This System Will Supercharge Your Productivity
Make 2018 your most productive year ever.
Do you know that feeling? You have to do something, but somehow you just don’t do it? That’s procrastination. We all do it.
And the funny thing is, we often procrastinate tasks that benefit us in the long-term.
For years, I wanted to write a book. But I never started. For years, I wanted to run every day. But I didn’t. And to be honest, I can go on for a few hours about the stuff I always wanted to do, but never did.
I was a true procrastinate hero.
And if you look at the world today, it’s not a surprise most of us procrastinate.
We’re flooded with information, distractions, opportunities, etc. All that stuff causes a lack of clarity. There’s just too much stress on our attention.
And that makes it impossible to get work done.
And if you want to achieve anything in life, there’s only one thing that can make that happen: WORK.
And that’s stupid, right? Why would you sabotage yourself? Why would you start things but never finish them? Why would you not get the most out of life?
Well, I have good news: It’s not your fault.
Well, it is, but it also isn’t. It’s complicated.
It’s not your fault because procrastination is as old as modern civilization.
Hesiod, a Greek poet who lived in the 8th century B.C., put it best:
“Do not put off your work until tomorrow and the day after. For the sluggish worker does not fill his barn, nor the one who puts off his work; industry aids work, but the man who puts off work always wrestles with disaster.”
You see? That quote is from centuries ago. Our behavior hasn’t changed much. It doesn’t take a scientist to observe that.
I’ve written about why we procrastinate, and how the only solution is to rely on a system. Otherwise, you get disaster, like Hesiod said.
Therefore, it is your fault because you don’t have a system in place to beat procrastination.
And a system is nothing more than a vehicle that will bring you to your goals.It will not do the work for you, but it will give the structure you need to be consistently productive. Every day.
I call it Procrastinate Zero. And it looks like this:
This system only works in that order. For example, if you start with Step 4, applying productivity hacks to improve your hourly output, you won’t be successful in the long-term.
Because, what good are hacks for if you’re always tired, distracted, and completely lost? Exactly.
Finally, living a productive life only makes sense if you’re able to get what you want. You can be an awesome person with great qualities, but if you can’t communicate that to others, nothing will ever happen in your life.
In this guide, I will give you an example of how you can improve every single step of the Procrastinate Zero framework. After reading this guide, you will know exactly how you can stop procrastinating and start achieving your goals and desires.
Let’s get started.
“If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, you’ll never get it done.”― Bruce Lee
The first step to living a productive life is training your brain. Without the right mindset and self-awareness, it’s impossible to do anything in life.
You might want to achieve all kinds of things in life, but what do you do when your brain doesn’t cooperate?
You know that you’re your own worst enemy, right? But that doesn’t have to be that way.
You have to learn how to use your brain. Otherwise, your brain will use you.
ACTIONABLE ADVICE: Keep An Activity Log To Become More Effective
I often hear people saying: “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I keep procrastinating.”
That’s not a surprise to me. Most people don’t know what they do with their time, and therefore, their life.
If you don’t know where your time goes, you don’t know yourself. And if you don’t know yourself, you can never stop procrastination or improve your productivity.
Keep a notepad on your desk and record what you’ve been doing. This simple exercise will improve the quality of your brain. Give it a try and get to know yourself better. Understand how you operate in daily life.
“To keep the body in good health is a duty, otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.”— Buddha
This one is very simple.
You can set goals in your life. You can create systems. You can even live without goals at all. Maybe you want to be a good parent. Maybe you want to make enough money to live a comfortable life.
Great. But here’s the thing: If you don’t have the energy to make those things happen, nothing will happen.
That’s why Brain + Body are the foundation of Procrastinate Zero. It’s a strategy for life.
Common sense, right? Look, it’s not rocket science. You just have to act on your common sense. But most people never do that. No matter how easy it is.
It’s about living a conscious life.
Also, the brain and body support each other. When you exercise, you produce new blood vessels in your brain. That makes it easier for your brain to do its job.
Exercise stimulates the production of hormones called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). That’s literally a growth hormone for your brain. BDNF helps your brain to create new cells, and it improves the connections between your brain’s neurons.
ACTIONABLE ADVICE: Get enough sleep, eat healthy food, and exercise daily.
