The Final Word: Extreme Productivity

Anyone who has built or who runs a million pound business is good at getting lots of stuff done. Most people aren’t.

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I’ve always been able to overcome the resistance and procrastination and get things implemented. It’s rarely easy, but I now know that it hinges on four key things:-

1. Control of Self

At the end of the day, it’s down to me. I’m not a great believer in self-discipline – it can only take you so far – so I have to create things that really matter, i.e. extreme pain or extreme pleasure in order to get me through the barriers and distractions that constantly seek to sabotage my productivity.
My favourite one at the moment is picturing members of my family in some distress, tied up in a very small, darkened room with a very nasty man outside. (To be clear this is only real in my head!). Whether they get out of that situation or not depends on my ability to get X done. Today.
Of course, the other massive help here is my 90 minutes. I really do do it. Every day.
And once you get into that habit and properly make it happen your output soars, massively.

2. Control of Your Environment

I am completely uninterruptable during my 90 minutes.
No one ever comes in. No one can ring me up and, my email is shut down.
I am distraction free.
To do our best work, all of us need to be in the right working conditions, with the right kit/tech and the right inspiration and help around us.
I’ve chosen very carefully the things that are on my wall, where I keep my library of material. It’s all been set up to maximise my productivity.

3. Control of Others

We’ve all got time bandits of some sort in our life. People who will steal our time if we let them.
So I never answer a phone (indeed, all my phone calls are scheduled – they’re on my time). Staff can walk into my office…in the afternoon, but not in the morning and, no one comes close during my 90 minutes.
If you send me an email, even if the response required is a quick one, you won’t normally get a reply for at least a couple of days. Why? Because I’m ‘training’ you to know that I am:

a) Very busy and

b) That if you send me emails, you will have to wait for a response and therefore you’ll send me less emails! [I promise you this works. Try it and you’ll see].

None of us can gain an advantage over anyone else by manufacturing more time.
By this time next year, we’ll all have had the same number of days and hours. It’s our ability to use them most effectively that will be the key determining factor in what our lives look like in March 2017.
That’s why I’ve put quite a bit of thought and effort into controlling others – because I know the price I’ll pay if I don’t.

4. Control of Your Time & Priorities

I work with lists.
I absolutely subscribe to the mantra that “Today ain’t over ‘til tomorrow’s planned” and I make sure that on my plan for tomorrow (which is completed every night before I leave the office), I’m getting the most IMPORTANT things done – not necessarily the most urgent.
It’s the important things that will move us towards where we want to be yet, so often, they’re the things that get compromised and pushed down the list by today’s crisis or time bandit.
Effective management and collation of your priorities – what REALLY matters this week – can liberate your productivity and help you get an awful lot more stuff done.
Have a super month.
That’s the final word.