how to be more productive

How To Measure Your Productivity

January 11, 2016 by Marc Guberti 2 Comments

We all have goals. Some of those goals require what would appear to be monumental leaps while other goals don’t require much of a jump.

Regardless of what goals we pursue, we all understand the need to be productive. Better to get the same work done in 30 minutes than get the same work done in an hour.

That is the typical focus of productivity. Most people focus on getting a lot of stuff done and then getting that stuff done as quickly as possible.

If only that was how productivity actually worked.

Productivity isn’t a matter of hours worked and how much stuff you can say you did. The central focus of productivity is what work you are actually doing. Then the traditional methods of viewing productivity come in.

Is The Work You Do Productive?

Let’s say that in a month, I can create a thousand outlines for different blog post ideas this month or I can create four training courses that are each two hours long.

Even if both of those activities took up the same amount of my time, I would feel more productive creating the four training courses than doing 1,000 blog post outlines.

The problem with creating too many outlines is that the niche I am in constantly changes (if a new social network comes out, I have to write about it. Maybe Facebook ads changed again). And quite frankly, I could look at an outline upon second glance and realize it’s not a good blog post for me to write.

And being presented with 1,000 blog post outlines and having to choose one of them would be overwhelming. I won’t feel any better when I have to choose one blog post outline out of the 999 outlines that would be left.

However, creating four training courses would make me feel productive. I would provide more videos for my Udemy students and generate more revenue at the same time.

On the surface, writing 1,000 blog post outlines may look more productive than creating four training courses. This is another example that emphasizes the battle between busy work and productive work.

Creating an outline before you write a blog post allows you to write that blog post faster. However, at a certain point, creating the outlines just becomes busy work.

It is no longer productive because you aren’t writing the actual blog posts when you create the outline. Eventually, you have to look at one of those outlines and decide to turn that outline into a blog post.

Just because you do something does not mean you are being productive. If you wanted me to tell you all of the productive things I did in a given day, I wouldn’t rattle off everything I did on that day. I wouldn’t mention the fact that I put my clothing away or that I washed my dishes.

I would mention the number of blog posts I wrote and the number of videos I created.

Give Yourself A Hyper-Specific Definition Of Productivity

I’m not going to lie. Hyper-specific sounds way better than plain old specific.

We know there is a difference between busy work and productive work. What you may not know is how that difference applies to your life. What is the busy work that takes you away from your productive work?

You may be surprised to hear two things. Most of the work you currently do is probably busy work. The second thing you’d be surprised to hear is that answering the previous question is one of the easier questions of productivity to answer.

To identify the difference between busy work and productive work, you have to envision yourself in the “entrepreneur’s perfect world”. For sake of argument, here’s what that world looks like:

You are a billionaire
You make money on autopilot
You have a team of 100,000 people working for you free of charge
This team can do anything you ask them to do

Basically, you could retire right now and still make more money in one day than everyone else makes in a year. You are that 1%.

So what work would you still do?

When I asked myself this question, I came up with a small list of tasks that I would actually do for my business. Writing blog posts and creating videos were the two tasks that were on the top of the list.

My definition of productivity got very specific very fast. A few other things made it on the list too. But all of the tasks that did not make the list were distractions.

Scheduling social media posts, creating pictures for my blog posts, scheduling my blog posts, and growing my social media audience are four of several tasks that I suddenly viewed as distractions.

Distractions sap away at our true productivity, even if those distractions may be necessary for the growth and survival of our businesses.

Rise And Grind

In his book Power Of Broke, Daymond John shares several of his core beliefs that played a large role in his entrepreneurial success. One of the first things he mentioned is that when he wakes up, the first thing that enters his mind is “Rise and Grind.”

It simply means putting in the work every single day with as much intensity as you can muster.

We have already established that hours worked and stuff done are not the most reliable places to look when measuring productivity. However, productivity is also about consistency.

Consistency turns the work into an effortless habit that you can then constantly improve upon. Writing these blog posts is effortless for me because I have written thousands of blog posts on various blogs to reach this point.

