The traditional 9-5 workday is poorly structured for high productivity. Although this may be obvious based on people’s mediocre performance, addiction to stimulants, lack of engagement, and the fact that most people hate their jobs – now there’s loads of scientific evidence you can’t ignore.
The Myth of the 8 Hour Workday
Most productive countries in the world do not work 8 hours per day
- The most productive countries have the shortest workdays
- People in countries like Luxembourg work approximately 30 hours per week and make more money on average than people working longer workweeks
- Many people work between 3-6 hours a day depending on what they are trying to accomplish
Protect Your Mornings
Schedule all of your meetings for the afternoon, after lunch
- Don’t check your social media or email until after your 3 hours of deep work
- Spend your morning time on output, not input
- Protecting your mornings means you are literally unreachable during certain hours
Mind-Body Connection
What you do outside of work is just as significant for your work-productivity as what you do while you’re working
- If you want to operate at your highest level, you need to take a holistic approach to life
- By integrating one “keystone habit,” like exercise or reading, that the positivity of that one habits ripples into all other areas of your life, eventually transforming your whole life.
- Your ability to sleep well is also essential to peak performance
Quality Vs. Quantity
When you are results-oriented, rather than busy, you are 100% on when you are working and 100% off when you’re not
- The best work happens in short intensive spurts
- Spend 20% of your energy on your work and 80% on recovery and self-improvement
- Deliberate Practice
- Optimize your life for true productivity and creativity
- You will have better ideas and thinking, and you will create opportunities that weren’t there before
A Very Simple Technique For Building Keystone Habits
You only need one keystone habit to start. If you create one, then you’ll have built the confidence to build several more.
- Create an “if-then” response to whatever you’re trying to accomplish
- Whenever an obstacle appears, use your if-then response
- It doesn’t really matter what your pre-planned response is, so long as you consistently do it
- By consistently following through, you’ll create small wins
- Small wins build self-respect and confidence, thus lowering your need for willpower
Your First Three Hours Will Make or Break You
The first three hours of your day are your most precious for maximized productivity
- Immediately following sleep, your mind is most readily active to do thoughtful work
- Exercise first thing in the morning sucks energy, leaving you with less than you started
- Protein-rich foods keep you full longer than other foods because they take longer to leave the stomach
- After the workout, take a mental break, you should be fine to work a few more hours