Building a healthy body is not complicated. Why do people pretend it is? Money. The fitness and health industry is a billion-dollar industry.
Think about it, have you ever seen a commercial on TV about getting enough sleep? How about a commercial that says you should eat healthy if you want to improve your immune system?
Instead, we see ads for products, supplements, and diets that promise the same things that sleep, diet and exercise will give you.
The only difference is that NO ONE makes money when they say you should get 7–9 hours of sleep.
Want to get fit? Do these five things.
1. Walk as much as you can
We often take the car or public transportation when we could easily walk. But going from A to B is not the only reason to walk.
You can also just go for a walk, without any reason but to get moving. Your lunch break is a perfect time for a walk. It doesn’t matter how you do it, as long as you commit to daily walking. Aim for 30 minutes a day.
2. Move every 30 minutes
You can combine this with the Pomodoro method. When your timer goes off, walk around, or do stretches during your 5-minute break.
3. Track your movements and diet
Do you know how many calories you eat during your work-week? How many calories do you burn? How many calories does your body need? Use apps like Myfitnesspal or step counters to measure yourself.
Once you start using these apps, you will get a clear picture of how much you walk and how much you eat on an average day.
4. Create a daily exercise habit
It’s easier to do something every day instead of 2–3 times a week. This is also true for working out. When you create the habit of going to the gym every day at the same time, you will act on autopilot after a while.
When you are used to going to the gym every day after work for 45 minutes, you will also plan for it. Try to aim for daily exercise during the workweek. Weekends are optional.
5. Design an exercise routine that you enjoy
Doing the same thing every day is boring and also not productive. The ideal weekly exercise program has three types of movement.
So switch things up with these types of exercise:
Finally, make it fun to exercise. Otherwise, it will never last. Pick out something that you love to do. Challenge yourself to improve every day.
“A man who procrastinates in his choosing will inevitably have his choice made for him by circumstance.”— Hunter S. Thompson
Once you’re in good shape, mentally and physically, it’s time to improve your focus and get rid of distractions.
Modern life is pretty rich. You literally have the world at your fingertips. You can:
All of these things are nice and all. But there’s one problem: Every time you do something without purpose, you‘re distracted. And willpower can’t help you to stop doing these things.
We all know how it feels. One minute you’re opening Facebook and the other minute you’re in bed, crying, with an empty bag of potato chips on your lap.
We procrastinate when we don’t know what to do. Or when we’re afraid. But when we exactly know what we have to do, we do it. Right?
That’s why most of us are good at working with deadlines or doing work when someone asks us to do it. But when it comes to our personal life, those aspects are lacking.
“We have seas of time. There’s always tomorrow.”
Nope. That’s not true. One day you will die. Don’t pretend you’re immortal.
ACTIONABLE ADVICE: Create A Morning Ritual
A morning ritual is important because it sets the tone of your day. It really improves your focus because you take time to think about what you’re going to do.
When you have a good morning ritual, you improve your focus, and that will help you to get more things done throughout the day. And by the end of it, you will feel more accomplished.
“Productivity is being able to do things that you were never able to do before.”— Franz Kafka
Productivity is about effectiveness.
Answering 100 emails per hour is not productivity. That’s efficiency. And most of us still don’t see the difference.
Productivity doesn’t necessarily means that you get the right things done. You might be super busy. But where is your life, career, business going?
That’s more important. It’s about results.
The PZ definition of productivity is: Getting the right things done in the least amount of time.
You might work for 50 hours a week, but if you don’t experience any growth—personally, emotionally, financially—you’re not being productive at all.
ACTIONABLE ADVICE: Use The PZ 1 Page Productivity Sheet
How do we know that we’re doing the right things? Firstly, we need self-awareness (Step 1).
In life, you have to be your own worst critic. Don’t wait for others to give you feedback. By training your brain, investing in your education, and by experience, you learn how to analyze yourself.
And that’s the most important skill to understand whether you’re doing the right things.
One simple tool that you can use to get clear on your priorities is the 1-Page Productivity Sheet.
Download it here in PDF or Word.
“To be persuasive we must be believable;to be believable we must be creditable;to be credible we must be truthful.”― Edward R. Murrow
People play a big role in our lives. But have you ever had a class on how to effectively communicate with others?