When you rise and grind every day, you will eventually find yourself comfortable with putting in more work each day than most people would want to do in a week. Combine that with doing work that matters, and you’ll be a productivity master in no time.

Soon enough you’ll have to write your own blog posts about productivity 🙂

In Conclusion

Productivity is not measured by hours worked and amount of stuff done. It is measured by the type of work that you do, how much meaningful work gets done, your time commitment towards the work, and your consistency.

This blog post was designed to challenge the traditional thinking of productivity. Being busy and being productive are two completely different things.

However, being productive and truly being productive are also two different things.

For a long time, I thought I was being productive when I scheduled my tweets. It turns out during that stretch I was productive, but I wasn’t truly productive.

For me, truly productive means writing blog posts and creating videos.

What does truly productive mean for you? How do you measure your productivity? Are there any other questions about productivity you want answered? Have a tip for us? Sound off in the comments section below.

How To Find More Time To Do What Is Important

March 9, 2015 by Marc Guberti 4 Comments

We do many things throughout our lives. We go to the grocery store, exercise, browse through social media, and do our work, just to name a few activities we participate in. However, we live such busy lives that we forget to do the important things—the activities that bring forth the biggest impact in desired parts of our lives.

An important thing for a parent is to be with the children. An important thing for the product creators, bloggers, and anyone else in business is to get better results. This is where most people start writing a few things that they want to get better at and then get started. You write down all of the areas that you want better results in (sales, subscribers, etc). The only problem is that this actual practice is difficult. Few people write down their objectives to begin with, but even fewer people get the process right.

Many people who strive for better results simply write down all of the things they want better results in without giving it much thought. Many of these people write down lists with dozens of different areas to improve in. First off, a large list like that is unlikely to get accomplished. You need to simplify the list so each objective gets more attention. Secondly, how do all of these results align with your critical objective?

Maybe I threw some people off with the critical objective. For a very long time, I wrote down goals to get better results but never thought of the critical objective. The critical objective is a definitive goal you strive to accomplish, and all of the other important goals you plan support the critical objective.

Let’s say your critical objective is to make $250,000 every year. Now you have to focus on goals that bring in revenue, but not just any revenue. These goals, when accomplished, need to bring in revenue that adds up to at least $250,000 every year. Surveys are not going to cut it. Consultation sessions are good but not good enough. Reaching that income eventually comes down to product creation and growing your authority on the web.

Knowing the critical objective will allow you to eliminate all of the other goals that don’t matter. Anything that does not help you achieve your critical objective (other than family and important family events) is a distraction. If something does not bring in more money, then it is distracting you from your goal of making $250,000 every year. Sometimes the most powerful statements are the ones that make the most sense.

However, knowing your critical objective is not enough to find more time to be productive and do work that matters. Another piece of the puzzle is how early you wake up. They say that the average person needs about eight hours of sleep, and that is one of the most common misconception’s of today’s world. The actual length is anywhere from 6.5 to 7.5 hours (I am typically closer to the 7.5 hour range).

Think about how much extra time you get by waking up earlier. If you are someone who sleeps for 10 hours every day, and you suddenly decide to only get seven hours of sleep every night (which is okay), you are giving yourself three extra hours in your day. I find it shameful that one-third of our lives is spent sleeping. We could do so much more in that time. Of course, we need the sleep, but most people sleep for too long. Sleeping too much causes the same level of depression as not getting enough sleep, so waking up earlier also result in a happier life (people who wake up earlier in the morning are typically happier than those who don’t. Many articles talk about this topic. Here’s an example).

[tweetthis twitter_handles=”@MarcGuberti” url=”http://bit.ly/1637SHO”]Do you want to live a happier life? Just wake up earlier.[/tweetthis]

If you want to wake up earlier, here are the steps you should take:

Step #1: Get to bed before midnight

Step #2: Set an alarm clock by your bed to go off 6.5 to 7.5 hours from now

Step #3: Move the alarm clock out of reach before going to bed

Step #4: When you hear the alarm clock, get out of bed and turn it off

Step #5: You are out of bed. Why go back in?

