One habit doubled my productivity over the last few years, allowing me to complete my
degree in mechanical engineering, reach a million subscribers on YouTube, learn animation,
and improve my writing.
And it’s a surprisingly simple habit, one that’s easy to overlook and underestimate:
the power hour.
After I get up in the morning, for the first hour, before I do anything else, I find a
nice quiet place, without my phone and without anyone else around, and I work on the most
difficult and most impactful project in my life.
In a world of shiny new apps and “scientifically-backed” hacks, the power hour looks quite plain, but
this very plainness, in my mind, is a virtue.
In the Tao Te Ching, a classic book of wisdom, Lao Tzu writes, “Trifles and dainties attract
the passing people, while the Tao goes unnoticed.
When looked at, it is not much to see.”
And he also said, “The great Way is very plain, so the proud prefer the bypaths.”
The power hour is not much to look at, but out of all the apps, tips, and tricks I’ve
tried over the last few years, as a student, a working professional, and an entrepreneur,
nothing has been more effective for me than the power hour.
I slice an hour out of each day and make actual progress towards my goals.
And everyone has goals, but how many people actually act on them?
Everyone wants to make a great journey—they want to make money, get their dream job, graduate
with honours, invent something, create something, be someone.
Everyone wants to arrive at a great destination, but how many people actually want to take
a step towards that destination?
How many people spend most of their time preparing to make a journey that they never embark on?
How many of them look for the right clothes, the right bag, the right level of motivation,
the right video, the right song, the right words, the right tools, or the right time?
Instead of looking for the right time to be productive, the power hour forces me to be
productive at the right time.
Do I have a lot of things to think about?
Well I’ll think about them after my hour is over.
Do I have lots of relationships to maintain?
I’ll deal with them after.
Do I have multiple projects to work on?
I’ll get started on the most important one during my hour.
Do I procrastinate?
One hour is easy enough to do each day, and I can relax after.
Do I get tired in the evenings?
I’ll schedule my power hour first thing in the morning, when I have the most energy.
The power hour solves the greatest obstacle to productivity: inaction.
The mind finds clever ways to not take action, and the mind’s most clever secret is productive
procrastination.
It doesn’t tell itself that it’s being inactive.
Rather, it finds things that are pseudo-productive to do and takes pleasure in doing them.
The mind wants to clean the house before working.
Or it wants to manage its to-do list.
Or it wants to organize its computer or Notion folders.
It wants to make templates and spreadsheets.
It wants to answer e-mails.
It wants to set up a new app or calendar.
It wants to do a little reading before working.
It wants to find the right music.
It wants get the desk set up properly with all the right tools.
It wants to find a productivity video to watch first.
But the mind can create an infinite number of tasks and problems for itself.
How many folders should there be on my desktop?
How should those folders be named?
How should I organize them within each other?
What should each folder contain?
How should I tag each folder?
And this can go on forever, with anything.
The mind loves to productively procrastinate.
It gets the pleasure of working without having to actually do any.
The mind loves to sit around sharpening its axe, but it never wants to hack at the tree.
The power hour is a commitment to take the axe as it is and start chopping.
The sharpening of the axe, the gathering of other tools, working on other things around
the house, can all take place after.
But for this first hour, I’ll do nothing but chop at the tree.
I’ll go directly to the most pressing problem in my life, and I’ll find the most difficult,
most impactful action that might solve it, and I’ll do that.
Steve Jobs famously said that “focusing [was] about saying no.”
The first hour of my day is sacred, solitary, reverent, unadorned, and above all, it’s
about saying no.
There are no incense, or special teas, or meditations, or cold showers, or quick body
workouts.
No millionaire or billionaire morning routines that never actually amount to anything.
No productive distractions.
No productive procrastination.
Just me, my axe, and the tree.