It’s not common to teach people about people. We just assume that we know everything. Because we‘re people, right?
Wrong.
Understanding people is way more difficult than it seems, and it is impossible to fully understand people.
However, if we want to get anywhere in life, we have to understand the basics of how to communicate with people.
One of the best books about this subject is How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie. That book was written in 1937 but it’s timeless. And I think it’s mandatory reading for every human being.
Here are few things I’ve learned from that book:
What are some good characteristics in people? What traits do other people like about us?
Also, influence is not something evil. Influence is nothing more than communicating your message to the right people, in the right way.
Let me be clear that you can’t, under any circumstance, actually influence people like a magician. We don’t live in a fairytale world.
It’s not like you study the science of influence and all of a sudden you become an evil millionaire who controls the world.
No matter how many times you read Influence by Robert Cialdini, if you’re an idiot, you will remain an idiot.
Just be transparent with what you do and why you do it. But at the same time understand how you should get your product, yourself, or services out there.
ACTIONABLE ADVICE: Start Your Email Subject Lines With “Your”
Did you know that 200 billion emails are sent daily? That’s crazy. What’s even more crazy: 55% of all people don’t open emails regularly.
It happens to all of us. We send an email, wait for a response… But nothing happens.
Through more than 10 years of experience in sales, I’ve learned one simple tactic that massively improved the response rates of my emails.
Always start your subject line with “Your.”
That’s the #1 tip that will improve your emails. I use it all the time. The reason is that people love themselves and when you send an email about them, they feel an urge to open it.
Here are two other tips to improve your email response rate.
1. Keep it short and cut the chit chat.
2. Have a clear Call To Action.
There you go. You can apply this to everything: emailing friends, selling stuff, asking for informational interviews. Send emails with these tips, sit back, and watch people respond to your emails.
I’m often asked, “why productivity?”
I believe that a productive life equals a useful life. And that a useful life equals a happy life.
And because we have limited time, I prefer to optimize the way I function as a human being.
Life is pretty long. Just think about it. Let’s say that you retire at 65. And if you’re lucky, you might live until your eighties.
That’s a long time.
But there’s one condition. Don’t waste your time now. Because the decisions you make today determine the outcome of your life in the future.
That doesn’t mean you should live in the future. No, it means you have to be a realist.
If you hate your job, and don’t have the courage to quit, you become a cynical person. That destroys your relationships. And ultimately, you might end up alone. And studies show that lonely people die earlier than people who are surrounded by others.
You see? You might think that what you do today doesn’t affect your life in 10, 20, or maybe even 50 years from now. But it does.
As the Stoic philosopher Seneca once said:
“It is not that we have so little time but that we lose so much. The life we receive is not short but we make it so; we are not ill provided but use what we have wastefully.”
Life is only short if you waste it.
Bleh, bleh, bleh.
We’ve heard it a million times.
But here comes the essence of this guide, and one of the main messages I communicate in Procrastinate Zero: Common sense is not common action.
That’s why we need systems and strategies in our life that help us to execute on the things we know.
We don’t do the things we know.
Change that. Change your life.
9 tips for capturing amazing vacation photos with your new phone
With top-notch cameras embedded in smartphones and even high-end tablets, everyone’s a photographer these days. But is everyone a great photographer? Not so much, but there are a number of super-simple tips that even casual shooters can keep in mind to improve their photography.
I’ve rounded up some of my favorites below, along with super-quick, easy-to-follow demos. Safe travels and happy shooting!
1. Tap to focus and expose
I’ll start with a technique you’ve probably already discovered, but it’s easy to fall out of the habit, especially as smartphones become better at handling exposure entirely on their own. This one’s especially simple, as you can see above — simply tap once to tell your camera app which element of your shot is most important so it knows where to focus and which aperture and shutter speed to set.
Some devices will also allow you to lock in your focus and exposure by tapping and holding for a couple of seconds — ideal if you plan to change the composition slightly or if you’re not ready to press the shutter button just yet.
2. Avoid digital zoom
Many top-of-the-line smartphones now offer multiple cameras. My daily shooter, the iPhone 11 Pro, has three: a 12-megapixel 13 mm f/2.4 ultrawide camera, a 26 mm f/1.8 wide-angle camera and a 12-megapixel f/2 telephoto. That gives you far more versatility when it comes to capturing a wide variety of scenes, but sometimes you need even more.