This is the five step process I use to wake up 6.5 to 7.5 hours after I go to bed. Sometimes, I even set the alarm clock to go off in seven hours and 45 minutes because I know that being on my computer a few hours before going to bed makes it more difficult for me to fall asleep (this is a scientifically proven fact for people like you and me). I never go over eight hours of sleep at one time.

If you find this part of the process difficult to follow, I still urge you to follow it, but you can also take a nap in between. When I am extremely tired, I take a 20-30 minute nap and follow the same procedure I would follow from Steps 2-5 of waking up earlier. When I wake up, I experience a level of productivity close to the one I had when I started the day.

In Conclusion

Becoming successful only requires two things: knowing what you want to do (your critical objective) and finding the time to make it happen. By identifying your critical objective, you will also know which goals support your critical objective and which ones are the distractions.

Before you put in any more work for your business, ask yourself what the critical objective is. What are you trying to accomplish? What is your #1 goal for the year? What is the mission of your business? Once you choose your critical objective, only do the things that support that critical objective. Understandably, there will be other things that come up (other than family, family events, or important events in general). Those things that come up should get the back burner of your time.

What are your thoughts on this approach to becoming successful? Do you have any other suggestions for finding more time to do what is important? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

12 Tips To Increase Your Productivity

January 16, 2015 by Marc Guberti 2 Comments

Your productivity is one of the factors that determines how much you accomplish in your lifetime. The most productive people are the ones who get the celebrity status, the full-time income, and exert the most influence on our culture. The most successful people throughout history have shown the ability to be productive, and many of these people have shown a desire to be more productive than they already were. Productivity is a core element of success, and these 12 tips will help you increase your productivity so that core element of success can be strengthened in your own life.

#1: Wake Up Earlier

We are at our peak level of productivity in the morning because we have more willpower in the morning than any other time of the day. In addition, if you get a good amount of sleep (7.5 hours), you will feel refreshed. It is important to work while you feel refreshed instead of starting your work a few minute before you take a nap. When you work, you must be wide awake. If you are feeling drowsy, take the nap before you work. It is better to nap, wake up later, and put in valuable work than it is to work while tired and produce a subpar experience for your existing and potential customers.

#2: Write Down Your Goals

Studies have shown that writing down your goals dramatically increases your odds of you accomplishing your goals because it gives you more commitment to accomplish those goals. While typed goals can be deleted, your hand-writing is always there. If you erase with a pencil, you will still see some of your writing from before. If you use white out to remove the goals you wrote with a pen, you will know something (your goals) is underneath the white out.

Writing down your goals also makes it easier to remember them. It is easier to remember something that you repeatedly write down than it is to remember something that you think of but never write down.

Let’s say you wanted to remember the definition of a word like didactic. Here’s the definition:

Didactic—teaching; instructive

If you have never crossed paths with this word, and you wanted to memorize it, you would have to look at it again and again. If you only read this word’s definition once, then you probably won’t remember it a week from now unless you have the perfect memory. Writing the word didactic and its definition will allow you to remember that definition more than simply reading it on your computer’s screen.

#3: Have Goals For The Week

Chances are your productivity skyrockets when there is an imminent deadline. It’s one of the universal truths. Many students spend more time on Monday studying for the big test on Wednesday than for the big test on the upcoming Monday. The closer something is, the more we work on it. This ideology is why many New Year’s resolutions fail. They are too far away, and the urgency of those New Year’s resolutions only start to manifest themselves in November.

Imagine how productive you would be if you had a deadline, that sense of urgency, all year round.

Giving yourself goals for the week creates that sense of urgency, the same sense that allows you to get more done. You don’t want your first week to feel overwhelming, so it is important for you to work your way up. Eventually, you will accomplish goals beyond your wildest dreams in just one week. Using this approach allowed me to write 20,000 words in two days when, at one time, I thought it would take me two weeks to reach the same milestone. You may go from writing five blog posts every week to writing five blog posts every day. I should know. When Christmas approached, I put in extra work so I could enjoy the break. Part of the extra work involved me writing as many as 10 blog posts in a given day (and all of them were over 1,000 words long).

