table where i would watch netflix
with my girlfriend
and the thing is when you're in a
location where you've done so many other
things your brain will associate this
location with all those things
it will have unconsciously built several
habits
tied to this place so whenever you're
there you're going to be
constantly reminded to start those
habits
most of which are things that are much
more enjoyable and pleasurable
than your work and because of this it
becomes extremely easy to get distracted
as your brain is constantly telling you
hey
let's do this fun thing instead which is
why it's extremely powerful
to have a completely new location
exclusive
to your work and ideally you want to
select a location
where you haven't made any other
pre-existing connections
a location where you can start a brand
new
slate i was able to implement this trick
by moving my work location to a local
cafe
not too far from my apartment it's like
a two minute walk and on the first day
i got there i immediately sat down and i
started
writing because i wanted my brain to
associate this new environment with one
thing and one thing only
which is my work it's also very
important to note that you want to
select
a location that's easy to get to so that
you will have less excuses to start
which brings us to the second trick i
used to double my productivity
which is don't give yourself time to
think
now you might be thinking wait what
don't think
how could that be beneficial well prior
to making these changes
i would often have thoughts like this
when i woke up oh
wow i need to start working on those two
new scripts today and uh
i need to revise and finalize that other
one i need to send out those emails and
oh i got
three coaching calls as well oh my god
that's so much work
i think i'll just watch some youtube
first and whenever this happens i would
end up playing around on my
phone for hours before finally getting
out of bed
and overall i would get very little to
nothing done
for the day and you can prevent this
from happening by giving yourself
less time to think nowadays the only
thing that's on my mind when i wake up
is
okay time to get dressed and visit the
cafe across the street
and the reason i do this is because
procrastination
is an emotional problem and negative
emotions occur
when we think right the more you think
about how much you have to do
the worse you start to feel which means
that you're less likely to actually
go and do it it's sort of like back in
the day when i used to talk to random
girls on the street
as a way to improve my social skills and
to step outside of my comfort zone
i noticed that my levels of fear and
anxiety were significantly higher
when i saw a girl that i wanted to talk
to and i thought
about what i should do first that's
right the longer i thought about
talking to her the less of a chance i
would actually go and do it
because when you think you let your
anxiety build up
you think to yourself oh my god what am
i going to talk about
what if i get rejected what if she
totally ignores me
all of these hypothetical scenarios run
in your head and cause you to feel as if
you have failed
even though you haven't even started
that's why we procrastinate
and you can prevent this from happening
by taking quick action
like i mentioned before all i think
about when i wake up is okay i need to
get dressed and visit the cafe that's it
and by doing this i can trick myself to
take quick action
so that i'll go to my exclusive location
so that my habit of working there can
kick
in and this actually brings us to my
third tip which is to remove
distractions
before they can come up when i decided
to go to this cafe for the first time
i chose not to get the wi-fi password
that's right to this day my laptop still
has no internet access here i literally
can't do anything on my laptop
other than right see the thing is even
if you use my advice from trick number
one and you go to a new location
there are still things that you might
bring with you that are associated with
past
distractions and personally for me it's
when i have my computer
and when i have wi-fi because this setup
is what i usually use to play video
games and to browse the internet
when i remove the wi-fi the urge to mess
around online disappears
as one of the requirements for being
able to do so is the wi-fi itself
which is why whenever i come to this
cafe i only bring four things i bring my
keys
so i can go home i bring my bullet
journal which serves as a reminder for
all the things i need to get done
i bring my laptop for the work itself
and i bring my phone for calls
now you might be thinking wait wait wait
you just said you turn off the wi-fi so
you don't get distracted
then doesn't bring in your phone defeat
that purpose
hang tight i'll get into why i do this
in a second
in the meantime let's move on to my
fourth trick which is
to allow yourself to win easily
see oftentimes when we tell ourselves
that we need to get a lot done
we will set this bar way too high
you need to lower your standards for
your definition of success
for the day for example i never tell
myself okay i need to draft
and finalize the script in the same day
in fact
as i'm writing this script right now i'm
just quickly letting all of my ideas out
i'm not double checking my grammar i'm
not worrying about spelling errors
and i'm not even checking to see if
everything makes sense
all i'm doing is getting all of my ideas
on
paper that's my only requirement today
for success in regards to this project
that's all i have to do if i want to
clean up the script
sure i can do that for bonus points but
in reality i don't need to do that
until tomorrow and the reason i do this
is because it makes it significantly
easier for me to feel good about myself
it makes me more confident in my ability
to get things done
that i can reach my goals i feel proud
of myself even though i'm just drafting
a script
see the thing you have to understand
about productivity is that it's mostly a
mental battle
if you believe something is too hard if
you believe that you're not mentally
strong enough to easily complete a task
then you will naturally come up with
excuses to avoid even trying
which is why you got to allow yourself
to win easier
lower your bar for success because then
you can hit it more often
which will make you believe that you are
someone who can successfully get things
done
and because of this it will make the
entire process
more enjoyable and now finally my final
trick for doubling one's productivity
is to reward yourself often one of the
most important things that you have to
understand
is that every good behavior that you
want to reinforce
needs to be reinforced with some type of
reward
it's like when you train a dog you got
to give him a treat
after he does a trick if you do not
reward yourself your brain will have no
incentive to remember this behavior and
it will never
become a habit now it's best to reward
yourself with things that you naturally
like
but you should also make sure that there
are things that you aren't addicted to
for example every time i complete a
major task such as drafting a script or
revising a script or even finishing a
call i'll open up my phone
and play a mobile game for like five to
ten minutes or sometimes i'll use social
media i might respond to some messages
look at some memes on reddit you get the
point and this is why i bring my phone
with me to the cafe when i work
yes it's important to try and remove as
many distractions as possible when i
come here
but i still need some way to reward
myself turning the wi-fi on for my
computer is too distracting
as i'm constantly using it while i type
but i can simply turn off my phone
or hide it under my journal while i work
which puts it out of my site
and when it's time for me to reward
myself i'll turn it back on
now you want to make sure that your
rewards are short and sweet so that it's
enjoyable
but doesn't take up too much of your
time that way you can go back to work
and complete your next task by doing
this you will actually find yourself
looking forward to going to work
because there are little bits of
pleasure and joy sprinkled throughout
the process
and that's it these are the five tricks
that i use to double my productivity
try them out and let me know if they
work this episode was brought to you
with the help of the guys
at audible i've been an avid user of
audible for many years
because it allows me to learn valuable
life-changing things on the go
i've been commuting around a lot in the
city via motorbike and using audible has
allowed me to finish about a book per
week
you are now able to download all of the
audible monthly originals for
free along with one free audiobook of
your choice
members will also gain access to guided
wellness programs that will help you
unwind
during these stressful times on top of
that audible has launched
stories.audible.com
where you can stream hundreds of titles
completely free with no strings attached
go to www.audible.com forward slash
improvement pill or text improvement
pill
to 500 500 to get one free audiobook
unlimited audible originals and a 30-day
free trial
recently i've just finished listening to
the price of tomorrow by jeff
boof which talks about how technology
will cause massive deflation around the
world
and what this means for the economy it's
super interesting and a quick read so i
highly suggest
you to check it out besides that guys
stay tuned