hey everyone and welcome to top think today we're going to learn about how to develop
an insane work ethic now let's begin number one the weekly flood perseverance is a key component
of any powerful work ethic it drives you through failure it nurtures your belief in yourself and it
wages that never-ending war against your own bad habits but perseverance comes in bits and pieces
each new challenge that you face in life well it offers you a choice you can either give up or you
can fight for your right to achieve choosing to fight whether you win or lose will leave
you with a little more perseverance than you had before you'll be that much more driven that much
more persistent in the face of failure because ultimately it's the fight that matters most not
how much praise you earn not the amount of money that you make a strong work ethic stems from that
simple decision to fight back so what's the best way to build this kind of a persevering mindset
you need to create opportunities to fight for your success one strategy that you can consistently use
is nicknamed the burnout day but I like to call it the weekly flood so one day out of
every week you should work longer and harder than any of the others dive deeper into your projects
tackle challenges that scare you force yourself to concentrate for hours at a time the weekly flood
is designed to stretch your work ethic it forces you to be persistent and driven because you'll
start slowing down you'll feel like quitting and you'll lose motivation but each time you
rally and summon the energy to keep fighting your work ethic will get better after you survive each
flood you'll gain more perseverance more pride and more self-discipline so when's the best time
for your weekly flood some people position theirs in the middle of the week when they're the most
motivated others save it for the end so they can get a couple of days rest afterwards you know it
really doesn't matter when you do it as long as you're challenging your work ethic every single
week number two the +1 routine do you always go the extra mile surpassing people's expectations
is a telltale sign of a strong work ethic if you're disciplined and motivated then you know
that a good work ethic requires more than just efficiency it's not about rushing through your
work as fast as possible you should also care deeply about the quality of your work if you
have an awesome work ethic you're committed to the excellence of your product and believe me it shows
people will notice your commitment during every project you lead and every presentation you give
no matter how big or small something is they'll know that you're willing to go the extra mile
so how do you incorporate this passion for both quality and quantity into your work well it takes
time for anyone to develop enough self-discipline you may need years of practice before this passion
feels intrinsic and automatic but everyone has to start somewhere so to improve your work ethic just
try using the plus one routine each time you're finishing a project challenge yourself to add one
more thing incorporate one new detail that will make your argument stronger design one new graphic
that will make your presentation more interesting start by satisfying their expectations and then
push your work one step further it helps to think of every project like a race imagine you're about
to cross the finish line you've been running for miles and obviously you're exhausted but as you
get closer and closer to the end you realize that it wasn't quite as tiring as you thought
in fact you could probably run a little bit longer that's where the plus one routine comes in handy
it's like moving the finish line just a tiny bit forward right before you cross it that last part
is especially important so why is it so important to only move the finish line at the end of each
project think about how you'd feel if you added extra work at the beginning you'd lose motivation
right would feel like you're just making things harder for yourself but if you wait until the
end you'll be excited about finishing you already feel proud of yourself for making it so far that
sense of accomplishment will leave you overflowing with excess motivation you can take advantage of
that natural burst of energy by pushing yourself a few feet further and over time you'll get in
the habit of going the extra mile you'll start pushing yourself more and more each time and
the quality of your work will skyrocket there's also no one that employers like more than someone
with initiative use the +1 routine to discover that powerful initiative for yourself number
three creation versus critique self critique is a valuable tool especially when you invest more
time into the quality of your work critique helps you distinguish the good from the bad the careful
from the careless you should use self critique to mold your work into something you can be proud of
oh but sometimes your critiques get in the way of your productivity you spend more time destroying
your ideas than you do creating them so it's very important to learn when it's time to build your
work up and when it's time to pick your work apart that's where this idea of creation versus critique
comes from how do you find the right balance between these important parts of productivity
well it turns out the best thing for your work ethic is to separate creation and critique as much
as you can okay let's say you're writing a pitch for a big idea that you've been mulling over you
want your speech to be about 10 minutes long but after a full day at work you haven't even gotten
past the first sentence every time you write something down you find some reason why it doesn't
work you've had about a dozen promising ideas but none of them stuck the problem is you're creating
and critiquing at the same time you're trying to craft the perfect version of each sentence before
you move on to the next one and that process is slowing you down to a snail's pace instead set
aside time to focus solely on creation right as much of the pitch as you can think of get
excited use your instincts it doesn't matter if it's messy or confusing just get those ideas down
on paper the goal here is to create as much as you can without stopping or analyzing what you're
doing yeah that part comes later for now keep brainstorming until you feel like you've captured
the gist of everything you want to say when you're done it's time for self critique stop creating or
thinking of new ideas just focus on touching up all the content that you already have let yourself
worry about the tiny details then identify all the holes in your work go back and make sure
you like all the concepts that you wrote down after you've done a bit of cleanup switch back
to creation and fill in all those holes you found with new exciting ideas then just like before go
back for another round of critique if you keep alternating like this you'll find yourself being
more productive than ever and your work ethic will significantly improve you're training yourself to
stop being a perfectionist before you are wasting hours of your time refining a single sentence but
now you're learning how to make real progress number four productive diversions laziness
strikes at the worst times doesn't it whenever you're feeling frustrated or overwhelmed a wave
of laziness can completely ruin your productivity okay let's say you're trying to study for a test
but there's one concept you just can't wrap your head around you could do some additional research
or call someone else from class but all that frustration is making your TV seem extra appealing
so you decide to give your mind a break it might seem like a good idea but you're basically undoing
all the progress that you made beforehand these kinds of distractions destroy your motivation and
derail your productive trains of thought by the time you get back to work you'll have to start all
over and you'll feel just as confused as you did before if not more so when you're frustrated with
something and desperate for a change of scenery don't give your brain the chance to zone out
focus on something else that's still productive if you're studying you might jump forward to a
different chapter or you could try to switch up your methods like using flashcards in place of
reading your notes these productive diversions will preserve your strong work ethic they train
your brain to think it's way out of frustrating situations instead of seeking short term rewards
like TV or social media productive diversions can also renew your excitement you know how in a
lot of TV dramas the character will discover the answer to all their problems by doing something
completely different maybe they're trying to solve this impossible case when out of the
blue something their partner says gives them an idea well productive diversions can inspire those
kinds of ideas they shift your perspective just enough to change the way you think so when you're
feeling lazy use the right kind of diversions to foster your awesome work ethic hey thank you
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