#4: Create Day By Day Plans

I am a big believer in utilizing stepping stones that allow you to see the steps you need to take in order to accomplish a certain goal. Day by day plans allow you to know what you need to do each day for a week and therefore boost your productivity for that week. In other words, if you want to write 14 blog posts this week, writing two blog posts every day should be a part of your day by day plan.

Day by day plans make your goals for the week look possible. I have gone as far as 18 days with a day by day plan, and they work effectively. We are hardwired to perform steps that are given to us. Therefore, if we give ourselves our own steps to follow (that can, when combined, accomplish your goals for the week), we are already hardwired to accomplish those steps. Granted, don’t expect yourself to write 100 novels in one week if you write that down as a goal, but you will accomplish more than what you thought you were capable of.

#5: Know What You Want To Do

Knowing what you want to do in life is just as important as effective planning and everything else that goes along the lines of increasing your productivity. Identify the one thing you want to do in life and spend half of your time pursuing that dream or goal. If you have not read Gary Keller’s The ONE THING, then I recommend grabbing your copy now. Here are more details about why you need to find and focus on your ONE Thing.

#6: Raise Your Bar

No matter where we are now, we could both be putting in more effort. I could launch more products, make them more valuable, find more ways to grow my blog, and read more books (among other things). We can never settle with where we are because it is settling with where we are that ultimately makes us disappear in irrelevancy.

The most successful entrepreneurs in the world are not settling, sitting at the beach, and watching the sunset. They are still in the business world, challenging traditional concepts, creating new products, speaking all over the world, and providing more value. Millionaires don’t retire. In fact, some millionaires become billionaires. Millionaires only get to become billionaires by constantly raising their bars higher even when they have enough money to retire.

When you raise your bar, you will challenge yourself to get more accomplished. Raising your bar higher allows you to raise your standard of excellence. Never settle with where you are. We can always do better than we are doing now. The athlete with a four minute and 30 second mile could run faster. There is no fence that stops us from moving forward. The only fences that stop us from moving forward are the ones that we build ourselves.

#7: Be Mindful Of Your Internet Browsing

One way to be more productive is by being less unproductive. One of the most unproductive activities people participate in is internet browsing. Whether internet browsing means checking fantasy sports or surfing on YouTube, we can be extremely unproductive on the internet. The internet is a double-edged sword because we can use it to boost our productivity or bring our productivity to a point lower than it ever was before.

When I realize I am surfing the internet too long, I use a tool called Mindful Browsing for Mac laptops and computers which allows me to block any website I choose. I can go back to the website at anytime, but I am notified that it has been blocked, and Mindful Browsing requires that its users wait for 10 seconds before having the ability to unblock a website. I often use Mindful Browsing to block my favorite social networks when I am writing blog posts and books.

#8: Unplug Your Computer

When I first stumbled across the method, I could not believe what I was reading. Regardless, I gave the method a try at school, and the results have been incredible. I never bring my charger with my to school, and I have seen my Mac dip below 30% in power. Sure enough, power getting drained from my computer created a sense of urgency where I focused on doing what was truly important. Less time for social media and checking statistics. More time for writing blog posts and books.

#9: Think Small Wins

Big wins, the typical wins we strive for, are just a series of small wins carried out over a long period of time. Thinking small wins allows you to turn accomplishment into habit. If you see yourself performing dozens of small wins every day (i.e. successfully walking the dog, writing a blog post, reading an article on the web), then it will be easier for you to accomplish the small wins that lead to big results.

#10: Say No

In many cases, I have become comfortable with saying no. I say no to certain types of work and opportunities that are not worth the effort. Saying no may be painful for some people, but saying no is critical towards your success as an entrepreneur. Saying no to time consuming activities allows you to focus more of your time on your work.

Sure enough, there are people who want to make everyone happy and be the “yes-men” of our generation. However, most of these people make others happy at the expense of their own happiness. You should never give up your happiness by saying yes too often. Not only does saying yes too often have the potential to damage your happiness, but in everything, there are tradeoffs. Not only should you think of what you are saying yes to, but you are also think of what you are saying no to. If you say yes to a friend’s request to attend a party (even if you don’t want to go), then you are saying no to your work and getting closer to accomplishing your goals that evening.

