As a man on life mission, you thrive on the idea of productivity. You yearn for it, you live for it.
You’re always looking for new ways to make the best use of the same 24 hours each day that everyone else has.
Lets face it, the most successful people you know of, have the same 24 hours each day that everyone has, but the super successful are obviously getting more out their day (and their lives) than the vast majority of other folks.
While I’m not claiming to be perfect, or even to know exactly how these guys are doing it, I’ve managed to do pretty well for myself in my own life. Over the years, I’ve studied productivity, studied successful people, and tried to emulate them. Some things have worked well, others not so much.
Here I’m going to share with you 7 things I’ve ever done to double my productivity just in the last year alone. I believe this list here will work for those of you who identify with me, and what I write about.
1.) Learn To Become An Early Riser.
Mornings are where its at. You know it, I know it, everyone knows it. Deep down you’ve known this for years now, so stop ignoring this fact of life. If you ever want to reach your potential, and accomplish your life’s missions, you’re going to have to adapt your body to to getting up earlier every day.
In my opinion, 5am is the latest you should be getting up each day (I get up at 3:45am).
2.) Drink Coffee.
Coffee is great way to start your day. It wakes you up and gets the mental juices flowing. I drink 2-3 cups each morning.
3.) Use Modafinil or Red Focus.
I wrote a whole article on modafinil which you can read in the embedded link right above.
Basically, it’s an alertness pill that works wonders. Red Focus isn’t the wakefulness agent that modafinil is, but it is specifically geared towards actually narrowing your focus in on what you’re working on. Its more of a supplement than modafinil is. Modafinil I would describe as a mental performance enhancer, and something that keeps you very wide awake all day long.
Red Focus is less harsh on your body and is something you can take every day, for weeks and months at a time. Its also legal whereas modafinil is illegal in several countries.
4.) Get Your Mental Juices Flowing By Reading For 20-80 Minutes.
The benefits of reading stretch far and wide, which I document right here. The best time of day to read is early in the morning. It gets your mental and creative juices flowing for the day. What better way to start your day?
Get those creative thoughts flowing early in the morning and you’re much more likely to run the day instead of having it run you.
Bonus: Do Some Writing.
On that same token, doing a little bit (or a lot) of writing after you read will stimulate your mental and creative juices even more. This is when I write these blog articles, early in the morning after I do about 30 minutes of reading.
5.) Get Your High Priority Work Done Early (Ideally In The Morning Hours Leading All The Way Up To Noon).
This falls right in line with what I was just talking about above. To me, reading and writing are the 2 most important things I do all day, so I make sure to get them done 1st thing in the morning. You’ll find that the later into the day you wait, the less likely you are to accomplish your high priority work.
Each day has its own trials and tribulations, so if and when shit starts to hit the fan (even if its just a little), your emotions soon follow. When your emotions get affected, it can impede on your ability to focus. This is why your 2 most important tasks that you do all day should be 1ST THING IN THE MORNING.
That means your mission (whatever yours is) needs to be the 1st or 2nd thing you do each day.
6.) Take 50-55 Minutes Each Morning To Lift Weights (Eat Afterwards).
You shouldn’t be lifting for longer than about 50-55 minutes. Even that is a little long. 40-45 is more like it. The only time you would go longer than this is if you’re competing in a bodybuilding show.
I used to workout during my lunch hour, and then eat afterwards. I had to stop doing this for the same reasons that I now do my 2 most important daily missions 1st thing: by noon the day has already unloaded bullshit onto me.
It just so happens that the business I own is in an industry where shit can kind of hit the fan at any moment. This doesn’t happen every day but on many days it does, I still need to get my workout in on those days too. So I figured out that by doing my lifting early in the morning (right after my reading and writing), it was 2-5X more likely to actually get done.
For example I currently work out from 7:45am to 8:25-8:30am. My reading and blog writing is done before that (remember: be an early riser!)
7.) Knock Out The Day’s Bullshit Tasks In The Mid-Late Part Of The Day.
Do the stuff you’re not looking forward to between the hours of 2:00 and about 5:00pm (assuming you get up at 4 and go to sleep at 9). This way you’re not ending on a bad note, and you’re also not starting on one.
Give these 7 suggestions a try, I can honestly say that they worked wonders for me as far as becoming more productive was concerned.
-Matt Mitchell