The first instinct is to keep zooming — your smartphone will allow it, after all — but once you’re beyond that 2x level, the device is using a technology called “digital zoom,” which essentially crops to a portion of the full frame, resulting in poorer quality the closer you get. Instead, do what the pros do, and “zoom with your feet” — that is, move physically closer to your subject, instead of counting on software to do the work.
It’s possible that your smartphone is up to the task — I haven’t had a chance to try it myself, but I’ve read several reports that Google’s new Pixel 4 offers a higher-quality digital zoom option — so if you’re confident in your device’s abilities, you might get away with skipping this tip.
3. Block unwanted glare
This is a photography “hack” if ever there was one. When the lighting conditions differ widely between two sides of a pane of glass, you’ll most likely encounter some sort of unwanted glare — from light fixtures, if you’re inside shooting out, or far brighter elements, if you’re outside in daylight shooting in.
Most of the time, you can eliminate glare entirely by blocking the light with a dark object — a gloved hand, a jacket or even another device, like a laptop or tablet. The goal is to prevent unwanted light from making its way to the camera, without obstructing the shot.
4. Pay attention to alignment
Many devices have a “view grid” option — you’ll find it hidden somewhere in your camera settings. It’s been tremendously useful for me, making it clear when elements are aligned, so you don’t end up with crooked shots, or unwanted distortion.
In fact, I find alignment to be one of the easiest ways to distinguish between a professionally captured image and an amateur one. Changing your position ever so slightly — as demonstrated above — can make such a difference here. Don’t overlook this essential technique.
5. Don’t overdo it with Night Mode
I’m a Night Mode addict — Apple’s latest photo option has made it easy to capture incredible images in some of the dimmest lighting you’ll ever encounter, including pictures of the often-subtle northern lights. But the phone doesn’t always know best — just because you can use Night Mode doesn’t mean that you should.
Take cityscapes, for example. In the London scene above, Night Mode does brighten up the frame, but it ends up looking unrealistic — far brighter and hazier than it did to the naked eye, which was better represented in the frame I captured with Night Mode turned off. So be sure to play around and capture multiple versions if you’re not yet sure which looks best.
6. Change your perspective
“Duh,” you might be thinking to yourself, but I’ve seen many tourists get so excited to capture any photo of an attraction that they hardly stop to consider how it’s framed. Look around and take in your full environment before you settle on a shot — you could turn an otherwise average photo into something truly great.
7. Stop walking before you shoot
This one drives me nuts — every day I encounter tourists snapping away as they continue walking, almost certainly resulting in blurry, poorly framed shots. Instead, look to both sides and behind you and stop moving completely if the coast is clear. It only takes a couple of seconds to get it right.
8. Wait a moment, for the moment
In a similar vein, patience can really pay off when it comes to which elements are included and which are not. Sometimes certain objects can add to the scene — a taxi reflected in a puddle as it drives by, for example, but if you have something else in mind, it’s worth waiting a moment for it to materialize.
9. Verify sharpness
I’m guilty of overlooking this myself — and too often paying the price. Almost all of the pictures I capture look sharp when zoomed out, but that isn’t always the case when I pinch to zoom in. If you’re just sharing on Instagram or the web, you can probably just patch things up with the sharpen tool after the fact, but it’s far better to give your photo a quick detailed look and snap another frame instead.
Are there any key smartphone photography tips that I’ve missed? Feel free to share yours in the comments below this post!
Featured photo by Orli Friedman/The Points Guy.
This story was originally published on The Points Guy. Sign up for the TPG daily newsletter and wake up to unbeatable flight deals, travel industry news, and credit card bonuses that let you travel first-class to some of the world’s most incredible destinations at a fraction of the price.
20 Books That Will Kick Off 2020 on the Right Foot
It's a whole new year--and decade! And while I do believe that you can set goals during any month, there's just something special about doing it in January. It's a great time to reset and put 2019 behind you, taking only the lessons learned into 2020.
One of the best ways to hit reset is to read a book that gives you a new perspective. I've put together a list of 20 recommendations, each of which will help you start off the year on a positive note. (And, for those of you who prefer to listen to content, I've made sure all of these books have an audio option.)