#11: Work Non-Stop In The Morning

Remember when I mentioned that you need to wake up earlier? Not only should you wake up earlier, but your entire morning should be dedicated to your work. It is the mornings when we are the most productive. If you want to talk with friends on the phone or play a game, then do so in the afternoon. The first hour of your day dictates how the rest of that day will go, so make that first hour and your entire morning count.

#12: Believe In Yourself

These tips only work for the individuals who believe in themselves. If you go through these tips without believing in your own abilities, then the thoughts of self-doubt and unworthiness will creep in. In reality, we are all worthy, and we are all miracles. The web has given us the power to share our unique messages to billions of people.

In Conclusion

Productive individuals are the ones who are leading their stampedes. Productivity sparks product creation, writing, and brings various areas of your business to the next level. Individuals who plan ahead are many steps ahead of the competition because they have a series of steps to follow, and our minds are hardwired to follow steps given to us. Major corporations have their marketing campaigns and plans scheduled years in advance. Planning works.

Without the belief in your own abilities, none of this will work. You need to build on the confidence you have and realize that you are valuable to the world. As Seth Godin would say, “The world is waiting. Now, go make a ruckus.”

Super Productivity Overload: How To Have The Most Productive Week You’ve Ever Had

August 31, 2014 by Marc Guberti 2 Comments

productivity

When looking back at all of the weeks I have been working, I can easily look back and identify when I was the most productive. From July 21st to July 27th, I did an array of tasks:

Write 20 blog posts
Write 20,000 words for an upcoming book
Do 12 scripts for a membership site
Schedule 50 Facebook posts
Do 10 YouTube videos
Schedule 5 YouTube videos

All of the things you see here got accomplished in just seven days, and none of those are typos, and I didn’t stuff in some extra 0’s just to make everything look better. I am a big supporter of the weekly score card which I used when accomplishing these goals. One of the big things I noticed on this score card compared to others was that there were fewer things on the list. My typical score card has far more than 10 things on the list. I cut some of those off the list which narrowed it down to six. I could now focus more of my attention on six goals compared to spending less attention on ten or more goals.

I decided to go back and see how I was able to do all of these things, and then I put a few things together:

The two week family vacation was coming up which meant I knew I would be kicking back and relaxing during those two weeks (yes, I do kick back and relax). This week is similar to what runners would call sprinting to the finish line.
I had more deadlines. One of the reasons was that I only had two YouTube videos scheduled which would not have lasted the entire vacation. I would have missed a week, and for someone who has the need to be consistent, that would have been bad. In addition, I knew I would only have four days to complete an entire membership site which is why I knew all of the scripts had to be done in advance.
I had more time to focus on less goals. Although these goals were by no means walk in the parks, I could zone in on them instead of overwhelming myself with too many goals in one week.

In other words, this was a strong sprint to the finish line filled with fewer but more important deadlines. Most people wait to do the strong sprint to the finish line weeks before the end of the year. Now I have been finding any excuse possible to sprint for the finish line. That is why I am the most productive during the summer. It is my long and strong sprint to the finish line so I did more than was expected of me before school begins. Last year, I did 40 YouTube videos in two weeks just so I would not have to worry about them during school (some of those videos were even done past midnight).

Are you ready to have the most productive week of your life? Find your reason to sprint to the finish and only choose to do the goals that are going to bring forth the biggest impact possible.

10 Signs That You Need To Be More Productive

August 24, 2014 by Marc Guberti 4 Comments

We are all very busy people. We get swamped by the workload, have to put in hours of work every day, have family commitments, and other types of commitments as well. Many people make the common mistake of believing that being busy also means being productive. There is a difference. As a result of the mistakes people make, productivity dips. Before you decide whether you need to increase your productivity, go through these 10 signs that will allow you to know whether you’re in trouble or not.

