People are interested in success.
But one of the hallmarks of success,
we all know, is productivity.
Productivity is essentially nothing more than our effectiveness
at making, causing, providing
or creating something.
Now there are definite things that increase our productivity
and definite things that decrease our productivity.
Today, I'm gonna share with you
my top secrets
for productivity.
How To Be Productive
1. Intrinsic motivation.
When your motivation comes about
specifically because the doing of something
you find naturally satisfying
in and of itself,
You don't really need motivation to do something.
You will in fact, not even have to try to be productive.
Here's an example:
Let's say you put a monkey in a cage with a puzzle.
You don't really have to do anything
to get the monkey to begin playing with the puzzle,
because they find playing with the puzzle naturally satisfying.
Let's say that I was to introduce a reward;
And say that now I'm going to feed the monkey
for doing this puzzle.
That's an extrinsic reward.
Now, this monkey is motivated
not by the pleasure of doing the puzzle itself,
this monkey is now motivated by the treat.
Extrinsic motivation
is a recipe for productivity disaster.
It's one of the reasons why
in work environments
where the main motivation for people's work is the paycheck,
productivity is "not what it can be".
~ Laughter ~
You will not have the wave of energy within you
to accomplish a task,
if you have no intrinsic motivation.
Instead, it will feel like it takes the forced effort of drudgery to do it.
Intrinsic motivation is why a scientist can spec year in a lab
until they emerge with a theory.
Intrinsic motivation is why an athlete
can dedicate their entire existence to a ten second race.
This is one of the reasons
why even though some people work better
in a structure type of a situation,
a lot of people actually don't work as well
when their day or their activities are structured.
They don't follow a set routine.
Instead, it's an intuitive felt based and organic
interaction with their day as the day occurs.
These people organize their day
according to inspiration.
Where there is inspiration,
you can ride the wave of that inspiration
and take inspired action steps.
If you do what inspires you,
even a task that's difficult to do
takes no forced effort to do.
And it takes much less time to do it as well.
If you really don't have intrinsic motivation,
or natural inspiration to do something,
I think it's about time to question
why you're dedicating so much of your time and your energy
and your resources, to something you don't find naturally satisfying.
In other words, it's time to reevaluate your life.
2. If you aren't automatically intrinsically motivated towards something,
but you're still completely committed
to dedicating your time and energy and resources to it,
I'm gonna give you a tiny bit of a hack.
What you're gonna do is you're gonna find something
that does intrinsically motivate you
within the thing that doesn't motivate you at all.
For example,
Imagine that somebody is totally unmotivated to help others,
but this person loves problem solving.
If someone in their life has a problem,
they can set the intention of honing their skill of problem solving in general,
and suddenly they will feel motivated to do it.
To understand more about this watch my video titled:
Priceless Motivation Tip (Find the Self Serving Motive)
3. Act on inspiration immediately.
This is one of the biggest mistakes that people make.
They think that when they come up with something that inspires them,
They have time to act on it.
You actually don't.
When it comes to this inspiration that rises within you
that we could consider the forerunner for intrinsic motivation,
it functions a lot like surfing.
Those of you who have ever surfed
or have seen somebody surf
know that there is a very limited amount of time you have to get on that wave.
This means act immediately.
Don't say: "Oh I'm gonna do that in an hour",
"I'm gonna do that tomorrow"
or "I'll do it someday".
You wanna take action the second that something happens.
I'm talking seconds to minutes is all you've got
to take your first action step.
4. You wanna deal with resistance
the second that it arises.
Now this is the opposite of what most people in the world do.
And it sure as hell is the opposite of what people in businesses do.
In fact, the attitude is the opposite.
That success or productivity
is somehow accomplished by bulldozing resistance when it occurs.
To understand resistance fully,
I want you to imagine a lake.
In this lake there's a boat.
This boat has six oremen in it.
Each of whom have a paddle.
Some of these oremen are paddling in one direction,
some of them are paddling in the opposite direction.
These oremen are in resistance to each other.
Because resistance is nothing more than opposition.
It is any oppositional force.
We can meet with opposition form the outside,
and we can meet with opposition from the inside.
How obvious is it,
that when resistance is involved,
like that lake scenario,
the likelihood of us getting to where we wanna go
is a lot lower.
And even if we do get there,
how much time is it gonna take us comparatively,
if we don't get all of these people
going in one direction
at one time?
The rule of thumb for success is this:
If resistance occurs,
you stop what you are doing
you deal directly with the resistance
and create a resolution
so that there is no longer that force of opposition,
before you do anything else.
No action should be taken from a place of resistance.
When it comes to productivity,
this is a particular problem when we have competitive commitments
competitive interests, competitive desires or competitive goals.
