The Counterintuitive Productivity Habit That Is Changing Lives
Stop being productive.
Stop being productive.
It’s not helping.
It’s not about turning gears faster in a gearbox.
Somehow, we each know this yet, we’re glued to our phones, watching for little red bubbles to pop up and tell us how to spend our time.
We live in the “Age of Distraction.”
We live in a world where there are a lot of very smart, hardworking people who spend their entire days making sure that we log in and stay on our phones.
How can we possibly focus on living a life of purpose or living productively when all this is going on?
Here’s the punchline:
What’s important to us isn’t always urgent and what’s urgent isn’t always important.
Stick with me here and let me explain:
Most people don’t exercise because their health is good enough. We can all agree that good health is important, but the need to exercise usually isn’t urgent.
It’s always easier to do that tomorrow.
It’s the same for achieving goals and dreams.
We all know that productivity is about doing the tasks that directly take you a step closer to achieving your goals in the long-run which is important.
It’s just usually not urgent.
Not until it’s too late.
“People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality.”
- Bronnie Ware, The Regrets of the Dying
And here’s another tricky part . . .
We often believe the most productive things we should be doing are the ones that need to be finished soonest. I.e. pay bills that are due or finish a report that has a close deadline
In reality, these things only make us feel more accomplished momentarily because it’s like ticking off a task from our To-do list.
Over a long period of time though, we don’t really achieve much — we just get by.
A lot of people seem to be out there trying to “survive” life.
“Ineffective people live day after day with unused potential.”
- Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
I can’t think of anyone who got to the end and said: “man, I’m so glad I played it safe!”
So, if we all agree that this is no way to go through life, then why doesn’t our behavior change?
Why do we still wait until the last minute?
Why do we push off decisions and adventures?
Why don’t we just go for it?
If you want to change your behavior, you need to change your mindset.
I’m sure you’ve heard that a ton of times before — but how and what do you even change it into?
There is one unique quality that stands out in all those who have been successful in achieving their goals in life — they are ultra-effective in time management.
This doesn’t mean that they’re “productivity ninjas” as seen on the internet or that they’re always frantic or busy.
“The rich invest in time the poor invest in money.”
- Warren Buffet
The Secret Sauce:
People who are brutally restrictive with how they spend their time, recognize that time is their most precious resource.
It’s irrecoverable and spent at a constant rate, regardless of what they do.
They account for every second of their life and ensure that it’s being spent on getting them closer to their ultimate goals.
“Hell yes, or no.”
— Derek Sivers
I personally do a “time audit,” every year, to make sure I’m allocating my time in places that are aligned with my long-term goals.
If I need to recalibrate, one of the ways I remind myself to stay on track is by leaving reminders.
I set up iOS reminders, I create wall art, I change the lock screen on my phone.
There are lots of ways to do this and everyone is different, you just need to start.
For me, having reminders close to me has been an effective way of staying in tune with urgency.
In fact, I was even considering buying a new product (like an Apple Watch) to help with this — even though I don’t own many things.
I just didn’t want all the extra fancy features included in the price tag.
And then, something happened. I got a direct message.
It was from two start-up founders who believed the same things that I did.
They believed in urgency.
They believed in living a deliberately focused life.
They believed in wasting nothing.
It was obvious — we needed to work together to make this idea more real.
That’s when I found out that they were working on a smartwatch.
Now, wait a second, I know what you’re thinking:
Not another smart device.
Just hang on. Let me explain.
These guys built a super minimalist watch that counts down toward your goals — there’s nothing else like it.
And yes, it has to be on your wrist, because that’s the point, it’s an important and urgent reminder.
I’m not saying this is the answer to your problems. I’m saying this could help.
I’m not saying you need this, I’m just saying it can help.
It’s not for everyone and it definitely WON’T work if you’re not committed.
So, this is the hard part.
You have to make a choice.
Are you committed to a life of deliberation?
Are you committed to making every second count?
Are you willing to try?
Here’s why I think this can work for a lot of people:
Having physical reminders of your goals, along with a clear timeline, makes them more realistic and tends to bring your everyday behavior into immediate focus.
They’ve designed it to be like a physical list of your goals with real-time frames so you feel more committed and accountable to them.
We’re living in the Age of Distraction and we need to be in control of the reminders and notifications that fill our view.
Take control of your attention and output with this unexpectedly useful tool.
Let’s simplify and get back to basics.
Let’s look at time a little differently.
Here’s the link to EMIT:
Click here to see EMIT availability.
Oh, and something else . . .
These guys raised 100% of their Kickstarter goal in less than an hour.
They raised about $10k in under a day.
What does that mean?
That there are other people, who are thinking about all of this who are just like you!
After talking with the founders, I couldn’t help myself and I had to tell more people about this watch.
In order to do that, we worked it out so that if you click this link you can get about a 40% discount on the retail price.
But don’t wait.
There are only a few remaining at this price and the deal ends in a few days.
This is a Kickstarter project and there are a limited number of these set for production.
Click here for EMIT availability.
Plus, if you have any issues with it in the first two years, they’ll send you a new watch!
I don’t think anyone else on Kickstarter has a guarantee like that.
What do you believe?
Do you believe in being busy or building things that matter?
Do you believe in grinding out another day or focusing on what counts?
Do you believe in staying accountable for your time and living the life you want?
It’s your choice.
“A year from now, you’ll wish you’d started today.”
- Karen Lamb