You complain about being so busy. Being busy means going to the grocery store, doing chores, and a plethora of other things unrelated to your work. If you always complain about being too busy, you are not getting the important work done.
You watch too much TV. I define watching 10 hours of TV every week as too much. Some people will nod their heads in agreement while others will get overwhelmed considering that the average American watches 32 hours of TV every week.
You always fall behind. Everyone falls behind on their work at a certain point in their lives. I have fallen behind, and chances are you have fallen behind too. However, if you are always falling behind in your work and it is becoming a trend, you need to increase your productivity. If you keep on falling behind, you will spend the rest of your life catching up instead of expanding.
You live in the 365 day mindset/trap. New Years resolutions. Did you forget about them? Over 80% of people never get their New Year’s resolutions accomplished because they believe they have an incredible amount of time to get the job done. Let’s say your New Year’s resolution is to gain 10,000 Twitter followers. That means you would have to gain an average of 28 followers every day. That’s not impossible at all. People think that if they wait a month and start on February, they can get the same goal accomplished by gaining 30 followers every day from now through the entire year. However, some people with this goal may wait to start on the first day of September because they realize they have a lot of time left. Now, there’s only 122 days to get the task accomplished which means someone would have to gain 82 followers every day from September 1st to the end of the year. It’s so much easier to start early and stick with it.
You Google it too often. If you Google anything related to “how to,” it means you want to be able to do that. The person who Googles “how to make money online” 100 times wants to make money online. If you are Googling “how to be more productive” numerous times, then you need to boost your productivity. Instead of constantly searching for more ways to be productive, stick with the methods in this blog post and you will be fine. I’m a 16 year old in high school and the school’s track team. I think I’m qualified to talk about productivity.
You would never think of waking up early in the morning. I’m a night owl and early bird at the same time. I get to bed past midnight and get up before 8 am. Waking up early in the morning allows you to be more productive because you have a greater chance of starting the day off with a positive attitude.
You wing the first hour you wake up. The first hour of waking up dictates how the rest of your day is going to go. If you wake up and hold grudges for the first hour, you are going to hold those grudges and have a bad day. If you read a motivational book, do a workout, or do what you love, you will have a day filled with motivation and empowerment. The first hour controls how productive you will be for the rest of the day, and if you don’t know what you do then, you need to create a schedule for what you will do for that first hour.
Do have too much on your plate. I had a score card overload, and I am not proud of it to this day. I wrote down 19 different goals on the score card that each took up a significant amount of time. I thought I would be able to write 20 blog posts, proofread an entire book, write a completely different book (and finish that book), do 10 YouTube videos, write 20 scripts, and prepare for the summer bootcamp my brother and I did at Fordham University (among plenty of other high level tasks) was an impossibility. I had too much on my plate and ended up being very unproductive for the entire week. Less is more because you get to focus more of your attention on fewer things.
You are striving for the wrong types of goals. If your goals are having a house and being rich, that’s a problem. You need to set more specific goals so you are able to be productive. Instead of saying how rich you want to be, throw in a number. Do you want to make $100,000 by the end of the year? In addition, ask yourself what kind of a house you want and when you will get it. Do you want to move into a three floor house this year and live in a mansion five years later? More specific goals lead to more specific paths, and those specific paths lead to more productivity. Specific goals give you something to strive for.
You read through this blog post word for word. Only 20% of people actually read the blog post (the other 80% stop short at the headline). If you have been reading this blog post word for word, then that means you are looking for some tidbits on being productive and asking yourself if you really need to be more productive. If you read up to this part of the blog post, chances are you need to be more productive.

Now that you know the signs that you need to be more productive, you need to increase that productivity as quickly as possible. Luckily for you, I wrote an entire blog post with 10 different methods you can use to increase your productivity. If you liked this blog post, then you are definitely going to like the other one as well.

Working Smarter and Faster VS Working Harder

August 20, 2014 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

Work Smarter

Most people work hard. They put in all of their dedication into something and hope for the best. These people constantly do the same things every day and never bother to explore out of the norm.

Few people work smarter and faster. These people are able to get the same tasks done every day. Working hard is manually scheduling 80 tweets with HootSuite. Working smarter and faster is getting HootSuite Pro and scheduling 80 tweets with just 4 clicks with HootSuite’s bulk scheduler.

It’s great to work hard because there is dedication involved, but how can you get the same result in less time? Working smarter and faster will allow you to find more things to work hard at and ultimately be more productive.