RunMyssieRun

A couple of years ago, I was the best, most productive me I’ve ever been. So what in the world happened?!? 

I got comfortable, complacent and reverted back to old BAD habits with the number one bad habit being sleep patterns. The moment I stopped waking up early regularly was the beginning of my downward spiral. So, I wanted to get back to the good me and recognized immediately what went wrong and what I needed to do to become the best me again. I must make regular, meaningful and purposeful sleep a priority so that my daily routine can be better in synch with my goals personally and professionally. 

So I went through some of the old notes I had taken a few years ago that helped me then, incorporated them again today to get me back to a better place and I’ll now share them with you here: 

#1. Check email in the afternoon so you protect the peak energy hours of your mornings for your best work. 

#2. Stop waiting for perfect conditions to launch a great project. Immediate action fuels a positive feedback loop that drives even more action. 

#3. Remember that big, brave goals release energy. So set them clearly and then revisit them every morning for 5 minutes. 

#4. Mess creates stress (I learned this from tennis icon Andre Agassi who said he wouldn’t let anyone touch his tennis bag because if it got disorganized, he’d get distracted). So clean out the clutter in your office to get more done. 

#5. Sell your TV. You’re just watching other people get successful versus doing the things that will get you to your dreams. 

#6. Say goodbye to the energy vampires in your life (the negative souls who steal your enthusiasm). 

#7. Run routines. When I studied the creative lives of massively productive people like Stephen King, John Grisham and Thomas Edison, I discovered they follow strict daily routines. (i.e., when they would get up, when they would start work, when they would exercise and when they would relax). Peak productivity’s not about luck. It’s about devotion. 

#8. Get up at 5 am. Win the battle of the bed. Put mind over mattress. This habit alone will strengthen your willpower so it serves you more dutifully in the key areas of your life. 

#9. Don’t do so many meetings. Replace them with meetings that give value: 30-minutes daily for personal meditation, 1-hour weekly for church, 1 purposeful act of kindness daily with no expectation of return.

#10. Don’t say yes to every request. Most of us have a deep need to be liked. That translates into us saying yes to everything – which is the end of your elite productivity. 

#11. Outsource everything you can’t be BIW (Best in the World) at. Focus only on activities within what I call “Your Picasso Zone”. 

#12. Stop multi-tasking. New research confirms that all the distractions invading our lives are rewiring the way our brains work (and drop our IQ by 5 points!). Be one of the rare-air few who develops the mental and physical discipline to have a mono-maniacal focus on one thing for many hours. (It’s all about practice). 

#13. Get fit like Madonna. Getting to your absolute best physical condition will create explosive energy, renew your focus and multiply your creativity. 

#14. Workout 2X a day. This is just one of the little-known productivity tactics; exercise is one of the greatest productivity tools in the world. So do 20 minutes first thing in the morning and then another workout around 6 or 7 pm to set you up for wow in the evening. 

#15. Drink more water. When you’re dehydrated, you’ll have far less energy. And get less done. 

#16. Work in 90 minute blocks with 10 minute intervals to recover and refuel (another game-changing move I personally use to do my best work).

#17. Write a Stop Doing List. Every productive person obsessively sets To Do Lists. But those who play at world-class also record what they commit to stop doing. Steve Jobs said that what made Apple Apple was not so much what they chose to build but all the projects they chose to ignore. 

#18. Use your commute time. If you’re commuting 30 minutes each way every day – get this: at the end of a year, you’ve spent 6 weeks of 8 hour days in your car. I encourage you to use that time to listen to fantastic books on audio + excellent podcasts and valuable learning programs. Remember, the fastest way to double your income is to triple your rate of learning. 

#19. Be a contrarian. Why buy your groceries at the time the store is busiest? Why go to movies on the most popular nights? Why hit the gym when the gym’s completely full? Do things at off-peak hours and you’ll save so many of them. 

#20. Get things right the first time. Most people are wildly distracted these days. And so they make mistakes. To unleash your productivity, become one of the special performers who have the mindset of doing what it takes to get it flawless first. This saves you days of having to fix problems. 

#21. Get lost. Don’t be so available to everyone. I often spend hours at a time in the cafeteria of a university close to our headquarters. I turn off my devices and think, create, plan and write. Zero interruptions. Pure focus. Massive results. I truly hope these 21 productivity tips have been valuable to you. And that I’ve been of service. Your productivity is your life made visible. Please protect it. Stay productive.

I’m putting this out there for every one who, like me, have big goals, know that we can accomplish them but sometimes need a push.. A reminder… And a few people who know what you’re going through to support you back onto the journey you were meant to complete. I will be slowly returning to my workout routine (after my doctors okay and keen eye over my health) and will also be introduced to THE DANIEL PLAN. 

A few people have reached out to me and have asked to work together on this.

In the past, I used to call this my team. In the past, I always had a coach lead me.

It worked. Guess what I’m going to do again 😀 

This entry was posted on August 14, 2016 at 6:30 am and is filed under training for my first half ironman. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.