To understand this in depth, watch my videos titled:
Urgent! Deal With Your Resistance Before You Do Anything Else
and, Bulldozing ( The way To Ruin Your Relationship With Yourself)
For those of you who are kind of struggling with this,
especially on a business level, I'm gonna give you an analogy;
Dealing with your resistance before taking an action step,
is like pulling up an anchor
on your sailboat.
As opposed to,
simply adding more sails,
to hope that they're gonna compensate for
the drag of your anchor.
5. Do what you're excellent at.
This may come as kind of a strange little tip for you,
but here's the thing,
if you do what is natural and intrinsically
second nature to you,
that thing that you're naturally talented at,
it's gonna take a hell of a lot less effort to do.
Besides, you can't actually be excellent at something,
if it isn't in align with your life purpose in general.
Which means that you're not posing resistance to the universe at large.
Your area of excellence will be something you take for granted.
And I must mention here,
that a company or system
can only be genuinely productive
when people are placed directly in their positions of excellence.
6. Don't think in terms of hours,
think in terms of results.
This is one of the biggest differences
between people who are genuinely successful and productive,
and people who are not.
You want to think of the completion of a task
and the quality of what is produced.
Super successful people
see what they produce as a reflection on themselves.
They take responsibility for that which they produce.
This means it's in their hands
whether they dedicate two hours to something
or three full days to something.
It's about what they produce, not the time it took to produce it.
People who are not truly successful
have an "earning" type of mentality,
where value is placed on their time,
instead of on their results.
7. Every day you have to acess what needs to be done
according to the actual priorities
of what's going to be the most effective.
It is absolutely critical
that you appropriately prioritize,
before throwing your energy into something.
People become much less productive
because they become totally scattered.
They've got a list of to do items
and they cannot figure out
what would be the most effective
to through their energy into,
and when.
Your energy should pour into
whatever is the highest priority
at any given time.
But here I'm gonna through a little wrench in your sock and say:
This may be a little counterintuitive.
For example, let's say that you're absolutely exhausted
and you're on the floor.
You may have a whole list of "to do" items
of really high priority things,
However, if you prioritize getting a massage,
that massage may be the very thing
which enables you to focus on those high priority things
which makes that massage the highest priority.
Don't forget to factor into this prioritization rule
to do those tasks which are the most challenging
when you have the most energy to do them.
For most people, this is gonna be first thing in the morning.
Make lists and check them off the minute that they're completed.
This may seem like a trite type of a suggestion
in fact you've probably seen it in a lot of your
~ Sigh ~
Educational suggestions around success,
but the reason that this is actually here
is because it actually works, you guys.
Try not to overwhelm yourself with a very large list,
but here's the thing, we all know that's not gonna happen.
So this is what you're gonna do:
You're gonna write down everything you have to do on this "to do" list.
You're gonna end up with an enormous list
and you're gonna tell yourself that
the reason you have this list
is so you don't have to have any of it sitting around in your mind.
You don't have to keep track of any of it.
Then, you're gonna break this giant list
into smaller to do lists every day.
Often you will not be able to plot out
the entire process of something being brought to fruition
Because many of the steps, you can't even see yet.
So it's Okay.
Plan to add to this to do list
and to reassess priorities daily.
It's Okay if the process looks like finishing the first step,
then seeing what the second step even is.
then taking that second step,
then seeing what that third step even is.
If this is the case,
just keep on putting one foot in front of the other
until the idea is brought to life.
9. Focus on the first item of priority,
and continue to focus on it
all the way through to completion.
The only exception to this rule
should be of something that is truly a higher priority comes up.
Now we all know that obviously,
if it's super high priority to be doing something on your computer
and all of a sudden, there's a house fire,
the automatic priority switches to getting out of the house.
And in a company this happens.
But, when this isn't happening
you need to focus,
and focus through to completion.
Truly successful people
focus on the completion of a task.
When it comes to productivity,
it is better if open ended items
bother you.
Because the likelihood of you becoming scattered
will be lower if you don't have a high tolerance
for open ended items.
You're also gonna have to be really honest
about your capacity or lack thereof to multitask
and let's say that you are one of these people who actually is,
and actually good at multitasking,
you still have to ask yourself the question:
Is multitasking the best way of getting this done?
Or is the very best thing
to focus entirely all of my energy focus
and anything else that I have,
into this one thing
to a state of completion.
Also, I cannot tell you
how much more productive it will make you,
because of how much more of an energy boost you will get,
to be able to actually cross something off of your list
and never have to think of it again.
10. Become aware of where your energy is going.
So much of the time people who struggle with productivity
think their energy is going toward
things they aren't actually focusing on.
One of the most eye opening things you can do
is to pick two or three days
and during those two or three days
you're gonna keep track of every minute of your day.
What you are doing,
and therefore what your energy is actually going towards.
You're gonna keep a journal
and write down what you're doing and for how long.
Every time you change focus or do something else, write it down.
For example, 8:00 - 8:20 getting ready in the bathroom.
8:20 - 8:45 Eating breakfast.
