My Dead-Simple Productivity System You Can Steal

My Dead-Simple Productivity System You Can Steal

Read time: 5 minutes

For the past two months, I’ve been waking up at 5am everyday - including Sundays.

And it’s not because I’m trying to be more productive or to get more done - which is kinda strange, seeing though the title of this newsletter is about getting sh*t done.

I do it because I believe in the power of momentum.

Waking up early is no big deal for me. But 5am early? That’s just painful enough for me to feel like I’ve won something before my day even starts.

So by the time I’ve walked the dog, made a coffee and sit down to start my work…

I already feel like a winner.

And that positive feeling works like a domino effect and gives me momentum to keep stacking wins for the rest of the day.

Now, don’t panic - I’m not going to suggest you wake up at 5am.

But I am going to share a more realistic process that you steal to get more momentum and improve your weekly productivity.

Model this process and you’ll be much less likely to burn out and much more likely to get your needle-moving tasks done and dusted.

3 Challenges When It Comes to Being More Productive

Challenge #1 context switching: DMs, emails, and little distractions zap your productivity more than you think. If somebody asks “you got 5 minutes?” they may as well be asking you for 30. This is because of context-switching.

Challenge #2 focusing on the wrong things: Feeling productive and actually being productive on the right things waste tons of time. The tasks you do to ‘feel’ productive are probably 80% of the things that aren’t moving the needle for you (even though they ‘trick’ you into thinking so!)

Challenge #3 burnout: Good luck trying to balance a full-time job, a side hustle (if you have one), creating content on social media etc. It’s just not functionally possible. Nor is it sustainable in the long-run.

I overcame all these challenges by using the following five-step system:

1. Action first
   99% of problems can be solved by taking action - and more often than not it’s an action problem, not a lack of knowledge.
   
   Don’t know how to write > write more
   Don’t know how to get up early > wake up 5 mins earlier each day
   No idea what to post on social media > post more. Learn what works
   
   You waste valuable time by talking things out. Sure, planning can be important. But most problems can be solved by just doing.
   

2. Make things easy
   You probably get stuck on the same problems. I used to spend years staring at blank screens trying to write. My solution now is #1 + just get anything on paper. Write anything. Edit later.
   
   This applies to many things in life. Make it easy to get momentum, then move to #3.
   

3. Simplify
   Always be on the look out for things that can be simplified. Complexity causes problems. Simplicity creates momentum. A good example is this newsletter. I used to ‘just write things’ and fart ideas onto a page. Now I use a simple outline I fill in.
   
   This alone has massively increased my productivity.
   

4. Control vs. Can’t Control
   People spend way too much time and energy on things they have no control over - and you wouldn’t believe how much this affects your productivity.
   
   There’s things in life you can control and things you cannot. If you can’t do something about it, put it to one side and focus on what you can control.
   

5. Delegate
   You’re probably spending time on tasks that don’t produce you results. Learning to delegate means handing over control of work that is less valuable than the time it’d take you to complete.
   
   Example: I hired a cleaner for £15.00/hr who cleans the house for 2 hours every week. She saves me 8 hours of time per month.
   
   Those 8 hours of time can then be put towards more valuable tasks that generate more (much more) than the £120 (£15 × 8hrs/mo) I paid to her.
   
   side note: German Shepherd fur is stubborn AF!

Wrapping this up

Honestly? Productivity is a mind game. It’s convincing your monkey-mind to do the things you know you should be.

It’s simple, but it’s not easy. Either way, I hope this edition of the newsletter give you a few nuggets you can use to prioritise your day and become productive.

That’s a wrap.

See you again next week.

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