There are so many business scenarios you can't predict--cranky clients, malfunctioning technology, and more. This book leverages improv activities to help you listen better, navigate tricky situations, and elevate your communication skills (which are the backbone of healthy professional and personal relationships!).
This is one of my favorite recent reads. Aging is typically associated with a fairly rapid decline in health, and Asprey wants us to write a different story. In Super Human, he outlines his Seven Pillars of Aging along with practical methods for counteracting them. He truly made me believe I might be able to live until I'm 180--I'm not kidding! (Here's a great interview I did with Dave, by the way!)
You can't be great, or even good, at everything. And that's perfectly OK. In fact, Rinaldi encourages us to lean into the things we might be really, unbelievably bad at. It's one of the only true ways to rediscover our joy in the process rather than obsessing over the end result.
The true secret to getting ahead? Slowing down. Holiday provides tips on achieving stillness and using it to your advantage. If you constantly feel overwhelmed, reading this book is a great way to break that cycle and bring some zen into the new decade.
This is not your average self-help book. It's a deep dive into learning how to positively reframe almost every situation in your life. Because Forleo strongly believes that you can figure out how to do anything you want, no matter the barriers. According to Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert, "this book will change lives."
Declaration, preparation, acceleration, and domination. This is the four-step process to reaching your ultimate goals, according to Eason, a former NFL player, playwright, and leadership coach. Practice may not make perfect, but it does yield the best outcomes.
In just 18 months, Centrella went from relying on food stamps to feed her three children to living the life she wanted. In Hustle, Believe, Receive, she shares the steps she took to get there as well as inspiring stories of others who turned their lives around as well.
How can I have a meaningful career? It's a big question, and one of the many Galloway helps you answer. Full of tough love and relatable stories, he's passing on his wisdom to you about how to figure out the life you really want--and live it.
Your health is everything. If you don't prioritize it, it'll negatively impact every other aspect of your life. In this book full of cutting-edge science and ancient Eastern wisdom, Kshirsagar and Seaton provide a 30-day plan to getting your wellness back on track, thus setting you up for even greater success.
This isn't Brown's most recent work, but it's a great one to start. Because it addresses one of the most crucial aspects to living the lives we're truly meant to live: vulnerability. If you're already read this one, try her newest book, Dare to Lead, which applies Daring Greatly lessons to the workplace.
One of the first ever engineers at Google, Chade-Meng Tan is a personal growth pioneer. He teaches Google employees how to leverage mindfulness to achieve both calmness and intense concentration, and this book lets you in on the secret.
Like it or not, the biggest barrier in front of you might be, well, you--from continuously falling victim to random distractions to letting imposter syndrome take over. In this book, Dr. Judy Ho teaches how to put a stop to this damaging behavior.
We spend way too much time wallowing in self-doubt, regret, and concern about the future. Rae explains how we can overcome our near-constant worrying and unlock our true potential.
The original Aaron Burr in Hamilton, Odom shares his own story of hard work (because landing a role in Hamilton definitely didn't happen overnight) and provides actionable tips on how you can achieve your biggest dreams, too.
Figuring out what you truly want in life is hard. Then, once you have the answer, the next struggle is how exactly to get there. Kennedy lays out a step-by-step plan (and workbook) for finding the answers to both of these problems.
Dweck, a world-renowned psychologist, helped coin the terms "fixed mindset" and "growth mindset" over 30 years ago. Here, she talks about why you should adopt a true growth mindset--and how. Her years of research confirm that the way you think about things really can radically change the results.
Whether you're founding a startup or leading an established company, Messenger's entrepreneurial journey is full of valuable business lessons on how to disrupt, innovate, and make decisions fearlessly.
These days, employees are split among four different generations: Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z. Since that's not likely to change any time soon, we must figure out how to lead each group successfully.
Procrastination is a common enemy. But the blame for it solely falls on your shoulders, no matter what excuses you have. King will show you how to just get things done. So go on, get reading already!
Starting the new year is the perfect time to re-think your career habits. The book will walk you through a step-by-step process of understanding your unique Genius, identifying your Purpose at work, and becoming infinitely happier and more successful in your work life.
Published on: Jan 6, 2020
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.
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