8:45 - 9:15 Driving to work and listening to self esteem podcast.
9:15 - 9:20 Walking from parking garage to desk.
9:20 - 11:00 In a marketing meeting.
11:00 - 11:20 Arguing with girlfriend over the phone.
You get the point.
You're gonna do this for the entire day
and when this exercise is done,
you're gonna look back at it.
You're gonna actually add up the hours of the time you're dedicating
towards different things in your life.
And then you're going to ask yourself the question:
How do I feel about this?
~ Laughter ~
Is my actual time and energy and focus
going to the things I want it to go to?
Or am I really lying to myself?
Is it really a wonder why I'm not productive anymore?
Don't be surprised about this:
Most people who do this exercise
find out just how much time they are dedicating
to thinking about doing something,
versus actually doing it.
11. Be aware of when the time comes to delegate.
And when that time comes, delegate.
~ Laughter ~
Productivity slows down so much
when one person has too many things to do.
Basically there cannot be too much on one person's plate.
That person includes you.
The day will come where the only way to remain productive
or become more productive
is to get help or hire people
and productivity is exponentially increased
when those people you delegate tasks to
are even better at doing those tasks than you are.
12. Declutter.
One thing a lot of people don't realize
relative to their productivity,
is how much progress,
when it comes to creation,
is impeded by clutter.
Now clutter can be tangible,
and intangible.
The environment you work in impacts your energy and effectiveness.
This means through away or store old papers.
Clean your workspace.
Delete things from your computer you no longer need.
Or put them all in one place and store it all externally.
Create the space for clarity.
Be in control of your canvas.
One of the most important aspects of this "decluttering"
is to make sure not to clutter it in the first place
and this is the big problem people have.
Let's say that you wanna write a book;
Now, instead of sitting down and really starting on that book,
you decide to check your email.
That's opening yourself for clutter.
It means that before you get down to the focus
of that thing you actually wanna create productivity with,
you're gonna get inundated
by other people's ideas,
by things they want from you,
by the need to respond.
It's gonna deplete your energy
before you even sit down to do the task.
It would have been a hell of a lot better
to not clutter your life with those intangible things.
And to instead,
pour your energy into that thing
you really want to pour your energy into.
Looking at the news may create a clutter of new worries.
Cluttering your mornings with small tasks
before you get down to your main task,
depletes and scatters your energy.
The rule is simplify, simplify, simplify.
It is critical to remove both tangible
and intangible distractions.
13. (This one ties in with our previous item on the list about resistance)
Whenever you feel a low in your productivity
do not be afraid to stop,
step back,
and reevaluate.
Success owes itself to people who can switch horses midstream.
It is highly unproductive
to continue to poor your energy into something
that just isn't feeling right
or just isn't working.
In fact, when you feel that way
that's a serious alarm bell
that you need to step back and take a way more
objective look at this
and reevaluate that you can through your energy back into it
or decide not to, in a different way.
You need to be able to change course.
14. Set up systems.
Systems are nothing more
than repeatable processes.
And processes that are repeatable that are entirely in your control.
For example,
A goal might be:
I wanna be in a romantic relationship.
This isn't a system, this is a goal.
A system would be:
On monday I'm going to single's night,
on tuesday I'm gonna go to the dog park
and I'm going to initiate talking with three new people.
Productivity goes through the roof
when people focus on systems.
This is the step where automation of repetitive tasks
and creating habits that you can stick to
comes into play.
In a company, setting up systems is critical.
It is the only way that success can be replicated
and new people can be hired into the company
without having to reinvent the wheel every single time.
15. The struggle is part of the process.
It does not matter how much
intrinsic motivation you have
or inspiration you have,
when it comes to wanting to produce something,
there is going to be inevitably,
a time where you feel like:
"This isn't working".
When you run into one of these days
where it feels like nothing you're doing is in alignment,
I need you to realize that this is very different
than having no intrinsic motivation
towards something in the first place.
It's just, everyone has bad days,
on the road to creating something.
Embrace this struggle,
use it to reevaluate
instead of immediately thinking that the struggle means
it's time to doubt the whole damn thing in its entirety.
Sometimes we need to stop fighting and take a rest.
And ironically when we do this,
often times we release
our resistance to the struggle,
just enough, that a solution naturally arises.
Expecting that if something is meant to be
that it will just be easy or run smoothly
or always feel good,
is one thing, And that's:
Not being in reality.
It does not go that way for anyone.
Many people feel blindsighted by struggle,
by setbacks and by failures,
and when they encounter these things
they just, give up.
Success is really about
realizing this is par for the course.
It's about streamlining your energy and your focus
and riding those waves
of inspiration and intrinsic motivation
so that you can focus that streamlined energy
all the way through to the completion
of whatever it is you're trying to produce.
Have a good week.
Subtitles by: Tanya Duarte www.tanyaduarte.com