Our minds are our most precious resource. You’ve heard motivational speaker Tony Robbins say time and time again that it doesn’t matter what resources you have — what is important is how resourceful you are. To be fruitful and feel organized, your greatest resource–your mind–must be improved to match and adapt this rat marathon.
How do we do this? By being more productive. When you’re more productive, you’re more time-energy efficient. A lot of people don’t work on optimizing their minds for full, powerful performance to enjoy life more, or get more work done. This is why investing in a life coach who helps you grow as a successful person is important.
How to Become More Productive
What you’re about to read are several insights that will help you not only stay in the rat marathon, but how to become more productive by managing your life and frustrations more efficiently while still having enough mental strength and endurance (at day’s end) to spend time with your loved ones.
1. Forget To-Do Lists
If you want to be productive, you have to write out what it is that needs to get done. A lot of people call these “to-do lists”, and everyone from Sir Richard Branson to Tony Robbins himself creates to-do lists.
But they don’t make these lists in the traditional way most of social media tells you to. When you Google “how to complete to-do lists” you’ll read advice about sizing your list down to manageable tasks (or “chunks”). This will make tackling the list a lot easier.
However …
How often do you accomplish tasks and still feel unfulfilled? Tony Robbins is fed up with people who ask too many “how” questions. He said it’s more important to ask what and why questions. “’What’ is the result. ‘Why’ is your purpose.” What are you honestly looking for from these lists? Why do you give yourself so much work to do during the day? It’s important to assign timed deadlines to each of these tasks – leaving you with enough reserve to enjoy the thrill of accomplishing these tasks.
2. Separate Your Workloads
The number “three” is the sweet-spot when it comes to retaining information; for example, when you’re reading an article and you are presented with five bullets or three bullets: which group of bullets are you most likely to remember? The group of three. Grouping your “to do” gremlins into groups of three gives you more room to breathe, and puts you in the mindset that YES — these tasks are doable. This is the heart of chunking.
To give you another example: let’s say an author is tasked with creating a 120-page book. Instead of seeing the whole of the project and having to write 120 pages — the author decides to make 12 section. All he/she then has to do is write 10 pages per section of the book, preventing a tsunami of stress to swarm her/him.
Sadly, a lot of people consciously deny themselves that happiness in favor of being stressed out. Contrary to what a lot of people believe, stress doesn’t make you more productive – and it does NOT make you more efficient.
“Chunking” your enormous task of duties to do in a day is a great way of seeing, before your eyes how each of those tasks can be handled. You give yourself a first-class view of measurable (and attainable) goals that will be conquered – as opposed to drowning in the minute, small details.
3. Get More Done NOW (By Exercising)
When you exercise, you not only “throttle” stress from your system, thereby making you productive you also jack up your performance levels by “giving it steroids.” When you’re physically fit, your mental clarity sharpens, and your attitude quickly shapes into that of a “professional” who can do more. Exercise builds discipline since you’re actively forcing yourself into situations that hurt you all over your body. Through cause and effect, your body adapts to this pain – triggering changes in your mind that make it able to handle unexpected storms more easily.
The simplest route to take is performing a breathing exercise, something Tony Robbins does every morning.
What you do is this:
- Sit straight and close your eyes.
- Inhale deeply through nostrils while lifting arms (like you’re lifting a barbell.)
- Hold to a count of 1.
- Exhale strongly through nostrils and lower arms (palm up.)
- Repeat 30 times (for 3 sets.)
Another way to get more done (in less time) is by utilizing a principle, which also works well with the “chunking” principle we talked about earlier, is called…
The Pomodoro Technique
Putting your nose to the grindstone for hours at a time quickly drains your energy, your focus, and your mental strength to last throughout the day. It’s counter-productive. Enter The Pomodoro Technique. Here’s what you do: Grab a timer and set it for 25 minutes. At the end of those 25 minutes, take a 5 minute break to check your emails, your social media, or to physically stretch. (This is one “round”.) At the end of those 5 minutes, center all your energy and focus into that one project for another 25 minutes. Take another 5 minute break. Repeat. The Pomodoro is a “boot camp” for teaching yourself self-discipline.
Note: After 4 rounds (2 hours total), it’s wise to take an hour long break – or else you truly will drain your energy, which is not only counter-productive but is everything that’s against what the Pomodoro Technique stands for.
4. Transform “Nobodies” Into Somebodies
Without engaged employees who feel like their role in your business makes a difference, you won’t be able to move forward. Your employees will mindlessly go about their day only to collect a paycheck. I hate to disappoint you, but just because you are the owner of your business, doesn’t mean you’re the sole leader of it.
Employees who feel valued help your business grow because they are a lot more motivated to help you succeed. To make sure they feel this way, inspire them to become a leader within their department(s). How? By asking them how they feel about “our brand.” Involve them in the brand and how you all appear to the public. Ask for their input. This will make your workers feel important.
5. Celebrate Successes (Even Small Ones)
No matter what task you get done, celebrate it IMMEDIATELY. Pumping “feel-good” hormones into your system for an extra boost of dopamine does wonders for your success.
Rewarding yourself for a job well done is paramount for boosting your confidence and “I can do anything” mindset. There are a number of ways to do this:
- Watch your favorite TV show/movie without any guilt.
- Run.
- Do that one thing that makes you feel good (which you’ve been putting off.)
Conclusion
Having enough energy, time and willpower to be truly happy at the end of a crazy-busy workday is possible. The five ways you’ve read about for improving your productivity and performance is only the beginning. As you continue to put them into action, you will learn how to become more productive and more ways to become more effective.
Tony Robbins Photo via Shutterstock
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