My 6 Rules For Productivity

There’s a tonne of productivity advice on the internet.

At least 90% of it is crap that does nothing but help you avoid the work and be less productive.

So, today, I’m going to break down 6 rules that you need to follow if you want to actually be productive.

First, let’s define what productivity is - because if you don’t know what it is, you can’t optimise for it.

The traditional idea of productivity is the more you get done, the more productive you are.

But this line of thinking is massively flawed.

Think about it, if you get 30 tasks done each day, but none of those tasks are important or create value or progress - you weren’t productive, you were busy.

The whole point of productivity is to help you get results and achieve your goals in less time, so productivity isn’t about doing more.

It’s about getting the things that matter for your goals done in an efficient and effective way and to a high quality.

Someone who does 4 important, result-generating tasks in 3 hours is much more productive than someone who gets 30 tasks done in 8 hours, but none of those tasks actually move the needle.

With this understanding of what productivity is, here are 6 rules for productivity:

Quick Interruption:

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Rule 1: Set Your Sights

Productivity requires you to focus on completing the things that matter for your goals.

Hence, you need to know what your goals are and what you need to do to achieve them - otherwise, you can’t be productive.

You can’t do the right things for your goals if you don’t have goals.

So set your damn sights.

But make sure you set them correctly.

You want your goals to be meaningful so that you have a reason to put in the effort for as long as it takes to achieve them.

So create a vision for your life - how you want your life to look and who you want to become in 10 years time.

Then set a 1-year goal that is reasonably unreasonable, specific, with a deadline, and will push you toward that vision.

This way, you have a goal to aim for but that goal also pushes you toward achieving your dream life and becoming all you could be, making the goal meaningful.

You then need to break the goal down into 1-3 daily tasks so that you have something to focus on each day to make progress.

If you have a 1 year goal, break it down into a quarterly goal, then into a monthly goal, a weekly goal, and a daily goal.

With your daily goal, ask yourself, “What 1-3 daily tasks do I need to do, that are essential, for me to achieve this daily goal?”

These tasks are your number 1 priority and since your goal is meaningful, these tasks will also be meaningful.

Since they’re meaningful, you’ll have a reason to put in the effort to complete them day after day, overcome procrastination, and be productive.

Rule 2: Have A Plan

As much as you have a reason to do the tasks that matter for your goals, life isn’t as simple as just doing them.

You have other things to do.

And since these tasks create value and progress toward your goals, they’ll be tough and they’ll be challenging and with everything else you have to do in life, it’ll be easy to find excuses as to why you can’t do them.

This is why you need a plan.

You need to schedule your day and prioritise what matters for your goals, turning your intentions into a reality by putting them down on paper.

There are 1000s of ways to plan your day, but I’ve used a specific technique for over 1200 days and it fucking works - if you want to see how it works, check out the video I’ll link at the end of this.

Without a plan, you’ll put off the work because life will get in the way - unless you consciously and preemptively dedicate a specific part of your day to doing the damn work that you know you need to do.

Rule 3: Flow Is The Goal

Being productive can essentially be split into 2 parts.

One part is doing the work efficiently and effectively, the other is doing it to a high quality.

Luckily, the best way to do the work efficiently and effectively is also the best way to do the work to a high quality - that’s in a state of flow.

Flow is a hyper-focused productive state where your levels of dopamine, norepinephrine, acetylcholine and anandamide increase causing your cognitive abilities to be at their max.

Essentially, your focus, your ability to solve problems, your creativity, your ability to access information and everything else that you need to be productive is at its peak.

But to enter flow, you need to work in a state of deep work.

This is 60-120 minutes of undistracted work on a single task.

If you’re multi-tasking you can’t enter flow.

If you’re taking breaks every 25 minutes you can’t enter flow.

If you’re getting distracted and scrolling your phone every 5 minutes you can’t enter flow.

And if you’re not entering flow, you’re not going to be anywhere near as productive as you could be.

So if you want to be productive, you need to prioritise undistracted work for 60-120 minutes at a time on a single task so that you can enter flow and perform at your best.

Rule 4: Manage Distractions

Distraction is one of the biggest productivity killers.

If you’re getting distracted - ie. something is taking you out of focus/flow - then you’re not going to be spending much time in flow (and potentially none if you’re getting distracted regularly as it takes ~20 minutes to get into flow).

You mightn’t even start the work and instead, you might procrastinate scrolling social media.

So you need to manage your distractions, and the best way to manage a distraction is to remove it.

Turn your damn phone off - you don’t need it when you’re working.

Turn on an app and website blocker on your laptop.

Stop listening to music with words in it.

Remove any other distraction in your environment.

Yes, I know you don’t want to do this.

Yes, I know you think you won’t get distracted.

But you’re not special.

You will get distracted.

So just turn off your damn phone and remove any distraction, your productivity will skyrocket just by doing this alone.

Rule 5: Maximise Your Energy Levels

Entering flow and being productive is highly demanding.

If you’re low energy or have inconsistent energy, your ability to be productive is going to be almost non-existent.

Plus, you’ll be living life at a fraction of the quality you could be.

So if you want to be more productive and live life to the max, you need to be high energy.

This largely comes down to optimising 3 areas;

1. Nutrition

• Eat clean, whole foods AT LEAST 90% of the time

• Eat at least 1 gram of protein per lb of body weight (if you’re 200lbs, eat 200g of protein)

   

2. Training

• Train every muscle group at least once per week

• Train hard (1-2 reps away from failure, if not failure. Progressively overload each week)

• Train hard, recover harder

   

3. Sleep

• Get 7-9 hours of sleep each night

• Get morning sunlight

• Cut caffeine out 10 hours before bed

• Turn off all devices and overhead lights 1 hour before bed

There can be a lot more things you can do to optimise these areas, but these are the main things you should be focusing on if you want to be high-energy and maximise your productivity.

Rule 6: Analyse The Path You’ve Walked

You can’t improve if you don’t know what needs improved, if you don’t know what problems you’re facing.

So figure out what the heck you’re doing wrong, what’s holding you back, and what’s going well.

I like to do this every Sunday and simply review my past week.

This way I get to regularly and frequently see what’s holding me back, what’s changing without me realising and what I’m doing well.

Without reflecting on what you’re doing, you could be doing something so obviously wrong - but it’s only so obvious because you took the time to look.

If you follow these 6 rules I can guarantee your productivity will go through the roof, you’ll make more progress, feel more fulfilled, and finish each day proud of yourself.

- Ross

PS: I’ve been working on a project behind the scenes for the past 2 months - keep an eye out over the next few weeks :)

And when you’re ready, here’s how I can help you:

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